150 episodes listed below
Minnesota Gophers talk for the long-haul fan.
Gophers 101 is a Minnesota-focused sports conversation centered on Gophers football, basketball, hockey, and the emotions around them. Ross Brendel, Manny Hill, and occasional guests work through coaching changes, tournament hopes, rivalry pettiness, and the uneven expectations around each program.
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Gophers 101 is a Minnesota Gophers show with the feel of a recurring conversation among people who have lived through the highs, stalls, false starts, and almosts. It is not confined to one sport. Basketball, hockey, football, NCAA Tournament paths, coaching searches, roster construction, and Big Ten rivalry culture all move through the same room. Ross Brendel and Manny Hill often anchor the exchanges, with other named voices appearing when a topic calls for a different angle. The show’s natural mode is candid fan analysis. It asks what should count as success for Minnesota programs with very different histories. Hockey carries a championship standard. Basketball gets measured against patience, injuries, recruiting, the transfer portal, and the realistic climb back to relevance. Football questions surface through spring-game curiosity, roster makeup, and special-teams worries. The show is comfortable admitting uncertainty. It can speculate about coaches without pretending every name is a lock, and it can praise progress while still naming the limits of a season. Rivalry talk gives the podcast its sharper local edge. Wisconsin and Iowa are not abstract opponents here; they are family, regional, and friend-group pressure points where lighthearted pettiness becomes part of the fun. That tone keeps the show loose. So do recurring jokes about Sunday morning class, the YouTube machine, and the scarcity of people talking Gophers in depth. Still, Gophers 101 is not only banter. The episodes can turn personal, especially when the Score North community is dealing with loss. Those moments give the show a sense of place beyond wins and losses. It is local, loyal, sometimes exasperated, and deeply invested in whether Minnesota can turn possibility into something sturdier.
Made for: For Minnesota Gophers fans who follow football, basketball, and hockey closely enough to care about coaching standards, roster depth, tournament paths, and Big Ten rivalries. It especially suits listeners who like local, conversational sports analysis with room for both optimism and complaint.
What sets it apart: The show’s strength is its multi-sport Gophers focus, moving from basketball injuries to hockey expectations to rivalry culture without losing the local fan perspective. It sounds less like national college-sports coverage and more like a standing check-in from people still emotionally invested in every Minnesota turn.
Gophers 101 hosts Ross Brendel, Manny Hill and Thor Nystrom are long-suffering, dedicated followers of Minnesota Gophers football, basketball, hockey and more! Each week, they dive into the latest Minnesota Gophers news, topics, and discussions from around Dinkytown, the Big Ten and college athletics. Gophers 101 is your go-to place for fun and informative Minnesota Gophers discussion and Minnesota Gophers news. Row the Boat, Ski U Mah, and Go Gophers! A SKOR North production.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Gophers 101 measures Minnesota teams against their own histories, combining local investment with clear-eyed discussion of coaching, rosters and expectations.
Gophers 101 turns Minnesota results and roster news into an ongoing argument about what each program should reasonably expect. Ross Brendel and Manny Hill move between men's and women's basketball, football and hockey, judging seasons and coaching decisions against each…
Niko Medved's first year gets a B; your Wisconsin schadenfreude gets office hours.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Wisconsin falling short leads to Gophers rivalry talk, Brett Larson's roster and a football kicking concern.
Wisconsin falling short of the national hockey championship gives Ross Brendel and Manny Hill an opening to talk about Gophers rivalries. Hill has room for a little pettiness, so long as the ribbing stays cordial and friends and colleagues still respect each other.
Motzko's departure has Ross Brendel and Judd weighing what Gophers hockey needs in its next coach.
Bob Motzko's departure leaves Gophers hockey with a question: what should the program look for in its next coach? Ross Brendel and Judd consider whether Minnesota ties should matter and what a new hire might bring to recruiting and the transfer portal.
Gophers 101 celebrates the women's rise and looks ahead to both teams' tournaments.
Gophers 101 has plenty to celebrate as Minnesota heads into the postseason, especially on the women's side. The hosts look back at a first year spent rebuilding and finding an identity, then at last season's WBIT win and this year's NCAA Tournament berth.
Ross Brendel and Manny Hill weigh Minnesota's injury-hit season and the roster possibilities ahead.
Ross Brendel and Manny Hill look at Minnesota's season through the injuries that thinned the roster. They credit Nico with keeping the Gophers afloat and say the team stayed within reach in most games, even as healthy players became scarce.
A Gophers win has Ross Brendel and Manny Hill weighing Nico Medved's first year.
A Golden Gophers men's basketball win gives Ross Brendel and Manny Hill a reason to take stock of Nico Medved's first year. Brendel sees the beginnings of a foundation and compares Medved with other recent coaching hires.
Brendel weighs the Gophers' uneven basketball play and predicts a football role.
Ross Brendel and Manny Hill try to make sense of the Gophers' uneven basketball performances. Brendel was impressed by what he saw against Indiana and Northwestern, then watched them struggle for stretches against Chicago State, Fairleigh Dickinson and Green Bay.
NBA arguments before the take cools.
Sports takes with receipts.
NBA talk with pace and bite.
Daily NBA stakes, fast and opinionated.
Fast arguments for serious NBA obsessives.
NBA arguments from the crowded couch.
Artis Woods discusses the Minnesota Timberwolves' inconsistent performance and their bounce-back win against the New Orleans Pelicans.
A recap of the Minnesota Gophers' 17-7 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers to retain the axe, with sponsor messages at the start.
A sports podcast celebrating the failure of the Wisconsin Badgers, with a focus on Gophers sports and rivalry.
A sports podcast host discusses the shocking news of Michael Malone coaching North Carolina men's basketball, with sponsor messages for Dickie's Barbecue and Score North advertising.
The hosts discuss the Minnesota Gophers' exit from the NCAA Tournament and explore the absence of Cinderella stories in this year's March Madness.
The podcast discusses the hiring of Brett Larson as the new head coach for the Minnesota Gophers hockey team and the expectation of winning a national championship.
Ross Brendel and Manny Hill discuss the emotional passing of Jessi Pierce and the Minnesota Gophers women's basketball team's Sweet 16 run.
Ross Brendel and Judd Zulgad react to Bob Motzko and Brad Frost leaving the Minnesota hockey programs, with both men framing the changes around modern expectations.
Minnesota women’s basketball got a No.
Gophers 101 grades Minnesota’s first season under Nico Medved after a March 8 senior night at Williams Arena and lands on a B for the men’s 8-12 Big Ten record.
Ross Brendel and Manny Hill assess Niko Medved’s first season after Minnesota defeated UCLA in front of an estimated 65–70% full Williams Arena.
Ross Brendel and Manny Hill discuss the Minnesota Gophers men's basketball team's start in Big Ten play, including a win over Northwestern, and question their ceiling.
A recap of the Minnesota Gophers' 17-7 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers to retain the axe.
The Minnesota Gophers secured bowl eligibility with a 23-20 win over Michigan State.