Talk about timing. Gopher fans, did you see Louisville dominate once-No. 1 Tennessee last night in the “Sweet 16?” It was announced today that Minnesota will play Rick Pitino’s Cardinals next December during the first-ever “Stadium Shootout” in Glendale, Arizona.

Minnesota vs. Louisville, as well as the other scheduled matchup pitting BYU vs. Arizona State, will be the first-ever basketball games to be held at the University of Phoenix Stadium – home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals.

Since opening in August of 2006, the stadium has already hosted the 2007 BCS National Championship football game and February’s Super Bowl.

In other news, junior forward Jamal Abu-Shamala – with a GPA above 3.0 - was named to the Big Ten Academic Team on Thursday. Abu-Shamala is the first Gopher player to receive the honor since Adam Boone and Ryan Saunders following the 2005-06 season.

Lastly, the season finale of Minnesota Basketball: The Journey will air next Tuesday, the 1^st of April. The hour-long finale, which supposedly has some great behind-the-scenes highlights following Blake Hoffarber’s magical shot to beat Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament, starts at 8 PM CT.