When it comes to men’s pro drafts, the Gophers were truly elite in 2024

It started with Tyler Nubin.

Though it was no surprise that the standout Gophers football safety was chosen in the NFL Draft in late April, going No. 47 in the second round to the Giants, every streak has to start somewhere.

Next, it was Cam Christie’s turn. The Gophers men’s basketball freshman was grabbed by the Clippers last month at No. 46 in the second round of the NBA draft.

A few days later, three incoming Gophers men’s hockey players were picked in the NHL draft. And then earlier this month, two Gophers baseball players were chosen in the MLB draft.

It was a clean sweep of the four major men’s pro sports drafts, with at least one Gophers player chosen in all of them. Only one other school, Boston College, could make that claim this year.

For Thursday’s Daily Delivery podcast, I talked to Gophers senior associate athletic director Mike Wierzbicki about the accomplishment.

“We were tracking it to see how it played out and, and obviously a really cool opportunity to celebrate Minnesota and see our student-athletes to have their name called,” Wierzbicki said. “And it’s an awesome testament to what our coaches and student-athletes are doing here at the U of M every day.”

Now, obviously, hockey is the great eliminator when it comes to a lot of big-time athletic schools duplicating the feat. North Carolina, for instance, had first-round picks in the NFL (Drake Maye) and MLB (Vance Honeycutt) as well as a second-round pick in the NBA (Harrison Ingram), but there was no Division I men’s hockey program there last time I checked.

In general, the Gophers have a decent chance of running the table any year they have a men’s basketball player drafted. But aside from Daniel Oturu (2020), you have to go back to 2004 and Kris Humphries to find another Gopher picked in the highly selective two-round NBA draft.

“Hockey certainly has its own opportunity to narrow that pool a little bit, but having an opportunity to be represented in the NBA was a tremendous one for Cam,” Wierzbicki said. “With how fast he progressed ... at Minnesota, (it) was wonderful to see him achieve that potential.”

So how about next year? Maybe the Gophers can go 5-for-5 and add a WNBA pick to the mix?

“I’m not going to put that pressure on coach [Dawn] Plitzuweit and our women’s basketball staff,” Wierzbicki said, “but no doubt about it, we’re excited with what they’re doing.”