Mike Rand's five things to watch for this week in sports

• It will be a long time before I get used to the Big Ten men's basketball season starting this early, but the calendar says the Gophers play at Iowa on Monday, and we have no choice but to believe it. You can watch the 7 p.m. tipoff on BTN.

• Baseball's winter meetings are ongoing in San Diego and run through Thursday. While the meetings are about more than just negotiations and signings, that's all anyone really cares about. There are indications that some big things could happen early this year after lukewarm markets the past two offseasons. Maybe the Twins can get a starting pitcher for Christmas?

• The Wild had to play 20 of its first 30 games on the road this season, and by reeling off an 11-game points streak in the midst of that stretch Minnesota has set itself up to capitalize on the flip side: Thirty-one of its final 52 games are at Xcel Energy Center, including Tuesday's game against Anaheim.

• The Gophers volleyball team had to fend off two match points before rallying to defeat Creighton this past weekend to reach the NCAA Sweet 16, but there is little time to savor the win. Up next for seventh-seeded Minnesota is a matchup with 10th-seeded Florida in the region semifinals Friday in Austin, Texas.

• The Vikings shouldn't overlook the Chargers on Sunday. Traveling to play on the West Coast has traditionally been difficult for NFL teams (the Vikings included), and Los Angeles has a positive point differential even though it only has a 5-8 record — with both marks helped by this past weekend's blowout of Jacksonville.