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Saunders Coming Home (for Awhile)
With
the NBA All-Star break coming up this weekend it’s expected that Detroit
coach Flip Saunders will be back in
town to visit his family. He is also expected to be introduced at the
Gopher-Ohio State basketball game on Sunday along with others associated
with the Big Ten champion 1982 Minnesota team. Saunders was an
assistant coach on the team and the University is recognizing the 25th
anniversary of that group.
While
in town will Saunders meet with Minnesota athletic director Joel
Maturi about the Gopher basketball job? Hard to say but I doubt the
timing and circumstances are right for the meeting. Remember, it’s
difficult to keep such meetings secretive and Saunders is under contract
with the Pistons. (He has two years remaining after this season.)
Saunders is under pressure to not appear like he’s on his way out as
Detroit’s coach. A basketball source told me that in 2005 then Pistons
coach Larry Brown made it known he might have interest in the
presidency of the Cleveland Cavs. That reportedly angered Pistons owner
Bill Davidson and even though Detroit made it to the NBA finals
it was long before decided that Brown would not be kept on as coach for
the next season.
Neither the Gophers nor Saunders have to negotiate the Minnesota job in
February. More likely talks will begin later. No one knowledgeable I
talk with disagrees that Saunders is the Gophers’ first choice and most
think he could be interested in the job.
In
the meantime, other names the Gophers should consider are former
Stanford coach Mike Montgomery and Washington State’s
Tony Bennett.
Montgomery was at Stanford for 18 seasons and
is the school’s most successful coach ever. His teams enjoyed top 10
rankings, won four Pacific 10 Conference championships and participated
in the NCAA tournament 12 times. His winning percentage of .702 is
based on 393 wins, 167 losses.
Bennett (not to be confused with the
80-year-old music icon) is in his first season with Washington State, a
school that is more often a burial ground for ambitious coaches rather
than a launching pad. Bennett, 37, has the Cougars ranked 10th
in the Associated Press national poll with a 21-4 record.
He has ties to the Midwest having played at
the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and grown up under his dad,
coaching legend Dick Bennett who revived a long dead basketball
program at UW-Madison before finishing his career at Washington State.
Known for his integrity and character, the 37-year-old Bennett once was
an assistant coach at Wisconsin where he recruited Devin Harris
(now starring with the NBA’S Dallas Mavericks) and Alando Tucker,
one of the nation’s top players at Wisconsin this season.
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No one knowledgeable I talk with disagrees
that Saunders is the Gophers’ first choice and most think he could be
interested in the job.
Flip Saunders
The
37-year-old Bennett once was an assistant coach at Wisconsin where he
recruited Devin Harris (now starring with the NBA’S Dallas
Mavericks) and Alando Tucker, one of the nation’s top players at
Wisconsin this season.
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Twins Talk: China, Mauer & More
The
New York Yankees and Chinese government have agreed to work together to
develop baseball in the Communist country of over 1 billion people.
The Yankees will be sending personnel to China to instruct players and
plan to open academies there, according to a recent article in USA
Today.
Twins
executive Bill Smith, who oversees the club’s baseball academies
in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, said Minnesota presently has no
plans to copy the Yankees plan, although the team has been and remains
interested in talent from Asia. “Howard Norsetter is our
international coordinator,” Smith said. “I know Howard has made some
inroads all across Asia.”
Smith
said baseball is “growing all across the world” and the Twins, for
example, signed an outfielder (Wang-Wei
Lin) this winter from
Taiwan who will report soon to the club’s minor league camp. Norsetter
has been working for the Twins since the late 1980s when he began
scouting in Australia. His scouting territory has even included Canada
where he found Corey Koskie and Justin
Morneau.
Jake Mauer said his son Joe has been
working out in Florida and preparing for spring training. One of
baseball’s most eligible bachelors, Joe doesn’t have a steady girl
friend, according to his dad.
Twins
president Dave St. Peter said the public’s “expectations are
high” for the coming season. The excitement includes anticipation of
another division title and more star power among players than fans have
known in the recent past. St. Peter estimated last week that about
35,000 tickets have already been sold for the Twins’ home opener on
Monday, April against Baltimore.
According to the Twins web site, three new
Hormel bobblehead doll giveaways are planned for the 2007 season: Joe
Mauer batting title bobblehead (Saturday, June 9), Justin Morneau MVP
bobblehead (Friday, July 20) and a Michael Cuddyer
bobblehead (Saturday, September 15).
Mauer has signed a few four year
contract but Morneau is signed only for this season. General
manager Terry Ryan has said at least twice on talk radio this
week that he is willing to reopen discussions to sign Morneau to a
multi-year contract.
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Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Twins
Joe Mauer
The Twins are planning bobblehead
giveaways of Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer.
Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Twins
Justin Morneau
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Worth Noting & Quoting
Former University of Minnesota men’s tennis coach
David Geatz has
moved to Hong Kong. “I am running the Hong Kong Country Club tennis
program,” Geatz wrote via e-mail earlier this week. “Hong Kong is an
amazing place and I love it. I also plan on traveling all over Asia to
check out Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, etc. The country club I work at
is probably the nicest in Asia. …The program is very active with a lot
of good players and I hope to develop the next Hong Kong Davis Cup team
from our juniors.”
Timberwolves president Chris Wright told Sports Headliners that
Sunday’s sellout crowd at Target Center for the Wolves-Celtics game was
the franchise’s fourth of the season, compared to just one last season.
The Wolves set a franchise record for group tickets at one game with
6,300 and Wright said 157 stand room only tickets were sold. Impressive for a team that had lost six consecutive games, hasn’t made
the playoffs since 2004 and was playing against the Celtics, losers of
17 straight.
Wright said the Wolves sold 7,000 season tickets for the 2006-2007
season. The first season in Target Center Center, 1990-91, the total
was about 16,000.
Clint Brewster is the only Gopher included in ESPN’s top 150
recruits (ranked No. 45). ESPN.com reports the Denver
quarterback’s offers included Illinois, Tennessee and South Carolina.
The
Indianapolis Star Web site reported last week that wide receiver Tray
Herndon from Jacksonville had been expected to sign with Indiana but
instead chose the Gophers. Herndon was named to the Florida Class 2A
all-state team.
The Vikings are looking for season ticket buyers.
Two-thirds of all 2007 Vikings season ticket locations will have the
same or lower price than 2006, with virtually all remaining locations
increasing by about 2% to 4.5%, according to team management. There
will be 11 pricing options on season tickets, three more than last
year. Prices (including admissions tax) range from $99 (limited view)
to $1,160.00.
Over 4,000 upper level seats will be priced at $196.10
per seat for the season. “We are excited about creating a wider
variety of choices for our fans,” said Steve LaCroix, vice
president of sales and marketing for the team. “Our $196.10 season ticket will be one of the
lowest-priced season tickets in the NFL.”
Canterbury Park will open its 2007 live racing schedule on Saturday, May
5. That’s the same date as the Kentucky Derby and local race fans will
be drawn to the Shakopee facility by that event, too. Total purse money
for the 68-day meet will exceed $10.3 million.
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Clint Brewster is the only Gopher included in ESPN’s top 150
football
recruits (ranked No. 45).
Two-thirds
of all 2007 Vikings season ticket locations will have the same or lower
price than 2006, with virtually all remaining locations increasing by
about 2% to 4.5%. |
