Maturi expects Gophers basketball coach Tubby Smith to have a new practice facility within five years or less. Preliminary planning including location of the facility has started. Both Maturi and Smith have had conversations with potential donors for the practice facility.
Smith’s Gophers play Wisconsin (19-6 overall, 9-4 in the Big Ten) tomorrow night at Williams Arena. That’s one of five regular season games remaining, including three at home.
Minnesota’s only impressive Big Ten win was against Ohio State at home on January 9. That was the first game back for Ohio State’s Evan Turner who hadn’t played for weeks because of a back injury. Since then Turner, who is the conference’s best player, has led No. 9 ranked (AP poll) Ohio State to nine wins in 10 games.
The Big Ten Network included former Gopher Voshon Lenard in a show about the top 10 Big Ten players during the 1990s.
Local TV viewership here of the Winter Olympics is expected to be among the highest in the country. NBC reported that Minneapolis market viewership on KARE 11 was the fifth best in the nation during the first four nights of the Olympics. On average, televisions in 365,000 homes here were tuned in per night starting with last Friday through Monday. NBC will broadcast more than 835 hours of the Olympics from now through February 28.
Patrick Reusse’s first afternoon radio show on KSTP had a bumpy start. Before he could introduce Gophers coach Tim Brewster on Monday the phones disconnected. Then a minute or two into the conversation an unplanned commercial followed by a public service announcement interrupted the interview. Reusse, who switched from a 5:30 a.m. show to a noon program because of KSTP’s new commitment to be a sports talk station, has criticized Brewster in the past but the two enjoyed a friendly chat on Monday.
Steve Watson is the new wide receivers coach for the Gophers. Watson is a former player and wide receivers coach with the Denver Broncos. He will recruit in Colorado, and has a son, Stephen, who is a defensive end for Michigan.
The Wild honored its five Olympians before its game on Sunday: Niklas Backstrom, Mikko Koivu and Antti Miettinen will play for Finland, while Martin Havlat and Marek Zidlicky will be on the Czech Republic roster. The Wild also had five Olympians in 2006: Marian Gaborik (Slovakia), Mikko Koivu (Finland), Filip Kuba (Czech Republic), Brian Rolston (USA) and Daniel Tjarnqvist (Sweden).
The Wild is expected to have its 400th consecutive sellout at Xcel Energy Center in its first home game after the Olympic Break, Sunday, March 7. The Wild has sold out every home game in team history, including all pre-season, regular season and playoff games.