Author: David Shama

The mess in Columbus changes the Big Ten landscape.  The OSU football program is expected to be penalized harshly by the NCAA with sanctions likely to include severe reductions in scholarships and bans on bowl games.

The Buckeyes will be knocked off their throne as King of the Hill in the conference.  Ohio State will be better than your average Big Ten team in coming years, but it’s difficult to imagine the Buckeyes being among the elite of college football.

That reality can be spun a couple of ways.  Ohio State’s fall is bad for a league that could only boast about the Buckeyes as a national superpower.  Talking about the passion and talent in the program Mona said, “There was almost a southern culture to it.”

Ohio State’s demise will create more parity in the Big Ten.  The Buckeyes will lose some games to teams that in the past were put in the win column before the season started.

Two of the programs that look ready to feast on the Buckeyes’ misfortune are Michigan and Nebraska.  The Buckeye haters in Ann Arbor will be partying all summer about the Ohio State scandal.  On the field, if new head man Brady Hoke can coach and find a defense, the Wolverines will soon be avenging those losses to the Buckeyes.  And perhaps in a big way.

Nebraska, winner of five national championships since 1970, begins its first football season ever as a Big Ten member later this summer.  “This is incredible timing for Nebraska,” Mona said.  “They have to be in rejoice mode.”

The Cornhuskers, who are drawing a whisper or two about a possible 2011 national title, can now move right to the top of the Big Ten football pile.  Ohio State, Wisconsin and other programs might not like it but that’s reality based on history and a loaded 2011 roster that includes dynamic playmaking quarterback Taylor Martinez and a stud defense.

With the Gophers playing in the Legends Division, and Ohio State a member of the Leaders Division, the two schools will meet infrequently.  The Gophers’ media guide lists schedules through 2014 but no games between Minnesota and OSU.

Ohio State has won 43 games, Minnesota seven in the rivalry that began in 1921.  The bully from Columbus might be scary good again before the next game rolls around.

Gophers’ athletics director Joel Maturi wrote in an email to season ticket holders last week that over $1 million is expended to “counsel, advise, tutor and mentor our student-athletes.”   He also said, “Nothing is more important than leaving the University with a degree.”

Phil Steele’s 2011 College Football Preview lists the Gophers’ Troy Stoudermire as the first-team kick returner on the magazine’s All-Big Ten team.  Minnesota wide receiver Da’Jon McKnight and linebacker Gary Tinsley are third-teamers.

Stoudermire has 2,929 kickoff return yards in his college career and needs 189 more to tie the NCAA record.  With 16 more returns he will have 130 and can tie that NCAA record.  The Dallas senior has a career average of 25.7 yards but no touchdowns.  “He’s the best I’ve ever seen who has never returned a kickoff for a touchdown,” said former Gophers radio analyst Dave Mona.

Will Kevin McHale include Jimmy Williams on his coaching staff in Houston?  Williams was an assistant coach with the Gophers when McHale played at Minnesota.  As a Timberwolves executive, McHale approved the hiring of Williams as an assistant coach.  Williams lives in Houston.

McHale, Flip Saunders and John Kundla are the only former Gophers ever to hold head coaching jobs in the NBA.

McHale’s former teammate with the Gophers and Boston, Ray Williams, is now working for the park and recreation department in Mount Vernon, New York.  Williams had been homeless and living in a car in Florida.

Lynx guard Lindsay Whalen had five total rebounds in her first two games of the WNBA season including last night’s home opener at Target Center.  She now needs 32 more to become the third player in league history to have 2,500 career points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists.

Former Timberwolves’ guard Corey Brewer has played five minutes in one game for Dallas in the NBA Finals against Miami.  Another ex-Wolves’ player, forward Brian Cardinal, is averaging .5 minutes per game.  The Heat leads the series 2-1.

The Tapemark Charity Pro-Am starts Friday at Southview Country Club in West St. Paul.  Past tournament winners have included Don Berry (six times champion), George Shortridge (five times) and Tom Lehman (1990 title).

Covering the Twins beat with notes and comments:

The team’s awful bullpen has a major league worst 5.58 ERA, according to stats from espn.com.  Last season Minnesota’s pen finished eighth best in the big leagues with a 3.49 ERA.

The Twins’ front office chose to rid themselves of bullpen pitchers fans are now seeing in their dreams.  Without relievers Jon Rauch, Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier, the franchise now has a bullpen that might not even be that effective in Triple A which is where some of their pitchers belong.

Contrast the work of the Twins’ front office with the low budget but successful operation in Tampa Bay.  Last season the Rays’ bullpen had a 3.33 ERA, the fourth best in the majors and tops in the American League.  This season the Rays’ relievers, despite a rebuilt pen, are still effective with a 3.60 ERA, sixth best in the AL.

Sports Illustrated reported in its May 23 issue that the Rays lost their six top relievers during the offseason.  “The Rays have built another good bullpen by chasing skills rather than last year’s statistics,” according to S.I.

Twins fans looking for encouragement will be tracking much hyped infielder Miguel Sano this summer when he plays in the Gulf Coast League.  Sano, who turned 18 last month, might be the organization’s best position prospect.

The 6-3, 195 pound native of the Dominican Republic was ranked last year by Baseball America as the best power hitting prospect in the Twins organization.  Twins general manager Billy Smith compared Sano on WCCO Radio’s Sports Huddle last month with Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera, a muscular player who has been among baseball’s premier hitters and sluggers the last several years.

The Twins signed Sano to a bonus contract in 2009 for a reported $3.15 million.  In 41 games and 148 at bats with the Twins entry in the Gulf Coast League last year, he hit .291 with four home runs and 19 RBI.  He will be back with the same team in the Gulf Coast League when the schedule starts later this month.