Author: David Shama

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor was asked if he’s considered naming the team Minneapolis because of the city’s financial commitment to Target Center.  He replied that franchise support is from various areas and Minnesota is “appropriate.”

Wolves forward Kevin Love said in the mid-January issue of Sporting News Magazine that his worst habit is “biting my fingernails—but I recently quit.”

The University of Minnesota athletic department sent a mailing to men’s basketball season ticket holders announcing the annual team banquet will start with a 6 p.m. social followed by dinner on March 7 in the DQ Room at TCF Bank Stadium.

New Oakland football coach Hue Jackson was a quarterback on the University of the Pacific team that beat the 1986 Gophers in the Metrodome.

Mr. Basketball chair Ken Lien announced 20 names as finalists for the 2011 award: Thomas Schalk, Apple Valley; Marquel Curtis, Armstrong; Marcus Alipate, Bloomington Jefferson; Ross Travis, Chaska; Jake White, Chaska; Ben Figini, Chisago Lakes; Zach Lofton, Columbia Heights; Raijon Kelly, Cretin-Derham Hall; Jonah Travis, DeLaSalle; Joe Coleman, Hopkins; Marvin Singleton, Hopkins; Alex Richter, Lakeville South; Seth Hinrichs, MACCRAY; Kyle Noreen, Minnesota Transitions; Cole Olstad, Plainview-Elgin-Millville; Lucas Brown, Roseville; Roosevelt Scott, St. Paul Johnson; Estan Tyler, St. Paul Johnson; Shelby Moats, Waconia; Eric Robertson, Wayzata.

None of the last five winners of the Miss Minnesota Basketball award have become Gophers.  Cassie Rochel, the 2010 winner, is playing at Wisconsin and averaging 0.6 points per game.

Badgers men’s coach Bo Ryan has based part of his success on recruiting Minnesotans including his two best players on this year’s team, center Jon Leuer and point guard Jordan Taylor.  Ryan entered this season, his 10^th, with a winning percentage in Big Ten Conference games of .713, the best in league history. Ryan’s teams have lost only 11 home games, including six conference games, since he started coaching the Badgers in 2001.

VERSUS had its most watched NHL All-Star game in the network’s history on January 30, averaging nearly 1.5 million viewers, a 36 percent increase over the 2009 game, according to a league news release. The telecast peaked at nearly two million viewers, more than double the viewership for the 2007 game on VERSUS (691,000). VERSUS had the No. 1-rated cable network programming in the time period among men 18-34 and was No. 2 among men 18-49 and men 25-54.  VERSUS was the No. 1 rated cable network programming in several cities, including Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia.

Steve Bellis, former coach at St. Catherine University, is the new Concordia-St. Paul women’s soccer coach.  He has over 15 years of soccer coaching experience and is a native of England.

The best player in the Gophers’ football recruiting class that will be announced today is Mahtomedi High School guard Tommy Olson, according to local recruiting authority Zach Johnson.

Johnson, who has been covering Gophers recruiting since 2003, told Sports Headliners that Olson is the “face” of new coach Jerry Kill’s first recruiting class, including Minnesota natives and players from other states.  “I think with Tommy Olson…you’re looking at, at least a three year starter on the line,” Johnson said.

Johnson, whose reporting is read on GopherIllustrated.com, groups four other Minnesota preps together when asked who the state’s second best player is.  He said Olson distances himself from anyone else and didn’t label a No. 2 player among Edina wide receiver Devin Crawford-Tufts (Gophers), Minnetonka defensive back James Farrow (Virginia Tech), St. Thomas Academy defensive lineman Anthony Hayes (Stanford) and Holy Family tight end-defensive end Peter Westerhaus (Gophers).

Rivals.com, the often quoted web authority on major college football recruiting, doesn’t give Olson or any other member of Kill’s projected recruiting class a four or five star rating.  Seventeen of the 21 players listed by Rivals receive three star ratings, and four of them are two stars, and Johnson is surprised Olson isn’t labeled a four.

Johnson couldn’t remember a time when the state’s best player wasn’t a four but he’s been told interior offensive linemen sometimes don’t receive high ratings because of the position they play.  “There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to be a great lineman in the Big Ten,” he said.

Kill’s class is ranked No. 49 in the country by Rivals.com and among Big Ten schools is listed ahead of only Indiana, Northwestern and Purdue.  “I wouldn’t call this (Minnesota’s class) subpar,” Johnson said.  “I would call it on-par with what you would come to expect from Minnesota.  When Mason was here (1997-2006) their recruiting classes were (ranked) in the 40’s and 50’s.”

Johnson believes the Gophers are “fortunate” to have as much quality in this class as they do given that Kill is a new coach and only had several weeks to recruit.  Johnson said recruiting is about “relationships” and it’s not fair to judge a head coach until his second class.  Former Gophers coach Tim Brewster’s second class was the best of his four, a top 25 nationally ranked group that included quarterback MarQueis Gray from Indianapolis.  That class was not only Brewster’s highest ranked class but surpassed any of his predecessor, coach Glen Mason.

Johnson said Kill’s expected class includes three players who had committed to him when he was coaching at Northern Illinois.  Offensive lineman Foster Bush, defensive back Marcus Jones and tight end John Rabe were Huskies commits.  Another Gopher commit, defensive end Drew Goodger, was recruited by Kill at Northern Illinois but hadn’t said he would play for the Huskies.

There won’t be a lot of media praise for the Gophers class but the lack of buzz fits with projections about Big Ten recruiting in general.  Rivals.com team recruiting rankings don’t include a Big Ten school in the top 10.  Ohio State is ranked No. 11      and Nebraska, No. 16, is the other Big Ten school in the top 20.  The mid-January issue of Sporting News Magazine listed Ohio State at No. 4 and Nebraska No. 18 but then didn’t include any other Big Ten schools in its top 25.

A Sporting News list of the nation’s top 100 prep players was dominated by high schoolers from southern states, Texas and California.  Worse news for the Big Ten was that conference schools often weren’t listed as the verbal commitment or even potential college choice for many players.

Johnson said the Big Ten needs to pay attention to such news.  There’s been a trend of the Midwest and Northeast not producing high school players like the South.  “Look at where the players are coming from,” Johnson said.  “There’s a reason the SEC is the best conference in football.  It’s not even close.

“The talent is in the South.  It’s much like in baseball.  I am afraid that college football in 10 years could resemble college baseball where…all your  dominant programs are going to be in the South and out West.  That’s something that’s got to be a big concern for the Big Ten.”

Although the rankings of prep players and recruiting classes is far from perfect, Johnson said fans can regard the listings as credible and an indication of things to come.  Ohio State winning the Big Ten most years and also outdoing its conference rivals in the recruiting rankings is no coincidence.

“Who wins the Big Ten every year?” Johnson asked.  “Who wins the Big Ten in recruiting every year?  Does that answer it for you.  You can talk all you want about all these stars mean nothing. …(But) when we’re sitting around watching football on January 5^th, 6^th and 7^th…we’re watching Alabama, Texas, USC, Ohio State (play in the major bowl games).

“I mean I am sorry.  You can try to do what you can with hidden gems, and sleepers and two star kids, but you tell me a program that’s winning big with those kids.  I’ll show you a lot more that are winning with four and five star kids.”

Alabama is No. 1, Texas No. 2 and USC No. 5 in the Rivals.com team rankings of recruiting classes for 2011.