Author: David Shama

The anticipation and determination was evident in Saul Smith’s words.  The Gophers assistant basketball coach was talking about next Saturday’s game against No. 9 ranked Louisville in Glendale, Arizona.

Although the Gophers are 9-0, this will be Minnesota’s first game against a nationally ranked team and only the second time playing a school from a major conference.  But there’s more to it.  Louisville is annually among the royalty of college basketball and coach Rick Pitino, eight years with Louisville, and before that coaching teams like Kentucky, the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks, will one day have the tag “legendary” associated with his name.  Pitino won a national championship at Kentucky and then was succeeded by Saul’s dad Tubby, who won an NCAA title in Lexington.  Tubby was once an assistant coach for Pitino at Kentucky.

No wonder the Gophers figure to be focused and excited for Saturday’s game which is the first of a doubleheader in the University of Phoenix Stadium (the Desert Shootout also includes Arizona State versus Brigham Young).   Saul told Sports Headliners the Gophers are determined to be prepared for the game that starts at 1 p.m. Minneapolis time and will be televised on FSN.

“We’re gonna know a lot about them,” Smith said.  “We’re dedicating…all three (assistant) coaches toward this scout(ing).  Usually it’s just one.  Everybody is going to get a shot at trying to scout against this team and put their wisdom into it. And we’re gonna call around (info from other teams)…and watch every film that they’ve played in the last year or so.  We’re going to try and dissect them.

“We want to win this game. We circled this game in the summer as a measuring stick to where we were.  We knew they were going to be a top 10 team in the nation. So this is where we’re going to measure ourselves against.”

Smith expects Pitino to be “relentless” in his preparation for the Gophers. That’s often a good word to describe Pitino teams on the court, too.  Louisville is known for its relentless defense (68 steals to opponents 39) and so far this season is giving up 56.1 points per game while averaging 80.  The Cardinals are 4-1 with their only loss to Western Kentucky (5-3) in Nashville, 68-54.

Louisville’s leading scorer is 6-8 freshman center Samardo Samuels, a Jamaican by way of New Jersey who is a former USA Today prep player of the year and is averaging 17 points per game for Pitino.  The Cardinals may have the best front court in the country with Samuels, plus forwards Earl Clark and Terrence Williams.  Clark, a slashing offensive player, supposedly returned for his senior season rather than become a first round NBA draft choice last spring while Williams, another senior, often gains attention for his playmaking.

It didn’t take long in a conversation for Smith to bring up the Samuels name and how the Gophers will try to counter with their own freshman center, Colton Iverson.  “I think he’s (Samuels) a future pro,” Smith said.  “He’s very strong down there. I think the match up with him and Iverson is going to be critical when it comes down to who is going to win the game. …”

Smith used the word critical, too, when talking about Minnesota’s Damian Johnson guarding Clark who is Louisville’s second leading scorer at 11.6 points per game.  Johnson, a 6-7 junior forward, is probably Minnesota’s best defender.

Smith said the Gophers want to be undefeated in nonconference games (two home softies remain after Louisville) but there’s more to it than that.  A win in December over highly ranked Louisville will help the Minnesota resume in March when selections are made to participate in the NCAA tournament.  “No question, because we feel like Louisville is a team that’s gonna make some noise in March,” Smith said. “And we feel like if we can come in and beat a team of that caliber we feel confident about our team.  …”

The Gophers will look back in March and know whether they had the reputation building satisfaction of beating a school that Smith said has its name in “capital letters” on the Minnesota schedule.

After the Vikings recovered a fumble, made an interception, returned a punt for a touchdown and scored three other touchdowns to take a 28-0 lead against Arizona yesterday, former Viking Mike Morris said on KFAN radio that the Purple had played the best half of football in Brad Childress’ three seasons as coach.

Marcus McCauley had an active rookie season last year after being drafted in the third round by the Vikings.  He started nine games at nickel back and was a regular for four of the final six games at left cornerback, replacing the injured Antoine Winfield. This season he’s started one game, participated in eight of 14 and didn’t even have a tackle until yesterday when he came up with three solo and one asssisted.

Ryan Longwell, the Vikings’ 34-year-old place-kicker, is also the team’s backup punter.  He hasn’t punted in an NFL game since 2006 when he kicked once for 27 yards.  Longwell, who was all-Pac-10 as a punter and place-kicker at California, practices punting in training camp but not during the regular season.  Although he averaged 41.9 yards per punt in college, he said the hang time on his punts wasn’t NFL caliber.

Mike Sherels told Sports Headliners that his brother Marcus had a disappointing season because of the right shoulder injury he incurred in the Indiana game on October 4.  Marcus missed one game and when he did play his effectiveness was limited as a tackler from his cornerback position.  Mike said post-season surgery on his brother’s shoulder is a possibility.  He also said Marcus had been named to a mid-season all-Big Ten team and that despite the injury didn’t give up a touchdown reception this season.  Marcus, a senior next season, could be one of the Big Ten’s best cornerbacks in 2009.

Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi was able to switch the start of the Minnesota-Michigan State basketball game on December 31 from a 5 p.m. start to 11 a.m. to avoid conflict with the Insight Bowl (Gophers and Kansas kickoff at 5 p.m.) but the move sparked both criticism and praise from Williams Arena ticket holders.  The new start time will be an inconvenience to some fans and an enhancement for others but regardless of your position Maturi is encouraging the Big Ten to adopt a future policy that will initially have to-be-determined start times for basketball games that are scheduled on the same day as conference bowl games.

The Insight Bowl is televised by the NFL Network which the majority of cable subscribers in this market don’t have as part of their programming package.  Although the NFL Network has allowed local market TV stations to televise the game in previous years, nothing has been announced for Minneapolis-St. Paul by the University or bowl officials.

Insight Bowl representative Matt Winter told Sports Headliners on Friday that this is the fourth year of an eight year deal between the network and the bowl.  The Insight Bowl used to be televised by ESPN but when bowl officials wanted the game played on New Year’s Eve the network couldn’t do so because of prior commitments, Winter said.

University president Bob Bruininks said he expects an event in the Phoenix area during the time of the bowl game to thank major donors to the new TCF Bank Stadium.  He also said eight of the school’s 12 Board of Regents will travel to the Insight Bowl.

Single women might be sobbing from Minneapolis to Montreal but Justin Morneau is about to become a married man.  He marries girl friend Krista next month.

Morneau is the recipient of the Tip O’Neill Award given by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and awarded annually to the Canadian player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball’s highest ideals. It is the second time in three years that Morneau has won the award.  O’Neill was a native of Ontario and acclaimed major league player in the 1800’s.  The former U.S. speaker of the House was named after the famed Canadian.

Forward Craig Smith has started each of the last four games for the Timberwolves and averaged 14.5 points and 5.8 rebounds.  He has also made 61.1 percent (22-of-36) of his shots.  The Wolves are 0-4 since Kevin McHale took over from Randy Wittman as coach and play in Sacramento tonight.

Apple Valley’s Varmah Sonie won the Mr. Football award announced yesterday afternoon at a banquet that recognized 10 finalists.  Sonie, a defensive back, wide receiver and kick returner, was Apple Valley’s most valuable player on defense, offense and special teams, according to Mr. Football committee member Jim Dotseth.  A three year member of the committee, Dotseth said the competition for the honor of being recognized as the state’s best prep player was the closest he’s seen.

Tim Murray, Murray’s restaurant owner, is already planning his annual summer major league baseball stops.  The itinerary calls for visits to new baseball stadiums in New York and Philadelphia.

Local author Ross Bernstein is excited about three new sports books available for holiday sales. “Sixty Years & Sixty Heroes” starts with 1948 and goes through 2008 featuring a memorable Minnesota event and a major contributor to the success.  “Slap Shot,” with forewords by Bob Costas and Gordie Howe, is the story of St. Paul’s Dave (Killer) Hanson, one of the infamous Hanson brothers from the movie “Slap Shot.”  “The Code” describes “unwritten rules” of baseball specific to subjects like performance enhancing drugs, stealing signs and brush-back pitches.  Learn more at www.bernsteinbooks.com