Author: David Shama

Gopher basketball coach Tubby Smith has one scholarship remaining for next season after adding five recruits, three incoming freshmen and two junior college transfers.  He told Sports Headliners the final scholarship could go to a transfer from another school but didn’t predict it will happen, or offer specifics.

In recent weeks the staff has come close but lost out on Palmdale, California center Kris Faber and Champaign, Illinois guard Verdell Jones.  Minnesota may have pursued other players, too.  “We’re not going to find a freshman right now that can contribute,” Smith said. “The kids that committed elsewhere, they were going to be guys that would give us some depth but I didn’t see them as starters.”

The Gophers were 20-14 overall in Smith’s first season, finishing in sixth place in the Big Ten Conference standings with an 8-10 record.  Although the Gophers will be without three starters who used up their eligibility, Dan Coleman, Spencer Tollackson and Lawrence McKenzie, Smith said the team can be better next season.

“How good can we be?” Smith asked. “I never know how good we are. I just know that if they do the things we ask them to do and we can stay healthy, then I think we can be an improved team.  Now whether that equates into more wins is another thing.”

With a team that must prove it has talent and depth, the Gophers can’t afford to have eligibility challenges.  “We won’t lose anybody academically,” Smith said.  “Everybody had a good semester first semester.  Some guys gotta get some things done with exams, but, no, we’re not worried about losing anybody.”

The Gophers will have only three power forward-center types, and two are incoming freshmen, Ralph Sampson III of Duluth, Georgia and Colton Iverson of Yankton, South Dakota.  Jonathan Williams, a redshirt senior next season, averaged 3.0 points per game and shot free throws at 0.406 percent.   He played about 13 minutes per game.

“Jonathan Williams, we gotta make sure that he continues to grow cause he’s going to be our only front court player with experience in the Big Ten, other than Damian (Johnson),” Smith said. “And Damian gives away so much as far as weight (about 195 pounds) is concerned. …”

The much discussed off-season topic of improving the Vikings’ passing game most often focuses on 25-year-old quarterback Tarvaris Jackson.  The improvement must come from better performance among the team’s wide receivers, too.  Rick Spielman, the team’s vice president of player personnel, spoke with optimism last week when he discussed a group that includes young receivers Sidney Rice and Aundrae Allison.

Rice and Allison were rookies last season.  Rice, 21, caught 31 passes for 396 yards, a 12.8 average, and had four touchdown receptions.  Allison, 22, caught eight passes for 122 yards and a 15.3 average.

“Sidney Rice, we’re very excited about,” Spielman told Sports Headliners. “He’s a young, talented receiver that I think will just make another jump, and (he) made some impact for us last year.”

Spielman describes Allison as “maybe our most gifted athletic receiver.”  He also said Allison is an “explosive kickoff returner.”   Last season Allison averaged 28.7 yards on 20 returns including a 104 yarder for a touchdown.

Anticipation about the receivers, of course, includes how free agent acquisition Bernard Berrian will play.  The assumption is he will make a major impact on the team’s deep passing game.  His numbers last year included 71 catches (five touchdowns) and a 13.4 average per reception.

The arrival of Berrian allows Bobby Wade to become more of a secondary option than a long ball threat.  It’s a role that suits Wade better.  Last season he caught 54 passes (three touchdowns) and averaged 12.0 yards per reception.

Spielman said not to “discount” veteran wide receiver Robert Ferguson.  He will be playing his eighth NFL season in 2008 and Spielman praised his blocking.

The Timberwolves learn on Tuesday how they will do in the NBA draft lottery.  Wolves’ president Chris Wright said an announcement will be made soon as to who will represent the franchise at the lottery that determines the order of the first 14 teams selecting first round players in the June 26 NBA draft.

If the Wolves have one of the first two picks in the draft it will be interesting to see if the choice is Michael Beasley, the talented forward from Kansas State who personally may not be as solid as Derrick Rose, the point guard from Memphis.  Rose and Beasley are consensus projections as the top picks in the draft.  A Beasley pick may not be shrewd.

Wright told Sports Headliners during an interview that the Lynx expect season tickets to total about 1,500 again this year.  Average attendance of 5,000 or more is expected for home games, with crowds of more than 10,000 when group sales are high.

The Lynx open their season on Sunday at Target Center in a 5 p.m. game against          Detroit. The game will be televised by FSN North.

The Lynx roster has changed dramatically in the last two years and is now branded around Seimone Augustus, considered one of the best women’s basketball players in the world, and rookie Candice Wiggins, the third pick in the 2008 WNBA draft.  The WNBA will suspend its schedule in August to accommodate the Olympics, and Augustus figures to be a member of the U.S. basketball team.

Joe Mauer has hit safely in 20 of his last 22 games and is batting .380 (30-79) during that time.

Kevin Slowey has given up 20 home runs over 16 career appearances and 18 homers in 14 career starts with the Twins.  The team has scored three runs over Slowey’s last four starts while he has been in the game.  He was the losing pitcher in last night’s 5-3 loss to Toronto.

A spokeswoman for the 2008 U.S. Women’s Open reported via e-mail on Monday that the tournament “is currently tracking to be the most successful championship in history in ticket sales.”  The Open will be at Interlachen Country Club in Edina from June 23-29 and projected attendance is more than 135,000 for the week. Tickets have been sold to fans in 44 states and four foreign countries, Mexico, Japan, United Kingdom and Canada.

The Wild and WCCO Radio are accepting entries for a contest where the winner hosts the kick-off of the 2008 Wells Fargo Minnesota Wild Road Tour in his or her home. On Monday, June 9, from 5 to 9 a.m. the winner will host Wild players, NHL alumni, and the WCCO morning news team including Dave Lee.  To enter the contest, write an e-mail or letter explaining why your home deserves to be a tour stop.  Submit to: contests@wccoradio.cbs.com.

St. Thomas has won the 2007-08 MIAC men’s and women’s all-sports awards. For the Tommie men, it’s their 22nd overall all-sports award, and for the St. Thomas women it is the 17th in the 25-year history of the women’s award. Traveling trophies are awarded annually to the schools that accumulate the best all-sports records in men’s and women’s athletics.

A political source who spoke on condition of anonymity, said neither the Republican or Democratic candidates for president have decided on running mates but there’s intense scrutiny to learn about personal and public office weaknesses.  The source said Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, likely on the short list of Republican vice presidential candidates, will pass that test.  If that happens, Pawlenty becomes a heartbeat away from being president, or on track for a presidential bid in 2012 or 2016.  How ironic if a Minnesota Republican were elected president after the presidential bids last century of state Democratic heavyweights Hubert Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy and Walter Mondale.