Lindy’s Sports College Basketball Magazine’s choice for “Most Entertaining” player in the Big Ten is Minnesota’s Rodney Williams. The 6-7 junior forward hasn’t approached his potential but his athleticism is eye-catching. In practice Williams has not only been in his usual role of small forward, but he has also played power forward.
Senior forward Trevor Mbakwe played like an All-Big Ten player last night in Minnesota’s opening exhibition game, a 71-58 win over Bemidji State. Mbakwe played hard and was an inside force scoring and rebounding for the Gophers, finishing with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Prep basketball authority Ken Lien emailed news that 6-foot-7 forward C.J. Neumann from Cretin-Derham Hall has committed to Wofford.
Wonder if anyone who sent a wedding gift last August is asking for a return after this week’s announcement that former Gophers ball hog Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian plan to divorce?
When the WNBA draft lottery is held Thursday, November 10, the Lynx have the second best odds of winning the No. 1 pick. The lottery is for teams who didn’t make the playoffs but the WNBA champion Lynx have Washington’s draft pick ─ currently slotted at No. 2 ─ because of a trade earlier this year. The lottery determines the first four picks in the draft.
Iowa athletic director Gary Barta compared his 2010 hire of basketball coach Fran McCaffery with Minnesota’s decision to choose Jerry Kill as the new Gophers coach. Both coaches were program builders at lower level schools before coming to the Big Ten and Barta said it’s not always the “sexy hire” who is the best person for the job.
Barta, who played high school football for Burnsville, describes Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz as the “best” football coach in the country. Under Ferentz Iowa has only two losing seasons in the Big Ten since 2000.
Wherever Kill has coached, he’s made special teams a priority. The Gophers’ two wins this season have turned on a few big plays including a blocked punt returned for the decisive touchdown against Miami (Ohio) in September and an onside kickoff that set up the winning drive in last Saturday’s win over Iowa.
Talkative Vikings punter Chris Kluwe hosts the “Know Your Vikings” segment on the Mall of America Field video screen during home games. He includes a question for the interviewee like this: If a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound?
Rookie tight end Kyle Rudolph didn’t hesitate with an “of course not” correct answer to that question.
Christian Ponder said in the October 31 issue of Sports Illustrated that Green Bay’s Clay Mathews told him during the Vikings-Packers game in Minneapolis last month to stop running because he “wasn’t Tim Tebow.”
In the preseason MIAC women’s hockey coaches poll, Gustavus received nine of 10 first place votes. A 2012 Gusties league title would be the program’s eighth in a row.
The men’s hockey poll resulted in considerably more difference of opinion, with St. Thomas picked to finish first in the conference race. The Tommies received 60 points followed by Gustavus (52), Concordia (51) and Hamline (49).
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