St. Thomas football coach Glenn Caruso will be the speaker on Thursday, November 10 at the C.O.R.E.S. luncheon in Bloomington. The undefeated Tommies are ranked with the top teams nationally and could win a Division III national championship. C.O.R.E.S. members can contact Jim Dotseth for more information, dotsethj@comcast.net. C.O.R.E.S is an acronym for coaches, officials, educators, reporters and sports fans.
Myron Medcalf has left the Star Tribune to join ESPN.com. He’s been replaced as the Gophers basketball beat writer by Amelia Rayno who joined the newspaper as an intern in 2010.
Gophers assistant basketball coach Saul Smith admired former Green Bay Packer Sterling Sharpe while growing up. Smith’s dad Tubby also wore Packer green while playing basketball in high school so Saul grew up a Packers fan and was at Mall of America Field on Sunday cheering for Green Bay.
Tubby Smith said he’s seen enough in early practices to be impressed with this team’s shooting. The best since coming here from Kentucky in 2007? “No question about it,” he said.
Prior to Monday’s practice, Smith said freshman Joe Coleman had made 50 percent of his three point attempts in practices while redshirt freshman Oto Osenieks had converted 46 percent.
The Gophers ran out of point guards last season in part because players transferred either before or during the season. Sophomore point guard Maverick Ahanmisi is the team’s one returnee at the position. He’s competing with newcomers Andre Hollins (freshman) and Julian Welch (junior college transfer) to determine the No. 1 point guard. Ahanmisi said he wants to be the starter but is willing to accept a reserve role if necessary and plans to spend his career with the Gophers.
Smith said none of the point guards has emerged as the best but Welch “probably has the least turnovers.” Andre Hollins had several stitches in his cheek at practice on Monday after a recent collision with Austin Hollins.
Lester Patrick Trophy 2011 honorees Mark Johnson, Bob Pulford, Tony Rossi and Jeff Sauer will be at the RiverCentre in St. Paul tonight for an awards ceremony. The trophy honors individuals for “outstanding service to hockey in the United States.”