Lawrence McKenziehas a knuckle sprain on his right hand that he admitted earlier this week bothers him.  “It’s pretty sore,” the Gophers’ senior guard said. “It’s something that gets bumped and bruised everyday at practice.  It’s hard for the swelling to go down but I wouldn’t blame the way I am playing on my hand. Sometimes when I get in a game I forget about it. …”

McKenzie’s scoring has been inconsistent.  He’s averaging 10.9 points per game after a career high of 14.9 last season. The Gophers play at Ohio State tomorrow night.  (Limited viewing here because the game is telecast on the Big Ten Network).

Stubhub.com lists a tickets price range of $56-$343 for the Gophers’ home game against Wisconsin on February 3.  The Iowa game on February 9 has a range of $57-$252.

Minnesota coach Tubby Smith is the cover story in this month’s Northwest Airlines in-flight magazine.  The feature is written by Jeff Shelman who covered Gopher basketball until this season for the Star Tribune but is now working in the paper’s news department.

Ali Lucia started work earlier this month as a news anchor and producer at Fox 47 TV in Rochester, Minnesota.  She’s the daughter of Gopher hockey coach Don Lucia.

Lucia’s Gophers have been outscored 34-18 in the third period, including 24-7 in WCHA games. But Minnesota has out shot its opponents in third periods with a 271-258 edge in overall games and a 178-145 advantage in the WCHA. The Gophers have out scored teams 51-33 in the first two periods.  Minnesota plays at Wisconsin tonight and tomorrow night.

There’s opinion that Ohio State award winning linebacker James Laurinaitis, the former Wayzata star, lacks the speed to excite NFL scouts.  That could be a reason he is returning for his senior season at Ohio State, rather than turning pro.  He hasn’t impressed in Ohio State’s two national championship games against the speed of Florida and LSU.

With the value of NFL football fullbacks who can block, don’t be surprised if the Gophers’ Justin Valentine is invited to a pro camp and makes the team.  He was a solid contributor for three seasons in the Gophers running game but didn’t fit in the new spread offense last year.

As of Tuesday, Minnesota Swarm goalie Nick Patterson led the National Lacrosse League in goals against average at 9.88 per game and ranked second in save percentage,.802. The Swarm has its first Minnesota-born player ever signed to a contract in Colin Achenbach of Burnsville, an Apple Valley High School alum.  The Swarm, 2-0, off to its best start in franchise history, plays at Rochester tomorrow night.

The women’s basketball team from Concordia University in St. Paul, is No. 2 nationally in the USA Today ESPN top 25 rankings of Division II teams.  The 2007 national champion women’s volleyball team met with Governor Tim Pawlenty earlier this week at the state capitol.

The Gophers’ track and field team will be honoring a trio of Big Ten Conference championship groups at a reunion on Saturday following the Jack Johnson Minnesota Invitational. The Gophers will welcome members of the 1998 Big Ten indoor and outdoor championship team, and the 2003 Big Ten outdoor champs.

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Tubby Smith majored in health and education at High Point College in North Carolina.  I would have guessed his major was psychology.  Smith seems like the best head doctor the Gophers have ever had for building confidence in his players.

The Smith way is to let everyone play, even those players who fill the lower end of the roster.  The coach’s mantra is to green light players who have open shots; even those who make fans bite their nails when they cast a ball toward the hoop.

Make no mistake, Smith is a demanding coach but he doesn’t scream at his players on the raised floor at Williams Arena and elsewhere.  At post-game news conferences he doesn’t rip his players like a courtroom attorney savaging an insurance company.

Such psychology has improved a team that was 9-22 overall last season, 3-13 in the Big Ten Conference.  The Gophers are 12-5, 2-3 in the conference today and are a better team with much of the same personnel as last season.

The University might have bestowed an honorary doctorate degree in psychology on Smith, had his Gophers pulled off upsets last Thursday and Sunday against nationally ranked Indiana and Michigan State.  There were no victories, though, as the Gophers lost two games by five points each.

Gopher senior guard Lawrence McKenzie believes the team has more confidence now that they can play with quality teams.  “We don’t really think about moral victories,” he said on Sunday.  “They’re highly ranked teams and we were right there, and we felt we could have won them, but that just shows you we’re a good team, too. …”

Senior center Spencer Tollackson was 0-7 from the foul line in the Indiana game and felt bad about disappointing Smith. “It’s just kind of sickening that I can’t produce the way that he wants and wishes I could,” he said last week.  “It’s really hard for me to say that but I mean you can’t come away empty. Like you can’t throw it in and then get fouled and not get a point. … “

What’s next for the Gophers are road games at Ohio State on Saturday, then at Michigan on January 31.  The Gophers have lost two straight games for the first time under Smith and the Buckeyes, 3-2 in the Big Ten, will be a formidable assignment. But then Smith said on Sunday that “we play pretty well on the road.”

There’s that confidence again.

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In the merry-go-round of Timberwolves lineups this season rookie Corey Brewer has started 17 of 40 games and averaged 22.5 minutes per game.  Brewer’s numbers substantiate his lack of playing time: 5.1 points, 3.80 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

The Wolves’ 2007 No. 1 draft choice, the seventh pick in the draft, has been a minimal contributor so far.  With a 6-34 record, the NBA’s worst, the Wolves desperately need players who can perform with skill and consistency, but other than center Al Jefferson no one has seized the opportunity from day one, although forward Ryan Gomes has impressed recently. Gomes has been in the starting lineup for the last 16 games and is averaging 16.2 points per game and 7 rebounds.

Given their draft history, the Wolves are on the spot with Brewer. A USA Today article last week listed the publication’s top 10 rookies this season.  Brewer didn’t make the list and five of the players were later draft choices than the Wolves rookie, and a sixth player, Jamario Moon of Toronto, wasn’t drafted.

Whether Brewer proves worthy of being the No. 7 pick deserves time but past drafts haven’t inspired fan confidence.  In 2006 the Wolves could have retained Brandon Roy, now one of the league’s most promising young players and scoring 19.3 points per game. Last year’s NBA rookie of the year averaged 16.8 in his first pro season.  The Wolves chose Roy on draft day, then traded him to Portland for Randy Foye whose scoring in his rookie season, 10.1 points per game, was less impressive than Roy. This season Foye hasn’t played a regular season game because of a knee injury.

In 2005 the Wolves drafted Rashad McCants with the No. 14 pick in the first round.  Forwards Danny Granger of Indiana and David Lee of New York were later first round choices that would have provided more size and consistent production. Granger averages 17.2 points per game for the Pacers and Lee averages almost eight rebounds per game coming off the bench for the Knicks.

Even casual Wolves fans know that in 2003 the franchise drafted high school player Ndudi Ebi when Josh Howard was available.  Ebi, of course, is out of the NBA now and Howard has become a star for Dallas, averaging 20.6 points per game.

Later this year the Wolves figure to have a lottery pick in the draft, maybe one of the first three choices.  Who the player will be and how he develops for the Wolves is anyone’s guess but this much is for sure: the HELP WANTED SIGN will still be out and spelled in capital letters.

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