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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Gophers coach Tubby Smith can win his 400^th career game if Minnesota defeats Ohio State on Saturday in Columbus.

Smith and staff hosted high school basketball recruits on Sunday at the Michigan State game including Colton Iverson of Yankton, South Dakota and Chad Calcaterra of Cloquet, Minnesota. Iverson, a 6-foot-10 senior, signed a national letter of intent with the Gophers last fall.  He told Sports Headliners the schools that he had been interested in committing to included national champion Florida before deciding on Minnesota.

What impressed him about Smith? “Oh, just everything,” he said.  “I knew he was a great person, off the court and on the court. He just impressed me everyway he could. From touring me around campus, talking about his leadership and what his goals were for the program. …”  Those goals, Iverson said, include winning Big Ten championships.

Calcaterra, also 6-10, is only a sophomore but is already drawing interest from schools like Minnesota and Michigan State.  Chad’s father, John, played high school basketball in Michigan against Spartans’ coach Tom Izzo.  Chad, who is one of the most coveted high school sophomores in the region, has only played in four games after missing about two months of the season with a foot injury.  During Sunday’s game he showed enthusiasm for the Gophers.

Minnesota associate athletics director Phil Esten told Sports Headliners that a virtual tour of the new TCF Bank stadium will be on the Web starting February 6, www.gophersports.com.  Esten said that from an elevated view the bowl shape of the new stadium can now be seen.  He expects the stadium to open on schedule in summer of 2009, with the athletic department having a finished facility about 30 days prior to the first game on September 12.

The stadium will seat approximately 50,000 but is expandable to about 80,000.  Esten said it will require extra expense to prepare the stadium infrastructure if stadium capacity were expanded beyond 80,000.

Esten’s grandmother is a stockholder in the Green Bay Packers.  Years ago she purchased two of the original 100 shares in the Packers.

Minneapolis Community and Technical College men’s basketball coach Jay Pivec hopes to celebrate his 500^th career coaching win with a victory tonight at home against Anoka Ramsey.

Marian Gaborik will represent the Minnesota Wild in NHL skill activities on Saturday and then play in the league’s all-star game on Sunday in Atlanta.  VERSUS will televise the Dodge/NHL SuperSkills on Saturday at 6 p.m. and the game on Sunday at 5 p.m.  This will be Gaborik’s second all-star weekend.  In 2003 he won the fastest skater competition.  Earlier this season against the New York Rangers he had the NHL’s first five-goal game in almost 11 years.

Gophers’ freshman goaltender Alex Kangas has been named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Rookie of the Week after he and his Minnesota teammates had a 1-1 tie and 2-1 win over UMD last weekend. He had 18 saves in the tie on Friday and stopped 25 shots in Saturday’s victory. Kangas ranks second among all NCAA Division I freshmen goaltenders with a 2.25 goals against average and third among rookie goalies with a .920 save percentage. He is undefeated in road starts with a 2-0-3 record.

Bethel guard Tim Madson is the MIAC men’s basketball athlete of the week.  Other athlete of the week selections are St. Thomas forward Carrie Embree (women’s basketball), Bethel center Dan Bonne (men’s hockey), Saint Mary’s goalie Brittany Lemke (women’s hockey), Macalester’s Nathan Young (men’s swimming and diving), and Carleton’s Kale Zicafoose (women’s swimming and diving). Also honored are the following track and field athletes: David Swanson and Ryan Doyle, both from St. Olaf, and Derall King of Hamline, and Katie Theisen and Carol Comp, both of St. Thomas.

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