Dan Monson probably would still be coaching the Gophers if he had recruited more effectively.  What if Vince Grier, last year’s leading scorer at 15.7 points per game, had been joined in the starting lineup by former Minneapolis North star Kammron Taylor, a candidate now for all-Big Ten recognition at Wisconsin, and Patrick O’Bryant, the 7-footer from Blaine who was a No. 1 pick by Golden State in the 2006 NBA draft.

Interesting to see James Laurinaitis, the Ohio State sophomore linebacker from Hamel, Minnesota, win the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s best defensive player.  The news pains Gopher boosters who recall Laurinaitis attending Minnesota’s spring game before his senior year at Wayzata High School and word was he would become a Gopher.  Laurinaitis could become the first player to ever win the Nagurski award three times. 

The Twins’ 6.7 season rating on Fox Sports Net ranked behind only the Red Sox, Cardinals and Tigers among cable TV ratings for major league sports teams in their markets this past season, according to Patrick Klinger, Twins vice president of marketing. 

Bill Robertson, Wild vice president of communications and broadcasting, reported recently via e-mail that the team’s jersey “continues to be one of the most popular in all of sports.”  Wild jersey sales are second only to the Detroit Red Wings among NHL teams. The Wild’s iron range red is the club’s most popular seller followed by the road white jersey and the green jersey. Through late November the top sellers among player jerseys were Derek Boogaard, Brian Rolston and Marian Gaborik. 

The club recently produced a Wild-themed Monopoly game that retails for $45. Minnesota is the first NHL club to produce the game and it’s sold exclusively at all Hockey Lodge locations.  

Guess who was Bill Fitch’s first ball boy with the Cleveland Cavs?  It was Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel.  Fitch coached the Gopher basketball team before leaving the University to coach in the NBA with the Cavs in 1971.

A certain venerable sports columnist, one with close personal friends, occasionally likes to say while speculating about a topic that there is “zero chance” of something developing.  To borrow the phrase today, there is zero chance Bob Knight will be the next University of Minnesota basketball coach, replacing Dan Monson. 

With all of Knight’s history of on and off-court problems, and the political correctness of the University, your local cab driver is about as likely to be coaching the Gophers next season.  Yes, Knight would be a money producing machine, selling out Williams Arena and generating other revenues such as merchandising and fundraising.  A Midwesterner who won three national titles at Indiana before being fired, Knight probably would be interested in a return to a Big Ten Conference school and he has long admired the Minneapolis area. 

Jim Dutcher coached against Knight as the Gopher coach for 11 seasons, from 1975 to 1986.  What does he think about Knight and the Minnesota job? “No, that would be the last guy you would want to hire. …Not from a winning or competitive standpoint, but just from other standpoints, that would not be a good fit,” Dutcher answered. 

Knight is 66 years old and his age raises a question about how much longer he will coach anywhere.  I doubt, too, how effective Knight can be recruiting players from outside Minnesota.  Since his arrival at Texas Tech in 2001 he hasn’t shown an ability to attract the nation’s best players. 

Dutcher coached Flip Saunders and later Saunders was on Dutcher’s coaching staff.  There have been various theories advanced as to why Saunders might be interested in the Gophers’ job.  One I haven’t heard is a possible desire to get back at his former employer, the Minnesota Timberwolves.  A successful run coaching the Gophers could make the U the No. 1 basketball attraction in the state, not the Wolves who moved him aside as coach in 2005. 

Saunders is chasing his first NBA championship as coach of the Detroit Pistons and perhaps making $5 million per year.  Dutcher said he didn’t know if Saunders is interested in coming back to Minneapolis where two of his children attend the University.    

Dutcher believes Saunders, 51, would recruit effectively.  “I think so because he’s a competitior,” Dutcher said.  “He knows that winning is a lot more fun than losing. …” 

Rick Majerus, 58, also has ties to the Midwest with friends here and having coached at Marquette in Milwaukee.  He has been out of coaching since 2004 and while once considered a great coach his candidacy to lead the Gophers isn’t taken very seriously by many people.  His name comes up when there are job openings but he seems more interested in the attention than working again as a college coach. “I think he becomes less attractive as time goes by,” Dutcher said.

Freshmen, including three players drafted in the first round of this year’s NHL Entry Draft, have helped fuel the Gopher hockey team’s rise to No. 1 in the country and speculation this may be the best team ever at the University.  Talk is the Gophers will not see all nine of the freshmen on the roster return next season. 

Coach Don Lucia doesn’t agree that it’s certain all his freshmen will not return including defenseman Erik Johnson, the No. 1 pick in the draft, and also first round picks Kyle Okposo and David Fischer.  “I don’ think it’s a foregone conclusion but we have to plan for it,” Lucia said.  “I think it’s just one of those things we do not know.  Some of these freshmen I think are going to be very good players, but I don’t think any of the freshmen should be leaving after this year, but again as a coach you have very little say over that.”

Ask Lucia about the talent level of his team and whether it could be the best ever and he hedges.  While acknowledging the collective abilities, he talks about the youth of the team and the improvement that will come next season if his freshmen and other underclassmen return.  He recalled that the 2002 team would not have won the national championship if Jordan Leopold and Johnny Pohl had left early to play professionally.  “It’s (about) keeping these kids long enough where you get the benefit of them being an elite All-American type player,” Lucia said. 

In conversation about the team’s playmakers, Lucia talked first about senior Tyler Hirsch, the Gophers’ leading scorer.  “Tyler Hirsch’s ability to pass the puck is second to none,” Lucia said.  “He can really move the puck.” 

Lucia has been pleased with the leadership contributions of another senior, captain Mike Vannelli.  “He’s taken this young team under his wing and said, ‘I am going to be the leader of this team,’” Lucia said.  

There’s a lot of hockey to be played between now and April when the Gophers hope to make their way to the national championship game.  Last season in a stunning loss, the Gophers were upset by Holy Cross in the NCAA playoffs.  “For whatever reason, some guys lost their confidence in the finals and we just didn’t have time to get it back,” Lucia said.