Timberwolves’ TV analyst Jim Petersen is a former McDonald’s All-American who played at St. Louis Park High School, later was a standout for the Gophers and played eight years in the NBA. Petersen was asked recently if he’s disappointed in Wolves’ 20-year-old rookie Kevin Love, who is coming off the bench, playing an average of 23.6 minutes while averaging 8.3 points and six rebounds.
“No, because I know how hard his job is,” Petersen said. “I know he’s only 20 years old. I didn’t expect him to have huge success right out of the box, although he’s impressed me in a lot of ways.
“He’s not been a disappointment. I know how hard his task is to deal with grown men up here. He’s shown me a lot already. I think it’s just a matter of time before we say he’s our second best player, and there may be a time he may be our best player, but not yet. I would still rather have Mike Miller and Kevin Love over O.J. Mayo even though Mayo is playing pretty well.”
Miller, 28, and Love came here on draft night, along with other players involved on both sides in a trade with Memphis. Mayo has been taking a lot of shots while starting for Memphis. He’s averaging 39.2 minutes and 20.6 points per game.
Petersen thinks Mayo may well become an NBA all-star game player but it’s too early to know whether he can achieve superstardom. “He’s going to be an A player, it looks like,” Petersen said.
The Wolves host Phoenix tonight at Target Center and among the storylines for the Suns is that 36-year-old center Shaquille O’Neal is playing the fewest minutes per game of his career. Through games of last week he was playing 27.5 minutes per game while averaging 15.4 points and 8.6 rebounds. Wolves’ 7-foot center Jason Collins likely will start the game guarding the powerful O’Neal, 7-1, 325. Collins, who faced O’Neal when he was a rookie with New Jersey in 2002, told Sports Headliners he starts pushing O’Neal away from the basket when the big center’s team has the ball and “you can’t let him hit you first.” Often the contact starts at the free throw line, sometimes at the three point line.
“I think the refs over the years have let you get away with more stuff against him because he is so big,” Collins said. “…My going up against Shaq started my rookie year in the finals. I was coming off the bench then. It’s one of those things where you see how the game is going. You just gotta be physical with him. … Like I said before, you can’t wait for him to hit you.”
Among the MIAC football award winners is league MVP Royce Winford, a two-way player from Augsburg. On offense, the 6-2 receiver caught 75 passes for 944 yards and 12 touchdowns. As a defensive back, he had three interceptions during conference play.
Concordia junior defensive tackle Travis Aufderheide received the 2008 Mike Stam Award as the league’s top interior lineman. Aufderheide had 4.5 sacks and 7 tackles for loss for a Cobber defense that led the MIAC in rush defense.
Carleton head coach Kurt Ramler is the MIAC Coach of the Year. Ramler, in his third season, coached the Knights to a 7-3 record, 5-3 in the MIAC. Carleton had its first national ranking since 1992. The Knights’ seven wins equaled the program’s second-highest win total over the last 50 seasons.
A vote of conference coaches determined award winners.