Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners Ricky Rubio’s torn ACL was “pretty serious” and he anticipates the team’s starting point guard will be playing in six to eight months following last week’s surgery. Taylor was impressed with Rubio’s first season in the NBA, and not just for the Spanish guard’s playmaking including 8.2 assists per game.
“He’s so positive,”Taylor said. “He doesn’t talk about his own personal goals. He’s into helping others and seeing the team do well.”
Without Rubio, the Wolves likely won’t qualify for the playoffs despite the headline making season of Kevin Love. In Love’s fourth season he has frequently drawn praise as the NBA’s best power forward.
“He’s developed much faster and further than I think the real basketball people anticipated, and even those who saw all the potential,”Taylor said.
Former Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders said Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg called him to ask about how several years ago Saunders used 6-11 forward Kevin Garnett as a ball handler and facilitator of the offense. Hoiberg featured 6-8 forward Royce White in a similar way this past season.
Jabari Parker, a junior guard-forward from Simeon Career Academy in Chicago, has been named Mr. Basketball in Illinois. Parker is pals with Apple Valley sophomore point guard Tyus Jones. The two are among the most recruited young players in the country and there’s speculation Parker and Jones will attend college together.
Siyani Chambers from Hopkins High School was named Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball. He will attend Harvard. The four finalists and their college choices: Joey King, Eastview High, Drake; Sanjay Lumpkin, Benilde-St.Margaret’s, Northwestern; Johnny Woodard, Duluth East, undecided; Isaiah Zierden, Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Creighton.
Jay Pivec, National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame coach and head coach at Dakota County Technical College, will speak on the topic of “Play More Zone, Win More Games” on Sunday at the National Association of Basketball Coaches annual convention in New Orleans. He will be the only NJCAA coach speaking.
Twins starter Francisco Liriano ranks second in strikeouts (26) among all major league pitchers in spring training.
The CBS Evening News reported on Tuesday one of the remaining sixty 1909 Honus Wagner baseball cards is being auctioned this spring and could command a price of $1.5 million.
MIAC coaches’ polls predict St. Thomas will win the conference baseball and softball league championships.
Coach John Anderson’s Gophers baseball team opens the Big Ten schedule today against Michigan, with additional games on Saturday and Sunday against the Wolverines. All games are at the Metrodome.
Tweet from Gophers offensive lineman and Minnesota native Jimmy Gjere: “If you attend the U of M don’t wear other schools clothes like that W word across the border or the O state place.”
Augsburg running back Tyler Maxwell, who tore his ACL late last season, is expected back for the first game in 2012, according to an MIAC source. As a freshman he rushed for 121.3 yards per conference game, best in the MIAC.
According to a Minnesota Swarm news release, the local pro team runs the largest youth box lacrosse league in America with nearly 900 participants. Quoting a 2011 Sporting Goods Manufacturer Association participation report, lacrosse is America’s fastest growing sport. Minnesota has 83 boys high school lacrosse teams and 71 girls.