Sorry for the lateness of Nugz and lack of content this week.  There is little motivation to blog this week, Buck is out of town and I may still be a bit down about the Vikings game on Sunday.  But there is one cure for the winter doldrums, and that would be a Gopher Hoops domination of Northwestern.

Bring on the Cats tonight!  The Gophers have a chance to rebound from their three game losing streak and beat  a team that may also end up on that NCAA bubble. 

• The loss of Al Nolen at the point has people wanting Cory Joseph even more.  Marcus Fuller has a nice article on the potential of Cory coming to Minnesota and playing with his brother for a couple years.  I know that most people don't get the chance to play at a school like UConn or Texas but the opportunity to play Big Ten basketball with your brother is equally (if not more) rare and I really hope that is the draw that brings Cory to the Gophers.
  
• A final recap of the MSU loss.  The Only Colors gives plenty of respect to the Gophers and is very pleased with the win that the Spartans "earned."
• Some Gopher athletes who participate in the non-money sports earned some nice honors over the past week.  Aaron Fortunato is the first Golden Gopher men's gymnast to earn a Big Ten weekly award since 2007.  Alicia Rue won her second consecutive Big Ten Field Event Athlete of the Week.  Rue is a pole-vaulter and currently owns the nation's top mark at 14-4 1/2.  And finally redshirt freshman Jack Szmanda was named the Big Ten Field Event Athlete of the Week after capturing the heptathlon title at the Jack Johnson Classic last weekend.
• Hammer and Rails takes a stab at how the Big Ten race will play out.  He tells us that a four-team tie at the top with 14-4 records is entirely possible.  The Gophers have to beat Wisconsin but lose to Purdue and Ohio State for things to play out as he predicts.
• A Sea of Blue hasn't been linked here in a while but it is a really good college hoops blog covering Kentucky.  They wonder if UK is really that good this year.  They are worthy of their current #1 ranking and are a Final Four contender but I'm not so sure they'll pull out the national title. 
  
• I'll have some Northwestern prep later this afternoon but until then go to Down With Goldy for the goods.