It's my own personal pet belief that when Tubby Smith finally decided he'd had just about enough of Kentucky fans' bellyaching and cut loose for Minnesota, he enacted his revenge by placing a hideous curse on the position he left behind. So horrible was this curse that it affected not only the man who replaced him, but every other coach in the chain of succession that stretched across the country as a result of Smith's departure. Thus has Billy Gillespie struggled mightily to live up to expectations following Smith in Lexington; thus has Mark Turgeon struggled mightily to live up to expectations following Gillespie at Texas A&M; thus has Gregg Marshall struggled mightily to live up to expectations following Turgeon at Wichita St.; and thus has Randy Peel struggled mightily to live up to expectations following Marshall at Winthrop.
- Big Ten basketball last night: Thank you Wisconsin and Michigan. Both picked up victories on their home floors at the expense of Illinois and Penn State. That means the Gophers retain their third position in the conference, at least for now.
- Ohio State blog Eleven Warriors has a preview up of this weekend's game between the Gophers and Buckeyes in Columbus and concludes MInnesota is limping into the Value City Arena (as an aside, that has to be the worst name of any college arena in the country,save perhaps the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
- The Badger Herald has a short preview of the border battle taking place at Mariucci Arena this weekend.
- Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press has a column on football commit Hayo Carpenter. As the story goes, Urban Meyer phoned Carpenter every day, even after the JUCO wide receiver had verbally committed to Minnnesota. Apparently Carpenter wouldn't pick up the phone. That's a nice win for Brewster.
- The Associated Press has a story here about how the Gophers basketball team is (or isn't, rather) utilizing big men Colton Iverson and Ralph Sampson III down low on offense. It sure seems like Tubby Smith wants his guards to get the ball down low. But does anyone here think we do that enough?
- Seth Davis' ten story lines for the rest of the year includes a section on Tubby Smith and coaching vacancies. Apparently Davis thinks Smith leaving is a real possibility. I don't.
- Ground Zero East Lansing talks about the chant the Spartan kids went with Wednesday night. They chanted "Wash your face" to Colton Iverson. Kinda harsh.