Gopher basketball had no trouble with Mt St Mary's last night, cruising to an 85-56 victory. Rodney Williams had 5 dunks and 12 points in the first half, before becoming a cheerleader for the second. The Gophers started the game on an 11-0 run and led 51-18 at half. And Trevor Mbakwe didn't even score much, although he continues to improve on his free throw shooting.
Down with Goldy reviews the lopsided Gopher hoops victory.
After splitting with St Cloud last weekend, Gopher hockey fell to Nos. 2 and 3 in the country. Unbeaten Merrimack is the top team in both polls, while Minnesota now sits second in the USA Today poll and third in the USCHO poll behind Notre Dame.
Also in that same blog post from Roman, just in case you didn't know, Bemidji State beat North Dakota Sunday for the first time in 41 years. So there's that. Oh and Sioux super-freshman Rocco Grimaldi is out 6-8 weeks with a knee injury, the same one that's hampered him for most of the season. And finally I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the University of North Dakota will no longer be the Fighting Sioux as of December 1. Good times up in Grand Forks right now. If you're looking to do something nice for somebody this holiday season, lend a sand blaster or some power tools or a couple buckets of paint to the folks up there at Ralph Engelstad Arena, because there's a LOT of Sioux logos in the arena that will need to go away very soon. How many? Try 2000 or so. It'll at least give the folks in Grand Forks something to do on those long winter nights when the hockey team isn't winning.
Gopher football is ranked 11 of 12 in this week's OTE Power Poll that compares teams to holidays. Ted Glover calls Minnesota President's Day:
This used to be a big holiday, back in the 50's and 60's. It's largely overlooked and forgotten now, much like Minnesota football, collegiate or professional, for that matter.
I...yeah I have no comeback for that. Damn you, Ted Glover!
Finally, the big non-Penn State news in college football- well besides Urban Meyer being the next coach at Ohio State- is that Arizona hired Rich Rodgriguez. Mark my words, in three years or less, the Cats will be competing for the Pac 12 South. Rich Rod may not have been a good fit at Michigan, but the man can coach offense, and once he gets HIS kind of players in there to fit his offense, the Wildcats will be good.