Not much news going on in Gopher Nation (I still love that term, it was the one gift from Tim Brewster that I truly appreciate). The NCAA Tournament carried on without us and it was pretty entertaining. The Big Ten pretty much did what was expected until Purdue was rolled by VCU.
Anyway here is what I could pull together for this cold, Monday morning.
ANDRE HOLLINS is Tennessee's Mr. Basketball. Congratulations to the young man who won the award over Adonis Thomas (5-star SF going to Memphis, #15 overall according to Rivals). Unfortunately his White Station team did not repeat at State Champs. They lost in the state semis to Craigmont. Andre Hollins scored 44 points in their two state tournament games and shot 4/8 from behind the arc. The loss to Craigmont saw Hollins turn the ball over 10 times which is a tough way to go out.
Maybe I'm not exactly going out on a limb here but I believe firmly that Andre Hollins will be the best recruit of the Tubby Smith tenure. I'll be shocked if he doesn't rocket up the recruiting rankings when they get updated this spring. Currently Rivals ranks him as a 3-star, 126th overall. ESPN ranks him as a 4-star and 81st overall.
- SBN Minnesota has a good post on Gopher Hockey. Nathan Wells clearly states that M does not stand for Mediocre. We all know it stands for Maturi-ocre.
- Your are welcome, Wisconsin. Jon Leuer, Jordan Taylor and even Mike Bruesewitz carried the Badgers to the Sweet 16. You think Honeybadger cares?
- The baseball team had their Santa Clara series canceled this weekend, they should have played here instead of in that unpredictable weather in California.
- Gopher wrestling finishes 7th at the NCAA Championships.
- Congrats to St. Thomas for earning the D3 National Championship. Between playing and coaching I spent 10 years in the MIAC and while I'm not Tommie fan, this is a huge accomplishment for Tom Fritz, the University and the kids.
- Minnesota State-Mankato is in the D2 Elite 8. Just proof that there is some basketball talent in Minnesota.