Golden Nugz - 12.10.12 - Welcome To The Pre-Holiday Doldrums

Before we get to a quick pictorial recap of the weekend and some links, I just want to say how much I dislike the next two weeks from a college sports perspective. First, no hockey until the end of the month. Second, basketball goes on an extended hiatus (11 days) after tomorrow. Third, no Gopher football until the end of the month. Sure, the bowls start this weekend, but there isn't a single bowl that excites me until the 22nd. Bleh. HATE HATE HATE.

This Weekend in Pictures

This was a busy weekend for the Gopher sports teams. Let's take a look at the results for a few of them represented in picture form.

Friday:

Volleyball

Hockey

via funnystuff.sunnysunnyspain.com

Saturday

Volleyball

Hockey

via www.simpsoncrazy.com

Basketball

Yea, stupid Pac-12 Network...

Basketball

- 500 WINS RECAPS: ESPN1500, PiPress, STrib, AP, and The Daily all talk about the USC game and how it's Tubby's 500th win. I'm assuming you'll want to read some of these since no one got to see the damn thing. MUST. KILL. PAC-12. NETWORK.

- Also, actual moving pictures of what the game looked like.

- Tyler Mason looks at the development of Rodney Williams as a team leader.

- Amelia talks about how Williams contributes every night and doesn't force his stat lines.

- Fuller says that Trevor Mbakwe is making the most out of his reduced minutes. It's a nice MSM counterpoint to the stats ignorant idiocy penned by CBS Sports' Jeff Goodman last week. Fuller also has a blog post on the same subject.

- Amelia says that Trevor continues to make strides as he continues to work his way back into form.

- Shooter talks about the Gophers' winning ways.

- The Chicago Trib takes a look at Gophers' commit Alvin Ellis.

Hockey

- WOO HOO RECAPS: ESPN1500, GPL, and FSN.

- D'OH! RECAPS: ESPN1500, GPL, and FSN.

- A SEESAW OF EMOTION RECAPS: The Daily and the STrib.

- Roman says that Tom Serratore is making his goals count. Neat fact I didn't realize? Tommy has 3 game winners already this season.

- Gophers are #1 in the WCHA Blog Power Rankings.

Women's Hockey

- The Gophers continue to win, this time with a sweep of Bemidji. They now stand at 20-0 on the season and expanded their NCAA record win streak to 27 games. They also set a new record by winning their 16th and 17th straight road games. They're kind of good. Amanda Kessel had a hat trick, scoring once in every period.

Volleyball

- The Daily recaps the Gophers' loss to PSU in the Elite 8. As I mentioned under the Q&A, the PSU match was really close for the most part and for a while I really thought the Gophers might pull the huge upset. They went on several impressive runs. As the story notes, the future continues to look bright for this program. The STrib also recaps the weekend.

Football

- OTE does some B1G Bowl word association. My faves...

...for the Gophers:

Hilary Lee: At least it's not Detroit

...for the Badgers:

Jesse Collins: Is it bad that I am basically hoping Stanford destroys Wisconsin? Blame whoever dove at Martinez's knee late in a blowout. Karma sucks man...

...for the Huskers:

Ted Glover: Wisconsin just scored again.

- FSN looks at how the bowl practices will help the younger players develop.

- ALL THE TUBERVILLE: ESPN1500 and the STrib look at what Tommy's move to UC might mean.

- Gopher Sports is counting down the Top 10 plays of this past season. #10? Kirkwood's Decal Smash.

Wrestling

- The Daily profiles Jayson Ness, a national champion as a Gopher, in his new role as a volunteer coach for the U.

- The Gophers beat Oregon State in their dual over the weekend.

Women's Basketball

- The Gophers won two before their holiday break.

B1G:

- Apply to be the coach at Wisconsin. I'd make sure your cover letter just says BETTER DEAD THAN RED in 200 point font. That should work.

College Football

- Dr. Saturday's Top Ten Plays of this past season.

- MIAC power St. Thomas is headed to the D-III title game versus Mount Union.

- It's good to be Johnny Football.

- ALL YOUR COACHING CAROUSEL RECAPS: Tuberville to Cincy, Sonny Dykes to Cal, Willie Taggart to South Florida, and Butch Jones to Tennessee.

The Smorgasbord

- Auburn recruit who got an ugly Auburn tattoo has decommitted from Auburn. So much fail here.

via l3.yimg.com

- A USC linebacker was understandably less than pleased to be going to El Paso for a bowl game and tweeted as much. He has now had to apologize to the City of El Paso.