November 2nd, Part II

It's Tubby Time

While it was just an exhibition Thursday, the Tubby Smith led Golden Gophers defeated Minnesota State, Mankato 94-68 in front of 11,508 fans at Williams Arena.

Many may remember last year when division two national champ Winona State beat the Gophers. I know I do. I was at the game, and remember walking out of the Barn to the chants of "D 2's Better" from the several thousand Winona fans who made the drive.

I was fortunate enough to have grown up at Williams Arena, attending games yearly with my dad as far back as the Kevin McHale era. The last few years under Dan Monson saw a once proud and strong program become a dormat and D2 wipping post. Yes they did make the Tourney and NIT a few times but you could hardly call the Monson Era as sucessful. During his reign the Barn was turned from the best home court advantage in all of college hoops (right up there with Cameron Indoor Stadium) and dare I say the top ten in all of sports, to just another away game for those coming to take on the U of M. While it may take a few seasons to make the Tourney and build the program back up to what it was during the Clem Era (defore the scandel), it'll be interesting to see what Tubby Smith does with basically the same group from last year and how long it'll be before the likes of Michigan State, Indiana, and Ohio State dread coming to play on the raised court.


Wild Repeat?

After winning their first 5 games, and 7 of 8, the Wild find themselves on a 3 game losing streak and have lost their last 5 including a shoot-out to the Oil. While it looks like same October and early November start from last year, it might be a good thing. Lets not forget that Minnesota was just a point away from winning the division last year. The Wild host the Flames on Saturday, and hopefully they can snap this steak to the first team to beat them in regulation this season.