Monday's thoughts....

Good Monday to you,

Man what a great weekend for sports! This might be one long blog....


- Golden Gopher basketball won the Puerto Rico Tip Off last night beating West Virginina 74-70. Somehow, Blake "I make it rain" Hoffarber got wide open with about a minute left and drained a 3 pointer that eventually sealed the game. Trevor Mbakwe was named MVP of the tournament which I thought was well deserved. His post up game is unbelievable and his rebounding is none other. He ripped off 4 offensive rebounds and was 5-8 shooting from the field. He is also a smooth free throw shooter going 6-7. Check out the box score here and look how impressive the front court of the Gophers are. The Gophers are one of the biggest teams in the nation and that will make them very competitive in the Big Ten. Not many teams can have another 6'10' player sub for another 6'10". Another thought from last night is that Rodney Williams is extremely overrated. He may have the ability to jump through the roof but he was sloppy on defense last night and needs to realize that he isn't a three point shooter.
Keep this in mind, the Gophers won the tournament without one of their beat scorers in Devoe Joseph, although I will say that Mbakwe and Sampson III will make or break the season.

- Hoffarber and Mbakwe were named to the All Tournament Team.

- Golden Gophers are now ranked #15 in the AP Top 25 Poll.
-Click here for complete rankings.
- Interesting blog about the Puerto Rico Tip Off here.


- Big Ten football stays the same as Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Michigan State both won and still are tied among the top of the conference. This weekend will determined how the conference ends up and who will be smelling roses in Pasadena. Somehow Michigan State won the game as Purdue was in control until Michigan State blocked a punt in the Purdue territory.
Mark my words... Purdue lost this game, Michigan State didn't earn it. I still think Michigan State will lose @ Penn State this weekend. I will post a blog later in the week about my weekend predictions.

- Check out ESPN bowl predictions here.
- ESPN complete BCS rankings here.

- Brad Childress was fired today! In which case if you forgot, I mentioned in my last blog that this will be the last season for Brad Childress. This will give plenty of time for Mr. Wilf to find a coach that is a proven winner. I do think that Leslie Frazier will do a fine job being the interim coach and he does deserve a head coaching job somewhere....maybe the Vikes?

- The Minnesota Wild have more wins then the T-Wolves and Vikings combined.... Just saying. :) Wild are a better team then what people think. Big game this Wednesday vs the Flyers.

Here are the winners of last week's Big Ten Predictions....
Noel = 3-2
Jim = 4-1
Stephen = 3-2

Congratulations to Jim as he wins last weekends predictions for the Big Ten.

That's it for now.

Hopefully by the end of the week, Noel's Dime will have it's own website :)


Stay Fresh,

Noel