Winning next two vital for U's chances

This is a big last week of the regular season for the Gophers men's basketball team. They have home games against Wisconsin on Wednesday and Michigan on Sunday, and it's a safe bet the Gophers need to win both if they expect to earn an invitation to the NCAA tournament.

"We are trying to get ready for a good Wisconsin team, a team that is playing pretty good right now," Gophers coach Tubby Smith said of the Badgers, who beat the Wolverines 60-55 at home Sunday. "I'm happy to be back in the Barn. That's the best thing starting March, that we're back home after being on the road for five games in the month of February."

The Gophers were 16-1 when they came back from a 12-point deficit with under five minutes to play to record a 78-74 victory over the Badgers in Madison on Jan. 15. Since then, though, they are 4-7, putting them on shaky ground for an invitation to the NCAAs.

Smith pointed out that part of the Gophers' problem has been that they have spent most of the past month on the road; they were 2-5 in February, winning their two home games, against Indiana and Northwestern, while losing all five road games.

"It was a tough go," he said. "We won those [two home] games. ... The rest of them were all tough places to play."

Elaborating, he said: "We were coming off a good win against Illinois [59-36 on Jan. 29], and we felt pretty good about ourselves, but you go to Michigan State and get hammered [76-47 on Feb. 4]. And for a young team, it was tough to recover. You go to Ohio State and you're right in the ballgame. We're ready to move on now, and I believe our guys are focused on getting back in the Barn and playing well on Wednesday."

A big part of the team's problems has been its inability to score, especially late in games, as well as turnovers.

"I'll be honest with you, there is a lot of physical play, a lot of holding, guys get bumped, it's difficult to score ... you can score a lot better if the whistle is blowing."

In each of their five February losses, the Gophers committed more turnovers than their opponents. They averaged 16.8 turnovers in those games, while their opponents averaged 12.4.

"It's been tough, people are going to guard you certain ways, make you put it on the floor," Smith said. "One of things you have to do to get better is handling the ball, dribbling the ball. We've talked about this.

"Plus, I think the only time we shot over 50 percent in the last eight games was the Northwestern game. [Lawrence] Westbrook had a good game against Illinois here, 6-for-9. Then he went 6-for-10 against Northwestern. Otherwise, it's been a pretty poor shooting performance [for him]."

The Badgers have won six of seven after losing six in a row. "They've being playing excellent," Smith said. "You knew they would. Bo Ryan's teams ... they bounce back."

On the other hand, a loss and the Gophers have some work to do in Indianapolis.

Good meeting Gov. Tim Pawlenty talked Sunday on WCCO radio about his recent meeting with Vikings owner Zygi Wilf after the governor was blasted by the organization for not doing anything to help the team get a new stadium.

"It was good," said Pawlenty, who understands that the Vikings do need a new stadium to compete revenue-wise with the rest of the NFL.

"We had scheduled the meeting [earlier]. Zygi and the Vikings are frustrated that there isn't progress on the stadium, but at the same time, we wanted to convey to them, the Vikings are an important source of joy and fun, and Minnesota appreciates them. But they also understand the country and the state are facing a historic budget crisis right now.

"The stadium, at this moment, is out of sequence in terms of the state's priorities for most people. So it was a good clearing of the air kind of meeting, and we left on a positive note. We want to explore reasonable ways to keep the Vikings, but we also have to do it in a time and a circumstance that's reflecting the state's priorities."

"There is no question that putting some money into building can put people to work; the question is which buildings, or which construction projects are the highest priority and best priority for the state," Pawlenty said. "There is no debating that if you have construction projects, you are going to put some of the trade unions and other folks to work, and that's a good thing. And, the stimulus bill, I wish there had been more construction projects in the stimulus bill coming from the feds, but there has also been a lot of bonding bills here in Minnesota that do the same thing."

It's sad that there wasn't one stadium planned to house both the Gophers and the Vikings in the first place. You don't need two stadiums for about 16 football games each year. But the university wanted the stadium on campus, and you have to admit they have a good one, even if the people will have trouble getting to it with all the traffic jams expected.

Jottings A lot of people close to the Vikings would be shocked if center Matt Birk, now a free agent, isn't re-signed after making a few visits to other teams. The St. Louis Rams, where former Vikings offensive coordinator Steve Loney is the offensive line coach, might have been interested in Birk had they not signed Jason Brown from the Baltimore Ravens, making him the highest-paid center in the league at $37.5 million for five years, including $20 million guaranteed. ... Free-agent safety Darren Sharper is visiting the New Orleans Saints today, but he also told the Chicago Tribune on Saturday that he wouldn't mind playing for the Bears, which would keep him in the same division as the Vikings and the Packers, his two former teams. "There's definitely a lot of interest," he said. "First, they're in the NFC North, which I've grown accustomed to. They have a great defense. And they're on the cusp of getting back to the Super Bowl. It's a great organization. And it's great to draw some interest from them."