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When Tubby Smith was asked what finally sold him on taking the Gophers men's basketball job, in addition to the sales job athletic director Joel Maturi did, the former Kentucky coach said it was the conversations he had with former Gophers coach Clem Haskins and ex-Timberwolves coach Dwane Casey.

Haskins and Casey are longtime friends of Smith. Casey was an assistant coach under Haskins at Western Kentucky from 1980-85 and an assistant under Eddie Sutton at Kentucky from 1985-90.

"It was by fate that this week happened the way that it did," Smith recalled Sunday. "I was on my way to see my son [Brian Smith] play. He plays for Ole Miss, and they were playing Clemson [in a second-round NIT game] so we flew into Charlotte, drove down there to Clemson. I came back for the Kentucky state high school basketball tournament [that] was going on.

"I had a chance to talk with Clem Haskins [at the Kentucky state tournament], and Clem had nothing but great things to say about the program, about the people there in Minneapolis and the Minnesota area."

Then, like Smith said, by fate, it just happened that Casey was at the Kentucky state tournament in Lexington.

"I'll be honest with you, talking with him [Casey] and how he really enjoyed living and working in Minneapolis, that kind of pushed me over the edge," Smith said.

Smith, who like everybody else who has met Casey can't say enough good things about the man, recalled meeting Casey for the first time at Virginia Commonwealth.

"We used to play pickup basketball at all these tournaments, like these AAU tournaments, [and] in between games we'd get a game started," Smith said. "In fact, [former Gophers interim coach] Jim Molinari used to play, too. Guys like that would be out on the road, so we'd get our exercise. That was back in the younger days, though."

Will attend Final Four

Smith will be in Atlanta this week for the Final Four. Smith said he is on the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) board, the USA Basketball selection committee and on a committee NCAA President Myles Brand put together to evaluate the state of college basketball.

"I'm involved in a lot of committees, and I'm going to have to cut back on some of those because it can take a lot out of you, and now that I'm at Minnesota I want to make sure I give my total commitment," Smith said.

While in Atlanta, he said, he plans to talk to some assistant coach candidates. He intends to be back in Minnesota a week from today to meet again with his players and get going on the job.

Speaking about assistants, he said he would "like to have someone that's familiar with Minnesota and that region ... but the most important thing is loyalty and people that have a great eye for talent. There are a lot of talented players in the Minnesota area, and we need to get on top [of that] right away."

Smith also made sure he knew the schools that won Minnesota state titles Saturday, and said he wanted to say congratulations to Buffalo, St. Thomas Academy, Holy Family and Ellsworth for those teams' special accomplishments.

No doubt, Tubby Smith is off to a great start.

Jottings

University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks said the administration has set up a seven-year loan to the athletic department to pay back the $3.6 million in buyouts to dismissed coaches Glen Mason and Dan Monson.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire made it clear that if former Gophers pitcher Glen Perkins didn't win a starting spot, the lefthander would be sent to Class AAA Rochester, where he could pitch on a regular basis. The Twins made that move Saturday.