Read my full story on Minnesota's 92-56 win and the news of the day, here.

Three quick observations:

1. The team seems genuinely surprised by Josh Martin's departure. A couple of the players said the freshman didn't even say goodbye to the team. Joey King, Martin's roommate, said he didn't see it coming. I'm still not sure what happened -- coach Richard Pitino didn't elaborate much -- but it seemed like Martin's former teammates were confused by the decision. The Gophers are not unaware of how this looks. Three guys leaving the team in a little more than a month -- for very different reasons, obviously -- is unexpected and from the outside looks tumultuous. The players say that reflection couldn't be farther from the truth. "I feel like a lot of people might think we're having problems or something within us, but we're fine," DeAndre Mathieu said. "We're still a team, we're still together, guys still love playing for coach."

2. Mo Walker should play that role -- dominator -- more often. Especially this time of year, especially against these cupcake opponents. The 6-foot-10 senior center is more than capable of putting the ball in the hole. His post moves -- when he even needs them -- are pretty good, and he's got such a nice touch around the basket. His problems are trying to be too fancy, being careless with the ball and not being "mean" enough. Tonight, though? Mathieu (who was also pretty darn good with a career high in assists) said he saw that mean streak (the good kind) shine through a little bit. En route to a new career high in points (22), Walker completely dominated a North Dakota team that had no idea what to do with him. If he wants it to be, it could become a trend.

3. Hey, that was a pretty rounded win. There is nit-picking to be done. Minnesota sent North Dakota to the line 22 times in the second half and not allowing a single free throw in the first. The Gophers were beaten on the boards again, this time 33-29, a real concern that is foreshadowing a tough go in the rugged Big Ten. But otherwise, things looked pretty good. Minnesota's offense was sharp and dynamic and ran for 76 possessions. On a night in which the roster shrank even more, we were reminded that this team has no interest in slowing it down despite the rotation of nine scholarship players. The defense on North Dakota (inferior as it is) was solid. Mathieu was great, Walker was great and I tend to think that is the recipe for a win for this bunch. The Gophers were decent at the line, decent in handling the ball (with a 2.1-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio) and posted their sixth game with double digit steals this year. Is it going to be enough to forge a winning (or even .500) campaign in the Big Ten? I don't know, but for one night at least, it looked good.