Be it basketball, baseball or football, observations and opinions abound

North Dakota State star and Albert Lea native Ben Woodside wouldn't just have been the Gophers' best point guard this season. He would have been the Timberwolves', too.

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The "World" Baseball "Classic" is over. In the final, Not-The-USA beat Not-the-USA to win the title, with Not-The-USA taking second.

Here's the biggest of the many problems with the WBC: If the U.S. wins, nobody other than the U.S. players and organizers will be thrilled. If the U.S. gets knocked out before the final, the tournament will fail to meet even its conservative expectations for TV ratings and attendance. For American baseball fans, it's a lose-lose proposition.

Those of us who love the game are content with the rhapsodic and meaningless seven weeks of spring training, followed by 162 meaningful games and a month-long postseason.

We get enough baseball.

We also have more than enough events to watch in March. The WBC gives us the odd underdog story (like the Dutch this year) or dramatic game, but in the end, it offers a combination of Olympic baseball (which is awful) and spring training baseball (which is lousy unless you're getting a tan).

The best time to play the WBC is half past never.

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The NCAA basketball tournament, on the other hand, is perfect. It should not be changed, and nobody should regret seeing so many high seeds and power programs alive in the Sweet 16.

We don't need more teams. The length and scheduling of the tournament works just fine the way it is, with two rounds of weeding out the weak and awaiting the odd upset, followed by two rounds of exceptionally exciting basketball, followed by the Final Four.

While the preference here is to see more St. Mary's or Davidson and less Arizona in the tourney, let's give credit to a besieged group: the NCAA selection committee.

Here's the best part of picking 64 teams -- no team that was left out had any chance of making it to the Final Four, much less winning it all.

The NCAA should assign the same committee to pick the eight-team field for the Division I college football playoffs.

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The NFL is talking about expanding its regular season. There are two problems with this:

By the end of an 18-game regular season, fewer and fewer stars will be healthy.

Football games are too expensive, and football ratings are too important to the health of the sport, for the NFL to begin increasing the number of meaningless or starless games. Our current recession should teach the league that greed is not always good.

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The Wolves don't need to hear, or broadcast, any more bad news, but my connections say Al Jefferson is not likely to return from knee surgery before December.

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Sometimes the apple falls far from the tree, then rolls crazily away.

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One question about the NIT: Why?

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The Wolves are most likely to wind up with UConn's Hasheem Thabeet in this year's draft. I say that because Thabeet has the best chance of getting hurt and/or becoming a complete bust.

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Very unusual. Most power coaches, a year or two before they take another job, make this announcement: "I'm going to stick around until a better job comes open, and then I'll give plenty of notice before I leave you in the dust."

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The biggest question about Hopkins foward Royce White adjusting to the Gophers next year is, how's he going to adapt when surrounded by less talent?