Going to big lineup pays off for Gophers

Going into Thursday night's Wisconsin game, the Gophers were 2-4 since point guard Al Nolen was declared academically ineligible before the Michigan State loss on January 23.

The Gophers blew big leads against Michigan State here and to Northwestern in Evanston, Ill. They would have had a good chance to win those games with Nolen in uniform, as well as the Michigan game they lost at Williams Arena on Feb. 11.

On Thursday night, Gophers coach Tubby Smith came up with a new lineup by playing two big men -- 6-11 Ralph Sampson III and 6-10 Colton Iverson -- at the same time, and they combined to contribute 15 points and 15 rebounds. The Gophers outrebounded the No. 14 Badgers 41-27, a big reason for their 68-52 upset.

The new lineup seemed to overcome the loss of Nolen.

They didn't miss Nolen on this night because of the way the Gophers dominated the boards and how well they played defensively, not allowing the Badgers to run their normal offense and allow them to get the easy layups they are trained to get.

And if you check the Gophers' record -- now 6-7 in the Big Ten -- they usually win when Blake Hoffarber has a productive offensive night. Against the Badgers, he scored 16 points and picked up nine rebounds. Smith describes the former Hopkins star as the hardest worker on the team.

This was Smith's third consecutive victory over the Badgers after sweeping them twice last season. The Gophers limited Orono product Jon Leuer, who was playing for the first time since being injured in early January, to 2-for-12 shooting from the field and four points. He had been averaging 15.4 points per game prior to his wrist injury.

Now the Gophers can look forward to the invasion of Indiana on Saturday night, and a chance to even their Big Ten record at 7-7.

Good students Forty-seven members of the Gophers football team compiled a "B" or better average last semester. All of the 2008 seniors and 90 percent of the 2009 seniors graduated, according to coach Tim Brewster.

Brewster now has a four-year contract, after signing a two-year extension last month. Four members of his coaching staff have two-year contracts -- defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove, co-offensive coordinator Jeff Horton, offensive line/running game coordinator Tim Davis and co- offensive coordinator/running backs coach Thomas Hammock -- and the rest have only one-year deals.

One reason Richard Hightower left his Gophers wide receivers coaching position to join the Redskins staff as assistant special team coach is he and Washington offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, son of new Redskins coach Mike Shanahan, are good friends and were on the Houston Texans staff together.

Mike Rallis, the former Edina football player who walked on at Minnesota and eventually earned a scholarship, has been moved from defensive back to outside linebacker, where he has a good chance of starting next season. Rallis broke a leg in the California game on Sept. 19 and missed most of last season.

Kevin Whaley, the former Gophers running back who left the squad after some legal problems, is headed for Tennessee-Martin, where he will be eligible to play this coming season.

Student no-shows Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi is disappointed about the number of students who bought season tickets to Gophers football last year and didn't attend the games. He said the problem has to be addressed.

"It's not uncommon at schools, but we've got to find the right balance in determining how many we sell," Maturi said. "Do we allow them to resell tickets to the general public? We were pretty strict on not allowing anyone in but a student on that ticket, because obviously they're significantly less in price and we didn't want anybody in the general public taking advantage of that opportunity, so we have to assess that.

"That's one of the things that we're meeting on, because they create the atmosphere -- along with our bands and our spirit squad, our students are the ones that create collegiate athletics in our highly visible sports. We're proud of the traditions that we have and we need to make sure that we have the energy in TCF Bank Stadium that's going to support our football program."

Jottings The Gophers wrestling team, ranked fifth after its 28-9 loss to No. 1 Iowa, will close its home season Friday against Penn State. It will be the final home meet for seniors Dustin Schlatter and Jayson Ness, who are each three-time All-Americas. Schlatter is ranked No. 2 nationally at 157 pounds, while Ness is ranked No. 1 at 133.

Former Gopher Marc Trestman, who coached the Montreal Alouettes to the Grey Cup title, is one of three finalists for the CFL coach of the year. ... Jesse Nelson, son of Minnetonka football coach Dave Nelson, has joined the Gophers as a graduate assistant football coach.

Jason Palermo, who was a graduate assistant with the Gophers for a short period, has been hired as the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La. The new Southern coach is former Redskins running back Stump Mitchell.

Palermo's father, John, who was on the Gophers staff under Lou Holtz, has been named defensive line coach at Middle Tennessee State. The Gophers open the 2010 season at Middle Tennessee State.

Through Dec. 31, the Timberwolves ranked 28th in the NBA in three-point shooting at 29.4 percent. However, from Jan. 1 through Feb. 10, the Wolves connected on three-pointers at 38.6-percent clip, fourth in the NBA during that stretch. Wayne Ellington led the way in that time frame, making 52.4 percent (22-for-42) of his threes.

Former South St. Paul goalie and Minnesota Duluth standout Alex Stalock recently won his 30th game for Worcester of the American Hockey League. Stalock has a 30-12-1 record with 2.52 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage. ... Former Gophers goalie Jeff Frazee has a 12-13-0 record for Lowell of the AHL with a 2.53 GAA and .920 save percentage. ... Former Gophers winger Jim O'Brien has three goals and six assists in 48 games for Binghamton of the AHL.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. • shartman@startribune.com