Sid Hartman: Aldrich's play impresses Knight

Bobby Knight, who is doing NCAA basketball commentary for ESPN, was really impressed with former Bloomington Jefferson standout Cole Aldrich, who played a big role in Kansas' victory over North Carolina in the national semifinals Saturday in San Antonio.

The 6-11 freshman had six rebounds in the first half. He finished with eight points, seven rebounds, four blocks and a steal and did a great defensive job on Tar Heels All-America forward Tyler Hansbrough.

Aldrich played 17 important minutes Saturday, more than double his season average of eight per game, in sending the Jayhawks to tonight's NCAA championship game against Memphis.

"I love that kid, he's got a great future," Knight said Sunday. "I liked his size, I liked how hard he played, I liked his hands, he had great hands. If that kid's willing to work at it, he's got a tremendous future in basketball. He did a great job in that game last night."

Knight resigned as Texas Tech coach in February, with his son Pat taking over. The Red Raiders faced Kansas only once, on March 3 in Lawrence, Kan., losing 109-51 after Bob Knight had resigned.

Even though Knight liked the way Kansas handled North Carolina, he said he believes the championship game favors Memphis because the Tigers did not have nearly as tough a game against UCLA as Kansas did against North Carolina. The Jayhawks did take a 40-12 lead in the first half, but then they had to exert a lot of energy to hold on when North Carolina came within four points with 11 minutes to play in the game.

Knight, who won three NCAA titles as Indiana coach, said his theory after a tough semifinal victory is to make sure his team is rested.

"I think that phase of what Kansas does [Sunday and early today] will be very crucial to their chances in this game, because everything is even up," Knight said. "Memphis, in my opinion, is probably a little bit better. If Kansas doesn't recover well, then there's going to be a big advantage to Memphis."

Knight talked about his experience when Indiana beat Syracuse 74-73 for the 1987 title in New Orleans.

"We had a tremendous game with Nevada-Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon, winning 97-93, and the sweat was just pouring off the kids on both teams," Knight recalled. "I walked in the locker room after the game and we were exhausted and we're playing Syracuse on Monday night for the championship.

"And once again we did not do a thing physically [before the Syracuse game]. We talked, we walked through things with our players, but there was no physical activity whatsoever. I think had we practiced on Sunday, it would have cost us a championship because we just barely won as it was, and we're behind most of the ballgame and were able to get going in the end and sustain ourselves to win."

So according to Knight, the better rested team will have the edge in tonight's game. He knows from experience.

One criticism that Wild General Manager Doug Risebrough has of his players is that they generally get outshot and just don't take a lot of shots. Naturally, he is hoping the team will take more shots in the playoffs.

"We have a skill team -- a lot of guys like making perfect plays -- and when the teams collapse to the front of the net, players like that don't like to necessarily shoot at the net," Risebrough said. "But sometimes the best shot at net is when they're just putting it at the net, because if there's that many people in front of there, something could hit and redirect, and the next thing you know, it goes in.

"So, sometimes I think the team, if they just put more pucks at the net, there'd be more results. I know they're not great plays, and I know they're not pretty goals, but they are goals."

One reason there is a good chance that Blake Wheeler, a Phoenix Coyotes draft choice, will remain in school for his senior year with the Gophers is because Phoenix already has signed Wisconsin's Kyle Turris, who was the third overall pick in the 2007 draft, and no doubt will sign Michigan's Kevin Porter, a fourth-round pick in 2004 who will soon complete his college eligibility.

Oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens, who has donated $160 million to Oklahoma State, is rumored to be willing to buy out the contract of any coach that the school would like to fill its coaching vacancy after Sean Sutton resigned. While Tubby Smith's name has been mentioned as a candidate for the Cowboys job, there is no chance that he would leave the Gophers. Smith does have a $3 million buyout if he were to leave. ... Incidentally, Smith tried hard to get Dan Coleman invited to this week's Portsmouth Invitational, a preliminary showcase for NBA prospects, but Coleman was not invited, and neither were the other two Gophers seniors, Lawrence McKenzie and Spencer Tollackson. Among players who will be at the Portsmouth Invitational are Winona State's Jonte Flowers, Illinois' Shaun Pruitt, Wisconsin's Brian Butch and Ohio State's Jamar Butler and Othello Hunter.

The word is that Trevor Mbakwe, the former St. Bernard's athlete, is thinking of transferring from Marquette now that Tom Crean has left to coach the Hoosiers. However, he would have to sit out a year if he transferred. If he wanted to transfer to Minnesota, I doubt the Gophers would have a scholarship for him at present. The Gophers still are looking for help for this coming season and have two players in mind they would like to sign in Krys Faber of Los Angeles Ribet Academy and Verdell Jones of Champaign (Ill.) Central.

On the football side, several schools are making a strong effort to land some of the state's top 2009 recruits, such as Fritz Rock of Wayzata, who recently visited Louisville; Bryce McNeal of Breck, who looked at the Michigan campus; and Ra'Shede Hageman of Minneapolis Washburn, whom Wisconsin is recruiting hard. But Gophers coach Tim Brewster is in a much better position to recruit those players now than he was a year ago after getting hired in January 2007.

One of the top two-sport athletes in the state is Kyle Risinger, who just won the Class 4A state basketball championship with Minnetonka. Risinger was an outstanding 6-2, 190-pound safety for the Skippers football team last fall, and the Gophers had enough interest in him to invite him to the Minnesota junior day, which he attended. He will play AAU basketball this summer.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on his Podcast twice a week at www.startribune.com/sidcast. shartman@startribune.com.