Sid Hartman: Despite loss, NDSU's Woodside was the talk of the tournament

There are a number of players in the NCAA Midwest Regional games at the Metrodome this weekend who could play in the NBA.

But a player who might not make the NBA was the one everyone was talking about.

North Dakota State guard Ben Woodside scored 37 points in an 84-74 loss to defending national champion Kansas. Woodside, a senior from Albert Lea, Minn., who averaged 23.2 points a game, got the attention of Jayhawks coach Bill Self, who said Woodside was the best guard his team has played this season.

In fact, Self said Woodside was one of the best guards in the country.

Woodside was offered a scholarship by only one school: North Dakota State. The Gophers never approached him. Woodside redshirted one season so he could be a senior on the Bison team the first year it was eligible for the NCAA Division I tournament.

Erv Inninger, senior associate athletic director at NDSU, was the school's basketball coach from 1978 to 1992.

"Ben is phenomenal. He's broken every record possible up at North Dakota State University," Inninger said.

Inninger is convinced that Woodside could be as outstanding in a major conference as he has been in the Summit League.

"There is no question he could have played in the Big Ten," Inninger said. "He's one of those kind of guys you really like to watch. He's very unselfish, he gives the ball up when he has to. But he also can score when he has to. He had 60 points one game this year. It was against Stephen F. Austin, [a team] in the NCAA tournament as well."

The Bison had quite a team. Senior forward Brett Winkelman, who averaged 18.6 points per game, was an academic All-America with a 3.88 grade-point average, majoring in industrial engineering and management.

Stepping up Inninger's job is to generate funds for North Dakota State, a school that made the step from Division II to Division I.

"We're trying to raise money to go into a new stadium, especially now that we're Division I," he said. "It's really critical for us to have the facilities to recruit the same kind of ballplayers you saw out there on the court today.

North Dakota State is I-AA in football. The Bison lost to the Gophers 10-9 in 2006 then beat them 27-21 in 2007.

"We're going to play the Gophers in football in 2011 again," Inninger said. "You saw the last time we played them we did pretty well against them. We played them pretty tough both games against them."

North Dakota State played the Gophers in basketball this season, losing 90-76.

"I think we'll continue to play them," Inninger said. "[Gophers coach Tubby Smith] has been very good about that. I think they're on the schedule for next year. So, we've got a good rivalry with the Minnesota Gophers and North Dakota State University."

Inninger was impressed with the Bison effort against Kansas.

Peterson hoax The Mason City (Iowa) Globe-Gazette reported Friday morning that Vikings running back Adrian Peterson would save the North Iowa Area Community College football program by joining three other NFL players to raise $150,000 for the school.

Coach Steve LaLonde was apparently fooled by one of his assistant coaches, Kevin Griffith, who worked with Peterson in high school at Palestine, Texas.

On Friday, Griffith admitted that he should have told LaLonde that was going to try to get the money from Peterson, who apparently knew nothing about the scheme. NIACC announced on Tuesday that it was terminating its football program.

A useful building This is the 10th NCAA basketball event in the Metrodome, including Final Fours in 1992 and 2001. The Metrodome is the only building to play host to two Final Fours, two World Series and a Super Bowl.

It costs about $200,000 to set up the Metrodome for basketball, so the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission doesn't make any money on the promotion. In fact, it loses money, because beer can't be sold at an NCAA event.

The Metrodome rents the basketball floor for about $10,000, and the company that owns the floor sells it to a small college after it is used.

Jottings Self was a leading candidate for the Gophers basketball coaching job while he was at Tulsa in 1999 but withdrew as a candidate before Dan Monson was hired.

By deciding to go Division I in basketball, North Dakota State ruled out adding hockey to its athletic program.

Former NHL player Shjon Podein will be bringing the Stanley Cup to the Twin Cities and his hometown of Rochester on March 23 and 24 in support of the Shjon Podein Children's Foundation. Proceeds from the "Kiss The Cup Tour" will benefit Second Harvest Heartland Food Bank, Channel One Food Bank and Serving Our Troops: St. Paul to Iraq. Podein, a former Minnesota Duluth standout, played in 699 NHL games in a career that spanned from 1993 to 2003.