Sid Hartman: Loss to Wolverines one U couldn't afford

On Thursday, before the Gophers men's basketball team lost at home to Michigan 71-63, Bob Knight, doing color commentary for ESPN's telecast, talked about former Bloomington Jefferson standout Cole Aldrich, a player whom the Gophers certainly could have used but instead is playing for one of the great teams in the country in No. 1 Kansas.

Michigan came into Williams Arena with an 11-12 overall record, a 4-7 conference record and only one Big Ten road victory, at winless Penn State. But led by DeShawn Sims' 27 points and Manny Harris' 20, the Wolverines had too much for the Gophers on Thursday, shooting 68 percent from the floor in the second half.

Knight had seen Michigan play at Purdue and said the Wolverines were an altogether different team Thursday, as Purdue handled them 69-59 on Jan. 23. In that game, Harris was suspended by coach John Beilein following an incident at practice the previous day.

On this night, Knight said the difference was that the Gophers had no defense to stop the driving of Harris and the outside shooting of Sims. The loss might have killed any chances of the Gophers to make it to the NCAA tournament. It was a game the Gophers were expected to win.

Getting back to Aldrich, Knight has seen him play more than once and is very high on the things the Jayhawks center can do.

"Well, I think he's really good," Knight said. "He's not the best player in the country by any stretch of the imagination when it comes to all the skills of the game, but I think what he does at both ends of the floor makes him the most effective player playing college basketball anywhere in the country. He dominates things around the basket."

Knight said that defensively, the 6-11 junior is difficult to drive on, adding, "He helps out really well; he has good footwork, good movement in coming to the driver; he has good timing when he blocks shots, he's tough to shoot over. A very, very difficult defensive player to play around."

Aldrich had a rough start to the season, because of his own health and that of his grandmother, Ann Aldrich, who died of cancer in January. His play seemed to improve since her passing, though he fouled out in 26 minutes in Kansas' victory over Texas on Monday.

Jottings Vikings cornerback Cedric Griffin, who recently had surgery after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in overtime of the NFC Championship Game loss to the Saints, said the operation "went pretty well," adding: "The doctors and the trainers looked at it and there wasn't too much swelling and the surgery went pretty quick and easy, so everyone is pretty excited. Just based off what everyone says, [rehabilitation is] anywhere from five to eight months, so anywhere in that range. I'm looking more in the range of six months, so I'm definitely going to be getting busy this offseason." As for how he suffered the injury, he said, "I didn't know what I did, but I knew I did something. When I was running down on kickoff, when I tried to make a cut, it just felt kind of numb instantly. So, I knew something was messed up." ... The Vikings have not set their ticket prices for the 2010 season. They stayed the same from 2008 to '09.

Twins President David St. Peter said that in addition to celebrating the opening of Target Field, the team also will celebrate its 50th season in the Twin Cities, including a celebration the first weekend of September that will involve a number of players throughout franchise history. "We also have a few surprises for Opening Day," St. Peter said. He reported that the actual seating capacity of Target Field is 39,800, with standing-room-only tickets pushing the figure to near 40,000.

Mike Radcliff, Twins vice president of player personnel, said he is pretty excited about how Kyle Gibson, the team's first-round pick from last year's draft, is turning out. "He was a top-five or a top-10 talent in the draft and he had a little bit of an arm injury and he slid down, and he was still there for us [at No. 22], when we picked," Radcliff said. "Now his arm is 100 percent and he has a great future."

To those who believe the Twins signed a player the Dodgers and the White Sox didn't want in Jim Thome, Twins General Manager Bill Smith said: "Keep in mind he had 23 home runs and 70-some RBI last year in a little over half a season. So, when he says he can't hit as well as he used to, that may be, but when we take batting practice and we've got [Joe] Mauer and [Justin] Morneau and [Jason] Kubel and Thome in the same group, lefthanded hitters, there's going to be some long fly balls hit out onto Target Plaza."

The Gophers open spring football practice the weekend of March 27, the same weekend they will stage their clinic with state high school coaches.

Phil Esten, who played a big part in the directing the construction of TCF Bank Stadium, has been named to succeed Margaret Carlson as the chief executive officer of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association.

Gophers All-America wrestler Zach Sanders, who missed last week's dual meet victories over Illinois and Indiana because of an ankle injury, is expected to be in the lineup at 125 pounds for the dual with No. 1 Iowa on Sunday night at Williams Arena. The Gophers are 6-0 in Big Ten dual meets.

Eastern Michigan recently celebrated its Basketball Alumni Day, and part of the program was a gathering of the players who performed for Jim Dutcher from 1966 to '72. Dutcher who coached the Gophers from 1975 to '85, won 73 percent of his games at Eastern Michigan and coached a number of great players, including George Gervin.

Eric Dungy, son of former Gophers quarterback and Super Bowl-winning coach Tony Dungy, will enroll at Oregon after visiting the school with his father. Eric Dungy, a wide receiver and safety in Tampa, Fla., also was considering playing for the Gophers.