Sid Hartman: Young Timberwolves appear on right track

You have to take your hat off to Timberwolves president David Kahn and Kurt Rambis and his coaching staff for the way the young, inexperienced team has played in the past three games. They lost by a total of 13 points against the Suns and the Clippers on the road and the Celtics here on Wednesday night.

True, the Celtics had played the night before in Philadelphia while the Wolves rested, and Boston didn't get to the Twin Cities until way past midnight, but you had to admire how the Timberwolves played Kevin Garnett and company, losing by two points after leading most of the way.

Had Kevin Love been healthy, the Wolves might have won the Clippers and Celtics games.

They have played a lot better recently than I thought they would.

Glen Taylor, the owner of the Wolves, said at this point he is ready to give Kahn a high grade.

"We laid out some plans, and I think [Kahn's] following through on those plans, and he certainly has worked very, very hard this first six months of his tenure," said Taylor, who expects this to be a learning year.

Taylor said the plan is to evaluate the talent at the end of the year -- the five players they kept and the others they brought in.

The Wolves will be $10 to $12 million under the cap next year, and Taylor said some of the superstars will consider coming here if they believe that the Wolves are building a winning team.

From an economic standpoint, Taylor said, the team is doing OK with sponsorships, but fan support is a concern -- although the fans did show up for the Cavaliers and the Celtics.

"Based upon our attendance, we're going to lose money -- not as much as we previously have lost, we're heading towards closer to a break-even -- but my anticipation is that we would lose this year," Taylor said.

Twins' revenue down Even though the Twins drew some big crowds at the end of the season as they marched toward the division title, their turnstile count was down from 2,063,290 last year to 1,966,056 this season as the nation suffered through a major recession.

Ticket sales were down 80,591 from last year, when they sold 2,302,718 compared with 2,222,127 this season.

And even concession sales were down, falling from $18,466,304 in 2008 to $17,374,051. That means that the Twins' share of the concession revenue was also down $480,954 from 2008 to this year. Total concession income for the Twins was $7,010,927 this past season compared with $7,491,881 last year.

Jottings The Gophers can clinch a bowl position by beating Illinois on Saturday. However, the following week they can improve their bowl position by beating South Dakota State, a team ranked No. 9 in Division I-AA that won't be a pushover. The Jackrabbits have a 7-1 record and one of their victories was over Northern Iowa, a team that went to the wire with Iowa before losing.

Both Gophers basketball coach Tubby Smith and hockey coach Don Lucia had great recruiting classes coming up and everything looked very optimistic for both. So what happened? Lucia lost Wild first-round draft choice Nick Leddy to a broken jaw and now Jay Barriball will have knee surgery. The absence of those two will really hurt the hockey team. As for Smith, he had to suspend Royce White and Devron Bostick for breaking rules, and then the big blow came with Trevor Mbakwe being charged with a felony in Miami. Believe me, with Mbakwe in that lineup with the other two, the Gophers could contend for the Big Ten title.

No doubt Rambis is looking forward to getting No. 1 draft choice Kevin Love back after he recovers from his hand injury. "When we get Kevin back, we will see some guys starting to blossom on our team," said Rambis. "We are pleased with the guys right now. It is tremendous, with their growth, to understand how hard you have to play against quality teams and how tough it is to win games. I like the fact that they are frustrated, angry. I like that -- they should be mad. It will keep encouraging them to work harder and do the right thing."

Gophers receiver Eric Decker and offensive lineman Jeff Tow-Arnett have been honored as Academic All-District 5 by the College Sports Information Directors, and now both will be on the ballot for Academic All-America honors.

Wrestling websites are reporting that Joel Bauman of Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, who went 46-2 last season and won the state Class 1A 189-pound state championship, has committed to the Gophers. Bauman, who is also an all-state running back, has decided to concentrate on wrestling rather than play football.

Fairmont, Minn., native Jerry Rosburg is the assistant head coach and special teams coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens. Rosburg, who played for North Dakota State, is in his ninth season as an NFL coach.

Dallas Stars and former North Stars center Mike Modano will suit up against the Wild at the Xcel Center on Saturday. The 39-year-old Modano was activated Wednesday after missing 13 games because of a rib injury, which he suffered in the Stars' season-opener against Nashville.

Former Gopher Jerry Melnychuk, who played for both the Minneapolis Millers and St. Paul Saints in the International Hockey League, will say "Let's Play Hockey" before the Wild game Saturday.

Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon had planned to meet today with Bill Carollo, the Big Ten's coordinator of football officials, to discuss football replay policies -- specifically, quality control of the review system. Spartans football coach Mark Dantonio was unhappy with how some of the calls went in Saturday's loss to the Gophers, but the meeting was not about that. Today's meeting was postponed, but Carollo still plans to meet with all conference presidents next month.