Gophers back on track

The Minnesota men's basketball had some troubles a couple games ago but with the big win last night against Illinois they got over the struggles they had. Before the game with Illinois the gophers played Indiana and that game was closer than most thought it would be. The gophers only beat Indiana by 4 but that would change against Illinois. The first half was a low scoring half and both teams played good defense. The second half was a little different both teams scored more but Illionois defense faded a bit. In the second half the gophers scored 37 to Illinois' 20 to win with the final score being 36 to 59. This was a big win and Illinois was ranked higher than the gophers. Lawrence Westbrook lead all scoring with 15 points and Ralph Sampson was second with 10 points. Dominique Keller was the leading scorer for Illinois with 9 points. The gophers get a tough game next with number 9 ranked Michigan State.

Gophers starting to slide

The Minnesota men's basketball team has struggled the last couple of games and have fallen in the standings. The slide started when the Gophers were upset by Northwestern early in the week and then the Gophers got beat by Purdue. The lost that was the worst was the lose to Northwestern, Gophers were suppose to win easily but they had problems with rebounding and with shooting. Then the next game against Purdue had some of the same problems but it was a closer game. The biggest problems were rebounding and missing the three, the Gophers went 3 for 19 from three point range and Purdue went 6 for 11 and that played a big part in the game. The Gophers have some tough games coming up, they play Indiana which is a game that they should win and then they get two tough games in a row. The first game is against 24 ranked Illinois and then they go to 7 ranked Michigan State.

Gophers lose against Northwestern

Today the Gophers played the Northwestern Wildcats today and were suppose to pick up the win. The game looked like Minnesota was going to win but then in the 2nd half the Wildcats went on a 16-0 run and took a 10 point led and never looked back. Halfway through the 2nd half the Gophers were down by 12 and couldn't keep up the with the Wildcats from there. The final score was 74 to 65. Lawrence Westbrook scored 18 points which led the team today but wasn't enough to help the Gophers make another comeback like earlier in the week against Wisconsin. Craig Moore led the Wildcats with 22 points and made 6 of 9 three pointers. Kevin Cobe also played a big part in the win by going 9 for 9 from the foul line.

Gophers take down Badgers

Last night the Gophers mens basketball team beat the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison. This was the first win for the Gophers in Madison since 1994. Lawrence Westbrook led the Gophers in the win with a career high 29 points and hit a three pointer to force overtime. The gophers were down 12 with 5 minutes left and it seemed like the Badgers were just going to run the clock out by using the whole shot clock but then the Gophers went on a 22-10 run and tied the game with a three from Westbrook. Then in overtime the Gophers got ahead but almost blew it at the end with fouls and turnovers. The Badgers got the score to within 2 but there was only 10 seconds left and it was Minnesotas ball but the Badgers got the ball back after fouling the Gophers and had a chance to tie the game with a three but they ran out of time and the Gophers got the big win and big comeback from being down by 21 early in the 2nd half.

Cardinals beat Panthers

Saturday night the Arizona Cardinals played the Carolina Panthers and the Panthers were suppose to beat the Cardinals but that didn't happen. The Panthers seemed to be ready and went down the field and scored to take a quick 7 to 0 lead. It wasn't till later in the quarter for Arizona to score but after they got their first score it was under a minute before they scored again. So at the end of the first quarter the score was 14 to 7 with Arizona ahead. Then in the 2nd quarter Arizona was the only team to score and the scored 3 times with 2 field goals and one touchdown. At half the score was 27 to 7 but Arizona got help from Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme by throwing 2 interceptions in the half. In the 2nd half there wasn't as much scoring by either team. Arizona only got 2 more field goals and Carolina got a touchdown. The biggest story of the game was the 5 interceptions thrown by Jake Delhomme which was a career high for him. In all the Panthers had 6 turnovers and the Cardinals had 1. So the team favored to win didn't come away with the win instead they lost by 20 which is the worse lost by a number 2 seed in playoff history.

Florida Oklahoma

Florida and Oklahoma played thursday night in the BCS National Championship. In all the game was close but Florida pulled out the win. In the first half both teams couldn't get much going but both teams scored one touchdown so at half the score was 7 to 7. Florida was first to score in the half but then Oklahoma took the ball right down the field and scored. The second half started like the first but didn't end like first. There was more scoring in the second half but not much. Oklahoma scored another touchdown and Florida scored 2 touchdowns and a field goal. So the final score was 14 to 24 and Florida won but it was a good game to watch. Both quarter backs threw 2 interceptions which was the most either had throw in one game. Both of Oklahoma's touchdowns were passes for Sam Bradford to Jermaine Gresham. Florida's scoring though was spread out and many different players scored. Florida scored when they were close to the endzone but Oklahoma didn't. Oklahoma had the ball twice by the endzone but they couldn't score, first they got stopped on 4th down and then Bradford threw a interception the second time. With the win Florida got their 2nd National Title in 3 years.

Vikes season over

Today the Vikings lost to the Eagles in the Wild Card Playoff game. The game was close all the way till the end. Adrian Peterson had the only points for the Vikings scoring 2 touchdowns in the first half. At the end of the first half the Vikes got an interception but they didn't do anything with it and the fans were booing and people were upset with the choice not to do anything. At half though the Vikings were down just 2 points. Then in the 2nd half the Vikes couldn't get anything going but they were able to hold the Eagles from scoring until the 4th quarter but with the Vikings not scoring the Eagles got the win 14 to 26 and move onto the next round and play the Giants next week. In all the season was good the Vikings won thier first division title since 2000 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2004. Adrian Peterson also was the NFLs leading rusher and won the rushing title, which is a first for a Vikings running back. The quarterback position changed through out the year, after the 2nd game Tavaris was benched and Gus Frerotte was the quarterback, but then Gus hurt his back and Tavaris got the starting job back. Overall it was a season to remember with Adrian winning the rushing title and the Vikings winning the division title and making it to the playoffs.

Vikings make Playoffs

Last sunday the Vikings beat the Giants but barely by kicking a field goal as time expirered. The Vikings should have easily won because the Giants put in their 2nd string players for over half the game and the Vikings had their starters in all game. They needed to win or have Chicago lose and the bears game wasn't being shown at the Metrodome, so the Vikes didn't know how they were doing. They won though and that was all that mattered because then they were in the playoffs and won the division title for the first time since 2000. Next the Vikes play the Eagles this coming sunday at 3:30 up in the twin cities. Last time the 2 teams played each other the Eagles beat up on the Vikings. So this time the Vikings hope to return the favor or at least get the win to move onto the next round of the playoffs.