A very satisfying night

Badger football win over Hawaii? Check. UW hockey sweep over Michigan Tech? Check. Wisconsin basketball trounces Grambling (is not a ) State too.

Hell, even the Wild and more remarkably, the Timberwolves, won games.

UW ran all over Hawaii, led by John Clay's 172 yards and three touchdowns. Kicker Phillip Welch reminded Wisconsin fans why they hate him by missing a field goal from the right hash wide right and clanging an extra point attempt off the left upright. Freshman jack-of-all-trades Chris Borland kicked the remaining three extra points for the Badgers.

The Badger basketball game was reportedly the most boring game of basketball in the history of ever, so long story short, UW improves to 6-1 on the season.

You can check my recap of the Wolves game here, 'nuff said.

The Wild are over the .500 mark for the first time this season, at 13-12-3. That 3-9 start has been replaced by a 10-3-3 run, including wins in the last five games.

Michigan Tech shot itself in the foot against Wisconsin in hockey last night. Mikael Lickteig went off near the end of the first period for a five-minute major checking from behind penalty. UW went on to score three times, including once on a five-on-three after another Husky decided being down one man wasn't demoralizing enough. Brendan Smith and John Mitchell scored twice each and Derek Stepan had three assists.

The Badgers are still only ranked 16th, though that should change tomorrow. Hopefully Wisconsin doesn't get too cocky after the series as they head to No. 3 North Dakota this weekend.

But if they carry a little swagger, it will be justified - some stats to consider:

• UW scores 4.12 goals per game, second in the nation - and first in the WCHA by more than half a goal.
  
• UW allows just 2.00 goals per game, tied for fifth in the nation with NoDak. UND and UW are tied atop the conference in scoring defense.
  
• Wisconsin is second in the nation to Bemidji State in scoring margin, outscoring opponents by 2.12 goals per game.
• After going 7-for-13 on the power play this weekend, the Badgers are 17th in the nation, converting at a 21.3 percent clip. They rank fourth in the WCHA.
• 20 different Badgers have scored a goal this season, with freshman Derek Lee being the most recent to get his first of the year. That mark leads the nation.
• Junior defenseman Brendan Smith has the conference lead in points and is second in the nation in overall points and points per game. He's the nation's top scoring defenseman.
• Blake Geoffrion's hat trick Friday night was the first by a Badger since 2007 and first by a UW senior since 1996.
• All three of Geoffrion's goals were on the power play, tying the school mark for most PP goals in a game by one player. He's second in the nation with eight power play goals and first in the WCHA with 12 total goals.
  

UW men's hockey live blog

Live blog of the Wisconsin men's hockey team's game against the Michigan Tech Huskies.

Click here for live blog.

Wolves lose again, Badgers win; follow me on Twitter

I'm going to start updating this more often, so bear with me as I get back into the whole blogging business.

The Minnesota Timberwolves lost their second in a row, falling 89-98 to the New Orleans Hornets. Minny is now 2-17 on the season, though Kevin Love made his season debut, scoring 11 and grabbing 11 rebounds. For the full story, check out my Examiner recap, which has a mini preview for tonight's game against Utah.

It was a better week for Wisconsin athletics, after Bucky's win over Duke Wednesday night. Wish I was there, if only for the chance to storm the court. I don't care what you say - beating a top-five ranked Duke team while UW is unranked is a storm the court situation. How many times does Duke come to the Kohl Center? Might as well make the most of it and savor the upset.

The Badgers killed Michigan Tech in men's hockey action Friday night, winning 8-2. Blake Geoffrion got a hat trick, the first Badger to do so since Jack Skille a couple years back. Geoffrion had some help from a MTU defender on the first goal, getting the puck to go off the Husky defenseman's skate and in. The senior captain's three goals all came on the power play, tying the school record for power play goals by one player in a game. All in all, 12 Badgers registered a point on the night, led by Geoffrion's three goals and Brendan Smith's four assists. Smith is now tied with UMD's Jack Connolly for the conference lead, with 21 points (5-16-21). You can check out the live blog coverage from last night here and check back later for Saturday's live blog coverage.

I've finally succumbed and started a twitter account, so if you want, you can follow me on there.

A closer look at the Twins' All Stars

With the Twins enjoying an off day, it seems like the perfect opportunity to take a closer look at Minnesota’s three All-Stars, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan. Mauer was selected by the fans as a starter, while Morneau and Nathan are reserves.

Mauer easily earned the starting nod at catcher, collecting 4,335,739 votes – fourth among all vote-getters in MLB. While much of the media buzz surrounding Mauer recently concerns the possibility of him hitting .400, that’s a narrow view to take of a player who is so much more. As of July 6, Mauer has a .389/.465/.648 line to go with a career-high 14 home runs. His torrid May was tempered by a more human June – Mauer had a Barry Bonds-esque .414/.500/.838 May before slipping to .353/.407/.490 for the month of June. His power stroke all but disappeared as well, as he had 11 homers and 32 RBI in May but just three homers and 11 RBI in June, though some of that slide can be attributed to the Twins lacking Denard Span for much of the month.

Despite that slide and what will likely be a steady decline as the season progresses, Mauer is a solid MVP candidate, combining his insane offensive numbers with Gold Glove-caliber defense. The wear and tear of playing catcher derails any logical chance of him hitting .400, but if the Twins win the AL Central, Mauer could win his first MVP award.

Of course, Mauer could easily find himself the runner up in the MVP race to none other than his good friend Morneau. The Canadian is quietly having a monster year and easily deserves the starting nod in the All Star Game over Kevin Youkilis and actual starter Mark Teixeira. Though the fans voted Teixeira in, Morneau won the most votes by the players themselves, and rightly so.

In his 2006 MVP season, Morneau finished with a .321/.375/.559 line, along with 34 homers and 130 RBI. After the first three months of ’06, he had 21 HR and 20 RBI, similar to the 21 HR and 69 RBI he has so far this year. This year, Morneau’s seems about set to repeat his 2006 stats, entering today with a .323/.399/.601 hitting line. To put that into context with other players this season, consider Morneau’s ranking in the following categories:

Category	AL Rank	1B Rank	MLB Rank
Batting Avg	3	4	12
On-Base %	5	7	17
Slugging %	1	4	4
OPS	1	4	4
Home Runs	2	5	8
Runs Batted In	2	3	4
Total Bases	1	2	2

Morneau hasn’t just been good, he’s been the Albert Pujols of the American League – which is even higher praise, considering the year Pujols is having. The only other first basemen that come close to matching Morneau’s all-around greatness have been Pujols and Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder. Considering that he’s also played in 82 of the team’s 83 games and Morneau seems a lock to at least match his 2008 runner up finish in this year’s MVP race.

As dominant as Mauer and Morneau have been offensively, Nathan has been equally as vicious on the mound. He’s second in the league with 22 saves and his 1.35 ERA leads American League closers. His miniscule .75 WHIP and .205 opponent’s batting average are also phenomenal, justifying SI.com’s decision to name him the current best closer in the big leagues. Nathan hasn’t allowed a run since May 15 against the Yankees and has only allowed a run in three of his 35 appearances. If the All Star Game comes down to a save situation for the AL, there’s no doubt in my mind that Nathan should be called on to close the game.

If the Twins’ supporting cast has a strong second half, Minnesota’s trio of All-Stars should carry the team to its fifth AL Central title this decade. Mauer and Morneau could very well find themselves battling each other for the MVP award and Nathan could be on his way to his first Rolaids Relief Man award by season’s end. Of course, there’s a whole lot of baseball left to play and projected finishes often don’t match actual finishes. As of today though, these three Twins seem safe bets to finish career years.

Late afternoon thoughts

It's been a busy week. With the NBA and NHL drafts, there's been a lot for a Minnesota sports fan to get excited (or irate) about.

On the NBA draft, I doubt are any likely endings to the Ricky Rubio situation that will bring smiles to any Minnesotans' faces. I think Wolves boss David Kahn was like a dog chasing cars and now that he's caught one, he doesn't know what to do with it. Rubio dropped subtle hints that he wasn't interested in playing for a small market team before the draft and his comments afterwards have been anything but encouraging. Kahn didn't really have a choice when Rubio slipped to the fifth pick though, so I can't blame the guy for putting himself into a pickle. My gut feeling is that Rubio plays in Europe for another year. As much as I hate to admit it, Kahn is right in saying that the Wolves can afford to wait on the kid.

Whatever ends up happening, Minnesota's got a quality guy in Jonny Flynn, and you can check out my profile of him here. Wayne Ellington has a winning pedigree and should be a capable shooting guard. Obviously there would be a lot more excitement if Rubio was on the Target Center court come fall, but Minnesota's new guards should be entertaining, if nothing else.

As for the NHL, Wild GM Chuck Fletcher was even busier than Kahn, doing everything in his power to acquire assets to make up for the waste of everything that was Doug Risebrough's last few years. The man practically gave away draft picks. I know it's been pounded into the ground, but the fact that Risebrough let Pavol Demitra and Brian Rolston walk for nothing is inexcusable. If you're not going to make a true commitment to keep a player, trade him to at least get some value before he's gone. Fletcher reportedly offered Marian Gaborik a deal to stay, but Risebrough's damage was done.

On a side note, I found the uproar over TCF Bank Stadium's no-alcohol sales policy a bit funny. The Dome was the only Big Ten stadium that served alcohol at all, so it's not like they'll be on the outside looking in. It looks like Gopher fans will just have to "learn" how to tailgate and pre-game like most of the rest of the college football world.

NBA Draft Coverage

Live Blog here