-Gophers fans: I’m catching a Friday flight to Phoenix for Saturday’s Louisville-Minnesota game at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Follow me on Twitter using the links on the right of this page. I’m GophersBBGuy.

-All 13 Gophers will suit up Saturday. For the first time this season, the Gophers will be 100 percent against Louisville. Both Paul Carter and Blake Hoffarber, who have missed multiple games due to ankle sprains, will play against the Cardinals, according to Tubby Smith. But Smith said Carter is not 100 percent. Five Gophers have missed games due to injuries this season.

-If you haven’t already done so, check out Thursday’s story about Lawrence Westbrook and his brother, Tahj. If you read the story, you may have noticed that I didn’t have any direct quotes from Lawrence. Tahj nearly died when he was thrown from a vehicle in a September accident.

I didn’t find out about his brother’s accident until I talked to Lawrence’s father Monday night. Problem is, I’d talked to Lawrence earlier that day. And with finals this week, I didn’t have chance to ask him any follow-up questions.

But that’s one of the challenges of covering college athletics. Pro teams open up practices and locker rooms daily. Not the case with collegiate athletics.

When I talked to Lawrence at Thursday’s media availability, Lawrence said he’ll be happy to see his brother for the first time since his accident. It’s also his brother’s birthday, so it should be special.

-The Big Ten’s Raymar Morgan (Michigan State), Robbie Hummel (Purdue) and E’Twaun Moore (Purdue) are on the Naismith Trophy’s preseason watch list, which was announced in Atlanta Thursday.

-Five of the top 100 NBA prospects, according to ESPN’s Chad Ford, will compete in this weekend’s Stadium Shootout: Samardo Samuels, Earl Clark and Terrence Williams (all from Louisville), Lee Cummard (BYU) and James Harden (Arizona State).

-Neutral sites are not Louisville’s friend.  The Cardinals have lost five out of their last nine games at neutral sites, including a 14-point loss against Western Kentucky in Nashville, Tenn., Nov. 30.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 18th, 2008 at 6:04 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.