MinnesotaSportsScene.com

Here’s a question to ponder: which is riskier, banking on a Vikings win or online banking?

Personally, even though the Vikes won ugly, 29-22 over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday, I think opening a checking account with an online bank like WaMu is a whole lot safer than relying on this year’s Vikings team for guaranteed results.

Looking over the Vikings game, the team improved a bit by passing for a season-high 171 yards, but still found most of their offense on the ground, with Chester Taylor gaining over 160 yards and three touchdowns in place of the injured Adrian Peterson. The win moves the Vikes to a 4-6 record with six games left, and if the Vikings do everything right, they might just manage to pull an 8-8 finish out of this train wreck. But that’s a big if.

By contrast, WaMu has very nice online security, you can apply online, and the whole experience is really no different than you might find at a local corner bank. Except maybe WaMu is better at email communication, online account access and being a bit human about the whole experience. (I have seen some traditional banks really mess over some friends of mine.)

So yeah, I’d say online banking’s a safer bet than the Vikings right now, much as I am a Purple Pride fan through and through.

Already, Tubby Smith has out-recruited his former employer, Kentucky, and landed a recruiting class for next season that ranks, according to most experts, as the second-best class in the Big 10 and safely within the Top 10 in the nation. After being critiqued at Kentucky for his inability to land the best recruits, Smith has pulled off a minor miracle doing so well in his first season at Minnesota, trying to sell young, NBA-aspiring kids on a 9-22 team. That’s a much harder sell-job than he’d have had, had Tubby stayed in Kentucky, where his team was a perennial Sweet 16 favorite.

In July alone, Smith traveled to eight different states, and attended 14 major tournaments during the summer’s most critical recruiting time. He said he had to, in order to get the word out that Tubby Smith was now synonymous with the Minnesota Gophers, not the Kentucky Wildcats. After the time Tubby’s put in to recruiting since he was hired last spring, he might need a new pair of golf shoes to run around in.

Yet on the first day of signing day, his class of four looks as impressive as anyone’s, and he may yet add to it.

Here’s the rundown on two of the most highly-valued junior college players Smith sought and signed:

Paul Carter, junior college, 6′8″, likely small forward. Rated by many to be the steal of this year’s Gophers class.

Devron Bostick, junior college, likely SG-SF swingman. Highly valued and heavily recruited.

And now, what could turn into a Twin Towers scenario for the Gophers, the front court:

Colton Iverson, native of Yankton, SD, 6′10″, PF. A top 150 recruit, higher on some boards.

Ralph Sampson III, Duluth, GA, 6′11″, C. A solid Top 100 recruit, even higher on some boards.

And remember that “he still might not be done” part? Smith is working hard to land the best PG in all of Canada for the Gophers, Devoe Joseph. If Smith lands Joseph, look for Coach Smith’s first Gophers class to be referred to as the “new Fab Five,” which would refer to the impressive Michigan recruiting class the Wolverines put together in the early 1990s.

Alarmists are already looking to take out a burial policy on the Minnesota Vikings after last weekend’s shocking injury to rookie RB sensation Adrian Peterson, who, now that the dust has settled, appears to be headed toward missing anywhere from one week to the rest of the season after tearing his lateral collateral ligament in a severe knee sprain caused by a helmet-leading hit on Peterson by Packers cornerback Al Harris.

The hit came early in the second half of the game - the half in which Peterson is known for becoming his most explosive - and although Peterson has gone the classy, Kirby Puckett-style route, saying the hit was clean, game footage clearly shows Harris aiming at the knee and leading on the tackle with his helmet. It’s clearer than the Zapruder film.

For this reason, MinnesotaSportsScene.com has decided from this point forward, as long as Al Harris is on the Packers defense, that rather than “America’s Team” or “God’s Team,” the Cheeseheads’ defense will now be referred to as Murderer’s Row. If they want to play like thugs, they’ll get called on it here.

As for Peterson, no one wants to say it out loud, but this type of injury is typically a six-week recovery period, though Peterson wants to attempt a return much sooner, if possible. The great debate is whether the Vikings should allow Peterson to attempt a return and risk a longer-term, more career-threatening injury, or play it safe, bench him the rest of the way, and allow him time to heal completely, and perhaps even get surgery, if that’s needed.

Only time will tell.

It took forever.

Or, more accurately, it only seemed like forever. But after starting off their first Kevin Garnett-less season in 12 years, the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves have won a game without KG on the court.

The victory came at Target Center, against a lousy Sacramento team that beat them only a few days earlier out in California. But none of the Wolves were complaining about how they finally broke the losing streak. They were just glad it was finally over.

SG Rashad McCants scored 33 points, a pro career high, in the watershed victory, leading his team to a 108-103 win. With five minutes to go, it was a familiar scene for Wolves fans as Minnesota was close to Sacramento; the difference this time is that when crunch time started, it was Minnesota who hustled, made plays and kept their shots falling.

So far this season, Minnesota hasn’t often been blown out, keeping nearly every game within a 10-point margin; the difference Wednesday night is that this time, they came out on top.

“We won that game,” coach Randy Wittman said in a post-game press conference. “As we talked about the last four minutes in every timeout: Here we go again, are we going to make the plays? And our guys did.”

While no one is going to award the Wolves diamond pendants for holding a 1-5 record, it sure sounds a lot better to the ears of fans than 0-6.

The new-look Minnesota Timberwolves lost their third straight game in the young NBA season last night, a 111-103 loss to Orlando. So what’s the difference between this year’s team and last year’s?

How about effort, for one? Playing in the shadow of Kevin Garnett last season, most of Minnesota’s other starters and bench players looked as if creating cat Christmas ornaments was their main pastime, rather than playing pro hoops.

Not so this season. While the Wolves are a bit shy on experience and overall talent, they are playing hard and playing teams close; they just lack the firepower, so far, to put an opposing team away.

That’s an improvement, at least.

Prior to Sunday’s game, Minnesota rookie running back Adrian Peterson was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Month for the month of October. The young-legged runner must want to make it two in a row, as he responded to the honor today by breaking the all-time NFL single-game rushing record against the San Diego Chargers.

In Sunday’s 35-17 Vikings win over San Diego, Peterson rushed 30 times for 296 yards, one yard better than Baltimore’s Jamal Lewis back in 2003. It obviously also breaks Peterson’s own Vikings team record of 210 or so, set back about three weeks ago, the last time the Vikings won and, not coincidentally, also the last time coach Brad Childress actually allowed Peterson to touch the ball 20 or more times.

It’s a simple formula for winning, Chilly: Give Peterson the ball. A lot.

In addition to the 296 yards rushing, Peterson had three touchdowns as well as one reception for 19 yards.

And here’s the scary part: Peterson’s a rookie. He’s not yet the player he can become. The LaDanien Tomlinson era is over; the Adrian Peterson era has begun!

Troy Williamson won’t catch a single pass against the San Diego Chargers today and you can take that to the bank!

The reason, however, won’t be ineffective play, this time. Williamson sadly suffered the loss of his grandmother recently and received permission to attend to family needs at her funeral this weekend. Pass catcher Bobby Wade is also questionable for the game, leaving the Vikings potentially without their top two WRs against San Diego today.

So, subtract about three catches from QB Tavaris Jackson. Maybe scrapping the bottle of the receiver barrel will cause coach Brad Childress to remember what helped the Vikings win the last time they actually accomplished such a feat: letting NFC Offensive Player of the Month RB Adrian Peterson touch the ball at least 20-25 times.

If that doesn’t happen, today’s Vikings game may be enough to cause some fans to invest in Botox for headaches.

The growing pains continue.

It has been several years since the Illinois Fighting Illini liked playing the Minnesota Gophers. That’s because under prior coach Glen Mason, they rarely won against our maroon and gold. But under new coach Tim Brewster, in the middle of a rookie season as head coach and dipped in a big, giant vat of “rebuilding pains,” the Illini may have found a coach who could become a favorite of Illinois fans.

The Illini spoiled the Gophers’ homecoming week with a dominating, 44-17 win that saw Rashard Mendenhall slice up the Gophers’ sex scandal-decimated defense, surrendering 201 yards to the running back. The Gophers proved ineffective scoring points against Illinois this time, too.

I hope no one took out a cash advance against the spread of the Gophers’ homecoming result.

There were no expectations, really.

If Al Jefferson had wheeled out a utility cart full of basketballs without tripping, he might have drawn a round of applause from an arena full of Timberwolves fans who, more than anything, want to see 48 minutes of good, solid effort each night.

The new, Kevin Garnett-less Wolves didn’t disappoint on that front. In fact, if anything, the kids played as solid a game of team basketball as has been seen out of these blue-green-and-black-suited warriors since the early days of Garnett, Gugliotta and Marbury.

Rashad McCants, the forgotten first-rounder from the 2005 draft, came up big, especially in the first quarter, scoring a good portion of his team-leading 23 points to open the home debut of the new Wolves with some excitement.

Together with PG Sebastian Telfair, filling in for Randy Foye who will miss three weeks on injury, McCants led the Wolves to a 19-6 jump start that led to a Denver timeout and a standing ovation for the home-court Wolves.

As the game progresses, the lead narrowed but the Wolves managed to finish ahead of the Nuggets at the end of all of the first three quarters of play.

New “franchise” player, Al Jefferson, even put up a double-double consisting of 16 points and 13 rebounds, an impressive debut for the player who will - like it or not - be charged with making fans forget the intials “KG.” So far, it looks like he can handle the assignment.

Of course, this young Wolves team isn’t quite up to speed just yet as the dust from their Miami trade hasn’t even settled yet, a deal which booted Ricky ‘Avis (because there’s no “D” in Davis) and Mark Blount from the team in exchange for a draft pick, another former Celtic and some “change” in terms of extra players who may or may not fit in here.

But the important aspect is that the Wolves played like a team, not like a group that included big names who were playing for their names. Some superstars will be bound to emerge from this group of Wolves. Jefferson seems like the real deal. Foye should be decent when healthy. McCants has a chance. And you have to appreciate the potential of kids like Brewer, Gomes, Smith and perhaps even Telfair.

The team still lacks a huge, dominant center… but when have they ever had one of those? Sure, the game was a 99-91 loss. But it was a scrappy one, especially when you consider how good the Nuggets are supposed to be this year.

For now, that’s enough.

Former Boston Celtic power forward Al Jefferson just sealed his fate, assuring Minnesota of a decent to potentially-great PF in Kevin Garnett’s old spot by signing a five-year, incentive-laden contract that is short of the max, but certainly will make Jefferson a well-to-do guy going forward. Exact terms of the deal aren’t fully revealed at this point.

I do want to say it was wise of Jefferson to settle for a slightly lower deal than he could have gotten had he waited. Perhaps he learned from Garnett’s career. Minnesota was required to overpay Garnett far too early in his career, and the team was therefore never free to build a reliable supporting cast around him.

By locking up for five years but not maxing out, the Wolves window for reloading the team will stay open a bit longer, through 2008 and 2009. If we don’t have all the pieces in place, L-rd help us all, but I suspect a safety utility knife may come into the picture with the NEXT “tear apart and reassemble” job that will require!

Sometimes you just have to wonder what some kids are thinking. Or if they think at all.

Word has it junior forward Brandon Smith, who only managed four points a game as a 13-game starter last season for the Gopher’s men’s basketball team, primarily under interim coach Jim Molinari, has decided to leave the team, effective pretty much right away.

No word on where he’s doing, but one has to question the judgment of the Minneapolis Patrick Henry High standout. Where in the Big 10, heck the nation, could Smith find a better mentor than Tubby Smith? (Hint: He won’t.)

Well, if he’s going to bail, better he do it now so Coach Smith can use the scholarship on a kid who’ll actually work his tail off for the already-legendary coach.