MinnesotaSportsScene.com

It means pretty much nothing, except that maybe Minnesota is playing more of its regular season starters for more minutes during the exhibition season. But for those trivia lovers out there, the Timberwolves did improve to 5-1 on the preseason, winning Sunday night 111-107 over the Denver Nuggets.

Rarely does pre-season success suggest anything for the regular season. Still, the Wolves have been down for so long now, any sign of hope is a positive thing for Randy Wittman’s crew. The line on Minnesota’s big stars was as follows:

Ryan Gomes scored 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting from the field for the Timberwolves (5-1). Mike Miller had 17 points, Al Jefferson added 15, Craig Smith 13 and Randy Foye 12. Foye also had 15 assists.

If the team can manage to play like this, they should be able to get off to a decent start on the season. But that’s a big if, considering Nuggets coach George Karl held back so many starters that former Timberwolf reserve Anthony Carter led the Nuggets in scoring.

Like I said, bet your wireless router on this little nugget: preseason success means nothing in basketball.

Even though this weekend was a bye week for the football Gophers, Minnesota debuted in the BCS Top 25 poll for the first time this season, and the first time since 2005. While the Tim Brewster-coached Gophers are ranked near the bottom of that poll, at number 24, it is still a huge achievement for a team that no one - including MinnsotaSportsScene.com - expected much out of this year.

Color us humbled. Still, despite the team’s current 6-1 record (2-1 in the Big 10), there’s still a long and difficult schedule ahead for the maroon and gold, and to achieve a top bowl bid, they can’t drop more than one game the rest of the way. If they do, I wouldn’t bet my MBT shoes on a January bowl appearance.

The remaining schedule for the Gophers is somewhat favorable. There are only two road games left, including Purdue and Wisconsin. The team also faces home games against Northwestern, Michigan and Iowa.

The team ought to be able to win three of the last five, given their performances so far this season. That would put Minnesota at 9-3, which would ensure a good bowl, but probably not a January bowl. If the Gophers can manage four wins, a January bowl would not be out of the question, but that would mean beating either Wisconsin on the road, or Michigan at home - tall order.

Former Marquette and current Miami Dade Community College power forward Trevor Mbakwe may not wait until spring to announce his intentions. Smith offered Mbakwe a scholarship back in September and the St. Paul native had an official campus visit during “Tubby’s Tip-Off” this past weekend.

The Gophers are clearly the front-runner on Mbakwe’s list, but Miami remains a contender. He is the last Top 100 power forward the Gophers have a shot with for 2009, though, since Andrew Fitzgerald just gave his commit to Oklahoma.

Call it a glitch in Mac memory, but while there are still lower-rated big men on Tubby’s radar, it’s clear that he now has his sights set firmly on Mbakwe; and the St. Paul native would indeed make a great addition to a 2009 recruiting class that so far has rounded out quite well.

With a recruiting class that already includes Royce White, Rodney Williams Jr. and Justin Cobbs. With Mbakwe added to the mix, Smith would be assured of once again having one of the top recruiting classes in the Big 10, as well as one of the top 25 recruiting classes in the nation.

People were keeping a close eye on their Guess watches today as time ticked off the clock in the Bears-Vikings clash at Soldier Field in Chicago. It was a high-scoring affair that left each team counter-punching the other most of the way.

In the end, though, it was Gus Frerotte’s fourth interception, the fourteenth turnover of the day by the Vikings offense, that sealed the team’s fate in a 48-41 loss to the Bears. When a team can have 14 turnovers and only the last one takes away their ability to come back and win the game, you know it’s been a sloppy day on defense for both teams.

Adrian Peterson did his best, offering up 121 yard rushing and two scores in the game; Frerotte threw for just under 300 yards and scored two touchdowns despite the four interceptions. And the game was not an example of sterling offense for the Bears, as three of their scores came off special teams or defensive plays.

The Vikings definitely gave this one away. But with Childress going 2-1 over the past three games and entering the bye week with a record of 3-4, I believe he’s earned a reprieve. Let him finish out the season and avoid the chaos of a mid-season coaching change.

But make no mistake about it: he’s still a prime target for firing, once this season is over. Zygi should can him as quickly as possible after the season and open up the coffers wide enough to lure a quality head coach to this team.

Bill Cowher’s still out there, my friends. Ripe for the hiring.

Timberwolves rookie forward Kevin Love has a lot of learning to do, and if coach Randy Wittman has his way, it will be defense that Love, and the rest of the team, learn first. In year two of the post-Garnett era, Wittman is again preaching defense to a team still looking to find an identity the way real estate lovers are looking for Outer Banks rentals.

Part of the identity issue was solved last season when Al Jefferson, the cornerstone of the trade that sent Garnett to Boston, asserted himself as the team’s top big man, posting better numbers than Garnett most of the season, despite being on a losing team while Garnett rode the Celtics to his first NBA Title.

Love will be part of the mix this year, but whether he plays starter minutes alongside Jefferson or comes in off the bench alongside Jason Collins remains to be seen.

Whether Brad Childress, whose tenure with the Vikings is on a pulse oximeter, gets to finish out this season as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, or becomes the next coach to be fired mid-season, is a tale that may be told over the next three games. Currently a very disappointing 1-3, the Vikings face crucial opponents, starting tonight.

First, on Monday Night Football tonight, the Vikes will have a showdown with the New Orleans Saints, a game they ought to win. After that, there will be key division match-ups against NFC North foes Detroit and Chicago.

If Childress secures all three wins, he’ll survive the season, at least, leading the Vikings into their bye week with a 4-3 record. He’ll probably survive if he drops one of those games.

However, if Childress loses two of the next three games, or worse, loses all three, we may see a coaching change going into the bye week. And it will be long overdue.

If owner Zygi Wilf does decide to release Childress during the bye, look for assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier to be named to the interim spot, with a strong chance to retain the job once the season’s over, if he can turn things around. If Frazier can’t turn things around, expect Wilf to clean house and start over fresh in January.

You heard it here first.

Minnesota Gophers receiver Eric Decker is making maroon-and-gold fans forget all about the one that got away, Cretin Durham Hall grad Michael Floyd, now with Notre Dame. That’s because Decker currently leads all Division I receivers with 696 receiving yards through six games; he’s also third in the nation in catches, with 50.

By comparison, Floyd has only 21 catches for 333 yards over five games.

So forget all those Fenphedra-popping wannabes; Decker is the real thing for the Gophers and is a big part of elevating the team from a one-win train wreck last season to a 5-1 phenom this season.

While the Big 10 schedule is sure to take its toll on the Gophers and add a few more losses, one more win will make the Gophers technically bowl-eligible, and two more wins in the Big 10 will seal the Gophers for a post-season bowl bid.

Considering where the team was last season, anything beyond seven wins is gravy!

Well, Tubby Smith can now relax and not worry so much about that term life insurance quote rate; he’s pulled off what previous coach Dan Monson never managed during his tender and that’s getting the top two Minnesota recruits in the state to stay at home and play for the Gophers.

Rodney Williams Jr. finally gave Minnesota and Coach Tubby his oral commitment recently, joining his lifelong pal Royce White in the maroon and gold as part of the 2009 recruiting class. Williams Jr. and White are both Top 50 recruits according to most scouting services, and while White is clearly the better of the two, having them both is a huge recruiting coup by Tubby and his staff.

Williams and White are joined in the 2009 recruiting class by California pure point guard Justin Cobbs, and with Williams on board, Coach Smith may lay low on his 2009 recruiting class until spring, when most of his top power forward targets are expected to make their decisions. One possible target is Trevor Mbakwe, currently attending Miami Dade Community College; he’s a big man that could certainly help the Gophers, especially if they start losing some of Tubby’s recruits to early NBA Draft entries. That is a risk with current freshmen recruits in the class of 2008, like Colton Iverson, Paul Carter and Ralph Sampson III.

Even before the Gophers add a power forward, though, the commits from this trio should be enough to get Tubby a top-20 recruiting class ranking once again.