Minnesota Hoops Is Back! Here's What to Look for in November

Hey! We're back. For the past 5 years I've been covering girls high school basketball for Northstar Girls Hoops (now Girls Prep Hoops). It was a blast. But I was really losing track of boys and men's and women's basketball. So now, on Minnesota Hoops, I'll be covering everybody at every level. You might recall that I used to have a Game of the Day, every single day. And that's what we'll be doing again for 2018-2019. Along with that, a Player of the Day, a Team of the Day and a Coach of the Day, rolling up into monthly awards each month and a Player, Team and Coach of the Year next spring. That's the drill.

For November, here's what we've got lined up.

Thurs., Nov. 1--Minnesota Gopher men 109 UMD 53. There's a report on that game posted, and it doubles as a preview of the Gopher men's season.

Fri., Nov. 2--Golden State 116 Timberwolves 99. There's a report on this game as well, plus a report on the Halloween game in which Derrick Rose scored those 50 points you've been hearing about.

Sun., Nov. 4--Winona State women at Iowa State. Not unexpectedly, the Cyclones won this one 73-39.

Mon., Nov. 5--Concordia Moorhead women at U. of Mary. Again, no surprise when the home team is in a higher NCAA division and wins. This one was 64-27.

Tues., Nov. 6--Omaha at the Gopher men. Gophers overpower another opponent 104-76.

Wed., Nov. 7--Timberwolves at L.A. Lakers. Another 4th quarter loss, 114-110, despite another nice game from Derrick Rose.

Thurs., Nov. 8--Bethany Lutheran men at Carleton, Bethany Lutheran women at Macalester. Bethany wins a pair.

Fri., Nov. 9--New Hampshire at Minnesota women in Lindsay Whalen's debut as Gopher coach. Gophers grind out a 70-47 win.

Sat., Nov. 10--Bethel women at Concordia St. Paul.

Sun., Nov. 11--Macalester women as Wisconsin-LaCrosse.

Mon., Nov. 12--MN Morris men at St. John's.

Tues., Nov. 13--St. Ben's at MN Morris women.

Wed., Nov. 14--Gopher women at Xavier.

Thurs., Nov. 15--St. Thomas men at Brooklyn.

Fri., Nov. 16--Portland at the Timberwolves.

Sat., Nov. 17--San Diego at Gopher women.

Sun., Nov. 18--Concordia Moorhead men at MN Crookston.

Mon., Nov. 19--Wisconsin-Superior at Augsburg women.

Tues., Nov. 20--Arkansas Pine Bluff at Gopher women.

Wed., Nov. 21--Denver Nuggets at Timberwolves.

Thurs., Nov. 22--Turkey Day. No ball that I'm aware of.

Fri., Nov. 23--St. Thomas Thanksgiving Tip-Off girls basketball tournament. 7 games including Hill-Murray vs. Holy Family at 12:30 p.m. The tournament continues all day on Saturday as well.

Sat., Nov. 24--Pat Paterson girls basketball tournament at Hamline. 6 games including Hopkins vs. Stillwater at 8:15 p.m. The tournament runs all day Friday as well.

Sun., Nov. 25--Jamestown women at Concordia-St. Paul.

Mon., Nov. 26--Timberwolves at Cleveland.

Tues., Nov. 27--Mountain Iron-Buhl girls at Mesabi East. Matchup of 2 state tournament teams a year ago.

Wed., Nov. 28--MIAC regular conference season gets underway. Bethel men at St. John's looks like the top game of the night.

Thurs., Nov. 29--Syracuse at Gopher women in ACC-Big Ten challenge.

Fri., Nov. 30--It's a shakedown cruise for the Final Four--a basketball "classic" at U.S. Bank Stadium.  St. Thomas plays Wisconsin-River Falls at 6 p.m., and the Gopher men take on Oklahoma State at 9. I believe there are 2 more games on Saturday, Dec. 1, but I will be busy elsewhere on that day.