Souhan; Johnson Will Recruit Minnesota Kids [PODCAST]

The University of Minnesota has hired Ben Johnson to be its next men's basketball head coach. Star Tribune Sports Columnist Jim Souhan joined me on WJON today. He says with Johnson's background as a Minneapolis native, former Gopher player and assistant coach and his connection with the local AAU scene he's well equipped to recruit and land top Minnesota talent. Jim says the hiring of Johnson is a clear indication that the University wants to keep more Minnesota kids in the state. The hiring is also the first head coach of color hired by Athletic Director Mark Coyle.

The NCAA men's basketball tournament continued Monday night with Michigan surviving and Maryland being eliminated. The Big Ten had 9 teams in the NCAA tournament and now only Michigan is still playing. Jim says the Big Ten may have been overrated going into the tournament and peaked early.

The Timberwolves lost to Oklahoma City Monday night and are 3-4 with Chris Finch as head coach. He says Anthony Edwards was not in the game late and Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns both expressed concern with that. Jim says it will be interesting to see how Finch handles that situation.

The Minnesota Wild won 2-1 over Anaheim Monday night. Jim says the Wild didn't play their best but still won. He says the Wild have hit a rough patch in the season and that showed up with their losses to Colorado over the weekend. The win over Anaheim at home is the 9th straight at home.