The Minnesota Golden Gophers' season went down the drain when senior point guard Al Nolen suffered an ankle injury, but he's still hoping to give it another go. Unfortunately, the likelihood of that doesn't appear to be very good at this point.
According to Gophers' coach Tubby Smith, Nolen still hasn't been cleared by the medical staff to play basketball yet. He was in uniform for Minnesota's 66-63 season-ending loss to Penn State on Sunday, but that was more or less for show for Senior Day than anything else.
The Gophers are 2-9 since Nolen's injury, and have lost nine of their last ten games.
Minnesota will play Northwestern in the opening game of the 2011 Big Ten Tournament tomorrow afternoon at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.