Minnesota Sports Briefs: Morris falls short of Hall of Fame

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COOPERSTOWN, N,Y, - Former Minnesota Twins pitcher Jack Morris came in second place, but still fell short in Baseball Hall of Fame voting.

Morris received 66-point-seven percent of the votes, but a player needs to be included on at least 75-percent of the ballots for enshrinement in the baseball hall. The right hander broke into the majors with Detroit in 1977 and helped lead the Tigers to a World Series Championship in 1984. The St. Paul native pitched his hometown Twins and the Blue Jays to world titles, as well. He ended his 18-year-career with 254 wins, 2478 strikeouts and a 3.90 ERA. Morris is currently a part-time team broadcaster for the Twins.

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Minnesota Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway has been added to the NFC Pro Bowl team as an injury replacement for Chicago's Lance Briggs. Greenway will appear in his first Pro Bowl after recording a personal-best 154 tackles this past season. He has been the Vikings' leader in tackles for each of the past four years. Greenway, who will join teammate Jared Allen in Hawaii, added 13 tackles for loss with two sacks and one fumble recovery this season. Greenway attended the University of Iowa where he was an all-Big Ten player.

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Denver Broncos head coach John Fox said Monday that wide receiver Eric Decker sustained a sprained knee during Sunday's wild-card playoff overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Decker, a Cold Spring native, was injured while attempting to catch the ball in the second quarter. He was hit in the knee by Steelers linebacker James Harrison. Decker played college football for the Golden Gophers.

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St. Thomas football coach Glenn Caruso was named the NCAA Division III Coach of the Year in a vote of select members of the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame. This is the second consecutive year that Caruso has won the award. He led the Tommies to an undefeated regular season before bowing out in the national semifinals against Wisconsin-Whitewater.

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The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team is off until Thursday evening when they square off against the eighth-ranked Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall. The Gophers have dropped four games in-a-row on the heels of a six-game winning streak to fall to 12-5 on the season They are coming off a 79-66 defeat to Purdue over the weekend to remain winless in Big Ten action at 0-4. Minnesota wraps up this week's play on Sunday at Penn State.

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University of Minnesota freshman point guard Rachel Banham of Lakeville has been named the Big Ten Conference Player of the Week, as well as the league's Freshman of the Week. Banham netted back-to-back career high games in leading Minnesota to a 2-0 conference record during the week. She scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in last Monday's win over Indiana. Both were career highs. She followed that up with a 26-point effort in a victory over Northwestern on Thursday night. Banham had previously won Freshman of the Week honors on December 12th and December 26th. This is her first Player of the Week award. The Gophers host Purdue this Thursday. Minnesota's record is 10-7 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten.

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