ScuttleBu(r)t …

Former North Central star Jason Whitens caught the eye of Big Ten Network analyst Bob Wenzel during Sunday night’s Western Michigan-Michigan State game in East Lansing.

“Whitens is one tough guy,” said Wenzel, a former Rutgers player and coach. “He should have a good year in the MAC.”

Whitens, a redshirt sophomore, started and played 25 minutes in the Broncos’ 95-62 loss. The 6-foot-4 guard tallied six points, four rebounds and a steal.

Western (7-6) hosts Ohio on Saturday to start MAC play.

Wenzel also commented on Spartans guard Steve Izzo, son of Lupe and MSU coach Tommy and godson of Steve Mariucci.

“Steve looked good in practice handling the ball,” Wenzel said of the little-used reserve, who received an ovation from the crowd when he took the court.

“Heart-warming,” said Wenzel when hearing the cheers …

Mariucci, an NFL Network analyst and former NFL head coach, gives his coach of the year vote to the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan …

Broadcaster Wayne Larrivee, sporting some winter gear from the Green Bay Packers pro shop during a recent gane, plans to wear the stuff skiing at Indianhead Mountain in Wakefield …

Looks like Aaron Rodgers does more than drink Scotch in his leisure time. The Packers quarterback works on eight to twelve crossword puzzles a week.

“I do enjoy them, but also I’ve had a number of concussions and you worry about your future brain functions, and I feel like doing crosswords, doing Sudoku, doing KenKen, watching ‘Jeopardy,’ brushing your teeth with a different hand, tying your shoes in different orders, there’s a lot of different things that you can do to stay sharp mentally, and I think that’s one of them, crosswords,” Rodgers told gal pal Danica Patrick during her “Pretty Intense” podcast.

Patrick and Rodgers chatted for an hour and 45 minutes.

“It’s a wide-ranging conversation that covers spirituality, smarts, football, winning and losing, religion, Chives Restaurant, music, leadership, authenticity, UFOs, food, “Jeopardy,” Johnny Cash, badminton, social media, Wisconsin weather, scotch, Scooby-Doo, mustaches and Dairy Queen Blizzards,” wrote Kendra Meinert of the Green Bay Press-Gazette …

A Minnesota high school football coach is out of a job for hacking an opposing school’s online Hudl account. Tyler Krebs, formerly of Lakeville South High School, sent a message to Eastville players with a different practice time.

Krebs, who apologized for the move, appears in court in March 2020, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune …

Happy New Year, sports fans! …