Twins: Wimmers has shot at bullpen spot. C3

ø Wolves: Dunn earning more playing time. C6

Winner, Top 10 Sports section in the nationAwarded by the Associated Press Sports Editors (2017)

SPORTSS TA R T R I B U N E . C O M / S P O R T S • S E C T I O N C

Rick Spielman is “very confident” the Vikings are on the right course to end a playoff victory drought dating to 2010.

By MARK CRAIG • mcraig@startribune.com

PHOENIX — So how confident is Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman that his team will return to the postseason after a one-year absence and win a playoff game for the first time since he was promoted to general manager in 2012?

“Very confident,” Spielman said Monday during the annual NFL meetings at the

Arizona Biltmore hotel. “I think everybody in our building is very confident of that. We’ve worked extremely hard. The coaches, all our scouts, all the football operations, are working extremely hard. We’re very confident that we will have a very good football team next year.”

The Vikings haven’t won a playoff game since Brett Favre led them to a 34-3 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Jan. 17, 2010 — 2,642 days ago. They are 0-3 in playoff games since that day, including one-and-done appearances in the 2012 and 2015 seasons.

With that in mind, Spielman was asked if his faith in his system for building a team

Postseason a reality to GMN F L O W N E R S M E E T I N G S W I L D V S . WA S H I N G T O N 7 p.m. Tuesday (FSN)

The Wild’s slide began with a loss to the Capitals, who have been surging since.

By MICHAEL RUSSO • mrusso@startribune.com

What a difference 14 days makes.Exactly two weeks ago, the Wild waltzed

into Washington as the top team in the West-ern Conference for a best-on-best battle against the East-leading Capitals.

When the Wild and Capitals face off Tues-day night in St. Paul, the Wild will have accu-mulated three out of 16 points since. The NHL-leading Caps have snatched 11 of 12 points since.

Basically, when it comes to the Wild and

its monthlong plunge, Eric Staal has been on fire and almost everybody else has not.

While there’s no denying the Wild’s game began to show signs of cracking leading into the team’s late February bye, the about-face in virtually every team statistic since the calen-dar flipped to March has been astronomical and explains why the team likely ruined its chance of winning its first Central Division title.

From the season opener through Feb. 28, the Wild ranked second in the NHL in goals per game (3.38), third in goals-against (2.38), first in shooting percentage (. 122) and second in save percentage (. 924).

A fortnight of faded fortunes

See WILD on C6 ØSee VIKINGS on C8 Ø

PAT R I C K R E U S S E

The do-gooders can wipe away from the record book many of Clem Haskins’ accom-plishments as the men’s basketball coach at the University of Minnesota. They can try to ren-der Clem’s Gophers invisible as participants in the 1997 Final Four, and harrumph over Clem’s awards as National Coach of the Year for that season.

What the do-gooders can never take away from Clem is that big, sweet kiss he exchanged with his hometown sweetheart, Yevette, in San Antonio’s Alamodome on March 22, 1997.

“I gave her a hug and a big kiss,” Clem said. “It was one of those 16-year-old’s kisses.”

Then, he looked toward a cou-ple of minicams from Twin Cities TV stations and said, “If you want me to explain what a 16-year-old’s kiss is, you’re going to have to turn off those cameras.”

Record books fail to mention greatest game U ever played

By MARCUS FULLER • marcus.fuller@startribune.com

Nobody knows the whereabouts of the Gophers’ 1997 Big Ten championship tro-phy. The massive gold “FINAL FOUR” banner with maroon trim that once hung

from the Williams Arena rafters is rumored to be buried in a storage room somewhere, either in the Barn or Mariucci Arena.

All evidence from that captivating run through the NCAA tournament is gone. Wiped off college basketball’s map. So much so that the 20th anniver-sary season of the University of Minnesota’s only men’s Final Four just went by without a word of recognition on campus.

The former players themselves aren’t even sure they will gather for a reunion this year. They wanted to be recognized by the university, despite the aca-demic cheating scandal that would later damage the program and erase their accomplishments.

“You have to acknowledge us,” former star guard Bobby Jackson said last week from Sacramento, Calif. “I think when you have such a great team in such a great era, I think that’s why people remember it and won’t let it go.”

ONLY MEMORIES, 20 YEARS LATERScandal’s impact still felt as Gophers mark 1997 Final Four with silence

Photos by JEFF WHEELER • jwheeler@startribune.comThe biggest victory in Clem Haskins’ coaching career, winning the Midwest Regional final over UCLA in 1997, is no longer officially part of NCAA or Gophers history, having been wiped out by an academic scandal. But to the players on that team, including (below, from left), John Thomas, Eric Harris, Quincy Lewis and Bobby Jackson, the Gophers’ accomplishments are very much real.

See REUSSE on C5 ØSee 1997 GOPHERS on C4 Ø

20 YEARS AGO GOPHERS RUN TO THE FINAL FOUR

ZSW [C M Y K] C1 Tuesday, Mar. 28, 2017

T U E S DAY, M A R C H 2 8 , 2 0 1 7

612-341-4131www.ticketkingonline.com

VOICES

RANDBALL

ESPN made official one of the worst-kept secrets in sport media last week: the Sunday Countdown show is getting a major makeover, with Sam Ponder being named as the host of the studio show to replace Chris Berman.

Ponder previously had numer-ous college football responsibili-ties with ESPN; the new gig, how-ever, creates an interesting ques-tion: Can she objectively facili-tate discussions about a league in which her husband — ex-Vikings QB Christian Ponder — plays?

It’s an interesting conflict-of-interest question — one posed in a recent interview with Sam Pon-der by SI’s Richard Deitsch. Pon-der gave a thoughtful answer, that reads, in part:

“I am not an analyst, so my role isn’t to critique my husband, his teammates or anyone for that mat-ter. However, I do think that when fully disclosed and appropriate, rela-tionships with athletes and coaches can greatly benefit sports fans.”

Read Michael Rand’s blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.

ESPN role complicated for Ponder

In addition to giving up goals at a record pace in its 0-3-1 start, Minnesota United is not being treated kindly in the national soc-cer media. The side’s leaky defense was on full display again Saturday afternoon in a 5-2 loss to the New England Revolution.

While ESPN’s soccer website pointed out that the loss of four play-ers to their international teams for World Cup qualifiers contributed to Saturday’s loss, soccer writer Jason Davis said: “Of course, that excuse will ring hollow in light of the expansion club’s horrific defen-sive record through four matches.”

On foxsports.com, writer Cait-lin Murray took a shot at United management: “The concern here, however, is that some of Minne-sota’s problems aren’t going away anytime soon. Saturday’s match proved, if anything, that they have no depth, which any team in MLS needs. Injuries, suspensions and national team call-ups are just part of life in MLS, and the Loons look utterly unprepared for it.”

HOWARD SINKER

F R O M O U R B L O G SS T R I B S P O R T S U P L O A D

National media piles on United after slow start

TIPSHEET

K N O W T H I SIf you’ve spent a few weekends in Las Vegas, you know that Sunday can be rough. You might be broke so you don’t want to gamble any more. You might have a late flight, but you’re partied out. This is your target demo-graphic — out-side of residents, of course — for the NFL fran-chise relocating to Sin City.

WATCH THISThere was a time not long ago when Capitals at Wild (7 p.m., FSN) sounded like a Stanley Cup Final preview. Now it sounds like an opportunity for the Wild to restore faith — or to slide deeper into its recent depths.

R A N D O M FA N D O M“The heart-pounding sus-pense is killing me. I’d say selec-tion of a back-of-the-rotation starter for the Twins is roughly akin to the selec-tion of Mr. Irrel-evant in the NFL draft.”“ryannolan” commenting on startribune.com.

T W E E T E D“WALK UP SONG ALERT:Joe Mauer will use ‘What you know’ by T.I. as his 2017 walk up song. He started using it in 2006 & stick-ing with it.”— Twins PR maven Dustin Morse.

@morsecode

By MICHAEL RANDmrand@startribune.com

With four of the Gophers’ highest-profile teams having just finished their seasons while a fifth embarks on an interesting transition under a new head coach, this is a good time to take a look at the big picture for all five programs.

1. Gophers men’s hockey• State of the program: In the grand

scheme of things, Minnesota has made the NCAA tournament five of the past six seasons, including this year. In two of those years, the Gophers reached the Frozen Four. But their past three years — two one-and-dones in the tourney, including this year’s loss as a regional No. 1 seed to Notre Dame, and miss-ing the NCAA field completely a year ago — are below this program’s high standards.

• The big question: The Gophers are 14 years removed from their last NCAA championship. Head coach Don Lucia guided them to titles in 2002 and 2003, but fan unrest has mounted in recent years. Is he getting enough out of the team, and would it make sense to con-sider a coaching change?

2. Gophers men’s basketball• State of the program: Minnesota is

on the upswing and feeling 1,000 percent better about its position relative to a year ago. The Gophers tripled their win total from eight to 24 and made the NCAA tournament as a No. 5 seed before being upended by Middle Tennessee. With almost the entire team coming back next season and talented newcomers joining the mix, the future is bright.

• The big question: It can be hard to duplicate success and handle expecta-tions. How will head coach Richard Pitino and his team fare next season under the weight of those things? The answer could mean the difference between an OK season and a special one.

3. Gophers women’s hockey• State of the program: Minne-

sota went to the Frozen Four for the sixth consecutive season. Though the Gophers came up short of a title this year, they’ve won four NCAA cham-pionships since 2012. That’s a dynasty.

• The big question: Can head coach Brad Frost, with a loaded incom-ing recruiting class, lead Minnesota to another NCAA title next season when the Frozen Four returns to Rid-der Arena?

4. Gophers women’s basketball

• State of the program: The Gophers went 11-7 in the Big Ten in Marlene Stollings’ first two seasons — making the NCAA field once and the NIT the other year — but slid to a 5-11 confer-ence mark and a 15-16 overall record this year, missing the postseason. Min-nesota allowed 74.5 points per game this past season, ranking No. 332 out of 345 Division I programs.

• The big question: Was this season a one-year dip or the start of a downward trend for the Gophers under Stollings?

5. Gophers football• State of the program: It’s unmistak-

ably a new era, with the up-tempo (to put it mildly) P.J. Fleck taking over as head coach for Tracy Claeys, who was let go after a scandal-filled 9-4 season. Fleck is the first to say that he’s not for everyone — and some early transfers from the program might speak to that notion.

• The big question: Will Fleck be able to keep the Gophers on an upward trajectory next season as he builds for the future, or will there be a step back before we can judge evidence of a step forward?

Let’s do a quick U review

TALKER THE STATE OF THE GOPHERS

Men’s basketball coach Richard PitinoMen’s basketball coach Richard Pitino

Men’s hockey coach Don LuciaMen’s hockey coach Don Lucia

BRIEFLYGOLF NOTES

Fourteen U.S. senators wrote a letter to USA Hock-ey’s executive director Mon-day over their concerns about the treatment of the women’s national team.

Players have threatened to boycott the upcoming world championships over a wage dispute. The senators urged David Ogrean to resolve the matter and ensure the team receives “equitable resources.”

USA Hockey’s board of directors met Monday, and players said Sunday night they hope there’s a deal.

The senators, all Demo-crats, joined a chorus of sup-port that includes unions rep-resenting players from the NHL, NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball. Those orga-nizations said over the week-end they stood with the wom-en’s team and criticized USA Hockey for attempting to find replacement players.

Prominent NHL agent Allan Walsh tweeted Sun-day, “Word circulating among NHL players that American players will refuse to play in men’s World Championships in solidarity with the women.”

The U.S. is the defending champion at the International Ice Hockey Women’s World

Championship, which begins Friday in Plymouth, Mich.

In negotiations over the past 15 months, players have asked for a four-year contract that pays them outside the six-month Olympic period. The senators’ letter notes the $6,000 that players earn around the Olympics and USA Hockey’s $3.5 million annual spending on the men’s national team development program and other discrepancies.

A R O U N D T H E H O R NNFL: The Bills claimed

defensive lineman Scott Crich-ton a day after the Vikings placed the former third-round draft pick on waivers. Crich-ton appeared sparingly over 21 games during his first two seasons and missed all of last season because of an injury.

Soccer: With Panama about 90 seconds from reaching a playoff against New Zealand for a World Cup berth, Gra-ham Zusi and Aron Johanns-son scored in second-half stoppage time four years ago to give the already qualified United States a 3-2 win and eliminate the hosts. The U.S. will be back Tuesday night in a match against Honduras.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fourteen senators show support for U.S. women

Mauer

Women’s hockey coach Brad FrostWomen’s hockey coach Brad Frost

Women’s basketball coach Marlene StollingsWomen’s basketball coach Marlene StollingsFootball coach P.J. FleckFootball coach P.J. Fleck

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PGA Tour star Jason Day expects to arrive in Augusta, Georgia, on Friday to start practicing for the Masters, but said he could pull still out of the season’s first major, depending on his mother’s prognosis following surgery for lung cancer last week.

“Obviously, I’m still ner-vous because we’re still wait-ing to see ... if it has spread or not,” said Day, who spoke Monday on a video confer-ence set up by organizers of the PGA Tour’s Zurich Clas-sic in late April. “From there, we have to kind of come up with a game plan whether to go chemo — a form of chemo radiation — or something else.

“It’s still kind of a bit of an emotional time for me,” added Day, whose father, Alvin, died of cancer when he was 12. “Obviously, I’ve been hang-ing out with my mom a bit and seeing her and she’s recover-ing well. She’s a tough lady, but it’s hard because I look at her and she’s on the pain killers and all that stuff, what she needs to do to recover ... but I can’t help but think of

my dad when I see her in that situation.”

The world’s third-ranked golfer revealed that his mother, Dening, has cancer after withdrawing from the Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas, last Wednes-day. Day has said the initial diagnosis came in Australia at the beginning of this year and that she had scheduled surgery in Columbus, Ohio, late last week.

Day said Monday that doc-tors deemed the surgery suc-cessful, and now the family awaits results of tests to see if cancer is present in Dening Day’s lymph nodes.

“My mom told me not to worry about it,” Day said. “It’s hard to do that. It’s easy to say ... but it’s really, really difficult. So currently I’m scheduled to play Augusta ... but if things don’t come back the way we want them, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Day said he “hasn’t touched a golf club at all” in the days since joining his joining his mother in Ohio last week.

“It’s very, very difficult to even think about playing golf when a loved one is going through such a traumatic

experience,” Day said. “Once I get past this initial stage, hopefully I’ll find some bal-ance and I’ll be able to kind of move on and really focus on getting my game back.

“Unfortunately, I’m human. I like to feel like I’m always on it, I’m always ... ready to go and trying to compete and I want to get back to that stage, but sometimes it’s very, very dif-ficult.”

Johnson withdrawsDustin Johnson withdrew

from the Shell Houston Open to rest from his five-day vic-tory in Match Play.

Johnson won his third straight tournament Sunday

when he won two matches that went the distance, a 1-up victory over Hideto Tani-hara in the semifinals and a 1-up victory over Jon Rahm in a championship match that Johnson had led 5 up with 10 holes to play.

Johnson noted that he has played seven rounds in the past five days, and he thinks he should give his mind and body a break going into the Masters.

The Houston Open is in its last year with Shell as the sponsor. The tournament fea-tures four players from the top 10 — Henrik Stenson, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott and Rickie Fowler.

Bypassing Masters still possibility for Day

PHELAN M. EBENHACK • Associated PressJason Day plans to play in next week’s Masters but said he might have to pull out of the tournament if his mother’s con-dition worsens. She had surgery for lung cancer last week.

ZSW [C M Y K] C2 Tuesday, Mar. 28, 2017

C2 • S TA R T R I B U N E S P O R T S T U E S DAY, M A R C H 2 8 , 2 0 1 7

MLBTWINS SPRING TRAINING

Hughes starts ugly, but end acceptable

BRADENTON, FLA. – Home run. Hit batter. Home run.

“It wasn’t the start any-one wanted to see,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said.

But Phil Hughes adjusted, got his pitches down and got on a roll.

The Twins lost 4-1 to Pittsburgh on Monday, but Hughes came away feel-ing better about himself after a rocky first inning. He gave up another run in the second inning, but he faced the minimum 12 batters over the final four innings of his outing.

Hughes gave up a leadoff home run to Pitts-burgh’s Adam Frazier on a cut fastball that was up in the strike zone, hit Josh Harrison with a pitch and then didn’t get a changeup in enough on Andrew McCutcheon.

After that early 3-0 deficit, though, Hughes stopped leaving pitches up. He used his changeup and curveball effectively as he threw his arsenal of pitches on both sides of the plate.

He also got ahead early in the count and found a good rhythm. The game was played in 2 hours, 10 minutes, largely because Hughes dictated the pace.

Hughes threw 79 pitches over six innings, then tossed another 11 in the bullpen afterward.

“If you would have told me after the first inning that I would have had to throw more pitches in the bullpen I wouldn’t have believed you,” Hughes said.

The Twins’ lone run came on Miguel Sano’s homer in the second inning. Sano entered the game bat-ting .195 this spring.

Injury updatesFirst baseman Kennys

Vargas (sore right foot) was able to take batting practice Monday, but there’s no timetable on his return.

Outfielder Robbie Gross-man (sore groin muscle) participated in a full workout and will play two innings Tuesday in a minor league game.

Infielder Ehire Adrianza (right oblique) has not begun baseball activities yet.

Lefthander Ryan O’Rourke (flexor mass) is feeling better but hasn’t started a throwing program yet.

The armCatcher Jason Castro

threw out Josh Harrison trying to steal second base in the third inning, on a throw that put the ball right on the first-base side of the bag, and knee-high — a perfect throw that led to an easy tag.

Molitor said the throw was timed at just above 1.9 seconds. “Which is really good,” he said. “On not the best pitch to throw, it was down a little bit. [But] on the money.”

Etc.• Twins relievers this

week will be used in back-to-back games as they fine-tune for the regular season.

• Former Twins player and coach Al Newman was in attendance at Monday’s game.

• The Twins expect to announce this week that their home opener on Monday against Kansas City has been sold out.

On deckNick Tepesch will start

on Tuesday as the Twins play host to Tampa Bay. The 28-year-old former Texas pitcher remains an option to be a long reliever.

La VELLE E. NEAL III

DAY@CAMPDaily dispatch from Fort Myers

Minneapolis singer/rapper/author Dessa will sing the national anthem at the Twins opener next Monday at Target Field.

The Twins revealed plans for Opening Day, and said the Doom-tree singer would be accompanied by a brass quintet from the Minne-sota Orchestra.

Rick Stelmaszek, a former Twins coach who is battling pancreatic

cancer, will throw out the first pitch. Stelmaszek spent 32 seasons on the Twins staff, a team record.

The Twins will play the Kansas City Royals at 3:10 p.m., and there will be a pregame tribute to Twins minor leaguer Yorman Landa and 2015 Royals World Series hero Yor-dano Ventura; both pitchers died in auto accidents during the offsea-son. This season, the Twins will

wear a patch honoring Landa, who died on Dec. 10 when a car driven by his father struck a tree during a rainstorm.

The first 30,000 fans at the game, which will have a pregame flyover of four F-16s, will receive long sleeve hooded T-shirts.

Also, the team will serve break-fast on the plaza from 6 to 9 a.m.

STAFF REPORTS

Dessa, Stelmaszek part of Opening Day

The Twins appear to still have two open bullpen spots to fill by next week’s opener.

By La VELLE E. NEAL III lneal@startribune.com

BRADENTON, FLA. – Alex Wim-mers has been known for his trusty changeup ever since the Twins selected the righthander in the first round in the 2010 draft out of Ohio State.

“I throw it at the beginning of counts, the middle of counts, the end of counts,” Wimmers said. “I’m going to throw it.”

He is trying to see if he can throw it in a major league stadium as soon as next week. Wimmers, who got a taste of the majors last season, finds himself still in big-league camp as the Twins finalize their 25-man ros-ter to start the 2017 season.

The 28-year-old Wimmers has given up only two earned runs in nine innings of work this spring on eight hits and four walks while holding opponents to a .229 batting average.

Twins manager Paul Molitor, who would like to finalize his roster over the next couple of days, pointed at Wimmers’ time as a starter in the minor leagues and described him as someone who could pitch long relief if needed. While Wimmers’ changeup has been above average going back to his college days, he

also has a slider and curveball to complement his low-90s fastball.

On Sunday, Wimmers touched 94 miles per hour with his fastball — it’s usually 90-93 mph — and flashed a changeup in the mid-to-upper 80s. He also mixed in a curveball that came in a 77 mph.

“He’s a had a really good camp,” Molitor said. “He throws all four pitches out of the bullpen, which makes him unique.”

That could make him a good fit.

The Twins appear to have five of seven spots in the bullpen secure: Righthanders Brandon Kintzler, Ryan Pressly and Matt Belisle, and lefthanders Craig Breslow and Tay-lor Rogers.

Rogers has left little doubt that he belongs in the bullpen. He pitched a scoreless eighth inning Monday dur-ing the Twins’ 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh and has a 1.64 ERA this spring.

“I have a lot of confidence in him,” Molitor said of Rogers, who made 57 relief appearances with the Twins as a rookie last season.

The release last week of veteran Ryan Vogelsong opened up a sec-ond opening in the bullpen.

Righthander Michael Tonkin has a 4.38 ERA this spring after pitching a scoreless seventh inning Monday — but Molitor pointed out his two-out walk. Tonkin is out of minor league options, and being out of options can me a tiebreaker some-times. Rule 5 pick Justin Haley, also a righthander, has a 6.08 ERA this spring, making it hard for the Twins to keep him around. Haley would have to be offered back to the Red Sox if the Twins don’t put him on the 25-man roster.

Righthander Nick Tepesch will start Tuesday against Tampa Bay, but he also could be an option out of the bullpen.

And the Twins appear to prefer using righthander Tyler Duffey as a starter only. Molitor, before Monday’s

game, pointed out that teams often end up calling up two to three more starters during the first month of the season. Last April, the Twins sum-moned five pitchers from Class AAA Rochester during the first month of the season, including starters Duf-fey, Alex Meyer and Jose Berrios.

So having depth is important. If Duffey doesn’t make the rotation — he is battling Adalberto Mejia for that role — he is likely headed to Class AAA Rochester to pitch out of the Red Wings rotation.

“That’s something you have to be aware of,” Molitor said. “You want multiple options if you need to go down there.”

And that could lead to the door cracking open for Wimmers, who has fought the good fight since bat-tling severe control problems early in his professional career, then hav-ing Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery in April 2012. One hurdle could be that he’s not on the 40-man roster, having been removed in November.

Still, Wimmers has made it to this point. There are plenty of pitchers now at the minor league camp who can’t boast that.

“I just focus on what I can con-trol,” Wimmers said. “I’m just kind of go out there and compete when I can and see what happens. I’m just going to continue to be confident in my pitches and attack hitters like I always have.”

Last shot for relief hopefulsPITTSBURGH 4, TWINS 1

TWINS ab r h bi PITTSBURGH ab r h biShuck cf 2 0 1 0 Frazier 2b 4 1 2 2English cf 1 0 0 0 Harrison 3b 3 1 1 0Santana rf 4 0 0 0 McCtucheon rf 3 1 1 2Paulsen lf 3 0 0 0 Marte cf 3 0 0 0Harrison lf 1 0 0 0 Freese 1b 2 0 0 0Sano dh 3 1 1 1 Gosselin ph 1 0 0 0Castro c 3 0 0 0 Mercer ss 3 0 0 0Rohlfi ng c 1 0 0 0 Hanson lf 2 0 1 0Park 1b 3 0 1 0 Stallngs c 3 1 2 0Hague 1b 1 0 1 0 Nova sp 0 0 0 0Escobar ss 3 0 0 0 Bell ph 0 0 0 0Gordon ss 1 0 0 0 Rogers ph 1 0 0 0Field 3b 3 0 0 0Gonzalez 2b 2 0 0 0Reginatto 3b 1 0 1 0Totals 32 1 5 1 Totals 25 4 7 4Twins ....................................... 010 000 000 — 1Pittsburgh .............................. 310 000 00x — 4E—Freese (3). DP—Twins 1, Pittsburgh 2. LOB—Twins 6, Pittsburgh 1. HR—Sano (3), Frazier (3), McCutchen (1). CS—Hanson 2 (5).TWINS IP H R ER BB SOHughes L, 1-2 6 6 4 4 1 1Tonkin 1 0 0 0 1 0Rogers 1 1 0 0 0 2PITTSBURGH IP H R ER BB SONova W, 2-0 4 3 1 1 0 6Rivero H, 5 1 0 0 0 1 1Webb H, 1 3 1 0 0 0 4Borden S, 1-1 1 1 0 0 1 3HBP—by—Hughes (Harrison). Umpires—Home, Nic Lentz; First, Will Little; Second, Clint Fagan; Third, John Bacon. T—2:10. A—4,991

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kansas City Royals out-fielder Jorge Soler likely will begin his first season in Kansas City on the disabled list after straining his oblique in a minor league game.

Soler, acquired from the Cubs in December for closer Wade Davis, hurt him-self on a swing Sunday. Soler went for a MRI Monday, and manager Ned Yost acknowledged Soler was expected to be out of action when the Royals open next

Monday at Minnesota. Soler missed nearly two months last season because of a pulled left hamstring. He was sidelined for three weeks in 2015 because of a left oblique injury, plus another month with a sprained ankle.

Yost also said Raul Mondesi will open the season as the starting second baseman. Mondesi won the job over Whit Merrifield, Christian Colon and Cheslor Cuthbert.

“Nothing is impossible,” Mondesi said.

Yost told the 21-year-old Mondesi the news before an exhibition game against Oak-land. Mondesi began the day

hitting .378 this spring with a .622 slugging percentage, three home runs and two doubles in 19 games.

“For anybody who watched, it was definitely an obvious choice,” Yost said.

Yost said when spring training began the prevailing thought was Mondesi would need more grooming in the minors after hitting .185 in 47 games for the Royals as a rookie last year. He often looked overmatched at the plate, striking out 48 times in 135 at-bats.

“We’re trying something different and we’re having the result,” Mondesi said.

Matz still in doubtSteven Matz made it through

a 55-pitch flat-ground session Monday morning, despite his recent elbow flare-up, but his status for the first week of the regular season remains in doubt.

Matz was scratched from Monday’s scheduled Grape-fruit League start because of elbow tenderness. In its place, Matz threw from roughly 70 feet, in four separate, inning-type parts, with a pause between, under the guidance of pitching coach Dan Warthen.

“I wasn’t too worried about it,” Matz said. “Just had to back it down. It felt good.”

What the two failed to

address, however, is a timeline for Matz’s return. GM Sandy Alderson said Sunday that the team’s medical staff assured him the elbow was structurally sound. But manager Terry Col-lins sounded skeptical Matz could return to the rotation for the beginning of the season if he doesn’t make another start this week. As for Matz, he’s try-ing not to look that far ahead.

“I haven’t put too much thought in it, honestly,” Matz said. “I’m just focused on today. I got through a good day throwing, and I’ll focus on tomorrow now. Then what-ever happens, happens. It’s out of my control.’’

Royals outfielder Soler will start season on disabled listLEAGUE NOTES

AARON LAVINSKY • aaron.lavinsky@startribune.comFormer first-round pick Alex Wimmers was taken off the Twins 40-man roster in November, but he is a contender to make the team out of spring training.

AARON LAVINSKY • Star TribuneDessa will sing the national anthem for Opening Day on Monday.

Hughes

Soler

ZSW [C M Y K] C3 Tuesday, Mar. 28, 2017

T U E S DAY, M A R C H 2 8 , 2 0 1 7 S P O R T S S TA R T R I B U N E • C3

Player Hometown Then NowRuss Archambault Sartell, Minn. Freshman point guard who played in 26 games as a reserve. Lives in Rapid City, S.D.; has a son who was a senior guard for Stevens High School.

Eric Harris New York Starting junior point guard who was a team leader and top defender. Lives back home in New York City and works as a basketball trainer.

Bobby Jackson Salisbury, N.C. Big Ten Player of the Year; senior led team in scoring and assists. Works for the Sacramento Kings, one of his former NBA teams, as a radio analyst.

Sam Jacobson Cottage Grove High-flying junior wing was second on the team in scoring. Lives in Apple Valley and runs his own business; facing criminal theft charges.

Courtney James Indianapolis Intimidating inside presence and leading rebounder as a sophomore. Head boys’ basketball coach for Washington High School in Indianapolis.

Quincy Lewis Little Rock, Ark. Valuable freshman forward and future star was top bench scorer. Works for Gophers athletics. “Always been a Gopher,” he said.

Kevin Loge Morris, Minn. A 6-foot-10 freshman from Minnesota who redshirted. Lives in Morris and works on a farm that produces corn and beans.

Kyle Sanden Thief River Falls, Minn. A 6-foot-11 freshman from Minnesota who redshirted. Lives in St. Louis Park and works in the Twin Cities.

Jason Stanford Milwaukee Twin brother of Jermaine and rarely used sophomore forward. Works as a software engineer in Minnesota.

Jermaine Stanford Milwaukee Twin brother of Jason and rarely used sophomore forward. Works as a software engineer for General Mills in Detroit.

Aaron Stauber Sheboygan, Wis. Senior walk-on reserve guard and transfer from Michigan Tech. Chiropractor in Ontario for the past 10 years.

Miles Tarver Oakland, Calif. Sophomore forward brought energy and rebounding off the bench. Head boys’ basketball coach for Head Royce H.S. in Oakland.

Charles Thomas Harlan, Ky. Former Kentucky Mr. Basketball was offensive spark off the bench. Head girls’ basketball coach at Sayre High School in Lexington, Ky., where he lives.

John Thomas Minneapolis Bruising force in the paint and senior center for hometown program. National manager of training for Ultimate Hoops and lives in Minneapolis.

Trevor Winter Slayton, Minn. Backup center and 7-footer who played in 34 games as a senior. Lives in Slayton; works as territory manager for Stryker Corporation.

Coach Hometown Then NowClem Haskins (head) Campbellsville, Ky. In 11th season as Gophers coach; named Big Ten Coach of the Year. Retired from coaching; lives on the farm where he grew up in Kentucky.

Larry Davis Mount Sterling, Ky. In his third season on Haskins’ staff at Minnesota. Cincinnati associate head coach under Mick Cronin; coached in NCAA tourney.

Charles Cunningham Pickensville, Ala. In his first season on Haskins’ staff at Minnesota. First-year boys’ basketball coach at Arlington Country Day in Florida.

Bill Brown Springfield, Mo. In his third season on Haskins’ staff at Minnesota. Former Parkview basketball coach in Missouri; lives in Springfield.

1997 GOPHERS MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

The NCAA played a lead role in slashing six Gophers seasons — 1993-94 to 1998-99 — from the record books, leaving the Final Four team’s legacy in the hands of fans and team members.

Some former teammates keep in touch; others haven’t been heard from in years. It’s a scattered bunch now, with players living in various parts of the country. Several players live in state, but only a few of them occasion-ally attend Gophers games.

Some members of the ’97 team said they would have reunited this past season for a formal 20-year anniversary celebration of the Final Four — like Michigan did for members of its tarnished “Fab Five” in 2010 and 2016 — if Gophers coach Clem Haskins was there.

Haskins, who resigned and retired from coaching after NCAA violations surfaced in 1999, said last week that he wants the U to acknowledge him and his team. “I hurt for my players,” he said. “They deserve that.’’

‘‘Befriending me or making me feel wel-comed back is very important particularly to my players,” he added. “The president and the athletic director, they need to reach out and welcome me back.”

‘Can’t hide from it’Haskins doesn’t miss coaching the game. But

he misses being around the people who loved his program.

In March 1999, two years after leading the Gophers to the biggest stage, the university’s support for its most successful coach in team history evaporated quickly after former aca-demic counselor Jan Gangelhoff admitted to writing hundreds of papers for several basket-ball players during a six-year period of Haskins’ tenure.

Costly investigations were launched, and the NCAA ultimately hammered Minnesota with a four-year probation sentence while erasing the six seasons of results, including four NCAA tournament appearances and an NIT cham-pionship. Haskins never admitted to knowing about the cheating. The 73-year-old paused over the phone Friday when asked about his departure.

“I’ve moved on,” Haskins said from his fam-ily farm in Kentucky. “You have to learn to turn the page. Unfortunately, it happened the way it did then, and I was sorry I left that way. But I was ready to move on.”

Having coached for 18 years, including 13 years with the Gophers, Haskins said he should have retired in 1997. He said he was nearly burnt out.

“I was giving everything to the University of Minnesota to make that program to what it became,” said the man who coached the Gophers to the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight appear-ances in 1989 and ’90, respectively. “It takes a lot of effort, a lot of time, a lot of sweat, a lot of headaches, a lot of disappointment, a lot of ups and downs to get it to the point it’s at. We had one of the elite programs in the country.”

And one of the elite players.Jackson, the Big Ten Player of the Year in

1997, scored 36 points in the double overtime win in the Sweet 16 against Clemson. He shares stories of that magical tournament run with his children.

But Jackson, one of the players involved in the academic fraud, admitted responsibility years ago and now uses that as a lesson for young people.

“If we could go back and do it again every-body would to it totally different,” Jackson, who played 12 seasons in the NBA and now is a Sac-ramento Kings radio analyst, said last week. “We would handle it a totally different way. And you try to teach your kids how not to make the same mistakes you made as a young man.”

Last year, Michigan invited former Fab Five players Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jack-son back to recognize the 25th anniversary of that talented class. That event was a forum to discuss their cultural impact, and the NCAA violations — brought on by Chris Webber and

other players accepting money from a booster — that later erased their accomplishments, just as Minnesota experienced.

“You can’t hide from it,” Bobby Jackson said about Minnesota. “It’s a learning experience. Move on. Acknowledge the players. It’s been 20 years.”

Can’t take away memoriesEric Harris was a tough-minded point guard

from the Bronx. Trevor Winter was a massive 7-foot, 275-pound center from Slayton, Minn.

At a practice in 1997, Harris and Winter got into a scuffle, a heated moment they laugh about today. Haskins always had boxing gloves sitting at the side of the court.

“When he swings, you felt it,” Harris joked. “Our battles in practice were intense. John [Thomas] and Courtney [James] went at it. Bobby was aggressive. That’s what Coach Haskins demanded from us.”

Winter said the team adopted a fighter’s mentality and learned “how to battle and how to survive.”

Two of the best individual performances came in the Sweet 16 — Jackson’s 36 points and Sam Jacobson’s 29. But the most memorable game came earlier in Ann Arbor, Mich., when the Gophers clinched the Big Ten title with a 55-54 victory. Harris stole the ball in the closing moments and passed it to Jackson, who got fouled and hit a free throw with 2.9 seconds left to seal it.

That dynamic backcourt could have led the Gophers to the national title had it remained healthy, Haskins said. Harris separated his shoulder against Clemson. In the Final Four, the Gophers lost to Kentucky 78-69 in Indianapolis, with Harris starting but limited by his injury.

“That really hurt us a lot,” Jackson said. “He was our floor general. ... Being in the backcourt with Eric, we made it hard on opposing guards every single night. I think you really, really rel-ish those memories.”

Harris, who speaks often with Jackson, hasn’t let the scandal ruin his bond with some former teammates.

“No matter what you do, ’97 is going to be etched in stone in people’s hearts,” he said.

“We had the Barn rocking and rolling.”When the Gophers returned from the Mid-

west Regional in San Antonio, they were met by 14,000 fans in Williams Arena.

“It was so packed I almost didn’t get in,” said longtime public address announcer Dick Jonckowski, who introduced the team to the crowd. “The noise was unbelievable. The cheering went on and on.”

An outsider nowHaskins pushed a trailer outside of the

garage on his 750-acre farm in Campbellsville, Ky., a working-class town of 11,000 people 90 miles south of Louisville, while reflecting on the past last week. He still raises hundreds of cattle on the land where he grew up.

Haskins, the Big Ten and National Coach of the Year in 1997, was banned in 1999 from col-lege basketball until 2007, but he never stood on any sideline again. He said he has not even worked a camp.

But Haskins does watch high school games at his alma mater, Taylor County. He recently followed along on TV as the team’s former point guard Quentin Goodin led Xavier to the Elite Eight. “But when I retired, I turned the page,” Haskins said. “I don’t do any basketball anymore.”

Haskins said he still receives letters and calls from Minnesota. They are coming more frequently this year on the 20th anniversary.

“It really, really does your heart good and makes you feel good to hear phone calls or get a letter to see how much people appreciate you,” he said.

Nobody appreciates Haskins more than his players, many of whom still keep in touch. Their old coach has a cellphone he rarely uses. But his wife, Yevette, responds or exchanges texts to keep him updated.

Seven members of the 1997 Gophers still live in Minnesota, including Thomas, Jacob-son, Winter and Quincy Lewis, who works for Gophers athletics. Thomas, a manager of training for Ultimate Hoops, ran into Haskins at a convention in Las Vegas last summer and shared his idea for a reunion.

“The last thing Coach said is he wanted to get the school’s blessing in order to make it right,” Thomas said. “From my perspective, I still think they should honor him and do it at the school, regardless of what happened. For them, it’s like they would be going back on eras-ing our records and saying we condone what happened. I get where they’re coming from.”

Haskins was at Williams Arena three years ago when the U recognized the 25th anniver-sary of his 1989 Sweet 16 team. But his first time back after the scandal was Dec. 29, 2009, a recognition of the 20th anniversary of his Elite Eight season. Those teams came before the academic violation period.

Haskins said last week that administration didn’t want him there in 2009. But his players insisted and brought him up from the stands to the court with them. He ended up hearing his name announced to resounding cheers.

“The university did not want me back on campus,” Haskins said. “That hurt me. That really hurt me. But I had so much support from my players. And they wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m a very emotional person at times. I have a heart. I can cry with the best of them. That was one of the highlights of my whole career. To feel the love of the fans in that [arena] and from my players that were there.”

University spokesman Jake Ricker said that while there are no plans to recognize the Final Four team, Haskins would be welcomed back if any of his teams are honored in the future.

Twice Michigan has invited the Fab Five back on campus and acknowledged their accomplishments, even giving a few players a halftime ceremony to receive honorary jackets and plaques six years ago. But the 1997 Gophers and Haskins will be left to trying to schedule a reunion on their own this year.

“If they put something together,” Haskins said, “I would definitely show up.”

ONLY U’S MEMORIES REMAINø 1997 GOPHERS from C1

BRIAN PETERSON • brianp@startribune.comThe 1997 NCAA Final Four banner that once hung from Williams Arena has not been seen by the public since 2000; reportedly, it is being held in a storage room.

ZSW [C M Y K] C4 Tuesday, Mar. 28, 2017

C4 • S TA R T R I B U N E S P O R T S T U E S DAY, M A R C H 2 8 , 2 0 1 7

(7) South Carolina

5:09 p.m. Saturday

(1) Gonzaga

MEN’S FINAL FOUR GLENDALE, ARIZ.U N I V E R S I T Y O F P H O E N I X S TA D I U M ( A L L O N C H . 4 )

Yevette had made it through the congratulations being offered by the mass of maroon-and-gold zealots to embrace her husband as the Gophers were cutting down the nets.

Before that, she had stepped into an open space on the court, taken out a tiny camera and snapped a photo of a scoreboard bearing this information: Minnesota 80, UCLA 72.

“Minnesota beat UCLA,” Yevette said. “My goodness … UCLA. Minnesota is going to the Final Four. Do you believe it?”

Yes, Yevette. I believe it to this day, and so do the 12-to-15,000 U faithful, who made the trek to the underrated party city of San Antonio, to share in an all-time great Gophers party.

I was a kid watching from the Twin Cities when the football Gophers went to back-to-back Rose Bowls in the new years of 1961 and 1962, so it can’t be stated definitively that what took place in San Antonio is unmatched as a display of Gophers madness … only that I’ve never seen anything like it.

The other teams in the Midwest Regional were UCLA, Clemson and Iowa State. You’re always going to get a solid outpouring of Cyclones faithful, but it was the Minnesotans that took over the Alamodome, and the River Walk, for those four days deep into Texas.

And while I can’t guar-antee this was the greatest Gophers party, I can tell you this:

The Midwest Regional offered the greatest Gophers basketball game ever played. For all the wonderful ones in Williams Arena, nothing equals the two-overtime regional semifinal — the battle of the big hearts of the Gophers and of the Clemson Tigers.

The bristles on my arms have stood up twice in a bas-ketball arena:

When the Dream Team first was introduced for a game in the Tournament of the Americas in Portland, Ore., in 1992, and late in the second half and through the overtimes of Gophers-Clemson.

Kirby Puckett in Game 6. Kevin Garnett and Jack Morris in Game 7s. Rookie Adrian Peterson vs. the San Diego Chargers. And Bobby Jackson vs. Clemson. That’s my top five in efforts for the ages among our guys.

The Gophers had led by 15 points in the first half, but even a group as muscular as Clem’s bunch was being worn down by Clemson’s ruggedness.

Early in the second half, Jackson was being mugged in a fight for a loose ball. As he came away from the mess with the basketball, he hollered, “Gol-lee, ref,” and David Libbey slapped him with a technical.

“I didn’t even cuss this time, like I did getting that ‘T’ in Wisconsin,” Jackson said. “I had been slapped in

the neck, hit in the back, and I just wondered what was going on.”

Haskins sat Jackson for a couple of minutes, and Clem-son started to gain an edge with the lightning quickness of 5-8 guard Terrell McIntyre. He put the Tigers in front 52-50 with nine minutes left, and 30 seconds later, Jackson drew his fourth foul.

Another minute after that, point guard Eric Harris was knocked to the floor on con-secutive hard screens, and on the second, he suffered a separated right shoulder.

Now, it was up to Jackson to play the final seven min-utes, run the offense, play intense defense and do so with four fouls, while notori-ous referees Libbey and Don Rutledge engaged in a whis-tle-blowing contest.

Bobby lasted through those seven minutes and a 72-72 tie. Then, he was all-world through 10 minutes of overtimes, and Gophers finally survived 90-84.

Gol-lee, that was the sweetest of Sweet 16 games … almost as sweet as the embrace of Clem and his sweetheart Yevette two days later on the same court.

A maroon-and-gold jam of foot traffic on River Walk. Bobby Jackson over Clemson in two OTs. Minnesota beat-ing UCLA, my goodness. And the 16-year-old’s kiss.

Oh, yeah. Forget what the record books want to tell you. This happened. And Min-nesota has plenty of eyewit-nesses.

Patrick Reusse can be heard 3-6 p.m. weekdays on AM-1500. • preusse@startribune.com

Sweet 16 saw U’s top performanceø REUSSE from C1 UNOFFICIALLY

INCREDIBLEWiped from the record books, but not from bas-ketball fans’ memories, here are some of the memorable moments of March 1997:• In Ann Arbor, Mich.,

the Gophers clinched the Big Ten title with a 55-54 win over the Wolverines. Team leader Bobby Jackson sealed it at the free-throw line with 2.9 seconds left.

• With cameras watch-ing, the Gophers cel-ebrated a No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional on Selection Sunday.

• After two blowout victories to open the NCAA tournament, the Gophers battle Clem-son in an epic Sweet 16 game. Jackson scored 36 points in the double-overtime victory, with Sam Jacobson adding 29.

• Two nights later, a UCLA team with big names was sent home in the regional final in San Antonio. Gophers 80, Bruins 72.

• 14,000 fans welcomed the team home from Texas at a Williams Arena celebration.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Star Tribune fileFrom left, Lori, Yevette, Clem, Clemette and Brent Haskins cele-brated with the now-missing 1997 Big Ten championship trophy.

By EDDIE PELLS • Associated Press

PHOENIX – Consider North Carolina the tour guide at this year’s Final Four. The Tar Heels will be making their record 20th trip, and most of the players on this year’s roster were on hand last season to find out all about the agony of coming oh-so close to winning it all.

For the rest of the guests, it’s all uncharted territory. Gonzaga finally parlayed two decades of excellence

into its first trip to college basketball’s showcase.South Carolina’s entire history in the NCAA tourna-

ment could have been compiled on a cocktail napkin.And Oregon? Well, the Ducks have been to the tour-

nament before and won it all. But that was back in 1939, the first year of the event, and decades before the phrase “Final Four” became as common as “dribble” or “shoot.”

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Oregon coach Dana Altman, the 10th man to hold that job since How-ard Hobson led the the Ducks to that title. “Now we just need to go and continue to play well.”

Gonzaga opened as a 6½-point favorite against South Carolina in the opening game Saturday in Glendale, Ariz. In the second game, North Carolina opened as a 4½-point pick over Oregon.

For South Carolina — coached by the equal-parts angry and effervescent Frank Martin — being an under-dog at this point is a good thing. It means there’s still a chance, which is something Gamecocks basketball never really had before now. Until this year, South Carolina hadn’t posted an NCAA tournament victory since 1973.

“Personally, I didn’t know where this program could go,” Gamecocks sophomore P.J. Dozier said after his team’s 77-70 victory over Florida. “But I know that when

Frank Martin stepped foot on campus, you just got this vibe that the ball was rolling.”

It’s been rolling at Gonzaga since 1998, when Dan Monson led the Zags to the Elite Eight and then left for the Gophers job. Assistant Mark Few took over in 1999 and didn’t miss a step. Problem is, there was seem-ingly always a bigger team from a bigger conference standing in the way of that program — from a campus of 7,400 in Spokane, Wash. — taking the final step.

Led by tenacious guards Nigel Williams-Goss and Josh Perkins and 7-foot-1 center Przemek Karnowski, the Bulldogs broke through big time this year, beating Xavier 83-59 on Saturday night.

“I’ve been there 28 years,” Few said, counting his first nine seasons as an assistant. “My first year on staff we won four Division I games. And, I mean, this wasn’t even possible. And each year we got better and better, and then we got really, really good.”

North Carolina has been good for decades, and has more than enough history to make up for the other teams. Luke Maye made the winning jumper with 0.3 seconds left for a 75-73 victory over Kentucky. This will be the Tar Heels’ fifth trip to the Final Four under coach Roy Williams.

They have spent the last year seeing their nightmare finish to the 2016 tournament replayed on an endless loop of highlight shows and March Madness videos. Villanova’s Kris Jenkins hit a shot at the buzzer in the title game, only seconds after North Carolina’s Marcus Paige made a double-clutch three-pointer to tie it.

“I just think about it all the time,” said Joel Berry II, one of three current Tar Heels on the floor when Jenkins hit that shot. “Four seconds made a difference in my life. I wish I could get those 4 seconds back, but I can’t.”

One old hand and three fresh faces

Final Four is uncharted territory for everyone besides UNC

(3) Oregon

7:49 p.m. Saturday

(1) North Carolina

Championship game

Monday, TBD

NEWS SERVICES

Archie Miller is getting back to basics at Indiana.

He wants the Hoo-siers to be aggressive on offense, nasty on defense and, of course, win the in-state recruiting bat-tles. He is all for playing Kentucky and maybe Ari-zona, too.

In his f irst public appearance as Indiana coach, Miller hit all the right notes for fans disillusioned with the program’s direction.

“I don’t think you come to Indiana if you don’t want to live in the neigh-borhood,” he said when asked of high expectations. “If you don’t want to move into that neighborhood then you shouldn’t be here.”

After going 139-63 in six seasons at Dayton and leading the Flyers to four NCAA tournaments, Miller has a plan for Indiana, which gave him a seven-

year deal worth roughly $3.5 million per year.

“We have to start inside this state of Indiana, we have to start moving out-side very slowly,” he said. “The inside-out approach means we have to dedi-cate ourselves to the high school coaches in this state, the high school talent in this state, the grass roots pro-gram in this state, and they must feel like they’re being dominated by Indi-ana University.”

Etc.• UCLA’s Lonzo Ball, Villanova’s

Josh Hart, Kansas’ Frank Mason III, Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan and Gonza-ga’s Nigel Williams-Goss are the final-ists for the Wooden Award as Player of the Year. The five have been invited to Los Angeles for the trophy presenta-tion at the College Basketball Awards April 7.

• Akron coach Keith Dambrot left the school after a record-setting 27-9 season, a stunning departure after

going 305-139 in 13 seasons with the Zips. Akron won at least 20 games in 12 consecutive seasons and earned three NCAA tournament bids under Dambrot, considered the best coach in the Mid-American Conference. He reportedly met in recent days with offi-cials at Duquesne.

• Taking over a Drake program that has proved to be a coaching graveyard for his predecessors, Minnesota native Niko Medved was introduced Monday. “I believe this is the perfect fit for me,” the former Furman coach said. “I’m here to win, and I’m here to build a pro-gram that all of you can be proud of.”

• Christian Laettner poked a little fun at Kentucky, celebrating a North Caro-lina player to do it. “Luke my son. May the force of the No. 32 be with you,” Laettner tweeted after the Tar Heels’ Luke Maye, wearing No. 32, hit a buzzer-beater to beat Kentucky on Sunday. In 1992, Laettner, wearing No. 32, hit a buzzer-beater to send Duke past the Wildcats and into the Final Four.

Indiana’s Miller ready to win on, off courtNOTES

Miller

Associated Press photosClockwise from top left, South Carolina guard Duane Notice, Oregon guard Tyler Dorsey, North Carolina coach Roy Williams and Gonzaga coach Mark Few and star Nigel Williams-Goss will be playing for a shot at a national title in Glendale, Ariz. North Carolina is in its record 20th Final Four; Oregon last made it in 1939; and Gonzaga and South Carolina are first-timers.

ZSW [C M Y K] C5 Tuesday, Mar. 28, 2017

T U E S DAY, M A R C H 2 8 , 2 0 1 7 S P O R T S S TA R T R I B U N E • C5

STANDINGS SUMMARIESBUFFALO 4, FLORIDA 2

Florida....................................................... 0 2 0—2Buffalo ...................................................... 2 2 0—4First: 1. Buf—O’Reilly 19 (Kulikov, Eichel), 3:21, pp. 2. Buf—Bogosian 2 (Moulson, Girgensons), 14:06.Second: 3. Buf—Gionta 15 (Moulson), 1:25, pp. 4. Fla—Marchessault 29 (Huberdeau, Yandle), 10:19, pp. 5. Buf—Foligno 13 (Eichel, Reinhart), 15:08. 6. Fla—Huberdeau 8, 16:10.Third: No scoring. Shots: Florida 11-6-15—32. Buffalo 10-14-8—32. Power-plays: Florida 1 of 3; Buffalo 2 of 3. Goal-ies: Florida, Reimer 16-15-5 (22-18), Berra 0-1-0 (10-10). Buffalo, Lehner 22-23-8 (32-30). A: 18,564 (18,690).

DETROIT 4, CAROLINA 3 (OT)Detroit.................................................... 0 2 1 1—4Carolina ................................................. 1 1 1 0—3First: 1. Car—Skinner 31 (Slavin, Stempniak), 5:15.Second: 2. Det—Mantha 16, 9:04. 3. Det—Man-tha 17 (Athanasiou, Dekeyser), 10:14. 4. Car—Faulk 15 (Slavin, Ryan), 19:02.Third: 5. Det—Tatar 23 (Nyquist, Zetterberg), 8:30, pp. 6. Car—Faulk 16 (Hanifi n, Rask), 19:08.Overtime: 7. Det—Athanasiou 18 (Nyquist), 1:59.Shots: Detroit 6-9-10-2—27. Carolina 12-17-11-2—42. Power-plays: Detroit 1 of 3; Carolina 0 of 3. Goalies: Detroit, Mrazek 17-20-8 (42-39). Carolina, Lack 7-5-3 (27-23). A: 11,516 (18,680).

NASHVILLE 3, N.Y. ISLANDERS 1Nashville ................................................... 1 1 1—3N.Y. Islanders ........................................... 0 1 0—1First: 1. Nas—Fiala 9 (Jarnkrok, Bitetto), 10:17.Second: 2. Nas—Arvidsson 29 (Forsberg, Ekholm), 3:15. 3. NYI—Bailey 13 (Leddy), 17:20.Third: 4. Nas—Johansen 13 (Ellis), 19:39.Shots: Nashville 9-13-9—31. N.Y. Islanders 9-6-10—25. Power-plays: Nashville 0 of 3; N.Y. Is-landers 0 of 2. Goalies: Nashville, Saros 9-7-3 (25-24). N.Y. Islanders, Greiss 25-18-5 (30-28). A: 11,671 (15,813).

TAMPA BAY 5, CHICAGO 4 (OT)Chicago ................................................. 3 1 0 0—4Tampa Bay ............................................. 1 3 0 1—5First: 1. Chi—Panarin 25 (Kero), 1:23. 2. TB—Palat 16 (Kucherov, Hedman), 9:29, pp. 3. Chi—Kane 34 (Hjalmarsson, Keith), 10:17. 4. Chi—Ju-rco 1 (Schmaltz), 13:41.Second: 5. Chi—Panik 21 (Schmaltz, Van riems-dyk), 8:47. 6. TB—Drouin 19 (Stralman, Kil-lorn), 11:45. 7. TB—Stralman 4 (Palat, Mck-egg), 12:47. 8. TB—Drouin 20 (Kucherov, Hed-man), 16:24, pp. Third: No scoring. Overtime: 9. TB—Gourde 2 (Hedman), 4:25. Shots: Chicago 11-10-10-1—32. Tampa Bay 9-14-3-4—30. Power-plays: Chicago 0 of 3; Tam-pa Bay 2 of 3. Goalies: Chicago, Darling 18-5-4 (30-25). Tampa Bay, Budaj 29-21-3 (3-3), Vasi-levskiy 19-16-6 (29-25). A: 19,092 (19,092).

ST. LOUIS 4, ARIZONA 1Arizona ..................................................... 0 0 1—1St. Louis .................................................... 0 2 2—4First: No scoring. Second: 1. StL—Schwartz 17 (Steen, Tarasen-ko), 7:53. 2. StL—Pietrangelo 12 (Steen, Yak-upov), 12:28. Third: 3. Ari—DeAngelo 5 (Goligoski, Vrbata), 1:01. 4. StL—Schwartz 18 (Steen, Tarasenko), 10:06. 5. StL—Tarasenko 35 (Steen, Schwartz), 18:11. Shots: Arizona 5-10-7—22. St. Louis 5-16-7—28. Power-plays: Arizona 0 of 2; St. Louis 0 of 2. Goal-ies: Arizona, Smith 18-25-8 (28-24). St. Louis, Al-len 30-19-4 (22-21). A: 19,164 (19,150).

CALGARY 4, COLORADO 2Colorado ................................................... 0 0 2—2Calgary ..................................................... 1 1 2—4First: 1. Cal—Monahan 26 (Brodie), 1:30, pp.Second: 2. Cal—Ferland 15 (Monahan, Gaud-reau), 4:33.Third: 3. Col—Andrighetto 6 (Mackinnon, John-son), 3:06, pp. 4. Cal—Brouwer 13 (Versteeg, Monahan), 4:58, pp. 5. Col—Andrighetto 7 (Johnson, Rantanen), 18:06. 6. Cal—Gaudreau 17 (Ferland, Monahan), 19:56, pp.Shots: Colorado 6-6-14—26. Calgary 9-11-7—27. Power-plays: Colorado 1 of 3; Calgary 3 of 3. Goalies: Colorado, Pickard 13-27-2 (26-23). Cal-gary, Elliott 25-14-3 (26-24). A: 17,785 (19,289).

LEADERSSCORING GP G A PTSMcDavid, Edm ..............75 26 62 88Crosby, Pit ....................69 42 40 82Kane, Chi ......................75 33 48 81Marchand, Bos .............75 37 43 80Backstrom, Was ...........74 22 57 79Kucherov, TB ................67 38 40 78Scheifele, Wpg .............73 29 47 76Malkin, PipT .................62 33 39 72Burns, SJ .......................75 27 45 72Draisaitl, Edm ..............75 27 43 70Seguin, Dal ...................75 25 45 70

PLUS/MINUS GP +/-Orpik, Was ...................................71 33Orlov, Was ...................................74 31Suter, Wild ..................................75 31Spurgeon, Wild ...........................71 30Zucker, Wild ................................75 29Savard, Clm .................................66 27Schultz, Pit ..................................72 27

GOALIES GP Min GA AVGBobrovsky, Clm ............58 3412 113 1.99Holtby, Was ..................58 3405 114 2.01Budaj, TB ......................58 3241 117 2.17Dubnyk, Wild ................61 3517 128 2.18Darling, Chi ..................30 1562 58 2.23Price, Mtl ......................57 3410 128 2.25Raanta, NYR .................30 1617 61 2.26Gibson, Ana ..................49 2769 105 2.28Anderson, Ott ..............34 2046 79 2.32Jones, SJ .......................59 3460 135 2.34Rask, Bos ......................59 3355 133 2.38

W E S T E R N C O N F E R E N C E

CENTRAL GP W L OT PTS GF GA HOME AWAY DIVx-Chicago 76 48 21 7 103 229 197 25-9-5 23-12-2 19-8-1x-Wild 75 44 24 7 95 240 190 24-12-1 20-12-6 15-8-3Nashville 75 39 25 11 89 225 206 23-8-7 16-17-4 14-10-1w-St. Louis 75 41 28 6 88 211 200 22-11-5 19-17-1 12-11-2Winnipeg 76 34 35 7 75 225 241 19-18-1 15-17-6 17-8-2Dallas 75 31 33 11 73 206 238 20-12-6 11-21-5 8-14-5Colorado 75 20 52 3 43 147 253 11-24-2 9-28-1 6-18-0

PACIFIC GP W L OT PTS GF GA HOME AWAY DIVAnaheim 75 41 23 11 93 199 185 26-8-4 15-15-7 14-6-4San Jose 75 42 26 7 91 201 182 23-10-4 19-16-3 13-8-3Edmonton 75 41 25 9 91 223 195 21-12-4 20-13-5 14-5-3w-Calgary 76 43 29 4 90 211 204 23-15-0 20-14-4 11-9-3Los Angeles 74 35 32 7 77 180 186 21-14-2 14-18-5 9-11-2Vancouver 75 30 36 9 69 172 219 18-13-6 12-23-3 11-10-1Arizona 76 27 40 9 63 181 244 16-16-5 11-24-4 10-12-5

E A S T E R N C O N F E R E N C E

ATLANTIC GP W L OT PTS GF GA HOME AWAY DIVMontreal 75 42 24 9 93 204 187 22-11-5 20-13-4 15-3-6Ottawa 74 41 25 8 90 194 191 20-11-8 21-14-0 12-12-3Toronto 74 35 24 15 85 227 219 19-10-7 16-14-8 15-8-3w-Boston 75 39 30 6 84 214 202 19-16-0 20-14-6 16-10-1Tampa Bay 75 37 29 9 83 210 210 20-14-3 17-15-6 15-6-3Florida 75 33 31 11 77 195 213 18-17-3 15-14-8 10-10-5Buffalo 76 32 32 12 76 192 218 19-13-6 13-19-6 12-10-4Detroit 75 31 32 12 74 188 220 15-16-6 16-16-6 7-12-6

METROPOLITAN GP W L OT PTS GF GA HOME AWAY DIVx-Washington 74 49 17 8 106 238 163 31-6-2 18-11-6 16-7-5x-Columbus 74 48 19 7 103 232 171 27-10-1 21-9-6 18-6-2x-Pittsburgh 75 46 18 11 103 258 211 29-5-4 17-13-7 16-7-2w-N.Y. Rangers 76 46 26 4 96 241 201 19-16-3 27-10-1 13-12-1N.Y. Islanders 75 35 28 12 82 219 228 20-12-7 15-16-5 12-9-5Carolina 74 33 27 14 80 196 212 21-10-5 12-17-9 9-13-4Philadelphia 75 35 32 8 78 197 220 21-11-4 14-21-4 9-13-2New Jersey 75 27 35 13 67 171 220 15-15-7 12-20-6 10-12-3Note: Top three teams in each division qualify for playoffs; w - wild-card team; x - clinched playoff spot.

MONDAYBuffalo 4, Florida 2Calgary 4, Colorado 2Detroit 4, Carolina 3, OTNashville 3, N.Y. Islanders 1St. Louis 4, Arizona 1Tampa Bay 5, Chicago 4, OT

SUNDAYDetroit 3, Wild 2, OTAnaheim 6, N.Y. Rangers 3Dallas 2, New Jersey 1, OTPhiladelphia 6, Pittsburgh 2Winnipeg 2, Vancouver 1

TUESDAYWashington at Wild, 7 pmBuffalo at Columbus, 6 pmNashville at Boston, 6 pmDetroit at Carolina, 6 pmOttawa at Philadelphia, 6 pmWinnipeg at New Jersey, 6 pmDallas at Montreal, 6:30 pmFlorida at Toronto, 6:30 pmLos Angeles at Edmonton, 8 pmAnaheim at Vancouver, 9 pmN.Y. Rangers at San Jose, 9:30 pm

WEDNESDAYChicago at Pittsburgh, 7 pmLos Angeles at Calgary, 8 pmWashington at Colorado, 9 pmSt. Louis at Arizona, 9:30 pm

NHL NBA

Rookie’s energy on defense gives slumping Wolves an element they’ve been lacking.

By JERRY ZGODA jzgoda@startribune.com

INDIANAPOLIS – During a sea-son when their defense seemingly has capitulated with 10 games still remaining, rest assured that the Timberwolves are not Dunn yet.

OK, sorry about that … In the three games since the

Wolves returned from a 0-3 Eastern trip that all but ended their playoff aspirations, rookie point guard Kris Dunn’s playing time has more than doubled.

After he played an average of 12 minutes in March’s first nine games, Dunn has averaged 29.3 minutes in the Wolves’ past three games — including nearly 29 minutes in Sat-urday’s 112-100 loss at Portland — now that they’re once again playing for the draft lottery and next year.

He has done so paired more often with fellow point guards Ricky Rubio and Tyus Jones and, as was the case in Friday’s overtime loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles, occasionally with both of them in a three-point guard lineup.

“I like the way he’s played with Ricky and Tyus and as long as he’s playing well, he’ll keep getting more minutes,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It has been good. He brings some toughness, and he brings some defense that we desperately need.”

Once upon a time, the Wolves were one of the league’s top two teams in several defensive catego-ries during an eight-game stretch during which they went 6-2 and held six opponents under 100 points. They’ve allowed 100 or more points in every game of their current six-game losing streak, three times giv-ing up 123 points or more.

“We have to get back to playing defense,” Thibodeau said. “If you want to win, that’s what you have to do. There’s no easy way out. There are no shortcuts. It’s about discipline. It’s about having the abil-ity to do your job so everyone can count on you.”

And those needs are what Thibodeau says have led to Dunn’s increased playing time .

“When I watch Kris and the things he is doing out there, he is making great effort, he is dis-ciplined,” Thibodeau said. “He’s doing a lot of good things and giving us good energy, but we need every-one to do that. You have to be able to count on each other. You can’t pick and choose when you’re going to do something. It’s got to be every time. The good teams do that.”

Dunn has struggled to direct an NBA offense during his rookie sea-son, uncertain often when he should create a shot for himself or for

others. Some Wolves fans and pun-dits already have declared last sum-mer’s fifth overall pick a draft bust after he has played 66 of 72 games.

It’s a premature notion for a player still learning those offensive decisions, as well as when his defen-sive aggression crosses the line .

His 17 points scored on 8-for-13 shooting Saturday at Portland and his 34 ½ minutes both were career highs.

“I’m trying,” Dunn said. “One of my goals coming out of All-Star break was to improve, to get more comfortable, get more confident while trying to play within the offense.”

He has 15 steals in his past 10 games and has blocked two shots in two of his past four games.

“I think I’m starting to learn the game a little more,” he said. “It’s all about learning the game, getting more comfortable and getting con-fident with yourself. I’m doing that each and every game. I feel like I’m learning a lot. It only can get better. I know I’m having an up-and-down season. That only makes me work harder and want to improve.”

Dunn said he is working to find that line where productive aggres-sion goes too far and leaves him foul prone. It’s a balance he admits he always couldn’t find when he played collegiately at Providence.

“My intensity on defense is one of my greatest strengths,” Dunn said, “but in college it sometimes put me in bad situations and led me to the bench.”

Thibodeau credits Dunn’s abil-ity to cover so much ground so quickly for his ability to block shots from the point-guard posi-tion. Dunn credits his high-school football career for developing such instincts. He played both sides of the ball, including wide receiver, running back and a little bit of quar-terback on the offensive side and in the secondary on the defensive side.

“My anticipation skills defi-nitely help me out on the basketball court,” Dunn said. “I was a D-back, safety. I’d say I was pretty good. I held my own out there.”

Dunn receiving extended looks

ROUNDUP

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Yanni Gourde scored on a break-away 4 minutes, 25 seconds into over-time, capping the Tampa Bay Light-ning’s rally from a three-goal deficit to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 on Monday night in Tampa, Fla.

Tampa Bay got two goals from Jona-than Drouin. Lightning goalie Andrei

Vasilevskiy, who got pulled 14 minutes into the first period after allowing three goals on eight shots, returned to start the second and finished with 25 saves.Detroit 4, Carolina 3 (OT): Andreas Athanasiou scored the winner for the Red Wings, crashing into Hur-ricanes goalie Eddie Lack, who was injured and carried off on a stretcher. The team said Lack, who gave a

thumbs-up as he left the ice, has “full feeling in his extremities.”St. Louis 4, Arizona 1: Jaden Schwartz scored twice as the Blues beat the Coyotes for the 10th straight time.Calgary 4, Colorado 2: Sean Monahan scored his team-high 26th goal and added three assists, and the Flames moved within a regulation victory of clinching a playoff spot.

Lightning pounces in OT after Blackhawks blow lead

WILD GOAL-SCORING SLUMPSForwards Charlie Coyle 4 goals in past 37 games Martin Hanzal 1 goal in 13 games with the Wild Erik Haula 1 goal in past 18 games Mikko Koivu 2 goals in past 24 games Nino Niederreiter 1 goal in the past 20 games Zach Parise 2 goals in past 12 games Jason Pominville 1 goal in past 20 games Jordan Schroeder 1 goal in his past 25 games Chris Stewart 2 goals in past 25 games Ryan White 0 goals in past 11 games Jason Zucker 1 goals in past 14 games

Defensemen Jonas Brodin 0 goals in past 31 games Marco Scandella 2 goals in past 40 games Jared Spurgeon 1 goal in past 22 games Ryan Suter 1 goal in past 28 games

WOLVES GAMEDAY6 p.m. at Indiana •FSN Plus, 830-AM

Inconsistent Pacers looking for winning streakPreview: The 37-36 Pacers ended a two-game losing streak by beating

Philadelphia 107-94 on Sunday. They haven’t won consecutive games since a seven-game winning streak ended after a Feb. 6 victory over Oklahoma City. The Pacers started that seven-game winning streak with a 109-103 vic-tory over the Wolves on Jan. 26 at Target Center.

Players to watch: Paul George, Myles Turner and Jeff Teague have a chance to become the first three Indiana players since Jermaine O’Neal, Jalen Rose and Reggie Miller (2001-02) to average 15 or more points a game. George is averaging 22.6, Teague 15.3 and Turner 14.7. ... Turner is third in the league in blocked shots with 2.1 a game and has blocked at least four shots 15 times this season. Indiana is 12-3 in those games.

Injuries: Wolves G Zach LaVine (knee surgery) and F Nemanja Bjelica (foot surgery) are out for the season. The two Pacers with Wolves’ connec-tions – veteran center Al Jefferson (sprained ankle) and third-year forward Glenn Robinson (sore calf) – are both listed as out. Veteran G Rodney Stuckey (sore knee) is questionable.

JERRY ZGODA

CARLOS GONZALEZ • Star TribuneWolves rookie Kris Dunn has seen his minutes increase of late, often playing in a three-guard set.

NBA ROUNDUP STANDINGS, BOXSCORES ON C7

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points and the host San Antonio Spurs dismantled the ailing Cleveland Cavaliers 103-74 on Monday night in a showdown that turned into a major letdown for the defending NBA champions.

LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol added 14 points apiece for the Spurs, who won their fifth straight game.

Cleveland (47-26) dropped its second in a row and fell a half-game behind Boston (48-26) in the race for the top seed in the Eastern Confer-ence playoffs.

In addition to scoring a season-low 17 points, Cavaliers superstar LeBron James was injured late in the third quarter after taking an elbow to the base of his neck. He remained on the bench for a while receiving medical attention, then headed toward the locker room and didn’t return to the game. His status was not immediately known.Oklahoma City 92, Dallas 91: Rus-sell Westbrook hit a pull-up jumper with seven seconds left and the Thunder erased a 13-point deficit in the final four minutes to beat the Mavericks.

Leonard, Spurs rout Cavaliers

From March 1 to now, the Wild ranks 25th in goals per game (2.21), 26th in goals-against average (3.07) and … the biggies — 29th in shooting percentage (. 067) and 28th in save percentage (. 886).

Combine completely dried-up shooters with leaky goaltending, and winning becomes problematic.

Devan Dubnyk, once leading the NHL in victories, goals-against aver-age and save percentage, is 5-8-1 in March with a 2.83 goals-against aver-age and .898 save percentage. Darcy Kuemper was pulled in two of three starts since Feb. 28 and gave up four second-period goals in Saturday’s loss to lowly Vancouver.

Staal has scored nine goals since March 5, tied for the second most in the NHL in that span. Next closest on the Wild in March is Mikael Granlund with four with Charlie Coyle, Matt Dumba and Zach Parise scoring three times each.

But expand out the team-wide slumps broader, and the numbers are striking for a team that has scored four or more goals in a game 20 times this season.

Up front, some examples: Nino Nie-derreiter has scored no goals in the past 15 games and one in the past 20. Mikko Koivu has scored two in the past 24 games, Jason Pominville one in the past 20, Jason Zucker one in the past 14, Erik Haula one in the past 18, Parise two in the past 12 and Coyle four in the past 37.

Martin Hanzal has scored one goal in 13 games with the Wild.

On the back end, Ryan Suter has scored once in the past 28 games, Jared Spurgeon once in the past 22 games, Marco Scandella twice in the past 40 games and Jonas Brodin none in the past 31.

“A lot of guys have gone dry,” coach Bruce Boudreau said after a 3-2 over-time loss in Detroit on Sunday where the Wild had four scoring chances in the final minute of regulation and overtime. “We had a couple guys that

are pretty dry that had some chances [Sunday], and one of these days they’re going to start going in.

“We all hope it’s soon.” Still, the Wild hopes Sunday’s

game in Detroit was the start to bet-ter consistency. The team competed harder than many recent games and certainly defended better, giving up 19 shots — three in the third period.

“It’s a good preparation for what we have to do to be successful,” Bou-dreau said. “That was an awful lot more like we played the first half of the year in giving up little when we were in trouble, getting it deep when we were in trouble, getting it out and not playing a kind of game that’s sort of back and forth.

“It’s not the way we’re going to win.”Of course, skeptics will say when

the Wild was winning, it was play-ing fast, up and down, high-scoring hockey, something that has particu-larly slowed down since the Feb. 26 Hanzal/Ryan White acquisitions.

But with game’s tightening throughout the NHL, Staal said Sun-day’s game resembled what the Wild should anticipate from now on.

“We have to get used to it and we should be,” he said. “We’ve got good players in here that know how to play defense. It’s a better game than we’ve had the last few.

“Looking big picture, this is the type of game we need to keep play-ing. We need to grab a hold of that and understand that. This is the type of hockey it’s going to be the rest of the way and playoff time. Be comfortable in these kind of matches.”

Plain and simple, Dubnyk said, the Wild needs to “forget about what’s gone on the last couple of weeks here and just play our game. It’s not going to be perfect every night, but if we work and work and get pucks deep and stick to the iden-tity that we’ve created this year, that’s what we need to do to build toward playoffs.”

Slide hits two-week markø WILD from C1 WILD GAMEDAY

7 p.m. vs. Washington • Xcel Energy Center • FSN, 100.3-FM

Win over Wild was Capitals’ launch pointPreview: These two teams are heading in opposite directions. The Wild’s

regression continues with a 3-10-1 record in March, including 10 losses in the past 12 games (2-9-1). The NHL-leading Capitals – the second-best offensive team and best defensive team in the league — have won five of six since stopping a four-game losing streak with a 4-2 win over Minnesota on March 14. The Wild’s 7-2 all-time at home against the Capitals; The Capitals, off Monday, are 34-4-3 in games when they have one day of rest.

Players to watch: Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin is the third player in NHL history to score 30 or more goals in each of his first 12 seasons (Mike Gartner, Wayne Gretzky). He has 400 career power-play points and 11 goals in 11 career games vs. the Wild. G Braden Holtby is a win from becoming the third goalie in Capitals history to record three straight 40-win seasons. D Kevin Shattenkirk has eight assists in 11 games with the Caps. Wild C Nicklas Backstrom has 32 points in the past 25 games. RW T.J. Oshie has 17 points in 24 games against the Wild. G Devan Dubnyk is searching for his franchise-record 38th win.

Numbers: Washington has outscored opponents 92-60 in the third period. … The Capitals have scored first in 29 of their past 38 games and are 40-7-5 when scoring first. … The Capitals are 33-5-2 when they score a power-play goal. … In March, the Wild ranks 24th with a .122 power-play percentage.

Injuries: None for either team.MICHAEL RUSSO

Coyle BrodinNiederreiter Zucker

ZSW [C M Y K] C6 Tuesday, Mar. 28, 2017

C6 • S TA R T R I B U N E S P O R T S T U E S DAY, M A R C H 2 8 , 2 0 1 7

B A S E B A L L

COLLEGENSICBemidji State 6-4, Winona State 1-2Minot State 6-2, Concordia (St. Paul) 4-3UPPER MIDWESTGustavus 13, Middlebury 12

B A S K E T B A L L

TIMBERWOLVES STATISTICS(Through Monday)Player G Min Pts Reb AstTowns ...............72 36.9 24.5 12.1 2.7Wiggins ...........72 37.2 23.1 4.0 2.4LaVine ..............47 37.2 18.9 3.4 3.0Rubio ................66 32.4 10.4 3.9 8.9Dieng ................72 31.9 9.9 7.8 1.8Muhammad .....68 19.8 9.8 2.9 0.5Bjelica ..............65 18.3 6.2 3.8 1.2Dunn.................68 16.9 3.9 2.2 2.3Rush .................37 21.0 3.9 2.2 1.0Payne ...............13 7.7 3.8 1.6 0.4Stephenson .......6 11.2 3.5 1.7 0.8Jones ................50 12.9 3.4 1.1 2.4Casspi ................3 17.6 3.0 1.0 0.7Hill ......................6 6.8 1.7 2.2 0.0Aldrich .............60 8.5 1.7 2.6 0.4Lucas III .............5 2.1 0.4 0.0 0.2Totals ...............72 241.5 104.9 42.5 23.4Opponents.......72 241.5 105.8 10.3 22.7

INDIANA STATISTICS(Through Monday)Player G Min Pts Reb AstGeorge .............66 35.4 22.6 6.4 3.3Teague .............73 32.3 15.3 4.2 7.8Turner ..............72 31.1 14.7 7.2 1.3Miles ................67 23.4 10.7 3.0 0.6T. Young ...........65 29.9 10.5 5.7 1.6Ellis ..................65 26.8 8.8 2.8 3.2Jefferson..........66 14.1 8.1 4.2 0.9Stuckey ............39 17.9 7.2 2.2 2.2Robinson III .....69 20.7 6.1 3.6 0.7Brooks ..............56 13.4 4.9 1.0 2.0Seraphin ..........42 11.1 4.3 2.9 0.5Allen .................54 14.5 2.9 3.5 1.0Christmas ........22 8.3 2.4 2.3 0.1J. Young ...........29 4.5 2.1 0.5 0.5Niang ...............22 4.1 1.0 0.7 0.2Totals ...............73 104.3 41.9 22.3Opponents.......73 105.2 44.8 22.4

COLLEGE • MENNIT • SEMIFINALSAt Madison Square GardenGames Tuesday • New YorkGeorgia Tech vs. CS Bakersfi eld, 6 pmTCU vs. UCF, 8:30 pmCHAMPIONSHIPGame ThursdaySemifi nal winners, 7 pm

CBICHAMPIONSHIP • BEST-OF-THREECoastal Carolina leads Wyoming, 1-0Monday: Co. Carolina 91, Wyoming 81Wednesday: at Wyoming, 8 pmFriday: at Wyoming, 6 pm (if nec.)

CIT • SEMIFINALSGames WednesdayTexas A&M-C.C. at UMBC, 6 pmFurman at St. Peter’s, 8 pmCHAMPIONSHIPGame FridaySemifi nal winners, 8 pm

COLLEGE • WOMENAP WOMEN’S ALL-AMERICA TEAMSNote: Statistics through March 12FIRST TEAM• Kelsey Plum, Washington, 5-8, senior, Poway, Calif., 31.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 4.7 apg, 53.3 fg pct, 42.9 3-pt fg pct, 88.8 ft pct, 37.1 minutes (33 fi rst-place votes, 165 points) • A’ja Wilson, South Carolina, 6-5, junior, Hopkins, S.C., 17.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 58.7 fg pct, 2.6 blocks (27, 153) • Katie Lou Samuelson, UConn, 6-3, sophomore, Huntington Beach, Calif., 21.0 ppg, 43.7 3-pt fg pct, 84.5 ft pct, 1.4 steals (23, 138) • Napheesa Collier, UConn, 6-1, sopho-more, O’Fallon, Mo., 20.2 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 68.9 fg pct, 83.8 ft pct, 2.0 blocks (21, 132) • Brionna Jones, Maryland, 6-3, senior, Havre de Grace, Md., 19.8 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 69.8 fg pct (17, 126)SECOND TEAM• Kelsey Mitchell, Ohio State, 5-8, junior, Cincinnati, 23.0 ppg, 4.0 apg, 44.2 fg pct, 82.4 ft pct (13, 107) • Brianna Turner, Notre Dame, 6-3, ju-nior, Pearland, Texas, 15.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 62.4 fg pct, 2.5 blocks (8, 96) • Gabby Williams UConn, 5-11, junior, Sparks, Nev., 13.2 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 5.3 apg, 57.3 fg pct, 2.7 steals (8, 87) • Chantel Osahor, Washington, 6-2, se-nior, Phoenix, 15.7 ppg, 15.3 rpg, 4.2 apg (4, 59) • Alexis Peterson, Syracuse, 5-7, senior, Columbus, Ohio, 23.3 ppg, 7.1 apg, 3.0 steals, 35.6 minutes (3, 58)THIRD TEAM• Sydney Wiese, Oregon State, 6-1, se-nior, Phoenix, 15.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 4.6 apg, 45.9 3-pt fg pct, 85.3 ft pct (1, 56) • Lindsay Allen, Notre Dame, 5-8, senior, Mitchellville, Md., 9.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 7.6 apg, 50.0 fg pct (4, 54) • Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, Maryland, 5-11, junior, Aliquippa, Pa., 18.6 ppg, 3.7 apg, 53.1 fg pct, 44.7 3-pt fg pct, 81.1 ft pct (0, 52) • Lexie Brown, Duke, 5-9, junior, Su-wanee, Ga., 18.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.6 apg, 92.2 ft pct, 2.8 steals (0, 40) • Victoria Vivians, Mississippi State, 6-1, junior, Carthage, Miss., 16.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg (1, 34)HONORABLE MENTION • Evelyn Akhator, Kentucky; Kristine Anigwe, California; Kalani Brown (1), Baylor; Jordin Canada, UCLA; Alaina Coates, South Carolina; Asia Durr, Lou-isville; Nia Coffey, Northwestern; Sophie Cunningham, Missouri; Makayla Epps (1), Kentucky; Tori Jankoska, Michigan State; Alexis Jones, Baylor; Tynice Mar-tin, West Virginia; Erica McCall, Stan-ford; Brooke McCarty, Texas; Kia Nurse, UConn; Leticia Romero, Florida State; Mercedes Russell, Tennessee; Karlie Samuelson, Stanford; Brooke Schulte, DePaul; Jennie Simms, Old Dominion; Shakayla Thomas, Florida State; Lizzy Wendell, Drake; Morgan William, Mis-sissippi State.

NIT • SEMIFINALSGames WednesdayWashington State at Georgia Tech, 6 pmVillanova at Michigan, 6 pmCHAMPIONSHIPGame SaturdaySemifi nal winners, 2 pm

H O C K E Y

WILD STATISTICS(Through Monday)Player GP G A TP +/- PIMGranlund ..........75 25 41 66 21 12 Staal .................75 26 32 58 11 30 Koivu ................74 18 35 53 24 24 Coyle ................75 17 32 49 10 36 Niederreiter ....75 20 29 49 15 49 Zucker ..............75 21 25 46 29 30 Pominville .......71 11 31 42 -1 4 Parise ...............63 17 20 37 -4 30 Suter ................75 9 28 37 31 34 Spurgeon .........71 8 24 32 30 20 Dumba .............69 10 21 31 15 57 Haula ...............65 13 10 23 4 22 Brodin ..............61 3 19 22 1 20 Stewart ............74 13 6 19 2 89 Scandella .........64 4 9 13 -4 25 Schroeder ........34 4 7 11 5 0 Graovac ...........52 7 2 9 7 10 Folin .................45 2 5 7 7 24 Hanzal ..............13 1 6 7 -4 6 Eriksson Ek .......9 2 3 5 2 2 Prosser ............36 1 4 5 -2 10 Dalpe .................9 1 2 3 0 9 Olofsson ..........13 0 3 3 -1 2 White ...............13 2 1 3 -5 7 Bertschy ...........5 0 1 1 0 4 Gabriel .............13 0 1 1 0 29 Pulkkinen..........9 1 0 1 -1 2 Reilly ................17 1 0 1 1 2 Cannone ...........3 0 0 0 0 0 Mitchell ...........11 0 0 0 -1 0 Tuch ..................6 0 0 0 -3 0 Totals ...............75 237 398 635 0 617 Opponents.......75 188 326 514 0 647 GOALIES W L OT SO SV% GAADubnyk ............37 19 4 5 .926 2.18Kuemper ...........7 5 3 0 .900 3.26Totals ...............44 24 7 5 .917 2.48Opponents.......31 37 7 4 .897 3.13

WASHINGTON STATISTICS(Through Monday)Player GP G A TP +/- PIMBackstrom .......74 22 57 79 16 36 Ovechkin .........74 30 32 62 7 48 Kuznetsov........74 17 37 54 18 40 Oshie ................61 30 21 51 26 34 Johansson .......74 22 26 48 21 10 Williams...........73 21 20 41 11 46 Carlson ............68 8 28 36 10 10 Niskanen..........71 4 32 36 22 26 Orlov ................74 6 26 32 31 47 Burakovsky ......56 11 20 31 16 12 Beagle ..............73 12 16 28 21 20 Eller ..................73 10 12 22 17 32 Winnik .............64 11 11 22 14 47 Connolly ..........60 15 6 21 21 40 Wilson ..............74 6 10 16 8 114 Schmidt ...........56 2 13 15 16 16 Orpik ................71 0 14 14 33 46 Alzner ..............74 3 10 13 21 24 Shattenkirk .....11 0 8 8 2 10 Vrana ...............21 3 3 6 2 2 Chorney ...........17 1 4 5 8 11 Sanford ............26 2 1 3 0 6 Barber ...............3 0 0 0 0 0 Carey ................4 0 0 0 -2 0 Ness ..................2 0 0 0 -1 0 O’Brien ..............1 0 0 0 0 0 Stephenson ......3 0 0 0 0 0 Totals ...............74 236 407 643 0 689 Opponents.......74 158 274 432 0 648 GOALIES........... W L OT SO SV% GAAHoltby ..............39 11 6 8 .927 2.01Grubauer .........10 6 2 3 .925 2.10Totals ...............49 17 8 11 .923 2.11Opponents.......25 40 9 3 .894 3.15

S O C C E R

MLSWESTERN W L T Pts GF GAPortland 3 1 0 9 12 6FC Dallas 2 0 1 7 4 2Houston 2 1 0 6 7 6San Jose 2 1 0 6 5 4Sporting K.C. 1 0 2 5 2 1Seattle 1 1 1 4 6 5Colorado 1 1 1 4 3 3Los Angeles 1 2 0 3 3 4Real Salt Lake 0 2 2 2 1 4Vancouver 0 2 1 1 2 5Loons 0 3 1 1 6 18EASTERN W L T Pts GF GANew York 2 1 1 7 4 4Columbus 2 1 1 7 7 6Atlanta United FC 2 1 0 6 11 3Orlando City 2 0 0 6 3 1Toronto FC 1 0 2 5 4 2New York City FC 1 1 1 4 5 2Chicago 1 1 1 4 3 5New England 1 2 0 3 6 5Montreal 0 1 2 2 3 4Philadelphia 0 1 2 2 3 4D.C. United 0 2 1 1 0 6Note: Three points for win, one for tie.GAMES FRIDAYSporting K.C. at Toronto FC, 6:30 pmAtlanta United FC at Seattle, 9 pmGAMES SATURDAYSan Jose at New York City FC, 1 pmMontreal at Chicago, 2 pmOrlando City at Columbus, 3 pmPhiladelphia at D.C. United, 6 pmReal Salt Lake at Loons, 7 pmNew York at Houston, 7:30 pmFC Dallas at Colorado, 8 pmLos Angeles at Vancouver, 9 pmGAMES SUNDAYNew England at Portland, 8 pm

WORLD CUP QUALIFYINGCONCACAF Note: Top three teams qualify, fourth-place team advances to playoff against Asia fi fth-place team. GP W D L GF GA Pts Mexico 3 2 1 0 4 1 7 Costa Rica 3 2 0 1 6 2 6Panama 3 1 1 1 1 1 4 Honduras 2 1 0 1 3 2 3 United States 3 1 0 2 7 6 3Trinidad 3 1 0 2 2 5 3 GAMES TUESDAYAt San Pedro Sula, HondurasHonduras vs. Costa Rica, 4 pmAt Port of Spain, TrinidadTrinidad and Tobago vs. Mexico, 6 pmAt Panama City, PanamaPanama vs. United States, 9:05 pm

S O F T B A L L

COLLEGEUPPER MIDWESTCrown 2-1, Augsburg 0-9

T E N N I SPRO • MENMIAMI OPENThird round • Key Biscayne, Fla.• Tomas Berdych (10) def. Gilles Muller (24), 6-3, 6-4. • Roberto Bautista Agut (14) def. Sam Querrey (22), 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. • Adrian Mannarino def. Borna Coric, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (3). • Roger Federer (4) def. Juan Martin del Potro (29), 6-3, 6-4.• Nick Kyrgios (12) def. Ivo Karlovic (17), 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2). •