‘The Caitlin Clark effect,’ getting ready for the boy's high school hockey tourney and other sports headlines

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: If you've been paying any attention to basketball lately, college basketball, you've heard the name Caitlin Clark.

SUBJECT: Caitlin Clark for three.

CATHY WURZER: Last night's game against the Gophers, the Iowa Hawkeyes player scored 8 three-pointers, 33 points, and 10 rebounds. She's generated a lot of love for women's college basketball this year in pursuit of NCAA scoring records. She beat the women's record last night and came 18 points away from beating the all-time scoring record. Her next chance at that is this Sunday's game against Ohio State.

CAITLIN CLARK: So it's super special closing in on that. And my first goal is focusing on Ohio State and beating them. But it's super special just to be in the same realm of a lot of these really talented players that have done a lot of really great things for not just men's basketball or just women's basketball, but just basketball in general.

CATHY WURZER: Joining us to talk about last night's game and all things Minnesota sports is Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson, our sports guys. Wally is the founder of Minnesota Score magazine and the co-host of the 10,000 Takes sports talk show. Eric's the other host of that show and the Vikings reporter for CBS Sports radio. Well, did you all see the Caitlin Clark experience at The Barn, Wally, or Eric? Whoever went?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, I don't think either one of us-- I know I didn't go. I went to the Timberwolves. Eric didn't go either. But, look, here's my reasoning behind it, Cathy, and I'll let Eric expound on what happened last night. As much as I wanted to see Caitlin Clark, and I saw her last year at Target Center-- but as much as I wanted to see it, I really didn't want to sit with 13,000 and a half Iowa fans. That's just, to me, there's just no attraction to that at all. Just not.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Duly noted. Duly noted. All right, Eric, party pooper. All right, Eric, what did you think?

ERIC NELSON: Well, it's hard not to be impressed. First of all, it was a border beatdown. Iowa is the sixth-ranked team in the nation. And the final score was ugly if you're a Gopher fan, 108 to 60. Caitlin Clark is a rock star.

She's the Michael Jordan of women's college basketball. And she did put on a show before a jam-packed crowd of 14,625 at The Barn in Dinkytown. This is just the second time ever the U of M women have packed The Barn.

And as you said in the lead-in, Cathy, she sank 8 three balls, a lot of them from another zip code. She goes deep past that three-point line, almost to the logo. And she launches, and she connects.

So she had 33 points in the game. She's up to 3,650 in her brilliant career. She surpasses Kansas legend Lynette Woodard for number one on the all-time scoring list. She also broke the NCAA women's single season three-point record. She's got 156 this year and 503 in her career.

And she and the Hawkeyes will be back in the Twin Cities for the Big 10 Women's Tournament next week at Target Center. The event is completely sold out. And you can thank Caitlin Clark for that buzz, because wherever she goes, people want to be there. And one other Gopher note, too, Cathy-- the men's team played last night in Champaign, Illinois at State Farm Center, and they lost to the 13th-ranked Illini 105 to 97.

Terrence Shannon, Jr. paced Illinois with 29. Dawson Garcia and Cam Christie had strong games for Minnesota. The Gophers need to win probably two more regular season games and a couple in the Big Ten tournament at Target Center if they want to get into the NCAA Tournament. If not, they'll probably be in the NIT.

CATHY WURZER: OK. All right, well, it was fun watching Caitlin. That's all I'm going to say. All right, we're going to move on, because Wally was at the Timberwolves game. What of the Wolves?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: There were no Iowa fans there.

CATHY WURZER: We can report.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: That was too easy. No, they played fairly well last night. They got off to a really slow start. They trailed 14 to 0. And Timberwolves fans, I don't know if you've been to a Wolves game this year, they've built a little tradition here where they all stand until the Wolves score their first basket.

Well, there was a few minutes that went by in the first quarter before they were able to actually take their seats. So it did not look good early. But they won the basketball game. Anthony Edwards had 34 points. Nas Reid had 19 for the Timberwolves.

Minnesota has now won three in a row, seven of eight. The Wolves have a half game lead over Oklahoma City in the West for the best record in the West. And Friday night, they are back home-- this is part of a seven-game home stand, oh, by the way. They'll play Sacramento on Friday, and then they've got the Clippers on Sunday afternoon.

So this home stand continues on. But it's important for them to keep winning these home games. The only loss in this homestand thus far has been to a very good Milwaukee team last Friday night. So things are looking good, no injuries of any significance to report. That's the main thing.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Well, Eric, I'm so excited about the combine, as you know.

ERIC NELSON: Oh, lord. Cathy, I know you're into some shtick stuff and getting yourself going viral. I thought you'd be on a combine, a John Deere tractor driving down to Indy for this thing. But I guess you're still in Minnesota.

CATHY WURZER: I am.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. It's the NFL Olympics where they run, they jump, they bench press.

CATHY WURZER: It's so weird.

ERIC NELSON: And they do just about everything but play football. But the Minnesota Vikings and 31 other teams are down there in Indianapolis at the combine. It takes place at Lucas oil Stadium, the home of the Colts.

Viking coaches are kicking the tires on 321 prospects who are at the annual event. Trade rumors are swirling. Kewsi Odofo-Mensah, the Vikings general manager, says he has not even thought about peddling wide receiver Justin Jefferson. But he does want a megabucks payday.

Jefferson wants to get a lot of loot from the Vikings. The salary cap's now up to $255 million. Maybe that can happen. And according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota is going to travel to Cleveland for joint practices during training camp, which means that Wally Langfellow now has his summer plans--

CATHY WURZER: Nice.

ERIC NELSON: Already on the books, because those are his two favorite teams.

CATHY WURZER: What a relief.

ERIC NELSON: And I don't know if he's going to do any work at this joint practice, Cathy. So don't count on him then, because his beloved Brownies and the Vikings will all be together. Kumbaya in Ohio.

CATHY WURZER: I can hardly wait. I'm sure Wally's very excited. Now, I personally, by the way, speaking of excitement, I love the boys state hockey tournament, which is right around the corner.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: It is.

CATHY WURZER: Mr. Langfellow.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yes. It starts on Wednesday of next week. Several teams qualified with wins last night. Elk River and Edina both win last night. The Hornets, oh, by the way, beating top seeded Wayzata in Section 6. Elk River beat Buffalo.

In Class A, Orono knocked off Minneapolis 4 to 1. So Orono is going back. The other winners in Class A that advanced to the state tournament, no surprise here-- Hermantown, no surprise here, St. Cloud Cathedral. Northfield and New Ulm are all in with wins last night.

Tonight, in Class AA, defending state champion Minnetonka will play against Chanhassen. The winner there goes to state. Maple Grove takes on Centennial. The winner there goes to state. And Andover plays Grand Rapids in Duluth at Amsoil Arena.

And Lakeville South is down in Rochester to play Rochester Century. So all the winners tonight also advance to the Class AA tournament. So yeah, we're right around the corner. We got a few qualifiers, and the rest will be decided tonight and tomorrow.

CATHY WURZER: All right. I hope you guys have a good weekend.

ERIC NELSON: Enjoy the weather whiplash, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: We shall. Thank you. Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson, our sports guys.