March Madness: A Minnesotan is trying to get her team to its 24th Final Four game
UConn guard Paige Bueckers (5) dribbles the ball as Southern California guard McKenzie Forbes (25) defends during the first half of an Elite Eight college basketball game in the women's NCAA Tournament, on April 1, 2024, in Portland, Ore.
Howard Lao | AP
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March Madness begins this week. You wouldn’t find a Minnesotan team if you were to check out the brackets for the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments this year. But a Minnesotan is a face of the women's tournament. Paige Bueckers is in her final season with the number two seed, the University of Connecticut.
Wally Langfellow is the founder of Minnesota Score Sports Magazine and co-host of the sports talk show 10,000 Takes. Eric Nelson is the other host of that show and Minnesota Vikings NFL reporter for CBS' Eye on Football and Sirius XM. They both joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about basketball and other sports news.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
[CURTIS BLOW, "BASKETBALL"] They're playing basketball
We love that basketball
NINA MOINI: March Madness begins this week, and looking at the brackets for the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments this year, there's not a Minnesota team in sight. But a Minnesotan is one of the faces of the women's tournament this year. Paige Bueckers is in her final season with the number two seed, the University of Connecticut. Our sports contributors, Wally Longfellow and Eric Nelson, join me now to talk about basketball plus other sports news. Hi, guys. Happy Monday.
ERIC NELSON: Yeah, same to you, Nina.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Hey, Alana.
[LAUGHTER]
Nina. How are you? sorry.
NINA MOINI: That's OK.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: I thought it was your producer, Alana.
NINA MOINI: Alana's our wonderful producer Yeah. We've got a lot of vowel names. So big day yesterday in college basketball. Selection Sunday. Tell us about that, Eric.
ERIC NELSON: Yeah. And as you said, Nina, March Madness in Minnesota doesn't mean squat, because the U of M and St. Thomas, those are the only D1 programs in the state. They're not part of the NCAA tournament. The Gopher women aren't going as well. So a lot of the focus in the Twin Cities is on who's going to be the Gophers next head coach. They let go of Ben Johnson last week at 1:00 AM in the morning.
And multiple reports say that Colorado state coach Niko Medved is the leading candidate as soon as Colorado is done with their season. Now, the Colorado State Rams are 25 and 9. They're the number 12 seed in the west region. They play the number five seed, Memphis, 29 and 5 on the year, in Seattle round one on Friday. Medved is from Minneapolis. He went to the U of M in the 1990s. He's been with the Colorado State Rams since 2018. Record is 221 and 171.
This is his third trip to the tournament, but the Denver Post is reporting that the Gophers have not contacted Colorado State yet about Niko Medved. The Rams athletic director, John Weber, says he has not heard from the Gophers. So there's a lot of things swirling, but Medved's name has been popping up.
NINA MOINI: OK. So Paige Bueckers, mentioned her at the top, but what are you going to be watching for heading into the women's NCAA tournament, Wally?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, they play on Saturday. They'll play UConn, that is, University of Connecticut. That's the Huskies. That's where Paige Bueckers is finishing up her college career. And she likely will be, if not the number one overall pick in the upcoming WNBA draft, she'll be in the top two or three at worst. So if you're a Lynx fan, and you want to see Paige Bueckers in a Lynx uniform, you better hope that they make a trade, because it's highly unlikely based on the way that they're drafting.
But as I said, they play on Saturday at noon. They play Arkansas State. What's interesting about where they land-- and of course, University of Connecticut is a tradition rich women's program. They've got 11 National Championships, but none since 2016. So Bueckers and company will try to get the Huskies to their 24th Final Four. Just think about that. Their 24th Final Four. I believe the Gopher women have won-- and that was with Lindsay Whalen and company. So we'll see how it all shakes out.
As a matter of fact, since I mentioned the Gopher women, they did not make the NCAA tournament. They finished 20 and 11 in the regular season. They are in what used to be called the Women's NIT, the WNIT. They changed it to WBIT. So now, it's the WBIT, the Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament. They're the number two seed after missing the NCAA tournament. They'll have to play on the road Thursday, however, even though they're a number two seed, because Williams Arena is being used for the boys state basketball tournament Thursday.
And oh, by the way, the boys state basketball tournament actually starts tomorrow with Class 4A at Target Center. Cretin is the number one seed. They'll play Moorhead at 10:00 AM. Actually, they play Rochester John Marshall at 10:00 AM. And Wayzata, who last year lost the state championship game to Minnetonka, they will play Moorhead later in the day.
NINA MOINI: Awesome. So we did college. We did high school. Let's talk about the Timberwolves now. So they have won the last eight games, and I'm told that that's actually their longest winning streak in 20 years I don't know if that's great news. But how did they get here, Wally?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, I think that they're playing better basketball together. First of all, they've got all their injured pieces back in the lineup, and that's number one on the list. Julius Randle, who was hurt. Donte DiVincenzo, who was hurt. Rudy Gobert, who was hurt. All those guys have been back in the lineup for the past week or so. That has really helped.
And the other factor, I think if you look back at the beginning of the year, DiVincenzo and Randle coming in, Karl-Anthony Towns going out, the Timberwolves literally-- and head coach Chris Finch trying to figure out, how are you going to win basketball games without Karl-Anthony Towns and fit these new guys in?
DiVincenzo started out shooting terribly, so that wasn't a great thing, because that's his game, shooting three pointers. And then Julius Randle is more of a kind of a one on one isolation type of player. He had to learn that he's going to have to be a distributor-- in other words, pass the ball and get assists instead of just scoring. And I think that stuff is starting to come around now.
And two, honestly, they're playing a weaker portion of their schedule, so that doesn't hurt as well. They will have Indiana tonight at Target Center, so the beat could go on. They've got the Indiana Pacers, as I said, tonight at Target Center to try and get their ninth straight win.
NINA MOINI: I guess I'm wondering, Wally, is winning eight games in a row-- would that be a huge deal for any team?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, Cleveland has a 15 game winning streak and a 16 game winning streak this year alone.
NINA MOINI: Oh, wow.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah. I mean, winning eight in a row is great for the Timberwolves, and it puts them back into play to possibly get in the top six in the western conference, which is where you want to be so you don't have to have to play in to get into the playoffs, so to speak. As long as they keep winning, they'll have a very good shot. But they're going to have to keep winning, because the western conference in the NBA is very, very difficult and very tight. If they lose a couple in a row, they could drop off the map as far as getting in the top six. They're going to be in the playoffs. It's just a matter of where they're going to fall.
NINA MOINI: Well, I love that they're getting better. Good for them. So in football news, this was kind of eyebrow raising. We've got some reports out there, I guess, that the Vikings have made an offer to former Green Bay Packer Aaron Rodgers. What's going on there, Eric?
ERIC NELSON: Yeah, Nina. This Aaron Rodgers saga continues to play out in week two of free agency. Rodgers is reportedly waiting on Minnesota to make a decision on whether they want him or not, and that's Kevin O'Connell's call. He's the head coach. Now, there has been a report that just came out recently-- believe me, these rumors are swirling. They're like snowflakes blowing through the air. So you don't know what's real. You don't know what's actually factual.
But I think Rodgers wants to go to Minnesota, because he would have a lot of toys to play with, like Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson, Aaron Jones. These are these are great weapons. And the Vikings have fortified their offensive line in free agency. Whatever happens, this is going to have a domino effect, because Pittsburgh wants Rodgers, and so do the New York Giants. But I looked at it this way, Nina. It's Saint Patrick's day, so maybe the purple should add a guy who was born Green Bay Packer green and New York Jets green in his career.
And stay tuned, though. Who knows with Aaron Rodgers? Some other Viking notes we should duck in. Minnesota got running back Jordan Mason from San Francisco a couple of days ago. 49ers get a sixth round pick in 2026 in the draft. So this, it looks like, at least on paper, a good move for the Vikings. Mason filled in last year in San Francisco for the injured Christian McCaffrey and did very well. He gives the team depth at the running back position. It's another weapon. It's another thing that might make Aaron Rodgers say, I'd like to go to Minnesota.
And then finally, some sad news for the vikings. Their ex wide receiver and a guy who used to broadcast Minnesota Gopher games, Paul Flatley, gone at the age of 84. He was drafted way back in 1963 out of Northwestern, was the NFL rookie of the year, and had an outstanding career with the Vikings. I mean, Minnesota's had this lineage of fabulous wide receivers. Randy Moss, Cris Carter, Justin Jefferson, Sammy White, Ahmad Rashad, Anthony Carter. But the very first one was Paul Flatley. He kind of got the ball rolling for the greatness at the wide receiver position in Minnesota.
NINA MOINI: OK. But really quick going back to Aaron Rodgers, do you think that Vikings fans and Minnesotans would be into that? What do you think?
ERIC NELSON: Well, Aaron Rodgers is-- he marches to the beat of his own drum. But I think if he comes to Minnesota, and he's all in-- he goes to the minicamps, and he's committed to trying to win a Super Bowl-- yes. If he has success, Vikings fans will buy in. But it could be a circus, and that's probably why the Vikings have waited and done their due diligence to make sure they want him. We'll see.
NINA MOINI: OK. So we have about 30 seconds left, Wally, but I want to make sure we get to the Minnesota Lynx and Napheesa Collier voted MVP of the new three-on-three league Unrivaled. Championship is tonight. What stood out to you so far this first season of the league?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, I mean, I think it really got off to a really fast start. The popularity. It got some good TV ratings early on. It kind of faded as the season went on. But know this. There's good news and bad news. Napheesa Collier did get MVP, as you mentioned, but her team, the Lunar Owls, were upset in last night's semifinal game, so they will not be playing in the championship. The first championship will be played tonight between second seeded Rose and fourth seeded Vinyl.
NINA MOINI: All right.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: There you have it. There's no cities represented.
NINA MOINI: Beautiful names. Beautiful names. All right.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yes. There you go.
NINA MOINI: Eric and Wally, thanks so much. Have a great week.
ERIC NELSON: Thanks, Nina.
NINA MOINI: Those are our sports contributors, Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. I'm Nina Moini. Thanks for listening to Minnesota Now. Have a great Monday. See you back here tomorrow at noon.
We love that basketball
NINA MOINI: March Madness begins this week, and looking at the brackets for the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments this year, there's not a Minnesota team in sight. But a Minnesotan is one of the faces of the women's tournament this year. Paige Bueckers is in her final season with the number two seed, the University of Connecticut. Our sports contributors, Wally Longfellow and Eric Nelson, join me now to talk about basketball plus other sports news. Hi, guys. Happy Monday.
ERIC NELSON: Yeah, same to you, Nina.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Hey, Alana.
[LAUGHTER]
Nina. How are you? sorry.
NINA MOINI: That's OK.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: I thought it was your producer, Alana.
NINA MOINI: Alana's our wonderful producer Yeah. We've got a lot of vowel names. So big day yesterday in college basketball. Selection Sunday. Tell us about that, Eric.
ERIC NELSON: Yeah. And as you said, Nina, March Madness in Minnesota doesn't mean squat, because the U of M and St. Thomas, those are the only D1 programs in the state. They're not part of the NCAA tournament. The Gopher women aren't going as well. So a lot of the focus in the Twin Cities is on who's going to be the Gophers next head coach. They let go of Ben Johnson last week at 1:00 AM in the morning.
And multiple reports say that Colorado state coach Niko Medved is the leading candidate as soon as Colorado is done with their season. Now, the Colorado State Rams are 25 and 9. They're the number 12 seed in the west region. They play the number five seed, Memphis, 29 and 5 on the year, in Seattle round one on Friday. Medved is from Minneapolis. He went to the U of M in the 1990s. He's been with the Colorado State Rams since 2018. Record is 221 and 171.
This is his third trip to the tournament, but the Denver Post is reporting that the Gophers have not contacted Colorado State yet about Niko Medved. The Rams athletic director, John Weber, says he has not heard from the Gophers. So there's a lot of things swirling, but Medved's name has been popping up.
NINA MOINI: OK. So Paige Bueckers, mentioned her at the top, but what are you going to be watching for heading into the women's NCAA tournament, Wally?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, they play on Saturday. They'll play UConn, that is, University of Connecticut. That's the Huskies. That's where Paige Bueckers is finishing up her college career. And she likely will be, if not the number one overall pick in the upcoming WNBA draft, she'll be in the top two or three at worst. So if you're a Lynx fan, and you want to see Paige Bueckers in a Lynx uniform, you better hope that they make a trade, because it's highly unlikely based on the way that they're drafting.
But as I said, they play on Saturday at noon. They play Arkansas State. What's interesting about where they land-- and of course, University of Connecticut is a tradition rich women's program. They've got 11 National Championships, but none since 2016. So Bueckers and company will try to get the Huskies to their 24th Final Four. Just think about that. Their 24th Final Four. I believe the Gopher women have won-- and that was with Lindsay Whalen and company. So we'll see how it all shakes out.
As a matter of fact, since I mentioned the Gopher women, they did not make the NCAA tournament. They finished 20 and 11 in the regular season. They are in what used to be called the Women's NIT, the WNIT. They changed it to WBIT. So now, it's the WBIT, the Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament. They're the number two seed after missing the NCAA tournament. They'll have to play on the road Thursday, however, even though they're a number two seed, because Williams Arena is being used for the boys state basketball tournament Thursday.
And oh, by the way, the boys state basketball tournament actually starts tomorrow with Class 4A at Target Center. Cretin is the number one seed. They'll play Moorhead at 10:00 AM. Actually, they play Rochester John Marshall at 10:00 AM. And Wayzata, who last year lost the state championship game to Minnetonka, they will play Moorhead later in the day.
NINA MOINI: Awesome. So we did college. We did high school. Let's talk about the Timberwolves now. So they have won the last eight games, and I'm told that that's actually their longest winning streak in 20 years I don't know if that's great news. But how did they get here, Wally?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, I think that they're playing better basketball together. First of all, they've got all their injured pieces back in the lineup, and that's number one on the list. Julius Randle, who was hurt. Donte DiVincenzo, who was hurt. Rudy Gobert, who was hurt. All those guys have been back in the lineup for the past week or so. That has really helped.
And the other factor, I think if you look back at the beginning of the year, DiVincenzo and Randle coming in, Karl-Anthony Towns going out, the Timberwolves literally-- and head coach Chris Finch trying to figure out, how are you going to win basketball games without Karl-Anthony Towns and fit these new guys in?
DiVincenzo started out shooting terribly, so that wasn't a great thing, because that's his game, shooting three pointers. And then Julius Randle is more of a kind of a one on one isolation type of player. He had to learn that he's going to have to be a distributor-- in other words, pass the ball and get assists instead of just scoring. And I think that stuff is starting to come around now.
And two, honestly, they're playing a weaker portion of their schedule, so that doesn't hurt as well. They will have Indiana tonight at Target Center, so the beat could go on. They've got the Indiana Pacers, as I said, tonight at Target Center to try and get their ninth straight win.
NINA MOINI: I guess I'm wondering, Wally, is winning eight games in a row-- would that be a huge deal for any team?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, Cleveland has a 15 game winning streak and a 16 game winning streak this year alone.
NINA MOINI: Oh, wow.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah. I mean, winning eight in a row is great for the Timberwolves, and it puts them back into play to possibly get in the top six in the western conference, which is where you want to be so you don't have to have to play in to get into the playoffs, so to speak. As long as they keep winning, they'll have a very good shot. But they're going to have to keep winning, because the western conference in the NBA is very, very difficult and very tight. If they lose a couple in a row, they could drop off the map as far as getting in the top six. They're going to be in the playoffs. It's just a matter of where they're going to fall.
NINA MOINI: Well, I love that they're getting better. Good for them. So in football news, this was kind of eyebrow raising. We've got some reports out there, I guess, that the Vikings have made an offer to former Green Bay Packer Aaron Rodgers. What's going on there, Eric?
ERIC NELSON: Yeah, Nina. This Aaron Rodgers saga continues to play out in week two of free agency. Rodgers is reportedly waiting on Minnesota to make a decision on whether they want him or not, and that's Kevin O'Connell's call. He's the head coach. Now, there has been a report that just came out recently-- believe me, these rumors are swirling. They're like snowflakes blowing through the air. So you don't know what's real. You don't know what's actually factual.
But I think Rodgers wants to go to Minnesota, because he would have a lot of toys to play with, like Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson, Aaron Jones. These are these are great weapons. And the Vikings have fortified their offensive line in free agency. Whatever happens, this is going to have a domino effect, because Pittsburgh wants Rodgers, and so do the New York Giants. But I looked at it this way, Nina. It's Saint Patrick's day, so maybe the purple should add a guy who was born Green Bay Packer green and New York Jets green in his career.
And stay tuned, though. Who knows with Aaron Rodgers? Some other Viking notes we should duck in. Minnesota got running back Jordan Mason from San Francisco a couple of days ago. 49ers get a sixth round pick in 2026 in the draft. So this, it looks like, at least on paper, a good move for the Vikings. Mason filled in last year in San Francisco for the injured Christian McCaffrey and did very well. He gives the team depth at the running back position. It's another weapon. It's another thing that might make Aaron Rodgers say, I'd like to go to Minnesota.
And then finally, some sad news for the vikings. Their ex wide receiver and a guy who used to broadcast Minnesota Gopher games, Paul Flatley, gone at the age of 84. He was drafted way back in 1963 out of Northwestern, was the NFL rookie of the year, and had an outstanding career with the Vikings. I mean, Minnesota's had this lineage of fabulous wide receivers. Randy Moss, Cris Carter, Justin Jefferson, Sammy White, Ahmad Rashad, Anthony Carter. But the very first one was Paul Flatley. He kind of got the ball rolling for the greatness at the wide receiver position in Minnesota.
NINA MOINI: OK. But really quick going back to Aaron Rodgers, do you think that Vikings fans and Minnesotans would be into that? What do you think?
ERIC NELSON: Well, Aaron Rodgers is-- he marches to the beat of his own drum. But I think if he comes to Minnesota, and he's all in-- he goes to the minicamps, and he's committed to trying to win a Super Bowl-- yes. If he has success, Vikings fans will buy in. But it could be a circus, and that's probably why the Vikings have waited and done their due diligence to make sure they want him. We'll see.
NINA MOINI: OK. So we have about 30 seconds left, Wally, but I want to make sure we get to the Minnesota Lynx and Napheesa Collier voted MVP of the new three-on-three league Unrivaled. Championship is tonight. What stood out to you so far this first season of the league?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, I mean, I think it really got off to a really fast start. The popularity. It got some good TV ratings early on. It kind of faded as the season went on. But know this. There's good news and bad news. Napheesa Collier did get MVP, as you mentioned, but her team, the Lunar Owls, were upset in last night's semifinal game, so they will not be playing in the championship. The first championship will be played tonight between second seeded Rose and fourth seeded Vinyl.
NINA MOINI: All right.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: There you have it. There's no cities represented.
NINA MOINI: Beautiful names. Beautiful names. All right.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yes. There you go.
NINA MOINI: Eric and Wally, thanks so much. Have a great week.
ERIC NELSON: Thanks, Nina.
NINA MOINI: Those are our sports contributors, Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. I'm Nina Moini. Thanks for listening to Minnesota Now. Have a great Monday. See you back here tomorrow at noon.
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