March Madness, the Wild and Minnesota United: Minnesota’s latest sports news
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, front right, works toward the basket as Denver Nuggets guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, left, and center Nikola Jokic defend during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, in Minneapolis.
Abbie Parr | AP
Did you get your March Madness bracket locked in? The first men’s game started Thursday between Mississippi State and Michigan State. The women’s tournament starts Friday morning. The University of Minnesota Gophers didn’t make it this year, but there’s plenty of Minnesota basketball and other sports news to talk about.
Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to do just that. Wally is the founder of Minnesota Score Magazine and the co-host of the 10,000 Takes sports talk show. Eric is the other host of that show and Vikings reporter for CBS Sports.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] They're playing basketball. We love that basketball. They're playing basketball.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah, they are. Did you get your March Madness bracket locked in? The first men's game started a little over an hour ago, Mississippi State versus Michigan State. The women's tournament starts tomorrow morning. University of Minnesota Gophers-- oh, Gophs didn't make it this year. But there's plenty of Minnesota basketball and other sports news to talk about.
Joining us to do just that, Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Wally is the founder of Minnesota Score Magazine and the co-host of the popular 10,000 Takes sports talk show. Eric is the other host of that show and the Vikings reporter for CBS Sports. Wow, you guys, how are you doing?
ERIC NELSON: Happy, happy March Madness.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, I'm hooping it up.
CATHY WURZER: You always hoop it up.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yes, I do.
CATHY WURZER: I'm kind of surprised you're not at the Boys State high school basketball tournament. I mean, gosh, you've been-- you were at the hockey tournament, the girls tournament, not the boys. What's going on?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, no, I did four games on the radio yesterday. So I was on from 10:00 AM till 6:00 PM yesterday.
CATHY WURZER: Sorry.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: That was the class 4A quarterfinals. The class 3A semifinals start at about-- well, in about 10 minutes or so. Not doing those, but I am back on tonight. And there's two good semifinal matchups tonight in class 4A. Number 1 seed-- number 1 team in the state, and the defending state champions, from Wayzata will play in the first game. They play Cretin. That's at 6 o'clock over at Williams Arena.
And then, the second game will feature Eagan, who knocked off Park Center. Now, let's not forget, Park Center has been in the state championship game the last three years. They were the number 2 seed. But Eagan upset them yesterday at Target Center. So Eagan is in against a very good Minnetonka team. Minnetonka is the number 3 seed. And that'll be the 8:00 PM game tonight at Williams Arena.
So plenty of high school basketball, the afternoon games in class 3A. The interesting match-up, I think, is going to be this one at 1 o'clock. Totino-Grace is taking on DeLaSalle. Those two teams tend to meet in the championship. But this year, they are meeting in the semifinals. And Totino is the prohibitive favorite, but you never know when it comes to high school basketball.
You want me to just go right into college and NBA? Is that-- that what you're hoping for here?
CATHY WURZER: I mean, I feel bad about Eric. Eric is just kind of sitting in the corner. I mean, do you want to say anything about this, Eric?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: That's fine.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, it's fine.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: No, that's fine. That's where he belongs. If all else--
ERIC NELSON: Yeah, Wally wants to put a muzzle on me.
CATHY WURZER: I'm sorry.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Oh, lord.
CATHY WURZER: All right, let's quickly do college. But I really want to know about this T-wolves news. But just let's brush on the college here.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: OK, one, Gopher men and women are playing, by the way. They're not in the NCAA tournament. They're both in the NIT tournament, the women's NIT for the ladies. And then, the men's NIT, the Gophers won the other night, their first game. So they'll play on Sunday against Indiana State-- Larry bird's old school, by the way. That's the second round of that.
But as for the big tournament, you are correct, it's underway. Michigan State currently beating Mississippi State by 14 points about midway through the second half. So it looks like Tom Izzo's squad will move on. But yes, we have all filled out brackets. And we are waiting to see how it all turns out.
As for the Timberwolves, the big story, Cathy, really, is the stuff that's going on off the court.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Lowry, their initial minority stakeholder is out. So now they're trying to find a second one. The Star Tribune says that Blue Owl HomeCourt is the new minority stakeholder. And they're trying to get this deal sewn up by the end of the month. They still think that it's going to happen. The acquisition from Glen Taylor would give them 80%. And then, Glen Taylor would drop down to below 20%, I assume, since this other stakeholder is coming in. So we shall see how that all turns out.
And then, the other news is this guy that's been fired by the Wolves after he stole secrets.
CATHY WURZER: What?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: I mean, I guess it doesn't just happen in politics. It happens in basketball. Apparently, this guy's name is Somak Sarkar. He was a disgruntled Timberwolves employee fired by the Wolves after he's charged with felony third degree burglary for allegedly stealing thousands of internal files, including strategic NBA information-- in other words, analytics. He took somebody's-- he took somebody's laptop, apparently.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, my gosh.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: So Sarkar, previously, was a coaching analyst for the Timberwolves.
CATHY WURZER: Wow. OK, this--
WALLY LANGFELLOW: I'm done. Eric can talk now. But that is serious.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah, no, for sure, absolutely. Wow, that's a lot of news there, Mr. Langfellow. OK, let's talk Wild here, Eric Nelson. Take it away.
ERIC NELSON: Yeah, I'm glad Wally's filibuster is over, at least temporarily. But yeah, hey, sorry, Randy Newman, but the Wild don't love LA. The Kings ambushed the Wild last night in downtown Los Angeles 6-0. Marc-Andre Fleury was yanked in the second period, replaced by Filip Gustavsson when LA went up 5-0. To pour salt in the wound, ex-Minnesota star Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist for Los Angeles.
Minnesota is now 3 points out of the final wild card spot behind Vegas. The key thing here though, Cathy, is Vegas has played two less games than Minnesota. The Wild are at 70 and Vegas at 68. It was also a milepost night for Kings star Ange Kopitar. He became the 52nd player in NHL history to score 1,200 points when he got an assist on Fiala's power play goal in the first period. Kopitar also had a power play goal late in the second. And he passed up-- you may remember this name-- Dino Ciccarelli, of Minnesota North Stars fame, for 51st on the career scoring list.
So the Wild are already back in Minnesota. They will begin a six-game homestand against Saint Louis Saturday at the X. That's a 1:00 PM puck drop. So they'll try to get better against the Blues. And that's a team that's right there in the chase with Minnesota, the Saint Louis Blues.
CATHY WURZER: Hey, while we have you on the line here, Eric, what about Minnesota United?
ERIC NELSON: Yeah, boy, they are off to a fantastic start. Min U has 3 wins and 1 draw for a total of 10 points. That's tied for the most in Major League Soccer with Inter Miami, who has some global star named Lionel Messi on the roster--
CATHY WURZER: Oh.
ERIC NELSON: --and the Columbus Crew, the reigning MLS Cup champs. So that's some pretty cool company, right now, that Minnesota United is with. Next up is a match at Philadelphia on Saturday, March 30.
Eric Ramsey, the young head coach, was on the sideline for the-- for his first match with the Loons last week against LAFC. They won that one 2-0 on a very chilly night in Saint Paul. Remember, Ramsey came over from Man U, or Manchester United, to Min U, or Minnesota United. And Man U is in the European Premier League. They're one of the top franchises in all of soccer.
And by the way, goalkeeper Dane Saint Clair has given up just four goals in four games for Minnesota United. So a fast start for the Loons, who missed the playoffs last season.
CATHY WURZER: It'll be interesting to see how they do with this new-- this new coach. I have completely-- Wally Langfellow-- lost track of the Twins. I have no idea what they're doing. How are they?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, March-- March Madness tends to do that--
CATHY WURZER: Yeah, you're right.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: --between the college basketball, and college hockey, and everything else. But the Twins-- actually, it was just earlier in the week. If you were not paying attention, the Twins got some bad news with-- the newly acquired starting pitcher Anthony Desclafani revealed an injury that may keep him out for the year. He was going to be part of that starting rotation. So they figured, well, Louie Varland will probably get the opportunity. The young man from Saint Paul will get an opportunity to fill that spot.
Well, Louie pitched yesterday and got bombed. And I know it's only preseason, but it was not a good outing for him. Desclafani potentially out for the year. Johan Duran, the Twins well-known closer who has been really good, has-- it looks like he's going to be out for a while. He's on the 15-day injured list. That could go longer. So he will not be ready for opening day.
And Caleb Thielbar has not pitched much at all in the preseason as well. So they've got some injury issues in the pitching staff. And that's kind of the Achilles heel of this team, I think. Because I think if these-- if their regular guys-- if, you know, Alex-- I mean, if Correa-- Carlos Correa stays healthy, and Byron Buxton stays healthy, and Royce Lewis stays healthy, they've got a potent lineup. They should be able to score some runs. Those are all big ifs, by the way.
CATHY WURZER: Right.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: But the pitching staff, minus these guys, is going to be-- it's going to be a challenge, for sure. But they open up at home-- or open up in Kansas City in one week. One week from today, they open up the season, believe it or not-- one week from today.
CATHY WURZER: Given the forecast, it's going to be, actually, pretty warm in KC, I think. We'll see what happens April 4 here at Target Field. All right, before we go, by the way, are you guys pretty confident about your brackets?
ERIC NELSON: Well, I am right now because no games have gone final yet, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: I know that. I know that.
ERIC NELSON: I'm just hoping I survive through this snowpocalypse. That would be through the weekend. In other words, I want my brackets to be good. And then, I hope I can dig out. But you never know in March Madness. There's always a shock, or two, or three.
CATHY WURZER: That is true. That is true. Well, you all should hunker down there on Sunday and watch TV. Because that's what's-- that's what the forecast calls for. Thanks, you guys.
ERIC NELSON: Thanks, Cathy.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: All right, Cathy, enjoy your weekend.
CATHY WURZER: Talk to you later. Thanks, you two. Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson, our sports guys-- together, they host the sports talk show 10,000 Takes. It's fun. Check it out.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah, they are. Did you get your March Madness bracket locked in? The first men's game started a little over an hour ago, Mississippi State versus Michigan State. The women's tournament starts tomorrow morning. University of Minnesota Gophers-- oh, Gophs didn't make it this year. But there's plenty of Minnesota basketball and other sports news to talk about.
Joining us to do just that, Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Wally is the founder of Minnesota Score Magazine and the co-host of the popular 10,000 Takes sports talk show. Eric is the other host of that show and the Vikings reporter for CBS Sports. Wow, you guys, how are you doing?
ERIC NELSON: Happy, happy March Madness.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, I'm hooping it up.
CATHY WURZER: You always hoop it up.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yes, I do.
CATHY WURZER: I'm kind of surprised you're not at the Boys State high school basketball tournament. I mean, gosh, you've been-- you were at the hockey tournament, the girls tournament, not the boys. What's going on?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, no, I did four games on the radio yesterday. So I was on from 10:00 AM till 6:00 PM yesterday.
CATHY WURZER: Sorry.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: That was the class 4A quarterfinals. The class 3A semifinals start at about-- well, in about 10 minutes or so. Not doing those, but I am back on tonight. And there's two good semifinal matchups tonight in class 4A. Number 1 seed-- number 1 team in the state, and the defending state champions, from Wayzata will play in the first game. They play Cretin. That's at 6 o'clock over at Williams Arena.
And then, the second game will feature Eagan, who knocked off Park Center. Now, let's not forget, Park Center has been in the state championship game the last three years. They were the number 2 seed. But Eagan upset them yesterday at Target Center. So Eagan is in against a very good Minnetonka team. Minnetonka is the number 3 seed. And that'll be the 8:00 PM game tonight at Williams Arena.
So plenty of high school basketball, the afternoon games in class 3A. The interesting match-up, I think, is going to be this one at 1 o'clock. Totino-Grace is taking on DeLaSalle. Those two teams tend to meet in the championship. But this year, they are meeting in the semifinals. And Totino is the prohibitive favorite, but you never know when it comes to high school basketball.
You want me to just go right into college and NBA? Is that-- that what you're hoping for here?
CATHY WURZER: I mean, I feel bad about Eric. Eric is just kind of sitting in the corner. I mean, do you want to say anything about this, Eric?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: That's fine.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, it's fine.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: No, that's fine. That's where he belongs. If all else--
ERIC NELSON: Yeah, Wally wants to put a muzzle on me.
CATHY WURZER: I'm sorry.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Oh, lord.
CATHY WURZER: All right, let's quickly do college. But I really want to know about this T-wolves news. But just let's brush on the college here.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: OK, one, Gopher men and women are playing, by the way. They're not in the NCAA tournament. They're both in the NIT tournament, the women's NIT for the ladies. And then, the men's NIT, the Gophers won the other night, their first game. So they'll play on Sunday against Indiana State-- Larry bird's old school, by the way. That's the second round of that.
But as for the big tournament, you are correct, it's underway. Michigan State currently beating Mississippi State by 14 points about midway through the second half. So it looks like Tom Izzo's squad will move on. But yes, we have all filled out brackets. And we are waiting to see how it all turns out.
As for the Timberwolves, the big story, Cathy, really, is the stuff that's going on off the court.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Lowry, their initial minority stakeholder is out. So now they're trying to find a second one. The Star Tribune says that Blue Owl HomeCourt is the new minority stakeholder. And they're trying to get this deal sewn up by the end of the month. They still think that it's going to happen. The acquisition from Glen Taylor would give them 80%. And then, Glen Taylor would drop down to below 20%, I assume, since this other stakeholder is coming in. So we shall see how that all turns out.
And then, the other news is this guy that's been fired by the Wolves after he stole secrets.
CATHY WURZER: What?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: I mean, I guess it doesn't just happen in politics. It happens in basketball. Apparently, this guy's name is Somak Sarkar. He was a disgruntled Timberwolves employee fired by the Wolves after he's charged with felony third degree burglary for allegedly stealing thousands of internal files, including strategic NBA information-- in other words, analytics. He took somebody's-- he took somebody's laptop, apparently.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, my gosh.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: So Sarkar, previously, was a coaching analyst for the Timberwolves.
CATHY WURZER: Wow. OK, this--
WALLY LANGFELLOW: I'm done. Eric can talk now. But that is serious.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah, no, for sure, absolutely. Wow, that's a lot of news there, Mr. Langfellow. OK, let's talk Wild here, Eric Nelson. Take it away.
ERIC NELSON: Yeah, I'm glad Wally's filibuster is over, at least temporarily. But yeah, hey, sorry, Randy Newman, but the Wild don't love LA. The Kings ambushed the Wild last night in downtown Los Angeles 6-0. Marc-Andre Fleury was yanked in the second period, replaced by Filip Gustavsson when LA went up 5-0. To pour salt in the wound, ex-Minnesota star Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist for Los Angeles.
Minnesota is now 3 points out of the final wild card spot behind Vegas. The key thing here though, Cathy, is Vegas has played two less games than Minnesota. The Wild are at 70 and Vegas at 68. It was also a milepost night for Kings star Ange Kopitar. He became the 52nd player in NHL history to score 1,200 points when he got an assist on Fiala's power play goal in the first period. Kopitar also had a power play goal late in the second. And he passed up-- you may remember this name-- Dino Ciccarelli, of Minnesota North Stars fame, for 51st on the career scoring list.
So the Wild are already back in Minnesota. They will begin a six-game homestand against Saint Louis Saturday at the X. That's a 1:00 PM puck drop. So they'll try to get better against the Blues. And that's a team that's right there in the chase with Minnesota, the Saint Louis Blues.
CATHY WURZER: Hey, while we have you on the line here, Eric, what about Minnesota United?
ERIC NELSON: Yeah, boy, they are off to a fantastic start. Min U has 3 wins and 1 draw for a total of 10 points. That's tied for the most in Major League Soccer with Inter Miami, who has some global star named Lionel Messi on the roster--
CATHY WURZER: Oh.
ERIC NELSON: --and the Columbus Crew, the reigning MLS Cup champs. So that's some pretty cool company, right now, that Minnesota United is with. Next up is a match at Philadelphia on Saturday, March 30.
Eric Ramsey, the young head coach, was on the sideline for the-- for his first match with the Loons last week against LAFC. They won that one 2-0 on a very chilly night in Saint Paul. Remember, Ramsey came over from Man U, or Manchester United, to Min U, or Minnesota United. And Man U is in the European Premier League. They're one of the top franchises in all of soccer.
And by the way, goalkeeper Dane Saint Clair has given up just four goals in four games for Minnesota United. So a fast start for the Loons, who missed the playoffs last season.
CATHY WURZER: It'll be interesting to see how they do with this new-- this new coach. I have completely-- Wally Langfellow-- lost track of the Twins. I have no idea what they're doing. How are they?
WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, March-- March Madness tends to do that--
CATHY WURZER: Yeah, you're right.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: --between the college basketball, and college hockey, and everything else. But the Twins-- actually, it was just earlier in the week. If you were not paying attention, the Twins got some bad news with-- the newly acquired starting pitcher Anthony Desclafani revealed an injury that may keep him out for the year. He was going to be part of that starting rotation. So they figured, well, Louie Varland will probably get the opportunity. The young man from Saint Paul will get an opportunity to fill that spot.
Well, Louie pitched yesterday and got bombed. And I know it's only preseason, but it was not a good outing for him. Desclafani potentially out for the year. Johan Duran, the Twins well-known closer who has been really good, has-- it looks like he's going to be out for a while. He's on the 15-day injured list. That could go longer. So he will not be ready for opening day.
And Caleb Thielbar has not pitched much at all in the preseason as well. So they've got some injury issues in the pitching staff. And that's kind of the Achilles heel of this team, I think. Because I think if these-- if their regular guys-- if, you know, Alex-- I mean, if Correa-- Carlos Correa stays healthy, and Byron Buxton stays healthy, and Royce Lewis stays healthy, they've got a potent lineup. They should be able to score some runs. Those are all big ifs, by the way.
CATHY WURZER: Right.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: But the pitching staff, minus these guys, is going to be-- it's going to be a challenge, for sure. But they open up at home-- or open up in Kansas City in one week. One week from today, they open up the season, believe it or not-- one week from today.
CATHY WURZER: Given the forecast, it's going to be, actually, pretty warm in KC, I think. We'll see what happens April 4 here at Target Field. All right, before we go, by the way, are you guys pretty confident about your brackets?
ERIC NELSON: Well, I am right now because no games have gone final yet, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: I know that. I know that.
ERIC NELSON: I'm just hoping I survive through this snowpocalypse. That would be through the weekend. In other words, I want my brackets to be good. And then, I hope I can dig out. But you never know in March Madness. There's always a shock, or two, or three.
CATHY WURZER: That is true. That is true. Well, you all should hunker down there on Sunday and watch TV. Because that's what's-- that's what the forecast calls for. Thanks, you guys.
ERIC NELSON: Thanks, Cathy.
WALLY LANGFELLOW: All right, Cathy, enjoy your weekend.
CATHY WURZER: Talk to you later. Thanks, you two. Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson, our sports guys-- together, they host the sports talk show 10,000 Takes. It's fun. Check it out.
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