Target Center comes alive again with Big Ten Men’s tournament

CATHY WURZER: It's deja vu at the Target Center this week. The NCAA Big Ten tournament is in town. Only this time, it's the men's basketball teams competing for 14 colleges in the eastern and midwestern US. Joining us from the tournament is Wally Langfellow, the founder of Minnesota Score Magazine, the co-host of the 10,000 Takes sports talk show.

Eric Nelson is the other host of that show and the Vikings reporter for CBS sports who covers the vikings, of course. He's on the line to talk about the latest in Minnesota sports. I'm thinking that, Wally, it's probably really hard to hear in the Target Center. You're there with Michigan State and the Gophers. Is that right?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: It is, and yes, I'm having a hard time hearing you, but I got that message. Gophers right now down by eight. 67-59 with 3:42 in the game. They actually led at the half, 34-32, but the second half has really belonged to Michigan State.

Minnesota's own Tre Holloman has been instrumental in Michigan State's comeback here in the second half, Holloman with a couple of key baskets to help lead this Michigan State comeback. Minnesota is led by Dawson Garcia. He's been their leading scorer this year. He's second team All Big Ten, 19 points for him. Pharrel Payne with 11.

But here's the story right now for Minnesota, Cathy. Foul trouble. Dawson Garcia has four fouls. Pharrel Payne, their second leading scorer, has three fouls. And Parker Fox also with four fouls, and he has nine points. He's the third leading scorer. So right now, Minnesota battling that along with battling Michigan State.

They need to win in order to advance. And if they win, they have the prize of playing Purdue, the number one team in the Big Ten conference, and one of the top teams in the country. That would be tomorrow here as well at Target Center. Several other games today at Target Center.

Maryland and Wisconsin follows this, Ohio State and Iowa tonight, and Penn State, Indiana tonight. So a full load of college basketball here in downtown Minneapolis. Great atmosphere at Target Center. Right now, though, 3:37 to go in the game, and the Gophers trailing by eight, 67-59.

CATHY WURZER: OK. I'm going to come back to you, Wally, and talk about girls basketball. But we're going to go to Eric Nelson right now and talk about the NFL having its own version of March Madness. It's called free agency frenzy. Is that right, Eric?

ERIC NELSON: Basically, that's it. I mean, the NFL is eclipsing all the other sports even in March. And by the way, happy NFL New Year, Cathy. That was yesterday as the League's official business begins. And boy, the Minnesota Vikings have been in the middle of some major moves this week. Let's start with who's staying.

The news broke today that six time Pro Bowl safety Harrison Smith, Harry the hitman, is going to come back for a 13th season with the Purple. Smith restructured his contract and will play for $9 million in 2024 instead of the $14.45 million he was going to get. Now, who's coming to Minnesota?

Running back Aaron Jones, a former Green Bay Packer, defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard, outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard from the Houston Texans, outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel from Miami, linebacker Blake Cashman who's from Eden Prairie, played for the U of M, and most recently was with the Houston Texans, quarterback Sam Darnold-- he was with the 49ers, and kicker John Parker Romo.

Who's going? Well, I think most of us on planet earth know that Kirk Cousins is now an Atlanta Falcon. The quarterback is gone. Defensive end Danielle Hunter, he has gone to Houston. Jordan Hicks, a linebacker, is going to play for Cleveland.

And offensive lineman Hakeem Adeniji is going to Cleveland as well. Defensive end Marcus Davenport will go to the Detroit Lions. And we do know this. Wide receiver Justin Jefferson remains unsigned. His future is foggy with the Vikings. Will he stay, or will he be pedaled away? Who knows?

CATHY WURZER: Say, I want to ask you about quarterback Sam Darnold for just a moment if I could. What kind of a move was that for the vikings? Was that a smart move? Is he just kind of a placeholder? Will they find somebody else?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, placeholder is the correct way to phrase it. He backed up Brock Purdy last season in San Francisco. Now, when Darnold came out into the draft a few years ago from USC, he was drafted in round one, third pick overall, so he had a high ceiling.

But he has not delivered at the NFL level, hasn't had success with the New York Jets, basically is a backup now. I fully expect the Minnesota vikings to add one or two more quarterbacks onto the roster. They may draft somebody.

And don't forget Justin Jefferson said yesterday, he would like to see Justin Fields who is currently with Chicago come to Minnesota. And the Bears are trying to figure out what to do with Fields because they have the number one overall pick in the draft in April. So stay tuned, as they say on Batman.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Hey, Wally Longfellow, I know you're back at the Target Center with the Big Ten tournament. I want a score on that Gopher game, and then also tell us about the girls high school basketball tournament.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, it's gotten worse before it got better, Cathy. Gophers now trailed by 10, 71-61 with 2:28 to go. Because the Big Ten tournament is here, the girls state basketball tournament has moved over to Williams Arena and to The Pavilion on the campus of the University of Minnesota.

Yesterday in Class 4A, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Maple Grove, and Saint Michael-Albertville all advanced. That's in Class 4A. And those are the top four seeds, so no big surprise there. Really, the only close game was Maple Grove. They're the four seed. They beat Lakeville North 56-55. The rest of them were wipe outs.

And that's kind of the way it has been the last several years now in high school basketball in that first round of play. There's just so many mismatches as a result of regional representation as opposed to the top eight teams being at the state. You get regional representation, and this is what you get, a lot of mismatches in the first round.

Except for that four or five game in which case-- and yesterday, it was a great one. Lakeville North and Maple Grove, just a one point game. Tonight, Hopkins will play Maple Grove. The winner advances to the championship in Minnetonka, plays Saint Michael-Albertville. The winner of that also advances to the state championship game in girls basketball, and the championship will be on Saturday also at Williams Arena.

CATHY WURZER: OK. So it sounds as if the Gophers might not make it. Is that right?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah. Well, they just hit a three, so it's 71-64 Michigan State with just over two minutes to go. They're going to need some help here down the stretch.

They've got to make free throws, and they're going to have to play some defense that has kind of gone away for them here in the second half. But yeah. If they lose, their season is effectively over. They'll probably get an NIT bid. They will not go to the NCAA tournament. That much we do know.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Wally, thank you. By the way, before we go, Eric, what about the Wild? Anything there?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. They play tonight at The X in St. Paul. They host Anaheim. The Ducks are a bottom feeder with only 49 points this season. Minnesota has 71. Second time these teams have met this season, though Anaheim did win the previous meeting 3 to 2. Both teams play again on Tuesday night in Orange County.

It's a key game for Minnesota because the Wild still has a playoff pulse. Minnesota and St. Louis both trail Vegas by six points for the final playoff spot in the west. But the Wild and the Blues have played one more game than the Golden Knights. St. Louis and Minnesota have 16 games left. So Minnesota needs to get two points tonight to kind of keep the mojo going.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Eric, thank you. Talk to you later.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. Thanks, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Eric Nelson, Wally Langfellow, our sports guys.