Pretend you're Minnesota men's basketball coach Dan Monson. Almost three years after perhaps the worst case of academic fraud in NCAA history, how do you, the person forced to play maid to Clem Haskins'...

Pick a story, any story. The Jean Freeman expose on athletes' eating disorders is far too expansive for her liking. Freeman, the Gophers women's swimming and diving coach, has seen on average about one...

Pity those few remaining Gopher football fans who stuck around with two minutes left in Saturday night's 31-28 loss to Ohio State. They probably thought the Gophers could stop the Buckeyes, then get the...

Send a U-Haul to Mariucci Arena. Minnesota women's hockey coach Laura Halldorson is packing up her championships and moving - next door. From the moment she arrived on campus in 1996, Halldorson knew Mariucci...

How bad does Jason Groth want to be sitting in a pressbox, media luncheon and post-game news conference? Bad enough to launch his own Gopher sports Web site - located at Gopherhole.com - five years ago. Bad...

There might be some consequences to perhaps the most inconsequential aspect of the worst tragedy on American soil: What happens to University athletics this week? As of Tuesday afternoon, all upcoming...

Down by one, 11.1 seconds left, facing Georgia. Gophers forward John-Blair Bickerstaff has done it before. He beat the Bulldogs a year ago under the same situation, draining the game-winning shot with...

For the first time, the games really count. This season's games, that is. The big story in Gophers basketball camp has been about a team happy to have Rick Rickert here. Coach Dan Monson has stressed that...

Cheryl Littlejohn knows what's at stake this season. Beginning the fourth year of a five-year contract as the Minnesota women's basketball coach, she doesn't need anyone telling her this season could be...

This isn't baseball, it's basketball. So after two strikes, Mitch Ohnstad is out. Gophers coach Dan Monson kicked the Fairbault native and Gophers guard off the basketball team Friday, in part because...

The time to act is now. Actually, it should be less of an act and more of an action. Or two. The "action" being wins, and "two" being the number of wins the Gophers softball team needs to at least partly...

What a finale. Dana Ballard and Michelle Bennett finished their home softball careers Sunday with an impressive 9-2 win over Purdue. Their final weekend included four games crucial to Minnesota's chances...

Unaware that four-plus hours and 16 innings of nerve-racking softball would follow, the 617 fans who paid to watch Saturday's marathon between Minnesota and Iowa actually got even more for their dollar. It...

Deep down, somewhere between Saturday's exhaustion and desperation, was the faint knowledge of what the standings sheet read in the mind of the Gophers softball team. This weekend's four games against...

This last weekend in April is the last homestand for the Gophers softball team. You might happen to be wondering -- and there's no doubt you were -- exactly how often has Minnesota played in its new stadium? Good...

The premise behind bringing Concordia College of St. Paul to Minneapolis for a date with the Gophers softball team on Wednesday could be seen as a chance to get two local schools - one from division I...

Whether it's good or bad, nobody quite knows, but Title IX was stirring in the Sports Pavilion on Tuesday. So too, were Women's Athletics Director Chris Voelz and Wendy Davis. Davis, 42, was officially...

With the halo of not having a Big Ten win for the first two-thirds of the season encircling them, the Gophers softball team sought some comfort out east. Comfort, of course, meaning wins. They found a...

Scholarships and money are being plucked away from Dan Monson by the University, but give him some credit. While the University and the basketball program is fed up with the NCAA's dogged defiance and...

Finally, if only for one game, the Gophers softball team broke through its own wall. Despite the giddiness and excitement generated from playing in a new stadium -- a stadium which ushers in a new era...

If you were a regular passenger trying to get off Flight 745 from Detroit on Sunday at around 8:45 p.m., then good luck -- you might still be trying to get off. Not only was the plane an hour late landing...

Here's nothing new: The Gophers softball team is on the road. After all, they had been back in town a mere 36 hours, just enough time to leave Tuesday afternoon for doubleheaders against Drake today and...

For months now, the memories have stuck in their minds. The Gophers softball team has the hardware to prove it all happened in real, live color in the form of an award. But the accomplishment itself is...

It didn't show by way of a four-game slide to open the conference season at their new park, but the Big Ten's new softball scheduling setup may benefit the Gophers. In the days of old, Big Ten teams would...

The Minnesota softball team is making people nauseous. Two weeks ago, the Gophers ran through Florida, winning the South Florida tournament in convincing fashion. Last week, they spent spring break in...

At an entrance to the Metrodome near the corner of 11th Avenue and Fifth Street is a ramp. It leads to a revolving door, which in turn, leads to a 500-foot tunnel that is the gateway between the cold outside...

The Minnesota softball team's nonconference season ends in Ohio next weekend. But a spring break spent in part in Akron and Youngstown doesn't demand a suit and suntan lotion -- the Gophers got some of...

Monday was the long-awaited "Dish-out-the-Big Ten-hardware-day," and the scrupulous counting and recounting of media and coaches votes yielded some unsurprising results. Coaches picks Player of the Year:...

While the Minnesota men's basketball team held up "Thank you, fans" signs and sang the Minnesota Rouser, Ohio State conducted a small, subdued celebration on the floor of Williams Arena following Saturday's...

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Even just one visit was more than enough. Last season the Minnesota men's basketball team played Michigan State twice, losing 71-55 at the Breslin Center in early January. The Gophers...

It's a simple case of having things go from bad to worse. Four losses in a row, two new starters forced into action, an out-of-sync offense, not much inside presence and a totally new continuity. All within...

IOWA CITY -- Oftentimes the difference between two teams that can't make shots is how they find alternatives to put the ball in the bucket. Players are groomed early on in life that if the jump shot isn't...

Next time, Dan Monson might want to pause before balking at setting up a nonconference game. Without giving up one of those now patented 15 to 20-point runs early in the game, Monson and his undermanned...

If recruiting had fallen into place differently in the past couple of years, Minnesota's starting lineup could be Darius Lane, Troy Bell, Khalid El-Amin, Dusty Rychart and Joel Przybilla. That's a far-fetched...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. --Some two weeks removed from the start of a devastating chain of events, the Minnesota men's basketball team has had enough of it. No more questions, no more talk, no more excuses. Therein...

While there's no official word, Minnesota men's basketball player Joel Przybilla is leaning toward entering the NBA draft and forgoing his final two years at the University. Przybilla was suspended by...

It was the end of January this year and Terrance Simmons was not looking forward to the Super Bowl. He was preoccupied with another issue: a fight within himself. The Minnesota junior point guard felt...

In his six months as Minnesota men's basketball coach, Dan Monson still has debris of the Clem Haskins hurricane to plow through. First the Gophers lost 45 percent of last season's scoring output. Then...

The Minnesota softball team is, in a word: youth. It is inevitable and practically cyclical in nearly every collegiate sport. And with youth comes greater ups and downs over the course of a season. A very...

Thanks to John-Blair Bickerstaff's season-ending knee injury, the day after was a little more somber than the night before. Monson told his players of Bickerstaff's fate after Wednesday night's 77-75 upset...

The signs pointed to an upset. But for Minnesota forward John-Blair Bickerstaff, there was no warning. In both a memorable and forgettable night, 14,227 packed Williams Arena, hoping the Gophers could...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- For one half of basketball, an event that occurred during a timeout of Wednesday's Minnesota-Illinois basketball game at Assembly Hall provided the best illustration -- everything went...

Before his fall from grace at Minnesota, there were a few traits of Clem Haskins' teams that were part of his on-court legacy. Among the notables were tough defense, Hosea Crittenden and Haskins ripping...

Northwestern is the free buffet line for the rest of the Big Ten. After what seemed like an eternity of eligibility, Wildcats coach Kevin O'Neill lost Evan Eschmeyer to graduation. The departed center,...

Joel Przybilla smiled while being introduced as the Milwaukee Bucks' starting center Monday night at the Target Center. A cascade of boos and taunts showered Milwaukee's big man. The taunting continued...

As a heavily-recruited senior out of De La Salle High School in Minneapolis, Ben Johnson was a wanted man last year. The potential school list went eight-deep: Michigan State, Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern,...

Rarely do freshmen dominate in college basketball. For every Fab Five, Khalid-El Amin and Lew Alcindor, thousands of first-year players are restricted to learning the ropes of playing against a much higher...

MADISON, Wisc. -- Mike Kelley isn't a big man. The Wisconsin junior is 6-foot-3, 185 pounds. He's not going to win any scoring titles. Entering Saturday night's game against Minnesota, his career high...

The statistics are hardly coincidental in the wake of Wednesday night's basketball game against Purdue. Purdue free throws: 21-for-29 (72 percent). Minnesota free throws: 7-for-22 (32 percent). Final score:...

Perhaps no team was more anxious to rid itself of the previous millennium than the Minnesota women's basketball squad. But so far, no team might be more willing to burn the new millennium. The Gophers...

There are now long-missing signs that the Minnesota women's basketball season has hope. Two weeks ago the notion might have been looked upon as far-fetched, if not absurd. "The last two weeks we've been...

If this continues, "bizarre" might not be strong enough terminology to summarize the Gophers women's basketball team and its nonconference season. After finishing two of the worst weeks in the Cheryl Littlejohn...

Eventually, Cheryl Littlejohn couldn't hold back a tear or two. Last week, the Minnesota women's basketball coach lost starting point guard Antoinetta Blevins for the rest of the season. In the first half...

It was only two weeks ago that Cheryl Littlejohn raved about her team's scoring potential following a consolation win over Georgetown in the Regal Classic. Two weeks later, the bottom appears to have dropped...

Cheryl Littlejohn was mad. So were the players. Tuesday's chat with the media was not so much of a chat as it was a venting of frustrations. Littlejohn's women's basketball team is 2-2 heading into this...

The all-too familiar sound of clanging rims and stagnant scoreboards filled California gymnasiums during Thanksgiving weekend. Perhaps the lure of the surf, sand and smog threw off the Minnesota women's...

Dusty Rychart has now played two games since grabbing Clem Haskins' last scholarship before his departure. And coach Dan Monson and the Gophers men's basketball team are reaping the benefits. Rychart was...

You heard it here first, and not from any of the other papers' gossip mongers: this year's freshman class on the women's basketball team are going to be good. And Natea Motley has played all of nine minutes. Motley...

Sunday's Minnesota women's basketball game looked like dÇjÖvu from Saturday -- and the past several years. The Gophers scratched and clawed in the opening-round game against Ball State on Saturday just...

LINCOLN, Neb., -- In the past three years, the Minnesota soccer team played Nebraska twice, losing 3-1 in 1997 and 3-2 in quadruple overtime on a miserable day in November '96. The Gophers' play against...

Every reward has a risk. Minnesota hosted a first-round NCAA game Wednesday night against Eastern Michigan and won 2-0. The downside? The Gophers (13-8) play fourth-ranked Nebraska in Lincoln on Sunday. If...

Minnesota didn't know much about Eastern Michigan heading into Wednesday night's first-round NCAA game, but there was one aspect of the game which didn't need a scouting report. If you keep shooting and...

Exhibit A of what Minnesota knows about Eastern Michigan. After Tuesday's practice, some members of the Minnesota soccer team met with reporters. Nicole Lee and Juli Montgomery sat together on a bottom...

Freshman Keely Dinse hasn't seen much playing time this season -- it's hard when you're playing most of the season behind senior all-Big Ten forward Nicole Lee. Almost every time Lee came out of games...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. --Minnesota senior forward Megan Johnson staggered into the postgame interview room with a giant ice pack strapped to her leg. No tears were shed during Saturday's interviews. Instead...

At the end of regulation play during Friday night's Minnesota men's hockey game, players on both teams gathered around their respective benches. From an overhead view, it looked like two different worlds....

The Minnesota nickel and dime defenses, the three- and four-man defensive lines, the lack of pass rush and the 33-28 loss to No. 18 Purdue are all branches from one trunk: The Gophers couldn't stop the...

After what the Minnesota soccer team did to Kentucky in last year's NCAA tournament game, they knew all week what to expect. The Big Ten/SEC challenge isn't exactly the NCAA tournament, but the 14th-ranked...

Eighteen soccer games are scheduled, practiced for, and trudged through each season. Every year it's with the idea of getting into the postseason, where a tired and physically ailing team gets to play...

There won't be 65,000 fans or Paul Bunyan's Ax in attendance, but the Minnesota soccer team is looking to do some chopping. The Wisconsin-Minnesota rivalry will be alive and kicking at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie...

It used to be that coach Sue Montagne had Dana Larson as the mainstay in goal for the Minnesota soccer team. But that was the way things were. Two weeks ago, sophomore Julie Eibensteiner replaced Larson...

The Minnesota soccer team had the history and momentum to beat No. 14 Michigan and sweep two consecutive weekends for the first time this season. In 42 seconds Friday night, it was all gone. Defensive...

They've been on the seesaw all season: up, down, up, down. And they're getting sick of it. In 1999 the Minnesota soccer team has not won three games in a row. The Gophers lost consecutive games at Iowa...

Suddenly, the dike is close to breaking open and the Minnesota soccer team is about to jump in and go for a ride. What was a miserable weekend two weeks ago against Ohio State and Penn State has transformed...

Sue Montagne had seen enough. After a 4-0 shellacking by Penn State last weekend, the Minnesota soccer coach decided to flip-flop her goalkeepers, replacing senior Dana Larson with sophomore Julie Eibensteiner. Larson...

Laurie Seidl and Nicole Lee don't talk much, at least not to the media. Maybe the two would rather let their play on the field do the talking. If that's the case, they wouldn't have much to say this season. Until...

What's the best way to overcome a sweep by two quality teams in Ohio State and fifth-ranked Penn State? Apparently the Minnesota soccer team knows: make sure you host Indiana and Purdue the following weekend. A...

A slew of Minnesota soccer players walked toward the practice field on Tuesday. More than half of them strolled with their heads down with funereal facial expressions. After practice, the players were...

Since the soccer careers of Jaime O'Gara and Noelle Papenhausen began at Minnesota, the two have eerily echoed one another. They started playing together in 1995 with a win at the Big Ten soccer championship. Both...

Twenty-four Minnesota soccer players and a coaching staff prepared week after week to play 10 games against Big Ten foes, all vying for one of eight positions at the single-elimination Big Ten tournament...

The Minnesota soccer team has been forced to climb a mythological offensive ladder this season. They started out on the ground, barely beating Arizona State before losing to Iowa State and Southern Methodist...

Donna Olson couldn't say a dozen words before she started getting choked up. "I knew I was going to do this," she said while fighting back the tears. There is no denying her contributions to women's athletics...

The recurring theme this season for the Gophers soccer team is that every Big Ten game is important. Players and coaches alike were stressing that theme following sub-par performances against Iowa State...

The infusion of offensive talent and the three-forward, straight-at-you style of play has given opposing soccer coaches fits in the 90s. Minnesota -- a user of the three-forward attack -- set a school...

Minnesota soccer team member Liz Wagner was fidgeting, slightly contorting her body around and covering her face. She was antsy, searching and thinking for answers to questions that cannot be explained...

Gophers soccer coach Sue Montagne was walking along a practice field on Tuesday, chatting with a visitor. "Tough weekend," the visitor said. "Yeah, no kidding," quipped Montagne. "And we had better not...

Friday night's soccer game between Iowa State and No. 22 Minnesota in Ames, Iowa doesn't give the impression of being an Ali-Frazier title bout. It sounds more like the infamous McNeely-Tyson 89-second...

Arizona State soccer coach Terri Patraw was quick to acknowledge that the first half of Saturday night's 1-0 loss against Minnesota was the worst half of soccer her team has ever played. Patraw went on...

Midway through the second half of Saturday night's soccer game between Minnesota and Arizona State, a young boy sitting in the cramped temporary bleachers turned his back to the field. After several minutes...

The official dedication of Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium was supposed to have taken place on Saturday night before the Minnesota soccer team played Arizona State. But construction and weather forced a...

Despite being the 11th of 12 seeds, some members of Minnesota's ultimate Frisbee club team felt they had a shot to steal a couple of games in national competition last weekend in Boulder, Colo. This optimism...

A regular game of ultimate Frisbee consists of seven players on the field for each team at once. A regular game for the Minnesota women's club team has been lucky to have seven players on the team at one...

The end of another Minnesota softball season means farewell to the seniors. But for this year's class -- and the team it leaves behind -- the farewells will be especially tough to swallow. Five players...

LOS ANGELES -- At the NCAA regional softball tournament Saturday, No. 23 Missouri didn't play like a team deserving of such a lofty ranking. But the Tigers played well enough to make the Gophers look out...

LOS ANGELES -- When a team advances to a regional championship tournament, three factors in its success stand out: strong pitching, a minimum of defensive mistakes and clutch hitting. For most of the NCAA...

LOS ANGELES -- After taking a look at Thursday's first-round game against Creighton, no one will give the Minnesota softball team points for style. But the Gophers used just enough substance to beat the...

As the Minnesota softball team filtered out of the Bierman athletic building for its flight to Los Angeles, sophomore Michelle Bennett and freshman Jordanne Nygren were asked to tell everything they know...

Two of the keys for the Minnesota softball team heading into last weekend's Big Ten tournament was to get the top two hitters in the lineup on base and get some production from the bottom half of the lineup. Like...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Although the Minnesota softball team wasn't necessarily planning on or hoping to face Michigan twice in three games for the conference championship, such a fate was cast upon the Gophers...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- It is a widespread belief in softball -- especially in the postseason -- that good pitching tends to beat good hitting. Consequently, part of the beauty of postseason play is that every...