After one week of mostly silence, Minnesota's spring recruiting in men's basketball has started to heat up.

Illinois State transfer Zach Lofton was the second of two recruits to commit to the Gophers on Wednesday. He tweeted: "I WILL BE SIGNING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA TO CONTINUE MY COLLEGE CAREER TMRW ! #GOGOPHERS #NATION"

Lofton fills out the Gophers' 2014 class with six recruits. He is a 6-4 guard who averaged 11.3 points last season for the Redbirds. Lofton led Columbia Heights to the Class 3A state championship game as a high school senior in 2011.

Earlier in the day, Minnesota received a commitment from 6-11 center Bakary Konate, a Mali native playing at Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas. Power forward Gaston Diedhiou (Canary Islands, Spain) also committed to Minnesota, on April 11 but has yet to sign. The trio have until May 21 to sign their National Letters of Intent. The signing period began April 16.

Minnesota signed power forward Josh Martin and guards Carlos Morris and Nate Mason last fall.

AMELIA RAYNO

Lynx in May tourney

The Minnesota Lynx will play in the first-ever preseason WNBA tournament in Orlando.

The tournament, which also includes the Chicago Sky, Indiana Fever and Phoenix Mercury, will be held May 9-11 at the HP Fieldhouse at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World. It is being held in conjunction with an AAU girls' basketball tournament expected to draw 1,500 players.

Indiana will play Chicago at 5 p.m. on May 9, with the Lynx and Mercury playing at 7:30. The winners and losers will play each other May 11. The four teams also will conduct clinics, practices and autograph sessions for the AAU competitors.

Kent Youngblood

River Falls penalized

The NCAA placed Wisconsin-River Falls on probation for one year on Wednesday. Its Division III infractions committee said the school improperly used athletic ability as a criteria for financial aid for five former or current athletes from 2007-08 to 2011-12.

UW-River Falls also improperly allowed its head football coach to be involved in arranging financial aid packages for about four years, the NCAA said.

The school self-reported the violations.

Etc.

• The Gophers' Jose Mendez, a freshman from Costa Rico, was named the Big Ten men's co-golfer of the week after winning the Rutherford Intercollegiate at Penn State. His 6-under 207 helped the Gophers win their second spring tournament.

• Aaron Kemp, 38, the senior associate athletic director at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa., was named the women's WCHA commissioner. He accepted a four-year deal and plans to have his office in the Twin Cities.

• Gov. Mark Dayton proclaimed Friday as "Finisher Shirt Friday" at the request if Twin Cities in Motion, organizers of the Twin Cities Marathon and other area running events. The proclamation also mentions the Boston Marathon and its role in helping mend the running community after the bombing there a year ago.

• StadiumJourney.com and Stadium Journey Magazine have ranked The Hive, the nickname of the Xcel Energy Center when the Minnesota Swarm plays there, as the best arena experience in the National Lacrosse League for the second year in a row.

• Sophomore middle infielder Connor Schaefbauer of the Gophers signed with the Rochester Honkers of the Northwoods League, a summer developmental league.

• Cory Laylin, the head coach of the Brookings (S.D.) Blizzard of the NAHL, will become the coach at Hamline University. The St. Cloud State native played for the Gophers from 1988-1992.