The Gophers men's basketball team's weekend trip to Evanston, Ill., to face Northwestern could end up having a huge bearing on its NCAA tournament prospects. But that wasn't the only huge game in the Chicago suburb this weekend.
The Gophers women's squad beat Northwestern 82-64 on Saturday. It was Pam Borton's 300th career win and Minnesota's fourth consecutive victory. Three of those wins have come on the road, and the team's league record is now even at 6-6.
The Gophers were considered one of the "first four teams out" of the NCAA field by ESPN.com before the week started, but now a bid is theirs for the taking. Realtimerpi.com projects they will win three of their final four regular-season games, which would almost certainly be good enough for their first tourney berth since 2009.
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Mark Teixeira, who was limited to 15 games last season with a wrist injury, said over the weekend, "We're back to being the Yankees again."
He meant it in the context that the team has its swagger and health back after winning just 85 games and missing the postseason, but you could also read it as New York is back to trying to buy championships.
After promising financial restraint, the Yankees went out and signed Jacoby Ellsbury, Masahiro Tanaka, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran to deals worth a combined $438 million.
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