Full circle

On Wednesday evening the Minnesota Timberwolves clinched a spot in the NBA playoffs, a feat they hadn't accomplished since April 2004.

What else was happening on the Minnesota sports landscape in the spring of 2004?

• University of Minnesota women's basketball star Lindsay Whalen capped off a brilliant 4-year career by leading the lady Gophers to a Final Four appearance. She was also a member of the All-Big Ten team for third consecutive season. She would go on to be the fourth overall pick in the WNBA draft, selected by the Connecticut Sun.

• A 21-year old catching phenom from St. Paul by the name of Joe Mauer made his major league debut with his hometown Minnesota Twins. Despite an injury plagued '04 season that limited his time on the field, the top overall pick from the 2001 MLB draft still held a lot of promise for a stellar big league career.

So how does this all tie together? In the 24-hour span since the Wolves clinched that elusive postseason berth, Whalen, who was a member of 4 WNBA championship teams with her hometown Minnesota Lynx, was named the head basketball coach at her alma mater. And Mauer collected his 2,000th career base hit.

Yep. A lot has happened in the 14 years since that glorious spring of 2004.

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