Gophers women’s basketball player Mara Braun has been invited to participate in the 2025 USA Women’s AmeriCup Team Trials, USA Basketball announced Monday.

The trials are set to begin June 17 at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Braun missed most of last season after having her right foot surgically repaired.

A guard from Wayzata, Braun is one of 21 college players expected to try out for the team, which will represent the U.S. at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup in Santiago, Chile from June 28-July 6. Braun was part of USA Basketball’s 3×3 team that won gold at the 2023 FIBA 3×3 Nations League Final.

GOPHERS men’s hockey

Stacked nonconference schedule released

Minnesota men’s hockey released a stacked nonconference schedule. Eight of the 11 two-game series will be held at 3M Arena at Mariucci beginning Oct. 3.

Former WCHA rival Michigan Tech will be at Minnesota Oct. 3-4, the first meeting between the schools since they split a series in 2012. That’s followed by a rare Thursday-Friday home series against Boston College Oct. 9-10.

The Gophers will begin their four-year home-and-home series against North Dakota Oct. 17-18 in Grand Forks, then play host to Minnesota Duluth Oct. 24-25.

Minnesota will make its first trip to play nascent Division I program Long Island Nov. 14-15 before playing University of Denver in the annual U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game at the Colorado Avalanche’s Ball Arena on either Nov. 28 or Nov. 29.

The Gophers will play an exhibition game at former WCHA rival Bemidji State on Jan. 2.

NHL

Capitals’ star Oshie retires after 16 seasons

T.J. Oshie, who scored four shootout goals for the U.S. to beat host Russia at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and helped the Washington Capitals win the Stanley Cup in 2018, announced Monday he is retiring after playing 16 NHL seasons.

The announcement had been expected for some time, with Oshie’s contract expiring.

The 38-year-old did not play this past season because of a nagging back injury.

WNBA

Clark to miss fifth game with quadriceps strain

Caitlin Clark will sit out a fifth consecutive game with a quadriceps strain when Indiana visits Atlanta today.

The focus now shifts to whether the Fever star will return against the WNBA champion New York Liberty.

The Fever initially said Clark would miss at least two weeks. It has been 16 days since Clark was injured in a 90-88 loss to the Liberty.

MLB

Kimbrel leaves Braves week after reunion

The Atlanta Braves reunion with the team’s all-time saves leader (186) ended after just one week.

Craig Kimbrel elected free agency rather than being sent to Triple-A after the Braves desginated him for assignment over the weekend.

The 37-year-old pitched just one game with Atlanta before getting designated for assignment.

He worked one scoreless inning in the Braves’ 5-4, 10-inning loss at San Francisco on Friday.

Franco’s attorney to ask court for exoneration

The attorney for Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco said he will ask the court to exonerate his client of all charges in a sexual abuse case involving a girl who was 14 years old at the time of the alleged crimes.

Franco, who was charged in July 2024 and is on supervised release, could face up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.

Documents that prosecutors presented to the judge alleged that Franco, through his mother Yudelka Aybar, transferred 1 million pesos ($17,000) to the mother of the minor on Jan. 5, 2023, to consent to the purported abuse.

NFL

Packers release oft-injured Alexander

Jaire Alexander has been released by the Green Bay Packers, ending a seven-year run in which he was one of the NFL’s top cornerbacks before injuries limited his availability.

Alexander, who has 12 interceptions, had two years remaining on the four-year, $84 million contract extension he signed in May 2022.

Jaguars making Cooke highest-paid punter

Jacksonville’s Logan Cooke, the team’s longest-tenured player, is now the NFL’s highest-paid punter.

Cooke has signed a four-year, $16 million contract extension with the Jaguars, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

A second-team All-Pro selection in 2024, Cooke had been entering the final year of his second deal with the team that drafted him in 2018.

NCAA

Florida A&M AD arrested for fraud at former job

Florida A&M University athletic director Angela Suggs was arrested on fraud and theft charges for allegedly using a corporate credit card for personal use totaling more than $24,000 at a former job.

Suggs, 55, turned herself in and was booked at the Leon County Jail. She was later released on a $13,500 bond.

She was charged with two felonies: grand theft and scheme to defraud. She also was charged with four misdemeanor counts of false claims on travel vouchers.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Suggs made wire transfers, cash withdrawals and personal purchases at casinos during business trips while CEO of the Florida Sports Foundation.

ESPN extends Vitale through 2027-28 season

Hall of Fame broadcaster Dick Vitale is sticking around college basketball with a new contract extension and a new event named in his honor.

ESPN announced that Vitale has signed a contract through the 2027-28 season. In addition, ESPN Events is launching the Dick Vitale Invitational. The first matchup is a game between Duke and Texas on Nov. 4 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The announcement comes on Vitale’s 86th birthday and months after he returned to the airwaves after being gone for two years amid a fourth cancer battle

— From staff reports and news services