Luke Ridnour

The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . Founded in 1989, the team is currently owned by Glen Taylor. The Timberwolves played their... home games in the Metrodome during its inaugural season, before moving to the Target Center in 1990. Like most expansion teams, the Timberwolves struggled in their early years; but after the acquisition of Kevin Garnett in the 1995 NBA Draft, the team made the playoffs eight consecutive times from 1997 to 2004. Despite losing in the first round in their first seven attempts, the Timberwolves won their first division title in 2004 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals. Garnett was also named the NBA Most Valuable Player Award for that season. The team has been in rebuilding mode since trading Garnett to the Boston Celtics in 2007. NBA basketball returned to the Twin Cities in 1989 for the first time since the Minneapolis Lakers departed for Los Angeles in 1960.
more

The University of Oregon is a public, coeducational research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. The third-oldest public university in the state , the UO was founded in 1876 and graduated its first class two years later. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Oregon as a... "very high research activity" university. It is one of 108 universities to have such a designation. Additionally, the UO is one of only two Association of American Universities members in the Pacific Northwest. As the flagship institution of the Oregon University System, the UO is one of the nation's premier public teaching and research universities. The current UO student body is composed of students from all 50 of the United States, the District of Columbia, two U.S. territories, and 89 countries around the world. The Oregon State Legislature established the university on October 12, 1872, despite the new state's funding woes. The residents of Eugene struggled to help finance the institution, holding numerous fundraising events such as strawberry festivals, church socials, and produce sales.
more

Coeur d'Alene /ˌkɒr dəˈleɪn/ is the largest city and county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. Coeur d'Alene has the second largest metropolitan area in the state of Idaho. As of the... 2010 census the population of Coeur d'Alene was 44,137. The city is located about 30 mi east of the larger Spokane, Washington, which combined with Coeur d'Alene and northern Idaho has population of 590,617. Coeur d'Alene is the largest city in the northern Idaho Panhandle. The city is located on the north shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene, 25-mile in length. Locally, Coeur d'Alene is known as the "Lake City," or simply called by its initials: "CDA". The city of Coeur d'Alene has grown significantly in recent years, in part because of a substantial increase in tourism, encouraged by several resorts in the area. Barbara Walters called the city "a little slice of Heaven" and included it in her list of most fascinating places to visit.
more