Seven men’s college basketball programs said they would not RSVP if asked to play in the National Invitational Tournament.

But not the Gophers, they jumped at the chance to continue their season.

Minnesota will end a four-year postseason drought in a first round NIT matchup against Butler at 8 p.m. on Tuesday in Indianapolis.

“There was zero consideration,” head coach Ben Johnson on the possibility they would pass on playing in the NIT. “We were hoping for this.”

But Indiana, St. John’s, Memphis, Syracuse, Mississippi, Pittsburgh, and Oklahoma said no thanks to being in the 32-team NIT. The opening of the NCAA transfer portal on Monday appeared to be a main reason for bailing.

St. John’s coach Richard Pitino said his team will start to “prepare for next season.” The Sooners said it was for the “well-being of our student-athletes.”’

The Hoosiers said they would not play in the NIT last week during the Big Ten tournament at Target Center, turning their attention to recruiting and roster management.

“This thing (the portal) is going to come very quickly,” Indiana coach Mike Woodson said after Friday’s 93-66 quarterfinal loss to Nebraska. “We’ve got to be in a position to do our due diligence and our homework on these players.”

Johnson said this year’s postseason experience will be a dry run for his program, which has aspirations of making the NCAA tournament next year.

“It gives you a way to figure out a way to structure it for years to come,” Johnson said. “(The portal) is not going anywhere. It’s a perfect way for us to navigate this new space.”

Both preparing a roster for next season and playing in the current postseason can be done at the same time, Johnson insisted.

“There is enough time in the day, if you are organized,” Johnson said. “You can deal with the portal, and deal with taking calls and deal with players on your team. I’m a firm believer we can find time.”

Johnson said he asked players if they wanted to compete in the NIT, and the answer was a resounding “yes.”

“Our guys wanted to. They really expressed that they were excited to keep playing,” Johnson said. “I think they know this could be a good building block and momentum swing for us leading into the spring and summer, and next year.”

Former Indiana, Marquette and Georgia head coach Tom Crean blasted the teams that opted out.

“There’s no question about it, I would want to coach,” Crean said Sunday on ESPN2. “I would want to develop my team. You’ve got bigger staffs than you’ve ever had. There’s plenty of time for the portal. There’s plenty of time to talk to recruits. There’s plenty of time to negotiate NIL deals.

“There’s not plenty of time to play. There’s not plenty of time to get your players on the floor and give them a chance to get better. There’s not plenty of time for guys to continue to play that may never get to play again, and that to me is absolutely ridiculous.”

Crean said it’s fine if players want to opt out of postseason games. College football has been dealing with that in bowl games for years. But the games should go on.

Johnson also mentioned a few times Monday how the Gophers were picked to finish dead last, 14th, in the Big Ten Conference in the preseason and how they proved those pundits wrong with a ninth-place finish with a 9-11 record in league play.

There appears to be a chip on their shoulders motivating them, too.

“I don’t think any of us have forgotten that,” Johnson said. “When you are picked last and you don’t have many expectations of you or of us as a program, to be able to play in a reputable national postseason tournament, our guys are excited to go play.”

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New Chicago White Sox infielder Nicky Lopez is enjoying the most unforgettable offseason of his life.

That was true even before receiving an honor Friday that he said ranks among the best of his accomplishments.

“It’s been an eventful offseason, for sure,” Lopez said. “A day before I got married, I got traded from the Braves to the White Sox.

“That was something I won’t take for granted, just to be able to come back and play for a hometown team, which is something special.”

But getting the call for the Naperville Central Athletic Hall of Fame is equally special for Lopez, 28, who graduated from the school in 2013 after earning five varsity letters in baseball and basketball. He was inducted Friday, joining a Hall of Fame that already included Candace Parker, Anthony Parker, Owen Daniels, Sean Payton and Casey Krueger.

“100 percent it’s up there, only because it means so much not only to me but my family,” Lopez said. “This is where it started.

“This is a steppingstone for the journey that I’m still on. So that’s what I’m most thankful for, that I’m coming back and seeing all the teachers who have helped me become who I am. That’s why it’s a little bit more special.”

Those teachers include Naperville Central basketball coach Pete Kramer and baseball coach Mike Stock, who were proud to be part of the induction ceremony held before the boys basketball game against Neuqua Valley.

“It being Nicky, there was a lot of excitement in the building, and that would have been the case even if he was playing for the Braves,” Stock said. “But the fact he’s with the Sox adds another layer.

“It’s just a blast. It’s one of the rewards that you get from being around people like this all the time. We want to make sure we slow it down and celebrate. He’s a great young man from a great family.”

Also inducted Friday were 2006 graduate Erica Carter, who helped Naperville Central’s girls basketball team win two state titles and scored more than 1,000 points at Binghamton; pioneering female athlete Lois Madsen, a 1975 graduate who became the first person to earn a full volleyball scholarship at Northern Illinois; wrestling star Rodney Landorf, a 1962 graduate who became an Army officer and received a Bronze Star in the Vietnam War; and late wrestling coach Bill Young.

“I haven’t been back to Naperville since a few months after I graduated,” Carter said. “There are so many amazing times that happened throughout high school and my athletic career.

“Walking through the hallways, it brings back a lot of good memories, and I feel honored to be a part of the Hall of Fame. I know there are so many student-athletes that go through the building at Naperville Central, and it’s just been a day full of amazing memories.”

Lopez’s family, including his parents Bob and Angela and brothers Bobby and Anthony, still lives in Naperville. Angela Lopez presented him for induction.

“Obviously, this honor is humbling,” Nicky Lopez said. “You always hear each year of people getting inducted, so to be able to add to the list is awesome.”

After graduating from Naperville Central, Lopez played baseball at Creighton and was picked by the Kansas City Royals in the fifth round of the 2016 MLB draft. When the Royals called him up in 2019, he became the first Naperville Central graduate to play in the major leagues.

Lopez, who has a .249/.312/.319 career slash line, was a Gold Glove finalist at second base in 2020 and became the first Royals shortstop to hit .300 in 2021. He played parts of five seasons in Kansas City before being traded in July to the Braves, whom he helped win the National League East title.

Lopez said he is thrilled to join the White Sox, who acquired him in November.

“I grew up going to White Sox games,” he said. “I went to Game 2 of the World Series in 2005, so just being able to put the jersey on, wow, it’s cool.”

Long known for his humble, hardworking approach to the game, Lopez is quick to share credit for his ascent.

“When you come to high school, obviously you’re there to learn, but you’re there to grow and also learn life lessons, and these teachers every step of the way helped mold me,” he said. “Whether it was my English teacher or math teacher, we’ve all had conversations with them that have helped me get to where I’m at.

“I can’t thank them enough. They’ve done so good by me with all the respect and love that they’ve shown, and I keep in touch with them.”

Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.

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The Chicago Cubs needed to find reinforcements for the bullpen.

Acquiring a reliever with a consistent track record was particularly important — and something they finally addressed Saturday.

The Cubs and veteran reliever Héctor Neris have agreed to a one-year, $9 million deal that includes a $9 million team option for 2025, a source told the Tribune. Neris’ club option converts to a player option if the right-hander appears in 60 games, a mark he has hit each of the last three years and six of eight seasons excluding the shortened 2020 season. His contract ultimately can max out at $23.25 million with incentives.

Bringing in Neris addresses key needs in the bullpen. He brings durability, pitching in at least 70 games five times, and gives the Cubs a proven, back-end-of-the-pen reliever who has experience pitching in big games. The Cubs bullpen struggled down the stretch en route to missing the 2023 postseason as an inexperienced group wore down and battled injuries in September.

Neris, 34, owns a career 3.24 ERA over 546 big-league appearances coming off two seasons in Houston, including a World Series title in 2022. He also spent eight years with the Philadelphia Phillies. Primarily used in the seventh and eighth innings with the Astros, Neris also has experience closing, earning five saves in Houston and 84 with the Phillies.

Neris gives the Cubs another splitter in the bullpen to accompany right-hander Mark Leiter Jr., whose pitch has been a shutdown weapon versus lefties. Neris utilizes his splitter against righties and lefties, a pitch that generated a 42.2 Whiff% and .237 slugging percentage in 2023.

While he typically relies on a four-seam fastball and splitter combination opposing left-handed hitters, Neris also mixes a sinker and slider when facing right-handed batters. His average fastball velocity dropped by 1.3 mph from 2022 to 2023, but this deal indicates the Cubs are not significantly concerned with that.

The Cubs’ work on building a more proven bullpen should not be complete with the Neris acquisition. They still need more depth and ideally another postseason-tested reliever.

And with Cody Bellinger among the notable position players still available in free agency, the Cubs are capable of making significant roster improvements in the coming weeks.

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The Minnesota Court of Appeals has sent the case of a transgender powerlifter back to Ramsey County District to determine whether she was barred from participating in women’s competitions because of her sexual orientation.

A year ago, Ramsey County District Judge Patrick Diamond sided with JayCee Cooper, then 35, of Minneapolis, finding that USA Powerlifting engaged in discriminatory practices by prohibiting the transgender athlete from competing.

A claim of an unfair performance advantage because of sexual orientation or sex — as USA Powerlifting officials have contended — is not a reason to discriminate, Diamond wrote in his Feb. 27, 2023, ruling. The judge ordered the Alaska-based organization to “cease and desist from the unfair discriminatory practice” and to revise its policies within two weeks.

In its decision released Monday, the appellate court affirmed that discrimination against athletes based on gender identity violates the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

However, the appellate court found Diamond erred by granting Cooper’s motion for partial summary judgment on Cooper’s claims of discrimination based on sexual orientation in a place of public accommodations and in business, “because there are genuine issues of material fact as to whether USAPL’s decision to exclude Cooper … was motivated by her sexual orientation (i.e., transgender status).”

The appellate court reversed the district court’s Feb. 27, 2023, and April 11, 2023, orders for injunctive relief.

“We remand the case to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion,” the ruling read.

Policy question

Attorneys for Gender Justice filed the lawsuit against USA Powerlifting and USA Powerlifting Minnesota on behalf of Cooper in June 2021, alleging violations of Minnesota’s Human Rights Act. The lawsuit came two years after the St. Paul-based legal and policy advocacy group filed a charge of discrimination with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

According to the 2021 lawsuit, Cooper had trained for and registered in 2018 to compete in the 2019 USAPL Minnesota State Bench Press Championship in Maplewood and the Minnesota Women’s State Championship.

A USAPL medical doctor emailed Cooper, informing her that she was ineligible to compete. The emailed explanation read “male-to-female transgenders are not allowed to compete as females in our static strength sport as it is a direct competitive advantage,” the lawsuit states.

At the time, USAPL had no express policy regarding participation in competition by transgender athletes, according to the lawsuit. USAPL revoked Cooper’s competition card, and later issued a formal policy banning all transgender women from participating in its competitions, according to the lawsuit.

USA Powerlifting contends it did not exclude Cooper because she is transgender. The organization had argued to the appellate court that it excluded Cooper from the women’s division of its competition for a non-discriminatory reason: that she has male physiology, which gives her “unmitigated strength advantages that would compromise principles of fair athletic competition.”

After last year’s lower court ruling, USAPL submitted a proposed policy in April 2023 that would allow a transgender woman to compete in USAPL’s women’s division if she declared her gender to be female, had conforming government identification and maintained a testosterone level below a certain numerical level, according to Monday’s opinion.

The district court held a hearing on USAPL’s proposed policy on April 11, 2023 and Diamond ruled from the bench that the proposed policy does not comply with the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

Diamond said at the time that USAPL “is enjoined from holding any events in the state of Minnesota, competitive or otherwise” and “is similarly enjoined . . . from selling memberships to identified residents of the state of Minnesota” until USAPL submits a proposed policy that complies with the MHRA.

Jess Braverman, legal director for Gender Justice, said in a Monday statement they believe it is “crystal clear” that Cooper was not allowed to compete because of her sexual orientation, “and we are confident that the courts will ultimately agree.”

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