30 reasons why Minnesota is the center of the sports universe right now

If sports were the sun, almost everything orbiting it would somehow be connected to Minnesota. Seriously, check out how incredibly active Minnesota is in the sports world right now. 

Four Minnesota teams are in the NCAA men's hockey tournament: Minnesota State, Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth and St. Cloud State. And they're all in different regions, keeping alive the possibility of an all-Minnesota Frozen Four. 

UMD made it to the women's national championship game but lost to Ohio State. 

Half of the ten finalists for the Hobey Baker Award either play for a Minnesota team or are from Minnesota. 

Chet Holmgren might wind up being the No. 1 pick in this summer's NBA Draft and he's part of the No. 1 team in the country, Gonzaga, who remains the favorite to win the men's NCAA tournament. 

Eric Musselman, who grew up in Minneapolis and spent a season on the Timberwolves' coaching staff, is the head coach at Arkansas and is preparing to face Holmgren and Gonzaga. 

Theo John, a former Champlin Park High School star, plays off the bench in rebounding and rim protector role for Coach K and Duke, who are in the Sweet 16. 

Ex-Gopher and Edina native (former DeLaSalle star) Gabe Kalscheur and Robert Jones (Prior Lake) are starting for the Iowa State Cyclones, who are in the Sweet 16 as a No. 11 seed. 

Creighton's women's basketball team is in the Sweet 16 after upsetting No. 2 seed Iowa. The Blue Jays are led by Lakeville native Lauren Jensen, who hit the game-winning shot against her former team. She's one of three sophomores from Minnesota on Creighton's roster, joining Farmington's Molly Mogesen and Hastings' Mallory Brake. 

Paige Bueckers, arguably the most dominant college player in the country, has Connecticut in the Sweet 16 for a matchup with the Big Ten's Indiana Hoosiers. 

Nyamir Diew is a sophomore from Marshall, Minnesota who is starting in the NCAA tournament for Iowa State's Sweet 16 women's basketball team. 

Hannah Sjerven (Rogers) is the second-leading score and one of five Minnesotans on South Dakota's Sweet 16 team. She's joined by starting guard and third-leading scorer Liv Korngable (Rochester Mayo), Macy Guebert (Apple Valley), Natalie Mazurek (Eden Prairie) and Cassidy Carson (Eagan). As the No. 10 seed, South Dakota has knocked off No. 7 Ole Miss and No. 2 Baylor. They face No. 3 Michigan on Saturday. 

Oh, it's probably worth mentioning that all of those women's college basketball standouts have a shot to play back in Minneapolis when Target Center hosts the NCAA Women's Final Four next month. 

The Twins signed Carlos Correa to the richest infielder contract (based on annual average salary) in MLB history. And to top if off, Correa loves Juicy Lucys and the Minnesota State Fair. 

The only reason they got Correa is because the swindled the Yankees with an incredible trade that made New York eat the $50 million left on Josh Donaldson's contract. Oh, and they got power hitter Gary Sanchez and a quality bat and glove from Gio Urshela in return. 

They did that after trading last year's first-round pick, Chase Petty, to the Reds for right-hander Sonny Gray, who is probably the highest-caliber starting pitcher to wear a Twins uniform since ... sheesh, it's been a long time. 

The Twins might not be done as they've been mentioned as possible trade partners with Oakland for starting pitchers Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea. 

Byron Buxton slammed into the outfield wall in a meaningless exhibition game and DIDN'T get hurt. Hell yes Minnesota is running hot right now. 

Za'Darius Smith is bringing back Purple People Eater vibes with his "Meet at the quarterback" mantra. Smith, a stud pass-rusher, signed with the Vikings this week. 

The Vikings signed defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, which means they now have "Harry the Hitman" (Harrison Smith) and "Horrible Harry" (Harrison Phillips). Awesome. 

Kirk Cousins drama never ends and we like it. Be honest, the drama is fun. 

The NFL Draft is right around the corner and two prospects with Minnesota connections are projected by most to go in the first round: Gophers edge rusher Boye Mafe and Florida State edge rusher Jermaine Johnson, who is from Eden Prairie. Toss in NDSU wide receiver Christian Watford and Minnesota basically gets a half point for that. 

The Timberwolves are on a roll and a lock to make playoffs. And if that's not enough, they are in serious contention for the 5th or 6th seed in the West, which seemed impossible when they were a game under .500 just two months ago. 

Karl-Anthony Towns making fun of Russell Westbrook's airball got national attention from Stephen A. Smith. We'll take any spotlight, good or bad. 

Patrick Beverley has breathed fire into the Timberwolves and has gone as far as to say Anthony Edwards could be the next Michael Jordan. Yes, he literally said that. 

Marc-Andre Fleury, who stymied the Wild in the playoffs last season, was traded to the Wild this week. That's amazing. 

The Wild also beefed up their main weakness on the blue line by trading for Nicolas Deslauriers and Jacob Middleton. 

The Lynx brought by Sylvia Fowles for one final season and paired her in the frontcourt with five-time All-Star Angel McCoughtry. That's two hall-of-famers down low for four-time WNBA champs. 

Lindsay Whalen's Gophers have a top-10 recruiting class highlighted by four standouts from Minnesota: Nia Holloway of Eden Prairie, Chaska's Mallory Heyer, Wayzata's Mara Braun and Amaya Battle of Hopkins.

Gable Steveson went undefeated again and won the NCAA heavyweight championship. Minnesota also dominates the heavyweight division in Division 2, with Minnesota State's Darrel "Debo" Mason winning the national championship. 

The most popular gymnast in the country is St. Paul native and Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee, who less than a month ago pulled off the first Nabieva move in NCAA history. 

And this happened almost two months ago, but let's not forget that John Shuster was the flag bearer for the opening ceremony at the Olympics.