American Notes Athletes

The University of Minnesota basketball team had won a squeaker on the road, relying on a last-second shot to beat Big Ten Conference Rival Wisconsin, 67-65, in Madison. But after the game the celebrating apparently got out of hand. Three players were arrested on charges of raping an 18-year-old woman who had been enticed back to their hotel from a party. A shaken University President Kenneth Keller ordered the Golden Gophers to forfeit their next game and said he was considering canceling the team's entire remaining schedule. The forfeiture, the first of its kind in Big Ten history, prompted Basketball Coach Jim Dutcher to resign in protest, saying it was unfair to other players on the roster.

Although Keller later allowed the team to resume its schedule, he said his reaction to the incident was "horror and disgust, and some amount of despair that we, as academic institutions, have created the environment in which that can happen." Last week the university suspended two more players for breaking unspecified "team rules," forcing Interim Coach Jimmy Williams to recruit * three new players, including two from the football team, to fill in during a stunning 70-65 upset victory over Ohio State.