1 + 1 + 1 + Arizona = Final Four : And the Award Goes to Clem and Gophers

Well, it sure is a big week for everybody from Fargo to Minneapolis.

A movie about a pregnant Minnesota police chief is one of the five films up for Best Picture at tonight’s Academy Awards.

And a team from the University of Minnesota is one of the four finalists in this week’s NCAA basketball tournament.

I can hear everybody up there now:

“Good Gopher game Saturday.”

“Ya, you betcha.”

“Watchin’ the Oscars, hon?”

“Yep, come on over.”

“Thanks. You’re a peach.”

“Looks like more snow.”

I bet everybody’s giddy up there. This is the biggest thing to happen to Minnesota since the temperature in International Falls climbed above 20. Minnesotans haven’t been this happy since they heard “Grumpy Old Men” was going to have a sequel. I bet shops all over the state are offering ice fishermen a free bucket of worms.

North Dakotans must be excited, too . . . both of them.

Imagine that . . . Minnesota involved in the NCAA Final Four. And it’s not even in hockey. This is a golden Golden Gopher moment. Why, pretty soon, Minnesota will probably even be able to beat Northwestern in football.

I will root for Minnesota to win the national championship. Why? Oh, many reasons. First, you’ve got to love a team with a coach named Clem. There aren’t enough Clems in this world of ours. I predict that if the Gophers take the title, thousands of baby Clems will be born, nine months from next Monday. The entire state will become one big Clem bake.

Next, I really have to hand it to Minnesota, for hanging on against UCLA the way it did.

The Gophers could have gone under. They could have dug a tunnel and hid. Instead, they kept fighting back with everything they had. Quincy Lewis or Quincy Jones or Quincy Watts or whatever his name was, he kept making big baskets, one after the other. Kid really had a great game.

And this Bobby Jackson won my heart. He actually won it while I was watching the game between Clem’s team and Clemson, because if it hadn’t been for Bobby J, the regional championship game Sunday would have been between Clemson and UCLA. And, trust me on this, UCLA would be in the Final Four right now.

Without Bobby Jackson, the only thing Minnesota’s athletic department would be doing right now is preparing for next fall’s 2-9 football season.

UCLA was in fine form. Self-confident after six weeks of solid success, still on a high after what happened against Iowa State, the whole Bruin team was ready to rumble with Kentucky or anyone else who stood in its way.

Cameron Dollar was at a fever pitch. He did everything a leader is supposed to do. On TV, the announcers kept blabbing about UCLA’s “four NBA first-round draft picks”--absolutely absurd--when Dollar’s the one whose defense could help some lazy NBA team.

Oh, well. Dollar says he wants to become a coach now. I can’t imagine a better young candidate. Let’s hope we see him soon at Coach Steve Lavin’s side, in a suit and carrying a clipboard. I’ll wager that Dollar runs his own NCAA team by his 30th birthday.

As for Charles O’Bannon, well, his last collegiate game was one he should be proud of, eternally. I like watching Charles, with that handsome, Woody Strode face of his, and that mask of calm when everyone around him is hopping up and down in anger or joy.

At the very end, when that Minnesota game was there to be won, it was O’Bannon who took it upon himself to win it. An unselfish player throughout his UCLA career, Charles knew when the moment was at hand for him to step up. He didn’t hesitate. He nearly carried the Bruins to another Final Four.

If someone had to beat them, I’m glad it was Minnesota.

Minnesotans have been waiting many years for this. I mean, it isn’t as though there’s a Minnesota State or an Eastern Minnesota that will make the NCAA tourney when the Gophers don’t. College sports fans in the Land of 10,000 Lakes don’t get many chances. Even on that TV program “Coach,” the Craig T. Nelson character finally had the sense to move to Florida.

On the other hand, Green Bay won in pro football, Chicago is tops in pro basketball. . . . It could be that freezing athletes before a big game is good therapy.

* RANDY HARVEY: If not for a blizzard, John Wooden could have been a Golden Gopher instead of a Bruin. C2