MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Timberwolves best days came with Flip Saunders on the sideline. Now that the organization is shrouded in uncertainty surrounding the long-term future of star forward Kevin Love, Saunders is returning to the bench to try revive a franchise that hasnt made the playoffs in 10 years. With the teams coaching search complicated by Loves status, the Timberwolves decided the best course of action was to have Saunders, who was hired last season as president of basketball operations, step in for a second stint as coach until the situation stabilized, two people with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Thursday. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the team has not officially announced the move. A news conference was scheduled for Friday. Saunders previously coached the Timberwolves from 1995-2005. He won 411 games in 10 1/2 seasons in Minnesota and guided the Wolves to the only eight playoff appearances in franchise history, including the Western Conference finals in 2004. He has a career record of 638-526 in 16 seasons as an NBA head coach, a career that also includes stops in Detroit and Washington. Saunders is joining a short list in the NBA of coaches that also have final-say executive authority, one that includes newly hired Stan Van Gundy in Detroit, Doc Rivers with the Los Angeles Clippers and, to a certain extent, Gregg Popovich in San Antonio. Saunders will continue to work closely with GM Milt Newton in the front office while handling coaching duties. When Rick Adelman retired at the end of the regular season, he did so in part to try to help the Timberwolves move forward with a plan to show Love, a three-time All-Star who can opt out of his contract next summer, that there was a long-term plan in place for success. But Loves tenuous situation didnt help the search process, with trade rumours serving as a caution sign for several high-profile candidates. Saunders was in the market for a coach with extensive head coaching experience, either in the NBA or at a major college program, one that could command the respect of a young locker room and also handle the media scrutiny that comes with the questions surrounding Love. Names like Tom Izzo, Billy Donovan and Fred Hoiberg came and went without any traction. The Wolves hosted Memphis coach Dave Joerger for an interview two weekends ago, but Grizzlies owner Robert Pera sweetened his contract to keep him around. Sam Mitchell, Lionel Hollins, Scott Skiles and several others received consideration as well. Unable to find what they felt was the right fit for a delicate job, Saunders and owner Glen Taylor met this week to reassess the situation. Taylor said when he brought Saunders back as team president that he would not put him back on the bench. He fired Saunders as coach once before, in 2005 when Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell, unhappy with their contracts, submarined the follow-up to the teams stirring run to the Western Conference finals. Saunders was also hopeful that he could find someone other than himself to take over the team. But with Loves status preventing them from pursuing the coaches they felt would fit best, the two decided that Saunders should take over for at least this season if not longer. The Timberwolves have not given up on convincing Love to play out this season in Minnesota and re-sign next summer to a contract that can pay him and extra year and about $26.5 million more than any other team. It was not immediately clear what the appointment of Saunders would do for Loves desires to stay or go. Love has yet to make the playoffs in his six seasons in the league and is believed to be growing impatient with the Wolves, who finished 40-42 and in 10th place in the West this year. Love created a stir when he spent last weekend in Boston, where the Celtics are rumoured to be making a run at trading for the 25-year-old power forward before the June 26 draft. Just how long Saunders will coach remains to be seen. There is the possibility that Saunders will add assistants to his staff who could be groomed to eventually take over. The Wolves were expected to reach out to Mitchell, a former Timberwolves player and Raptors head coach, and David Blatt, who has spearheaded Russias return to Olympic relevance and coaches in Israel, to gauge their interest in joining his staff. Los Angeles Lakers Shirts . Martin Reway and David Griger both recorded four points with a goal and three assists each. Mario Lunter, Daniel Gachulinec and Stanislav Horansky also scored for Slovakia (1-0). Dominik Kahun had both goals for Germany (0-2), who lost its opening match to Canada 7-2 on Thursday. Lakers Jerseys 2019 . Cornet won six straight games to rally from a 2-0 deficit and take the first set. The 25th-ranked Frenchwoman broke back twice in the second set before Bacsinszky saved a match point at 5-4. https://www.lakersjerseycheap.com/. Riethers apparent stamp on Manchester United midfielder Adnan Januzaj during Saturdays Premier League match at Craven Cottage was missed by the match officials. A three-man panel of former referees reviewed the incident and all agreed that it was a sending-off offence. Custom Los Angeles Lakers Jerseys .Jeff Green, playing in his second preseason game after missing the first four because of a calf strain, had 18 points. The Celtics (3-3) shot 47.2 per cent from the floor and made 15 of 37 3-point attempts. Los Angeles Lakers Gear . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick.SAN ANTONIO -- Georges Niang scored 24 points, but also broke his foot will miss the rest of the NCAA tournament, as Iowa State pulled away from No. 14 North Carolina Central in the second half for a 93-75 win Friday night in the East Region. The Big 12 tournament champions found themselves in an early struggle with a program making its first NCAA tournament appearance in just its third year as a full-time Division I program. But the Cyclones quickness and balance eventually took over. Iowa State (27-7) had five players score in double figures. Niangs two 3-pointers early in the second half keyed Iowa States run that put the game away. After the game the Cyclones announced on Twitter: "Georges Niang has a foot fracture and will miss the remainder of the season." Jeremy Ingram scored 28 for North Carolina Central (28-6), which came in on a 20-game win streak and won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Matched up against a tournament newcomer, Iowa State players said they wouldnt look past the Eagles. As this years tournament has shown, hubris breeds upsets and the Cyclones werent taking any chances, especially after a first half in which the Eagles took an early lead and stayed within five at halftime. The Cyclones were wary of a team that dominated its league, even a lightly-regarded like the MEAC. The Eagles also had notched an upset win over North Carolina State and nearly took down Wichita State, the nations only undefeated team and the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional. Earlier in the day, North Carolina Central saw their neighbours from Durham, perennial power Duke, get knocked off by Mercer in one of the tournaments biggest upsets so far and ddreamed of making some magic of their own in their tournament debut.dddddddddddd Iowa State tried to show some muscle at the start when the Cyclones opened the scoring with an alley-oop reverse dunk by Melvin Ejim. If it was a play meant to scare the Eagles, it didnt work. North Carolina Central opened the game with a flurry of 3-pointers and put bodies on the Cyclones on every rebound. Karamo Jawara scored 10 points in the first half and tied it 30-30 on a soft jumper. Iowa State appeared to get the game under control with an 8-0 run punctuated by Ejims fast break dunk. The Eagles rallied with a 9-2 run of their own before Iowa State took a 45-39 lead into halftime. North Carolina Central simply couldnt sustain it. Over 40 minutes, the Cyclones were just too fast, too strong and too balanced. There were just too many Cyclones doing too many things. Ejim, the Big 12 player of the year, scored 17 points. DeAndre Kane, the MVP of the Big 12 tournament, scored 14 with seven rebounds and five assists. Dustin Hogue and Monte Morris each scored 15. In one sequence, Hogue ripped a rebound out of the arms of an Eagles player, passed to Monte Morris, who whipped the ball to Ejim for a another dunk. And then there was Niang, whose 3-pointers pushed Iowa States lead to 11 early in the second half. Niang made four of Iowa States nine 3-pointers. North Carolina Central coach LeVelle Moton should have at least had a chance to enjoy some of his big week. But two days after the NCAA tournament bracket was announced, Bracketts 1-year-old son was hospitalized with burns after a coffee spill accident and his family didnt make the trip with him to San Antonio. ' ' '