Well, kind of.

"Some nights, those first-round games are some of the worst games in history and some nights it's unbelievably exciting," he said. "You go see a team like American University that has five guys all 6-4, probably none of them are going to be pros, but they're fifth-year seniors and they play great and you leave saying, 'That was really fun to watch.' It depends on what you're going there for.

"If you're just looking for talent, sometimes you can go to one regional and not see one guy who can play in our league. But you see some fun games."

--Guard Bobby Brown and forward Shelden Williams ? acquired from Sacramento last month ? played the final six minutes in Friday's blowout loss after neither had played in the past three games before then.

Both players have become little more than afterthoughts in Kevin McHale's rotation after the team traded Rashad McCants and Calvin Booth for them at the trading deadline.

Asked whether their absence means the team has decided neither player is part its future, McHale said, "No, no, no. They'll get their chance. I'm looking at a lot of guys right now. You can't play everybody every night."

QUOTE TO NOTE: "They beat us up pretty good. We couldn't get anything going offensively and then our defense didn't come through. It was a bad combination for us." -- Timberwolves coach Kevin McHale.