2019 Basketball Season Recap: Part 2: The Gophers

Da Men

Hopes ran high at times for the 2019 Gopher men, as after a 59-52 upset of Bucky in Madison in January. But, there were disappointing losses to Big 10 also-rans Nebraska and Rutgers, and by the end of the regular season, the Gophers were just #7 in the conference at 9-11. A 2nd upset of #3 seed Purdue in the conference tournament probably got the Gophers into the NCAA tournament, where coach Richard Pitino and his #10-seeded troops engineered another surprise win over the ghost of his father at #7-seed Louisville 86-76.

But a 76-49 shellacking by the Michigan Wolverines in the conference tournament semis and a 70-50 loss to the Michigan State Spartans in the 2nd round of the NCAA showed how far the Gopher men have to go.

But, let's remember that this is a program that has won 4 Big 10 titles in 100 years, less than half of what would be a fair share. Once upon a time, believe it or not, the Gophers had won more Big 10 titles than anybody, but all of those wins came before 1920. In fact, the 1919 Gophers went undefeated and won not only the Big 10 title but the national title. And, that was their 3rd such title, to go along with a pair from 1902 and 1903.

But, since then, it has become abundantly clear that Minnesota has not and will probably never produce enough 1st line talent to win Big 10 titles and to compete nationally. OK, sure, that 1937 championship team was led by Minnesotans John Kundla, Marty Rolek and Dick Seebach. But the 1972 champions were led by out-of-towners Jim Brewer and Clyde Turner. The 1982 champions had Randy Breuer but also Trent Tucker and Darryl Mitchell. And the 1997 champions were led by the now infamous Bobby Jackson.

And, so, this year, the Gophers success was first and foremost the creation of senior power forward Jordan Murphy, who for some reason came up here to the land of perpetual winter from San Antonio, TX, to become the Gophers' all-time leading rebounder (and #2 all-time in the Big 10). The fact is, he missed the Michigan State NCAA game with an injury, and surely that was the kiss of death, if one was needed. Still, the Gophers were also led by Minnesotans Amir Coffey, Gabe Kalscheur and Daniel Oturu--and players like Dupree McBrayer and Isaiah Washington came all the way from New York to pursue their dreams here in Minnesota; and Eric Curry from Memphis; and Marcus Carr, from Toronto.

But what this shows is that there is no--ZERO--margin for error, and Marcus Carr was declared ineligible while players with the same resume who go to Duke and North Carolina are routinely made eligible; while Curry was injured most of the year. With these 2 players, the Gophers probably would have won another 2-3-4 games.

And then there's McKinley Wright, Mr. Basketball Minnesota 2017 from Champlin Park. The Gophers and Mr. Richard Pitino had no interest whatsoever in Mr. Wright. And so, here, in 2019, the Gophers' chief liability was the lack of a true point guard, and Mr. Wright was winning 1st team all-Pac 12 honors at Colorado. Local high school coaches are pretty much beside themselves that the Gophers were too ignorant to recruit a fellow who was completely capable of being the best point guard in the Pac 12. The truth is that, as stated above, the state of Minnesota does not produce enough top-drawer talent to win Big 10 titles. But it is equally true that since the departure of Jim Dutcher in or about 1985, the Gophers have done a piss-poor job of recruiting the state of Minnesota. Clem Haskins didn't recruit Minnesota. Dan Monson did a little because his program was so far down after Clem's academic fraud scandal that nobody else would come here. But, I'm sorry, Richard Pitino has also done a poor job of recruiting Minnesota. Yeah, he went after Tre Jones and Matthew Hurt, 2 guys who are rated among the top 10 in the nation, 2 guys who were not going to come to the University of Minnesota. But, who else among Minnesota high school graduates might be able to help to Gophers. Well, half the time, Pitino has no clue. He passed on Wright, who probably could have helped the Gophers to win 4-5-6 more games than they did. He got Oturu. He didn't get Tre Jones or Matthew Hurt, but who else might have helped the Gophers out of the class of 2019? I'm not at all convinced that he ever even evaluated the talent. In 2020, he's got Dawson Garcia, Dain Dainja, Ben Carlson and others to think about. But I'm not at all sure that 110 percent of his focus isn't on Jalen Suggs who, frankly, is probably going to go to Duke.

So, anyway. The bottom line is Minnesota is a fiendishly difficult place to win. But disrespecting Minnesota talent that doesn't happen to be among the top 10 in the nation seems to be a funny way to build a stronger program.

Da Women

I don't think I've ever seen a team as inconsistent as the 2019 Gopher women, or as incapable of winning games with a lead in the 4th quarter. There were at least 5 4th quarter losses, including the final loss at Cincinnati in the WNIT. Now, granted, a loss in the WNIT is not the kind of loss that anybody is going to remember. It's just that it happened the same way that 4 conference losses occurred--that is, with a pretty much total collapse in the 4th quarter. And if we had avoided those losses we would have been 13-5 in the conference, good for 3rd place, and 25-7 overall, which would be an obvious NCAA tournament kind of record. The Gopher men got a 10th seed at 21-13. At 24-6 (before the post-season) a #3-#4 seed would hardly be out of the question.

From this perspective, the signature loss was the January home loss to Illinois. Keep in mind, this was a team that was winless in the Big 10 at the time and that finished 2-16 in the conference. But on January 6 at Williams Arena, against a Gopher team that was then 12-1, they were world-beaters, at least in the 4th quarter they were. The 12-1 Gophers were ahead of the 8-5 Illini 53-43 after 3 periods. In the 4th, the Gophers shot 4-of-19 with 6 turnovers leading directly to 8 Illinois points. Illinois shot 9-of-17 with 3 turnovers leading to zero Gopher points. The only reason the Gophers only lost by 4 was a 5-1 edge in 2nd chance points in the 4th quarter.

But, seriously. 4-of-19. 6 turnovers and many of them leading directly to home run type buckets, an 8-0 Illinois edge in points off turnovers in the quarter. This against a team that won only 1 more game the entire Big 10 season on the Gophers own home court.

Clearly, something was missing. This was a team that could beat almost anybody, and could lose to almost anybody. Now, I dunno, rookie coach? Or, a point guard who took 30 percent of the Gophers' shots and made 39 percent while turning it over 117 times? The Gopher men didn't have the talent. The Gopher women had the talent other than not being a good shooting team and, frankly, losing their composure.

Next year, the Gophers return Destiny Pitts, Jasmine Brunson, Taiye Bello and Mercedes Staples, plus Gadiva Hubbard, a starter last year who missed the entire season with a bad foot and who would clearly have been a difference maker--again, showing how narrow the Gophers' margin of error is. Plus, freshman guard Sara Scalia. The loss of Kenisha Bell? Hey, she's a 2-time all-Big 10. She is our joy and she is our sorrow. Whether she will represent an irreplaceable playmaker or addition by subtraction? The truth is, nobody knows. Maybe a team of grinders, more like Lindsay herself, will provide for more synergy. Still, the Gophers' future lies, at this point in time anyway, with Lindsay's success in getting more of the blue-chippers in the classes of 2021 and 2022, because there are more blue-chippers in 2021 and 2022 than Minnesota ordinarily produces, to come to Minnesota. I think Lindsay will do that and that the Gopher women, frankly, have a higher upside 2-3-4 years down the road than the men. You heard it hear first.

So, as for the 2019 MN Hoops Awards?

• Both the Gopher men and the Gopher women are in the running.
• Jordan Murphy and Kenisha Bell are in the running.
• Richard Pitino and Lindsay Whalen are in the running.
• The Gopher men 59 Wisconsin 52 at Madison in January is in the running.

2019 Basketball Season Recap: Part 1: The Timberwolves

Well, the 2018-2019 Minnesota basketball season is almost over. Only the Minnesota Timberwolves are still playing but, being honest, their season is over. They're not playing for anything. They're out of the NBA playoffs, the die is cast, so it's not too early to recap. So, let's recap.

Timberwolves. And we'll begin with the Timberwolves. This was the Wolves' 30th year and for maybe the 28th time in those 30 years, 2019 can be described as a disappointment. At 34-41, they're not only out of the playoffs, they're a good 10 games out of the playoffs. On the other hand, they're 10th in the west and, aside from the 9 times that they've made the playoffs, they've only finished 10th or better twice--9th in 2005, and 10th in 2014. But neither of those seasons was a steppingstone to anything great.

And, then, there's the fact that early in the year, as Jimmy Butler wreaked havoc all over his team, the Timberwolves appeared so dispirited that I wouldn't have thought they'd win 34 games all year long. As it is, they've got 7 more chances to get to 35 or 36. And, yet, after Butler was dealt to Philly, the Wolves played so much better for awhile that a .500 season and maybe even a playoff berth seemed to be within reach. It was not to be. Why not?

1. Lousy 3-point game. The Wolves are #25 in the NBA in 3-pointers made and percent of points scored on 3-pointers, and #22 in 3-point shooting percentage (31.4%). Meanwhile, they're 30th and dead last in 3-point defense, giving up 38% to their opponents.

2. Andrew Wiggins' regression. The former #1 overall pick scored almost 24 ppg 2 years ago with 45% shooting and 36% 3-point shooting. This year: 18 ppg, 40% and 33%. In fact, among NBA players who have taken 1,000 shots this year, Andrew Wiggins has become the worst shooter in the entire NBA. Having anybody on your team who takes 1,000 shots and is the worst shooter in the entire league is one thing. When it's an overall #1 pick, this is not a recipe for success.

On the other hand, there has been progress: Tom Thibodeau is gone. Widely regarded as a throwback coach, he was the last coach in the league to play 2 posts and he didn't pay much attention to the 3-point game. But, when you've spent much of your history with people like Bob Stein and Glen Taylor and David Kahn and Tom Thibodeau making personnel decisions, it takes awhile to bounce back.

Clearly, the Wolves do not have enough talent to win a playoff series today. How are they going to reverse this? Once upon a time (a year or two ago) the Timberwolves had a young nucleus that (we thought) some great veteran would want to join. That veteran turned out to be the worst human being in all of sports. So, who next? What difference-maker is going to join Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins now? Who would possibly take Andrew Wiggins in trade now? The Wolves have 4 point guards. Does that mean they don't have a point guard who can win in the NBA? Can the right coach coax an extra 10 wins out of these guys? Who would that be?

Frankly, one might wish that this utterly inglorious season had gone a lot worse than it has. As it is, it is only going to get the Wolves an 11th pick in the draft. After 2 overall #1 picks and a momentary rush of hope, the Wolves now have more questions than answers and little or no reason to think 2020 will be any better. Moving Andrew Wiggins is not going to get you a difference-maker. Moving Karl Towns, maybe, if what you have in mind is to remake the Wolves into a completely different kind of team than they are today. That may be the only hope for immediate improvement.

And so, as we think about our 2019 season awards for Player, Team, Coach and Game of the Year, Karl-Anthony Towns would have to be regarded as worthy of consideration. The rest of the Timberwolves and their season, not so much.

Norm Grow (1940-2012)

NOTE: This piece has been updated on the occasion of Norm Grow's induction into the Minnesota High School Basketball Hall of Fame on March 26, 2019. Everyone wishes that Norm had been here to receive the award himself but Norm Grow passed away back in 1972. He has not been forgotten, however: As this article goes on to say, the 1950s were the 2nd golden age of Minnesota basketball and Norm Grow was unequivocally one of the golden boys who made it so.

So, here is the original article on the occasion of Norm Grow's passing back in 2012, with a couple of corrections.

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Tonight I'm going to be watching Tyus Jones, called by many the greatest Minnesota schoolboy basketball player ever.

This morning I learned that Norm Grow, called by many during his career at Foley High School (class of 1958) the greatest Minnesota schoolboy basketball player ever to that time, had passed away on Saturday.

The 6-5 do-everything player set state records for scoring in a game (70 vs. Holdingford in January 1958), season and career (2,852 points)--records that stood for 47 and 33 years, respectively.

I also remember some 30-35 years ago when Paul McDonald of Chisholm was thought to have set a career rebounding record. Many years later when McDonald's "record" was broken, it was discovered that in fact he had never held it. Norm Grow did, and they hadn't even recorded rebounds his 1st 2 years with the Foley varsity. Grow remains the #5 Minnesota career rebounder today based on just 3 of his 5 years of high school play.

More importantly, Grow's Foley team had a lot of success. His 8th grade team (1954) won its 1st District 19 title ever before losing to Willmar in the Region 5 semis 57-48. Willmar then defeated Mpls. Patrick Henry 60-49 to advance to the state tournament.

Two years later his sophomore team returned to the Region 5 tournament, losing to St. Louis Park 68-59 as Grow scored 39 of Foley's 59 points.

In 1957 Willmar again knocked Foley out of the Region 5 tournament 50-37, holding Grow to just 12 points. Willmar then lost to 2-time state champion (1956-1957) Mpls. Roosevelt 63-59 in the region final.

In Grow's senior year Foley lost to Monticello in District 19.

So Grow never got to play on the state's biggest stage, the state tournament. But of course they played in the toughest region in the state. The Minneapolis City Conference long had been the state's toughest conference and, indeed, Mpls. Washburn and then Roosevelt won state titles in Grow's 9th, 10th and 11th grade seasons. But on top of that, the Lake Conference was emerging at this time and was well on its way to displacing Minneapolis as the state's best. Hopkins had won the state title in 1952 and 1953, Wayzata would win in 1959, and St. Louis Park, Minnetonka and Edina would win 5 more over the next decade. Then on top of that, Willmar had things going during the 1950s as well, making it to the state tournament in 1954 and 1958. You might remember Paul Van Den Einde, who played for Willmar in the 1983 state tournament. Well, that was Paul's dad who out-scored Grow 13-12 in that 1957 Region 5 game.

Sure, Grow's scoring records now have all been eclipsed. Well, not all. His career scoring record stood for 33 years. By comparison, the current record-holder is Kevin Noreen, who scored more than 4,000 points in a career that ended 3 years ago in 2010. Well, his record will stand for about 3 years because it is certain to be broken very soon by Anders Broman of Lakeview Christian. Someone, in turn, will break Broman's record in a lot less than 33 years, ya think?

This isn't meant to make more of Grow's records than what they are. Grow went on to the University of Minnesota with great expectations. This was the first golden age of Minnesota basketball. Williams Arena would be filled to the rafters for the state tournament, and Minnesota high school kids still recently had led Hamline to 3 national championships and had played featured roles with the 7-time professional champion Minnesota Lakers. Ron Johnson and Jon Hagen and then Grow broke the career scoring record in 3 consecutive seasons in 1956, 1957 and 1958.

Grow started for the Gophers during his junior year and a few other times during his Gophers career. But, by the time Grow's career had ended they were saying that Minnesota high school ball was below par, that Minnesota didn't produce Big Ten caliber players. Minnesota would soon begin going out-of-state to recruit players like Lou Hudson and Archie Clark. And, Minnesota fans would ask themselves, if Norm Grow can't be a star in the Big 10, is there anybody here (from Minnesota) who can?

But while his Gopher career wasn't quite what was expected, Grow by all accounts grew up to live a good and productive life as a member of the Twin Cities and Minnesota communities. He is survived by his wife, 4 children and 12 grandchildren. "He would love to be remembered more so as a devoted husband, father and grandfather" than as a high school basketball star, said his oldest son, Derrick Grow.

And, yet, he is of course remembered as a high school basketball star. The Minnesota High School Basketball Hall of Fame inducted Norm as part of its 2nd class ever--2nd only to Ron Johnson among players from the 1950s and, in fact, 3rd only to Johnson and Jim McIntyre among players from the 58 years of single class ball (1913-1970) of Minnesota high school ball.

This was the golden age of Minnesota high school basketball, and Grow was unequivocally one of the golden boys. Thanks for the memories.

"What makes you great will kill you:" Q & A with Ken Novak, Jr.

Ken, I know you played high school ball for your dad here at Lindbergh. Where did you play college ball?

I played at Augsburg. I played for Irv Inniger, and then I tore my ACL and he asked me to coach with him. So I coached with him. It was a lucky deal.

I know you learned a lot from your dad. But, I think you first worked (after Augsburg) as a coach at Blaine, is that right?

Yes, I was assistant coach for three years under a guy named Frank Sheldon, and then I became head coach, and I was head coach there for seven years.

So, then you’re a head coach, now you can do things your way. Who were the coaches who influenced you, how you approached things as a head coach?

It was a little bit of everything. Certainly, my dad was the biggest. What we do (even today) was (what we) started way back then. Though the game has changed a ton, there’s still a lot of things still involved—the ability to compete, the ability to anticipate, being in balance, playing as a team, a lot of the basics are still there. I played for Irv Inniger, and Irv influenced me. Frank Sheldon influenced me. He knew a ton about basketball. He learned under Del Schiffler. He was an assistant coach for Del for a few years at Melrose. 

Now Irv’s a guy who liked to push the ball, I think.

Irv liked to push the ball, he’s a guy that’s a competitor. My dad’s a competitor. He pushed the ball. Most of the ball we’ve played has been up and down. We’re in defend and go, and the years when we don’t defend are generally the years we get beat.

Minnesota is known for playing a little slower pace. Why did you want to go the other way?

I don’t even know. My dad pushed it when we were at Hopkins and it’s just what we’ve always done. You want to get easy buckets. You’re making a mistake if you don’t. You gotta push the ball to do that. Of course, if somebody wants to slow me down, they can slow me down, but then they’re going to have to really slow it down. Then we hope we can prevent them from getting easy buckets. 

We’ve always done it. I think it’s a fun way to play. We like to be aggressive both offensively and defensively. And, generally, people that win are going to be people who are aggressive. Teams that slow it down, once in a while they can pull big upsets and they can win, but seldom do they win it all.

You often hear it said that the defense dictates the tempo and that seems to be especially true today. Defenses weren’t aggressive enough back in the day to do that.

Referees called a different game back then, too. And I would honestly say the opposite. If an offense really wants to slow it down, they can. Kids are so skilled nowadays that you can’t really speed them up if they don’t want to. But we play aggressive defensively and offensively and over, I don’t know how many years it is now, but we average almost 90 points a game, and it’s about 15 points higher than the next team around here. Some of it’s offensively and some of it’s defensively, but it’s very aggressive, which is what we want.

Do kids want to play the running game?

I don’t think that dictates it too much. I don’t think anybody really has a clue. 

About what kids want?

Everybody says they want to run until they have to run, then they don't want to run. They’d rather walk it up, it’s easier. But you gotta push (your opponent) when the team doesn’t want ‘em to push. And we’re trying to get into our offense after pushing, we want to shift the defense and keep them moving, we don’t want the defense to get set. It’s more important to set up your defense than to set up your offense. Most people come out and say, OK, let’s get set up offensively. We don’t need to do that, but we do need to set up defensively. 

On defense, you’ve really got to play as a team. On offense, you just gotta move the ball. If you can move the ball and move your players around on offense, you’re generally going to be decent. But, our kids play a lot of basketball. They play more than anybody else. You’re going to see this (pointing to the open court then going on) every night. You’ll see college coaches here every night, so….

Who are some coaches that you admire, whether they influenced your style or not?

In high school, or…

Any level.

In high school, Ziggy Kauls I thought was a great coach. I thought Bob Brink did a great job. I like the Princeton stuff, John Wooden. I like to look at the European coaches right now. I look at everybody. I like to look at things that are a little different, things that are a little out of the norm, I like to see that. 

Who do you hate to coach against?

I don’t know. I don’t think there’s anybody I hate to coach against. We like to play good teams. We’re going to play the best coaches, because if someone’s good they’re going to call us, they’re going to want to play (us). And once they aren’t any good anymore, then  they don’t want to play. We like good games, we like games that are going to be competitive. 

I think a lot of coaches...everybody has strengths and weaknesses. I have strengths and weaknesses. You take a look at different schools. Who’s really good offensively? Who’s really good at rebounding? Who’s really good defensively? And ultimately you start trying to meld them all together. In college, you’re going to take a look at Izzo for certain things. You’re going to look at Bo Ryan for certain things. So I don’t know if there’s any one that we look at. I read everything.

You know as well as I do that people say Hopkins recruits. You have some kids who don’t live in Hopkins….

But not as many as almost everybody else has….

Sure. To me, kids that are good, and they know that they’re good, they want to play for a great coach and a great program. So kids choose to come here. I shouldn’t say why. Can you tell me why kids come to Hopkins who don’t live here?

I don’t even know if they do. I honestly, I would like to think kids want to play for us, but we lose more kids than we gain. We have kids starting all over the place. They come up through our traveling program and all of a sudden they’re at Osseo, they’re at St. Paul Johnson, all of a sudden Minnetonka’s got 2, 3, 4 starters, and no one wants to talk about that. But it is the nature of the business. 

There were a couple of articles. There was an article by Pat Reusse that talked about all these kids, African-American kids. This was before we really came together as a program. Everyone of them was a Hopkins kid, but he wrote an article about all these kids that transferred in. Well, none of them was a transfer. And, then there was another article. Of course, we’ve won and that causes people to think in a certain fashion. We’ve had kids…. Joe Coleman lived in Minneapolis but he’d been here since second grade. 

I think we treat kids well. We work ‘em hard. We’re tough on them. We’ve got a high standard of what they’ve got to be. I would like to think it’s a good place to play for everybody.

I don’t think (all the talk and accusations) hurt us, I think it helps us because it gives people an excuse if they lose. We played in one state tournament, and seven of the top eight guys from Osseo were open enrollment kids who had moved in. We had one (open enrollment) kid, and did they say anything about Osseo?

I don’t think so.

So it is what it is. 

Do you think kids want to play for Ken Novak?

I don’t know. I would like to think they would, but I’m sure some do, some don’t. 

I think it’s just good basketball. When you think about Minnesota basketball, you think of Hopkins. I will say we’re probably more known nationally than we are even in our own backyard. If you talk to coaches anywhere what programs they can name from Minnesota, they all know Hopkins. We’re a top 15-20 team in the nation in consideration. 

And if a kid comes from Hopkins, he’s going to know certain things?

He’s going to be a good player. He’s going to know how to play the game. And, we push ‘em. Right from the word go, every kid here, you gotta work at it. We’ve got expectations to be really good.

Expectations here are very high. How does that affect what you do?

The expectations are really high, and sometimes that hurts the kids. When you start playing for wins and losses, when you say you’re going to win a state championship…. You should be thinking about this time down the floor, I’m going to get a stop. This time down the floor, I’m going to get a good shot. 

Is it hard to get kids to focus like that?

People are very results oriented. They’re not process oriented. And you have to be process oriented. You have to love the process. You’ve got to learn how to work hard. You have to learn to be disciplined. 

How has summer ball affected things?

Well, we always played a ton of summer ball, we played all the time, 3, 4, 5 days a week, and we’ve been playing all the time. Our open gym here is still the best anywhere in the state. We have 8, 10, 12 D1 players. You’re going to have the best players, so my kids play all summer long against the best players. 

Now, with AAU everybody else’s kids are playing, where it used to be just ours. And everybody has an open gym—to an extent, but not like ours. So, I don’t think it’s really helped us. 

But there’s definitely more specialization in basketball right now. More than anything, that’s what’s changed the game. It used to be kids played football, basketball, baseball. Right now these kids are playing all the time. And it’s not just Hopkins, it’s everywhere. 

If a kid wants to play D1, he better focus.

But sometimes kids don’t learn to compete as much as they should be able to, because they’re just trying to improve their skills. You’ve got to learn how to compete.

Does competing come naturally to kids, or do you have to teach them? With skills it seems obvious, you’ve got to teach that, but how about competing?

I think it’s less natural now, it used to be very natural. Not that many years ago, maybe 20 years ago, a kid would have to wait all year to play ball. Now they’re playing all spring, all summer, all fall, they’re playing games and games and games. And so it isn’t quite as big a deal. I mean, when we played, when you finally got into your season, it was something you waited all year to do, and a sprained ankle wasn’t going to stop you, because you waited so long for it. I’d like to think these guys are that way, too, but I don’t know if they compete quite as much. Culturally it’s different. 

Meaning…

There’s a lot of factors. There were tough kids on the playground, and it was everywhere.

How has the 3 point shot changed things?

I like it. I’m sure my dad told you, he loves it. It spreads the court, it leads to a faster style of game. Big teams don't have a very big advantage. As a matter of fact, they might be disadvantaged right now.

Unless they’re big and mobile.

Unless they’re big and mobile, and then you’re a top 30 kid in the nation. If you’re 6-9 and that’s the case, then you’re a top 30 kid in the nation.

But a guy like Dan VanderVieren, he was a great player, but maybe today he’s a step slow?

No, Dan was a great ballplayer and he’d be a great player today. That wasn’t that long ago. The game hasn’t shifted that much in ten years.

But maybe 20 years ago, that would be 1997. Of course, you had Khalid El-Amin then but he was ahead of his time.

He was an awfully good player. But Danny could play in any era, he was smart, he could pass it, he didn’t need to score. He had great hands for a guy his size, he had great anticipation. Danny was really good and he was a kid who improved so much. 

One issue I see is there’s too much publicity and people start judging people when they’re in junior high. And they start saying, This kid’s the greatest seventh grader, this kid’s the greatest eighth grader. And, you know what? When they really start improving—sophomore year is when it really starts shifting, and that’s where the push comes in. 

Even the open enrollment issue, 90 percent of the kids who came here, nobody knew who they were until they actually made this big push. Like VanderVieren was a good example, his mom came to me sophomore year and I told her to talk to the Eden Prairie coach and go back there. She’ll tell you that’s what I said. And he went back there for another year, and next thing I know (he’s improved tremendously and he’s back at Hopkins).

And Royce (White) had a lot to do with the (criticism we get)…. And we had nothing to do with Royce. I didn’t know he was coming until he was in the school. And we were going to win it with or without him. I mean, we were really good. And that team might have been the best team in the nation. We might have been ranked 3 or 4, but I have a hard time believing anybody could beat us. 

But I think you had better individual players on other teams.

(Shakes his head.)

No?

I don’t think so. I had some really good players (in 2009).

I think of Blake Hoffarber and Siyani Chambers and Joe Coleman and Kris Humphries and Royce White.

Royce was really, really good. Trent Lockett was really good. And those were really tough kids. We really, really defended. We were really good. Did I have some individual players (on other teams that were really good)? Yeah. But the beauty of basketball is they’ve all got to play together. You can have a great player…. Today in the state of Minnesota, everybody’s…you realize how many high-level D1 players are coming out of here like this year?

But they don’t guarantee team success like in the old days, if you had a Mark Olberding or somebody like that, you were going to win.

Back in the day, before the three-point line, if you had two kids that were…. In order to win, you needed two kids over 6-7.

And someone who could pass ‘em the ball.

But the kids who passed them the ball didn’t have to be that great.

No, not like they do now.

Someone who could get the ball up the floor. It was very much more of a methodical game. 

Who are the top 2 or 3 players you’ve coached?

We’ve had a lot of good basketball players. Kris Humphries is one of the best, if not the best. Kris was an unbelievable rebounder, he was so natural at it, his hands were so good. It was almost scary how he could rebound. When the ball went up, it got to the point where no one else was going to get a rebound. He was a kid who made such an improvement. He didn't play his sophomore year. He got hurt and he only played like three games. He improved so drastically.

Royce White was awfully, awfully good. I only coached him for one year. He was such an unselfish player, maybe the most unselfish player I ever coached. When we won it, he scored about 14 ppg, and it didn’t bother him one bit. But we could always go to him.

Blake Hoffarber was a special kid. Joe Coleman. Siyani Chambers. They’re all a little different. I’d like to make a team, how about that? If I could put that team together.

Would that team be the five best players?

Not necessarily. 

At crunch time, who would you want to have the ball in his hands?

Oh, man. (Changes the subject.) The best defensive guard was Marcus Williams. I had a kid named Tyler Nicolai that, when he played for me, he was 5-foot-6, 121 pounds. But he was very quick, he could shoot it, very unselfish. 

And Siyani Chambers. Nobody ever thought he would be as good as he became. I remember people telling me he wasn’t going to be any good. But I thought the best player on that team was Zach Stahl. He was a smart player. He could score easily. A very efficient player. 

But most of the time, the best team has the best players, because if they’re really the best players, they’re unselfish. And they’re well-rounded. We want them to be able to shoot. We want them to be able to post up. We want them to be able to put the ball on the floor. We want them to be able to rebound. We want them to be able to do many things.

There isn’t as much difference between a D1 player and a D3 player as people think. They think that D1 guys are all Luke Skywalker, but that’s not the way it works. Blake Hoffarber wasn’t the most athletic, he wasn’t Luke Skywalker. But his attention to detail was phenomenal, and his ability to understand the flow of the game was phenomenal. You have to understand the flow. 

I’d like to think that our kids would make great coaches. Siyani Chambers is going to be a fabulous coach. When you see him out there orchestrating things….

I always thought he was a little underrated, and most of your kids are not underrated.

Sometimes they do get a little overrated. But, I had a kid named D.J. Peterson, he went out to LaSalle. No one wanted him. Siyani, no one wanted him. Northern Illinois was about the only one that offered him. And Jeff Hagen, I had to talk the U into giving him a ride, but he had to walk on. He ended up being second team all-Big Ten. Zach Puchtel. They said he wouldn’t play. I said, he’ll start for you. Because he knew how to play. He knew how to compete.

Returning to the three-point shot: Back when they put it in, they said, we want to open it up for the low post, but it didn’t work out that way. The low post is kind of gone.

It’s less of a factor but part of it is defensively. They’re allowing so much pushing and shoving in the post that…. It used to be if you were tall like Randy Breuer, big and tall…. But now you just get shoved right out of there. And it’s true in college, and it’s true in the pros. I mean, our game kind of follows the way they referee.

Do you think there’s too much contact?

I don’t know. I like contact. I don’t mind it. The problem is it gets really hard to call when you start letting it go. What do you call, what don’t you call, what are you gonna let go by? 

But part of that is the offense going at people. They handle the ball so well, they allow you to put your hand on the side of the ball and even underneath. In the old days you had to be right on top, you couldn’t just go right by people, but now you can. And now they allow the big jump stop, you didn’t used to be able to do that. And because of that, they could call a foul every time down the floor, but that doesn’t work. The game has shifted. And I like it, it’s become an athletic game, it’s become a very smart game. Strength is a really big factor.

And that’s another thing that hurts the big kids. Most of them don’t get strong until two years into college. We've got Joe (7-0 post Hedstrom), he’s a junior, and he’s going to be good when he’s a junior in college. But I like the three-point, it has spread the game, it probably allows a lot of kids to play the game who probably wouldn’t be able to play the game otherwise. Passing has become more important because of it. If a kid can pass the ball, he can play for me.

It’s one thing to attack, and it’s another thing to be able to attack while seeing out front and seeing behind. 

But, my biggest pet peeve is kids who dribble too much, which happens nowadays because they’re working so much on their skills. The one thing they’ve got to work more on…everything ebbs and flows, and for awhile shooting was really stressed. Now ball-handling is really stressed and kids can really handle it, but shooting in some aspects has gone down a little bit.

You make a good point that the defenses are a lot more physical but so are the offenses.

The offense causes the defense to get more physical just because there is no choice. Kids are more athletic. It’s not that there weren’t good athletes then, but because the game is played differently, it’s developed different types of skills. But it’s a great game. And if you’re going to win, you’ve got to get physical.

Who are the best Minnesota high school players that you’ve seen?

I think Mark Olberding was one of the best I’ve ever seen. Khalid El-Amin was definitely one of the best I’ve seen. There’ve been a lot of really good players. I don’t think a lot of people realize. Even back in the ‘70s there were some loaded, loaded teams. The beauty of it is you watch it and you go, okay, this is just a little bit better….

But, you just can’t even compare (the 1970s to today) because it’s just such a different game. It's like tennis, where you have the different rackets, and you just can’t compare.

But basketball’s not like golf where the clubs and different, the ball’s different…. In basketball you’ve just got a hoop and a ball, and they’re not any different. It’s the kids that are different.

The kids are different. If you take the kids today and put them back in the 1980s, can (he 1980s kids) compete? No. That’s why you have to change as you coach. The problem with the Bob Knights of the world…. What made Bob Knight great was that what he did, he did it so well. There was no bending. You’re just going to do it. And that’s what made him so great. It was such a structure, what they did. It’s what made them great. But it’s also what made them no good (later on) because they couldn’t shift from that. 

As a coach you have to have a little bit of both. You have to have a commitment to what you do, and that’s the most important, but, with the way the game is shifting, you have to be able to make that change, that what made you great will kill you. You have to understand that.

It’s like…ten years ago ball screens would happen now and again. There were more ball screens in my day. But now everything is ball screens. And if you can’t defend a ball screen, you’re getting beat. And if I don’t run a lot of ball screens, then we’re not going to be able to defend it. Are we going to do it as much? I don’t know. It depends on what we have. But practice-wise, we have to be able to do it. It’s become a fundamental skill.

I was talking to your dad about some of the old time coaches like Butsie Maetzold, and people say, “He was a tough son-of-a-bitch.” And Harvey Roels--“He was a tough son-of-a-bitch.” They were the drill sergeant. One upon a time, it seems like coaches were all drill sergeants. Are you a drill sergeant?

It’s a combination. As I get older, I’m less of one. When I first started coaching, I think I was a much meaner, tougher coach, and I think I was better in some ways. I was less compromising. 

When I think of the drill sergeant model, the fundamental relationship was that you were afraid to make a mistake. If you made a mistake, you were going to get your ass chewed.

Yeah, and that’s not us. I contend that the team that ends up making the most mistakes is going to be the best team. The team that makes the most mistakes at the beginning of the year is going to end up being the best team.

As long as they’re attacking mistakes.

As long as they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing. And you have to…. If we err, we let them shoot too much. If we err, we let them attack too much. You have to fail before you can succeed. And you’re right and that was part of the way basketball was. Dean Smith and John Wooden are my favorite coaches, and Dean Smith always said, We discipline them in practice, and then we let them play. 

I tell my kids, if I call time out, I’m going to be pissed. We shouldn’t have to call timeout. For me to call timeout to tell you that you should guard somebody that’s right in front of you? Then I haven’t done my job in the first place. They have to coach themselves. It’s all about them coaching themselves. And then we’re going to let them go, and that’s what we need to do. I want them to be coaches (on the floor).

It’s their game, but it’s your practice.

I love practice. I love the orchestration. Basketball is like a concert. Its ebb and flow. In a concert, you may have a great violinist, but to have a great orchestra, you need all the different instruments. But you can’t have someone going off on their own. You can’t have someone being louder than everybody else. That’s the beauty of basketball. It’s an ever-moving, flowing game. And that’s why I like to see it sped up so much because when it does it adds more orchestration to it. 

And that’s why in basketball momentum becomes the most important thing there is. Kids have to know what momentum is, they have to judge momentum, they have to feel things going their way. Coaches call time out to stop momentum. But our kids better be able to know—they’ve scored two buckets, they’ve scored three buckets, now we better be able to get one.

How long are you going to do this?

I don’t know. My dad loves it more than I do. I like it, but he loves it. I enjoy practice, he loves everything about it. I tend to be a little more introverted. 

You’re pretty demonstrative on the sideline, though. You’re up on your feet, you’re yelling at people.

I yell, but some of my kids will tell you I don’t yell. I never berate someone, even an official. I may disagree with them. I think officials have more control of the game than even they realize and than most people realize. As you coach longer, you start realizing how much the officials…. How different they can be. I don’t mean to criticize them, it's tough. 

Do you feel like you have influence over the officials during a game?

No. As a matter of fact, sometimes I think it goes the other way. 

But I’ll be in it for a few years here still. I’m still pitching.

MN High School Basketball Hall of Fame 2nd Annual Induction March 26, 2019

NOTE: Here is an article that has been revised in the aftermath of the 2nd Annual Induction held last Tuesday, March 26, 2019. What I wanted to add was this. It has been an incredible honor for me to be involved in the Hall of Fame. I say that because I was a lifelong basketball fan--not a coach, not a journalist. I never got to meet the coaches and players whom I watched play the game until, well, it's been 20 years now, when I became self-employed and master of my own schedule. I started blogging about high school basketball and the rest is history.

So I've had the honor and the pleasure of getting to know many players and coaches and parents, etc. etc., over the past 5-10-20 years, and it has been a great, enriching experience. Previously, the kinds of player who we've inducted into the Hall of Fame were icons, people on pedestals. Now, they're actual human beings. Kenny Novak, Jr., whom lots of people dislike because his team enjoys a little too much success, turns out to be a wonderfully nice man! Who knew! And this past week I got to meet the family of Edina great, Bob Zender. And, trust me, I was class of 1968. I hated Edina as much as the next guy. But, my goodness, what a wonderful family. What nice people! And that gives one the sense that Bob Zender must also have been a really good, nice man, who passed on to his sons the right kinds of values and humility.

So, the Hall of Fame has been a great experience for me. I mean, you should have heard Ed Prohofsky talk about the process of bringing adapted athletics for students with disabilities into the family of MSHSL sports. All Minnesotans should take pride in this, but the fact is it happened a lot sooner because of Ed Prohofsky.

But, anyway, here's the point. The 29 inductees to the Hall of Fame over the course of 2 seasons are no longer icons on a distant pedestal. They're real human beings. And their legacies is not just that they were great basketball players or coaches or whatever. It is that they are wonderful human beings with families and friends who love them. That is their legacy.

------------------------------
In case you haven't heard, Minnesota now has a High School Basketball Hall of Fame. There are other Halls of Fame, of course. 2019 inductee Ed Prohofsky is in 5 other Halls of Fame. But there has never been a Hall of Fame dedicated to Minnesota high school players (though the Hall of Fame does elect coaches, as well, and teams and other contributors).

The 2nd annual induction will be held Tuesday March 26 at 4 p.m. at the Marriott City Center Ballroom in downtown Minneapolis. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $25. From there, the Hall of Famers, at least, will head down to the Target Center, where they will be introduced on the floor at halftime of the Timberwolves game.

The Class of 2019 includes (you can get more information about the inductees and all the other festivities at mnhsbasketballhall.com.).

Bob Brink...Bob Bruggers...Mike Dreier...Norm Grow...Hal Haskins...Ronnie Henderson...Tracy Henderson...Kris Humphries...Aileen Just (Luther)...Coco Miller...Kelly Miller...Ken Novak, Jr....Ed Prohofsky...Kelly Skalicky...Bob Zender.

The Class of 2018 was Randy Breuer...Edgerton 1960...Khalid El-Amin...Myron Glass...Grand Meadow Girls 1929-1939...Ron Johnson...Janet Karvonen...Bob McDonald...Kevin McHale...Dorothy McIntyre...Jim McIntyre...Mark Olberding...Faith Johnson Patterson...Lindsay Whalen.

The Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization. In addition to an annual induction, the Hall also operates 3 basketball events: an AAU club tournament in April...a summer high school invitational in July... and a winter high school basketball classic in January. Next January 18, 2020, they will hold 6 games at Anoka-Ramsey CC, 3 boys and 3 girls, including (Boys) East Ridge, Eden Prairie, Hibbing, Hopkins, Park Center and Rochester Mayo and (Girls) Hopkins, Lakeville North, Mountain Iron-Buhl, Sauk Centre, St. Michael-Albertville and Stillwater. Again, there's more information on the Web site.

Boys State Tournament by the Numbers

Top Scorers

Class AAAA--Steven Crowl 68 Zeke Nnaji 62 Drake Dobbs 58 Kerwin Walton 53 Tyler Wahl 45

Class AAA--Medi Obang 82 J'Vonne Hadley 80 Jamison Battle 75 Malik Willingham 71 Andrew Morgan 63

Class AA--Jalen Suggs 65 Preston Keaveny 58 Nathan Heise 57 Chet Holmgren 53 Camden Berger 52

Class A--Isaac Fink 88 Decker Scheffler 67 Mason Miller 59 Sam Fisher 57 Alex Folk 56. Fink's 88 points are the most since J.P. Macura's 97 in 2014. Fink scored 30, 23 and 35.

Top Rebounders

Class AAAA--Tyler Wahl 44 Dane Zimmer 43 Zeke Nnaji 31 Dain Dainja 27 Steven Crowl 25. Wahl's 44 boards is not even close to the record of 69, which has stood from 1964 to the present, or for 56 years now. It is one of the oldest records in the state tournament record book.

Class AAA--Jon Stimmler 42 Andrew Morgan 31 J'Vonne Hadley 30 Tyrell Terry 24 Malik Willingham 23 Kyreese Willingham 23

Class AA--Chet Holmgren 37 Josh Jeziorski 32 Jalen Suggs 26 Riley Fischer 26 Davon Townley 26

Class A--Isaac Fink 38 Mason Miller 36 Trevor Morrison 32 Decker Scheffler 32 Parker Freeburg 27

Top Assists

Class AAAA--Drake Dobbs 13 Dane Zimmer 12 Henry Abraham 12 (2 games) Jared Rainey 11 (2 games) Tyler Wahl 11

Class AAA--Tyrell Terry 25 Charles Johnson 25 J'Vonne Hadley 17 Malik Willingham 17 Kyreese Willingham 11 Tate Laabs 11. Terry and Johnson's 25 is just 5 short of the tournament record of 30 held by Bryce Tesdahl, now East Ridge coach, then Crosby-Fronton point guard.

Class AA--Jalen Suggs 21 Jake Wohlers 10 Eli Campbell 9 Nathan Heise 8 Chet Holmgren 8 Jensen Beach 8

Class A--Andrew Quade 21 Isaac Fink 19 Sam Fisher 17 Cade Goggleye 15 Decker Scheffler 15

Top Blocks

Class AAAA--Tyler Wahl 10 Dain Dainja 7 Dane Zimmer 6 Ben Carlson 4 Ariel Bland 4 Zeke Nnaji 4

Class AAA--Kyreese Willingham 8 Spencer Konecne 6 (2 games) Jon Stimmler 5 Andrew Morgan 5 Dongrin Deng 3 Cole Chapman 3 Jalen Travis 3

Class AA--Chet Holmgren 20 Finn Diggins 4 Eli Campbell 2 Nathan Heise 2 Reagan Nelson 2. The tournament record book does not list a record for blocks, but Holmgren's total has to be close. The state record for blocks in a single game is 22. Holmgren's biggest game was 10.

Class A--Mason Miller 12 Parker Freeburg 7 Mitchell Buerkle 5 Caden Grinde 3 McCaleb Alleman 3

Top Steals

Class AAAA--Emmanuel Tamba 10 Drake Dobbs 9 Dane Zimmer 8 Ben Carlson 7 Tyler Wahl 7

Class AAA--Medi Obang 17 J'Vonne Hadley 12 Agwa Nywesh 11 Charles Johnson 9 Max Gerstner 9. The tournament record book also does not list a record for steals, either for a tournament game or for a tournament. The state record for the regular season is 18 by Cade Goggleye who of course played in this tournament with North Woods and finished 2nd for the 3rd straight year. He managed only 6 steals in 3 games this year.

Class AA--Eli Campbell 13 Nasir El-Amin 7 Jalen Suggs 7 Preston Keaveny 6 Jensen Beachy 6

Class A--Sam Fisher 12 Micah Pocernich 9 Ethan Mischke 9 Andrew Quade 7 McCaleb Alleman 7

Commentary

Class AAAA

Tyler Wahl is the only player in any class to make all 5 lists. Needless to say, he made all-tournament. Dane Zimmer was one of just 4 players in all classes to make 4 lists. He made all-tournament. Zeke Nnaji and Drake Dobbs made 3 and made all-tournament. Steven Crowl, Dain Dainja and Ben Carlson made 2 lists. Carlson did not make the all-tournament team. The committee went with the East Ridge senior Courtney Brown over the juniors Carlson and Kendall Brown. I would have preferred Kendall over his older brother. Courtney outscored Kendall 44-43, but Kendall outdid Courtney in every other category. Still, I would have kept both Courtney and Kendall, and I would have dropped Jack Rusch.

Rusch did make a little bit of history by becoming as far as I'm aware the 3rd player ever to make all-tournament without starting a game for his team.

Class AAA

In Class AAA, J'Vonne Hadley made 4 of the 5 lists; Andrew Morgan, Malik Willingham and Kyreese Willingham all made 3 lists, and all 4 made all tournament. Tyrell Terry, Medi Obang, Jon Stimmler and Charles Johnson made 2 lists and half of them--the first half--made all-tournament.

I would have picked Stimmler over teammate Adam Williams if necessary, but in truth I would have picked them both. I would also have picked Charles Johnson. This is in fact an almost bizarre case. Consider that for Holy Angels, Charles Johnson had 28 points, 20 rebounds, 25 assists and 9 steals. He did not make all-tournament. Certainly, 28 is not a lot of points but 25 assists ties for #1 across the entire tournament.In total, he accounted for 82 "things." Also, for Holy Angels, Emmett Johnson, just a 9th grader, had 58 points, just 6 rebounds, but 10 assists, 2 blocks and 7 steals, for a total of 83 things. finally, Matt Banovetz amassed 89 things including 60 points and 21 rebounds. Meanwhile, Holy Angels' Max Gerstner racked up, well, 49 things, and made all-tournament. I saw Holy Angels twice. Granted, I did not see their 2nd game when Gerstner scored, well, 4 points. But this was shocking, not just because Gerstner seems like such a marginal choice, but because not one but 3 of his teammates had better tournaments.

When all is said and done in Class AAA, I wouldn't have picked Kameron Givens of DeLaSalle, or Kyreese Willingham of Waseca, or Gerstner. I would have kept Adam Williams of Princeton, however, but I would have added Stimmler of Princeton, and Charles Johnson of Holy Angels. For DeLaSalle, I preferred Jalen Travis to go along with Terry and Battle.

Class AA

Jalen Suggs and Chet Holmgren made 4 lists for Minnehaha, Nathan Heise of Lake City and Eli Campbell of North made 3, and Preston Keaveny of Melrose and Jensen Beachy of Perham made 2. All but Beachy made all-tournament. Campbell had a tough tournament shooting, scoring in 3 state tournament games just the 17 points he usually scores in each game but he piled up the assists and steals. Beachy and teammates Josh Jeziorski and Finn Diggins could all make a strong case for all-tournament honors. The committee chose Diggins.

I thought Esko deserved a little all-tournament love after pushing North down to the wire, though they lost to Keaveny and Melrose in the 5th place game. I guess I would have picked Trevor Spindler of Esko ahead of Campbell, and in the end I would stick with Diggins for Perham. Ten was a very difficult cutoff among these players.

Class A

4 players made 3 of the top 5s. They include Sam Fischer of state champion Henning, plus Isaac Fink and Decker Scheffler of Springfield, and Mason Miller of Ada. All 4 made all-tournament, and so they should. The 3 who made 2 of the lists--Parker Freeburg and Andrew Quade of Westbrook-Walnut Grove, and McCaleb Alleman of CHOF--did not. Freeburg, a 6-7 post, did the traditional post things with 41 points, 27 boards and 7 blocks. Quade, a 6-0 guard, did the guard stuff with 21 assists and 7 steals. Alleman, a 6-1 forward, had the odd combo of blocks and steals. CHOF lost 2 games and probably didn't deserve an all-tournament pick. WWG won one game and any one of 3 of its players played well enough to make all-tournament.

It would take a real curmudgeon to object to a player from a championship team being all-tournament, but Henning won with terrific balance, and one of WWG's players might belong on the all-tournament team ahead of Henning's Isaac Fisher. I guess I'd say Freeburg.


All-Tournament

So my 1st all-tournament team regardless of class would be as follows.

Center--Chet Holmgren, Minnehaha, 7-0, sophomore, 53 points, 37 rebounds, 8 assists, 20 blocks, 5 steals

Power Forward--Zeke Nnaji, Hopkins, 6-11, senior, 62 points, 31 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks, 5 steals

Wing--Tyler Wahl, Lakeville North, 6-7, senior, 45 points, 44 rebounds, 11 assists, 10 blocks, 7 steals

Point Guard--Tyrell Terry, DeLaSalle, 6-3, senior, guard, 56 points, 24 rebounds, 25 assists, 2 blocks, 3 assists

Combo Guard--Jalen Suggs, Minnehaha, 6-4, junior, guard, 65 points, 26 rebounds, 21 assists, 1 block, 7 steals.

Overall Tournament MVP--Zeke Nnaji.


2nd Team

Center--Dain Dainja, Park Center, 6-10, junior, 41 points, 27 rebounds, 3 assists, 7 blocks, 3 steals.

Power Forward--Dane Zimmer, Hopkins, 6-8, senior, 26 points, 43 rebounds, 12 assists, 6 blocks, 6 steals.

Forward--Steven Crowl, Eastview, 6-10, junior, 68 points, 25 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals.

Point Guard--Isaac Fink, Springfield, 6-4, senior, 88 points, 38 rebounds, 19 assists, 4 steals.

Shooting Guard--Medi Obang, Austin, 6-0, senior, 82 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 17 steals.


3rd Team

Center--Jon Stimmler, Princeton, 6-7, senior, 48 points, 42 rebounds, 9 assists, 5 blocks, 3 steals.

Power Forward--Andrew Morgan, Waseca, 6-8, sophomore, 63 points, 31 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 blocks, 1 steal.

Snall Forward--J'Vonne Hadley, Mahtomedi, 6-6, junior, 80 points, 30 rebounds, 17 assists, 8 blocks, 12 steals.

Point Guard--Sam Fisher, Henning, 5-10, senior, 57 points, 15 rebounds, 17 assists, 1 block, 12 steals.

Combo Guard--Malik Willingham, Waseca, 6-2, senior, 51 points, 23 rebounds, 17 assists, 2 blocks, 6 steals.


5 Players Who Should Have Made All-Tournament and Did Not

Center--Stimmler

Power Forward--Jalen Travis, DeLaSalle, 6-7, junior, 34 points, 20 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks, 3 steals.

Small Forward--Trevor Spindler, Esko, 6-0, senior, 50 points, 18 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 3 steals.

Point Guard--Kendall Brown, East Ridge, 6-7, sophomore, 43 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 blocks, 3 steals.

Shooting Guard--Emmett Johnson, Holy Angels, 5-9, freshman, 58 points, 6 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 blocks, 7 steals.


The Baby Boom--Sophomores and Younger

Center--Holmgren

Power Forward--Morgan

Small Forward--Kyreese Willingham, Waseca, 6-4, sophomore, 35 points, 23 rebounds, 12 assists, 8 blocks, 7 steals.

Point Guard--Kendall Brown

Shooting Guard--Emmett Johnson


2nd Team Diaper Dandies

Center--Davon Townley, Mpls. North, 6-7, sophomore, 34 points, 26 rebounds, 1 assists, 2 steals.

Power Forward--Elvis Ohagwu Nnaji, Hopkins, 6-9, freshman, DNP. Just be forewarned.

Forward--Prince Aligbe, Minnehaha, 6-5, freshman, 46 points, 23 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks.

Point Guard--Donovan Smith, Minnehaha, 5-9, freshman, 10 points.

Combo Guard--Ryan Dufault, Waseca, 6-0, sophomore, 36 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal.

Boys Small Town Champion?

So, the question of the day is, Who is the small town boys basketball champion of Minnesota? Not the small school champion, the small town champion. There are 3, maybe 4, possibilities, the way I see it.

• Henning made its claim with its easy 67-34 (over Spring Grove) and 67-42 (over North Woods) wins in the semis and finals of the Class A tournament.

• Lake City staked a claim, too, with its 51-47 win over Perham for 3rd place in Class AA. What used to be the small town tournament is no longer that, what with the metro all-stars at Minnehaha and Mpls. North playing for the championship. Esko might have had a claim, too, with its narrow 8-point loss to North, but then the Eskomoes lost to Melrose (who had lost to Lake City) in the 5th place game. So it's got to be Lake City in AA.

• Then, you've got to consider Waseca since the other AAA finalist, DeLaSalle, clearly does not come from a small town.

• Finally, I guess you could ask whether anybody in Class AAAA represents a small town.

So, all of this raises a second question. What is a small town? Well, here's what a small town is not. It's not a town in Hennepin or Ramsey County, or anywhere in the 7-county metro area, for that matter. Secondly, it's not a town with 10,000 people or more. Those aren't "small." And, well, some of you may not agree, but in my book it's not a county seat. Relative to the surrounding terrain, at least, a county seat is not truly "small." It's got stuff that other towns don't have, it's got government buildings and courts and like that.

So if you accept my idea of a small town, or even if you don't because this is my blog, here are the small towns that played in the state tournament this year.

Class AAAA--none. Cambridge is a county seat.

Class AAA--Princeton. Waseca is a county seat and Monticello is over 10,000. Surprisingly, Princeton also has a population of less than 5,000 while Waseca is in the 9,000s and Monticello more than 12,000. Even Cambridge is only 8,000.

Class AA--surprisingly, only Esko, Lake City, Melrose and Perham. St. Peter and Redwood are county seats. Lake City finished 3rd so they're the best small town in AA.

Class A--Cromwell, Henning, North Woods (town of Cook), Spring Grove, Springfield and Westbrook-Walnut Grove (both are small towns). Ada is a county seat. Henning won in Class A. They're the best small town in A.

So how can you go about sorting out Princeton, Lake City and Henning?

Princeton didn't play anybody that wasn't AAA or AAAA and went 27-5 (.844). Lake City went 4-1 vs. Class AAA and AAAA (.800) and 24-2 (.923) vs. AA and A. Henning did not play anybody that was AAA or AAAA (.000) and went 31-1 vs. Class A and AA (.969).

QRF, of course, likes Princeton with a rating of 233. Lake City is at 181 and Henning at 129. But, that probably doesn't mean anything. If QRF does anything, it spaces out the 4 classes so that it can penalize schools that play down. But, being honest, everybody knows that sometimes, teams can win playing up a class. AAA is not that much better than AA. AA is not that much better than A.

Henning is a truly great Class A champion, winning 3 games by an average of 65-44 while shooting 50 percent and outscoring their opponents an average of 28-11 off turnovers. Does that mean they could beat Lake City? Yeah, it does. They could. But, they'd be giving up 2-3 inches at every position. They would have to force a lot of turnovers, and in fact Lake City had just 27 turnovers in 3 games including one against the Minnehaha all-stars. Not particularly turnover-prone or anything. And Lake City shot 48 percent, and 40 percent from 3-point range. So, yes, Henning could beat Lake City, and Lake City pretty obviously could beat Henning.

But, could either one beat Princeton? Having just watched Lake City win its 3rd place game and Princeton lose its 3rd place game to Austin, they answer is no. Austin outran and out jumped Princeton, but Princeton was in it inside of 4 minutes. They just couldn't get any stops like they did against Mahtomedi in the 1st round.

So, while Henning is clearly the best small town team relative to its class, a round robin tournament consisting of Henning, Lake City and Princeton would be won by Princeton, the best small-town team in Minnesota. If they had a tournament for small town teams representing communities outside the metro, with a population under 10,000 and not a county seat, Princeton would be the winner.

And the top 5 players in this tournament from small town teams:

Center--Jon Stimmler, Princeton, 6-7, Sr.
Forward--Reid Gastner, Lake City, 6-4, Jr.
Point Guard--Sam Fisher, Henning, 5-10, Sr.
Shooting Guard--Adam Williams, Princeton, 6-1, Sr.
Shooting Guard--Isaac Fink, Springfield, 6-4, Sr.

Hopkins, Lakeville North to Meet Again for AAAA Title

Hopkins romped. Lakeville North survived. The result is a rubber match. A 3rd meeting for the state title in recent years between these 2 Class AAAA heavyweights. In 2014, #2 seed Lakeville North (27-5) shocked #1 seed Hopkins (30-2) 84-82 in the final as J.P. Macura torched the Royals for 43 points and the Panthers wiped out a 5 point deficit in the final 50 seconds. 2 years later Hopkins got revenge in the final 64-55 as Amir Coffey scored 19 points. Of course, there's also that little matter of Lakeville North's upset of Hopkins in the 1st round in 2015. The unseeded Panthers knocked off the #3 seeded Royals 65-61 after breaking away from a 58-all tie. Lakeville then lost to champion Apple Valley and settled for 4th place.

Still, with this being the 3rd title matchup between the red and the blue, I would still call this a rubber match.

Lakeville North 47 Park Center 45

The 1st semi-final was 2 games, as Park Center coach James Ware was quick to point out. North ran out to leads of 16-2 and 24-4 and "won" the 1st half 31-14. Park Center ground out a 31-16 "win" in the 2nd half that left it 2 points short at the final buzzer. So, it was 2 games in that each team "won" one half, but also in that a least one team was running in the 1st half. Neither team did much of that in the 2nd.

Both coaches credited their success to their defense. In the 1st half, North consistently beat the Park Center offense down the floor so that the Pirates faced a defense that was set up just the way coach John Oxton wanted it. There were no open looks and, as a result, Park Center shot 4-of-22 (18 percent). Lakeville also did a great job on the boards, as coach Oxton pointed out, grabbing 16 defensive rebounds and limiting the Pirates to 5 offensive boards. Lakeville won the battle in the paint 12-6, on 2nd chancers 5-0, and on the fast break 9-4. Even then Park Center won the battle off turnovers if just 7-5.

This one thing--points off turnovers--turned out to be the big preview of the 2nd half. Park Center shot a lot better but still only 11-of-26. Lakeville shot a lot worse. 30 percent vs. 48 percent in the 1st, and 2-of-8 from the line. But the big story was 15 Lakeville turnovers, 6 of them on steals by Emmanuel Tamba, who also had 3 in the 1st half, for a total of 9. (There is no state tournament record for steals. This has to be in the ballpark.) Park Center enjoyed a 12-2 edge in points off turnovers, but it wasn't quite enough.

Down 38-15 at 16:01, Park Center got it within 20 for good at 40-22 at 13:38 on a Tamba layup. They got it inside 10 for good at 45-36 at 7:28 on a 3 by Tommy Chatman. They got within 5 for good only with 51 ticks on the clock at 47-43 on a 2+1 by Khari Broadway. 2 missed 1-and-1 FT and a turnover by Lakeville led to another Tamba layup at 17 seconds. 2 more missed FT by North gave the Pirates one last chance. Coach James Ware said, "We don't have a single play in our offense designed for Emmanuel to score," and so on this final play Tamba drove into the lane expecting somebody to lay off his man to help out. He would then dish it to whoever's man was helping or to Dain Dainja, "but nobody left their man," Tamba said, "and I had to take the shot." It missed at the buzzer.

Tamba finished with 16 and those 9 steals. Dainja eventually got off 8 heavily contested shots, making 5 for 11 points plus 11 boards. Tamba had 8 in each half, while Dainja got 9 of his 11 in the 2nd. Tommy Jensen led Lakeville with 16 points, 11 on 3-of-4 3s in the 1st half. Tyler Wahl added 11 plus 15 boards, 5 assists and 3 blocked shots, but he also had 6 turnovers in the 2nd half.

Hopkins  East Ridge

The 2nd AAAA semi-final was just one game. For East Ridge it was one long long game of wheel spinning against an aggressive Hopkins defense. It was pretty even early on as the Hopkins offense struggled to. The Royals made just 1-of-3 3s, and led 26-24. But it was already 20-10 Hopkins in the paint, and the Royals' 6-11 Zeke Nnaji had darn near-outscored East Ridge's 3 big guys--6-10 Ben Carlson, 6-7 Kendall Brown and 6-6 Courtney Brown--all by himself (13 to 15). Hopkins was shooting 44 percent, East Ridge 35. East Ridge stayed close by making 4 3s to Hopkins' 1.

When Hopkins started swinging the ball to the other side, said coach Ken Novak, Jr., it opened everything up and the Royals shot 19-of-26 (73 percent) in the 2nd half. East Ridge actually improved to 36 percent but it was far from good enough. Hopkins led by 10 at the 10 minute mark, 20 (65-45) a minute later, and as many as 26 at 71-45. The final was 71-47.

Ken Novak, Jr., had said several times this year that this Hopkins team didn't defend like the Hopkins teams of old. Maybe not well enough to win a state championship. Tell it to East Ridge.

Zeke Nnaji was a man among boys, scoring 23 points with 10 rebounds, 3 assists, a block and a steal. Kerwin Walton, Andy Stafford and Jalen Dearring all scored in double figures, and Nnaji and Dane Zimmer were in double figures in boards. East Ridge had just 4 more turnovers than Hopkins, and yet the Royals led in points off turnovers 19-6. They were a lot better at converting their fast break opportunities. Similarly, East Ridge actually had 8 offensive boards to 6 for Hopkins, yet Hopkins led in 2nd chance points, 10-4. East Ridge couldn't convert much of anything inside, and its wasn't any different just because they grabbed an offensive board or 2.

The Outlook

I had picked Park Center and Hopkins, each by 2, and then Park Center by 1. But, today, Lakeville North won by 2, Hopkins by 24. Gotta go with Hopkins, right? Well, right. Lakeville has OK size, but nobody in Minnesota right now is as strong as Zeke Nnaji when he wants to be. North has the quickness to run with Hopkins better than East Ridge, but it doesn't have the size to stay with Zeke Nnaji. Hopkins by 10.

Austin vs. Waseca, or the Revenge of 1969

You gotta remember that I'm a southern boy, that is, southern Minny. My dad grew up in Waseca, and I grew up in Faribault. As has become common again these past few years, the Austin Packers used to kick the shit out of everybody, all the time. It was always rumored that if any kid within 30 miles of Austin showed great athletic prowess, his dad would somehow get a job at Hormel. And so it wasn't just the Packers, Austin Pacelli pounded everybody on the Catholic side, too. Orrie Jirele, longtime Albert Lea coach who passed away a few years ago, but who played his high school ball for Marty Crowe at Pacelli, once told me that those rumors were exactly true and he named names.

So, anyway, fast forward to 2019 with a quick stop-off 50 years earlier, in 1969. Today, Austin played Waseca in a Class AAA semi-final. They're in different sections now. 50 years ago, that wasn't the case. Austin was in old District 2, Waseca in District 4, both in old Region 1. Waseca came into the regional tournament unbeaten and rated #1 in the state of Minnesota behind a 6-9 post named Rolf Iverson. Austin had fallen off its high perch in sports, including basketball, gradually during the 1960s.

But on one night in March 1969, the Packers knocked off the #1 team in the state, Waseca, in that section final. Two nights later, as one or two of you may know, Rochester John Marshall smoked Austin. Meanwhile #2 Duluth East and #3 Moorhead were also beaten in their regionals, and JM went on to win the state title.

OK, the ramblings of an old guy. And, aside from the fact that we're talking Austin and Waseca, today had nothing in common with then. Neither of these teams is rated or seeded #1. But I guess that is similar to 1969 when John Marshall was waiting in the wings. Here it's DeLaSalle. Today's winner gets DeLaSalle in the final and DeLaSalle will probably go on to win. If so, it will be their 7th Class AAA title in 8 years.

Anyway, the ball game. Who's DeLaSalle gonna play in that final, anyway?

Well, Waseca started out well. If one 3 pointer had fallen, they would have been up by 9 at 21-12. But it did not fall, Austin came right back with a 3 to get within 18-15 and it was tighter from there. Austin tied it up at 20, 31 and 34. A Ryan Dufault layup gave Waseca a 36-34 lead. Waseca made 3-of-10 3s (not to mention 12-of-18 2s), but Austin countered with 8-of-18 3s and 4-of-7 2s. Austin puts its eggs in 2 baskets--3s and full-court pressure. The 3s worked. The full court pressure? Waseca excels at spreading the floor and in fact ended up with a 10-2 edge in points of turnovers and an 11-2 edge on the fast break for the 1st half. Waseca's 6-8 sophomore Andrew Morgan scored 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting, mostly from point blank range.

Waseca opened up the 2nd half, again extending their lead to 8 as Morgan scored on another pair of dunks. But Austin kept on shooting and hitting the 3, and took their 1st lead since 6-5 at 45-44, on a Medi Obang 3 (of course) at 13 minutes. Waseca pulled back ahead, but 5 minutes later Austin regained the lead, 54-53, on a Medi Obang 3. Meanwhile, Waseca point guard extraordinaire, their leading scorer, Malik Willingham remained scoreless from the field, right up to the final buzzer. And, so, Austin led again at 59-58 and 62-60.

But, from there, Austin made just 2-of-10 FG while Waseca made 4-of-6 FG and 9-of-13 FT. A pair of Ryan Dufault 3s made it 66-62 Waseca and Austin never recovered. The final was 79-69.

Waseca did this without getting a FG from Malik Willingham. Dufault came up big with 20 2nd-half points including 2-of-3 3s, and a total of 30 points. Morgan was even bigger, except on the scoreboard. He finished with 23 on 11-of-12 shooting, 15 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocked shots almost back-to-back, a 3 and a layup, down the stretch. Kyreese Willingham scored 14 with 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and 3 steals.

Obang scored 28 for Austin, including 6-of-14 3s, with 5 steals. Agwa Nywesh scored 11 with 4 steals.