Call me old fashioned. It came down to 2 games.
• One represented a venerable old rivalry between two 100-year rivals with pretty much everything that they live for at stake.
• The other representing the kind of game that only the 21st century could produce, where the excitement was manufactured by hyperventilating TV announcers and social media influencers, and winning and losing was a side dish. The main dish was the show, the hype, the TV announcers and the TV ratings and the NBA-like atmosphere.
Call me old fashioned. I'll take the Tommies and the Johnnies with the MIAC title and an NCAA tournament bid on the line as my game of the year.
Minnehaha 78 Sierra Canyon, CA 58
The other contender is of course the January 4 matchup of Minnehaha Academy and Sierra Canyon, CA, in the Target Center with a live audience of 16,000 and a national television audience also tuned in. Minnehaha was of course touted, by Minnehaha personnel, it must be said, as the greatest high school basketball team in Minnesota history. They proved to be something less, losing to Cretin 75-66 and Hopkins 92-85 to start 3-2. They finished 22-1, losing only to undefeated Eden Prairie at home 78-64 the rest of the way. Gotta love the headline on swnewsmedia.com after that one. "'Best ever' effort silences 'best ever' talk.'" Well, unfortunately, it didn't totally silence the best ever talk except of course among people who knew whereof they spoke.
Still, my hat is off to 'Haha for moving up from Class AA to Class AAA after 3 straight state titles. DeLaSalle, whom they probably would have played for the AAA title in a normal year, wouldn't move up after 6 straight titles and 7 of 8. They won't move up after 20. You know it's true.
But, anyway, Minnehaha somehow got the nation's hype machine and its team, Sierra Canyon, to come to Minnesota to play them at the Target Center on TV. It was a great night of basketball, if your idea of basketball is the NBA all-star game and the Harlem Globetrotters. It was show time from the opening tip. Sierra had Bronny James, son of LeBron James, yeah, that LeBron James. He's just a freshman and he may one day be a great ballplayer. For now, he comes off the bench, but that's plenty of fodder for the hype masters, I guess. But, Sierra also has Zaire Wade, son of Dwayne, also not a star. But, after James transferred to Sierra, he was followed by 5-star dudes B.J. Boston, now a Kentucky commit, and Ziaire Williams. Boston scored 27 points with 8 boards for the losers.
But, the fact is that Sierra is better than what it showed on January 4. They finished 30-4 and rated #2 nationally behind 25-0 Montverde Academy (FL).
Minnehaha's role in this soap opera was a tribute to Jalen Suggs, the #10-ranked player nationally in this year's senior class. He fed the hype machine by announcing his college choice on TV the night before. He "committed" to Gonzaga. It was the kind of commitment that required a postscript, however, that Suggs would continue to consider turning professional overseas. He patted Richard Pitino on the head, then kicked him in the ass, saying that the Gophers just weren't where Jalen Suggs needed them to be. As if their mission is to serve Jalen Suggs. Sigh.
But, hey, Suggs scored 23 points and made the highlight reel against Sierra Canyon and Bronny James.
Game of the Year: St. John's 82 St. Thomas 63
That brings us to the game of the year, and a game that was about the game, and about basketball, and about all the things missing at the Target Center on January 4. St. Thomas had already won at St. John's 71-66, as the Johnnies made just 4-of-19 3-pointers. But, then St. John's came down to the big city and hammered the Tommies 87-70, making 6-of-13 3s and 30-of-42 (.714) 2s. The Johnnies and Tommies tied for the MIAC regular season title--it was the Johnnies 9th title, St. Thomas has 34. For whatever reason, St. John's got the #1 seed and the home court advantage for the playoffs. In the semis, the Johnnies beat St. Olaf easily while St. Thomas pulled away from St. Mary's around the 10 minute mark and won by 13.
So, now, St. John's ran out to an 11-0 lead. The Tommies got within 16-12 but trailed 41-28 at the half, and never got within single digits in the 2nd half. Jubie Alade and Oakley Baker made 9-of-15 3s for the Johnnies and scored 47 points between them.
All of which may not quite seem like a Game of the Year. But, considering they both went on to win a pair of NCAA tournament games on the road, and that they were 27-2 and 26-3, and that they were #2 and #4 in the nation, and considering further that they were scheduled to play one another again at St. John's in the D3 Sweet 16, well, there was enough riding on this game to make it a great game even in a relative blowout. Who thought, for example, that there would be another blowout in the round of 16? No one, that's who. But, since that game never came to pass, this one will have to do and it will do as our Game of the Year.
Monday, April 6, 2020
Sunday, April 5, 2020
2020 Coach of the Year
You'd think our coach of the year would come from one of our team of the year candidates, and you'd be correct. And, since most of my pre-season team of the year candidates did not end up on my final list, well, many of my pre-season coach of the year candidates are not on my final list either.
My pre-season list was Scott Bergman, Sauk Centre girls; Matt Marganthaler, Mankato State men; Mandy Pearson, UMD women; Ryan Saunders, Minnesota Timberwolves; Ruth Sinn, St. Thomas women; Lindsay Whalen, Gopher women.
Meanwhile, my final list of team of the year candidates included the Hopkins girls and Eden Prairie boys; the St. John's and St. Thomas men; and the Minnehaha boys. The UMD, Bethel and St. Cloud women were all contenders as well.
From this list, here are my picks as the top 5 coaches of the year.
1. John Herbrechtsmeyer, Bethel women
Among these top 6 coaches, Herbie's team--that is, the Bethel women--seemed to be the least likely to succeed in a historical sense. Bethel has just not been in the winner's circle a whole lot. Everybody else had just a little less of a hill to climb. All six of these coaches are terrific, but what Bethel did was the most out-of-the-ordinary outcome among these six programs. All of these other teams have done it before...well, with the exception of the Eden Prairie boys, who have had some great teams, some state championship contenders but never unbeaten, never a #1 seed. Had they won the state title, as expected, yes, it would have been a first. That's why EP coach David Flom comes in at #2.
2. David Flom, Eden Prairie boys
3. Jim Smith, St. John's
4. Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins girls
5 (tie). Lori Fish, St. Cloud State women
5 (tie). Mandy Pearson, UMD women
My pre-season list was Scott Bergman, Sauk Centre girls; Matt Marganthaler, Mankato State men; Mandy Pearson, UMD women; Ryan Saunders, Minnesota Timberwolves; Ruth Sinn, St. Thomas women; Lindsay Whalen, Gopher women.
Meanwhile, my final list of team of the year candidates included the Hopkins girls and Eden Prairie boys; the St. John's and St. Thomas men; and the Minnehaha boys. The UMD, Bethel and St. Cloud women were all contenders as well.
From this list, here are my picks as the top 5 coaches of the year.
1. John Herbrechtsmeyer, Bethel women
Among these top 6 coaches, Herbie's team--that is, the Bethel women--seemed to be the least likely to succeed in a historical sense. Bethel has just not been in the winner's circle a whole lot. Everybody else had just a little less of a hill to climb. All six of these coaches are terrific, but what Bethel did was the most out-of-the-ordinary outcome among these six programs. All of these other teams have done it before...well, with the exception of the Eden Prairie boys, who have had some great teams, some state championship contenders but never unbeaten, never a #1 seed. Had they won the state title, as expected, yes, it would have been a first. That's why EP coach David Flom comes in at #2.
2. David Flom, Eden Prairie boys
3. Jim Smith, St. John's
4. Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins girls
5 (tie). Lori Fish, St. Cloud State women
5 (tie). Mandy Pearson, UMD women
2020 Team of the Year
My pre-season Team of the Year candidates were:
• The Hopkins girls and Park Center boys among the high schools
• The Mankato State men and St. Thomas women from D2 and D3.
• The Minnesota Gopher women.
• The Minnesota Timberwolves.
So, not very good. Only the Hopkins girls are still a candidate.
The High Schools
There are of course no state champions this year. Among the girls we got down to 4 finalists--Farmington and Hopkins in Class AAAA and Becker and DeLaSalle in AAA. In AA and A, we got down to 4 semi-finalists when everything went sideways. Rochester Lourdes was #1 and still a pretty solid fave in AA, Minneota #1 but Class A looked pretty wide open.
Among all of those teams, only Hopkins was still unbeaten and only Hopkins had Minnesota Ms. Basketball and the national player of the year in Paige Bueckers. Hopkins is the obvious candidate for team of the year among the girls.
Among the boys, we had 16 section finals and another 32 teams scheduled to play for the other 16 section championships, so there's a lot more guesswork. Minnehaha in Class AAA was probably the heaviest favorite to win a state title, even more so than undefeated Eden Prairie in AAAA. EP would of course face tougher competition, though Minnehaha would probably have to beat DeLaSalle, so there were no gimmes. I liked Caledonia and Henning in AA and A, though Caledonia might have to beat undefeated Perham to win a title.
Still, you have to go with Eden Prairie as the top boys team. It's not their fault they didn't win a state title, and the Eagles were unbeaten against a fiendishly tough schedule.
D2 and D3
My picks, the Mankato State men and St. Thomas women, well, they weren't bad. But, they weren't best.
Among the NSIC men, Mankato went just 12-10 in the regular conference season and the top 3 finishers were all non-Minnesota teams. UMD was 4th at 15-7. Mankato beat #2 Sioux Falls and #4 UMD to get to the final, but lost to Northern State 80-59.
Among the NSIC women, UMD won the North at 20-2 with St. Cloud 2nd at 16-6. In the South, Mankato was 2nd at 13-9. In the post-season semi-finals, UMD beat Mankato 80-77 while St. Cloud beat Sioux Falls 76-59. St. Cloud surprised UMD in the final 71-62. Both teams were invited to the NCAA tournament but did not play. UMD finished 26-6, St. Cloud 23-7.
In the MIAC, my choice, the St. Thomas women, finished 3rd at 16-4, behind Bethel at 19-1 and Augsburg at 17-3. They finished the same in the playoffs. Bethel was beaten in the NCAA tournament but finished 26-2. Among the men, St. John's and St. Thomas tied for 1st in the regular season at 19-1. The Johnnies won easily at home 82-63 in the playoffs. After both won a pair of NCAA tournament games, they were scheduled to play one another again at Collegeville when everything got shut down. St. John's was 27-2, St. Thomas 26-3.
So the best of the D2 and D3 teams are the St. John's men 27-2, the St. Thomas men 26-3, the UMD women at 26-6, the Bethel women at 26-2 and rounding out the top 5 are the St. Cloud women at 23-7.
Minnesota Gophers
I had higher expectations of the women than the men, as did almost everyone. Both disappointed. The men were a pretty big disappointment, the women a bigger one. Daniel Oturu was terrific, the Gopher men's guards were a disappointment, and Destiny Pitts was a huge disappointment. The word is that Pitts and the Bello sisters, all from Michigan, decided that they would run their own offense rather than the one that coach Lindsay Whalen wanted. Pitts thought that her plays would better prepare her for the WNBA. It would have been obvious to everybody on the team--the players and the coaches--that something funny was going on. It's not clear what the coaches did to put a stop to it. But, finally, Pitts and the Bellos were suspended and told that they needed to apologize to their teammates in order to be reinstated. The Bellos decided to apologize though belatedly. Pitts decided to bas to what she had done and so nobody had given her an offer as of a month ago. So Pitts then let it be known that she wanted to come back but it wasn't clear that she still had agreed to apologize to her teammates or that Lindsay would take her back at anyway. Stay tuned.
Minnesota Timberwolves
I was ambivalent about the Wolves. Early on I said it seemed more likely that they would end up rebuilding than moving forward. Later, after they started 8-5, I started thinking there might be some potential. But, then, Karl Towns started missing games, then Andrew Wiggins was traded for D'Angelo Russell, who then did very little to justify all the hype that accompanied the Wolves efforts to obtain him. Ouch.
Team of the Year
Have we tipped our hand? We've already picked Paige Bueckers as our player of the year. Hopkins seemed to be a lock to win a second straight state title. They outscored their opponents a ridiculous 85-51. They've now won 62 straight games and a state record (for the modern era) is well within reach next year. So, yeah, team of the year.
But. The Eden Prairie boys finished 28-0 with an average winning score of 82-62. The Eagles have never won a state title and of course they have still never won a state title. But, my goodness, what a schedule. They played top 10 opponents 12 times, winning them all. They won at Eastview, East Ridge, Hopkins, they won at DeLaSalle, they won at Minnehaha. Co-team of the year.
1 (tie). Eden Prairie boys 28-0
1 (tie). Hopkins girls 30-0
3. St. John's 27-2
4. St. Thomas men 26-3
5. Minnehaha boys 25-3
• The Hopkins girls and Park Center boys among the high schools
• The Mankato State men and St. Thomas women from D2 and D3.
• The Minnesota Gopher women.
• The Minnesota Timberwolves.
So, not very good. Only the Hopkins girls are still a candidate.
The High Schools
There are of course no state champions this year. Among the girls we got down to 4 finalists--Farmington and Hopkins in Class AAAA and Becker and DeLaSalle in AAA. In AA and A, we got down to 4 semi-finalists when everything went sideways. Rochester Lourdes was #1 and still a pretty solid fave in AA, Minneota #1 but Class A looked pretty wide open.
Among all of those teams, only Hopkins was still unbeaten and only Hopkins had Minnesota Ms. Basketball and the national player of the year in Paige Bueckers. Hopkins is the obvious candidate for team of the year among the girls.
Among the boys, we had 16 section finals and another 32 teams scheduled to play for the other 16 section championships, so there's a lot more guesswork. Minnehaha in Class AAA was probably the heaviest favorite to win a state title, even more so than undefeated Eden Prairie in AAAA. EP would of course face tougher competition, though Minnehaha would probably have to beat DeLaSalle, so there were no gimmes. I liked Caledonia and Henning in AA and A, though Caledonia might have to beat undefeated Perham to win a title.
Still, you have to go with Eden Prairie as the top boys team. It's not their fault they didn't win a state title, and the Eagles were unbeaten against a fiendishly tough schedule.
D2 and D3
My picks, the Mankato State men and St. Thomas women, well, they weren't bad. But, they weren't best.
Among the NSIC men, Mankato went just 12-10 in the regular conference season and the top 3 finishers were all non-Minnesota teams. UMD was 4th at 15-7. Mankato beat #2 Sioux Falls and #4 UMD to get to the final, but lost to Northern State 80-59.
Among the NSIC women, UMD won the North at 20-2 with St. Cloud 2nd at 16-6. In the South, Mankato was 2nd at 13-9. In the post-season semi-finals, UMD beat Mankato 80-77 while St. Cloud beat Sioux Falls 76-59. St. Cloud surprised UMD in the final 71-62. Both teams were invited to the NCAA tournament but did not play. UMD finished 26-6, St. Cloud 23-7.
In the MIAC, my choice, the St. Thomas women, finished 3rd at 16-4, behind Bethel at 19-1 and Augsburg at 17-3. They finished the same in the playoffs. Bethel was beaten in the NCAA tournament but finished 26-2. Among the men, St. John's and St. Thomas tied for 1st in the regular season at 19-1. The Johnnies won easily at home 82-63 in the playoffs. After both won a pair of NCAA tournament games, they were scheduled to play one another again at Collegeville when everything got shut down. St. John's was 27-2, St. Thomas 26-3.
So the best of the D2 and D3 teams are the St. John's men 27-2, the St. Thomas men 26-3, the UMD women at 26-6, the Bethel women at 26-2 and rounding out the top 5 are the St. Cloud women at 23-7.
Minnesota Gophers
I had higher expectations of the women than the men, as did almost everyone. Both disappointed. The men were a pretty big disappointment, the women a bigger one. Daniel Oturu was terrific, the Gopher men's guards were a disappointment, and Destiny Pitts was a huge disappointment. The word is that Pitts and the Bello sisters, all from Michigan, decided that they would run their own offense rather than the one that coach Lindsay Whalen wanted. Pitts thought that her plays would better prepare her for the WNBA. It would have been obvious to everybody on the team--the players and the coaches--that something funny was going on. It's not clear what the coaches did to put a stop to it. But, finally, Pitts and the Bellos were suspended and told that they needed to apologize to their teammates in order to be reinstated. The Bellos decided to apologize though belatedly. Pitts decided to bas to what she had done and so nobody had given her an offer as of a month ago. So Pitts then let it be known that she wanted to come back but it wasn't clear that she still had agreed to apologize to her teammates or that Lindsay would take her back at anyway. Stay tuned.
Minnesota Timberwolves
I was ambivalent about the Wolves. Early on I said it seemed more likely that they would end up rebuilding than moving forward. Later, after they started 8-5, I started thinking there might be some potential. But, then, Karl Towns started missing games, then Andrew Wiggins was traded for D'Angelo Russell, who then did very little to justify all the hype that accompanied the Wolves efforts to obtain him. Ouch.
Team of the Year
Have we tipped our hand? We've already picked Paige Bueckers as our player of the year. Hopkins seemed to be a lock to win a second straight state title. They outscored their opponents a ridiculous 85-51. They've now won 62 straight games and a state record (for the modern era) is well within reach next year. So, yeah, team of the year.
But. The Eden Prairie boys finished 28-0 with an average winning score of 82-62. The Eagles have never won a state title and of course they have still never won a state title. But, my goodness, what a schedule. They played top 10 opponents 12 times, winning them all. They won at Eastview, East Ridge, Hopkins, they won at DeLaSalle, they won at Minnehaha. Co-team of the year.
1 (tie). Eden Prairie boys 28-0
1 (tie). Hopkins girls 30-0
3. St. John's 27-2
4. St. Thomas men 26-3
5. Minnehaha boys 25-3
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)