2019 Basketball Season Recap: Team of the Year
OK, we’re going to limit the field to the traditional 5 candidates, and they are:
Gopher men
I dunno. Disappointing? Surprising? Well, once they knocked of Sconny in Madison in January, 59-52, well, expectations soared. And, on that basis, yeah, they were disappointing. But, let’s be honest. Only once in 37 years have high expectations really been justified and justifiable at the U. So 22 wins, 2 of them in the Big 10 tournament, one in the NCAA (against big-shot Louisville, no less) is not too shabby. But, it’s true. They left us wanting more.
Gopher women
It’s true, they left us wanting more. 21-11 with no less than 5 losses in which they had a 4thquarter lead. Ouch! I mean, 26-6 was not out of reach. It’s one thing to not be a closer. The Gophers were the un-closers. Still, there were some super high points, like the 12-0 start and the win over top 10 Syracuse at the Barn. But, it’s true. They left us wanting more.
Hopkins boys
I think Kenny Novak would say this was not his most talented team. This group had lost to Wayzata in the section in both 2017 and 2018, the first Hopkins team to miss back-to-back state tournaments since 2007 and 2008, and only the 3rd of the 4-class era. Their 27-4 record is the worst by any of Hopkins 10 or Novak’s 8 state champions. And, the enduring image of the team is its 55-40 grinder over Lakeville North in the final. But, this team was not a grinder. Novak’s kids were not grinders. 6-11 center Zeke Nnaji is of course a beast. They outscored their regular season opponents an average of 80-60, and they outscored their first 2 state tournament opponents by an average of 78-50.
But, ultimately, we picked them as the #1 boys team over DeLaSalle, who defeated Hopkins, and Minnehaha, who lost to Hopkins twice but beat the Islanders. So, there’s that. At one time, I had the 3 of them in a 3-way tie for the top boys team. But, at state tournament time, Hopkins would have beaten De or Haha.
Hopkins girls
The Hopkins girls, on the other hand, went 32-0. They were the first of coach Brian Cosgriff’s 7 state champs to go unbeaten. They outscored their regular season opponents by an average of 83-49 and won 3 state tournament games by an average of 72-47. Some thought this to be the best girls team ever in Minnesota. Maybe it was.
St. Thomas women
The Tommies went 30-2 under coach Ruth Sinn, winning the MIAC title at 18-0 with an average score of 77-48. They won the MIAC playoffs, beating Gustavus 64-39 and Augsburg 73-54. They won 4 NCAA tournament games by an average of 76-55 before losing to Bowdoin in the national semifinals 71-60. Senior post Hannah Spaulding led the way with 18 ppg and 10 rebounds and was named the MIAC MVP.
Team of the Year
It comes down to these last 2, the Hopkins girls and the St. Thomas women, and the Hopkins girls, relative to their competition, were just an overwhelming force. They were not just unbeaten, they were unbeatable. Team of the Year: Hopkins girls.
Coach of the Year
Here, we have 6 candidates.
Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins girls
Well, Hopkins is our Team of the Year at 32-0. As we noted, this is the 1stof Cos’ 7 state champs to go unbeaten and untied. There was no other unbeaten team anywhere in the state of Minnesota.
Aaron Griess, Augsburg men
Augsburg has not been a powerhouse of the MIAC. That, of course, has been St. Thomas in recent years, recent decades. But the past 2 years, Augsburg has posted 21-8 and 19-9 records, and 13-7 in the MIAC both years. That is huge.
Randy Misegades, Henning boys
The Henning boys came pretty much out of nowhere to win the Class A title, outscoring regular season opponents 78-49 and state tournament opponents 65-44. Just 2 years ago, they were 7-20. Now, apparently, the Fisher boys, Sam and Isaac, moved into town, so that helped. But coach Misegades was our choice as the boys high school coach of the year and is a solid candidate for overall coach of the year.
Mandy Pearson, UMD women
UMD is accustomed to success but lately coach Pearson has been digging them out of a little bit of a hole. Mission accomplished, and maybe a little sooner than expected. The Bulldogs went 18-4 in the NSIC for the regular season, then upset 1stplace UM Moorhead 52-48 in the conference tournament final as Sarah Grow scored 17 points. Moorhead turned the tables the following week in an NCAA tournament game, holding Grow to just 2 points. So you could make a case for Moorhead's Karla Nelson, too. But we thought Pearson got the most out of her talent in the NSIC 2018-2019.
Ted Riverso, Augsburg women
We wrote a post almost a year ago saying that the Augsburg women would have their best team ever last year, and they did, by a wide margin, going 22-5 and 16-2 in the conference. After December 15, their only losses were to St. Thomas 3 times, including in the MIAC playoff final. Senior guard Tamira McLemore led the way with 16 ppg.
Ruth Sinn, St. Thomas women
We have already seen that the Tommies women went 30-2 and to the national finals. Ruth Sinn is just a great coach, period.
Coach of the Year
Honestly, it comes down to Griess and Riverso, Riverso and Griess. What are the odds of that? 2 coaches from Augsburg? Bottom line: Our other candidates had overwhelming talent. I’m not sayin’ I coulda coached ‘em. Coach Cos and Misegades and Sinn are great coaches. But Griess and Riverso have done and are still doing the harder job of getting from the middle of the pack into the upper echelon, and of getting the most from kids with, broadly speaking, more modest talents. Not to say that Booker Coplin is a modest talent, by the way.
But, anyway, the women went 22-5 and the men 19-9 but, seriously, I can’t differentiate these 2 coaching jobs, so we’ll have Co-Coaches of the Year this year: Aaron Griess and Ted Riverso of the Augsburg men and the Augsburg women, respectively.
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