Thoughts On Another Great Season Just Gone Down

I had to wait a couple of days after the Girl's State Tournament was over to not only collect my thoughts on this last season now completed but to also get caught up on my rest a bit as well as this last week was simply an exhausting one.  There's just a lot of thoughts on both the college and high school levels that I want to get to.  Just as important, I hope that all the positive stuff outweighs some of the negative stuff I need to touch on as well.  In any event, this last season was truly unique in many ways so let's see if I can touch on the things that need touching on.


1.  UST - What can you say about a team that rolled to a 31-0 record and held a 53-41 lead over Tufts with 5:30 left in regulation in one of the national semifinal games in the Final Four and looked like it had things wrapped up before things inexplicably unraveled and Tufts went on a huge run late to come away with a 60-57 victory that brought a great season for the Tommies to a crashing halt.  I've seen UST lose before, of course, but never have I seen ANY Tommie team lose a game in this kind of fashion before - ever.  It was just confounding to say the least.  The sad thing in my mind is that of all the great teams that Head Coach Ruth Sinn has had at UST, this one likely had the best shot at winning it all and it looked like all the stars were aligned for everything to happen and they came so agonizingly close before things went awry at the end.  And you can't help but feel badly for seniors Kaitlin Langer, Gabby Zehrer and Paige Gernes who all played a huge part in this team's run toward a national title.  It's possible UST could get there again, of course, but this is a prime example that shows you how incredibly difficult it really is to win a national championship.  You not only have to be very, very good but you also have to have a little luck go your way as well and the Tommies just didn't get the breaks when they needed them most.

2.  GAC - The Gusties finished up the season with a fantastic 25-3 record and this was arguably the best GAC team since the 2002-03 season.  The Gusties bolted out to a 19-0 start on the year and hosted UST in the MIAC Women's hoops Game of the Century on 2-1 and even though GAC came out on the short end of the stick in that contest, they still finished up the regular season with a 24-1 record and held off a strong challenge from Bethel at home in the MIAC Playoff semifinal to record their 25th victory of the season to force a rematch with said UST team in the MIAC Championship Game at Schoenecker Arena.  But with all the promise this team seemed to have and the potential for a deep run in the NCAA Tournament possible, things quickly went south from there.  GAC absorbed a seventeen-point spanking in the MIAC Championship game from their old nemesis and then drew perennial powerhouse DePauw where the Gusties were pounded into oblivion on the glass and saw their post-season life come to a shattering halt with a 67-57 defeat that wasn't as close as the score suggested.  In some ways, the way the regular season went and how things ended is even more frustrating than UST's predicament in the Final Four.  There was just so much potential for this team to do big things in the Dance and to have it all come to a crashing halt the way it did makes you feel like there's a lot of loose ends that will never get resolved.

3.  Bethel - Unlike the Tommies and Gusties, the Royals never even got to sniff the post-season as Bethel was unfairly snubbed by the NCAA Tournament Committee despite going 22-5 overall and 16-2 in the toughest Division III conference in the nation.  Ultimately what did the Royals in was their record against ranked opponents but had they been able to get in, this is likely the one team you would not have wanted to face.  Still a damn shame that they didn't get the chance.  

4.  Turning attention to high school girl's basketball, there's a share of very good stories - and some not-so-good stories.

A.  But let's start with the good stuff.  First, what another fantastic year for Northwest Suburban Conference Girl's Basketball that saw not one, not two, but THREE of its teams playing on the last two days of the season.  I mistakenly underestimated Andover but the senior trio of Joli Daninger, Amanda Dagostino and Hailey Diemer helped the Huskies to a fine 21-11 record and a spot in the State Tournament with a win over Anoka in the Section 7AAAA Championship Game before dropping their quarterfinal game to Lakeville North.  The Huskies rebounded in the consolation bracket and beat a fine White Bear Lake team in overtime before falling to conference rival Park Center in the Consolation Championship Game.  While Andover obviously loses a lot to graduation, there's certainly reason for hope in the future and the Huskies could be a force in not only the Northwest Suburban Conference but certainly in Section 7AAAA as well.

B.  Oh, and let's not forget about the Park Center Pirates who got to their fourth straight state tournament by virtue of its win over Centennial in the Section 5AAAA Championship Game; a section that was arguably Murderer's Row with the amount of good teams in it.  Still, the Pirates found a way to prevail through it all to reach the big stage again.  Though they wound up losing a tough one in the quarterfinals to a very, very good Eastview team, they bounced back in the consolation bracket and took home the consolation title with wins over Minnetonka and against said Andover team in the final.  Moreover, this was the swan song for an incredibly great group of seniors - Danielle Schaub, Ann Simonet and Mikayla Hayes - who have left unforgettable memories in the minds of players, parents and fans.  It seems like it was just yesterday when this group was some unheralded freshman and had to tow the line late in the Class AAA Championship Game against Marshall back in 2014 where the Pirates found miracle after miracle to not only survive what appeared to be an utterly hopeless situation but to find a way to win in triple overtime 73-71 in what was the most thrilling game I've ever seen anywhere, anytime.  They got another Class AAA title by beating Marshall again in 2015 before getting shoved to Class AAAA for the 2015-16 season.  To watch it all happen in these last four season was truly something special and I'll never forget it.  I just want to say thanks to all the players, coaches and parents for letting me take it all in when the wheel went 'round.  An exciting new bunch of young faces are primed to take Park Center forward next season and it will be interesting to see how this current young group fares.

C.  Then, there's Elk River.  I mean, what can you say about a bunch of seniors that not only took this team to the Promised Land but did so in a fashion that was totally unexpected; going 32-0 and capping it all off with a thrilling state championship win over an incredibly athletic and outstanding Hopkins team?  When I look back on this season, the longer the Elks kept up the winning streak, you just somehow expected that, somewhere along the line, somebody would find a way to finally knock them off their perch.  To be sure, there were some very close calls along the way.  Park Center had the Elks between a rock and a hard place in the second half before Elk River stormed from behind to win in a hostile environment during the Pirate's holiday showcase.  Champlin Park gave the Elks all they wanted and then some in the friendly confines of the Elk River gymnasium and the Rebels had plenty of chances but never could find that one big shot that might have got them over.  Then there was that thriller with Centennial on Senior Night at Elk River where the Cougars staved off certain defeat late in regulation and forced overtime.  Centennial even managed to poke its nose out in front in the extra session before the Elks senior leadership saved the day in the end.  Oh, and let's not forget that controversial ending against Lakeville North in the state tournament semifinals where the Elks had to seemingly pull a Houdini act to survive and move on.  The one thing; the one theme that seemed to stand out to me in all this and what I tried to convey in my blog whenever I covered this squad is that they just always found a way to win.  And I really thought Elk River had an excellent chance to win the whole ball of wax two months ago and the fact that they just kept finding ways to win games; especially in situations under duress, stood out to me.  And not many gave this team a snowball's chance in hades to beat Hopkins in the Class AAAA title game.  Yet, they found a way to win and held off a furious Royals comeback attempt in the end to do it when everything could have gone kablooey for them.  This senior group consisting of Gabi Haack, Sidney Wentland, Ava Kramer, Danielle Lachmiller and Kelsie Cox along with reserve Hayley Ackermann is something special and they proved the naysayers wrong.  Thanks for the memories!

D.  Now it's time to move on to some of the not-so-good stuff.  Being that I was relegated to strictly fan status this time around (and yes, it was INCREDIBLY disappointing to be in that spot), I had forgotten about how the MSHSL prices its event.  The first day at Target Center, I was able to purchase a daily pass for $19 which, considering that you have six games in one day, isn't all that bad I supposed price-wise anyway.  The second day at Mariucci Arena was the same deal - $19.00 for six games which I didn't have any real problem with.  The real surprise came on the following day on Thursday when a good chunk of the event moved next door to Williams Arena.  My hope was to get another $19 daily pass so I could move back and forth between Williams Arena and Mariucci Arena where the Class A games were going on.  But MSHSL has an absolutely inane policy on Thursday through Saturday where you pay $14 for the day session and then $14 for the evening session with no ability (on Thursday anyway) to transfer between Williams and Mariucci to view different games. Would it be THAT difficult for MSHSL to come up with a pricing that would at least allow you to manuever between the two venues that are across the street from each other?  IMHO, this is something that MSHSL needs to review and (hopefully) find a solution for.

E.  Finally, the sad saga of the Tim Leighton reign of terror at MSHSL runs deeper than even I imagined with some of the stories I heard this last week from blogger colleagues and those of the MSM.  While it was bad enough that I (along with other bloggers) did not get to cover this year's event, I was truly shocked when I heard of some stories that I heard this last week and weekend.  One gentleman (a photographer with a newspaper who did have credentials for the event) told me a story at one of the fall events where Mr. Leighton verbally berated him after photographing the athletes on the field shortly after the contest had ended.  Another reporter (who also had credentials for this last week's event) told me an even more shocking story.  This reporter (who happens to be black), told me of the mix-up with how his and his news-gathering firm name was reported when credentials were granted.  When he was initially unable to pick up his media pass at the venue, he asked Mr. Leighton if he could assist him in getting his credentials.  To make a long story short, he explained the problem to Mr. Leighton and even had a contact with his office on the phone to explain the situation to Mr. Leighton.  Instead of contacting his assistant in the MSHSL office to get the problem resolved (like a decent and responsible person would have) Mr. Leighton basically told the man that he'd have to buy a ticket and then present the ticket to him (Leighton) and then he'd be granted media credentials.  I was just absolutely astounded by this account.  First, I hope and pray to God that this wasn't a racially-motivated incident.  That would just be absolutely reprehensible.  Second, and more importantly, why couldn't Mr. Leighton have contacted someone in the MSHSL office to find out how this man's media credentials were listed?  It would have probably saved everyone a lot of time and trouble.  Sadly, this man was accused of lying and now a lot of hard feelings exist - and rightly so.  It just underlies the culture of fear that now exists between MSHSL communications and those in the media (MSM AND bloggers).  To me, this is just totally unacceptable and if I'm an executive in the MSHSL office and I got wind of what was going on, I would sit Mr. Leighton down and have a long, LONG talk with him about what's acceptable and what's not.  Incredibly sad that incidents like this have to happen.


Well, it's been a long, fun and exhausting year with a lot of good stories.  Now comes the time when I go into recovery and withdrawal mode; wishing somehow that there were more games to cover.