So I've admittedly been a bit lazy in getting this particular piece out. I really should have had this done like a month or more ago. But, I've also had a lot of things going on lately that have kept me from getting on here and knocking something out. And I've been pretty busy at work too; working late a lot of afternoons so that hasn't helped. But, it's still not too late to look back at this last season and offer some thoughts that have still been lingering on my mind.
Even a little more than two months later, I have to confess that there's still something about how things ended on the MIAC Women's Basketball front that still leaves an incredibly bad taste in my mouth. I'm talking about GAC, of course, and how things came to a sudden and abrupt halt after the shocking double overtime loss to a red-hot Trine team in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. After the Gusties had established an early 8-2 advantage, nothing seemed to go quite right for them the rest of the way and it was just the damndest and frustrating thing to watch (and from having lived through several frustrations with both my LA Rams and UCLA Bruins over the years, I know what I'm talking about here). And yet, they STILL had a chance to get the victory toward the end of the first overtime but even that slipped away. I think for me, what really gets me when I look back on this is that you can't help but wonder if this might've been GAC's best chance to make a really deep run. I mean, you look at the makeup of this team and how they performed throughout most of the regular season and MIAC Playoffs and you just knew that this team was built for a deep run. And it didn't work out - and that hurts. Maybe the Gusties can get themselves into position somewhere down the road again to have an opportunity to do something big again but you just don't know. There's never any guarantees. One can make the argument regarding the DIII NCAA Tournament and how the Gusties were robbed of yet another chance to host a 1st/2nd round pod at their place and I wouldn't have any issue with that. But you can take that argument only so far. At the end of the day, you still have to find a way to win and in this case, it didn't happen and this to me was one of those games that can haunt a program for years to come. I hope I'm wrong here but only time will tell. Meanwhile, it was indeed refreshing to see Concordia make amends for last year's disappointment of being left out of the 64-team field. And even though they were outgunned by a very good Illinois Wesleyan team in the first round down in Waverly, it was still very good to see them get a chance to roll the dice. Sure, I wish they could have won but, unlike GAC, I don't think anyone had any grandiose ideas or hopes of them making a big run this time around - let's just be fair here. However, at the same time, I think Head Coach Kim Wagers has firmly established this program back among the elite in the MIAC and now the Cobbers have a chance to consolidate on their gains over the last couple of seasons. Let's see what they do with it.
At least one coaching change has already taken place in the MIAC. SMU has brought in Courtney Shelton to take the reigns of the Cardinals program. Shelton comes to Winona after a stint as Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at UW-Milwaukee with previous stops at Northwood University and Central Michigan along with a solid playing career at Northern Illinois so SMU appears to be getting somebody with a pretty strong background. Given the program's recent struggles, there's really only one way for the Cardinals to go and that's up although SMU fans have to be patient and let the tree grow. St. Olaf meanwhile is still conducting a search for its new Head Coach and as of this writing, it's still uncertain as to whom they'll eventually latch onto.
There also appears to be some (possible) stormy skies over on the UMAC front. I don't have a lot of details but I have heard from different sources that there's at least a couple of UMAC institutions (possibly three) that are in somewhat shaky financial difficulties at the moment. Whether or not this is a long-term situation obviously remains to be seen. However, we may have already seen one result of all this as North Central Head Coach Leah Szabla resigned earlier this month to accept an Assistant Coach position at DII Augustana out in Sioux Falls, SD. Now again, I'm not close enough to any of the UMAC schools to say one way or another as to how things are going to go. However, if one were to envision a scenario where, say, two schools in the conference suddenly went belly-up, you could pretty much envision that conference imploding as a result. In turn, that might very well offer the MIAC an opportunity to make an expansion that it so desperately needs to make - adding a Northwestern, a UW-Superior, a Bethany Lutheran or a Martin Luther. Right now, it's simply too early to tell or guess as to how this is all going to turn out but this could be worth keeping an eye on. Moreover, I've also heard that things aren't exactly rosy at certain NAIA schools that again may offer the MIAC an opportunity to expand.
Moving to the high school front, save for the games I got to do with my good buddy Mike Peden this last winter, I certainly didn't get to cover (or watch) as much high school girls basketball as I would have liked. However, the State Tournament (despite MSHSL's continuing efforts to kill the event altogether) did offer some excellent games to watch - especially all four of the state championship games. Just some absolutely fantastic finishes that had you on the edge of your seat. And a big congratulations to Minnetonka Head Coach Brian Cosgriff and his staff for getting his first (of many) state title leading the Skippers.
And we're not that far away from another Midtown YWCA Women's College Summer League starting up again. I don't have any details as of this writing (I hope to soon) but am guessing here that the first week of games will likely be that first week in June (6-4 and 6-5) but will post up info once I get it. But it's always something that I look forward to.
Finally, a bit of (somewhat) exciting news to share about yours truly. I found out this last December that I will reach my required 360 months of railroad employment (I work for Canadian Pacific Kansas City - CPKC) and will be able to "pull the pin" come August 2025; a little more than a year away. With the Minneapolis HQ offices slated to move down to the new US Headquarters in Kansas City sometime in mid-2025, the timing is perfect for me as I won't have to worry about relocating down to Kansas City. There's still a lot of details that need to be worked out on my end between now and the summer of 2025 but my vision is to start my own railroad consulting business and maybe add a little recruiting/coaching consulting on the side too when it comes to the hoops. I still plan to cover games, of course so don't worry about me going anywhere just yet 😊. I'm looking at relocating to either the La Crosse/La Crescent area as I've always really liked that area but there's other places I'm open too as well. Again, a little to early to prognosticate as where I'll relocate to but hopefully not too far away. I'm just excited about the opportunity to start my own business and be my own boss (for a change) and have the free time when I want. It's all good. Will keep you up to date as things progress.
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