Thoughts On Another Season Gone Down

Coming off of hip replacement surgery just a little more than a week ago, the recovery process has since begun.  I came home on Wednesday afternoon (3-21) which is pretty good and have been faithful with all the rehab work and exercises I've been given.  My energy levels are definitely a lot better now and although I know I still have quite a long road to travel in the recovery process, I feel good about the direction I'm headed in.  As such, I thought tonight might finally be a good night to sit down at the keyboard and reflect on this season that has just gone down on both the college and high school fronts.  I'll try and cover as many topics as I can and I've got a few things on my mind - both positive and negative.


)1  First, there's a lot of positives to get to; particularly on the MIAC women's hoops front.  What an incredible year for UST, GAC and CSB as all three teams made the NCAA Tournament and deservedly so.  While the Blazers journey in the post-season was short-lived, the fact that they finished second in the MIAC regular season and finished the year with a solid 22-5 record shows you that CSB has once again re-established itself as one of the elite teams in the conference.  The big question going forward, however, is can they stay in the elite group considering that they graduate three great seniors - Niki Fokken, Chelsey Guetter and Kate Banovetz.  That's quite a trio and they will definitely be missed.  Meanwhile, it was something of a magic carpet ride for the Gusties as they finally showed to the world that they can indeed win big games.  They knocked off a very good Rose-Hulman team in the first round and then proceeded to shock the world by dough-popping WIAC Champ and host UW-Whitewater in the second round 74-60.  The Sweet Sixteen matchup against powerhouse Thomas More proved to be a bridge too far in the end but that game definitely had some weird twists and turns in it going down the stretch and the fact that the Gusties wound up losing by a tough 75-67 score says a lot about how close that game really was.  Like CSB, GAC will lose three great seniors to graduation - Mikayla Miller, Miranda Rice and Emee Udo - so it will be interesting to see how the program fares going forward although I think it's definitely safe to say that GAC is in great hands with Head Coach Laurie Kelly.  UST's trip to the Sweet Sixteen wasn't all that unexpected and although they had to fight off a tough challenge from Chicago in the second round, most figured the Tommies would handle an upstart East Texas Baptist team to force the Elite Eight matchup with host Wartburg - including your's truly.  So imagine my utter shock and dismay when I turned my attention to that game (after GAC's game with Thomas More).  I don't ever recall seeing a UST team look so vulnerable before - I mean EVER.  The Tigers simply looked quicker in the back court and East Texas Baptist's 2-3 zone defense seemed to cause a bevy of problems for a normally fluid Tommie team.  To their credit, the Tommies battled back in the end of regulation to force overtime; indeed nearly had a chance to win at the end of regulation when junior post Hannah Spaulding blocked an inbounds pass and junior guard Kaylie Brazil got her hands on it and put up a desperation shot that rolled around the rim before falling off.  As it was, UST faltered in the extra session to finish the season at 27-3.  While the Tommies don't get hurt quite as badly as CSB and GAC will, losing both Maddie Wolkow and Lauren Fischer are still two big dents that UST will have to find a way to fill. 

)2  Because it was so close to my surgery date of 3-19, I did not get a chance to go down to Rochester to see the DIII Final Four games on Friday and Saturday of the previous weekend as I would have liked.  It was incredibly unfortunate that I didn't get to and from the people I talked with who did attend, it was definitely DIII women's hoops at its finest.  Was hoping that Wartburg would have had a better showing than it did in its semifinal game but they ran into an absolute buzzsaw when they played Bowdoin that night and watching the game online probably didn't do justice to how incredibly well the Polar Bears played that night.  Amherst (which would beat NESCAC rival Bowdoin in the Championship Game on Saturday night) has a very neat style of play with how they milk the shot clock for all its worth.  Glad that the Final Four came to Minnesota and I hope there's an opportunity down the road where it can come again. 

)3  On a related front, I had an interesting conversation with a coaching friend of mine earlier today and we both couldn't help but marvel at how incredibly good the NESCAC teams of Amherst, Bowdoin and Tufts (which lost to Bowdoin in a regional final) truly are.  In some ways, I guess that begs the question, what are they doing differently than teams in the MIAC, WIAC and IIAC are?  It's one thing for a conference to get three teams into the Big Dance as the MIAC did this year with UST, GAC and CSB but quite another when you get a conference that can get two of its powerhouse teams into the Final Four and have another one lose to a conference rival in the Elite Eight.  It's staggering when you sit back and think about it.  Closer to home, I think you can't help but ask yourself as to what a student-athlete is paying on average to attend a school such as Amherst, Bowdoin, Tufts or even UST for that matter as they would be attending some other school such as Carleton, St. Olaf, Macalester, Augsburg, et al?  It's something I've never really considered at length before and I almost feel a bit guilty for not broaching this subject some time ago.  I suppose I can understand a school such as Amherst, Bowdoin or UST being reluctant to release such information but it's something I've never really thought at length about and if someone has some thoughts or info on this, please feel free to share.

)4  Over on the UMAC side, it was a bit of a down year for Northwestern as they finished out the season 14-13 which included the season-ending loss to eventual UMAC Champ and NCAA participant UW-Superior.  And though the Eagles don't lose a whole ton to graduation, it will be interesting to see how long it will take for Northwestern to get themselves into position to really contend for a conference title. 

)5  For the most part, a down year for Concordia St. Paul as they finished up with a 13-18 overall record but the Golden Bears did have a nice push down the stretch; winning their last three regular season games and then knocking off both St. Cloud State and Wayne State before falling to arch-rival Winona State in the NSIC Tournament.  Concordia St. Paul should definitely be better next season but they do lose a big piece to graduation in Haydn Becker. 

)6  And it was most definitely a down year for Anoka-Ramsey this year as the Golden Rams finished up the year with an 11-16 overall record which is a far cry for a program that is accustomed to making the National Tournament every season.  It will be a rebuilding process but I would expect that Head Coach David DeWitt will have this program rolling again before long. 

)7.  Now turning attention to the high school scene, it was yet another solid year for Northwest Suburban Conference girl's basketball and while we didn't see a team like Elk River going undefeated this time around, at least one conference team got to the Big Stage; Maple Grove.  The Crimson, however, suffered incredible heartbreak in their Quarterfinal game against Lakeville North when a Maple Grove player was tagged for an incredibly questionable call with :00.3 left in overtime that allowed the Panthers to get the winning free throws and a 68-66 victory.  Just hate to see a game end on an official's call instead of letting the players decide.  For Park Center, it was the best of times and the worst of times in one season as the Pirates fell just short of their goal to get back to the state tournament for the fifth time in a row.  Congratulations to champs Lyle/Pacelli (Class A), Sauk Centre (Class AA), Robbinsdale Cooper (Class AAA) and Eastview (Class AAAA)! 

)8  I wish I had been able to cover Champlin Park more this last season and watch Erica Hicks get the scoring record there.  Erica, in the off-chance you're reading this, I seriously hope you'll reconsider your decision not to pursue college basketball.  The game will miss you a lot. 

)9.  And, of course, I can't completely leave out the negative either and fortunately there's only one place where I have to go with this and it's probably where you'd expect it to go - to the brain-dead wizards of the MSHSL.  It's a shame that this clueless group - and only them - is entrusted to help promote girl's high school during the state tournament and fortunately their efforts to slowly destroy a once fun and proud week of girl's high school basketball was thwarted with some great teams and some great play.  As anyone who attended the tournament could tell you, it probably wasn't too hard to notice that the press table at courtside was unusually empty as bloggers such as myself were excluded from covering the event.  The question I would pose to MSHSL Communications Coordinator Tim Leighton and his partner, Media Specialist John Millea, is this:  What exactly is gained by MSHSL by excluding bloggers from covering such an important event?  What exactly are you afraid of?  They still have not answered this question satisfactorily and as long as these two clowns are kept in their positions of power, I doubt if anything will change anytime soon.  What I didn't expect is that they would make things tough on fans either.  Not only have they cheapened the actual tournament program format into a little booklet, they actually also managed to RUN OUT of programs on Championship Saturday as well.  Hey guys, here's a hint:  Championship Saturday is generally when you'll have most fans coming in to watch championship games.  Plan accordingly. 


Well, there you have it.  Time to put a bow tie on the 2017-18 season and look forward.  I hope to be able to attend some AAU events this spring when I'm more out and about and I definitely plan to be covering the Midtown YWCA Women's College Summer League again come June.  Fire away with thoughts.