My apologies for being a little late with this......Usually I try and put something out right after the Girl's State Tournament is over. But I needed some extra time this time around and I'll explain why.
First, WHAT a thrill it was to see the alma mater, Iowa, make it all the way to the National Championship Game on the DI side. That was just one of those incredible magic carpet rides that happens every so often and things worked out for them to get as far as they did. I think it goes without saying that Caitlin Clark has taken women's college and girls HS hoops to a whole new level with her incredible performances not only during the regular season and the B1G Tournament but in the Big Dance as well. I was just transfixed to my flat screen watching Clark simply take over in game after game after game. It was truly amazing to watch. Naturally, I was disappointed that they were unable to complete the deal in the National Championship Game against an incredibly hot-shooting LSU team that set the first half ablaze in that game by shooting 75% from downtown and they never really leveled off after that; despite the fact that the Hawkeyes made a nice run to get the deficit whittled down to single-digit range in that third period. It just wasn't in the cards for them on this day. Now, was the officiating horrendous in that game? Unfortunately, the answer is a resounding YES. It's a shame that the officiating and some of the other theatrics that took place towards the end of the game seemed to overshadow what both of these teams did to get to this point. Still, it's really cool to see women's basketball taking center stage like it did as of late and that's always a good thing. And, closer to home too, congrats to UM-Duluth making it to the National Championship Game on the DII side as the Bulldogs had a terrific season.
Despite the fact that GAC went down in the second round to pod host UW-Whitewater in the NCAA Tournament, it was indeed a great year for the Gusties as they set a program record by finishing 26-3 which is certainly nothing to stick your head in the oven about. Now, after some time has passed since that second round loss, GAC and the other MIAC teams have to plan ahead for next season with recruiting well underway. Perhaps just as important, MIAC coaches and administrators now have to sit down and start to seriously consider some of the changes that are so necessary to bring MIAC Women's Basketball into the 21st century so it doesn't fall further and further behind that of neighboring conferences. And there's no reason that it should have ever fallen behind either. Look, we know that the 22-game round-robin conference schedule is an anachronism as I have brought up several times. As I've said before, the perfect definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results and it happened yet again this last season. The bad thing about all this is that I've been bringing this up so many times in the last few years ad nauseum that I feel like I get to the point where I'm simply doing nothing more than preaching to the choir. There ARE solutions out there that will prove to be beneficial to all conference members and, just as important, bring MIAC Women's Basketball up to the same level as the neighboring conferences that are getting multiple bids when it comes to the Big Dance. Change is never easy but if you do nothing, you risk falling further and further behind and that shouldn't be happening to a great conference like the MIAC. Stay tuned......
My other disappointment this season is that I didn't get to cover nearly the amount of girls HS basketball like I have in years past. A big reason for that is that I've been really busy at work these last several months and with a short-staffed work group that I'm in (Revenue Accounting), I've been putting in extra hours these last several months. By the time I get back home, all I want to do is shower, eat some supper, maybe watch some hoops on TV or something being streamed, and get to bed. Plus the fact that my company (Canadian Pacific) is gearing up for Day 1 of integration with the Kansas City Southern on 4-14 (we received approval of our acquisition of KCS from the Surface Transportation Board back on March 15) so there's a lot of anticipation with the combination that will make CPKC (Canadian Pacific Kansas City) the very first transnational railroad linking Canada with Mexico. It's definitely an exciting time. And whether or not I'll have to relocate to Kansas City (where our US headquarters will be) I'm not sure yet. It's still going to take some time to get all the different departments relocated so it's possible that things may work out for me where I don't have to. We'll see.
But, getting back to the girl's HS front, it was indeed another fun season with a lot of tough conference battles that went down followed by equally tough sectional battles in all four classes. Naturally, there were some upsets along the way. I knew early on in the season that there was something special about that Eden Prairie team - even if they didn't always show it night in and night out - during the regular season. But come section time, this group flipped the switch and pulled off one of the biggest upsets in knocking off heavily-favored (and #1 seed) Chaska in the Class 2AAAA Championship Game - at Chaska no less. That Eden Prairie team was a fun team to watch this last season. Becker is another program that I really like and have tremendous respect for. Despite the fact that junior guard Alexis Rose went down with an unfortunate ACL injury after the first of the year, the Bulldogs still plowed their way through; claiming yet another Section 5AAA Championship Game title. They would ultimately fall to a gamey Stewartville team in the State Tournament semifinals but would claim an exciting consolation championship on a buzzer-beater. I think for me, the game of the year HAD to be that Class AAAA State Championship Game on a Saturday night at the Barn between Hopkins and STMA that saw the Knights roar out to a big lead only to have to hang on for dear life down the stretch to claim the state title. A thrilling game as you'll ever see which is fortunate because the state tournament seems to erode little by little each year thanks to MSHSL and its illustrious Communications Coordinator Tim Leighton. Talk about anachronisms, goodness gracious (or words to that effect). I remember when it was actually FUN to attend the state tournament as a blogger; to try and cover things from a slightly different angle and bring the games to readers. I really, truly enjoyed that. But this wonderful organization doesn't want bloggers or any other people more than absolutely necessary to cover these games at an event that is SUPPOSED to be the showcase for girls high school basketball in the state of Minnesota. That's your wonderful MSHSL at work for you folks.
A couple of disturbing trends that I think I need to touch one before I close this post up. First, you may or may not have noticed that three different institutions will close their doors forever after this academic year is up: (1) Presentation College in Aberdeen, SD (2) Finlandia University in Hancock, MI and (3) Iowa Wesleyan University in Mt. Pleasant, IA. With the closure of these three institutions, the women's basketball programs at all three are now effectively shuttered with affected players now hoping to find landing spots elsewhere. I don't know all the details surrounding the closure of these three institutions but declining enrollment is certainly one factor and COVID certainly played a factor in this as well. My thing is that I hear rumblings of possible trouble at other institutions (I won't say which simply because I don't know any details) and it definitely gives you pause. It's not something that you like to see happening anywhere. My other gripe is the transfer portal. Look, it's not the transfer portal that I'm against in any way, shape or form. It's good that that mechanism is there. But, what I don't like about it is how things have become so out of control with it in the relatively short time that we've had it. Just yesterday, for example, we saw Louisville guard Hailey Van Lith bidding adieu to that program for greener pastures. Granted, she's a graduate transfer but there's still a lot about this that I just don't like. To me, this whole thing giving student athletes an easy out at the first sign of trouble and also exposes their initial selection process from the get-go when second thoughts should have been had in the first place. I don't think the transfer portal was created for what we're seeing now but I'll gladly let others chime in with their thoughts on this.
Before I forget - a Happy Easter to everyone!
