Thoughts On Another Season Gone Down

Congrats to Rosemount for capturing their first-ever Class AAAA state title!

I waited a bit longer than I should have, perhaps, to write this particular article but in a way, I think it's smart that I waited because I truly needed to (1) get all the emotions out from this last season and (2) take a bit of a break to get my batteries re-charged as well.  In so many ways - but particularly from my coverage of the MIAC Women's Hoops scene and D3 Women's Hoops in general - this last season was a season unlike any other and it will leave a lot of good memories for me personally.  

And what a year it was indeed for MIAC Women's Basketball that saw not one, not two, not three but FOUR teams make it into the Big Dance and two of those teams - Concordia and Bethel - making deep runs to the Elite 8 and Sweet 16, respectively.  After years of waiting and wondering if the MIAC might ever get to be in this kind of position, it finally happened.  And all of you that read my blog know full and well how I've made my rants over the years about how the conference needed to ditch the ridiculous round-robin schedule that would allow teams to play more non-conference opponents (read quality opponents).  Now, we're finally beginning to see the rewards of that bold move that not only have provided an opportunity for more teams to get national exposure but have given the conference as a whole a lot more exposure as well.  And I feel pretty confident in saying that we'll see the benefits keep flowing; particularly when it comes to recruiting because prospective recruits coming out of high school now will look at MIAC schools from a different perspective given what these four teams accomplished this last season.  And I think too that the programs currently in the lower echelon of the conference will benefit as well - not that the ladder they have to climb will be easy by any stretch given the highly-competitive nature of the conference.  But there's still a ladder there for them nonetheless.  It's going to be fun to see.  Bottom line here - the MIAC is now right up there with the other big-name conferences and it's just great to see!  

But success certainly wasn't limited to the MIAC Women's Hoops scene.  On the D2 side, three teams from the NSIC, Concordia St Paul, Minnesota St and UM-Duluth all got bids to the NCAA Tournament as well.  Now, as many of us know, the NCAA Tournament on the D2 side is a much, much different animal than it is on the D3 side (and in an unfortunate way, IMHO) as the NSIC teams basically had to cannibalize each other in the process before one emerged to have a shot in the Elite 8.  Minnesota St, for example, lost its first round game to UM-Duluth while Concordia St Paul managed to win their first round game over Northwestern Oklahoma St and also beat Fort Hays St in their second round game before falling to said UM-Duluth team in the Regional Championship in a gut-punching double overtime affair.  And that win by the Bulldogs in that Regional Championship Game may very well have been a pyrrhic victory in retrospect as UM-Duluth was rudely bounced by Colorado Mesa in the Elite 8.  But overall, it was still a highly-successful year for these three teams.  Over on the junior college side, we finally saw Anoka-Ramsey make a return to its glory days as the Golden Rams won the NJCAA Region XIIIB Championship Game over Northland in convincing fashion that sent Anoka-Ramsey down to Brownwood, TX for the National Tournament where the Golden Rams beat Owens Community College in their first round game and then again had to face Northland in the second round where Anoka-Ramsey held on for a narrow victory that propelled them to the National Championship Game.  Ultimately, the Golden Rams would fall to another MCAC opponent - Minnesota West - in a tough one but it was still a great season for Anoka-Ramsey.  

And while I unfortunately didn't get to do much on the high school front this year, it was still a memorable season nonetheless - particularly for Rosemount.  I was at the Barn for Thursday night's semifinal action and while Hopkins dumped Maple Grove in the 6:00 PM slot, the nightcap between the Irish and Rochester Mayo was a wild affair that could have easily gone either way.  Ultimately, Rosemount found a way to prevail 65-64 but there was definitely a lot to like about that Rochester Mayo team and you have to think that the future is indeed bright for that program.  That set up the Saturday night showdown between the Royals and the Irish and while the smart money may have been on Hopkins on this night, Rosemount finally found a way to have the bright lights shining on them for a change as a last-second defensive stand by the Irish preserved another thrilling one-point win.  Congratulation to Head Coach Chris Orr and his staff and team and don't be surprised if the Irish find themselves as one of the top favorites in Class AAAA this next season.  Likewise, congratulation have to go out to Benilde-St. Margaret's and Head Coach Tim Ellefson and his staff on their Class AAA state title win over a very good Stewartville team.  And what can you say about Providence Academy and their shining star Maddy Greenway who helped lead the Lions to their FIFTH straight state title in Class AA and shattered the state scoring title with a total of 5,621 points in her career at Providence Academy.  And you know that she's going to do big things at Kentucky.  Congrats to Head Coach Connor Goetz and his staff and team for another glorious run to immortality in Minnesota Girls High School Basketball.  And a hearty congratulations to Sleepy Eye St. Mary's and Head Coach Bruce Woitas and his staff and team on their Class A State Championship Game win over a very good Mountain Iron-Buhl team.

And, like it seemingly always does, the proverbial coaching carousel comes to the forefront once the season gets completed and there's some notable changes close to home worth mentioning.  Here in the MIAC, Head Coach Don Mulhern stepped down just a short two weeks ago at St. Kate's after nine seasons there.  While the number of potential candidates to fill the vacancy at St. Kate's is uncertain as of this writing, the situation could be muddled a bit as current AD Eric Stacey was recently promoted to a VP position within the university and Deputy AD Madge Makowske will assume the AD position on 6-1-26 so we'll just have to monitor the situation for the time being.  Across the River in WIAC country, the big change was UW-Eau Claire snagging Hannah Iverson from conference rival UW-Stout to fill the vacancy after Tonja Englund announced her retirement at the end of the season.  In my mind, it's a bit unusual for a school to poach a coach from within the conference although not unprecedented.  In this particular case, however, it's something of a homecoming for Iverson as she hails from Eau Claire and it's probably a natural fit for her and there's little doubt that she's going to do well there and will get the Blugold program back into the thick of things in a crazy-competitive WIAC.  UW-Stout meanwhile was quick to counter as they were able to quickly fill the subsequent vacancy with Sam Clayton who comes to the Blue Devils program after eight seasons at Michigan Tech.  Given what UW-Stout has been able to accomplish over the last few years - particularly with the memorable run to the Final Four a mere season ago - I think they've made a solid hire here and they get someone who's familiar with the lay of the land there as well.  And former MIAC member and now DI UST has a new face at the helm after Head Coach Ruth Sinn retired at the end of this last season as they got Mandy Pearson from UM-Duluth after 11 seasons with the Bulldog program.  Pearson; who spent nine seasons at SMU before taking the UM-Duluth job after the 2015 season has had good results - including an appearance in the D2 National Championship Game three seasons ago.  While I tend to believe that there's likely a ceiling as to what she can do at a (now) mid-major program such as UST, there's still every reason to think that she'll have good results nonetheless.  

So that kind of wraps things up for this season on my end.  I'm still planning to attend the Minnesota Girls Basketball Coaches Association All-Star Games down in Northfield tomorrow and, who knows, maybe you just might catch me at some AAU event this spring and you'll most definitely see me at the Midtown YWCA Women's College Summer League beginning in early June.