WEEKLY ROUNDUP *Champlin’s year? *Coach with strong pedigree *Five unbeatens fall *Hoosier view of Trump *Top 20 boys, girls Volume 23 Issue No. 8 January 20 2016-2017 Champlin Park’s crushing it By Bruce Strand McKinley Wright T he Champlin Park boys, chosen the as No. 1 team in Class 4A in the preseason, have lived up to the billing with a soaring first half. “Any time you are playing this well and have not lost, it is a great season so far,” acknowledged Rebels coach Mark Tuchscherer. “Thus far we are playing pretty good basketball and hope to continue to improve and be at our best come playoffs.” With a deep senior lineup led by Division I recruits McKinley Wright and Theo John, the Rebels, in search of their first state crown, have posted 11 victories, their clos- est being 91-84 over No. 5 Apple Valley where they led by 20 in the first half. The Rebels have thumped No. 8 Eden Prairie 87-65, No. 16 Woodbury 101-70, No. 14 Osseo 81-64 and No. 20 Rochester John Marshall 113-74 along the way. Tuchscherer was asked what kind of scouting report he’d formulate if he had to coach against his squad. “I think it would read that we need to take away their guard play and protect the paint,” he responded. “However, with our team, I feel like we have shooters, penetrators and a post presence, so it can be difficult if some or all of those facets are hit- ting on a given night.” Wright, 6-foot guard signed by the University of Dayton, averages 23.6 points and 8.6 rebounds. John, 6-foot-9 forward signed by Mar- quette, averages 13.3 points and 9.4 rebounds. Brian Smith, 5-foot-9 guard headed for Waldorf Univer- sity, knocks down 13.5 per game, with 6-foot-3 guard Marcus Hill adding 10.9 ppg and 6-foot-3 guard D.J. Hunter 8.7 ppg. The Rebels av- erage 89 scored and 61 allowed. Their Northwest Suburban schedule includes No. 11 Armstrong, No. 13 Park Center and No. 15 Osseo, and they’ve still got No. 6 Hopkins and Class 3A’s No. 1 DeLaSalle and No. 3 Totino-Grace coming up. Champlin Park is a new power, hav- ing made just three state trips. They had the top-ranked team two years ago, too, led by JT Gibson (now with Nebraska-Omaha), Jeremy Johnson (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and Marty Hill, and reached the fi- nals unbeaten, but Apple Valley de- nied them 64-61. Wright and John were prominent as sophomores that year. Last season, the Rebels, most- ly juniors, were 21-7 and lost in the second round of playoffs to Mounds View. “Yes, winning the state champion- ship is our ultimate team goal,” the Rebel coach said. “We all realize that there are a ton of short-term goals that we need to reach, in prep- aration for the playoff run, and it's something we talk about daily — doing what we need to do in prac- tice and in each game to get bet- ter and to accomplish what we are working for.”
Transcript
WEEKLY ROUNDUP
*Champlin’s year?*Coach with strong pedigree
*Five unbeatens fall*Hoosier view of Trump
*Top 20 boys, girls
Volume 23 Issue No. 8 January 20 2016-2017
Champlin Park’s crushing it By Bruce Strand
McKinley Wright
The Champlin Park boys, chosen the as No. 1 team in Class 4A in
the preseason, have lived up to the billing with a soaring first half.
“Any time you are playing this well and have not lost, it is a great season so far,” acknowledged Rebels coach Mark Tuchscherer. “Thus far we are playing pretty good basketball and hope to continue to improve and be at our best come playoffs.”
With a deep senior lineup led by Division I recruits McKinley Wright and Theo John, the Rebels, in search of their first state crown, have posted 11 victories, their clos-est being 91-84 over No. 5 Apple Valley where they led by 20 in the first half. The Rebels have thumped No. 8 Eden Prairie 87-65, No. 16 Woodbury 101-70, No. 14 Osseo 81-64 and No. 20 Rochester John Marshall 113-74 along the way.
Tuchscherer was asked what kind of scouting report he’d formulate if he had to coach against his squad.
“I think it would read that we need to take away their guard play and protect the paint,” he responded. “However, with our team, I feel like we have shooters, penetrators and a
post presence, so it can be difficult if some or all of those facets are hit-ting on a given night.”
Wright, 6-foot guard signed by the University of Dayton, averages 23.6 points and 8.6 rebounds. John, 6-foot-9 forward signed by Mar-quette, averages 13.3 points and 9.4 rebounds. Brian Smith, 5-foot-9 guard headed for Waldorf Univer-sity, knocks down 13.5 per game, with 6-foot-3 guard Marcus Hill adding 10.9 ppg and 6-foot-3 guard
D.J. Hunter 8.7 ppg. The Rebels av-erage 89 scored and 61 allowed.
Their Northwest Suburban schedule includes No. 11 Armstrong, No. 13 Park Center and No. 15 Osseo, and they’ve still got No. 6 Hopkins and Class 3A’s No. 1 DeLaSalle and No. 3 Totino-Grace coming up.
Champlin Park is a new power, hav-ing made just three state trips. They had the top-ranked team two years ago, too, led by JT Gibson (now with Nebraska-Omaha), Jeremy Johnson (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and Marty Hill, and reached the fi-nals unbeaten, but Apple Valley de-nied them 64-61. Wright and John were prominent as sophomores that year. Last season, the Rebels, most-ly juniors, were 21-7 and lost in the second round of playoffs to Mounds View.
“Yes, winning the state champion-ship is our ultimate team goal,” the Rebel coach said. “We all realize that there are a ton of short-term goals that we need to reach, in prep-aration for the playoff run, and it's something we talk about daily — doing what we need to do in prac-tice and in each game to get bet-ter and to accomplish what we are working for.”
Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News January 20 Page 2
New Prague, which broke into the boys Class 4A top ten with a 12-0 start, is coached by a young
man with an impressive pedigree.
Bryce Tesdahl, who is Crosby-Iron-ton’s all-time scoring leader with 1,943 points, is the grandson of the only 1,000-win coach in state his-tory, Bob McDonald of Chisholm (who had 1,012). His family tree is dotted with several other prep or college head coaches including his mother, Sue (McDonald) Tesdahl, who coached Crosby-Ironton for several years.
Tesdahl also learned much about the game from his high school coach, Dave Galovich, whose 677 wins rank sixth all-time.
In a Minnesota Basketball Hub feature, Tesdahl said of
his upbringing: “Growing up in a basketball family, the only profession I knew was coaching and teaching. I was the kid that never left the gym, and fell in love with the game of basketball at a very early age.”
This is Tesdahl’s second season at New Prague. His first squad finished 20-8.
New Prague is now 12-1 after Eden Prairie snapped their winning streak 55-49 on Tuesday. Scoring leaders this year are Zach Hanson (17.1 ppg) and twins Jared (11.1 ppg) and Jacob (10.1 ppg) Millinkovich.
Tesdahl led Crosby-Ironton to a 32-1, state runner-up season his senior year, 2008, and set the state tourna-ment record for assists with 30. At Bemidji State, he broke the team season record for assists twice and helped BSU win the Northern Sun title in 2012.
He was an assistant coach at UM-Duluth for three years before becoming a head coach at New Prague.
Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News January 20 Page 3
Boys unbeaten list reduced by fiveBy Bruce Strand
Five previously-unbeaten boys teams absorbed their first losses in the past week.
In Class 4A, Tartan (11-1) fell to Mahtomedi 58-52, and New Prague (12-1) lost to Eden Prairie 55-49, leaving two unbeatens in the division: No. 1 Champlin Park (11-0) and No. 4 Wayzata (11-0). Mahtomedi (12-1) got 19 points from Andy Voyen and 13 points and 10 rebounds from Parker Fox in the win over Tartan. Eden Prairie (9-5) was led by Drake Dobbs with 16 and Will Pahl with 15. Zach Hanson led New Prague with 14.
In Class 3A, Austin lost 75-64 to Rochester John Mars-nall (9-3), unable to stop RJM’s super soph center Mat-thew Hurt, who had 39 points.
The division’s lone remaining unbeaten, No. 10 Wase-ca (13-0), will host No. 4 Marshall (12-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. Remember, those two went four overtimes in the sectionals last year with Waseca winning on a series of miracle shots.
Class 2A still has three unbeatens while Eden Valley-Watkins (8-1) was dislodged from the ranks by Water-town-Mayer (13-1) decisively, 68-49. Still unscathed are Crosby-Ironton (13-0), New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva (13-0), and Virginia (11-0).
In Class 1A, Hillcrest Lutheran (8-1) lost to No. 2 Red Lake 72-61. Jamie Cook sank 18 and Rob McClain 15 for Red Lake. Tommy Thompson had 20 and Kyler Newman 17 for the Comets. Five unbeatens remain: Goodhue (14-0), Ada-Borup (10-0), Red Rock Central (11-0), North Woods (7-0) and Cleveland (13-0).
Davison sinks 80 points in 2 Crimson wins
Maple Grove’s Mr. Basketball candidate Brad Davi-son scored 80 points in two games, leading the No. 2 Crimson (10-1) over No. 6 Hopkins 81-70 with 41 points and No. 9 Robbinsdale Armstrong 72-64 with 39 points. The point guard, signed by Wisconsin, is averaging 27 points with a mix of drives, transition
baskets and long 3-pointers. Tywhon Pickford added 22 points against Hopkins and 19 against Armstrong.
Around the state
Jericho Sims, 6-foot-9 forward at Cristo Rey Jesuit of Minneapolis, signed by the University of Texas, is averaging 25.3 points for the Pumas (7-5). He had a 40-point, 18-rebound game in a 75-63 win over Blake.
Unbeaten, defensive-minded Goodhue stymied one of their top conference rivals, Zumbrota-Mazeppa, 55-37, improving to 14-0. Ben Osdahl sank 20 points, Lucas Thomforde 14 and Taylor Buck 10. The Wildcats (14-0) are allowing just 35.8 points per game.
Savion Scott of Patrick Henry scored 40 points in a 92-80 loss to Minneapolis North, the top-ranked Class 1A team, on Jan. 6. The senior guard is averaging 16 points for the Patriots (8-5).
It’s been a rugged schedule lately for Totino-Grace, No. 3 in Class 3A, going through a four-game losing streak, all against ranked 4A squads: No. 2 Maple Grove 87-84, No. 10 Park Center 86-72, No. 9 Robbinsdale Arm-strong 85-81 and No. 13 Osseo 63-60. The Eagles (8-5) are led in scoring by Rocky Kreuser (15.2 ppg) Nathan Kavolak (14.5 ppg), and Charlie Jacob (13.6 ppg).
Grand Rapids (10-4) snapped a seven-game win streak by Bemidji 67-55 with Nate Seelye scoring 24 points and Jake Skelly 22. Bemidji (7-2) made 18 of 22 free shots in the second half to keep it close. Skelly aver-ages 23 points.
Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News January 13 Page 4
Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News January 20 Page 5
By Jeff McCarronPacesetter Director
There is a tug-of-war on for basketball players.
This battle splits two ways: the groups that offer all-star team or club team tournaments and the groups that offer school team or community team tournaments.
At Pacesetter, we provide for the “hometown team” group, where youth basket-ball teams in grades 4-9 that are school-based or commu-nity-based now have a “Final Four-style” playoff system, the Pacesetter Great Four-State championships, that in-volve over 900 teams in four states: MN-IA-ND-SD.
Pacesetter Sports started this system in 2010 to give school teams an exciting playoff to match or surpass the lure of AAU teams traveling to tour-naments around the country. All players playing in the Pacesetter Playoffs must ei-ther attend the same school or live in the same city, school district or tribal community. Smaller schools with under 400 enrollment in grades 9-12 may combine if the total enrollment when com-bined is 400 or less.
Teams begin with Region Playoffs in February-April in their own section of their state, seeking to advance to their state championships. The top two teams in their state tournaments then advance to the Pacesetter Great Four-State championships in the Twin Cities. The Tar-get Center hosted the championships from 2010-2016. Due to construction this summer, the championships are likely to be held at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Last year Minnesota and North Dakota won four “Great State” titles, Iowa won three four-state titles and South Dakota won one four-state title. Here is the honor roll
of the 2016 Great Four-State champions:
MINNESOTA7th Grade Boys – Stewartville9th Grade Boys – Perham8th Grade Girls – Eden Valley-Watkins9th Grade Girls – Mountain Iron-Buhl
NORTH DAKOTA4th Grade Girls – Bismarck Showtime6th Grade Girls – Central Cass
7th Grade Girls – Dakota Thunder8th Grade Boys – St. John’s/Four Winds
IOWA4th Grade Boys – Pella5th Grade Girls – Xavier Catholic6th Grade Boys – Mason City
SOUTH DAKOTA5th Grade Boys – Sioux Falls Hurricanes
Fliers, further information and registration are available at www.pacesettersports.net.
In following a tournament tradition, all teams play-ing in the Great Four-State tournament are invited to a large team meeting, which could be held in a Marriott or Radisson ballroom, a Timberwolves suite, or on the main Target Center floor the night before their event, and all players from every team are introduced in front of the hundreds of players, parents and coaches. Their teammates are their friends from their own communi-ty, and they will be playing together soon on the same high school team. Most of the parents have known ev-ery player from childhood.
The next day the players get to play together in front of all their fans on the Target Center floor, home of the NBA Timberwolves and the WNBA Lynx.
It doesn’t get any better than that.
The road to Minneapolis-St. Paul
Reid Gaster of the Lake City 8th-grade team got ready to throw a long pass in the Great Four-State tournament in 2016.
Youth teams now have ‘Midwest Madness’ Playoffs
Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News January 13 Page 6
Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News January 20 Page 7
Red Lake’s first D-1 recruit scores 2,000th
Grace White, who scored her 2,000th point last week, is the first-ever Division I recruit from Red
Lake in any sport, the Red Lake Nation News reported.
White signed with the University of Denver on Nov. 9. For that special occasion, her school honored the class president, homecoming queen and straight-A student with a signing ceremony in the gymnasium.
“I hope that I set the bar,” she told the Bemidji Pioneer. “I hope I just kind of broke the ice for that so we get more ath-letes to go play college ball.”
Denver plays in the Summit League so Red Lake fans can watch her play at North Dakota State, South Dakota and South Dakota State.
White, the daughter of Red Lake boys coach Roger White, got her 2,000th point on Jan. 13 while scoring 19 points in a 70-34 win at Minneapolis Wash-burn. She averaged 24 points and 13 rebounds as a junior.
Denver coach Kerry Cremeans praised White as a “versatile, all-around perimeter player with a very high basketball IQ” who has the size to handle the one through four spots on the court.
Elk girls finally topple STMA
Elk River girls were 0-8 against St. Michael-Albert-ville the last four years, with four straight losses to the Knights in the section finals. The No. 2 Elks (13-0) fi-nally vanquished their close neighbor 65-62 on Friday, led by Danielle Lachmiller with 16 points, Gabi Haack 14, Sydney Wentland with 11 and Ava Kramer with eight. They pulled it out despite Haack being held to
about half her average of 27.2. Rae Johnson netted 15 points and Lizzy Heil 11 for No. 6 STMA (9-3).
Haack, Wentland and Kramer were starters the past three seasons when the Elks were 63-10 against every-one else and 0-6 against the Knights.
Around the state
Unbeaten Osakis added a member to the school’s 1,000-point club when senior post Alecia Kaelke scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Silverstreaks (13-0) beat Browerville-Eagle Valley 83-41.
Sierra Morrow dominated a low-scoring game with 29 points and 13 rebounds, leading Minneapolis Edison (11-3) past Minneapolis Southwest 42-40. The sopho-more guard is averaging 17 points.
McKenna Hofschild of Prior Lake pumped in 37 points to lead an 89-82 upset of No. 3 ranked Apple Valley on Friday. The sophomore guard is averaging 23.8 points for the Lakers (8-5). Riley Wheatcraft added 21 for Pri-or Lake. Brynne Rolland tallied 31 points and Lyndsey Robson had 26 for Apple Valley (11-2).
Cedar Mountain-Comfrey (11-1), ranked No. 7 in Class 1A, was handed its first loss, by New Ulm, No. 14 in 3A, last week, 67-51. Meleah Reinhart sank 24 points, Joey Batt 18 and Enna Bute 14 for New Ulm (l4-2).
By Bruce Strand
Grace White has signed with Uni-versity of Denver.
Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News January 20 Page 8
“Hometown Team” guideline:All players on a team must either be enrolled in the same
school system or live in the same city, the same school district or the same tribal community. Smaller schools may combine to form one team if the combined enrollment of their high schools
for grades 9-12 is 400 or fewer. Schools that combine should be from the same area.
See further information at www.pacesettersports.net
Region Champions invited to the MN State Championship. Teams with one loss invited to the MIT.
Top two teams at STATE advance to the Great Four-State tournament.
The Minnesota state champion and
runner-up in each grade are invited to
the Great Four-State Championship in the Twin Cities.
(MN, IA, ND, SD)
Region 1 Site Date 4G, 6G, 8G, 5B, 7B, 9B RCTC - Rochester March 25 5G, 7G, 9G, 4B, 6B, 8B RCTC - Rochester March 26Region 2 Site Date 4G, 6G, 8G, 5B, 7B, 9B MN State-Mankato April 22 5G, 7G, 9G, 4B, 6B, 8B MN State-Mankato April 23Region 3 Site Date 5G, 7G, 9G, 4B, 6B, 8B Redwood Falls March 25 4G, 6G, 8G, 5B, 7B, 9B Redwood Falls March 26Region 4 Site Date 5B, 7B, 9B Willow River April 8 4G, 6G, 8G Barnum April 8 4B, 6B, 8B Willow River April 9 5G, 7G, 9G Barnum April 9Region 5 Site Date 5G, 7G, 9G, 4B, 6B, 8B SCSU-St. Cloud April 1 4G, 6G, 8G, 5B, 7B, 9B SCSU-St. Cloud April 2Region 6 Site Date 4G, 6G, 8G, 5B, 7B, 9B Moorhead April 1 5G, 7G, 9G, 4B, 6B, 8B Moorhead April 2Region 7 Site Date 5G, 8B Hibbing April 1 8G, 5B Hibbing April 2 7G, 9G, 4B, 6B Grand Rapids April 1 4G, 6G, 7B, 9B Grand Rapids April 2Region 8 Site Date 4G, 6G, 8G, 5B, 7B, 9B Bemidji April 1 5G, 7G, 9G, 4B, 6B, 8B Bemidji April 2Minnesota State Championships • Maple Grove Date 4G, 6G, 5B, 8B MIT - MN Invitational June 10 4G, 6G, 5B, 8B State Championship June 11 5G, 8G, 4B, 6B MIT - MN Invitational June 17 5G, 8G, 4B, 6B State Championship June 18 7G, 9G, 7B, 9B MIT - MN Invitational June 24 7G, 9G, 7B, 9B State Championship June 25
Send check with this entry form to: PACESETTER, PO BOX 222, PAYNESVILLE, MN 56362Registration also available online at www.pacesettersports.net
If registered by Dec. 30: $165/teamStarting Dec. 31: $175/team3-4 game guarantee
All players are from one school district. School district
Combined team. List all school districts
(See back for details)
Site Grade Circle Boys or Girls Circle Rating: Strong - Good - Fair - Weak
Team Contact Person Team Color
Cell # Alt#
Mailing Address
Email address
Alternate Contact Person Cell #
Team Entry Form - Pacesetter Minnesota Regional Tournament
FREE Timberwolves
Tickets (2017-2018 season)
All players will receive a free ticket offer!
25th AnnualQuestions? Call Pacesetter at 320-243-7460 or
(Email address required - Confirmation will be sent via email - Please write legibly)
7th Boys Stewartville 9th Boys Perham
8th Girls Eden Valley-Watkins9th Girls Mt. Iron-Buhl
Regional Playoffs ScheduleAll grades refer to the 2016-2017 school year.
Teams may register for more than one region. See back for details.
Minnesota’s Great Four-State Champions – 2016
2017
Over 700 teams in 2016!
Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News January 20 Page 9
MBBN boys Top 20 listsCLASS 4A 1. Champlin Park 11-0 2. Maple Grove 10-1 3. Lakeville North 10-1 4. Wayzata 11-0 5. Apple Valley 10-2 6. Hopkins 11-4 7. Cretin-Derham Hall 8-4 8. Eden Prairie 9-4 9. New Prague 12-110. Tartan 11-111. Robbinsdale Armstrong 7-412. Edina 9-213. Park Center 10-214. Chaska 8-415. Osseo 9-416. Woodbury 9-317. St. Cloud Tech 12-118. East Ridge 9-319. Bloomington Jefferson 8-320. Rochester John Marshall 9-3
CLASS 3A 1. DeLaSalle 10-2 2. Delano 11-2 3. Totino-Grace 8-5 4. Orono 11-3 5. Marshall 12-1 6. Mahtomedi 12-1 7. Austin 9-1 8. Alexandria 8-2 9. Big Lake 9-310. Waseca 13-011. Fergus Falls 10-212. Faribault 7-213. St. Paul Highland Park 10-214. Grand Rapids 11-415. Minneapolis Patrick Henry 8-5 16. Sauk Rapids Rice 6-617. Benilde-St. Margaret’s 6-618. St. Anthony Village 11-319. Northfield 6-520. Bemidji 7-2
CLASS 2A 1. Minnehaha Academy 9-5 2. Caledonia 7-3 3. Esko 13-1 4. Melrose 11-0 5. Lake City 10-1 6. St. Cloud Cathedral 10-2 7. Crosby-Ironton 13-0 8. Watertown-Mayer 11-1 9. Annandale 10-210. Eden Valley-Watkins 8-111. Brooklyn Center 9-512. New Richland-Hartland- Ellendale-Geneva 13-013. New Life Academy 9-114. Jordan 11-115. Jackson County Central 11-316. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 7-317. Sauk Centre 8-218. Virginia 11-019. Perham 10-120. Breckenridge 7-1
CLASS 1A 1. Minneapolis North 12-1 2. Red Lake 12-1 3. Central Minnesota Christian 11-1 4. Goodhue 14-0 5. Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 8-1 6. Heritage Christian Academy 9-1 7. Ada-Borup 10-0 8. Red Rock Central 11-0 9. Nevis 10-110. Springfield 11-111. Cass Lake-Bena 10-412. Waubun 5-313. Lake Park-Audubon 9-314. Spring Grove 9-315. Browerville-Eagle Valley 7-216. North Woods 7-017. Cleveland 13-018. Parkers Prairie 10-119. Cedar Mountain-Comfrey 9-120. Southwest MN Christian (Edgerton) 7-2
CLASS 4A 1. Hopkins 17-0 2. Elk River 14-0 3. Eastview 13-2 4. Apple Valley 12-2 5. Lakeville North 13-2 6. Centennial 12-3 7. East Ridge 11-3 8. Roseville Area 13-2 9. Park Center 10-410. St. Michael-Albertville 9-411. White Bear Lake 10-612. Edina 12-413. Wayzata 11-414. Minnetonka 8-4 15. Champlin Park 11-416. Cretin-Derham Hall 9-417. Woodbury 8-518. Rosemount 7-719. Prior Lake 8-720. Forest Lake 8-4
CLASS 3A 1. Holy Angels 15-1 2. Alexandria 9-2 3. Orono 13-3 4. Kasson-Mantorville 11-4 5. Winona 10-2 6. Grand Rapids 13-3 7. Mahtomedi 13-2 8. Northfield 11-2 9. Hutchinson 7-510. Zimmerman 12-211. Waseca 11-412. Hermantown 12-313. St. Paul Como Park 8-614. St. Anthony Village 10-415. New Ulm 14-216. Bloomington Kennedy 7-617. Sartell-St. Stephen 8-518. Delano 9-419. Willmar 7-620. Red Wing 8-4
CLASS 2A 1. Roseau 13-0 2. Sauk Centre 12-1 3. Norwood-Young America 16-0 4. Plainview-Elgin-Millville 11-2 5. Watertown-Mayer 12-2 6. New London-Spicer 11-1 7. Pipestone 10-0 8. Osakis 13-0 9. Hayfield 12-210. Eden Valley-Watkins 10-211. Pequot Lakes 11-112. Minnehaha Academy 10-413. Barnesville 11-314. St. Peter 13-115. Rush City 11-016. Staples-Motley 11-217. Annandale 8-518. Esko 11-419. Southwest MN Christian (Chaska) 9-220. Pine City 13-2
CLASS 1A 1. Mountain Iron-Buhl 11-0 2. Goodhue 13-2 3. Wheaton-Herman-Norcross12-0 4. Cromwell-Wright 11-2 5. Mankato Loyola 12-1 6. Maranatha Christian 8-5 7. Lyle-Pacelli 10-2 8. Ada-Borup 10-1 9. Cedar Mountain-Comfrey 11-110. Red Lake 11-211. Heritage Christian 9-412. Southwest MN Christian (Edgerton) 11-213. Mayer Lutheran 12-314. Canby 13-115. Bigfork 14-016. Granada-Huntley-East Chain-Truman- Martin Luther 13-217. Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity 9-318. Stephen-Argyle 10-119. Red Lake Falls 14-120. Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 8-5-
Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News January 20 Page 10
MBBN girls Top 20 lists
Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News January 20 Page 11
By Jeff McCarronPacesetter Director
Let’s look at our country like a basketball team get-ting a new coach and relate it to Hoosiers, where
Gene Hackman took the reins of a new team in small-town Indiana in the 1950’s.
Hackman was a no-nonsense guy who had been out of coaching for years and was trying it again. The com-munity knew they had a chance for a great team, and there were many opinions about how it should be done. Hackman, like Trump, had his own ideas about how he would coach the team. First, he had to keep the detracting voices away from his players, so he no longer allowed parents and fans to attend practices. Second, when two of the players showed disrespect by talk-ing while he was talking at the first practice, he instantly cut them from the team. One player came back with his father and apologized. He was allowed to join the team again. Respect earned respect. The best player in the community, Jimmy, was not on the team. “Coach” talked to him and let him know he would like him to play, but he didn’t beg him. With dissenting voices and disrespectful members of the team gone, Coach got down to coaching the team. He demanded “team” basketball, patience, looking for a good shot. One of the best players decided to lis-ten to his father in the stands and take a couple of long shots instead of running the play. He was benched and not allowed back in, even when players fouled out and they were down to four player, Coach stuck by his prin-ciples: team first, discipline, and “my way.” They lost. The community was in an uproar, and many wanted Coach to resign. A town hall meeting was called. In the 1950’s, there was one champion crowned in the whole state of Indiana, and basketball was the only sport in the winter in most communities. In a small town, it was THE entertainment and a deep passion for many. Back to the town hall meeting…where, in dramatic fashion, just as the vote to remove the coach was about to be taken, Jimmy walks to the microphone and the room is silenced. He is willing to play ... if coach stays.
The room erupted in joy, confusion, frustration, and per-plexity…but despite all the mixed feelings, they elected to keep Coach and focus on the season. In the USA this Friday, we are getting a new coach. Our team has great potential this season and every sea-son. With some changes in tactics and more teamwork, we could become the best in the world. Many in our country think “we will win simply by walking onto the court.” Those are famous last words of losers. We have been a champion in the past. Wow, my spell check thinks I just made an error, to say that “We” (plu-ral) could be a “champion” (singular). It has “We” and “a champion” underlined in green as if it is an error and “it can’t be done.” Maybe my computer understands more about the current mindset of Americans than I do. I still think “We” can be “a champion,” so I’m going to leave those green little dissenters behind and move on. We the people, we are the team. There will be disre-spectful dissenters with “ruffled feathers” and voices decrying the new coach and his tactics and antics and mistakes. He just needs to ignore them, shut them out of the gym. There will be players who are disrespect-ful. Some may pout or sit out. They will be removed so they are not a cancer to the rest of the team. The coach needs to stay the course and focus on mak-ing the team the best it can be. The people have chosen him. Like Jimmy, once the dissenters and the “disre-specters” are gone and the team and mission is defined, the “best and brightest” will be encouraged to join the team….and go for the championship. I had a real-life encounter with a bad-ass coach, Bill Musselman, who makes Gene Hackman and Donald Trump look like kindergarten teachers. Most of the players despised him. Players were kicked out, kicked off, verbally and physically abused, and the team and state shamed in Sports Illustrated due to a brawl at Williams Arena. It was hell, physically and emotion-ally. But our uniforms still read, “MINNESOTA.” We stayed together as a team, black guys and white guys, every grueling day, and became Big Ten champions. The TEAM is always greater than the coach or the play-ers. The TEAM is always stronger with the whole com-munity on board. But if you don’t respect our TEAM, that still reads “USA,” after all the struggles and sacri-fices we have made to get here …please stay the hell out of the gym.
