November 15, 2025 • 30 mins
Doug gives his early season takes as his Green Bay squad sits at 1-3 heading into their huge non-conference matchup against B1G’s Minnesota.
Then, he’s joined by Minnesota HC Niko Medved, who discusses his rise through the coaching ranks, re-building Colorado State, challenges as he takes over the Golden Gophers in his first year at his alma mater, and the storied program’s ceiling in the NIL Era.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hey, what up. Welcome in. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is
All Ball. In this edition of All Ball.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We're dropping this the day of a game with the
opposing coach of the game, Nico Manvet's the new head
coach of Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
We'll talk to him. We'll talk to him about his
new job.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
We'll talk to him about the new era in which
he took this new job and how it all works
and what it's all like for him. Quick update on
our season obviously right now. We did not I didn't
think we played well against Kansas, thought we were overwhelmed
by everything. We went to Buffalo and led the game
(00:46):
with eight minutes to go and end up ultimately falling
to Buffalo. We did a poor job of keeping them
off the free throw line, and we did a very
good job of running their three point shooter off the line,
limiting Sable, who's their best player. He had thirty two
you know, the night before we played them. But we
(01:07):
were unable to really control their point guards and we
struggled at point guard. We returned home, played a n
D one team called Rippins from Wisconsin actually on tape.
Played pretty well, especially in the second half. First half.
I'm still playing probably too many guys and trying to
figure out our rotations. Then we went to Saint Thomas.
(01:29):
The Tommy's had our number last year and it got
worse this year. Mired in the loss was a really
tragic loss of one of our players, Don shall Hewlett.
He's going to be out probably for the year with
a lower leg injury.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And it's one of those injuries where.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Kind of like Kevin ware type injury with Louisville, you know,
like I'm not at liberty to disclose it, but yeah,
it was a lot, and you know, we had gotten
off to a start where a big guy had picked
up two pat files, we'd missed several early shots, and
(02:10):
you know, Don Trell was trending towards becoming a starter.
He had started in you know, one of the games
and started in one of the exhibition games. And yeah,
I mean, that's that's something that it's it's interesting about
this job, how I don't know if anyone's prepared for
that one. And obviously there's far more tragic situations. He's
(02:31):
going to be barring any anything, you know, post surgery
in terms of infection, He's going to be okay.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
But yeah, that's a lot.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Man, when you're looking at a kid who is in
his final year of college and he thinks he may
have played his last basketball game, and all you can
do is have the balance of talking him through, Hey,
it's really in the year. You know, if you can't
play the rest of this year, we'll get you amout
of it's gonna be okay. But he's in shock, so
he's not taking any of these any of the words
(03:06):
of wisdom. And then the team, like you're trying to
coach a game, and yet the team, several of the
players saw it and yeah, it was rough on them.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And then you factor in.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
They're not playing particularly well against the team that is
super patient. That kind of will pick you apart over time.
You don't shoot well on offense and you end up
not playing well. But that's the challenge, you know. Every
different level has a different challenge. Our level of challenges.
We have only three non conference home games of the
(03:40):
you know, and one of them is Santa Barbara, who's
by the time we play might be a top twenty
five team. They're really good, and I'm classically over over scheduled,
and we're not yet whole yet and I think again,
everybody has this challenge. And you see the really interesting
(04:00):
ups and downs of college basketball teams right now, and
it's just because we're all trying to figure out what
we got. And some of the guys appeared better in
recruiting than they were in when they are when they
get you, and then some of them it's just they
have to level up, you know. There's it's really interesting.
I was looking at Dee or Johnson. This is a
(04:21):
great example. So deeor Johnson, most of you know, a
lot of high schools, commitments, de commitments, whatever, played a
year at Pitt had some issues, went to junior college,
had maybe the best junior college season scoring anyone has
ever seen, right Like, I don't know what it was
like twenty eight a game, fifty and forty and close
(04:45):
to ninety from the line, like three or four assists
a game.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I mean, it was unbelieved.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Last year was a Central Florida and up and down
kind of struggled now obviously a little bit lower level
at Tarleton State, but forty one against Baylor, and the
idea is that it's not that one. Central Florida is
a higher level. But right now Tartleton is playing high
major schools. Now it's forty one against Baylor. That'll work
(05:12):
against to anybody. But the second part to it is
it does take guys time to get comfortable and to
level up. And when you bring in ten new players
and none of them who have played Division one basketball
as of now, you'd say, hey, that's a mistake. Now
I'm betting on I'm betting on the improvement of guys
(05:34):
because ultimately I think they have a very good character
and they have very good talent. It's just different at
this level. Whereas guys that are that are returning Division
I one players that have played at four or five
schools in Division one.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
You can get those in the portal.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
But do they plateau because early in the season they're
ahead because of their experience.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Does it make sense? Yeah, it makes sense to me.
So you know, just as you.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Watch your own program unfold, you watch ours unfold. You know,
I have junior college American point guard. He's struggled in games.
You know there's a lot we're throwing at him, and
you know, you have to learn how players were coached
and how you want to coach them and kind of
mold the two because when you get a player who's
(06:26):
in his twenties and he's been coached by a bunch
of people, there's you know, just everything becomes new and
new is really really challenging. So there's not me making
excuses as me just giving you the real real on
what I think all of us as coaches are talking through,
which is how do we build a team, how do
we get our players to improve? And now you get
(06:48):
in the mix of games and you just don't have
a lot of time to fix things and clean things
up and really drill, drill, drill. You know, we played Thursday.
This is being recorded Saturday morning. The interview with coach
Medved was Friday night. We play Saturday, we return home,
we have Sunday off, we have Monday off, and then
we have Tuesday at a big day of practice. Wednesday
(07:13):
we leave for the US Virgin Islands. Then we play
three games in four days. It's just not time to
reinvent the wheel. There's only time to get guys to improve,
to pull guys to the side, to get them with
your to get them in the film room, and to
Sometimes you have to sacrifice moments in a game or
even games. In the art of developing players. So these
(07:37):
are all things that you know, you kind of know,
but you don't know until you're in it. And as
you try and space out games with your schedule, it's
like a magical mix, right. You got to space out
the games so you have time to rest, you have
time to prep, you have time to to to really
break down film, you have time to repair, and yet
(07:58):
you also have to get the games in.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Some of them are already on the schedule, the ones
that you're.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Getting checks for, you don't actually get to pick a
lot of those dates. It's just a really interesting process.
But for my team, we just got to get better.
You know, we're not a group that individually we're going
to have, like last year, a guy go for thirty
and carry us to a win. We have to have,
you know, six guys go for twelve. That's the way
(08:25):
in which you win. That's the way, and when I
think you win more in college basketball, that's the way
I think you win more in life.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
And that's definitely the way.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Based upon our talent and how it's spread out, how
we have to win a college basketball game is you know.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
You get fifteen here, you get nine here, you get ten.
Here you get in and then we got to get
better defensively.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
And the other part to it, if you're honest, is
bad offense makes you way worse defensively. Good offense makes
you way better defensively, Meaning it's not just about do
you score, it's are you efficient do you make them guard?
And the more efficient you are, the less you turn
the basketball over, the less you're going to be in
disadvantageous situations where you're running back two on one they're
(09:08):
laying the ball in. So those are the challenges and
we're kind of figuring out. Let's get to our interview,
shall we. So Nico Medved's the head coach of Minnesota.
It's his first team. I feel like they're still kind
of feeling their way. He's a guy who because of
their kind of princeton Ish style, they really spread you out.
(09:30):
They have magnificent ball moving and malboom and spacing and
lots of people myself that coach, we try and emulate
some of what they're doing offensively pretty ball, but you
do have to get to a place where to play
that way. You have to recruit that are shooting, and
(09:50):
right now they have two that are shooting.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
The eyes out of it.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
But they don't have enough overall shooting to play I
think truly the way they want to play, truly the
way they want to play.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
But he's he's resurrected, you know Furman Drake.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Remember he was at Drake for one year and he
flipped that thing and made it, made it good.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
And then at Colorado State, you know, they were down
and they got it back going and they became a
dynamic program in the Mountain West with I think what
people thought of at the time was average to limited means.
I think Colorado State's pretty well funded now, but during
his time there, the last couple of years, it wasn't
like they were killing it financially. They just found diamonds
in the rough like Annie Clifford and wrote him to
(10:31):
great success. And now he's into the NBA. What I
what I like about n Eco is I'm sure he
has an ego. We all do, but there's an awshocks
to him. There's a guy who is a former manager
who worked his way up to be an assistant coach,
who worked his way up to being a head coach,
who does a really, really good job of kind of
(10:52):
staying normal, normal it's hard, I think for if you've
ever been around some of the biggest and brightest of
the coaches, there are times in which they act like stars.
And that's because when you're the head coach of a
high major program.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
You're kind of treated like a star.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
The thing about Nico that I enjoy is it don't
ever get a sense of smugness, arrogance. And granted, this
is his first powerful job, and it's in his hometown,
his home state, and his alma mater, and when you're
in the Midwest, doesn't always work to be or most
times it doesn't work to be a quote unquote star.
(11:34):
But he is a star coach. It is really You
watch their tape and you get it. This is what
they're doing and why they're doing it and how.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
They're teaching it.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
So, without further ado, let's get to Nico medved, the
head coach of the Minnesota Gophers.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
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listen live.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Okay, so this was.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Cool, right, I'm We're going to play against your team
tomorrow night. Year two for me is you're one for
you at Minnesota, but you've done these a lot more, right,
Uh Firman, you flip that thing, You got that that
going Drake one year, turned that thing around, and obviously
what you did in Colorado stay is amazing. How much
are you able to draw upon because when you made
those moves it was a different era, It wasn't the
(12:27):
portal era, and we weren't paying guys back there. You
and I weren't paying guys back then. How can you
draw upon that when the era and a lot of
the changes in the industry have happened since you left Drake.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
I think there's a I mean, there's obviously a lot
you can you can still draw on about some of
the core things. I mean as far as like with
your team and the culture you're trying to build, and
you kind of get comfortable for how you want to play.
You've been there, done that, You've been through ups and downs,
you know what I mean. I think you just have
a better feel on how to manage it and keeping
the main thing, the main thing right, Like what do
(13:05):
I what needs all my energy? What can I and
I don't need to give one hundred percent to this.
You know, we did to a Colorado state that was
right when this whole portal thing and the and the
nil thing happened. And so I think navigating that get
really over this last four year window, I think was
really good for me too.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
And so so man if.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Every day you're relying on something and man the other night,
you know, we took it on the chin in the
second half and we ended the year so great. Last year,
it's like, god, it it was a while before I
felt like that, and I remember how much I hate it,
you know, saying it.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I mean, I just losing is just each ya ich ya,
each ya live. What's it like to be back at
the you? I mean, you were famously a manager. It's
been a long kind of your curial path to come
all the way back. But now you're the head coach.
You've been successful, you have a track record of success.
(14:02):
What's it like to walk back into Williams Arena now
as the head coach considering your life experiences there previously.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
It's it's you know, Doug, it's surreal. I think.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
What's what's interesting? I tell people, you know, when you
take the job and you know, everybody brings that up
and they're asking you that question. But you're so into
what you need to do every day. You know, you're
you're playing. You think you got a chance to go
to the Sweet sixteen. You won on that magical run
at the end of last year, and forty eight hours later,
you're in Minneapolis at a press conference. You got at
(14:35):
one returning player, You're bringing your staff, moving your family.
You just get so into you don't take a lot
of time to reflect, right, You're just you're so busy.
But I think as time has gone by here, you know,
in particular in the last you know, a couple of months,
I mean, there's it's it's it's pretty cool. It's cool
to see a lot of the former players when I
was there, you know, come back, a lot of people
(14:56):
I hadn't seen in decades that I've seen at the games.
Obviously having my mom and dad, you know, my mom
just turns seventy nine, my dad's eighty three. The fact
that they can come to all the games and be
around and my brothers.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
There's just no price on that. And so that's been
really cool.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
And Doug, I drive by the apartment I lived at,
you know, every day when I go to work.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
So that's that's cool. And a lot's changed.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
I mean, this is this new athlete's village that we
get to be a part of is really unreal. The
facility is. But you'll see tomorrow night, my man. Not
much has changed in.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
The barn, and I think it's the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Actually, hey, here's a question I have for you.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Style wized Obviously, you know, I don't want to say
you run Princeton because you don't. But your style offense,
which so many people are trying to catch up to,
is one where you've had a lot of success playing,
whether it's five out or have an undersized big Obviously,
right now you have.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
The nation's leading rebounder.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
But the Big Ten is a brutally physical conference. It
doesn't mean you're not physical, but again, and it's more
of a patient space style, right you space guys, you
create mismatches. What's your thoughts on coming into the Big
Ten and maybe the Big Tens in transition because you're
adding the West Coast schools as well? With your style,
(16:14):
which is very different from the one that many of
them play, it.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
Is different, you know, I'll say a couple of things
to that.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
I mean, it is different, but you pop on the
TV and you know, guys are my friends. I mean,
Brad Underwood's playing a pretty modern style. I think even
I got Wisconsin is playing different than they did five
six years ago, playing a little bit you know more
more obviously like we do or whatever. But I think
you're seeing, you know, more people adapt to more of
this style, so to speak.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
But you know, think back.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
You know a guy who I admire and friends with
and who I had actually a lot of things that
I've morphed into what I do, John Beeline. I think
John Beelin had a lot of success at Michigan, running
a lot of similar stuff, and so I think it's
a style that can translate anywhere.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
I mean, your ingredients need to be.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Really good, you know, no matter what you're doing, and
you know, and listen, if we get really good ingredients,
I think our style can be successful.
Speaker 5 (17:06):
But it'll be interesting too.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
I mean, you know, going into the Big Ten this year,
we have fourteen one plays, meaning there's fourteen teams we
play once. Sometimes I think being unique is interesting, right,
having a unique style of play. When you play teams
like that, you can be a different kind of team
to prepare for.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, the fourteen one place.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
If you could design a schedule and your old school
big ten, I'm just giving you. You're the you're the commissioner,
your everything. How would you design your comfort schedule?
Speaker 5 (17:36):
Now, that's such a hard question.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
I mean, just you know, with everything the way it's
morph now, with the you know, all the teams we
have in the league. You know you you also want
to have a league where you want to have the
opportunity to play everybody, probably in some capacity, you know,
in your in your league. I think that's good. I
think that creates a matchup. I think you know, a
UCLA or USC. I think your fans would want to
see them at least every other year, so I understand
(17:59):
why they they do that. I'd love to see them
protect a few more than natural rivals. I believe as
far as the two plays go, you know and and
and for me that might be whatever in Iowa, Wisconsin,
you know, those are natural I think right here for us,
I'd love to have the opportunity to play those teams
twice every year.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
I think those are great for the fans.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
And whatever that other third one is, maybe that changes
year to year, but I'd love to see more of
that built in. I think it is like with Indiana
and Purdue, but I think having those rivals in a
lot of these long time standing things really matter to
the fans and so. But Doug, you know what, I
wouldn't surprise me down the road if these teams start
playing more conference games. I mean we might, we might
(18:41):
end a situation down the road, but we're playing twenty
right now. Wouldn't surprise me. If sometime we go to
twenty two or twenty four, I wouldn't surprise me. And
I could see a situation where they even lengthen the season.
Why would they do that?
Speaker 5 (18:52):
Money?
Speaker 4 (18:53):
You know, TV contracts more games, better matchups. You know,
you sell it for a higher price. And that's kind
of theme of the game.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, no, I actually agree with that. Now. I don't
like for our level, I want.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
To play fewer conference games because we need to get
some more wins and then we need some more checks
for by games.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Right, it's like a it's like a mix.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Like I fought for fewer conference games, Me and Greg
Campy others fought for for more for for the Big ten.
You're gonna draw better at those Big ten games.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
You know, and you're not.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
You don't have to write a check to teams like
me nearly as often. I mean, look, I we like
to collect the checks. But yeah, I'm I'm the big ten,
like okay, playing minute, playing Indiana twice or playing another
by game, especially where the mtes are on some level
going away, right, So it's going to be really interesting
(19:46):
to see the the expansion would be great, more games
would be would be awesome.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
I could see that changing.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
And I think as teams that you know, kind it's
been interesting on this side of it, kind of you know,
listening to the people in our league and just kind
of how they're trying to be forward thinking on this.
And I could again see a situation where we end
up playing more games total and more conference games and
you know, different matchups that way.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
So I think that could be where we're where we're headed.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
And it's all about the TV money too, you know,
as they continue to to renegotiate that if the teams
can make more money, that's what they'll try to do.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
You know that, you know, it's you know, it's interesting
you now this is your and I haven't been to Firman.
I've heard from incredible beautiful and incredible, but Des Moines
like highly underrated city. Anybody's been there, Like West and
Moines is awesome to go out, could place to raise
a family. Fort Collins is incredible, incredible, and it's like
(20:43):
the best college town that you've never been to, right
and you always and and people always be like, I
got to go there with it, like it's amazing. And
then I feel like the cities are in that same
In the major cities United States, people have make the
assumption that all it does is snow and that's really it, right,
It's just snowy and cold and that's it. Whereas it's
(21:06):
like today, it's beautiful, it's safe, there's running trails, there's swimming,
there's fishing, there's all these different things. You kind of
nailed it. Granted you're coming back home here, but you
kind of nailed it in the Usually when you go
to the college path, you're going to the places where outwardly
you'd say it's great, but it really like, WHOA, that's
a tough I was down at that place.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
That's a tough place to live.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
You're kind of killing it in that sense in terms
of where you've been able to relocate your family.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
To I couldn't agree more. I've been really lucky that way.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
I mean all these places like you know whatever, like Greenville,
South Carolina, placing yourself, retiring Fort Collins, see yourself retired.
Minneapolis is an incredible place, especially in the summer. I mean,
I don't know that there's a better city in the
country than the Twin Cities.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
In the summer, I mean it's incredible.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
I mean the golf, the lakes, the fishing, I mean
all the lake places you can go to. The food
scene's incredible there. What's interesting about Minneapolis too is so
many of the former players and athletes.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
Live in the cities.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Whether they're froms they end up wanting to live there
for the rest of their for the rest of their lives.
And great pro sports scene. It's a great pro sports town. Yes,
it gets cold. It gets cold a lot of places too,
but maybe the cold keeps the keeps the riff raft out.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
But you're you're right.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
I mean where we live right now, where we get
to work every day, is pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
The other thing about Minnesota is the players in the state.
Right there's there's players in the state. And if you
can build a build a fence keep in the state.
That's always been the challenge. Challenge a little different now
because some of you want to high school, but some
of you want when they come back, like go somewhere
else and then then come on back. What's the challenge
been like for you in recruiting in the in the
six months you've been you've been at the job.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
I mean, so far, I think it's been really good.
I mean, I think, you know, I probably have an advantage.
It's my fourth head coaching job, but the third one
that I had been an assistant at before, so obviously
I grew up here. So I think I know the
landscape pretty well as far as the you know, the
coaches and both the you know AAU high school, maybe
even some of the agents who are involved, you know,
in the area. So I think we have a good
(23:04):
a good feel for that. I think we've hit the
ground running that way. I think to your point, we
got to, you know, try to keep the best talent
here in state. But I think we're all trying to
navigate right now. How many high school players are we
going to sign?
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Every year?
Speaker 4 (23:19):
You know, I still want to sign high school players.
I still believe you can retain players. We were able
to do that at Colora, so you're not going to
retain all of them. The times are different. I get that,
but I think as we're all kind of trying to
see this thing transform here in the next three to
four years, what is.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
Kind of that number.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
I don't think anybody is recruiting as many high school
guys as you did before, So what's that going to
look like? But every year I feel like there's guys
in the state that we're gonna want to It's just.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Uh, I know you got to go and because you
got to go prep for our game.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I know that's that's what it's about.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
Like you just know what it is to the neet.
Clifford is in town.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
The Kings play the Wolves tonight, and Bobby Jackson, who
I'm really close with, he's you know, he's the assistant
for the Kings. He actually came by today to see us.
But I'm going to take my girls and wife to
go see Meek tonight and assistance and I might have
gotten one of my buddies to give me courtside seats
tonight for that. So that's gonna be pretty special. Everytime
(24:19):
you get a chance to see your guys play in
the NBA.
Speaker 5 (24:21):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Okay, So tomorrow's obviously first coaching experience for me at
the Barn. You've you've been, you know, two exhibitions and
two home games. What's it like coaching when you're on
that stage and your team's below you.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
It's a it's a different experience. What is that like?
What are the key things I need to know?
Speaker 4 (24:43):
I think first of all, you know you've been in there,
like you'll you'll feel the history right away.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
It just feels different, even to your players.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
You look up and you know you can see Kevin
McHale and the rafters. You just there's ghosts in the bar,
and it's truly historic, and you'll you'll feel that.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
I think being on the stage is weird.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
It can feel lonely, Doug, I'm not and to lie
like you're kind of standing up there, and but you know,
it's it's not as high.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
As it used to be.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
It's actually a little bit lower. I can't remember how
many years ago they lowered it a little bit. So
you'll be able to still communicate, you know, with your
your staff and stuff pretty easily.
Speaker 5 (25:14):
It's just you're kind of out there.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
You know, you and me will be standing there, maybe
look at each other a few times or whatever, but
you're you can be lonely, but the players are going
to love it. I mean, it's it's such a cool
environment to play in. Your players feel like they're playing
on a stage. And it's really kind of hard to duplicate.
So most of the guys that have come through in
different years I had taken my teams there, they always
say it's one of their favorite places to play.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
So I think your guys will really enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
It's funny you said it's lonely.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
I know you have Coach Bennett's grandson on your staff,
and Coach Bennett he's told me that he wasn't talking
about coaching at the Barn.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
He just said, you know, this is the loneliest job in.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
America, being a head coach.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Oh my god, it's so lonely.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
You're like, nobody cares about your problems and you want
to talk to people them, but there's things you can't
share and you're just, oh, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Hey, And I mean that man, the friend. We've got
to know each other. Coaches need each other. Do you
know what I mean, and it's like I'll do And
it's like sometimes there's only only another head coach who's
in our chair can understand about how we feel or
you're going through you know certain things. So man, we
and I love our profession. I've got so many great,
great friends, you know that way. And and man, I
(26:27):
may call you sometime or if you ever call me,
hey that sometimes we need to talk to each other.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
And if you want to send me some of your players,
that'd be great to send them down will be the miners.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
We'll sen them, we'll send them back up. My god,
have you.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Ever have you given thought or had any discussions about it.
I've had with a couple of teams about the idea
of the European model, which is you talk about younger
players and the loan right where they're technically you're there
under contract with you, but then you loan them to
a lower level Division I school and then at the
(27:02):
end of the year you decide if you want to
call him up.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
You know, that's interesting. I've heard that floated. I've heard
people talking about that. It's not something that I've done yet,
but at this point this is all changing. I mean,
I think we're in this I tell people all the time,
I think we're in this ten year window kind of
right now. We're right in the middle of it in
my opinion. You know, it started about four or five
(27:26):
years ago. We're right in the middle. But we've got
another four or five years, I think to kind of
figure out really some clarity on what this is going
to look like. And I could see this going to
a model like that, and that could be a situation
that makes sense for both parties.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yep, it's it's a fascinating fast and world. Enjoy the game.
Enjoy Nick. What a tremendous player he is.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
Holy, it's an even better person.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
So I know my daughters are really excited to see
him too, and so that'll be great. And Doug eilif,
I don't know if I'm looking forward to seeing you
tomorrow night, but I but I but I am.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
So yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Well, thanks for playing us, Thanks you coming on the pod,
and we'll see tomorrow.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
Hey, thanks guys, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Doug.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
All right, that's it for this edition of All Ball.
My thanks to coach Medved. He did, in fact to
go to the Timberwles game. He did in fact, take
a picture with meee Clifford and I would give you
our game plan and tell you where we are with it.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
But I think I'm gonna do that next.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Time exactly what we're doing sort of differently with this
game to try and figure out. Every team is different,
every program is different, every philosophy is different, and it's
different within each year that you coach. For us, we
have to develop, we have to get better. We have
to win when you get to the Horizon League. So
(28:42):
it's the balance of competing to win now, but ultimately
seeing that down the road, who can help you win
in the Horizon League?
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Who can help you win at your level?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
What is your defined go to defense and your secondary
defense going to be?
Speaker 1 (28:57):
What is your defined offense going to be?
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Secondary offense quick hitters that you like, how you're going
to execute?
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Are you going to play fast? Are you going to
play slow?
Speaker 2 (29:06):
We came in with the mindset that we wanted to
play fast or but not break neck speed.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
But in order to play faster, you have to.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Rebound and defend and then run or you have to
try and turn somebody over. We didn't feel like we
have the overall athleticism to get up the lane and
to turn people over.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
So we got to do.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
It by getting defenses and being solid, being physical. And
the challenge of being physical when you're playing mostly road
games is you're going to accrue a ton of fouls.
The challenge of being physical when you're playing against higher
level teams is you can be physical, they just have
bigger bodies. And the challenge of being physical is understanding
how to do it with discipline and how to do
(29:47):
it when you It's hard to practice because one they
are all friends with each other, and two, it's not
like we have all the biggest bodies in the world
to just big body go bang after each other. Some
of our guys are a little bit slight. So we're
trying to establish a physical identity. We're trying to establish
an identity of toughness, and we're trying to figure out
(30:08):
our pace.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
So watch the game and tell me what you think.
Thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Reminded the Doug Gottlieb Show airs daily three to five
Eastern twelve too, Pacific, Fox Sports Radio, iHeartRadio app there
are more and more of these All balls come my
appreciation for the folks at Keeper's Heart who gave me
access to their distillery at O'Shaughnessy Distillery for these all balls.
I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is all ball
Hey, what up. Welcome in. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is
All Ball. In this edition of All Ball.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We're dropping this the day of a game with the
opposing coach of the game, Nico Manvet's the new head
coach of Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
We'll talk to him. We'll talk to him about his
new job.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
We'll talk to him about the new era in which
he took this new job and how it all works
and what it's all like for him. Quick update on
our season obviously right now. We did not I didn't
think we played well against Kansas, thought we were overwhelmed
by everything. We went to Buffalo and led the game
(00:46):
with eight minutes to go and end up ultimately falling
to Buffalo. We did a poor job of keeping them
off the free throw line, and we did a very
good job of running their three point shooter off the line,
limiting Sable, who's their best player. He had thirty two
you know, the night before we played them. But we
(01:07):
were unable to really control their point guards and we
struggled at point guard. We returned home, played a n
D one team called Rippins from Wisconsin actually on tape.
Played pretty well, especially in the second half. First half.
I'm still playing probably too many guys and trying to
figure out our rotations. Then we went to Saint Thomas.
(01:29):
The Tommy's had our number last year and it got
worse this year. Mired in the loss was a really
tragic loss of one of our players, Don shall Hewlett.
He's going to be out probably for the year with
a lower leg injury.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And it's one of those injuries where.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Kind of like Kevin ware type injury with Louisville, you know,
like I'm not at liberty to disclose it, but yeah,
it was a lot, and you know, we had gotten
off to a start where a big guy had picked
up two pat files, we'd missed several early shots, and
(02:10):
you know, Don Trell was trending towards becoming a starter.
He had started in you know, one of the games
and started in one of the exhibition games. And yeah,
I mean, that's that's something that it's it's interesting about
this job, how I don't know if anyone's prepared for
that one. And obviously there's far more tragic situations. He's
(02:31):
going to be barring any anything, you know, post surgery
in terms of infection, He's going to be okay.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
But yeah, that's a lot.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Man, when you're looking at a kid who is in
his final year of college and he thinks he may
have played his last basketball game, and all you can
do is have the balance of talking him through, Hey,
it's really in the year. You know, if you can't
play the rest of this year, we'll get you amout
of it's gonna be okay. But he's in shock, so
he's not taking any of these any of the words
(03:06):
of wisdom. And then the team, like you're trying to
coach a game, and yet the team, several of the
players saw it and yeah, it was rough on them.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And then you factor in.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
They're not playing particularly well against the team that is
super patient. That kind of will pick you apart over time.
You don't shoot well on offense and you end up
not playing well. But that's the challenge, you know. Every
different level has a different challenge. Our level of challenges.
We have only three non conference home games of the
(03:40):
you know, and one of them is Santa Barbara, who's
by the time we play might be a top twenty
five team. They're really good, and I'm classically over over scheduled,
and we're not yet whole yet and I think again,
everybody has this challenge. And you see the really interesting
(04:00):
ups and downs of college basketball teams right now, and
it's just because we're all trying to figure out what
we got. And some of the guys appeared better in
recruiting than they were in when they are when they
get you, and then some of them it's just they
have to level up, you know. There's it's really interesting.
I was looking at Dee or Johnson. This is a
(04:21):
great example. So deeor Johnson, most of you know, a
lot of high schools, commitments, de commitments, whatever, played a
year at Pitt had some issues, went to junior college,
had maybe the best junior college season scoring anyone has
ever seen, right Like, I don't know what it was
like twenty eight a game, fifty and forty and close
(04:45):
to ninety from the line, like three or four assists
a game.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I mean, it was unbelieved.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Last year was a Central Florida and up and down
kind of struggled now obviously a little bit lower level
at Tarleton State, but forty one against Baylor, and the
idea is that it's not that one. Central Florida is
a higher level. But right now Tartleton is playing high
major schools. Now it's forty one against Baylor. That'll work
(05:12):
against to anybody. But the second part to it is
it does take guys time to get comfortable and to
level up. And when you bring in ten new players
and none of them who have played Division one basketball
as of now, you'd say, hey, that's a mistake. Now
I'm betting on I'm betting on the improvement of guys
(05:34):
because ultimately I think they have a very good character
and they have very good talent. It's just different at
this level. Whereas guys that are that are returning Division
I one players that have played at four or five
schools in Division one.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
You can get those in the portal.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
But do they plateau because early in the season they're
ahead because of their experience.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Does it make sense? Yeah, it makes sense to me.
So you know, just as you.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Watch your own program unfold, you watch ours unfold. You know,
I have junior college American point guard. He's struggled in games.
You know there's a lot we're throwing at him, and
you know, you have to learn how players were coached
and how you want to coach them and kind of
mold the two because when you get a player who's
(06:26):
in his twenties and he's been coached by a bunch
of people, there's you know, just everything becomes new and
new is really really challenging. So there's not me making
excuses as me just giving you the real real on
what I think all of us as coaches are talking through,
which is how do we build a team, how do
we get our players to improve? And now you get
(06:48):
in the mix of games and you just don't have
a lot of time to fix things and clean things
up and really drill, drill, drill. You know, we played Thursday.
This is being recorded Saturday morning. The interview with coach
Medved was Friday night. We play Saturday, we return home,
we have Sunday off, we have Monday off, and then
we have Tuesday at a big day of practice. Wednesday
(07:13):
we leave for the US Virgin Islands. Then we play
three games in four days. It's just not time to
reinvent the wheel. There's only time to get guys to improve,
to pull guys to the side, to get them with
your to get them in the film room, and to
Sometimes you have to sacrifice moments in a game or
even games. In the art of developing players. So these
(07:37):
are all things that you know, you kind of know,
but you don't know until you're in it. And as
you try and space out games with your schedule, it's
like a magical mix, right. You got to space out
the games so you have time to rest, you have
time to prep, you have time to to to really
break down film, you have time to repair, and yet
(07:58):
you also have to get the games in.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Some of them are already on the schedule, the ones
that you're.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Getting checks for, you don't actually get to pick a
lot of those dates. It's just a really interesting process.
But for my team, we just got to get better.
You know, we're not a group that individually we're going
to have, like last year, a guy go for thirty
and carry us to a win. We have to have,
you know, six guys go for twelve. That's the way
(08:25):
in which you win. That's the way, and when I
think you win more in college basketball, that's the way
I think you win more in life.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
And that's definitely the way.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Based upon our talent and how it's spread out, how
we have to win a college basketball game is you know.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
You get fifteen here, you get nine here, you get ten.
Here you get in and then we got to get
better defensively.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
And the other part to it, if you're honest, is
bad offense makes you way worse defensively. Good offense makes
you way better defensively, Meaning it's not just about do
you score, it's are you efficient do you make them guard?
And the more efficient you are, the less you turn
the basketball over, the less you're going to be in
disadvantageous situations where you're running back two on one they're
(09:08):
laying the ball in. So those are the challenges and
we're kind of figuring out. Let's get to our interview,
shall we. So Nico Medved's the head coach of Minnesota.
It's his first team. I feel like they're still kind
of feeling their way. He's a guy who because of
their kind of princeton Ish style, they really spread you out.
(09:30):
They have magnificent ball moving and malboom and spacing and
lots of people myself that coach, we try and emulate
some of what they're doing offensively pretty ball, but you
do have to get to a place where to play
that way. You have to recruit that are shooting, and
(09:50):
right now they have two that are shooting.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
The eyes out of it.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
But they don't have enough overall shooting to play I
think truly the way they want to play, truly the
way they want to play.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
But he's he's resurrected, you know Furman Drake.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Remember he was at Drake for one year and he
flipped that thing and made it, made it good.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
And then at Colorado State, you know, they were down
and they got it back going and they became a
dynamic program in the Mountain West with I think what
people thought of at the time was average to limited means.
I think Colorado State's pretty well funded now, but during
his time there, the last couple of years, it wasn't
like they were killing it financially. They just found diamonds
in the rough like Annie Clifford and wrote him to
(10:31):
great success. And now he's into the NBA. What I
what I like about n Eco is I'm sure he
has an ego. We all do, but there's an awshocks
to him. There's a guy who is a former manager
who worked his way up to be an assistant coach,
who worked his way up to being a head coach,
who does a really, really good job of kind of
(10:52):
staying normal, normal it's hard, I think for if you've
ever been around some of the biggest and brightest of
the coaches, there are times in which they act like stars.
And that's because when you're the head coach of a
high major program.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
You're kind of treated like a star.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
The thing about Nico that I enjoy is it don't
ever get a sense of smugness, arrogance. And granted, this
is his first powerful job, and it's in his hometown,
his home state, and his alma mater, and when you're
in the Midwest, doesn't always work to be or most
times it doesn't work to be a quote unquote star.
(11:34):
But he is a star coach. It is really You
watch their tape and you get it. This is what
they're doing and why they're doing it and how.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
They're teaching it.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
So, without further ado, let's get to Nico medved, the
head coach of the Minnesota Gophers.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Okay, so this was.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Cool, right, I'm We're going to play against your team
tomorrow night. Year two for me is you're one for
you at Minnesota, but you've done these a lot more, right,
Uh Firman, you flip that thing, You got that that
going Drake one year, turned that thing around, and obviously
what you did in Colorado stay is amazing. How much
are you able to draw upon because when you made
those moves it was a different era, It wasn't the
(12:27):
portal era, and we weren't paying guys back there. You
and I weren't paying guys back then. How can you
draw upon that when the era and a lot of
the changes in the industry have happened since you left Drake.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
I think there's a I mean, there's obviously a lot
you can you can still draw on about some of
the core things. I mean as far as like with
your team and the culture you're trying to build, and
you kind of get comfortable for how you want to play.
You've been there, done that, You've been through ups and downs,
you know what I mean. I think you just have
a better feel on how to manage it and keeping
the main thing, the main thing right, Like what do
(13:05):
I what needs all my energy? What can I and
I don't need to give one hundred percent to this.
You know, we did to a Colorado state that was
right when this whole portal thing and the and the
nil thing happened. And so I think navigating that get
really over this last four year window, I think was
really good for me too.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
And so so man if.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Every day you're relying on something and man the other night,
you know, we took it on the chin in the
second half and we ended the year so great. Last year,
it's like, god, it it was a while before I
felt like that, and I remember how much I hate it,
you know, saying it.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I mean, I just losing is just each ya ich ya,
each ya live. What's it like to be back at
the you? I mean, you were famously a manager. It's
been a long kind of your curial path to come
all the way back. But now you're the head coach.
You've been successful, you have a track record of success.
(14:02):
What's it like to walk back into Williams Arena now
as the head coach considering your life experiences there previously.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
It's it's you know, Doug, it's surreal. I think.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
What's what's interesting? I tell people, you know, when you
take the job and you know, everybody brings that up
and they're asking you that question. But you're so into
what you need to do every day. You know, you're
you're playing. You think you got a chance to go
to the Sweet sixteen. You won on that magical run
at the end of last year, and forty eight hours later,
you're in Minneapolis at a press conference. You got at
(14:35):
one returning player, You're bringing your staff, moving your family.
You just get so into you don't take a lot
of time to reflect, right, You're just you're so busy.
But I think as time has gone by here, you know,
in particular in the last you know, a couple of months,
I mean, there's it's it's it's pretty cool. It's cool
to see a lot of the former players when I
was there, you know, come back, a lot of people
(14:56):
I hadn't seen in decades that I've seen at the games.
Obviously having my mom and dad, you know, my mom
just turns seventy nine, my dad's eighty three. The fact
that they can come to all the games and be
around and my brothers.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
There's just no price on that. And so that's been
really cool.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
And Doug, I drive by the apartment I lived at,
you know, every day when I go to work.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
So that's that's cool. And a lot's changed.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
I mean, this is this new athlete's village that we
get to be a part of is really unreal. The
facility is. But you'll see tomorrow night, my man. Not
much has changed in.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
The barn, and I think it's the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Actually, hey, here's a question I have for you.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Style wized Obviously, you know, I don't want to say
you run Princeton because you don't. But your style offense,
which so many people are trying to catch up to,
is one where you've had a lot of success playing,
whether it's five out or have an undersized big Obviously,
right now you have.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
The nation's leading rebounder.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
But the Big Ten is a brutally physical conference. It
doesn't mean you're not physical, but again, and it's more
of a patient space style, right you space guys, you
create mismatches. What's your thoughts on coming into the Big
Ten and maybe the Big Tens in transition because you're
adding the West Coast schools as well? With your style,
(16:14):
which is very different from the one that many of
them play, it.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
Is different, you know, I'll say a couple of things
to that.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
I mean, it is different, but you pop on the
TV and you know, guys are my friends. I mean,
Brad Underwood's playing a pretty modern style. I think even
I got Wisconsin is playing different than they did five
six years ago, playing a little bit you know more
more obviously like we do or whatever. But I think
you're seeing, you know, more people adapt to more of
this style, so to speak.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
But you know, think back.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
You know a guy who I admire and friends with
and who I had actually a lot of things that
I've morphed into what I do, John Beeline. I think
John Beelin had a lot of success at Michigan, running
a lot of similar stuff, and so I think it's
a style that can translate anywhere.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
I mean, your ingredients need to be.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Really good, you know, no matter what you're doing, and
you know, and listen, if we get really good ingredients,
I think our style can be successful.
Speaker 5 (17:06):
But it'll be interesting too.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
I mean, you know, going into the Big Ten this year,
we have fourteen one plays, meaning there's fourteen teams we
play once. Sometimes I think being unique is interesting, right,
having a unique style of play. When you play teams
like that, you can be a different kind of team
to prepare for.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, the fourteen one place.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
If you could design a schedule and your old school
big ten, I'm just giving you. You're the you're the commissioner,
your everything. How would you design your comfort schedule?
Speaker 5 (17:36):
Now, that's such a hard question.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
I mean, just you know, with everything the way it's
morph now, with the you know, all the teams we
have in the league. You know you you also want
to have a league where you want to have the
opportunity to play everybody, probably in some capacity, you know,
in your in your league. I think that's good. I
think that creates a matchup. I think you know, a
UCLA or USC. I think your fans would want to
see them at least every other year, so I understand
(17:59):
why they they do that. I'd love to see them
protect a few more than natural rivals. I believe as
far as the two plays go, you know and and
and for me that might be whatever in Iowa, Wisconsin,
you know, those are natural I think right here for us,
I'd love to have the opportunity to play those teams
twice every year.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
I think those are great for the fans.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
And whatever that other third one is, maybe that changes
year to year, but I'd love to see more of
that built in. I think it is like with Indiana
and Purdue, but I think having those rivals in a
lot of these long time standing things really matter to
the fans and so. But Doug, you know what, I
wouldn't surprise me down the road if these teams start
playing more conference games. I mean we might, we might
(18:41):
end a situation down the road, but we're playing twenty
right now. Wouldn't surprise me. If sometime we go to
twenty two or twenty four, I wouldn't surprise me. And
I could see a situation where they even lengthen the season.
Why would they do that?
Speaker 5 (18:52):
Money?
Speaker 4 (18:53):
You know, TV contracts more games, better matchups. You know,
you sell it for a higher price. And that's kind
of theme of the game.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, no, I actually agree with that. Now. I don't
like for our level, I want.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
To play fewer conference games because we need to get
some more wins and then we need some more checks
for by games.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Right, it's like a it's like a mix.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Like I fought for fewer conference games, Me and Greg
Campy others fought for for more for for the Big ten.
You're gonna draw better at those Big ten games.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
You know, and you're not.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
You don't have to write a check to teams like
me nearly as often. I mean, look, I we like
to collect the checks. But yeah, I'm I'm the big ten,
like okay, playing minute, playing Indiana twice or playing another
by game, especially where the mtes are on some level
going away, right, So it's going to be really interesting
(19:46):
to see the the expansion would be great, more games
would be would be awesome.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
I could see that changing.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
And I think as teams that you know, kind it's
been interesting on this side of it, kind of you know,
listening to the people in our league and just kind
of how they're trying to be forward thinking on this.
And I could again see a situation where we end
up playing more games total and more conference games and
you know, different matchups that way.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
So I think that could be where we're where we're headed.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
And it's all about the TV money too, you know,
as they continue to to renegotiate that if the teams
can make more money, that's what they'll try to do.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
You know that, you know, it's you know, it's interesting
you now this is your and I haven't been to Firman.
I've heard from incredible beautiful and incredible, but Des Moines
like highly underrated city. Anybody's been there, Like West and
Moines is awesome to go out, could place to raise
a family. Fort Collins is incredible, incredible, and it's like
(20:43):
the best college town that you've never been to, right
and you always and and people always be like, I
got to go there with it, like it's amazing. And
then I feel like the cities are in that same
In the major cities United States, people have make the
assumption that all it does is snow and that's really it, right,
It's just snowy and cold and that's it. Whereas it's
(21:06):
like today, it's beautiful, it's safe, there's running trails, there's swimming,
there's fishing, there's all these different things. You kind of
nailed it. Granted you're coming back home here, but you
kind of nailed it in the Usually when you go
to the college path, you're going to the places where outwardly
you'd say it's great, but it really like, WHOA, that's
a tough I was down at that place.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
That's a tough place to live.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
You're kind of killing it in that sense in terms
of where you've been able to relocate your family.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
To I couldn't agree more. I've been really lucky that way.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
I mean all these places like you know whatever, like Greenville,
South Carolina, placing yourself, retiring Fort Collins, see yourself retired.
Minneapolis is an incredible place, especially in the summer. I mean,
I don't know that there's a better city in the
country than the Twin Cities.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
In the summer, I mean it's incredible.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
I mean the golf, the lakes, the fishing, I mean
all the lake places you can go to. The food
scene's incredible there. What's interesting about Minneapolis too is so
many of the former players and athletes.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
Live in the cities.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Whether they're froms they end up wanting to live there
for the rest of their for the rest of their lives.
And great pro sports scene. It's a great pro sports town. Yes,
it gets cold. It gets cold a lot of places too,
but maybe the cold keeps the keeps the riff raft out.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
But you're you're right.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
I mean where we live right now, where we get
to work every day, is pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
The other thing about Minnesota is the players in the state.
Right there's there's players in the state. And if you
can build a build a fence keep in the state.
That's always been the challenge. Challenge a little different now
because some of you want to high school, but some
of you want when they come back, like go somewhere
else and then then come on back. What's the challenge
been like for you in recruiting in the in the
six months you've been you've been at the job.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
I mean, so far, I think it's been really good.
I mean, I think, you know, I probably have an advantage.
It's my fourth head coaching job, but the third one
that I had been an assistant at before, so obviously
I grew up here. So I think I know the
landscape pretty well as far as the you know, the
coaches and both the you know AAU high school, maybe
even some of the agents who are involved, you know,
in the area. So I think we have a good
(23:04):
a good feel for that. I think we've hit the
ground running that way. I think to your point, we
got to, you know, try to keep the best talent
here in state. But I think we're all trying to
navigate right now. How many high school players are we
going to sign?
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Every year?
Speaker 4 (23:19):
You know, I still want to sign high school players.
I still believe you can retain players. We were able
to do that at Colora, so you're not going to
retain all of them. The times are different. I get that,
but I think as we're all kind of trying to
see this thing transform here in the next three to
four years, what is.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
Kind of that number.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
I don't think anybody is recruiting as many high school
guys as you did before, So what's that going to
look like? But every year I feel like there's guys
in the state that we're gonna want to It's just.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Uh, I know you got to go and because you
got to go prep for our game.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I know that's that's what it's about.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
Like you just know what it is to the neet.
Clifford is in town.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
The Kings play the Wolves tonight, and Bobby Jackson, who
I'm really close with, he's you know, he's the assistant
for the Kings. He actually came by today to see us.
But I'm going to take my girls and wife to
go see Meek tonight and assistance and I might have
gotten one of my buddies to give me courtside seats
tonight for that. So that's gonna be pretty special. Everytime
(24:19):
you get a chance to see your guys play in
the NBA.
Speaker 5 (24:21):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Okay, So tomorrow's obviously first coaching experience for me at
the Barn. You've you've been, you know, two exhibitions and
two home games. What's it like coaching when you're on
that stage and your team's below you.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
It's a it's a different experience. What is that like?
What are the key things I need to know?
Speaker 4 (24:43):
I think first of all, you know you've been in there,
like you'll you'll feel the history right away.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
It just feels different, even to your players.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
You look up and you know you can see Kevin
McHale and the rafters. You just there's ghosts in the bar,
and it's truly historic, and you'll you'll feel that.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
I think being on the stage is weird.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
It can feel lonely, Doug, I'm not and to lie
like you're kind of standing up there, and but you know,
it's it's not as high.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
As it used to be.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
It's actually a little bit lower. I can't remember how
many years ago they lowered it a little bit. So
you'll be able to still communicate, you know, with your
your staff and stuff pretty easily.
Speaker 5 (25:14):
It's just you're kind of out there.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
You know, you and me will be standing there, maybe
look at each other a few times or whatever, but
you're you can be lonely, but the players are going
to love it. I mean, it's it's such a cool
environment to play in. Your players feel like they're playing
on a stage. And it's really kind of hard to duplicate.
So most of the guys that have come through in
different years I had taken my teams there, they always
say it's one of their favorite places to play.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
So I think your guys will really enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
It's funny you said it's lonely.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
I know you have Coach Bennett's grandson on your staff,
and Coach Bennett he's told me that he wasn't talking
about coaching at the Barn.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
He just said, you know, this is the loneliest job in.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
America, being a head coach.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Oh my god, it's so lonely.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
You're like, nobody cares about your problems and you want
to talk to people them, but there's things you can't
share and you're just, oh, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Hey, And I mean that man, the friend. We've got
to know each other. Coaches need each other. Do you
know what I mean, and it's like I'll do And
it's like sometimes there's only only another head coach who's
in our chair can understand about how we feel or
you're going through you know certain things. So man, we
and I love our profession. I've got so many great,
great friends, you know that way. And and man, I
(26:27):
may call you sometime or if you ever call me,
hey that sometimes we need to talk to each other.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
And if you want to send me some of your players,
that'd be great to send them down will be the miners.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
We'll sen them, we'll send them back up. My god,
have you.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Ever have you given thought or had any discussions about it.
I've had with a couple of teams about the idea
of the European model, which is you talk about younger
players and the loan right where they're technically you're there
under contract with you, but then you loan them to
a lower level Division I school and then at the
(27:02):
end of the year you decide if you want to
call him up.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
You know, that's interesting. I've heard that floated. I've heard
people talking about that. It's not something that I've done yet,
but at this point this is all changing. I mean,
I think we're in this I tell people all the time,
I think we're in this ten year window kind of
right now. We're right in the middle of it in
my opinion. You know, it started about four or five
(27:26):
years ago. We're right in the middle. But we've got
another four or five years, I think to kind of
figure out really some clarity on what this is going
to look like. And I could see this going to
a model like that, and that could be a situation
that makes sense for both parties.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yep, it's it's a fascinating fast and world. Enjoy the game.
Enjoy Nick. What a tremendous player he is.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
Holy, it's an even better person.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
So I know my daughters are really excited to see
him too, and so that'll be great. And Doug eilif,
I don't know if I'm looking forward to seeing you
tomorrow night, but I but I but I am.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
So yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Well, thanks for playing us, Thanks you coming on the pod,
and we'll see tomorrow.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
Hey, thanks guys, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Doug.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
All right, that's it for this edition of All Ball.
My thanks to coach Medved. He did, in fact to
go to the Timberwles game. He did in fact, take
a picture with meee Clifford and I would give you
our game plan and tell you where we are with it.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
But I think I'm gonna do that next.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Time exactly what we're doing sort of differently with this
game to try and figure out. Every team is different,
every program is different, every philosophy is different, and it's
different within each year that you coach. For us, we
have to develop, we have to get better. We have
to win when you get to the Horizon League. So
(28:42):
it's the balance of competing to win now, but ultimately
seeing that down the road, who can help you win
in the Horizon League?
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Who can help you win at your level?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
What is your defined go to defense and your secondary
defense going to be?
Speaker 1 (28:57):
What is your defined offense going to be?
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Secondary offense quick hitters that you like, how you're going
to execute?
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Are you going to play fast? Are you going to
play slow?
Speaker 2 (29:06):
We came in with the mindset that we wanted to
play fast or but not break neck speed.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
But in order to play faster, you have to.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Rebound and defend and then run or you have to
try and turn somebody over. We didn't feel like we
have the overall athleticism to get up the lane and
to turn people over.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
So we got to do.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
It by getting defenses and being solid, being physical. And
the challenge of being physical when you're playing mostly road
games is you're going to accrue a ton of fouls.
The challenge of being physical when you're playing against higher
level teams is you can be physical, they just have
bigger bodies. And the challenge of being physical is understanding
how to do it with discipline and how to do
(29:47):
it when you It's hard to practice because one they
are all friends with each other, and two, it's not
like we have all the biggest bodies in the world
to just big body go bang after each other. Some
of our guys are a little bit slight. So we're
trying to establish a physical identity. We're trying to establish
an identity of toughness, and we're trying to figure out
(30:08):
our pace.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
So watch the game and tell me what you think.
Thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Reminded the Doug Gottlieb Show airs daily three to five
Eastern twelve too, Pacific, Fox Sports Radio, iHeartRadio app there
are more and more of these All balls come my
appreciation for the folks at Keeper's Heart who gave me
access to their distillery at O'Shaughnessy Distillery for these all balls.
I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is all ball
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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