Gophers Basketball Weekly w/ Niko Medved 12-3-25

Gophers Basketball Weekly w/ Niko Medved 12-3-25

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
On the Gophers Sports Network from lear Field. Welcome to
Gophers Basketball Weekly with Nico med bed Wort. Do you
buy Buffalo Wild Weaves, the official sports bar.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Of March Madness.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
No, here's the voice of the Gophers, Mike Grim.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
All right, we're off and running.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
It's our first ever Gopher Basketball Weekly with Nico medbed
Where a Buffalo Wild Wings on campus right next door
to Williams Arena. I am Mike Grim, along with Justin
Guard justin good to see you as always.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
It's great to be back. Yeah here we are.

Speaker 4 (00:34):
Hate to be back. It's crazy. I'm trying to figure
out the right spot for my chair. Did you put
me over here on purpose?

Speaker 5 (00:39):
Like?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Way away? I feel like I'm isolated. I did not.
The head coach said, let's put guardsy on the Why
does guardsy? Haven't you? Grim was behind this? I'm counting.
I believe it. I believe it.

Speaker 4 (00:48):
So I'm gonna angle this way. Let's be over here, coach.
Good to see you, Good to see you guys. Just
out of curiosity. What was your radio show like at
Colorado State? We did it in the evenings, so it
was evenings.

Speaker 6 (00:59):
We did it a place called Lucky Joe's, which is
kind of an iconic bar in old town for Collins.
Who's clapping, who's been there before? All right, Jones, you know,
the Lucky Joe's. And then it was in the evening.
There was a women's basketball portion to it a little
bit too, but yeah, it was it was good. We
got a great chance to connect with fans and had

(01:20):
a good turnout. And this is awesome. I mean having
it right here next to the arena. I love doing
it like this over the lunch hour. I can roll
right out of here into practice and yeah, I'm looking
forward to it.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Outstanding. Well, this is great.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
We'll have most of the shows all year Tuesday noon
to one because basketball schedule, you know, it's a little
bit different than football, where it's usually you know, Thursday,
Friday or Saturday, almost always Saturday. Here, you've got Monday games,
Tuesday games, travel days, so most of the shows will
be Tuesday. You'll want to check your local listings each week.
There's a few Monday, a few Wednesday shows to accommodate
the travel.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Schedule and the game schedule.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
You guys got back from California, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, California,
and it too two losses and injuries started to take
the toll. So let's start with can you give us
an update on how your guys are doing health wise?

Speaker 6 (02:10):
You know, unfortunately we did not get some good news,
you know after the trip. You know, we kind of
suspected it, but you know, clarified it yesterday that you know,
Chauncey Willis is going to have to miss the rest
of the season unfortunately with a with a broken foot.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
So that's a huge blow. It's a huge blow to him.

Speaker 6 (02:28):
He's such a great, great young man and you know
he's got an incredible story and you know, huge blow
that way. So, uh, we confirm that Monday, which is
what we we thought had happened. You know, in the
first game against Stanford. I think it was what three
minutes into the to the game. You know, Rob Fiela
is not making a little bit of progress, but but
still you know, Nie has bothered him. So we don't

(02:49):
know when, uh that will be back. We're still you know,
working on trying to get bj Ahmed back, you know.
So it's been a challenge. It's been a challenge. It's
a blow to our guys. It's been hard to practic this,
but hey, we're not the only team you know that
has injuries. I think it's important to acknowledge that sometimes
coaches get up here and you can be disingenuous and
not talk about. Of course, injuries play a factor, right

(03:11):
you do it, it changes the way you practice, the way
you prepare your guys who you're counting on you know
are not there. But at the same point in time, listen,
whining about it doesn't do anything. You know, we still
have to find a way with the guys that we
have to get the most out of them. No one's
going to feel sorry for you. We're not the only
team that deals with injuries, and so we just got
to go and buckle up and we will.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
This group will keep fighting.

Speaker 4 (03:33):
That's kind of where I was going to go next.
How do you handle it with the group and the team,
because they obviously know they've got a couple of guys down,
and I'm sure some are looking forward to opportunities that
maybe they wouldn't have had otherwise. But even before the
first coaches radio show, you're dealing with some pretty serious
injuries this early on, So how tough is that to
get that message across?

Speaker 6 (03:50):
I think you know guys who are in it. It's
a reality of being in sports, right, of being on teams.
And you know, I tell them, and I told them
the other night too, you know, in the locker room.
And if they get one thing out of our program,
and they may roll their eyes, but if they heard
it once, they heard it a million times. You know,
you don't learn, you don't grow, and you don't learn
a lot about people when things are going great. You

(04:12):
learn when things are going tough. You learn a lot
about your circle. You learn a lot about yourself. Who
do you want in the foxhole with you? How are
you going to respond? And I tell my coaches that too.
As I've been fortunate to be in this business a
long time, the times that I've grown the most as
a coach is when things have been hard and so
we get an opportunity to do that and guys need
to step up. Some guys are going to have to play.
You know, it's not too bad to say, hey, you

(04:33):
got to play all forty minutes, right, There are worse
things right, Guys want to play, and so we'll have
to retool that way. But I think it's just how
you frame it, and like I told the guys, we
have to focus on playing to the best of our ability.
How can we become the best team that we can be,
And that's our journey right now. And these guys, we
got high character guys. They'll stay in the fight and
they'll keep battling and we'll improve.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
From a logistical standpoint or a pragmatic standpoint, is, how
does the point guard situation now get uh normally resolved
with minutes?

Speaker 2 (05:02):
I guess right, I.

Speaker 6 (05:02):
Think you know, we've really got two guys, you know,
obviously Isaac Ossama in Langston Reynolds. I think you'll kind
of see those guys will start in the backcourt together
and that will be a little bit by committee, but
that's that's that's what it is, right And so as
a coach, I guess it kind of simplifies things, right,
you know, this is what what it is, and this
is what we've got, and those two guys are more

(05:23):
than capable, and they're gonna have to play more minutes.
They're gonna have to learn how to play really physical
and hard without fouling, play through fatigue, all those kinds
of things. And so that's what we'll do at the
point guard.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Position, and I gotta I gotta get the timing right.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
Were you were you on campus ship for the Iron
five or were you still in high school?

Speaker 2 (05:42):
I was still in high school that way. But it's funny.

Speaker 6 (05:45):
I actually had a recollection of myself back to that,
you know. And and uh, you know, in some ways
that's kind of what it what it is, you know.
And and guys are gonna have to log a lot
of minutes, and that's okay, And we just have to rethink,
you know, as coaches, how can we do this. Do
we have to play a little slower at times? How
do we manage our timeouts? How can we get guys
in strategically before media timeouts to maybe get them a

(06:07):
little bit of a longer break, manage files? Guys are
going to have to learn if they have two fouls
in the game. Sometimes I don't want to say giving
up a basket, but sometimes you can't put yourself in
harm's way, you know what I mean, to pick up
that third even if it means you maybe give up
something because we just can't afford to have you on
the bench.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Yeah, you also mentioned to us just before we came
on the Earth, it's you don't have you can't even
have a five on.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Five practice with all scholarship.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
Guys now right, you're using managers and maybe not even
getting a full ten.

Speaker 6 (06:34):
Yeah, I think that's you know, that's coaches stuff fans,
But that's that's been really hard for me. Practice is
my favorite thing about coaching. I love practice. We put
a lot of time into it. That's really where you improve.
And that's been a challenge, you know, because we need
to practice our execution at both ends. But it's been
really hard. We don't have enough numbers to do it.
And then two, when you have to play guys so

(06:55):
many minutes, you're just you know, we can't get anyone
else hurt. You know, how hard do we practice you
know today and for having these seven guys, the amount
of time what we put you know, almost three hours
this morning into what we're going to do here today
for about an hour and fifteen minutes after this. But
you just got to try to be you know, creative
and maximize it any way you can.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
Yeah, what do you come up with? That was kind
of going to be my question. If you can't really
do what you want to do practice wise, how do
you get the closest to it.

Speaker 6 (07:19):
I think, you know, you can double down at some
of the skill in teaching stuff, you know, small groups,
the the two on two, the three on three, you know,
really really using your coaches and stuff as IDs you know,
in offense and defense. So you're just kind of doing
a lot more breakdown, you know that that way, maybe
some of the five on five the coach don't have
enough guys to go live, but maybe we can do

(07:40):
more of like pseudo walkthroughs, you know, at speed almost
like they do in football. And that's really it, you know,
four and four, three on three, just really try to
get creative that way and put them in similar situations
and actions that they're going to see in the game.
There's nothing that replaces the five on five. But again,
you got to control the controllables. That's all he can do.

(08:00):
And and somehow there's going to be a way that
you know, I always look back and say, man, I
became a better coach through this because I had to
get creative.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
You know, guys will become better players having.

Speaker 6 (08:09):
To you know, maybe play a bigger role, play through fatigue,
do some things that are maybe out of their comfort zone.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
And that's what we build on.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
If you if one of your coaches needed to give
you a few trips up the floor in practice, who's
most likely on your staff to be able to do
that well, at least likely Power rankings for the fitness
of your coaching status.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
So ability.

Speaker 6 (08:26):
Yeah, So first of all, Joe Desmonds sitting over there
is as good as anyone we've got on.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Our He could give you some trips.

Speaker 6 (08:32):
Yeah, but he's not technically you know, the coach so
to be out there. But he is a oh man,
he's a I mean three and d. He is a
college version of like a Jaden McDaniels. I love it,
kind of deal, a better shooter, you know, not as long,
not as good of a defender, but he's he's good.
Out of our coaches right now, it's tough. They're all

(08:52):
bad right now. They're too old. I can't do it.
I mean, armand tried to get you know the other day,
get out there.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
It's not good really anymore.

Speaker 6 (08:59):
And I've seen too many coaches and they get older,
they get out there and you know, it's an achilles
for sure.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
And that's the last thing.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
We need.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
One of those little tricycle things for.

Speaker 6 (09:06):
Your But no, we got enough guys on the eye. R.
I don't need an assistant on the eye.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
Well, there was one year where I think a manager
popped an a cl Right, what are we doing here?
We had guys that were hurt, and a manager's got
to have certain minutes.

Speaker 6 (09:19):
I want to tell you what though, it was bad enough,
like we we were down whatever guys, and there's like,
I don't know, eight minutes left in the Santa Clara
game the other night, and I look down, I look
back and there's Jalen Crocker.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
Johnson, you know, limping up the court and Aaron he.

Speaker 6 (09:33):
Goes to He goes, coach, you can't make this up, man,
you know, And I was like, oh my god, did something.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
You know he's dealt with an ankle.

Speaker 6 (09:40):
You thank god it was just you know, resprained it
again and whatever. But yeah, we just we can't have
a coach go down either.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
You can't have that. That said a little bit shorthanded. Obviously,
the first part of the Santa Clair game didn't go
the way you wanted.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
They hit everything.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
You guys can understand, Yeah, you guys could you guys
couldn't need anything. They hit everything, and that that's spells,
you know, not the way you wanted to go, but
the closing factor when you only had seven guys, you know,
it was a good a good effort in terms of,
you know, closing the gap, finishing strong, hitting some shots.

Speaker 6 (10:13):
I don't know, yeah, I think again, listen, let me
be clear, Like if people you get to know me,
I'm the most competitive guy you've been around. I hate losing.
I hate losing. I have the that's what we're here
to do. But I think sometimes when you're in those situations,
you know, we knew Santa Clair was going to press
pressure us down to point guard down bodies back to back.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
It really just they just got jumped us, you know.

Speaker 6 (10:35):
And so what halftime, You're like, Okay, we just got
to focus on playing a good twenty minutes. You know,
how do we reframe this right now? How do we
find a way to go out there and try to
win this half and let's get better? I think so
we can have something to build on. And I thought
they did that. I thought the guys, you know, did
what we needed to do in the second half. They
showed me something. They never quit. I was really proud
of a guy like Kais Shinholster. You know, freshman gets

(10:57):
an opportunity. He's flying around on the offense glass, he's
diving on the floor. Really brought us some energy. Guys
like cade Tyson. Typically in a game like that, we
might take him out. He couldn't come out, you know,
because there's no we don't do, having else to play.
And he's almost you know, in the second half, you know,
throwing up in the time because he's given you everything
he has, you know, And so there's there's some toughness

(11:18):
in that group, and that's something to build on. And
like I told him, I said, you know, you look
around the room right now, and you learn a lot
about your teammates and yourself.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Who's going to stay in the fight when things are tough?

Speaker 6 (11:28):
And and I think that's a big thing that you know,
you're about building the culture and everything that we want
to do that can be bigger than winning and losing.

Speaker 4 (11:36):
Did it confirm to you like these last couple of weeks.
Obviously you kind of microwave this team right in twenty
twenty five. You get here, you get the job, you
get get a lot of new faces. You probably knew
something about their character beforehand, but it's probably hard to
really truly know that it confirmed to you kind of
the guys that you thought you brought in.

Speaker 6 (11:51):
Yeah, I think again, Yes, I mean I think you
learn a lot about people and you know, and not
good and bad, but you also learn, Okay, man, there's
a way we got to try to help this young
man grow, right, here's something that we can really help
him improve on.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
But yes, you do.

Speaker 6 (12:04):
You don't no matter how many guys you have, whatever
they've done before.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
Every team's different.

Speaker 6 (12:09):
You don't really learn about your team until you go
through it. And every team's going to go through about
what your response is going to be. And so I
thought they did show that in the in the second half.
And now at least there's clarity, right, Like we know
it really stinks for Chance, but he's out right now,
you know, And so we know these guys are out.
These are the seven guys that we have right now,

(12:29):
and maybe in a way that just gives them clarity
of Okay, this is it.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
We got to go out there and find a way
to make the most of this.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
A couple more just with the situation is it as
it is injury wise, It's not like the NBA where
you just call up a couple of dudes from G
League or find a guy you know on the waiver
wire that's not there. But are there things now with
the transfer portal that maybe you could add a guy
in the middle of the season or a semester or
something like that, or no, Well.

Speaker 6 (12:55):
It's funny, I wish. I mean, there's a couple of
guys finches and't playing right. If we can take those guys,
you know, it's it's challenging at the semester. There could be,
you know, a possibility, you know, there's was there an
international players or somebody else you know, who could come
at this semester. I think you need to be cautious though,
because again, sometimes the short term band aid might feel

(13:18):
good for a little bit, but that's not what we're
aiming to do, right. We're aiming to be a great
prom and so anyone that we would want to add
would be somebody that that we would envision could be
here for the long term, not just for you know,
the last few months of the season, but somebody who
we think long term we could really you know, build with.
And so I think that's what all options have to
be on the table.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
You're always looking to add guys.

Speaker 6 (13:40):
We would have flexibility to do that, but it's it's
really got to make sense.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
And then lastly, for at least for me on that
part of it. And again you just got the news yesterday.
But with Chauncey, I know he had a junior college
year that I don't know what that means. I think
there's still rulings on that has he played too much
at eight games?

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Or is this a chance he could get a meal?

Speaker 6 (14:00):
He should have no problem getting a medical and so
you know, like I told him, and obviously he's a
he's a young man I would really want to have
back in the program.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
He's about all the right things.

Speaker 6 (14:10):
He is tough as nails, he's so coachable, and you know,
you look at his journey and like I, he's been
at all, you know, these different places. And I told him,
as much as this stinks for you, you know he's
going to look back on this and he'll be cleared
in the spring. At some point, you get to be
where your feet are. You know, you've learned a lot
already from playing. Being here in the summer, you get
an opportunity to watch and learn and kind of see

(14:32):
the game from a different side right away. In the spring,
he has a full spring, full summer. And I said,
you'll have a much better season next year than you
would have had this year, you know, just with your
experience and being in the same place, and you'll look
back on this next year at this time and you'll realize, Man,
in some way, that was meant to be for me.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
And as hard as it was at the time, I
grew through that. Let's take a break, we'll come back.
We'll recap more.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
California also a big ten and starting believe how about that.
I'm ready to hear in December, that is on tomorrow night, Wednesday,
and we'll talk about that as well.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
We want to ask all of you each and every
week and come.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
To Buffalo Wild Wings for Gopher Basketball Weekly with Nico
Medved all season.

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Right here.

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It's the Buffalo Wild Wings University of Minnesota location. Buffalo
wild Wings, a proud sponsor of Gopher Athletics and the
official sports bar of March Madness. Stay with us, It's
go for basketball Weekly with Nico Medved from lear.

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Gopher Basketball Weekly. We're here at Buffalo Wild Wings, University
of Minnesota location right next to Williams Arta every week
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or just a little a little little slower nitted out
of that? Did Minnesota's event passive aggressive?

Speaker 4 (21:20):
Yes, we've perfected it. I don't know if we've invented it,
but we have taken it to the next level.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
Indeed, indeed, well, if folks have a chance, they can
put their name in the hopper.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
We want to thank University of Minnesota.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
Bookstore for all of their support and they are the
area's largest selection of U of M and Golden Gopher apparel, gifts,
and novelties for fans of all ages, from the latest
styles to timeless favors.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
It is your one stop shop.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
Every purchase directly supports the University of Minnesota. You can
shop in store, on campus or online at bookstores dot
umn dot ed.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
You will give away that gift card a little bit
later on.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
Let's talk about about your your team here a little bit,
starting with Caid Tyson, who is your leadings. He's kind
of developed into the go to player that I'm sure
when you talked him into becoming a Golden Gopher. You
were hoping to see, I mean, twenty plus points each night.
He mentioned how hard he was working late in that
game against Santa Clara. Just talk us through, maybe take

(22:16):
us all the way back to the recruitment process and
what you liked about him and how it all worked
out for him to end up here in the Twin Cities.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
You know, we were.

Speaker 6 (22:24):
Familiar with him when he played at Belmont. Obviously, I've
told the story two years ago. You know, he was
one of the top transfers available. He's a North Carolina kid, right,
so I see the lure of going back home and
playing for Carolina. It's a team he grew up cheering for.
Just didn't work out for him. But I think, you know,
fit matters. We really thought he'd be great in our system,

(22:44):
kind of his versatility, kind of the things that he
could do. We knew he was a high character guy.
He was tough, he would work, and it's all played
out that way. I mean, he's been everything and more
to be honest to what we thought. He's a team guy,
all about the right things, really tough. He's the first
guy in the gym in fact, he's probably to the point,
like most of the great ones I've ever had, you

(23:06):
kind of have to try to Hey man, you know
what I mean, Like I get the you know, seven
forty five or whatever in the morning, getting up your
shots every day and then coming back and some of
that's what makes you what But I think, you know,
having a plan of how do I you know, maximize
But again, having guys that you have to to scale
back is is what you want because it means so

(23:28):
so much to them. And so it's been really fun
to watch him and I think you know, fans are
realizing too. He's obviously an exceptional shooter, but he does
a great job, you know, cutting, does a great job,
you know, getting to the free throw line. He has
a really quick first step, you know, playing off his
shot fake. I think this is really great for his
development too. He's drawing more attention now on the scouting

(23:49):
report than he's ever had in his career, so he's
going to have to continue to to learn how to
play through that.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
You know, they're not helping off him.

Speaker 6 (23:56):
So how do you become a better screener, you know,
how do you find ways to give your off up
on cuts? Sometimes, you know, for the betterment of the team.
And so think all those things playing through maybe more
help in a post up or a drive situation than
he's had to in his career. So I think, you know,
as we keep attacking it with him, how do we
continue to help him grow as a as a player.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
But yeah, he's been a fun one to be around.
Well it's fun.

Speaker 4 (24:17):
I go back to the North Dakota State game, being
at that game, and you remember the first handful of
minutes nobody was scoring, and then all of a sudden,
it felt like Kate hit like ten shots in a row,
and go, oh, that's how they're going to do it.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Okay, got it.

Speaker 4 (24:29):
But guys, we're finding him as well, right, And that
that I thought was the cool thing is that the
guys understood, like, this guy's on a heater, let's let's
find him. And that's sometimes it was a great stretch
there that really just took that game and put it
totally in control.

Speaker 6 (24:42):
Yeah, and you know, he hasn't he hasn't looked back,
you know, as far as that confidence of you know,
being that guy, you know, you miss three shots, you
got to take the fourth one like you made the
first three. You know, that's what's how you have to play,
and I do. I think we have an unselfish group,
you know, guys looking for each other.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
I think it's become harder.

Speaker 6 (24:59):
You know, again, as you get scouted, it becomes harder
to get you know, easy shots. It's just going to
get harder and hard as we get into conference play.
You just have to be more committed than ever right
of trying to get great shots as a team. But yeah,
he's been He's been really fun to coach, and I
think he's going to continue to get better as the
season goes on. And you know, how is he going
to respond to be in the top of the scouting

(25:19):
report every night? How is he going to have to
do that playing you know, basically never coming out of
the game, you know, sometimes guarding bigger guys, maybe have
to guard bigger, more bigger guys now just based on
you know, numbers of what we have. But how is
he going to respond to that? He really showed me
he's going to give you everything he has. But that's
going to be a challenge for him. And that's one
that like I've tried to tell him, is like this

(25:39):
will help you crow as a player and become better
and better for now obviously, and then I think he's
got a career at the next level.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
Some other guys that have come in, I mean, obviously
most of your team is is our transfers. Bobby Durkin
was a guy you brought in from Davidson Too to
be a shooter. And he was hitting some shots in California.
And when he's hitting shots, that's that's that that is
his purpose.

Speaker 6 (26:04):
Right, Yeah, I mean he's a he uh, he's he's
got a toughness about him. He's a shot maker. You know,
he went through that stretch there a couple of weeks
or man, he could not make one. I felt bad
for him, but like I just said, listen, ye I
don't care how many you miss. You got to keep shooting.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
They're gonna come. He puts in the work and he
just needed to see one go down. And so it's
been fun.

Speaker 6 (26:25):
You know, last few games, he's really you know, playing
with a lot more confidence. And yeah, he's just got
to continue to grow. I I think it's been fun
for him to he's taking a step on the defensive end.
You know, he's got to learn to use his length
more he's not the quickest guy in the world. He's
gonna have to guard smaller, quicker guys he's got and
I think he's been doing better that way. But one

(26:45):
thing about Bobby Dirkin, I mean, he's gonna do everything
you ask him to do. You know, if you ask him, Hey,
you know, Dirk, you're gonna have to this is what
you what's got to take place, He's gonna do it
almost to a fault. Sometimes, you know, you almost wish
sometimes you'd have a little bit more, you know, screw off, coach,
You know.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
What I mean, I'm gonna go do it.

Speaker 6 (27:00):
You got to have a little bit of that. Sometimes
you need coachable guys. But there's sometimes you know, you
can't be overthinker. You got to go and play the game. Yeah,
speaking of that, you mentioned his where he went through
that stretch. The team went through a little bit of
a stretch where it was hard to buy a three.
You guys, when you recruited these guys, you look at
the career percentages, they were all pretty good shooters.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
So as a coach, how do how do you live
with that? It isn't like you went and recruited a
bunch of guys that were shooting eighteen percent at their
previous stops. So you're missing a bunch of shots as
a team for two or three straight games.

Speaker 6 (27:31):
I think, you know, you go through that. Sometimes those
are just the ebbs and flows of basketball. I think
the first thing you always look at his shot selection. Okay,
are you taking good shots? And you know, there are
times when it's like, hey, maybe we could have taken
a better shot than that. You know that we're not
unique to this, but I think I don't know. A
few games ago, we had a paint touch, you're shooting
sixty percent. Non paint touch, you're shooting twenty eight percent. Okay, well,

(27:54):
are we taking too many shots where the ball doesn't
touch the paint. But then sometimes if you're taking great
shots and they're not going in, you just got to
keep shooting, you know. And when teams are paint collapsing
and and they're and they're and they're you're kicking it
out and you're wide open, you've got to be winning
to shoot the ball. And sometimes you go through a
little bit of a slump, you can hesitate, you know
what I mean, and you shoot sometimes excuse me, should
I shoot that shot? I guess I'm open, I'm gonna

(28:15):
shoot it, or you start driving it, you know when
you're open, and then you end up getting a worse
shot later in the in the in the shot clocks.
So it's a combination of all those things. And and uh,
but usually guys go back to the mean, right, whatever
that is, and if they prove that they can make shots,
they're they're gonna make shots. And so hopefully we've hit
a little bit of me, We've shot a little bit
better here when you do the same thing from the

(28:36):
free throw line. And because you know, the margin for
aer shrinks now, right, so you've got to make up
margins any place you can.

Speaker 4 (28:42):
Have you picked up speaking of free throws, the baggage
that Minnesota fans have about free throw shot.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
Have you picked that?

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (28:49):
People, it's like, look, got a Nico.

Speaker 4 (28:50):
The guy there is like eighty percent for fifteen years,
the last fifteen years, and now it's happening.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
What's going on?

Speaker 6 (28:55):
Post traumatic stressing? Them are for this free throws or whatever?
I get it, you know, and you know, and no
I do, but you just got to kick that thing
right in the in the rear. You can't, you know,
the worst thing I could do is pay attention to that,
to be honest. You know, listen, there's guys that have
to continue to work at free throw shooting. There's guys
who are really good free throw shooters. But it's a balance.

(29:16):
Everybody's different, every team's different. Guys do practice free throws.
Some guys maybe need to have a better routine. We
do pressure free throws in practice. But it's been weird
this year. There's been some games where we've shot it
great from the free throw line. It almost seems like
it's one or the other, and it's been we've been great,
or we've just kind of gone off the deep end
in a couple of these games, and a few of
them really hurt us, obviously. You know, the Stanford game

(29:37):
I thought was right there. You know, the San Francisco
game was right there. I thought for the taken and clearly,
you know, we miss too many front ends of one
on ones.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
Those things kill you.

Speaker 6 (29:46):
You know, you run a good possession, you get fouled
in a close game, miss the front end and they
go down and score. Those are huge swing plays and
players know that. So you've got to cash in on
those opportunities.

Speaker 4 (29:57):
It is funny because fans wonder, well, are they practicing
free throws?

Speaker 2 (30:01):
Yeah? Yeah, every pressure free throws.

Speaker 4 (30:04):
At the end of practice, everybody's running, if or not
got speakers, like they've they've considered it.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
The coaches is considered free throws.

Speaker 6 (30:11):
We do, and I think sometimes you know, I talked
to a great coach who's a mentor of mine too,
and he's like, you know, an ECO, go through that
and warn team whatever, it's struggle a little bit from
the free throwing.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
You know what I tell my guys about free throws.
He's like, nothing, you know what I mean, Like, listen,
the players are self aware. Hey, A'll no, you know
what I mean.

Speaker 6 (30:28):
Like like, and sometimes you make a bigger deal out
of it. It just makes you even tighter total ow.
And so you just got to get your routine and
got to do your deal and and and it is
what it is. And again certain guys maybe you have
certain things they have to work on more. But but
but you know that that's where we're at, and hopefully
it's something that will continue to get better at and
we trend more towards the games that we've shot it.

Speaker 3 (30:46):
Well, you mentioned shot selections, So I'm curious philosophically, what
your view is of a wide open three by people
that you think can shoot him? Do you want that
to even if it's five seconds into the possession If
a guy is all alone and it's a guy that
can shoot threes, are you are you saying fire that
thing or do you want to move the ball some more?

Speaker 6 (31:06):
If Caid Tyson's wide open one second into the shot
clock and he doesn't shoot it, that's a problem for us,
you know what I mean? No, I mean a wide
open three for anyone who can shoot it, you know,
even at a mid thirties percent, you know, should take
that shot every time. I mean, I you know again
analytics one oh one. Right, if a guy, if you're
a forty say you're a forty percent three point shooter,

(31:27):
and you shoot it from behind the line, okay, that's
one point two points at possession right, shot inside just
three feet inside along too with the same shooters point
eight points of possession right.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
You know, So threes open threes are are huge, right,
And that's.

Speaker 6 (31:41):
Why you know, the NBA has probably almost gone too
far in my opinion a little bit. You know, the
animal we got to get up this many threes. I
just think to get I got to get up good shots. Still,
the highest valued shot is still we call him rack
zone two shots at the rim, you know, getting filed
doing that.

Speaker 3 (31:54):
But open threes are like gold. Yeah, and if guys
that have good percentage can can are open. And I
think you're getting in your offense a lot of open threes,
which is nice.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
See we do.

Speaker 6 (32:06):
I mean there's sometimes I think guys are maybe a
little bit you know, ill advised, or maybe take them
without a paint touch a little bit too early.

Speaker 2 (32:15):
And again it's a it's a gray area thing.

Speaker 11 (32:17):
You know.

Speaker 6 (32:18):
You can't be over there overthinking every possession, and you
gotta be talking about good shots, great shots. And I
always tell you guys, my job is to not teach
them what to do. It's teach them how to think,
you know. And I try to don't say, don't you know,
don't take that shot, Hey, maybe what could have been
a better one, you know, and try to teach him
how to how to think that way. But yeah, I
think we've been been getting good shots. And you know, yeah,

(32:38):
you got to it's a pretty simple game. You know,
you got to make shots. This team we're going to
play tomorrow night. Here is as good of a three
point shooting team as I've seen.

Speaker 3 (32:45):
Well, it's the first ever Nico Medved show Go for
Basketball Weekly, which means he is now after this break,
going to go through the gauntlet of the Long Contested too.

Speaker 4 (32:54):
Yeah, the point eight per possession yeah segment. Yeah, we
could give all just too, but it's not going to
be that good.

Speaker 3 (33:00):
I just stick grueling. Unanalytically, it's two non basketball questions
that usually for guards. He turns into about nine yeah questions,
and it's awesome.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
You're welcome. Yes for shoulder. Meanwhile, go eat some chicken
beans and let you guys talk after this break. Stay
with us.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
It's Go for Basketball Weekly with Nico Medved from lear Field.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
Nico Medved and the Long Away. I mean we've been waiting.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
Since the end of last basketball That's true for the
Long Contested too.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
I mean, I'm excited. This is good about highlight of
your week.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
I mean, I'm listening to you being introduced as a
new head coach. Back in whenever it was March or
April over at the facility, and my only thinking was
I can't wait till Guardie gets to get to the
long contested too.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
First, the same thing. Yeah, I only been working on
these questions GUARD.

Speaker 4 (33:49):
Since about then. I think that I was about eleven
thirty this morning. Yeah, what time did we break? We
broke about twelve thirty four, So I got a couple. Well,
I don't know if this has been previously reported, but
you're actually from Minnesota. You grew up in Minnesota, and
you went to the University of Minnesota. So I just
want to get that cleared up in case anybody had
any confusion about that.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
But I'm curious.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
I remember when I was here twenty ish years ago,
maybe thirty, how much the campus has changed? How much
has it changed from when you were here ninety two
to ninety six right around there, right, So it has
to be unrecognizable in some ways.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
It does. It's funny you say that.

Speaker 4 (34:25):
So I'm in this.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
This is my first time in this BW three.

Speaker 6 (34:28):
This used to be Station nineteen, sure did, yeah, okay,
Station nineteen. That was the hangout for better or worse,
you know what I mean? This was the hangout. And
so I'm I'm looking everybody nodding. Everyone is bad that,
you know. I'm looking around this place and there used
to be like a little I think upstairs thing here
and whatever. So this in and of itself where we're
saying it has changed dramatically from what I've hear. The

(34:51):
barn hasn't changed at all. Right, it's the same as
I remember it, for better or worse. Yeah, I'll clumb
Haskin's desk. The thing there is still a landline phone,
okay in the desk on there. We actually dialed the
number when it first got there. It still rings, you
know what I mean, that's number, yes, I think so, yeah,
it's the bat phone, you know, or whatever if we

(35:11):
if we need it. So that hasn't changed. On campus
has I mean the biggest thing that's changed. I mean
that the athletes village.

Speaker 14 (35:18):
It is.

Speaker 6 (35:19):
It's tremendous. I mean that the facility we get to
be in every day is just spectacular. For our guys,
for our coaches. Boy, they did a phenomenal job. You know,
give Mark and his team credit for you know, they
really had the vision of doing that and whoever that
started and raising the money, they really did it first class.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
So that part has changed dramatically.

Speaker 6 (35:39):
Where our players live, you know, across the street, and
now they've even got new housing that continues to go
up that our guys are are are living in. It's
just everything is first class that way, you know, walking
on the mall of campus and around there, a lot
of that is is similar to what it was. But
you know, you you do remember my wife comment in

(35:59):
this too, and she ben here before. We are in
a city. But really the campus is really nice. You know,
when you get on campus, you really feel like in
this metropolitanary, like you really are on a college campus.
So some things have really changed, but some things are
the same, and I think all the changes that I've
seen are further better.

Speaker 4 (36:17):
You mentioned the living situation. What was your living situation
like in college? Where did the team live? And I
know you roomed with a couple of the guys on
her so what was it like? Probably not as nice
as the as the apartments that I see across from
Athletes Village.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
Oh man. They were kind of all over the place.

Speaker 6 (36:32):
Six sixteen tenth Avenue Southeast, right down there down the
street from Evan Scholars was the apartment. Chad Colander was
my roommate for for several years Watana Zone.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
We had a lot of fun there.

Speaker 6 (36:48):
All those guys, you know, remember how many times you
know Trevor and Heidi Winter. Now we're over at our
place and it's hard to see him playing for the
Badgers right now.

Speaker 4 (36:58):
We don't talk about We don't talk about that. Yeah,
you can still be friends with them if you want.
We used to text a lot. Yeah, it's not happening anymore.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
That's fine if that's what he wants to do.

Speaker 4 (37:08):
Yeah, let's have their own thoughts and feelings. That's fine.
I'm not going to do it that way.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
But whatever.

Speaker 6 (37:13):
They kind of lived all over the place though it
was kind of spread out. It was different, but not
nearly what these guys have now. I mean, the furnished apartments,
everything's there. It's literally across the street. I mean, the
amenities that these guys have is just unbelievable, really really
first class.

Speaker 4 (37:26):
Is there a place that you wish was still here
on campus, like a restaurant or a store or something
that from the nineties that maybe we wouldn't know about
or remember.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
The subs at the Big Ten. Oh yeah, that's a
great answer, do you know, I mean.

Speaker 6 (37:41):
I for whatever reason, I you know, at that place,
Sallies is still here. It's a new Sallies yeah, it's okay.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
I remember that.

Speaker 6 (37:48):
I haven't been back to Stubborn Herbs yet. But the
Big ten, So that was a that was a classic.
You're walking back from class and you wanted to get
one of those. You just went with the whole big
so good. Wasn't it good?

Speaker 12 (37:58):
You know?

Speaker 6 (37:58):
And so I don't that something that you know, I
haven't had it every once in a while. It'd be
kind of cool to.

Speaker 4 (38:03):
Go over what would your order be? Because did you
rotate sandwiches or were you one sandwich? So this is
what the long contested too is. I mean, this is
the hard you got to learn more about Nico. You're
putting me on the spot. But it was the turkey
and you had like kind of the mayo and the
vinegar right and the thing. And I can't remember that
the whole was it a foot or was it even
better than a foot?

Speaker 18 (38:24):
The whole?

Speaker 4 (38:24):
I'm not sure. I don't remember because we had one
in Hopkins for a really really somebody is still trying
to make them well. So this is way in the weeds.
And thanks again to Buffalo Wild Wings for hostings for
the show every week. But Hopkins used to have a
Big ten and then the owners split up. It's a
new place now. But because of the set the subs,
everybody loves them. They brought them back during COVID for
a brief time, and now they're trying to bring them

(38:46):
back again. So it's still the vision of the sub
is still living on in downtown Hopkins, but it's not
something totally consistent.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
I'd be careful though. I want to say that.

Speaker 6 (38:55):
You know that the wings at BW three are pretty
good here too, right, you know, and we're every time like, yeah,
we're gonna have them every every Tuesday. So yeah, there's
no Big ten down here anymore. No Big ten, No
Station nineteen, no Station nineteen. That's probably better for me.

Speaker 4 (39:06):
Yeah, people could come, as the story goes. You could
come here during like halftime, an intermission. Back in the
day when they played hockey Mariucchi like, you got a
little ticket, you came here, and I'm sure that went well.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
There's no issues with that. I know what else has changed.
That's good.

Speaker 6 (39:18):
When I first went to college here, I guess when
it came back. You know, the old Maryuchi was connected, right,
So I'll tell you what Some of those times you
would go down in the Hallway and this oh the smell.
Oh man, the pads from the old hockey that was tough.
So what they've done now and having their own little
area over there is a lot better for everybody.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
Yeah that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, anything else, I mean
that was like three or four. That was nice.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
Yeah, that was that was That was excellent, good where
we waited a long time for it, and I think
you hit it now. I want a turkey, sup. Yeah
that does sound good. Yeah, it does sound good. Wings Yeah, yeah,
I have some wings.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
All right.

Speaker 3 (39:53):
We will preview Indiana and Minnesota that game tomorrow night,
six o'clock.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
We'll take air. Al Nolan and I will take air.
Stay with us.

Speaker 3 (40:01):
It's Gopher Basketball Weekly with Nico Medvett Fromlearfield.

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Speaker 8 (41:57):
Do there inventory may vary. Toyota Thon En January fifth.
See your participating dealer for details. Toyoga, Let's go places.

Speaker 21 (42:07):
Then, welcome back to our final segment.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
Gopher Basketball Weekly with Nico Medfed, Mike Grim along with
Justin Gard.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
We're at the Buffalo Wild Wings.

Speaker 3 (42:24):
You can join us each week usually Mondays or Tuesdays,
Tuesdays mostdays. Next week, by the way, it'll be a
Monday show live noon until one here at the restaurant.
Gophers will be flying to Purdue Tuesday and playing Wednesday
night Tomorrow night.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
It's Indiana.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
We do want to thank Buffalo Wild Wings, a proud
sponsor of Gopher Athletics and the official sports bart of
March Madness, for hosting us each week here at the.

Speaker 6 (42:47):
On campus location. Nice crowd today, Coach on your first one. Yeah,
I really appreciate everybody coming to show up. That really
means a lot. And so that's awesome. And I got
to comment to you. You know, we're in Palm Springs,
Palm Desert, and I look out before the first game
and there's more Gopher fans there than any other school
and more than I anticipated being out there, and I
thank you, you know what, folks. Yeah, I told our staff,

(43:10):
I'm like, man, you know, I know the program's down
right now and that's our charge. But when we get
this thing going, there's some something's gonna happen here.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
I already know it. I feel it.

Speaker 6 (43:20):
You know, Gopher fans and Go for Nation is gonna
is going to start to really show up and do that.
So I can feel it again. I know that from
being here in my experience, but that really means a lot.
And you know what, and listen, I get it, you know,
from a fans perspective, and and uh, they want to win.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
They should expect to win. They want it.

Speaker 6 (43:36):
But you know, stick stick with these guys, you know,
just keep coming out back and we're gonna we're gonna battle.
We're gonna fight, and I'm telling you there's gonna be
better days ahead for Gopher hoops.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
Yeah, and you know I brought up that Iron five group,
because that that really kind of set the tone for that, uh,
the whole regime right for.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
The forty three year old remind me of the Iron five. Well,
I'm embarrassed. I'm like the Iron I don't that was
what like Clym's was it his first year or second year?

Speaker 3 (43:59):
First they were down to five or six guys and
they had an okay record, but the community just embraced.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
It, and that basically set the play hard.

Speaker 3 (44:08):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
You know, Mantra played tough and people embrace the program.

Speaker 6 (44:14):
You know, there were guys that were on those teams
those early years that ended up sticking through it to
when you know, things really changed, and those guys are
part of the community and and Gopher Hoops you know,
lower forever and so so we have an opportunity to
to to do something like that, and so you know, stick,
stick with us, keep battling.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
Better days are ahead. I can tell you too.

Speaker 6 (44:33):
The good news for me personally, I've been through this before,
you know what I mean, every job that I've taken,
we've had to to continue to grow it and we
and we will. We've got you know a lot of
the right people here on bus and We've got a great,
uh great fan base, we've got a great arena, playing
the best league in the country, and and we're going
to get this thing going.

Speaker 3 (44:49):
It's interesting you mentioned each job you've taken. You were
at Drake for one year, and then the guy that
took your spot was there for a few more years.
And you two guys are going to be meeting up
tomorrow night, Darren Devreez for Indiana, Nico Medven for Minnesota.
Two former Drake coaches Indiana and the Gophers tomorrow. Tell
us about Darren Devrez's group of players that you'll see tomorrow.

Speaker 6 (45:08):
Boy, they're really impressive on film. They're playing at a
high level. They playing a high level on both ends
of the fort. It's a very good defensive team. But
what really pops off the charts is you know their offense,
the way they shoot the ball. You know, his son,
Tucker is just an exceptional shooter and score. He's got
great size, great feel. You know, he'll shoot that thing
from twelve feet behind the line, no problem. You know

(45:29):
the other kid, you know, Wilkerson number three, He's as
good of a shooter and score two as I've seen,
and do a great job spacing, playing with each other.
They have great chemistry and so boy they can go
on a ten oh run, you know, like like that.
So they're playing at a really really high level. But
this is the Big ten. That's what it is, you
know what I mean, a lot of teams playing at
a high level right now. So I don't know, they're

(45:50):
ranked in the top twenty five for a reason. So
we'll have to go out there tomorrow. We're gonna have
to play with a lot of energy. Defensively, we're gonna
have to execute. We're gonna have to shrink the margins
with you know, lowering turnovers, holding them to one shop,
being great in transition defense, and just scrap and claw.
And you know one thing I'll say, you know, they
haven't played on the road yet, they've played a neutral game,
and you know, we've got to try to start to

(46:11):
build that foundation of making the Barn a pretty pretty
nasty place to play for opponents.

Speaker 4 (46:17):
Yeah, take us in that in our final minutes or
so like, because every venue, and I'm sure it was
like this in the Mountain West.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
You guys had some.

Speaker 4 (46:22):
Sneaky good venues there too, and you're dealing with altitude
and all all kinds of different things. But I don't
think enough people understand how impactful home crowds are. And
even you know, an extra thousand, two thousand people, if
they're into it and they're the right people, it rattles teams.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
It can oh big time.

Speaker 6 (46:38):
I mean, when you get your home crowd behind you,
and I've seen it in this place here across the street,
it is very unique and it means everything you know
you can get you get these crowds behind you, get
them going.

Speaker 2 (46:49):
You can rattle the other team.

Speaker 6 (46:50):
That brings a ton of energy and enthusiasm and kind
of an out of body experience for some of these
guys right to perform at a level that they didn't
even even realize they could. And so you know, that's
our charge. It's gonna come, it's gonna it's gonna happen.
I can already, I can already feel it. And you
know tomorrow night's our first opportunity here in the Big
ten to see what we can do.

Speaker 4 (47:08):
Do you regret the fact that, because of how Coach's
wardrobe has changed over the years, you won't be able
to throw your coat into the crowd like Clemwood.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
You probably had to catch that coat a couple of times.

Speaker 6 (47:18):
Yeah, I know, and it was he played it well
with me, you know what I mean, played it well,
kind of loosen the tie a little bit, and I
didn't really do that with the pullovers. You guys, I
feel like now and they're all my dare just rip
the pullover off and with something like Eric Mussel, Eric,
that's not my deal. I feel like now and they're
all my you know, I know them all. But the
officials are too sensitive.

Speaker 12 (47:39):
I do that.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
They team me up, and you know what I mean,
Like there's.

Speaker 4 (47:43):
I think Patino got a tea for throwing the tie
right the jacket they would lined with, but the tie
was over the line apparently.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
Yeah, since it is now a rule if a coach
throws anything, it's an automatic tech, which wasn't the case.

Speaker 4 (47:54):
We used to be a proper country exactly, you know exactly.

Speaker 6 (47:57):
Yeah, I mean, gosh, I don't have you know, to
get over it. A little bit too sensitive right now, Yeah,
it was.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
Did coach ever?

Speaker 3 (48:04):
Was that ever orchestrated like I got to get this
place fired up, I'm gonna throw my coat or was.

Speaker 6 (48:08):
I mean he never said that, but there was probably
a little gamesmanship right and all that time was a
little bit upset, but maybe felt like, hey, we gotta
we gotta get him going and there's a way to
to to play to the officials like that a little bit.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
Yeah, yeah, how is uh we got about thirty seconds
in terms of that your your demeanor on the sideline.

Speaker 6 (48:26):
At what point does it get to the point where
I may have to yell at a reff feel you
know what I mean? It's just a feel of how
things are going with the team. If you you feel like,
you know, somebody's not not giving you a fair shake,
you know they're missing too many things or not communicating
with you.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
But you know, you got to pick and choose your batance.

Speaker 14 (48:43):
That's what I do.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say you should be answering
that question.

Speaker 3 (48:47):
All right. Hey for ref It was our first show
Basketball Weekly with Nico Medvin.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
Thanks so much. Good just thanks everybody for being here.
See you tomorrow night, Go go first.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
Our thanks to Dad Robot with Michael Packett, Michelle Train
Traversy and Joe Desimond. We appreciate that this has been
going for Basketball Weekly with Nico Medvet from Lirfield