Gophers Basketball Weekly w/ Niko Medved 12-16-25

Gophers Basketball Weekly w/ Niko Medved 12-16-25

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
On the Gophers Sports Network from Learfield. Welcome to Gophers
Basketball Weekly with Nico Medbed. Go to you buy Buffalo
Wild Weaves, the official sports bar of March Madness. No,
here's the voice of the Gophers, Mike Grim.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Off and Running is another edition of Gopher Basketball Weekly
with Nico Medved. Nice crowd here, all wearing maroon and gold,
the Minnesota Golden Golphers coming off of a Sunday victory
over Texas Southern eighty nine fifty three. I am Mike
Grim along with Justin Gard. He has made his way
here to Buffalo Wild Wings. Hello, great to be back. Yeah,
good to see you. And Nico Medved, the head coach

(00:42):
of the Man.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Of the Hour. Good to see you, Good to see everybody.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Always fun coming off of a win to come over
and talk about it. And that was That was a
fun day Sunday at the Barn. It was a fun day.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Guys kind of came out of the gates early and
made some shots and we had a couple we had
some great performances, you know, as a team and in
jewels and crowd got into it a little bit. So yeah,
it was a fun way to go into finals.

Speaker 4 (01:05):
Twenty seven assists on like what twenty eight field goals,
twenty nine field goals. If you had numbers like that
ever at any stop, that's pretty good.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
That's pretty efficient. That's pretty efficient.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
And it was like twenty five or the first twenty
five field goals, Yeah, it was.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah, we've had a lot of games where we've had
a really high, you know, assist rate. I didn't know
at that point, you know that we had. It was
one hundred percent for most of the game until the end.
I gave Bobby dirk in a hard time after the game,
and the only unassisted field goal we had was his steal, yeah,
for a layup, And I'm like, if Dirk hadn't screwed
that up, we would have won one hundred percent. And

(01:38):
I don't think or something, you know, somebody had to
pass it to or whatever. But no, that was pretty
encouraging to see.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
And you mentioned a lot of the great performances that
The headliner, of course was a cade Tyson thirty eight points,
eighth most points scored ever in a game for any
Gopher and eight three point baskets tied for most. I
think six guys now have made eight three point baskets
in the game, he had a ninth in the air.
It was right online, just a little strong. It would
have been him all alone at nine three pointers. I

(02:07):
normally don't don't do this. I was gonna take him out.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
You know, we don't have a lot of subs obviously,
so he had to play. And there was about three
and a half minutes to go, and I was just
gonna gonna take him out. And somebody on our staff said, hey,
you know, kid's only one three away from they said,
setting the school record for threes. I'm like, all right, well,
I'm gonna dial up something for him here the next time.
And then of course the game started, we had the
play up. He said, well, we'll just tie the record.

(02:30):
So he ends up we running the play. He makes
it for number eight, and I'm like, you know, they're like,
take him on my you know what. We came down
the floor and I'm like, shoot it, just shoot it,
you know, shoot it whatever. And I normally don't do that,
but I'm like, the kid's just given us so much.
I'm like, you know, you don't get this opportunity very often.
And he kind of shoots that step back and I
thought it was down. Yeah, it was right on lines.

(02:50):
I told him after the game, like, geez, Kate, I
mean you choked your opportunity, you know what I mean
in a way I have that Minnesota sarcasm, you know,
going on. But he's such a great young man. But yeah,
what a an unbelievable performance.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
That was gonna be on my list of questions was
were you aware of what the situation was for him
trying to keep him in? And do you have a guy,
so to speak, on staff that can can keep you,
you know, abreast of that.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
I had no idea and us I don't even pay
attention to that stuff, and most of the time, you
know you're you're, you're not. But I'm like, well, we
don't really have many subs, so we'll leave him in.
And I literally I did not know until about the
three minute game, you know, uh Mark in the game
to go. So I don't even remember who it was
on staff that that told me so, But yeah, it's

(03:33):
one of those things that they're aware. And I don't
know if even Michelle had said something to She probably
did right to somebody else getting the conference. Oh yeah, yeah,
it was probably Michelle set it to somebody on staff
or Joe, and then it just kind of went uphill
and yeah, got to me in the time out well
along the lines of giving you everything. So the women
had a game that day.

Speaker 4 (03:50):
I was at the barn, Grim I saw you in
the media room at seven forty five, seven fifty and
Caid's there are getting his shots up. And that's not
like totally a typical guys have their routines, but it
takes what it takes sometimes, right Like I told my
kids that, I said, hey, this dude had thirty eight points.
You know what he was doing at seven thirty in
the morning before their noon game. He was working on
his game. And I imagine that's not rare for him.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
There is not a day that goes by. Usually I
get up pretty early, but then I kind of wait,
I have breakfast with my kids, and then when they
go off to school, I come in cause that's kind
of my time to see him. And there's not a
day that I haven't walked in the office and he's
already in there in the morning, you know, getting up
his early shot routine. And he's just got an incredible routine,
you know, incredible work ethic. He's so disciplined on what

(04:34):
he does, and honestly, like a lot of the great
ones that I've had, you almost have to try to
encourage him to dial it down sometimes, you know, hey man,
you're gonna need to play forty minutes here. But it
just builds confidence. And you know, I was there's one
characteristic of every great shooter I've ever seen. They all
have one thing in common. And I asked that to
players and this, well, you know, it's a footworkers follow

(04:55):
through And I'm like, no, they shoot all the time,
you know what I mean, Like they practice like they're
in there. And obviously there's there's intentional practice and great
reps and all that stuff like that, but these guys
are constantly in the gym working at their game. And
he's he works as hard as any player I've been around.

Speaker 4 (05:10):
What's the ballpark of Like how long on a game
day he's going, or even just on an off day,
like what what is his day to day? And we
probably asked him, but I'm sure you have it some aware.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
You know. I mean, he's he's going to come in
and probably do about forty five minutes to an hour
of intentional work. You know, this his shot prep his
shot routine, you know, a certain amount of makes from
different spots, you know, working on some things maybe individually
needs to get get get better at, you know, and
some of it for him too. I mean he's really
learning how to score even at another level, draw getting

(05:40):
to the free throw line, scoring in the lane, improving
his footwork, and so it's all those things. But he's
doing that every day, you know, on top of practice,
and then you know, you're lifting, and then I think
what those guys do too. It's it's all the prehab
and rehab stuff, right. It's it's taking care of your body,
what you eat, how you sleep, and just having that
room team. You know, those habits build confidence. And so

(06:03):
I'm saying he's putting in at lease an extra hour
a day, you know, no matter what day it is.
And some days, you know, we'll have we've been going
for a long time, we'll have an off day and
I'm like, heid, you got to stay out of the
gym today, you know, any probably, Yeah, I got you, coach.
And my guess is if I came in, he'd be
in there anyway, right, Which.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Is a good problem to have and to kind of
take a right hand turn on this, I would you know,
when these guys shoot, sometimes they may shoot by themselves
and rebound themselves. But as a guy who yourself was
a student manager, oftentimes these great shooters need someone to
come in and to get up more shots in an hour.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
You don't want to be chasing basketballs all over the place.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
So I'm guessing there's some student managers that he's buddied
up with that come and help.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
With that as well. And in a lot of times
it's coaches. I mean, we really pride ourselves a lot
on being a development program and like, hey, if players
want to put in work, we're there to help them
do it. That's what they're here for. And so he's
got a great routine with guysers. But yeah, I mean
managers are a part of that, you know, coming in
and help thing and with rebounding, passing on different situations,

(07:04):
whether it's you know, dummy defense so to speak of
reading a screen or or whatever that looks like. So
it's all hands on deck. Yeah, were you a rebounder
as a manager? I was there to shoot man. Yeah, No,
I mean you do a little bit of of everything
at that point in time, right to try to get
in and to try to help the guys in any
situation that they can. So, yeah, I've done I've done

(07:25):
all this. I tell like John Thomas, you guys remember John, Yeah,
such a big physical guy and he was here. He
was no fun when you had to like go against
him with the pad, you know what I mean, and
like sometimes you got to use a pad, right sometimes,
I mean he didn't. I mean, he was so strong.
I mean you just had to, you know, the brute
force and stuff. But it was kind of fun sometimes
you know, coach who just let us Hay hit him
as hard as you want. But he was the one

(07:46):
guy who like it never affected him.

Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yeah, yeah, I still see him at a lifetime of Paramounty.
You need a big pad to affect him.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
Still, Oh my god, I mean, oh man, I remember
by the time he got to be like a sophomore
you know here, he was so strong and anchored and like, yeah,
he was no fun to go against you.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
And mentioned there a couple of other nice performances when
you look at the box score, and one was and
we talked about it in the postgame show, Langston rentals
three points. You're like, okay, three points, but ten assist
and really, you know, and I know it's more positionless
basketball that you guys kind of play once you gets set.
But Isaac has been basically the guy mostly bringing the

(08:23):
ball up the floor, and Langston's been off the ball.
But to get ten assists playing mostly off the ball
speaks one to you know, what he sees in the
offense and too kind of how that offense is set up.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yeah, you know, everybody has an opportunity to make plays,
you know, in our offense. And yeah, I thought he
did a great job. He was so unselfish and m
kay to be the first to tell you. And that's
like any team. I mean, yes, he made shots, but
he also had guys help him first, like shots and
to find him when he's open. And I thought Langston
created a lot of opportunities for us that way. And yeah,
I thought it was. It was so valuable for him,

(08:54):
especially early in the game too, And I guess this
is the game kept going on. He kept finding guys
for good looks and didn't score a basket. You know,
I think it's a couple of free throws, right and
the three free throws I believe in the second half,
but had a huge impact on the game, and that's
what it's about. It's about affecting winning. And Isaac I
thought was terrific too. You know what, the thirteen points, what,
six rebounds, six assists? Thought he played really good defense

(09:15):
and I think he's really really growing.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, he had I think it was five assists, a
six assists, five rebounds at half and I'm like, maybe
toying with a triple double here, depending on how the
second half goes. But there weren't a lot of rebounds
to be had because Kate Dyson had eleven, which was
nice at the double double, and you guys were making
a bunch of shots.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, you know, I said this after the game, and again,
it's kind of what you're trying to build here. I mean,
obviously with Kate, it's like the shot making speaks for itself.
That's what everyone notices and you get recognition for. But honestly,
the thing that impressed me the most was the rebounding
and the effort. I mean, he's got a bloody lip,
the game had already been decided and he's still in
there trying to fight for every rebound and playing physical

(09:56):
and battling, and that's just a mindset that you have,
and I just thought that was so awesome to see.
I don't think the score didn't change anything. The fact
that he had already made seven threes or whatever didn't
change at all. You know how he played on both ends,
and so I just thought his effort on the boards
was awesome.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
You mentioned the last game before the finals break, which
is now I think finals technically started last week.

Speaker 3 (10:16):
There's some stuff now early this week.

Speaker 4 (10:18):
Do you worry about that as a coach when there
are like looming breaks, because I'm sure the player, especially
once they've been playing a long time, they're human, They're like, oh,
we get a break for a minute or two after
this before our next game.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
Do you address that with them? Do you dress that?

Speaker 4 (10:28):
As a staff? How do you handle just the ebbs
and the flows of these breaks. I think there's two things.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
I think. You know, sometimes a break is good, you
know what I mean, taking a chance to kind of
regroup a little bit. And maybe in our situation too,
we've got a couple other guys banged up. You get
a little bit of time. But you know what I've
told them, and I really believe this. I think the
next month here is where the teams that really play
well at the end of the year kind of can
make their move. So last time in the season where

(10:54):
we have we don't eventually we're not going to have class. Now,
got a lot more practice time, So what I think
we come back January twentieth, I believe somewhere around there
in school. So you get a time to spend a
lot of time connecting with your teammates, a lot of
time getting in the gym, getting in extra work time,
practicing and all that stuff, and so I think you
can really improve. And so I think that's been the mindset,

(11:14):
and you got to treat it like, hey, now you
well they already kind of are professionals anyway, but now
you really are right. You don't even have school here
for the next month. So I think this is a
critical time, you know, for us, and it is for
every team. Our team last year at Colorado State, I thought,
really embrace this next month to get better. And I
thought that's where we took that to heart. That's where
we made our move. And you know, after the new year,

(11:35):
we started to play like a different team.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Let's take a break because I want to go more
down that storyline, because I think there's some interesting.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
Things to talk about in regard to get a week.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
You know, it's basically four games in four weeks here,
which means there are a lot of practice days. And
you mentioned once January tenth or so hits practice days
start slimming down because you've got travel, you got days off,
all that stuff. So we'll do that when we come back.
We want to thank Buffalo Wild Wings. They have Go
for Basketball Weekly with Nico Medved every week during the
basketball season. It's the University of Minnesota location right next

(12:03):
to Williams Arena. Buffalo Wild Wings a proud sponsor of
Go for Athletics and the official sports bar of March Madness.
Next week, we have an interesting docket for you because
of the floating schedule and the holiday week. Next week,
we will have kind of a studio show next Monday.
It's next Monday noon until one here I think live.
That'll be on KFA on Plus, and then we'll also

(12:24):
you'll get to come and watch it live and become
on Monday, and then Tuesday you can hear it live
on or taped I guess on KFAN.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
So that will be the holiday schedule next week.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
Monday, it's like the live studio audience.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
Here you go.

Speaker 4 (12:37):
Next week, I'm gonna write all that. Can you write
all that down for me?

Speaker 3 (12:39):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, I will text you to make sure. I was
a little worried about you showing up here at eleven
fifty nine to day. In fact, Nico thought you had
the day off, game time on time day you were.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
You were here, you made it.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
If you're a minute early, you're how many minutes late
in real life?

Speaker 3 (12:52):
Four? Four?

Speaker 2 (12:53):
Thanks?

Speaker 3 (12:54):
All very good, We'll take a break.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
It's go for Basketball Weekly with Nico Medved from lear Field.

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Speaker 2 (18:09):
Welcome back. It's Go for Basketball Weekly with Nico Medved.
We're here at Buffalo Wild Wings on campus. We want
to thank the University of Minnesota Bookstore. They are your
one stop shop for 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 favorites.
It is your one stop shop. Every purchase directly supports
the University of Minnesota. You can shop in store, on

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campus or online at bookstores dot umn dot edu. It
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Speaker 3 (18:47):
All right, so it's Campbell coming up on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
You played this past Sunday, so you've got a full week,
and you talked about the importance of practice because, as
you know, you get into that January February time, between
the mandatory days off, the travel days, games two times
a week, usually.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
The practice time does shrink. So now is the time.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
I think you even use the term to make hey,
when we talked in the pregame show, you know, even
going back to last week where there was you know,
just one game on Wednesday from Wednesday.

Speaker 3 (19:13):
Yeah, no, I think it's a critical time and obviously
we've got our challenges still with some guys out, you know,
and probably not being able to do it the way
we'd love to do it. But there's still a huge
opportunity to grow and get better. I think the other
thing that happens is now that you've played, you know,
whatever it is amount of games, you're able to look
at your team and say, okay, this is where we're at.
Maybe there's some areas we need to improve at. How

(19:35):
can we utilize you know, what we have to its max?
You know, all those things. So you have a little
bit better intel on your team and maybe that gives
you an opportunity to grow.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
Is there you know obviously you say what you want
in terms of injuries, Are there any good news updates
you had on the horizon?

Speaker 3 (19:51):
Say what you want about the injuries. I wish I did.
I really don't you know at this at this point,
so it's still kind of a wait and see, you
know approach. I don't. I'm not looking at anybody obviously,
you know, Chauncey will have surgery here, But as far
as you know, Rob or BJ. I'm not looking at
it and saying, hey, a return is imminent at this
POINTKA Unfortunately.

Speaker 4 (20:12):
Can guys get individually better during the season, Like, is
this a time where if it's going to happen, they
can do it as opposed to the offseason one hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
I think, you know, it's one of the things we
talk about too in recruiting. I think it's like we
call them daily vitamins. It's guys like Cad and these
other guys continuing even throughout the season to just put
in this extra work, whatever it is footwork, finishing, shooting,
reading screens or situations defensively, I mean, you name it,

(20:42):
and just putting in those daily vitamins in those work
and even if it's an extra twenty minutes per year
post practice, those things add up. And I think throughout
the year, those things continue to add up, and you
can become a dramatically better player, you know, from November
until in February and in March, and I think that's
a critical component. Your team gets better as individuals, you know,
continue to grow and get better. So that's a big

(21:03):
part of it. You know, every day you're out there,
you're trying to get better. You're trying to put together
a plan for these guys to get individually better. It's
the film too, I mean you you name it. And
sometimes those guys are just helping them change even habits.
It's like, hey, you got to get to sleep a
little bit earlier, you know, eat a little bit better,
just have a little bit better focus on what you're
doing every every day in your approach and trying to

(21:25):
help young guys do that, and you know, over the
course of time, that's where improvements really happen.

Speaker 4 (21:30):
I'm sure we over dramaticize the exit interviews for the
season because you see these guys a lot. It's not
like they go off for six months in the summer
and you never see him. But how often are you
checking in with guys during the year of saying are
there regular you know check ins or is it just
more case by case basis on what you can improve on.
Here's a couple of things maybe we should be looking

(21:50):
at right now.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
That's a great question. I think one of the things
is a coach, you're always are going to say, gosh,
I you always want even if you're spending a lot
of time with them, you even want to spend more.
You can't spend enough. And you know, I try to
do intentional one on ones with them too, but a
lot of times it's just these these random check ins,
you know, about different things, or maybe you feel like
a player, whether it's something you really want to encourage

(22:12):
them about or something you can kind of see, Okay,
the last few days, maybe something's going on, you know
with this guy. Let's just kind of sit down and
have a conversation. So I think those things are constant.
You know, we try to maybe you know, early in
the year, you do middle of the year, and late
you maybe have more of that intentional you know, one
on one where you're like, all right, we're kind of
kind of go through a debrief of kind of where
you're at some of the things you're really doing. Well,

(22:34):
here's something that we can you know, help you get
better with. And you really want to get them talking
too and kind of see if they can understand where
they're at and kind of what their plan is to
get better. And a lot of those things guys too,
it's just what's going on with them off the court.

Speaker 4 (22:47):
Right right, So last one, this one's selfish grimmer because
I've had you know, I'm a coach as well, fifth
grade traveling. I think we're kind of on the same
level here for sure. It's all coaching at that I
saw some of those games on huddle. Yeah, the game
Changer incredible. You can watch the game. We watch film too,
don't think we don't. Yeah, I've had two kids in
the last week and a half cry because they're missing shots.
Do you have any advice for me on how to

(23:09):
help that through that has three guys on the roster? Now, yeah,
what you're doing better than I am? Like, yeah, And
I come up and I go, what's wrong? I'm missing shots?
I can't make anything. What's your best advice for me
to relate to the fifth graders?

Speaker 3 (23:21):
That's a great one. That's what I'm here for.

Speaker 9 (23:23):
You know.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
It's it's funny you go, guys who have shooting slumps
and and all that stuff, and you know you tell
them too, the best shooters in the world, you know,
only make four out of ten threes, do you know.

Speaker 10 (23:35):
What I mean?

Speaker 3 (23:35):
So yeah, I mean the best shooters in the world
are missing six of every ten threes they take. So
you know that's that's the best, right, So you've got
to you've got to try to get you got to
try to get over that. And it's a hard thing
emotionally right for young people to uh to understand and
encourage them about the other things that they can do
too that are are helpful when they're not, you know,
making shots. But you know that's the best one that

(23:56):
that that that I can come up with. And then
you know, hey, well if you're miss some shots, are
you how much you're practicing? Yeah for sure.

Speaker 4 (24:02):
But you know, even at your level though, everybody wants
to score, right, I mean, I'm sure you've had to
have those conversations about Look, Kate, Tyson's going to take
a lot of shots. Maybe here we need you to
re You're great rebounder, you're a great defender. You can
help us here. There's a lot of different ways you
can impact the game.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
Yeah, and and sometimes too guys like Kate, I mean,
it's not listen. I mean these coaches are good. I mean,
at some point, you know, I have a Purdue in
the second half and stuff. They're going to make you
do something different. They're not just going to let you
shoot shots. And so then you've got to be willing
to grow as a player. And be willing to do
different things, see the game differently, maybe have a little
bit of patience. Every game is a little bit different.
You know, you got to lose yourself sometimes in the game,

(24:39):
and what does the game require you to do to
be successful? And then I think as a coach, it's
just how can you really celebrate those things? You know,
how can you make those things really really important in
your program? And we show up the next day and
watch film. We're not showing the film. Oh there's another
made three, you know, it's it's it might be the
hard cut that Bobby Dirkin may that opened up, you know,

(25:01):
the opportunity, and that's the stuff you're praising. You know,
guys getting on the floor for a loose ball or
maybe something that doesn't show up in the statue. You know,
that guy really went and like blocked him out off
the glass and that allowed Isaac, you know, to get
the rebound. But it was because of that effort or
you running the floor really hard and transition you didn't
get the ball, but that opened up the opportunity for
somebody else. And I think as a coach, the more

(25:23):
you can encourage those kind of behaviors and make that
a big thing in front of your team, because one
thing that young people you go up probably us too
at our age. You walk into a to a session
and boy, you can show a player doing something really
well in front of their peers. I mean you can
just see their bodies. Sure's you know, pick up And
if you want you want to encourage the things that
you want more of, and if you want those things

(25:45):
to keep showing up, you've got to keep making a
big deal and encourage and that to your team and
especially among their peers you mentioned and guards you ask
you can guys get better in season.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
I think I ask you this in the post game,
but I think we can go down a deeper conversation
on it. One of the guys was Bobby Dirkin, and
I remember specifically a few weeks ago you mentioning that
that maybe Bobby's not laterally as quick as as some
other guys on the team or in the Big ten.
But he's six seven and he's got long arms, and
we have to try to get him to learn to
play defense, utilizing those skills and doing some things. And

(26:17):
he had four steals on Sunday in that game, including
the one that's screwed up one hundred percent on the
on the field goal to assist ratio.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
But what are you know?

Speaker 2 (26:26):
How do you how do you how is he kind
of adjusting to that, saying all right, I've got to
play defense differently, utilizing you know, my long arms, my length,
my heighty six seven, and there's ways to be good
defensively even if you don't have that, you know, that
step that you can get shuffle over.

Speaker 3 (26:41):
Yeah, I mean, you know, humility is a position of strengths.
Got to know who you are, got to know who
you're not. Then the biggest thing has got to be
comfortable with that. Okay, So here's here's who I am.
Here in my strengths. How do I use those things
to my advantage? And Bobby's an unbelievably humble, you know,
young man. And then I think what starts to happen
you start to understand that, and then I think defense
is about anticipation. You know, obviously having length and athleticism,

(27:04):
you know, you can't it's hard to make up for that.
But when you can anticipate what's going to happen, you're
in a stance, you're in the right position, you're playing angles,
the right way, you start to get a feel for
what the offense is doing. Now elson you find yourself
in the right spots. You know, if you're always reacting
to what the offense is doing, it's difficult to play
defense even when you're athletic. You know, you see guys
at every level they come up to it's harder and harder.

(27:26):
It's one of the biggest things I think in the
NBA when you watch and Chris Finch might even say
the same thing about some of his young guys. They've
gotten away with some habits that aren't going to translate
to the NBA and guys who come to this level
of college it's the same thing. But he's really getting
better at anticipating what's going to happen, and I think
that allows him to play at a higher level. In
four steals man, he's turned into Larry Bird. Yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yeah, that'd be great, That would be great. Keep pushing
that way, for sure. We're going to take a break.
By the way, Sunday's game is a five o'clock tip.
Campbell comes to town the Camels and we'll take air
at four. We're thirty. Tickets available at Gophersports dot com.
We're due for another break. We'll take that down when
we come back. It's the long contested too with Justin
Guard and Nico medvedch Stay with us. It's Go for

(28:09):
Basketball Weekly with Nico Medved from lear Field. Go for
Basketball Weekly with Nico Medved, Mike Grimm and Justin Guard
along with the head coach. Where at Buffalo Wild Wings,
a proud sponsor of Gopher Athletics and the official sports
bar of March Madness. We're on campus. We're live today
on this Tuesday. Games Sunday, Campbell, five o'clock. The tip
we take here at for thirty guards. You're on the

(28:30):
road this week for women's hoops at Nico's old stompy,
the NAP Center.

Speaker 4 (28:34):
Yeah, will be there with the Bulldogs. Oh really yeah,
two o'clock tip. Two o'clock tip on Sunday. I get
any tips for a guards? You for the nap Center
or des Moines.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
So what's interesting is the NAP Center underwent a renovation
after I left, so I'd be curious to see what
it looks like now from when I was there. But yeah,
des Moin's a good city, it is.

Speaker 4 (28:51):
Yeah, Yeah, we were there a few years ago, I
think wn No, actually it was a regular season game
a couple of Decembers ago. And yeah, the arena's nice.
They did a good job with the upgrade. Where should
I go Eataturday night? Where would if you were in
moin right now?

Speaker 3 (29:02):
Man, you're gonna put me on the on the spot,
I think somewhere up by that Jordan Creek mall. You
know one thing, it's it's not like the fancy, but
the place we would go, like, I don't know, five
times a week was the either the Drake Diner, which
is right there. Jethro's Barbecue right there is pretty oh yeah,
you know what I mean. Yeah, So those were kind
of the staples that we ate all the all the
time that were right there by campus. Pretty good. All right,

(29:23):
I'm in on that. All right. You've got the long
contested too.

Speaker 4 (29:26):
Yes, it is finals week, and I'm curious if there
is a final that still gives you nightmares or haunts
you or that you remember from your time as a
student here at the University of Minnesota.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
Boy, you really put me up. That's the long contested too. Yeah,
make you think the spotlight is on you know, i'd
be and my children aren't listening, so that's good. I
was one of those guys that, like I always got
it done, do you know what I mean? I figured
out how to get it done. But if I needed
a be I was getting the beat. I wasn't going
to get to a if I interested this, you know

(29:58):
what I mean. That's kind of not proud to say that,
but that's how I was. But the one thing I
am proud to say is whatever was required, I was.
I was. I was willing to do it. Okay, job,
I don't even know if there was a class, you know,
in particular. I think probably the hardest class I took
here was exercise physiology. That was difficult. What was difficult
about science? You know and all that stuff that yeah,

(30:20):
all that stuff now and it's just like, you know,
you know, I didn't really care for it that much
and like it, but that was a difficult one for me,
and somehow I was able to make it through. The
one thing I still understand, I think I took four
and a half years of Spanish in high school and
I came here and I had my you know, the
exam just to to foreign language requirement, right, So I
remember taking my my my Spanish stuff, and I remember

(30:42):
walking like, oh my god, like I didn't learn anything
high school, you know, and I tested out of all
of it. Oh really, yes, I still don't know how
I did it. I didn't even have to do my
foreign language requirement. So I guess I'm just brilliant that way.

Speaker 10 (30:54):
Were you?

Speaker 3 (30:54):
Did you go to high school for four and a
half years? Well, well that's a great and it was
the three and a half. Maybe I could go for four. Yeah,
thanks for checking me on. I was just you know,
I took Spanish every year and some in some former
fashion in high school and like I never, I never
for I had to go and I had to do
my entry, you know, the test, and I thought, well,
I don't know anything here. This is hard, and somehow
I tested that. Yeah, I did get out of it.

Speaker 4 (31:15):
I'm not sure if that speaks highly have like Roseville
prepared you, or that you was not that strenuous.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
I'm not.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
I'm trying to figure out which way to go. It's
probably all of it, It's probably, yeah, it was probably
all of it. Could you speak Spanish in the pinch?

Speaker 12 (31:26):
Now?

Speaker 3 (31:26):
Did any of it?

Speaker 9 (31:27):
Not?

Speaker 13 (31:28):
Not?

Speaker 3 (31:28):
Really? We poke it? Yeah I could. I could do
that enough to enough to maybe get by. You got
to go and immerse yourself in it to be able
to do it. Yes, that's what they say. That's what
they said.

Speaker 4 (31:39):
I took Spanish to at like five different colleges, didn't
thought of any of them.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
Yeah, I had to. I had to keep still working
on it, Yeah, still working on it. All right.

Speaker 4 (31:47):
So it's college football season, and it's college football playoff season,
and it's coaching carousel season, and there's some jobs that
are opened up right now, and I'm curious, as a
guy who's been through it, how do you how do
you not focus on the outside noise, whether at any
of your different stops or I'm sure you came up
for different jobs.

Speaker 9 (32:04):
What you know?

Speaker 4 (32:05):
Shoot, last year, we're watching the Mountain West Conference tournament
and going pretty good.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
Chance Nico is going to be at the You here,
and you know, whenever this this run is done.

Speaker 4 (32:12):
What's the Because you get asked about it, fans know what,
players probably know it. What's your best advice to coaches
that are going through right now being asked about some
pretty high profile jobs.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
I think you know, for me, you know, the the
the longer you do it, you kind of understand what
the noise is and everything. I think it's probably important
for other people to remember too. I mean, players are
pretty they they get it, you know what I mean,
they read it too. They they understand the way that
the business works. You know, there had there been a

(32:44):
time where you know, you maybe even addressed it, like
with your team and and and in the right way.
But I think for me, the players just always appreciated that.
It never changed my approach every day and what you're doing.
I think every season in every team, no matter what
it is, even if you have a lot of guys returning,
you have that one moment in time r right, And
I think just focusing on that, on the one moment

(33:05):
in time that we have right now, here's our opportunity.
This team will never be together this way and this
circumstance ever again. So let's just pour our hearts into that.
And you just realize how fleeting all of this is.
So you try to put your energy there. You know,
you answer the questions the right way. But you know,
a funny thing is that I would always tell people is, listen,

(33:26):
you know our business usually one of two things is happening.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
Right.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
There's either rumors about you losing your job or or
the rumors about you maybe getting another one is kind
of isn't that true? Yeah, what it feels like. And
so I'd rather be part of a program that you're
winning a lot, where you know people are looking at
what you're doing and the success that you're having and
people maybe want to find ways to be a part
of that or see what you're doing. And so I

(33:50):
think that's the blessing in it. But it isn't it.
It's a tricky thing to navigate, especially with the schedule
you know that we have right now with the portal
window and the bowls and our case to turn them
in in March. But it is what it is. But
I think players probably understand the business more than we
give them credit for.

Speaker 9 (34:06):
Well.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
Lane Kiffin even said this year players same things happening
for them. In some cases that might be a cynical
thing to say, right, but there's there's there's that thing going.
So I'm curious about you mentioned the longer that you've
been in it, is that something you had to learn
to make the main thing the main thing and and
just be present with the group.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I just think you continue to
get better at it. You know, as time goes by,
you understand what it is. Like you said, keeping the
main thing the main thing, after you've been through it
for for several times in several years, it's just kind
of you know what I mean, you don't really let it,
You don't really let it phase you. You know that
that that way, And and so I never really had
much of an issue doing that. I'd never changed how

(34:46):
I coached or how I approach the guys. And you
get a read for them. If you feel like there's
something you need to address, you know you you do.
But I think that's your foundation. And again it's just
this year, this moment in time, this is what we're
focused on right here. And I think the people would
say that the places that I've been and the people
that I've worked with, I think they to appreciate how
we've always handled that. There's no good way to answer

(35:08):
the question publicly, is there?

Speaker 9 (35:10):
No?

Speaker 3 (35:10):
I mean, and like people, you know, can you comment,
and like, no, I can't comment, you know, I mean,
I don't And people are doing their jobs right, you
know for asking about it, and there is no way
to answer. But I'll say this, and you know that
the media folks in Colorado last year, you know, I
had a great relationship with them. You know, they were
critical when they needed to be, but I know they

(35:30):
knew I was always going to answer the questions. I
was a stand up guy. They had every reason last
year to keep asking me questions during the Mountain West
Tournament and the NCAA Tournament, and you know what, they
never did. I noticed that, and I thank them all after.
I called them all personally and I said, thank you
for doing that. And I think everybody knew what it was,

(35:51):
but they also knew that, Man, this team is just
having a magical run and I'm enjoying it too. And
I don't want to take away from that he's getting
asked what they knew, what they probably too, because in
years past there have been rumors about jobs or whatever,
and so I think I just really appreciated them handling
that that way. And that doesn't mean that they had
to or that, you know, but they they did. And

(36:13):
but you're right, going back to your original question, there's
no way to really answer those questions to anybody satisfaction. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (36:20):
Well, and it's a weird dynamic in that people take
different jobs all the time, and we're not asking them
Hey what.

Speaker 3 (36:26):
Do you think about this gig? Or hey your name.
It's a unique profession in that way. And you know,
for me personally, I mean, and I hope the fans
understand this. Like you know, I loved Colorado. I wasn't
taking you know, any job. This is not any job, right.
This is a really really special job and a special

(36:47):
opportunity for me here and one that I can't even
begin to explain how excited I am. I know what
the challenge is, but it's just something that means the
world to me. And so this isn't any job. And
I'm here because this is where I feel like I
meant to be and I'm so excited about it, and
the people have been unbelievable, and so this isn't just
oh it's a big time job. This is the University

(37:07):
of Minnesota. This is the job that I've always wanted,
and I'm ready to rock. I like it.

Speaker 9 (37:11):
I like it.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
You can clap for that, by the way, I don't
have to sit.

Speaker 4 (37:14):
I mean, all right, lastly rate yourself because I'm gonna
be gone next week. I'll be at the bowl game,
so Christmas will be a few days away. Rate yourself
as a gift giver.

Speaker 3 (37:26):
Oh man, B, I would say, you know what I mean,
it's like the finals you needed to be Yeah, B.
I mean, every once in a while I'll come. I'm
curious to see what my wife thinks to the present.
I'm getting her right now. I think it's pretty good.
But you believe it.

Speaker 13 (37:42):
I do.

Speaker 3 (37:43):
I believe in it. You think she'll give you a
B though, well, she'll probably give me an a but
deep inside she might say, be you know what I mean,
actually did put some thought into it, you know. So
I think it's pretty good. But I'm just I'm just okay,
and like for some people to you know, like what
I or you know, I staff other people out, you know,
just go with the gift card. Make it easy.

Speaker 4 (38:04):
Yeah, yeah, well yeah, I've kind of bailed and done
the gift card route.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
I don't think there's anything wrong with it. No, I agree,
but it's like I kind of thought about you, but
not a ton.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
You know, like I could have got you something specific
check the box. But also gift card you can get
whatever you want with it. So there's that freedom of
choice too, which I think is important.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
It's kind of like politics. It's it's you're checking the box.
Do you know what I mean? But you really can
plausibly say, but I really wasn't listen. This is good
for you. You can this is really good for you.
You can get whatever you want. That's how much I
care to give me the freedom get you what I
thought you wanted. You can go ahead and get with
you weren't going to assume exactly. And maybe it says
something about how I by gifts. I asked my kids
what they want and they just say cash. Yeah, you know,

(38:44):
they don't want me buying them the president, just give
me some money something, give whatever gift card would work
to do you.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
Sense whether it's from your family or your wife, or
your friends or your staff. Was there is there a
pressure once you become a head coach and a big
ten head coach, like you can't be getting the same
gifts you know when you were at Drake You know,
is there Do you have any senses you've moved up
in jobs that there's more pressure on you or is
that for me to come through from? Yeah, you've got
to come through like they're really Nico, you know, I
mean the same thing you got me fifteen years ago

(39:12):
when you were assistant on here.

Speaker 3 (39:13):
Well, I mean they don't have to like it, you
know what I mean, Like we do a cool, cool
thing in my immediate family though, instead of us having
to get gifts or best we just do the name drawing.

Speaker 9 (39:22):
You know.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
It's like, I've got my mom this year, right, So
that's an easy one. Right, I got my mom and
and we'll do that so I don't have to go everybody, right,
because that could be stressful. Oh it's crazy, Yeah, I think. Yeah,
we've gone that way too. Yeah, so I don't I
don't want to have that stress. So thank god I
don't have that in my life. So you know, I've
got my mom this year obviously, my wife and children
and even these the people on my staff, they're fine.

(39:44):
They're good, They're fine. Yeah, they're good.

Speaker 10 (39:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Merry Christmas. Yeah yeah, there you go. All right, very good,
long contested to us.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
We're going to follow up if your wife liked the present,
yeah yeah, okay, yeah, the first week of January, we'll
follow up to say what the reaction was. All right,
we have our final segment, will give away the gift
card here during the break. That's all straight ahead, It's
Go for Basketball Weekly with Nico Medved from Learfield.

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Speaker 12 (41:07):
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Speaker 3 (42:05):
Let's go places.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
Jape show Monday, so we'll look forward to seeing everybody
here Monday next week at noon. We want to thank
Michael Tackett, our in studio producer, Tom You and Dan
robotham our on site engineers Joe to Simon thanks to him.
Also Michelle Train Traversy for their great work here as
always as they get the show organized. You mentioned the
importance of practice time this time of year, so I
looked this up this morning because I wanted to ask

(42:29):
your specific about it. You mentioned in the pregame show
as well that your Colorado State team last year really
got better. We know how that team did, finish twenty
one to ten, went to the NCAA a whisker away
from making the Sweet sixteen, all kinds of success. Do
you know what your team's record was one year ago today?
I don't, but it wasn't very good. Six and five,

(42:51):
five and five, five and five, And then a year
ago tomorrow you beat Radford to go to six and five,
which is the record that you currently own with the
golden goal.

Speaker 3 (42:59):
Oh is that where we're going? So that's where I
headed with that. So you know, I mean, nothing major,
but can you win? You know, twenty of the next
twenty five, anything's possible, right, all right? I It is
funny the other day we were talking about that. I
was looking at some old practice plans and stuff from
last year and just kind of digging around and like,
I can't make we went sixteen and four in the

(43:20):
Mountain West, like you want eleven straight eleven or eleven
strade ifebru It was crazy how we just kind of
kind of kicked it in gear. But yeah, we had
a huge win. I remember right around right after Christmas
we won at Nevada and a huge game, and yeah,
we really kicked it and kicked it in gear after that.
So you're trivia, Can I tell you this about grim
This is why love Grimm's always got all this great

(43:41):
like trivia. Yeah, we're getting ready to play Texas Southern,
right and we're sitting there in the morning, we're doing
the raises. Hey, Nico, do you remember like Texas Southern
If you remember this or not, you know, Texas Southern
came in here and we're making fifteenth in the country
and they came in here and beat us by twenty,
you know, and it's kind of going through all these stats. Well,
thanks for my morning here, Greg. We're getting ready to

(44:02):
play Texas Southern or whatever. But that, no, that was
a remarkable turnaround. And I don't know if we've got
twenty of twenty five in US, but the whole idea
is we've just got to keep growing. We've got to
get better. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (44:13):
And by the way, my morning was also ruined, not
because I was on that team or part of that team,
but because Grim told me that same story like thirty
minutes before he told you, because I was also at
the barn, and he told me way more details than
I ever needed to know and made me late for
coach plixel Light in our pregame interview, Yeah, well, hey,
but I know about the ninety four Texas Southern team.
If you ever ever comes up in Buffalo wild Wings trivia.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah, you've had all the info you need, no no
doubt about it. That was an NCAA tournament team. Oh boy,
and on I'm just kidding. I mean they were. But
anyway down the road we go, what was it last year?
Do you think that that that you probably you know,
I looked you lost a riverside, right, you see Riverside.
That couldn't have been the brightest day of the season
last year for you. And then what was it do
you think at this time of year that that flipped it?

(44:55):
I think, you know, I'll give our team a ton
of credit. I think really embracing the things we were
talking about out as Hey, we just kind of needed
to let go of any expectations of what anyone else
thought or them and we just need to dig in
and work. Got an opportunity here in this next month
to just focus on getting better every day, you know,
individually and as a team, and you know, as coaches

(45:15):
and all of us. We had the right group of guys,
and you know, guys starting to kind of get comfortable
with maybe their role and what we needed to do,
maybe changed a couple of things up in practice, focused
a lot more on ourselves than who we were playing.
And then sometimes it's just it's funny how you just
kind of need one of those games to go your way.
Right You're you're in a dog fight with somebody and

(45:37):
you know, guy makes a couple of big plays, We
drill a huge critical shot, you know, with the minute
to go, and you steal a huge win, and all
of a sudden, you just sort of feel like, all right,
here we go, you know, and you don't flinch.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
And so I think all those things, you know, play
into it. Every team, every situation's different. The one thing
that just never changes is you've just got to continue
to focus and get better. Even if we were ten
and one, I mean, you start resting on your laurels
at all and start thinking, oh, boy, we're really good.
Listen to all these people tell us how good we are,
and boy, you know we're gonna we're gonna, we're gonna
go to the NC Double A's and oh, this team's

(46:11):
got a chance to go to this sweet sixteen. And
you start listening to that the same way you start
listening to everybody telling you you're no good. It just
what does Nick Saban call it? Rend poison? You know
that's not the way this stuff works. Things change very
very quickly in either direction, and so you've really got
to try to spee where your feet are, you know,
stay in the moment and get better. And you know
that's our charge right now. We've got to improve. And

(46:34):
I'm no different I listen. I know these guys no
different than what Matt Painter or Tom Izzo or those
guys are trying to do the same thing. But it's
easier said than done.

Speaker 4 (46:42):
Yeah, Well, my question isn't gonna make any sense down
because you said where your feet are? My question was
gonna be how aware are you at this point of
the year of everything else that's going on in the
Big ten like, how are you checking in? Obviously you
know the records, you know who's playing, but like, do
you have staff members that are that are grabbing stuff
on your first couple of Big Ten opponents once you.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
Get back that we've got Yeah, I mean, we've got
all that. But it's funny you asked that. I just
I said, maybe that's another thing even last year, just
kind of even like, I don't know who we're playing
in two weeks. I really don't care what San Diego
State's doing or what Michigan State's doing right now. That
has no impact on us today. Sure, you know what
I mean. I don't control what they're doing, or who's playing,

(47:20):
how well they're playing, or anything like that. The only
thing we control is how we're doing. And I think
sometimes allowing yourself to just let go of all those
things and just focus on your own house, you know
what I mean, I think that that's really empowering. Listen,
I watch the games. I mean I have a chance
to watch most of the teams in the Big Ten
and kind of have an understanding of what's going on.
But again, I don't know who these guys are. Most

(47:42):
of them are on finals play in the next game.
But whatever happens in the you know, Michigan State, whoever game,
has no impact on what's going to happen with us
in practice tomorrow or against Campbell on Sunday. And so
we've just got to worry about that, and then as
we get ready to play these teams, we'll turn our
attention that way.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
Just a few seconds left here, half a minute or so.
Have you guys dived into Campbell yet or will that
come later in the week.

Speaker 3 (48:04):
Yeah, you know, I again, they're all difficult, you know,
on paper, this will be the most difficult of the
quote unquote by games. I think they do a really
really good job.

Speaker 9 (48:16):
You know.

Speaker 3 (48:16):
They give West Virginia a game. They were in it
with Wisconsin, and people at that they're going to look
at the score and they say Wisconsin, you know, but
that was a close game until the last six seven
minutes of the game. They're very well coached, they're very physical,
they've got a plan. So it will be a challenge
for us. They all are, Yeah, no doubt. All right,
we'll see you Sunday. See Sunday at five o'clock, four thirty.

(48:36):
We will take air.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
We want to thank everybody for coming great. You see
everybody for Justin Guard and Nico Medved. This is Mike
Grim and this has been go for Basketball Weekly with
Nico Medved from Learfield