LARGE CROWD AT TARGET CENTER FOR CLASS A AND AA CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES

In an unusual move the staff at the Target Center have opened up the upper deck of the Target Center because of the large crowd. I don't have official numbers at this time but I will update you when I have the official of people in attendance at this afternoon's Championship game.

Ellsworth Wins

In a game that was exciting to watch Ellsworth ends up beating Minnesota Transitions by the final score of 81-63 Ellsworth was lead in scoring by Cody Schilling (31) Minnesota Transitions was lead in scoring by Vergil Baker (34).
Congratulations once again to Ellsworth for winning there 2nd consecutive Minnesota State class 1A State title.
Congratulations to Ellsworth Cody Schilling for becoming the states all time leading scorer. Cody Schilling now has 3,428 points for his career.

ELLSWORTH IS YOUR CLASS 1A STATE CHAMPION

CONGRATULATIONS ELLSWORTH FOR WINNING YOUR SECOND CONSECUTIVE MINNESOTA STATE CLASS 1A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP TITTLE.

Ellsworth Is Up At The Half

We have reached the half of are first championship game. Ellsworth Panthers are ahead of the Minnesota Transitions Wolfs by a score of 29-19. Ellsworth's leading scorer is Cody schilling (7)and for Minnesota Transitions they are lead in scoring by Virgil Baker (12). Look for this game to come down to the wire as there has been a lot of action in the first half.

Class 4A Final Preview

In the battle of the big boys Minnetonka (27-3) will face off against Henry Sibley (26-5) at 8:00pm at the Target Center. Both of these teams are hungry for a title win and it will be a very high energy game. So we will have to wait to see how this one will go.

Class 3A Final Preview

In the class 3A Final at Target Center at 6:00pm the two teams that will do battle will be Benilde St. Margaret's (28-3) Vs St Thomas Academy (24-6). This is a rematch of the championship game last year which St Thomas won by the final score of 56-40. Both teams are from the metro area and they are both private schools.

Class A Preview

The Class 1A championship game should be interesting the game is between Minnesota Transitions Charter School and Ellsworth. Minnesota Transitions will try to pull of the upset. Ellsworth is the defending class A champion and this is the first trip to the state for the Minnesota Transitions Charter School.

Class AA Preview

The class 2A championship game puts Crosbi-Ironton vs New London-Spicer. I am thinking that both of these will put up a battle. Both teams come in carrying a very good record Crosbi Ironton has a record of 32-0 and New London-Spicer has a record of 32-1 coming in to the championship game.

New London-Spicer 50 Maple River 49

Game Stats

New London-Spicer Post Game Comments From -
Matt Cordes - Head Coach
Skylar Wachter
Wade Powers

CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY SET

What a great 2 days of semi final action at the Target Center. I am looking forward to the Championship games on Saturday at the Target Center.
The championship match ups are
1A Minnesota Transitions vs Ellsworth 12:00 pm
2A Crosby-Ironton vs New London-Spicer 2:00pm
3A Benilde-St Margret's vs St Thomas Academy 6:00 pm
4A Minnetonka Vs Henry Sibley 8:00pm

Maple River New London Spicer Wins Tight Game That Was Decided At The End

In another close tight game that came down to the end New London Spicer beats Maple River by the score of 50-49 . This game came down to the wire. Both teams were well balanced and they both played an out standing game that was fun to watch. New London-Spicer was led in scoring by Wade Powers (13) Skylar Wachter (12) and Jordan Radel. New London-Spicer plays Crosby-Ironton for the Class 2A Final at 2:00pm At the Target Center.

MSHSL Board Member Lawrence A. Ellis Interview

Minnesota State High School League Board Member Lawrence A. Ellis visits with us about how the regions are aligned before the seeding begins for the state playoffs.


Click Here to listen to this interview

Looks Like Another Tight Game

In another good game that is at the half Maple River is up on New London Spicer by a score of 28-27. The top scorers for New London Spicer are Chris Tengwall 6 Skylar Watcher 6 and Jordan Radel 7. For Maple River the leading scorer is Seth Anderson with 14. I think it will once again be a race to the finish in this game. Both teams look to push the ball up the court.

Crosby-Ironton 66 St. Bernard's 60

Game Stats

Crosby-Ironton Post Game Comments From -
Bryce Tesdahl
Dave Galovich - Head Coach
Derek Swanhorst

Crosby Ironton Wins In A Hard Fought Game

In a great hard fought game that was close through out Crosby-Ironton beat St. Bernard's by the final score of 66-60. I though that shooting was the real key to night. Crosby shot 59.1% from the field and St. Bernard's shot 40.3% from the field. I thought that Crosby made the shots that they needed to make through out the game tonight. The top scorers from Crosby Ironton were Bryce Tesdahl (22) Derek Swanhorst (14) and Joe Mc Laughlin. Crosby Ironton now waits to see who they will play in the class AA championship on Saturday after noon at 2:00pm at the Target Center. They will either play New London-Spicer or Maple River.

A tight Game At The Half

We are tied at half time at 33. This game started off at a fast pace I feel that I am watching a track meet because both teams are flying up and down the court. The top scorers for St. Bernards are Peter Morrissey (10) Jordon Bright (9) and Jordair Jet (8) and the Top Scorers for Crosby-Ironton are Brice Tesdahl Derek Swanhorst with (8) each and Trevor Dickie with (7). I think that this game will come down to the wire.

CONFIRMED!!! ROYCE ALEXANDER WHITE TO HOPKINS HIGH SCHOOL

I am hearing rumors from several sources that Royce White, who got dismissed from Minneapolis De LaSalle High School, will be attending Hopkins High School for his senior year.

On Sunday, March 30th, Steven has confirmed the above item. It is the intention of Mr. Royce White to be enrolled at Hopkins High School for the 2008-2009 school year.

Ellsworth 66 Norman County East, Twin Valley 52

Game Stats

Ellsworth Post Game Comments From -
Cody Schilling
Markusn Okeson -Head Coach
Adam Van Der Stoep

Class AA Semifinals

The night session at the Target Center is the Class AA session. In the first game its St.Bernard's against Crosby-Ironton and in the second game it is Maple River against New Lundon-Spicer. The winner of the games tonight will face off on Saturday afternoon at 2:00pm at the Target Center.

ELLSWORTH ADVANCES TO THE FINAL

The Ellsworth Panthers will try to defend there class A title on Saturday after Defeating Norman County East 66-52. Cody Shilling for Ellsworth had the game high of 30 points. Adam Van Der Stoep had 11 points. For the game Ellsworth shot 58.8% and Norman County East shot 33.9% from the field for the game. Norman County East will play Cass Lake-Bena for the class 3A third place game at Concordia University
Ellsworth will try to defend their state title on Saturday when they play Minnesota Transitions Charter School at 12:00 pm on Saturday at the Target Center.

Who Will Pull It Out And Advance?

Who will pull it out and advance to Saturdays class A State Final game against Minnesota Transitions? At the half of the second class A semi final from the Target Center Ellsworth is ahead of Norman County East Twin Valley 31-24. The leading scorers Norman County East, Twin Valley are Tyler Bennefeld (11) and Ethan Opsahl (5). For Ellsworth the leading scorers are Cody Schilling (9) Adam Van Der Stoep (7).
Ellsworth is shooting 11-19 57.9% from the field in the first half and Norman County East, Twin Valley is shooting 10-32 31.3% from the field.

Minnesota Transitions 87 Cass Lake-Bena 77

Game Stats

Minnesota Transition School Post Game Comments From -
John Sherman - Head Coach
Virgil Baker

MINNESOTA TRANITIONS CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL WINS

In a game that had a lot of action Minnesota Transitions beat Cass Lake-Bena by the final score of 87-77. The leading scorers for Minnesota Transitions were Virgil Baker (26) Kyle Noreen (23) and Kavarian Willams(20). Minnesota Transitions will play the winner of the next game between Elllsworth and Norman County East, Twin Valley.

St.Thomas Academy 56 Willmar 35

Game Stats

St. Thomas Academy Post Game Comments From -
Mike Sjoberg - Head Coach
Fritz Waldvogel
Michael Fitzgerald

We Have A Tight One At The Half

In a game that was billed to be a fast pace game and a lot of scoring the first game has lived up to that billing. The score at the half is Cass Lake-Bena 45 and Minnesota Transitions 47. The top leading scorers for Cass Lake are Joel Salscheider 14 and Nate Slacheider 15 and for Minnesota Transitions the top scorers are Kyle Noreen 17 and Virgil Baker 14. Look for the same type of style of play quick in the second half.

Fast Action at Target Center

After a change of site the Semi final games move to the Target Center in Down Town Minneapolis after a good day at the University. The day will get off to a fast start today when to teams that like to get up and down the court face off in the first semi final game between Cass Lake-Bena and Minnesota Transitions. Look for a lot of points to be scored in the game Cass Lake Bena is averaging 98.1 points per game and Minnesota Transitions is averaging 94.4 points per game.

St Thomas Wins And The Rematch Is Set For Championship Saturday

In a game that was over at half time St Thomas Academy beats Wilmar by the final score of 56 to 35. The Class 3A State Title game will be a rematch of last years championship between Benilde St Margaret and St Thomas that game will be on Saturday Night at 6:00 at the Target Center. Armond Battle lead the team in scoring he had 21 points. Jordan Taylor had a good game he had 19 points. After the game the players talked about how there defence was the key they worked hard on there defence all week. They know that it is a rematch from last year and they have always wanted to get a rematch. It should be a great game on Saturday night for the final a rematch of last years championship.

St. Thomas up at the Half

In a game that has seen runs and dead periods St. Thomas is up on Willmar at half time by the score of 25-18. This has been a game that has been tough to gauge the first half. I have seen teams go on runs and there has been a lot of good defence played. If should be a good second half. The leading scorer for St Thomas was Mike Ratelle with 6 points. It should be a good second half.

Benilde-St. Margarets 100 Minneapolis Patrick Henry 70

Game Stats

Benilde-St. Margarets Post Game Comments From -
John Moore - Head Coach
Armond Battle
Jordan Taylor

Patrick Henry Post Game Comments From -
Jerry Williams Jr. - Head Coach

Benilde-St.Margaret's Runs Away in Semi Final Action

In a game that was a rout from the start Benilde-St. Margaret's beats Minneapolis Patrick Henry by the final score of 100-70.
This game was not even a contest from the Start. Benilde was up big at the half time break and they kept Minneapolis Patrick Henry at Bay. With the win tonight Benilde will be playing eather St. Thomas Academy or Willmar. Once again Jordan Taylor and Armond Battle were the guys that steped up and played well in the semi final game. Jordan finshed the game with 19 points and Armond Battle finshed with 21 points. And Matt Thomas ended the game with 15 points. Benilde waits the winner of the St. Thomas and Willmar game.

Second Class 3A Semi Final

In the second class 3A Semi Final it will be St Thomas Academy Vs Willmar. The winner will play Benilde-St. Margaret's for the class 3A State Championship game on Saturday night at 6:00pm at the Target Center.

Benilde-St. Margarets Up Big At Half

In a game that has been mostly one sided at half time it is Benilde- St. Margaret's Red Knights 56 and Minneapolis Patrick Henry Patroits 27 . The top leading scores for the Red Knights areMatt Thomas (15) Jordan Taylor (13) and Armond Battle (13) and for Henry the leading scorers are Louis Cox (9) and Jordan Hughes (5) .

Top Teams Battle It Out In Semi Final Action

After a bus ride and a quick dinner break I am back at the Target Center for the Class 3A semi final game between Benilde-St Margaret's who is ranked #1 in 3A in the final Associated Press Poll and Minneapolis Patrick Henry who is ranked #10 in 3A in the final Associated Press Poll.

Ellsworth wins

Ellsworth ends up beating Granada Huntley-East Chain by the final score of 59-41. It was a game that went up and down. Cody Schilling was the leading scorer with 23 points. Cody Shilling is now the all time leading scorer with a total of 3,366. He broke the old record of 3,365 set by Isaiah Dahlamann who went to Braham .

Ellsworth 59 Granada-Huntley-East Chain 41

Game Stats

Ellsworth Post Game Comments From -
Cody Schilling
Markusn Okeson - Head Coach

Granada-Huntley-East Chain Ellsworth Update

At the half its Granada-Huntley-East Chan 26 and Ellsworth 35 Cody Schilling has 9 points at the half.

Cass Lake-Bena 79 Bertha-Hewitt 61

Game Stats

Cass Lake-Bena Post Game Comments From -
Dan Ninham - Head Coach
Nate Howard

Cody Schilling BREAKS SCORING RECORD

Cody Schilling broke the state scoring record with 28.6 in the 2nd half. Congraulations Cody.

Cass Lake-Bena Beats Bertha-Hewitt

Cass Lake-Bena beats Bertha-Hewitt 79-61. Bertha-Hewitt was 28-0 comming into the game. The leading scorers for Cass Lake-Bena were Nate Howard (23) Joel Salscheider (22) Nate Salscheider (16) and Martin Wind (12). Cass Lake-Bena will play Minnesota Transitions Charter School Friday afternoon at 12:00 PM at the Target Center.

History Might Be Made Today

In the third game this afternoon at Mariucci Arena puts Granada-Huntley-East Chan against Ellsworth. Ellsworth's Cody Schilling will try to make history by becoming the all time leading scorer in Minnesota. Cody Shilling needs 23 points to become the all time leading scorer.

Tight at Half

The second game is a tight game at the half. In a game that has been both up and down and a lot of fun to watch Class Lake-Bena is up 42-30 over Bertha-Hewitt.

Minnesota Transitions 77 Janesville-Waldorf-Pamberton 32

Game Stats

Minnesota Transition School Post Game Comments From -
John Sherman - Head Coach

Transitions beats Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton

In a game that was over with in the first 3 possions MTS (Minnesota Transitions School) beats up on JWP 77-32. Several players played well in a game that was a blow out from the start. The top scorers for MTS were Virgil Baker (20) Kevin Noreen (18) and Kavarian Willams (12).
Minnesota Transitions not waits to see who they are going to play.
They will play Bertha-Hewitt or Cass Lake Bena Friday at 12:00 Pm at the Target Center in the Semi Final game.

Minnesota Transitions up big at Half

Its half time and it looks like Minnesota Transitions is up 39-10 there is a Chance that JWP (Jansville-Waldorf-Pemberton) will get in it. I feel like I am watching a track meet rather than a basketball game. In an interesting side note Transitions Kevin Noreen has 11 points JWP as a team has 10 points.

Basketball in a Hockey Arena

The Minnesota State High school League had a conflict with the University of Minnesota so they are having games played at Mariucci Arena. I think that it is a very interesting place to watch a game. I will be getting the players thoughts of playing in a hockey arena after the game.

Stevens Day 1 Recap

The 2008 boys State Basketball started off on Wednesday Morning with a slew of games. I was able to get into the Target Center about 9:00 in the morning. I went to the will call window at Target Center where I was told that the MSHSL would be leaving passes for the press. However I had to wait inside the lobby for the pass to be delivered. After I had the pass delivered I picked it up and I went in and had a lot of fun. I got to do a lot of exciting interviews which are up on the web site.
I look forward to another exciting day. On Thursday Morning I will be at the University of Minnesota for the Afternoon games and then I will be headed back to the Target Center for the night games.

Patrick Henry 72 St. Michael-Albertville 60

Game Stats

Patrick Henry Post Game Comments From -
Jerome Vaughn
Jerry Bright
Jerry Williams Jr. - Head Coach

Benilde-St. Margarest 76 St. Paul Como Park 62

Game Stats

Benilde-St. Margarets Post Game Comments From -
John Moore - Head Coach
Armond Battle
Jordan Taylor

Robbinsdale Cooper 54 Burnsville 52

Game Stats

Robbinsdale Cooper Post Game Comments From -
Rodney Williams Jr.
Dave Johnson - Head Coach
Quincey Bethea
Joe Bright

Henry Sibley 68 Rochester Mayo 58

Game Stats


Henry Sibley Post Game Comments From -
Tom Dasovich - Head Coach
Peter Leslie
Noah Kaiser
Mike Bruesewitz
Chris Halvorsen

St. Cloud Tech 79 Cambridge-Isanti 68

Game Stats

St. Cloud Tech post game audio -
Nate Wolters
Randy Jordan - Head Coach
Collin Stinogel
Alex Hanks
Adam Johnson

Minnetonka 66 Bloomington Kennedy 59

Game Stats

Minnetonka Post Game Comments From
Anthony Tucker
C. J. Erickson
John Hedstrom - Head Coach
Sedrick McBounds
Andy Burns

Boy's Pre-State Tournament Interviews

Steven Froemming got some great sound bites at the Pre-Tournament Banquet.

Tom Dasovich - Head Coach Henry Sibley

Lewis Johnson - St Paul Como Park Player

Rodney Williams Jr. - Cooper Player

Dave Johnson - Cooper Head Coach

Girl's State Left Overs

Hello and sorry for not getting to this 10 days ago.
I will be posting the Class AAA & AAAA post game interviews and game photos as the day moves along.

Beaking News....

Watch for the startribune to come out with news of pre-game death threat(s) to one or more players from Minneapolis South prior to the championship game on Saturday.

I got this tip from one of my volunteers whom I would consider reliable enough to share this information with you folks.

There is more but without direct confirmation of the additional information I am unwilling to let you in on all of it. The StarTribune is likely to have the story published in the next 4 to 8 hours.

The Link is - http://www.startribune.com/sports/preps/16803741.html

Albany 62 Jordan 52

Game Stats


Interviews -
Jennie Noreen, Sarah Jepsen, Jon Noreen, Sam Larsen, Hannah Hylla, Taylor Voss - Albany
Paul Lambrecht - Jordan
Brittany Chambers - Jordan
Katrina Hendrickson - Albany

Ada-Borup 51 Barnum 40

Game Stats


Interviews -
Randy Myhre - Barnum
Nicole Smart - Ada-Borup
David Smart, Nicole Smart, Laura Kolness, Katy Ness - Ada-Borup

Class A All-Tournament Team

Sarah Nisleit New Life Academy
Jenny Ramey New Life Academy
Cara Lutes New Life Academy
Breanna Rients Southwest Star Concept
Megan Myhre Barnum
Leah Nordvall Barnum
Katrina Newman Barnum
Nicole Smart Ada-Borup
Laura Kolness Ada-Borup
Katy Ness Ada-Borup

Albany 52 Hayfield 50

Game Stats

Due to technical issues we have not had audio for the last game on Thursday and Friday. These issues are now fixed and we look forward to providing complete coverage of all games at the Target Center on Saturday.

Jordan 79 Crookston 74

Game Stats


Interviews -
Paul Lambrecht - Jordan
Brittany Chambers - Jordan
Kris Evje - Crookston

Ada-Borup 44 Southwest Star Concept 35

Game Stats


Interviews -
Ada-Borup
Southwest Star Concept

Barnum 64 New Life academy 61

Game Stats

Interviews -
New Life Academy Eagles
Barnum Bombers

Totino Grace 48 Rogers 40

Game Stats

Due to technical issues we have not had audio for the last game on Thursday and Friday. These issues are now fixed and we look forward to providing complete coverage of all games at the Target Center on Saturday.

De LaSalle 54 Minnehaha Academy 44

Game Stats

Interviews -
De LaSalle
Minnehaha Academy

St. Paul Central 75 Eastview 59

Game Stats

Interviews -
St. Paul Central
Eastview

Minneapolis South 64 Chaska 49

Game Stats

Interviews -
Ahmil Jihad - South
Taqouia Hammick - South
Taylor Hill - South
Bob Downs - Chaska - no interview due to technical issue

Minneahaha Academy 49 Fergus Falls 44

Photos are by Minneapolis Community & Technical College Student Tim Davis

For game stats Click Here

Click on the name below for the interview you want.

Dave Rund
Amanda Lewis
Josh Thurow

Also - At Williams Arena

Grand Rapids	38
Totino-Grace	48

De LaSalle 51 Austin 38

Photos by Anna Radjl



Photos by Tim Davis


For stats Click Here

For the interview of your choice click on the name below.

Brian Frye
Gary Peterson

Also - At Williams Arena

Marshall	44
Rogers	45

Eastview 70 St. Francis 50

Game Stats

For post game interviews click on the name below.

Paul Goetz - Eastview
Len Messerschmidt - St. Francis

Also - At Williams Arena

Albany	70
Hinckley-Finlayson	52

St. Paul Central 74 - St. Cloud Tech 47

To here the interviews for this game just click on the name.

Willie Taylor
Kris Hagen
Georgie Jones

Game Stats

Also - At Williams Arena

Hayfield	55
Minnesota Valley Lutheran	43

Chaska 50 Osseo 44

For post game audio Click Here

To view the box score Click Here

A reminder that I am online and able to chat with you live via Yahoo. My id is ur_hoops.

Also - At Williams Arena

Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted H.S. 55 Crookston 76

South 57 Owatonna 46

For post game audio Click Here

To view the box score Click Here

A reminder that I am online and able to chat with you live via Yahoo. My id is ur_hoops.

Also - At Williams Arena

Caledonia	61
Jordan	74

2008 Miss. Basketball Final 5 Announced

Courtney Boylan, Chaska
Kiara Buford, St. Paul Central
Briana Mastey, Becker
Kamille Wahlin, Crookston
Brittnye McSparron, Eastview

We found this list on Sue Shorts fan message board and confirmed it with a committee member.

Brackets Brackets And More Brackets

The following are links to brackets that are getting little to no media attention.

NCAA II - MEN
NCAA II - WOMEN
NCAA III - MEN
NCAA III - WOMEN
NCCAA I - MEN
NCCAA I - WOMEN
NCCAA II - MEN
NCCAA II - WOMEN
NAIA I - MEN
NAIA I - WOMEN
NAIA II - MEN
NAIA II - WOMEN
NJCAA I - MEN
NJCAA I - WOMEN
NJCAA II - MEN
NJCAA II - WOMEN
NJCAA III - MEN
NJCAA III - WOMEN

My Thoughts on the Upcoming State Tournament

Several people have e-mailed or called me asking for my thoughts on the upcoming State Tournament but I won't give them.

WHY?

One of the goals of Community Hoops Productions to give the fans a chance to think for themselves. We will try to give you complete post game comments from the coaches and maybe some players. The audio clips will include questions from all media in the given gathering as well as the answers unedited.

This year, to add to this, I will chat on line with anyone during the tournament. I use Yahoo and my ID is ur_hoops. Right now it will be just a one on one thing but I will also try to set up a chat room for this as well.

I have shared a couple of thoughts within this blog over the past few weeks but do not expect more unless something extraordinary happens.

Good Luck to all the teams!

'I've always liked being the boss' - says Willie Taylor

Check out the St. Paul Pioneer Press today. Coach Willie Taylor shares some personal details most of us are not aware of.


Click Here to read this article.

Mn Tournament Seeds Announced

Go to MSHSL site to get brackets or go to shortstreet for fans comments on the seedings.

NSIC Conference Finals

3 different interviews for you.

I was on the Wayne State College radio coverage as a halftime guest and some second half time-out fill. Click Here to listen to the halftime interview.

Wayne State College Coach Ryun Williams talks to KCTY about his teams loss in the NSIC finals.
Click Here to listen to this interview.

Coach Fessler of Concordia St. Paul breifly talks about his teams victory and NCAA D2 automatic birth. Click Here to listen to this interview.

Fessler Praises His Seniors

Concordia St. Paul Coach Paul Fessler talks about the seniors for the Golden Bears.

Click Here to listen to this interview.

DeLaSalle 46 Orono 32

Luke Meyer from the StarTribune asked most of the questions.

Click Here to listen to this interview.

Twin City Game Video Finally Ready

To get you all into the state tournament spirit, here's the Keystone Productions video broadcast of the 2008 Twin Cities game between Minneapolis South and St. Paul Central. Both schools will play in the state tournament.

Yours truly was one of the announcers for this contest.

1st half

2nd half

And for kicks, here's a link where someone got a very happy birthday

NSIC Conference Semi Finals

St. Paul Concordia women's basketball coach Paul Fessler following the Golden Bears NSIC Semi-Final win. Click Here to listen to this interview.

Wayne State College women's basketball coach Ryun Williams following the Wildcats NSIC Semi-Final win. Click Here to listen to this interview.

Minneapolis StarTribune reports on a story you saw here first

The startribune link

Our story from 6 days ago

Interview with Brian Frye of DeLaSalle

Coach Brian Frye talks about his team winning the 6AAA semi final game vs Waconia.

Click Here to listen to this interview

Mike Durbin from St. Ben's interview

Coach Mike Durbin of the St. Benedict Blazers talks about how his team finished the year.

Click Here to listen to this interview

Theresa Grentz visits with us

Currently Retired Women's Basketball Coach Theresa M. Grentz spends a few minutes with us reflecting back on her 33 years coaching and the past 11 months not coaching.

Coach Grentz currently is Assistant to V.P. for Student Affairs at IMMACULATA UNIVERSITY

Click Here to listen to this interview

Gutless Ref's on Display

I went to Concordia College in St. Paul tonight to watch what turned out to be 2 fun games to see. At the end of the first game, which was won by Woodbury on a shot that was clearly before the final buzzer, I was reminded of last year when Albany was denied the opportunity to question a call that was reversible and it cost them a chance at the state title. They were denied this because the ref's ran off of the floor without at least making sure that the coach's were happy with the scorekeeping and everything else for that matter.

I guess as a whole the ref's for tonight’s game didn't get the memo on this one. Although the correct call was made, all 3 of these gutless wonders ran from the floor and an assistant coach was left to run after them while the head coach (correctly I might add) held her team back from the traditional hand shake that follows the game. Also, I would like to add that when this move from the losing team became obvious the winning coach had his team do a quick cheer on the floor and then had his team leave (quickly I might also add).

Now to the average fan this whole thing looked like the losing team was displaying poor sportsmanship when in reality the coach wanted to make sure the call was correctly made, nothing more, nothing less.

It is true that ref's can make a game look good or bad by how they call a game and to be fair to this crew, up until this cowardly act they were fine.

I hope that these guys send letters to both teams about their conduct on this call. They got the call right but their actions ruined a great game for the average fan.

I hate cowards like that.

You can go to Kevin Anderson's website to see a report from another observer on this game.

UW-River Falls Coach Cindy Hovet

I had a chance to catch good friend in UW-RF Head Coach Cindy Hovet at the Central vs. White Bear Lake Game and as always, I had to ask a few questions of her.


Click Here to listen to this interview

St. Paul Central 80 - White Bear Lake 74

A couple of quick comments from Central Coach Willie Taylor following this section semi-final victory.


Click Here to listen to this interview

Amy Ruley Steps Down at NDSU

At a 1pm press conference today Amy Ruley has stepped down as head coach of the women's basketball program at North Dakota State University after 29 years and 670 wins (671 with a win in the season's final game tonight vs. Centenary) at that post. The press conference lasted about 20 minutes.

Read more by clicking here.

PDF link to NDSU Write up

Coach Ruley's NDSU Web Site Profile

NDSU Women's Basketball Home Page

Story from WDAY TV/Radio

Story from the IN-FORUM News

Chaska Coach Bob Downs Interview

Coach Downs visits with us after his team's section 2AAAA victory over Edina.

Click Here to listen to this interview

Disappointing News Coming Soon

There is a rumor that a local player on the boy's side has been removed from the high school he is attending for cheating on a test. I have 2 thoughts on this.

First - If true, I have trouble believing that this is the first incident with this young man if he is being kicked out of the school. To my knowledge, almost every school has some sort of 2 or 3 strike policy (if not more).

Second - If true, I hope that all students use this as a wakeup call even if you have your college plans set up or not. It is not worth the trouble to cheat. I personally know of 4 hockey players that lost out on their pro contracts for this very issue while attending school at UMD back in the day. Ask for the help. If told no keep asking, someone will help you understand the material.

Mavericks Finish Season in Region Semi's

The #5 rated team in the nation, the MCTC Mavrick Men's team, lost their 2nd game in a week and this one finishes their season at 22-8.

Click Here for more information.

Richfield Women's Coach LeeAnn Wise

Richfield showed what they can do with a full roster vs. Eden Prairie in their first round game in section 2AAAA. Hear what Coach Wise has to say about the team and the student support.

Click Here to listen to this interview

Minneapolis All Conference Team Announced

The audio interview that makes the announcement is with Conference Coach of the Year Robert Grace of Minneapolis Southwest.

Click here to listen to this interview.

MCTC's 600th win

Based upon records posted on the men’s basketball web site for MCTC, in 1965 Community College basketball begin its run at 1501 Hennepin Ave. South. The first Coach Ron Leviense started MCTC off with a 5-15 record.

After getting the school’s first winning season in his third year, 28-3, he went to Normandale Community College where he would complete his very successful Community College coaching career in 1995. He left with a 39-35 MCTC record.

It would take 6 more coaches over a 9 year stretch to get MCTC as many wins. In fact, outside of Alan Burmeister’s 1969-70 team finish of 12-10, there would not be a winning season for MCTC until Coach Bill Chambliss did it 2 years in a row in 1978-79 and 1979-80 seasons gaining the schools 100^th victory in that first year.

After Coach Chambliss set a tone for future coaches to try to follow, in comes the late Mel Riley. Like his many predecessors, Coach Riley discovered how difficult it is to recruit players at the Community College level but none the less was able to guild the school to a .500 or better record in 3 of his 4 years.

In the 1984-85 season, Ralph G. Powell took over for the next 5 years, getting the schools 200^th win in his final season (1988-89). Although he did not have the success that Coach Riley had there was now a feeling of stability in the coaching ranks at MCTC. No longer was the expectation of a coach to be in charge of this team for just 2 or 3 years, and as we would see later, along with this stability it would be easier to tell players considering playing at MCTC that a coaching change would be unlikely.

In the 1990-91 season, a young coach by the name of Jay Pivec took over after the second win less season in school history. It took him 3 seasons to become the schools winningest coach and to put that in perspective it took him 10 seasons to get more losses than any other coach in school history (no other coach lasting longer then 4 or 5 seasons).

Coach Pivec has never had a MCTC team finish with more the 10 losses (3 times) and has had as many as 29 wins in a season (2004-2005). There have been many milestones achieved over his 18 seasons at MCTC both personal and school related.

On the personal side Coach Pivec has reached career wins of 200, 300, 400, and this season 500 wins. Coach Pivec is also on pace to get his 400^th win as the head coach of MCTC if his team gets to the national tournament this year.

On the school side numbers 300, 400, 500, and on this season’s final regular season game, the schools 600^th win.

Dual milestones include many trips to the national tournament finishing as high as national runners up, but most notably from a records stand point not one losing season in 18 years.

From the perspective of a fan of Minneapolis area basketball overall I am only slightly bothered by the fact that the schools 600^th win seems to have gone unnoticed while Coach Pivec’s 500^th career win came with a ton of handshakes and congrats (both against Anoka Ramsey CTC). But when you think about it there was a hand shake that went unnoticed by me as well, until now.

This program would not have seen this milestone for a number of years to come without Coach Pivec and his staff --- FANTASTIC JOB GENTLEMEN --- and keep up the great work, (hopefully) for years to come.

Side note: The Mav's ended the year in regional semi's gaining 2 more victory's to get there for a current school total of 602.

Photo's from the 2008 Slam Bash

Photo's that we took are below but if you want to see the
Photo Gallery on the Minnesota Lynx Webste click here.

WNBA All-Star Katie Smith
Timberwolves and Lynx broadcaster Lea B. Olson
future WNBA star Lindsey Harding
Gophers head coach Pam Borton
2008 U.S. National Team Coach Anne Donovan
Hall of Famer and TV analysts Cheryl Miller
Hall of Famer and TV analysts Nancy Lieberman
WNBA President Donna Orender

Community Hoops Director of
Player Skill Development Lisl vonSteinbergs
Community Hoops Co-Program Director Tony Geer
Lynx Vice President of Business Operations Angela Taylor
WNBA President Donna Orender
Community Hoops Player Advisor Onika Nicole Craven

Community Hoops Co-Program Director Jamiela Taylor
WNBA President Donna Orender

Community Hoops Player Advisor Onika Nicole Craven
WNBA All-Star Katie Smith

Community Hoops Player Advisor Onika Nicole Craven
WNBA All-Star Katie Smith
future WNBA star Lindsey Harding
Hall of Famer and TV analysts Cheryl Miller



Hall of Famer and TV analysts Cheryl Miller
Community Hoops Player Advisor Onika Nicole Craven



Frank Sentwali
Community Hoops Player Advisor Onika Nicole Craven




Hall of Famer and TV analysts Cheryl Miller
Community Hoops Co-Program Director Jamiela Taylor



Community Hoops Co-Program Director Jamiela Taylor
Community Hoops Player Advisor Onika Nicole Craven
Community Hoops Co-Program Director Tony Geer
Community Hoops Director of
Player Skill Development Lisl vonSteinbergs

South vs. Central Video

As promised, here are the links for this contest from February 2nd.

1st half


2nd half


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RECAP - 1st Annual Minnesota Lynx SLAM BASH

It was a great evening of awards, recognition, and discussion. I will post some comments, quotes, pictures, and yes some interviews on Friday and over the next weekend. Needless to say, when Cheryl Miller, Lindsey Harding, Angela Taylor, Donna Orender, and Lea B. Olsen (just to mention a few) take the time to pose for pictures and/or do interviews with you big props have to go out, they will.

Minneapolis South 72 - Saint Paul Central 52

I started the day thinking I would do the Play by Play of this contest just as i have done for many games on this website, but then I was asked to do Video commentary for Keystone Productions (I will post a link the video production when it is ready - could be a week or so). To be honest, I did not realize I missed doing Video Production so much until this event. I will need to do more in this area.

That aside, I have the following thoughts about each of these teams.

Minneapolis South - I have seen them play 6 times now, 3 at the Hopkins tournament, Roosevelt, Kennedy, and now Central. It is clear to me that there are few teams in the state that can keep up with the Tigers. Once they stop relaxing their play during the games, this team is unstoppable. Their coach has kept the starters in at times past a point when a game was over for these 2 reasons. 1 - The opposing coach has kept her/his starters in, and 2 - to try to get his main players to understand how important it is to play 100% every minute you’re on the floor. I have yet to see South do this as a team. Some of the players understand but not all and this can hurt them in the long run. This is why they lost to Hopkins. Granted it was the 3rd game in 3 days but same for Hopkins. 100% effort 100% of the time!

Saint Paul Central - Although they do not have the power tools of a year ago, they do have the talent to win it all IF they take better care of the ball. I have seen them 2 times now (Long Beach Poly at the Target Center was the other time) and I could forgive some of the mistakes against Poly (Ranked #2 in the country at the time) but to still make the same mistakes now with little improvement seems to be an issue. Although Central had some success against the press they need to steady the nerves every time not just 2 or 3 times a game. Also, Central allowed South to establish defensive position when they wanted to shoot and this resulted in many of their shots looking like they were forced. Lots of leaning back or to the side shooting instead of going straight up or passing out of trouble. Having better results in both of these areas will make Central a serious contender and not simply just the best of the rest.

These are just a few my opinions.