Reusse: Gophers better be ready to spend, because Niko Medved is ready to win

Richard Pitino waited until late in the recruiting process to make an offer to Breck’s David Roddy to play for the Gophers. He was 6-foot-5 with a power game, and presumably it was that height that caused Pitino’s apprehension.

There were no such qualms at Colorado State, where the Rams beat out Northwestern to sign Roddy for their freshman class. Dave Thorson, the longtime DeLaSalle coach, had been an assistant with head coach Niko Medved for one season at Drake and moved with him to Fort Collins, Colo., for the 2018-19 season.

“Dave had a lot to do with me going there, but it was also a three-headed appeal for me,” Roddy said Monday. “Niko as the head coach, and Dave, and also Ali, was influential as an outstanding young coach.”

A couple of hours earlier Monday, the non-surprising information that Medved was moving onto the Gophers hit the news outlets.

This figures to impact the other two other recruiters that helped get Roddy to Fort Collins, Colo.: Thorson, a four-season assistant to the fired Ben Johnson, remaining employed by the Gophers; and Ali Farokhmanesh, 37 next month, becoming Medved’s replacement at Colorado State.

Roddy’s arrival at CSU coincided with the Rams going from 12-20 to 20-12 in 2019-20, to 20-8 in 2020-21, and to 25-6 in 2021-22, and a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament.

“We were in the last two out for the NCAA tournament in 2021, and then made the semifinals in NIT,” Roddy said. “The next season … that was the great one for us. The people there were crazy for that team, for Niko and his program."

The Rams lost an NCAA opener to Michigan, and then lost Roddy to the draft. He was taken 23rd overall in the 2022 NBA draft and debuted with the Memphis Grizzlies that season. He has played in 169 games in the NBA and now is on a two-way contract with the Houston Rockets and the G League’s Rio Grande Vipers.

Roddy was working out Monday morning when Medved’s hiring went from expected to happening.

“I know it was his dream job,” Roddy said in a cellphone call. “This is absolutely a great thing for the Gophers. You knew the big schools were coming after him, and as a Minnesotan, I’m very excited it will be the Gophers.

“Niko is everything you want running your basketball program.

“He has the personality to develop friendships and bring in the fans. More than that, he is an outstanding coach. He is very talented in creating an offense.”

Roddy, as a very productive college player who didn’t accept Pitino’s late push, also said this: “I believe he’s a coach who can do something that hasn’t been done there for quite a while. I think he can get much of the key talent in the state to stay home.”

Of course, in the incredibly rapid change with the recruiting world, a coach can come off as knowledgeable and personable — a strategist and a seller — but winning money auctions for transfers and high school stars still will decide the level of success.

You can call it name, image and likeness; you can call it the settlement of a legal case, but what we have now is buying players — above the table, not under it.

And in no sport is one very-expensive great player more vital to winning than in the five-person game of hoops.

Just look at the Sweet (Deals) 16 that remain for Week 2 of the NCAA tournament: Seven teams from the SEC, four teams apiece from the Big Ten and the Big 12, and Duke and the very-expensive Cooper Flagg from the ACC.

Not a non-major conference in the bunch — not even a team from the Big East.

Medved’s Colorado State team came the closest, going ahead of a talented but not-great Maryland team on a three-pointer with four seconds left Sunday. Then, Maryland’s Derik Queen won it 72-71 with a drive and short bank shot to beat the buzzer.

Minnesota fans were complaining that Queen had traveled. This was either a carryover from the whining they did about the same crime at the end of Game 5 of the WNBA Finals (our wronged Lynx!), or they were rooting for Medved based on the strong suspicion he soon would be the Gophers coach.

“That was a great game and a tough loss for all us Rams,” Roddy said.

Your home-state hoops fans are saying that Queen traveled, David.

“It won’t be a travel for him a few months from now,” Roddy said.

Meaning in the NBA, where that expensive Maryland freshman probably is headed.

Welcome, Niko, and pass the collection basket.