Gophers student managers compete at Final Four, draw inspiration from Niko Medved

Thirty years before he was introduced to be the next Gophers men’s hoops coach last month, Niko Medved was a student manager in the same shoes as Drew Evenson.

Evenson’s own story is inspirational, fighting to beat cancer a year ago. But he truly prides himself on being the Gophers’ lead manager.

It’s a role Medved knows well, and he told Evenson when they met recently, “We’re both grinders and we get it.”

“That’s all you needed to hear as a manager,” Evenson said. “Someone who respects your work, who understands it and is thankful for it. It really shows no one is too big for any certain task.”

March Madness this year put Gophers managers, current and former, in the spotlight.

Following a fan vote last month, Evenson and his fellow Gophers managers advanced to compete Friday for a national title in the Manager Games during the Final Four fan fest in San Antonio.

With Medved coming off an NCAA tournament second-round trip with Colorado State, his humble start as a Gophers student manager in the 1990s was highlighted in his return to lead his alma mater.

“It just shows us whatever we want to reach in basketball we can at the highest level,” said Evenson, who has been with the Gophers for three years.

Student managers for hundreds of Division I college hoops programs across the country are behind the scenes assisting and working with coaches and players each week throughout the season.

But it’s also customary for team managers to play basketball against their counterparts from opposing teams the night before games.

Last year, the Gophers managers had a special season. They earned the No. 1 overall seed in the 64-team Manager Games, but they fell just short of being voted in to play at the Final Four in Phoenix.

Last week, the Gophers managers experienced their own version of a Cinderella run as the No. 12 seed. Fans voted them past the Sweet 16 to reach Friday’s eight-team championship round in San Antonio. They beat No. 3 seed Florida before losing by one point to Louisville in the semifinals. Other teams in the field included Michigan State from the Big Ten.

“It’s our reward,” Evenson said. “After all the hours we put in, this is our own thing we get to do.”

Last February, Evenson celebrated with the Gophers team as he rang the bell at the end of his leukemia treatment at the U’s Masonic Children’s Hospital.

This season, Evenson, Drew Loewe, Eli Harris and 6-7 “Big Max” Swanson returned as members of that once top-ranked Gophers manager team and got to enjoy this year’s run to San Antonio.

“I think a lot about my personal journey in overcoming adversity,” Evenson said. “My journey just shows you have to be grateful for every opportunity you get.”

The Gophers lost one of their go-to guys when Max Sheridan went from student manager to walk-on player for Ben Johnson’s team this season. But senior Jackson Purcell went from walk-on to graduate manager this year, which added some firepower to the squad.

Purcell, a former Eastview standout, was surprised at the level of competition in the Manager Games, which includes other former D-I players. Spencer Cody, an ex-Xavier guard, played for the Gophers managers last season. He became Minnesota’s director of player development this season.

“It was definitely a new experience,” Purcell said “It’s better than you’d think. A lot of the GA’s used to play at various levels of college basketball. A lot of the managers played varsity basketball at their respective high schools. It’s a lot more fun and competitive than I originally thought it was going to be.”

In the actual NCAA tournament, McNeese’s student manager Amir Kahn blew up on social media and grabbed national headlines with his pregame antics to motivate players. He turned that attention into lucrative NIL deals.

But the life of D-I managers is mostly pretty modest and in the background. Purcell is pursuing a job in the corporate world once he graduates with his master’s in finance. Evenson said most of the managers hope their current experience turns into a position related to basketball — maybe even coaching like Medved one day.

“You just know he did what you did,” Evenson said. “I’m grateful for whatever opportunities present themselves in the future.”