Contract details continued to trickle in. For the Josh Oliver they added two years of void to make his cap impact a measly $950,000. They did the same for Byron Murphy's deal, for three years beyond the upcoming season. They also came terms with Jonathan Bullard to keep him at Vikesborg for a second season and a pair of Angelinos before finalizing the coaching staff with five additions. To the surprise of many they also chose to extend CJ Ham two years. O'Connell must have made it very clear that he wants more protection for Kirk Cousins, which should be music to everyone's ears! The numbers also came out for Harrison Smith's reworked contract and showed the sort of win-win necessary to expedite the Roster Reformation!
It wasn't all good news as the still-thin DB group lost another of it's top performers from last season as Duke Shelley signed to play in Sin City.
It was a thin week of competition but softball started with some individual honors as Paige Vargas & Carley Goetschius received the Weekly's.
Following that, Jacob Rodin made program history as the first male to be named Indoor Athlete of the Year!
Men's 🏀 also found out that they would have one spot to fill as junior guard Dezmond McKinney opted to transfer following a season which he missed entirely due to a torn ACL.
On the field, ⚾️ opened with a series win over Omaha. Softball started the conference slate even better by taking the doubleheader with ease and then finished the sweep Sunday with barely a sweat.
Darrius Shepherd also added a few highlights to his reel for the National League to consider.
It was a racket of week, with 🎾 losing to Sioux Falls, Mankato & Southwest.
In their last action before returning to Minnesota the Corn split with Calvin by a single run. Softball was supposed to start back in the home state but a pair against Morris were postponed.
Women's had a chance to win March but a pair of lopsided-losses Saturday (St. Benedict) & Sunday (Gustavus) spoiled it while the guys were swept for the month with losses to St. John's & Hamline.
Men's 🏒 got a rare bit of good news for late March as junior Liam Haslam was named an All-American!
With their backs against the wall that is the end of the regular season Minnesota went blow-for-blow with Julius Randle by scoring 140 of the 274 points! They got closer to full-strength mid-week as Towns returned from his 114 day absence to score 22 points and the clinching shots from the line against Atlanta. Sunday night brought the bow against the perennial contenders. It was a defensive struggle but Minnesota made enough plays late to pull ahead and then hung-on to defeat Golden State. With seven games to go it may not all be as good as this week was but it's fair to be excited because of the results! If they can at least match that number of wins the rest of the way then they will be in the mix for the play-in. If they do better than that and get some help then they could get as high as the four-seed. From four to 12, that's the range, so it will continue to be a rough time for those that rise & fall with the standings but we are finally getting to the point of determination.
For the first time this season the Bolts are in a slump. It started with a pair of loss to second place Waterloo last weekend and continued versus Tri-City with three more losses, the first two of which could be described as total-system failures. The offense and defense were better during the series-closing matinee Sunday but the Storm got both of the final scores to seal the sweep.
The silver-lining is that most of the rest of the League may also have suffered a case of tired legs because Waterloo & Lincoln gained little ground in their pursuit. More to the possibility, only three teams have won more than six of their last 10 contests, one of which is T-C so they are on a surge.
With four weekends left in the season Fargo's cushion atop the West may be tested but should be enough for them to hang-on to the Division lead.
Reminder that scores and recruiting news are updated regularly so check back often!
Now for this week's highlights
With Winter all-but in the rearview D/G/F's boys playing the state tournament was most of the best. Tuesday night Owen Leach lead the Rebels to an upset win in the quarterfinals with 28 points. They hung with the eventual champs from Albany and then Holy Family in the third place game but weren't able to get more magic from their Duluth-bound star.
The week also included the announcement of the All-State teams
The other prep nugget came from Davies, they will have a new head 🏐 coach next Fall as Carolyn Olson opted to retake the position at Red River.
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