Any time a team makes moves to become a contender they will get the top spot on the list!
If you somehow missed it, that's exactly what the Hoop Dogs did this week. Before they rocked the 🏀 world they went through the process of introducing the rookies. Pre-splash also included signing Taurean Prince to a two-year extension and exercising options for Naz Reid & Jaylen Nowell. All three were in the mix to be factors in the rotation throughout the 22/23 season even before trade for Gobert but now are that much higher on the totem pole! Nathan Knight didn't get the same level of consideration but they do think enough of him to make a qualifying offer and thus get the chance to match any other offers he may receive.
With the one roster spot that they had pre-trade the team signed Kyle Anderson to a two-year, $18,000,000 deal. As the projected starting five remained unchanged Anderson figures to be a super-utility off the bench, which will be something rarely seen in these parts! Slotting him in alongside the newly extended Towns & Gobert would make for an enormous line-up capable of punishing their opponents on either end.
In the void created by the departures of Patrick Beverly, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro & Walker Kessler the team signed Bryn Forbes. The six-year veteran guard shot better than 41% from three last season for San Antonio & Denver. He will have plenty of opportunity to improve upon his career-best 11.8 PPG from 18/19 for SA but if history is any indication he won't provide much of anything passing or collecting the ball. His $1,836,090 contract is exactly the sort of thing we should expect this year and for the next several, especially if MN is able to gel into the sort of Finals contender that they appear capable of being on paper. Along with the players go five of the next seven first round picks!
The roster will also be without Josh Okogie as he agreed to a one-year deal with Phoenix Saturday. That's far from the biggest loss for the roster but as a well-established good guy it could be exactly the sort of opportunity he needs to firm-up his standing in the Association.
The Purple released the first details about training camp.
In addition to a host of recruiting developments the 🏈 team found out that they will not be adding the highly-regarded Lincoln Kienholz as he chose Washington. There's no word yet on them pursuing any other QB's yet but with the situation between Cam Miller & Cole Payton they are sure to try and add another player for insurance.
Men's 🏀 also made some waves with the announcement that they will be at the reigning national champs Thursday, November 10th.
Moorhead's contribution to the week came in the form of a contract extension for long-time head cross-country/track & field coach Ryan Milner.
They also had their own additions to the recruitment section.
During the past week Concordia announced that 80 of it's Winter/Spring athletes made Academic All-Conference, bringing the total to 126 for the year!
It was a week of tremendous highs and gut-wrenching lows. For the fourth time in a week & a half Minnesota blew a late lead against Cleveland as Emilio Pagán put himself firmly in the dog house. To their credit the team adjusted it's offensive philosophy, though waiting until the end of the game to score & win does not seem especially sustainable - as proven Sunday when they lost yet again to lowly Baltimore. If there is an added layer to the silver-lining it is that the team made history going about the week as they did.
As one of the top teams in the AA it was assured that the team would be well-represented at it's all-star game early next week but their portion tied with Kansas City for the most in the Association! They backed up the announcement by taking two of three at Winnipeg and then returning home to face Lincoln where they repeated the feat by scoring three runs on four hits Sunday while holding Linc to one. With the wins they maintained second place behind Chicago in the North but were unable to shrink the gap to less than 1.5. Late in the evening the team added another arm to the roster, Colin Clark. The Birds will continue defending the nest before a quick trip to Sioux Falls for the final three before the all-star game.
Reminder that scores are added daily plus there's a new home for recruiting news, among which came a commitment to NDSU from down South.
Now for this week's highlights, beginning with the All-Section announcement for MN boys lacrosse.
There were also a pair of coaching announcements as Moorhead & Oak Grove welcomed new head boys ⛳️ coaches.
The men took care of their mid-week match against Duluth 3 - 1. Two of the final three games of the season are at home, ending Friday the 15th. The women had their final run of the season this past Friday, a 5 - 1 defeat to Rochester.
A big week for the local Legion teams started with West Fargo taking a pair from Post 400. Their second-tier team hooked Kindred with each team winning one. The Vikings were back at it Thursday against Casselton. With only four runs scored over the two games all the pitchers deserve recognition, each team added to it's win column. In their first action of the week Moorhead split a set in Alexandria and then took both from Detroit Lakes. D/G/F was able to continue their quality run of games, taking both against Pelican Rapids before hosting the inaugural Day of Baseball with Barnesville, the finale of which they also managed to win 1 - 0.
Post 2 had it's own big week as they hosted their annual invitational. Prior to the first pitch they took care of Grand Forks 2 - 1 in a make-up game. Post 2's first tournament action was a pair against Manitoba, the second of which was a shutout win for the hosts. Moorhead & West Fargo did even better through their first games while Post 400 also split. The Blues had the best time of the opening round, scoring 17 in each game! Post 2, West Fargo & Moorhead kept winning en route to the semi-finals. Post 400 finished their portion with a 2 - 1 win over Bloomington. On the final day Manitoba overwhelmed WF to make the championship while Post 2 & Moorhead dueled to extra innings with the home team pulling out the win. The difference in innings proved to be no issue for the Deuce as Brady Manly went the distance on the mound while the offense piled up 12 more runs to win the event for the third straight year!
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