John's Journal: Escaping The Cold Inside A Packed Minnesota Gym

A fellow posted this message on Bluesky a few seconds after the end of a boys basketball game at Wayzata High School on Tuesday evening:

Final

Wayzata 93

Hopkins 80

Christian Wiggins and Nolen Anderson each with 28 for Wayzata

Anthony Smith 24 for Hookins

A more accurate typo would have read “Hoopkins.” Because as hoops fans in Minnesota know, Hopkins is a basketball school. And Wayzata is no slouch. Tuesday’s meeting in one of the state’s best rivalries was not only a renewal of that Lake Conference competition but also offered a look into what is to come.

The Trojans and Royals will meet again Feb. 13 at Hopkins, and more than likely for a third time in the Class 4A Section 6 tournament, most likely in the section title game with the winner going to state.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Among the Class 4A mega schools, Hopkins began the day ranked No. 2 with a record of 13-0. Wayzata (13-2) was third. Leading the pack is Cretin-Derham Hall, which is 14-0 after winning at Stillwater on Tuesday.

For fans of veteran coaches, the Hopkins bench sets the standard. Head coach Ken Novak Jr. is in his 35^th year and ranks second in career wins among Minnesota boys basketball coaches with 980. The leader is the late Bob McDonald of Chisholm with 1,012. The fact that Novak is only 32 victories away from McDonald makes one think that he may hang around for another season or there.

Sitting next to Novak on the bench is assistant Phil Ward, who was the head coach at Wayzata for 17 years before stepping down in 2013. Those two know hoops.

On the Wayzata bench was head coach Bryan Schnettler, who is 39 years old but could pass for 29. This is his 11^th year leading the Trojans and the program is in great hands.

Watching the two head coaches during a game is a contrast. Schnettler is Cool Hand Bryan, managing things with a calm tone even at the most tumultuous times. Novak is who he has always been, willing to engage with the officials, converse with the officials, smile at the officials and disagree with the officials. He is a calm man off the court and draws eyeballs on the sidelines, but after observing Ken and his teams for decades I can say this: He seems more ready to smile when things take a turn than he used to be.

That’s not saying Novak isn’t fiery. With a little more than seven minutes remaining in the second half Tuesday, things weren’t going Hopkins’ way. They had trailed most of the game, but not by much, and every time they would eke out a slim lead, the Trojans would regain control.

Ken’s fire was ramping up and up until he was given a warning by the officials. This did not sit well on the Royals side of things. A few seconds later, there was confusion. Ken was several feet out on the court, making the “T” sign with his hands, repeatedly slamming the fingers on one hand into the palm of the other hand. It may have looked like he was daring the crew to give him a technical foul. But no, he was trying to get a timeout, which was granted. The place was bananas, as it was most of the night.

The Wayzata gym, like all the greatest high school gyms, has seating – lots of seating – on all four sides of the court. The capacity is 3,500, and there sure looked like more humans than that were crammed into the place on a night so cold that there were unconfirmed reports of narwhals popping their heads up through the ice and dodging hungry polar bears a few miles away on Medicine Lake.

Both teams have plenty of talent. Wayzata’s Wiggins is a 6-foot-5 junior who can play all over the court, Anderson is 6-foot-7 and plays taller than that. Hopkins’ Smith is a 6-1 senior who is all kinds of quick and strong, 6-6 classmate J.J. Semanko scored 18 and ninth-grader Tre Moore brought a bright look into the future when he came off the bench.

Tuesday was a big night for Wayzata basketball. At Hopkins, the Trojans girls defeated the Royals 73-70 to complete a rare sweep.

The home-gym advantage surely was a factor for the Wayzata boys. Schnettler said as much afterwards, as the fans headed back out into the dark night on which many other activities were called off due to the cold.

“When we play Hopkins, over the last number of years, the crowds have been awesome, big and fun, and I have no doubt it'll be the same over there (in the rematch),” he said. “I've gotten used to it, but it's cool that our community comes out and supports us. I think part of the reason they did is because we had 44 youth practices canceled tonight, so some of those kids and families got to come to the game.”

Wayzata led 63-61 with eight minutes to go, and the Trojans played focused basketball down the stretch. Anderson hit a pair of threes, Wiggins made one to push the home team into an 83-74 lead at the 2:15 mark, and free throws sealed the deal on a game that began at 7 p.m., ended at 8:29 and left everyone buzzing.

In the locker room, Novak was diagramming plays on a white board and already figuring out a game plan for Feb. 13.

“It's not like we played poorly,” he said, “but there were maybe four periods in that game where I thought we let up a little bit and we didn't keep enough pressure on the ball. Our close-outs were late and slow, and they were making shots. They’re good.

“I thought offensively, we were kind of working. We got ahead a couple times, by one or two, but, but it was short-lived. They're tough to stop.”

Schnettler -- also a basketball coach, by the way -- did not come close to declaring it a perfect game for his group, either.

“I think it is a confidence builder,” he said. “I mean, they're obviously really good and scored a lot of points and returned everybody from a year ago, but I'm sure they're sitting there thinking, ‘We didn't play that well,’ and I don't know that we played all that well, either. That’s kind of what happens sometimes when you play a rival and a really good team. So we're looking forward to round two in a couple weeks, and if we earn the right to play them a third time, it'll be fun.”

Novak is 29 years older than Schnettler, but the 68-year-old retains the look of an athlete as well as a coach. He has the same in-game intensity as always, while before games he is always ready for a smile and quick catch-up when he sees a familiar face.

I was sitting in the second row of the bleachers behind the scorer’s table as the teams warmed up. I was looking at my phone when I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard a familiar voice say, “You’re getting too old for this.” I smiled, stood up, shook Ken’s hand and said, “I’m too old for a lot of things, coach.”

After the game, asked about his physical condition, he smiled and said, “I feel good. I’d feel better if we had won.”

Onward.

--MSHSL staff member John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Bluesky at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]