A weekend Niko Medved never wanted to end has come flooding back into his thoughts this week.

It’s been a week full of déjà vu for the former Colorado State coach, now in his first season at Minnesota. 

First, his Golden Gophers welcomed Maryland to the Twin Cities on Sunday, the first time Medved has seen the Terrapins uniform since he saw a dozen of them storming on the court at Climate Pledge Arena to celebrate one of the wildest wins in last year’s NCAA Tournament. 

Now, as Medved stepped off the plane Friday afternoon, he was back in Seattle for the first time since that loss to Maryland that was his final game in charge of the Rams.

“It’s kinda crazy how fast it’s gone since that time,” Medved told The Denver Gazette. “You knew it was special at the time, but I think even looking back, you realize even more how special it was. Just that group of guys, what they gave and how they turned it around. When they got going, I mean, the level of confidence and belief in each other was just incredible and when you’re in those seasons, you never want it to end and you kind of felt like it wouldn’t. Like we would just keep going.”

As CSU led for the majority of that Round of 32 matchup last March, Ram fans in Seattle and watching at home were dreaming of a trip to San Francisco the following weekend for the program’s first trip to the Sweet 16 since 1969. There was a belief that that group of players, led by Nique Clifford, was just going to continue their winning streak that spanned over a month.

“I just remember the level of confidence in all those games at the end of the season and in the conference tournament and then in the NCAA Tournament,” Medved said. “I mean, there wasn’t one person that didn’t believe we were gonna beat Maryland that day and, yeah, it was heartbreaking, but it’s definitely something in a time in my life I’ll never forget.”

Even though he had already agreed to take over at his alma mater by the next morning — just the nature of how quickly things move in this business — Medved hasn’t forgotten his time in Fort Collins. Not one bit. He’d have to remain at Minnesota until close to 2040 to match the amount of time he spent at CSU across his two stints. 

Everything he accomplished with the Rams and how he accomplished it is stitched into the fabric of what he’s currently trying to build at Minnesota.

The “Team Together” motto, the style of play, the terminology — even the annual game honoring cancer warriors by having the players wear the names of local cancer patients on their jerseys — it’s all similar to what Medved did for years at CSU.

“I believe that it’s worked for us everywhere that we’ve been,” Medved said. “I mean, you obviously have to keep evolving as time (goes), but I think you want to evolve without fundamentally changing who you are. I have a high level of belief in the way we’ve built programs, the kinds of people that we’ve had a part of our programs, the way we develop teams and players. 

“Those things have worked, so yeah, we wanna do the same thing and believe in doing the same thing here.”

Don’t judge the success of Medved’s tenure on this first season, though. Injuries have plagued a new-look roster all season and the Gophers are down to just six healthy rotation players ahead of Saturday’s game at Washington. The Big Ten is projected to send 10 teams to the NCAA Tournament and even though Medved got a taste of what it’s like to go up against elite coaches in the Mountain West, it’s only been amplified in his new conference.

“All these leagues that I’ve been a part of, the Southern Conference to the (Missouri) Valley to the Mountain West and now the Big Ten, they’ve all had unbelievable coaches. But, this is the elite of the elite,” Medved said. “You go to the spring meetings and you just look across at the other schools and you look across the room and you realize this is the best of the best that is here. I mean, every night out is brutal and somebody put it to me (as) it’s like coaching in the NBA in the sense of, at the Big Ten, everyone’s got resources and everyone’s good. While there are teams that aren’t winning as many games, everyone’s got talent.”

But everyone who has coached with or against Medved for over a decade has known he also belongs at this level with the other elite coaches in the country. Even though Minnesota is 11-13 overall and 4-9 in the Big Ten, three of those four conference wins have ended with court stormings after upsets of ranked opponents, with the latest coming last Wednesday against Tom Izzo and then-No. 10 Michigan State.

Having students and fans swarm him and his team on the court at Williams Arena, known affectionately as “The Barn,” brings a smile to Medved’s face every time. 

“Getting a chance to coach a game in The Barn — if you’ve never been there, it’s one of the most historic venues in college basketball,” Medved said. “When I grew up, that place was packed. It’s such a cool, unique place, so that was pretty special to just be standing up there and realize you’re the head coach of the program you grew up cheering for and being a part of.”

The flashes are there that Medved is building a winner at the program that means more to him than any other. And CSU fans can take solace in the fact that it looks awfully similar to what they experienced for seven years.

“I think that the people who’ve come out and watch us play, I think they can see the way we’re playing, the style that we’re playing, the kind of guys that we’ve got,” Medved said. “I think they realize we’ve had some real unfortunate stuff health-wise that’s really impacted us, but even through that, we’ve won some games and we’ve been right there in all these games. We’ve lost two in overtime, we’ve been walked off at the buzzer twice and this group, no matter what’s been thrown at them, keeps finding ways to compete and I think that I hear that everywhere I go — that people are really, really excited about the future of Gopher basketball.

“So, I look at the big picture and we’re all here to win, but I look at what’s happened here in the last four to five months and I feel really good about the trajectory that we’re on.

The list: 5 impressive first-year coaching jobs in college basketball

1. Ryan Odom, Virginia

Virginia basketball is fun again, folks. Let’s be honest, the Cavaliers had gotten a little bit stale in the last few years of the Tony Bennett era, following the program’s first national championship in 2019. They just weren’t particularly fun to watch. But Odom has quickly changed that in his first season, as the Hoos still play great defense (No. 17 in Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency rankings) but also have a high-powered offense (No. 30 in KenPom). UVA is 21-3 overall and just one game back of Duke for first place in the ACC.

2. Bucky McMillan, Texas A&M

Bucky Ball has been a success in College Station. After a successful run of four-straight 20-win seasons at Samford, McMillan has found a way to win in year one with the Aggies after replacing Buzz Williams. With a solid mix of newcomers, almost all of whom weren’t stars at previous stops, Texas A&M is still one of the most impressive stories in the country at 17-7 overall and 7-4 in the SEC, despite the 0-3 start to February. 

3. Eric Olen, New Mexico

Not enough people are talking about what’s happening in Albuquerque. Zero players and coaches returned from last year’s Lobos team that made the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament, yet here they are in mid-February at 19-6 overall and just two games out of first place in the Mountain West. It’s not like Olen brought a ready-made team with him from UC San Diego. In one offseason, he quickly built New Mexico into a team once again capable of making March Madness.

4. Phil Martelli Jr., VCU

Despite losing Odom to Charlottesville, the Rams in Richmond haven’t missed much of a beat. Martelli Jr., the son of longtime St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli, has VCU 19-6 overall and just one and a half games behind Saint Louis in the Atlantic 10 standings. The Rams have won eight in a row thanks to a solid rotation of players, led by sophomore and leading scorer Terrence Hill Jr.

5. Jon Perry, Navy

He had been in Annapolis for over a decade as an assistant for Ed DeChellis, but in his first season in the big chair, Perry has the Midshipmen on the verge of their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1998. A team that won just 15 games last year is off to a 20-6 start this season with a 12-1 mark in the Patriot League, two games up on Cornell for first place. They’ve lost just once since the start of December. 

Mid-Major Minute

America’s favorite team has quickly become the RedHawks of Miami (Ohio). The last unbeaten team in the country at 24-0, the conversation has quickly become about what happens should Miami slip up even once and fail to win the MAC tournament. Look, it’s fair to point out that the MAC has been a one-bid league since 1999 and that the RedHawks are in the 80s in KenPom, but the NCAA Tournament would be a whole lot less fun if it left out a 1-loss Miami team. Regardless, coach Travis Steele and his team are seven wins away from a perfect regular season.

Upset of the Week

TCU 62, No. 5 Iowa State 55

Even the best of the best in the Big 12 are susceptible to upsets. The Cyclones have climbed back into the top 5 of the AP poll after five straight wins, but then proceeded to turn in their worst offensive performance of the season against one of the more underrated defenses in the country in TCU. The Horned Frogs also got a big night off the bench from Tanner Toolson, who scored 17 points, who got 10 of those from the free throw line.

Going Overseas

The earliest star of the Medved era in Fort Collins is still making an impact on the court. Nico Carvacho is in his sixth season in Europe and currently plays for Elitzur Netanya in the top Israeli league. In nine games this season, Carvacho is averaging 7.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.