While the top of the Big Ten marches on into the Sweet 16, the bottom of the conference is retooling and bringing in some of the most successful coaches at the mid-major level. On Monday, Minnesota basketball added itself to that list by hiring Colorado State's Niko Medved to be its new head coach, according to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.
Medved is less than 24 hours removed from a crushing NCAA Tournament loss to Maryland on a buzzer-beater by Derik Queen. However, he had his Rams playing their best basketball of the season down the stretch. Colorado State won 11 games in a row, including a Mountain West Tournament Championship and a first-round win over Memphis in the NCAA Tournament, before Sunday's loss.
Medved was a hot name surrounding the Minnesota job from the second it opened. The Minneapolis native went to school at Minnesota in the 1990s and spent one season as an assistant with the Golden Gophers in 2006-07.
Medved started his head coaching career in college at Furman for four seasons followed by one year at Drake. Colorado State hired him to lead the Rams before the 2018-19 season and he brought them to prominence in the Mountain West.
After a difficult first season at Colorado State, Medved has won 20 or more games in five of his last six seasons with three NCAA Tournament appearances. He got his first win in the Big Dance on Friday against Memphis and will be hoping many more are on the horizon at Minnesota.
Minnesota's decision to hire Medved comes on the heels of Iowa hiring another coach of an NCA Tournament darling. Former Drake head coach Ben McCollum is headed to the Hawkeyes, so there is plenty of pedigree entering the Big Ten on the sidelines. The conference is showing out in the NCAA Tournament right now, and there is a chance that it could be even deeper next season with these new coaches on the sidelines.