Niko Medved Quotables from State Fair (KFAN)

Niko Medved stopped by the KFAN booth at the state fair on Friday and here are all the key quotes from an excellent half hour interview with Dan Barrerio.

On summer practice. “We get eight weeks in the summer, four hours a week to do whatever you want and handle it how you want. We did seven weeks and then we brought them back this week for week eight as school starts on Tuesday.”

On the current team. “This is a great group of guys, one thing I really believe in is recruiting character. We have a lot of guys that can shoot the ball, we have a lot of length on the perimeter but we are likely undersized inside. The one thing I can say, I can’t tell you who our leading scorer is going to be.”

On the current staff. “I think we are genuine people. People like to come and play for us. People have stayed in the program and played for us. We have developed a reputation as a staff that develops our players, even in the professional circles we’ve earned that reputation. Guys get better playing for us. We run a modern, creative system. I think I develop trust in our players and I think there is high accountability with high care. And we have a track record of guys coming in, of winning, and getting guys to the highest level.”

Niko on himself. “I love the Xs and Os, I love it. I mean I love Xs and Os.”

On NiL. “There are two buckets: the revenue sharing is set and that is direct from the university, and then that other bucket that is the NIL piece that is regulated and that is changing by the day.”

“The money have (for NIL) is workable. Do we have to get better to get into the top part of the Big Ten? Absolutely. But we have a come a long way Dan.”

“I don’t think there’s a lot of envy of who is making this and that (in NIL amongst college players on the same team). If you have a good group of guys, they’re kind of happy for each other.”

On Williams Arena. “There might be a couple of mice, there might be a roach in the office (in Williams Arena) but I will say this, we had some recruits here and one of them is from the East Coast and he was here with his father. I’m telling you, one of the things they loved the most was Williams Arena. They said it reminded them of the Palestra, and he’s a baseball guy and he mentioned that  it’s kind of like Fenway Park. I don’t believe Williams Arena has hindered (this program) at all.”

On the recent recruiting visit. “A lot of the players that are coming to visit Minnesota, they have a lot of options and they are choosing to come visit Minnesota as opposed to to some other schools that have been more established recently. I think that’s great! But you are only great if you get them! We got them all out to the fair.”