The Wake

Zach Puchtel will probably not be making headlines for the University of Minnesota’s men’s basketball team anytime soon; but that doesn’t bother him.

For Puchtel, simply being part of the team as a walk-on is a dream come true. A 2001 Hopkins High School graduate, Puchtel’s route to playing Division-I basketball has been a counterintuitive one. As a high school star basketball and football player, Puchtel received multiple offers to play at the Division-I level, including offers from Wisconsin and Nebraska to play football.Puchtel, also an outstanding student at Hopkins, was then approached by Harvard. The question that Puchtel had to consider after their pitch was: athletics or academics? He chose the latter and enrolled at Harvard in the fall of 2001.

After quitting the football team after his freshman campaign for the Crimson; Puchtel realized something was missing in his life. He tried to fill the athletic void his sophomore year by joining the JV basketball team and even tried rugby, but Harvard just couldn’t offer the big-time athletics and competition that the University of Minnesota could.

The Plan and Decision

With a 6-foot 6-inch, 250-pound frame, Puchtel realized that his athletic skills and build were up to bigger athletic challenges. That was when he began to look for other athletic options.

“When exploring my options, I thought of doing a couple of different things. One thought was returning to the football team at Harvard.” Puchtel said. “Then I realized I had a good friend and ex-teammate James Ware, who played at Hopkins with me and was the director of basketball operations here in Minnesota.”

Puchtel told Ware his plan to walk on to the Gopher basketball team. The plan to transfer from Harvard after his junior year seemed nonsensical to Ware, who repeatedly tried to talk him out of it. Earning playing time on the Gopher team would not come easy, if at all. But Puchtel simply wanted an opportunity to play at the University of Minnesota; the athletic challenge he was looking for.

Soon after, Ware informed Puchtel that a walk-on spot was available to him if he really wanted it. It was time for Puchtel to make the tough decision.

“A lot of things went through my mind. First and foremost was, ‘Am I willing to give up my senior year at Harvard and leave all my friends and this comfortable situation to take this chance of coming here and playing basketball?’” said Puchtel. “I had to just sit down and talk with my parents and close friends to do a ‘weigh the risks versus the rewards’ kinda thing to see if it really was something I wanted to do.”

Puchtel eventually decided to accept Ware’s invitation to walk-on to the Gopher team.

“The opportunity to play Big Ten basketball was something that just kinda lit up in my mind as something that I really wanted to take advantage of and luckily I got that opportunity,” Puchtel said.

So Puchtel, who is technically on leave from Harvard, decided to pack up a year before graduating from one of the most prestigious colleges in the world for the unglamorous life of a walk-on college basketball player. But that decision did not come easy. And to make his decision even more baffling to many is the fact that in the two years that he will attend the University of Minnesota, he will not receive a single credit towards graduation because of his leave of absence from Harvard.

The positive for Puchtel that has come from this is the range of classes he has been able to engage himself in. Without the credits he’s taking counting towards graduation or degree requirements, Puchtel is free to pick from a wide-range of courses that peak his academic interest. Since arriving on campus, he has taken classes ranging from business to dance.

The Game He Loves

After sitting out last season with the Gophers because of NCAA transfer rules, Puchtel’s last season of athletic eligibility will expire at the end of the season and he will return to Harvard to finish his psychology degree.

This season Puchtel has played in nine of the 16 Gopher games for a mere total of 31 minutes and has netted one basket the entire season, but he understands his role on the team and relishes every opportunity he gets. “During practice, I just try to recreate the intensity of a real game.” Puchtel said. “I feel that I bring to this team a real toughness and fierce mentality.”

Teammate Spencer Tollackson feels that Puchtel’s effort is crucial to the Gophers’ success. “Zach brings intensity and great work ethic to practice every day.” Tollackson said. “He’s one of those guys that keeps everyone positive on the bench and is always getting the crowd into the game. I just love the intensity he brings to everything he does.” Puchtel’s effort during practice has no doubt helped prepare Gopher players for the big bodies and rough style play of the Big Ten conference.

No Regrets

Leaving Harvard and all that it offered for the dream of playing college basketball at the University of Minnesota was not an easy decision for Puchtel and neither was saying goodbye to all his friends. “Obviously, they weren’t too ecstatic that I was leaving; just because I love my friends and they love me,” Puchtel said, “but one of my good friends, my roommate, sat down with me the night before I left and I remember him just saying ‘don’t half-ass this, be committed or don’t go at all.’ Hearing that message from my friends inspired me to make the most of it and to make sure I did everything I could do,” Puchtel said.

So instead of graduating with his buddies last spring, Puchtel will spend six years as an undergraduate and will be 24 years old when he finally receives his Harvard psychology degree. He also expects to eventually earn a graduate degree in either business or law.

The question that many can’t help but wonder is how Puchtel could give up so much for so little in return?

But Puchtel believes he has gained much in return. Calling his time at Minnesota a “humbling experience,” the life lessons and the identity that he has regained playing basketball at the University of Minnesota have been more than worth it.

Puchtel’s ultimate goal of graduating from Harvard and entering the work force may be delayed by his time at Minnesota, but one thing that is certain is he won’t have to look back and wonder, “What if?”

And when number 32 takes the Williams Arena floor donned in maroon and gold while the pep band blares the “Minnesota Rouser,” he is living out a dream that no job could offer and having a blast doing it.