Coach Zierden will travel to Russia to hang with Seimone. Lynx chief Roger Griffith says Zierden's name "has already sold some tickets. We've had people on the phone: 'I'm buying tickets if he's the coach.'"

Such people (assuming they exist) must be either longtime Twin Cities hoops fans who remember Zierden as the boys' coach at De La Salle High, or Wolves fans who remember Zierden as Flip Saunders' assistant back when the Wolves were good.

For a franchise that has sometimes struggled to show its connections to the community (other than through charitable work), it must be a plus to have a coach whose personal ties lie here, rather than, say, in Pittsburgh. The best way to raise attendance, though, will still be: win more games.