What a weird week. IUPUI and Omaha both lost to Denver, and most likely feel out of the race to hold first place in the Summit League.
1. South Dakota State
Last week: 1st
The Jackrabbits are really rolling right now with Jake Bittle back in the lineup, now winning 5 games in a row. The Jacks do have the next 3 of 4 on the road, with their home game against their instate rival South Dakota. Their crunch time lineup of Mike Daum-Reed Tellinghuisen-Jake Bittle-Deondre Parks-George Marshall could really go up against anyone in the country.
I have a serious question. The Jacks are going to lose three double digit scorers, who should all at least make the Summit League 2nd team, and they will more than likely not be favored to win the conference next season…so should Scott Nagy finally move onto a job elsewhere if the opportunity rises?
2. IPFW
Last week: 2nd
Hey my theory of Max Landis’ legs getting tired as the season goes on looked to be true against North Dakota State on Saturday. Landis came back down to earth going 2-of-10 from the floor. Actually, the ‘Dons shot 28% from the field and only had 46 points against North Dakota State. Without Mo Evans, and not really a bunch of depth off the bench, could the ‘Dons even legitimately play 3 straight games in Sioux Falls in the Summit League tournament?
3. North Dakota State
Last week: 5th
The Bison are only a half game behind Omaha and IUPUI in the standings. They have won the last 3 of their 4, and the one loss was on the road to IUPUI from a last second shot to Jordan Pickett. With Carlin Dupree back, the Bison could really get going now, but they do have 4 of their last 6 games on the road.
4. Omaha
Last week: 3rd
Last week was rough. Western Illinois wanted that win in Macomb more than Omaha. I mean, they had lost the last 11, so of course the Leathernecks badly needed a win. The loss to Denver was like taking a bunch of No Xplode and then trying to watch a Jason Bourne film, but having your girlfriend constantly trying to switch the channel over to Pretty Little Liars all while she is arguing with you over who’s turn it is to do the laundry. Then you’re forced to go shopping with her, and not getting to watch Jason Bourne watch Clive Owen die. Wait, why were you taking No Xplode, you didn’t even work out, bro?
Omaha not having Randy Reed really hurt the Mavericks against Denver, and it even looked like Tim Smallwood was playing with a little bit of pain. The fans around really wanted to blame the referees for that loss. I actually probably would have blamed Omaha’s 3 missed dunks, a number of missed layups, lack of boxing out, and a few bonehead turnovers (although only having a total of 9 was good). Is it possible that Omaha was looking ahead to the next week against South Dakota State and North Dakota State?
Western Illinois really tried to push the ball inside against the Mavericks, and the Pioneers did the same thing without Jake White on the court. Clearly the Pioneers had a plan for a stretch of the game where the idea was to get the ball inside to Christian Mackey and let him do post moves for baskets…which is what IPFW did in overtime against Omaha with Brent Calhoun. This is the first time I put in a: Hey, the Mavericks should have put in Zach Pirog. His length could have really bothered Mackey, who is 6’6″.
Is JT Gibson still on the team? It didn’t look like he was on the road with the team in Western Illinois, and he wasn’t on the bench for the Denver game. I know he’s injured, but he should still be on the bench, right?
5. IUPUI
Last week: 4th
Their losses to Denver and South Dakota State showed that while the Jags are a sound defensive team, but they can struggle in just deciding who is going to take a shot. It’s not a method like Denver’s offense either, where they are trying to find the best shot. It’s just that finding an open look for them is as difficult as trying to get your girlfriend to pick a restaurant…after shopping…after you were forced to watch Pretty Little Liars…all while you’re pumped on No Xplode.
6. Denver
Last week: 6th
Before the start of the season, head coach Joe Scott admitted that it would be difficult for his young team to figure out the offense, but he had a group of mature freshman that once they figured it out, they could make a run and win some games. His team just beat the two scrappiest teams in the League: Omaha and IUPUI. Still, is this the one team that the 1 to 3 seeds would most likely rather see in Sioux Falls? This team has 3 of their last 5 on the road. If this team has Joe Rosga, CJ Bobbitt, and Thomas Neff for the next four years, they could be a really scary team to face over time.
7. South Dakota
Last week: 7th
Like Omaha, the Coyotes have North Dakota State and South Dakota State this week. Typically a weekly schedule that never fares well for teams, but the Coyotes looked good at home against Oral Roberts.
8. Oral Roberts
Last week: 8th
Wasn’t this team looking like rated 3rd in the preseason poll? They have no identity, players seem to not have any roles, and Sutton constantly looks as frustrated as your dad when he’s on the phone with Cox Cable trying to figure out why the internet doesn’t work. The Golden Eagles really look like the team in the Summit that has actually gotten worse as the season has gone on, and this team loses Obi Emegano after this year.
9. Western Illinois
Last week: 9th
Other than their loss on the road to IPFW and the home loss to North Dakota State, the Leathernecks have really been in every conference game this season. That should actually say a lot about how hard it is to play in the Summit this season. The Leathernecks could even still make the league tournament, yet they have three straight road games coming up.
Twice this week I was up past midnight watching sports. Tuesday night for the World Series, and last night for the Oregon Ducks-Arizona State game. Today could be rough, but I am still on a Baxter Arena high, so there is that. Here are some random observations from last night’s Midnight Madness event.
Mikaela Shaw informed us that the student section for basketball games will be right behind the visitor’s bench. I love that, great move.
Are the curtains going to be down for most of the sections during basketball games? Like, I get it. But what if a visiting team’s fans wants to come in and buy out one of those sections? We wont turn them down, right?
The taco cannon shot a taco right next to me. I was 2 seats away from a free taco. I have also realized that I will probably never recognize the person holding and shooting the cannon as a person. I just see a taco cannon and I do not recognize a person, I just see a taco cannon that is floating around on it’s own shooting out bliss wrapped in tortillas.
I saw Rylan Murry walking around and I really wanted to scream “Skinny Love!” into his direction and then run away like I’m a 4th grade girl.
The women’s scrimmage was nice. None of the women had their numbers on the back of their jersey, so every time a new player touched the ball I would have to ask who the heck that was, since there are so many new players.
In the Summit League teleconference, Brittany Lange talked about how impressed she was in newcomers Ellie Brecht and Amber Vidal, and they do look very impressive. Vidal’s point guard skills are fantastic. Really excited to see her run the team’s offense. Like, I want to create her as a player in NBA 2k16 and have her run my team.
All the women’s team appears to show a lot potential. The hype in their recruits might be real. This team could be stacked next year too if they keep everyone together and add in their transfers in 2016-2017. Incredibly curious how the minutes get divided up though.
I am glad that Rodney Rogan is not a professional referee.
I was sitting on the side where the men’s team was warming up, so I was watching them warm up instead of the women.
The freshman that I have heard the least about, Zach Jackson, looks like he could be a really good player. I do not think that he missed a shot in warm ups, or even in the team’s scrimmage. Seriously look up any photo of him though, he might be incapable of smiling. Looks like he has some pretty good ball handling too, but let’s get a real game under our belts and see whats up.
Can we give Zach Pirog the nick name of “The Mile High”? I watched Zach Pirog take the ball coast to coast and get a dunk, so my life is complete.
I was actually really impressed with Ben Kositzke. I know it is all based on an open scrimmage and warm ups, but he was showing some good stuff: hitting some jumpers, keeping guys out of the low block, putting on a couple post moves. Also, I am a Millard South guy, so to be impressed with a Millard West guy should mean something.
Speaking of Millard South, Kyler Erickson had a crossover that changed my life. By the way, when I was in high school I badly wanted to make fake letter jackets that said Millard East. I would wear it all over town and convince people there was a Millard East High School that was just atrocious and undersized in basketball and football.
Daniel Meyer looks like he has bulked up, like he just goes to the rocky mountains and lifts boulders and pushes cars up mountains just for the thrill. All in blue jeans too. I also watched him take the ball coast to coast. Scrimmages, man.
Jake White just looks overall healthier, a healthy Jake White could really be a an All Conference player.
Marcus Tyus got to play, his knee looks fine. Boo ya!
Tra-Deon Hollins is going to bring great defense, sweet dunks, and another great passer to his team…not a bad thing to have at all.
Randy Reed was hitting the three on command in warm ups, and handling the ball in the scrimmage really nice. Granted, it’s not like Devin Patterson and Hollins were trying to poke the ball away from him constantly, but I can be optimistic about things. Randy Reed can fly too, he might be a super hero.
The shooting competition was pretty fun, but for some reason the basket on the side where the visiting team’s bench is lost every single time. Jake White couldn’t miss on the other end, but then couldn’t make it on that end. I am convinced that side is cursed. The Mavs are going to lose the first half of every game. By the way, I have been a Celtics fan my whole life. Even through the Rick Pitino era, so I sometimes scare easily with basketball.
The student that shot for free tuition made the lay up and free throw pretty easily, but the three pointer was rough. Josh White shagged the ball for him for a little bit. Josh White might be the best passer in Maverick history. I call for Josh White shagging the ball for every shooting challenge this season.
Tre’Shawn Thurman did not have a great dunk competition. It made me sad. Tra-Deon Hollins won it (see previous tweets). By the way, Omaha Central has 4 players from their 2013 state championship team in division one.
Quite possibly the greatest photo ever. Photo by Mark Kuhlmann
Two weeks until college basketball. Two of the longest weeks of the year. It will be like when you drive from Denver to Omaha and it all goes pretty quickly until you get to Grand Island and time slows down because it hates you.
Sometimes I find preseason predictions pointless, other than starting a conversation about the upcoming season or letting people know what could potentially be the biggest games of the year, there is not really much of a point to it.
I mainly find them useless because of the methodology in ranking teams. Many seem to just copy and past the standings of last year, and then make a small edit if a team had a high amount of turnover from last season’s roster. But I came up with a plan to do this for the Summit League. I was reading some preseason predictions for the Big 10 football season which was done by a bunch of ESPN writers. Some made good points but they all had to come up with a record for each team, and the math did not always make sense. One clown had Ohio State going 12-0 with a 8-0 Big Ten record and Michigan State going 11-1, and also with a 8-0 Big Ten record. Seriously, how drunk and lazy and/or bad at math was that guy? Or some guys would have two teams going 8-0 in conference, a couple going 0-8, and everyone else going 5-3. The math didn’t add up and they were telling you that these teams would win these amount of games because they are Skeletor and they said so.
So I came up with a plan. I would go through the Summit League conference schedule and assign wins and losses over the course of a number of weeks. At first it was just: South Dakota State is a better team than Denver, so win goes to the Jackrabbits. Then later, I would look at the difficulty of each team’s conference schedule. Obviously, everyone plays each other twice, but there are some things that stick out; like how Denver is the only team with the highway to the danger zone in playing at North Dakota State and South Dakota State in back to back games. Or how South Dakota and Oral Roberts are the only two Summit League teams without three straight games on the road in conference play. Then things like Omaha playing on the road against someone on a Thursday, as road games on Thursdays appear to be difficult for most teams. Actually road games are pretty difficult for anyone. Then I would go through the schedule again and consider some teams’ strengths versus their opponents weaknesses. Like how teams better be good at three point shooting against South Dakota as they forced teams to take the most threes with their defense…and other things.
But I assigned wins and losses to each game, and did it several times considering different factors. Then I plain and simple would add up each team’s wins and losses to see who had the most after going through it about 15 times. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than just saying South Dakota State will go 15-1 in conference because of Jesus? Probably.
Really, after going through all of this; I really do not see much separation between many of the teams. South Dakota State seems like a clear cut favorite. Then North Dakota State seems like they are 2nd best, but they really should not be as comfortable as one would think. Then Oral Roberts-Omaha-IPFW-IUPUI-South Dakota appear to be in a fight for spots 3 to 7 with Denver and Western Illinois sitting at 8 and 9; but Denver is a difficult place to play; and Western Illinois, while not great last year, they do return basically everything.
So much of the 3 to 9 in the Summit League appears to come down to:
Who can stay healthy?
Who can win on the road?
Who can pick up a win against South Dakota State and North Dakota State?
But for the sake of length, I am going to just post about Omaha to get started and why they should win more games than their 5-11 record last season. Then I will come out with the rest of the Summit League later.
Omaha
Range of wins: 7 to 11 wins
Boldest Predictions: Will pick up win against North Dakota State at home, will sweep South Dakota
Clearly, I am biased in how well I think the Mavs could do this season. The Mavericks finished 5-11, but they had 4 conference losses decided by one or two possessions. I know it does not work this way, but the Mavericks could have finished 8-8 or 9-7 in the Summit League had just a couple more things gone their way. There is also more to play for with the Mavericks this season, and they should have a slightly stronger home court advantage with their new arena being right on campus. The attendance for the Mavericks has risen each season since transition, and people in town are starting to take them more serious. 2012-2013 was probably the most fun season to watch, but Omahans did not seem to even notice. UNO Men’s Basketball was that new television show that had some good looking commercials that got you interested; but it was pitted in the same time slot as Breaking Bad in it’s prime and Sunday Night Football. Justin Simmons had some of the most exciting dunks you could possibly witness; but Doug McDermott was in the middle of one of the greatest careers in Creighton and NCAA history; and Tim Miles was bringing a personality to the Huskers. Omahans were in the mode of thinking they’d like to go to a Mavs game, but never fully pulled the trigger. A few years later: Creighton is down and Nebraska is too young for locals to know what is happening. UNO has a brand new arena, in a fun part of town, some local guys on the roster that can make some noise, and six seniors to help start the new era of the program.
The Mavericks also have a pretty good way to start conference play with Western Illinois and IUPUI at home. 2013-2014 started @ Western Illinois, @ North Dakota State, @ South Dakota State; and 2012-2013 was @ North Dakota State, @ South Dakota State, and then a month conference break before they had South Dakota and Kansas City at home before going back on the road against very good IPFW and Oakland teams. Last year the Mavs started on the road @ South Dakota and Western Illinois, and then came back home for North Dakota State and South Dakota State, before going back on the road against Oral Roberts. The Mavs are finally not being welcomed to the Summit League with the middle finger jammed in front of their face, so hopefully they can start league play with some momentum. The most difficult part of the conference schedule is going to be three straight road games at Denver, and the Mavericks yet to have a good game in the state of Colorado; then at Oral Roberts which is one of the toughest places to play in the Summit League; and then at South Dakota State who is the preseason favorite in the league and swept the Mavs last season by margins of 19 and 22 points.
As far as what is returning to the Mavericks: they lost Mike Rostampour and CJ Carter, but they are returning 61% of their scoring; which is the 4th highest in the league. Marcus Tyus and Devin Patterson as a returning back court is arguably one of the top 3 back courts in the league. Jake White is hopefully healthy enough to give significant minutes when the conference season turns around, he is tied with his fellow teammate Tre’Shawn Thurman as the 2nd leading returning rebounder in the league. Randy Reed and Tim Smallwood should hopefully finally have roles edged out to really help this team improve. Lack of depth was an issue for this team last season, but newcomers Zach Pirog, JT Gibson, and Tra-Deon Hollins sound as if they can really help the Mavericks improve on some of the weaknesses the Mavs had in 2014-2015, and add some needed depth to this team. This team can go big, it can go small, it has adaptable lineups that can go up against anyone in the Summit.
From what I could tell, the preseason predictions biggest concerns with the Mavericks are that they cannot make up for the loss of Mike Rostampour and CJ Carter. Okay, everyone loses someone in college athletics, but should we really be concerned about losing two guys that were not recruited to ever play in a Summit League conference tournament? So really, why are people so hard on them for losing Rostampour and Carter, but no one is hard on IPFW for losing Steve Forbes and Joe Edwards; or South Dakota for losing Tyler Larson and Brandon Bos; or Oral Roberts for losing half of their team? Please don’t take this as a Rostampour and Carter Were Not Unimportant thought… The Mavs would not be the same without them. The point is, it does not seem like the Mavericks are asking as much out of their newcomers and returning players as much as other teams. They are asking Jake White to be healthy enough to score 2-4 more points and grab a couple more rebounds, which I realize is easier said than done; Tre’Shawn Thurman to continue to improve; Tyus and Patterson to be more consistent; and Reed and Smallwood work more on their roles that they established toward the end of last season. Other than North Dakota State and South Dakota State, everyone else appears to be asking guys to come in and be stars or huge impacts right away. One thing that does scare me about Omaha finishing in the top half of the conference is the injury to Marcus Tyus. He’s coming off ACL surgery that he injured in February. Being ready in full form throughout November, December, and January just seems like a lot to look for at this point.
Hip hip hooray, it’s the annual: Who the Heck is Going to be in the Starting Line Up this Season post
I was listening to the Summit League media day, it sounded as if Derrin Hansen was not 125% sure of who to start on his team, and it is kind of fun to sit around and speculate stuff for people so here we go. If millions of people can sit at their computers dressed like a 7 foot tall puppy and speculate as to why Mark Hamill is not on the new Star Wars poster, then I can sit on the internet decked out in UNO Mavs gear and speculate who is going to start for the Mavericks and who will be the first guys off the bench.
One can safely assume that Devin Patterson and Tre’Shawn Thurman will be back in the starting line up. One could also assume that Marcus Tyus will be in the starting five as well, but he ended the season early on a knee injury in 2014-2015. It has been put out there that Tyus is doing fine in his recovery, and I am sure he is, but remember when Jake White got hurt in his junior season and we kept being told that he would be back next game because he was doing fine? I am sure that Tyus will be in the starting line up, but maybe not at first. We will see how his knees is actually doing in a few weeks.
So that leaves two spots open for starters to replace Mike Rostampour and CJ Carter.
Is it safe to assume that Jake White will fill in Rostampour’s spot? White started in 3 games in his junior season as a Maverick. He averaged 6.3 points per game in those three starts, and 8.3 rebounds. He is probably the obvious choice over sophomore Daniel Meyer and freshman Zach Pirog.
What becomes a more difficult choice for Hansen and staff will be filling in the void left by CJ Carter, one of the top scorers in school history. The leading candidates at this point appear to be Tim Smallwood, Tra-Deon Hollins, Randy Reed, or JT Gibson.
I was kind of hard on Smallwood and Reed last season. It’s not that I thought they were bad players, I just felt that UNO was not entirely sure how to use them for most of the season and did not have well defined roles for either of them for a majority of the year. I was unsure about them as most of you would be if there was a new movie coming out featuring Adam Sandler and Nicholas Cage. Over a ten game stretch, Smallwood had 3 DNPs, and was 0-10 from three point land. I felt that Reed’s junior year was up and down. One game he was getting 20 minutes, then the next game he was getting 2 minutes, and then a week from then he was getting a DNP. It just seemed like it was difficult for either of them to get any rhythm going. I would love a world where Smallwood is hitting three 3s a game and Reed is getting a monstrous dunk every other play. That world might actually have Luke Skywalker on a Star Wars poster.
Then Marcus Tyus went down with an injury and missed the last 6 games of the season, and these two guys became the twist at the end of an independent film. Smallwood was put into the starting line up, and I thought to my self: oh great, the guy who hasn’t had it in 2015 is getting the starting spot. When Smallwood started getting more minutes, I realized how good of a defender he was. He was not racking up a bunch of steals or blocks, but he was disrupting opposing players shots and passes, and he was a big reason why the Mavericks ended the season on a 3 game winning streak. I grew super proud of his work on the defensive end in those last 6 games. His 5-of-7 from downtown at IUPUI was a big factor for what helped the Mavericks hold on for a overtime win. A statistic that surprised me when I saw the final results was that UNO finished 8th in the Summit League in 3 point field goal percentage last season. Whether Smallwood is going to start or be one of the first guys off the bench, he has to help improve the team’s 3 point shooting. If he can get his 26% 3 point shooting up to the 33% range, he can be a huge impact on his team. The Mavs are 3-1 when Smallwood hits two threes or more…
Going into 2015, Smallwood has scored in 7 straight appearances. How does Paul Miller tie his shoes? Photo by Mark Kuhlmann
Due to life, my wife was not able to get to many games last season. She was able to attend Oral Roberts at the Ralston Arena. When Randy Reed came onto the court, my wife asked me who this guy was. I read off his resume to her, and we watched on. Reed was the high energy guy off the bench that the Mavericks needed that game. He had clutch defensive plays to keep the game close, blocked some shots, altered even more shots, and really disrupted the Oral Roberts’ rhythm. Every time the Mavs were on defense and Randy Reed was on the court, the Mavs fans were completely locked in. We all wanted to see Reed take his game to the next level that night. Like, who cares if they have Obi Emegano? We’ve got Randy Reed on defense! You have to like Reed coming off the bench though, since he can really guard the 4 and the 3. With the much of the Summit League going to small ball, teams will really have a difficult time going up against Tre’Shawn Thurman and Randy Reed at the 4 for 40 minutes if they really want to play small ball against the Mavericks. If they want to play big, the Mavs can go with Reed at the 3 and either Meyer, Pirog, Thurman, or White at the 4 and 5.
Reed can be one of the most excited Mavs to watch. Photo by Mark Kuhlmann
Then there is Tra-Deon Hollins. Get excited for this kid. He adds a lot to this team, and he brings a lot to the areas that the Mavericks were missing last season. He can defend, he can pass, he can score, he can rebound, and he can hit threes. I would not be shocked if he got into foul trouble (along with other guards) early on in the season with the rule changes in college basketball, but hopefully everyone can adjust to everything fairly quickly. If Hollins does not start and he is used as the high energy bench guy, he should definitely be on the court in crunch time in most situations. It seems to take junior college players a little while to really define their role on a team, unless they are going to a 0-30 team that had no scoring before and they averaged 25 a game in junior college, then they probably know they will be taking a large quantity of shots. Hollins knows what the Mavericks were missing last year though, so hopefully it does not take him long to find his niche.
The Mavericks and some local media sound to be pretty excited about J.T. Gibson as part of future for the Mavs. Gibson was the player of the year for the state of Minnesota last year, and there are several Minnesotans that think bigger schools made a mistake by not recruiting Gibson. Sounds like this other guy named Tre’Shawn that we know. I have doubt that Gibson will start right off the bat for the Mavericks, but maybe he will as the season goes on and he establishes himself. He would really have to impress coaches and set himself apart from teammates as there are so many upperclassmen guards on the team. Apparently, Gibson is completely capable of playing the both guard positions.
Either way, the Mavericks should at least know who their top 8 guys are at this point. They probably even have a good idea what their best line ups are, which is not something every team in the Summit League has figured out yet.
So the Summit League is stacked with guards and wing players this season. College Sports Madness recently came out with a All Summit League 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th team and 16 of the 20 players were guards, 17 if you count South Dakota State’s Reed Tellinghuisen as a guard. The Summit League came out with their preseason 1st and 2nd teams yesterday, and 8 or the 10 players were guards. The teams they selected are fair for the most part, though I do not agree with leaving Tre’Shawn Thurman off the list, but I get that I am biased.
Anyway, there are so many guards on this list, and that is because the Summit League is going to be a very guard heavy league this year. So could one come up with a conclusion that who ever has the best post game is going to set themselves apart from the rest of the conference? So who has the best post players in the conference?
For the sake of argument, I am going to reduce each team’s list to their top 4 post players, because realistically teams hardly ever use more than 4 post players in the Summit League. Hell some players do not use more than two post players.
North Dakota State
Chris Kading, Dexter Werner, AJ Jacobson, and one of the other 3 players that will mix in.
I have kind of had North Dakota State as my team to win the conference this year, but I am growing more and more uncomfortable with that recently the more I am looking things up. Not that I think they are in trouble or anything. Anyway, it is pretty hard to argue that they do not have the best core of post players in the Summit League. I know someone might look at Chris Kading and say he’s only a 5 points and 4 rebounds guy, but he takes smart shots, he led the Summit League in blocks per game, and he would routinely hold the other team’s best post player to a bad game.
Dexter Werner was the Sixth Man of the Year in the Summit League last year, and he completely deserved it. He was a big time force that brought immediate energy to the Bison post game off of the bench, and he shot 51% from the field. He was playing undersized most of the time, but he was still able to get 1 block per game, which is tied with the 2nd most for returning players to the league.
Dexter Werner was selected to the 2nd Team for the All Summit Preseason Predictions.
Then the Bison have AJ Jacobson, and while there is no official Summit League Freshman of the Year Award, I am pretty sure it would have been him last season. He appears to be a popular choice for 1st Team All Summit this upcoming year, after coming off averaging 11.6 points per game and 4.2 rebounds, and many people think he is going to take a large load of the shots that Lawrence Alexander was taking. He is probably more of a traditional 3, but he did quite well for the Bison at the 4 position, and the Bison can bring in Werner off the bench and slide Jacobson over to the 3, making for a big lineup.
It is kind of unclear who the 4th post player will be at this point for the Bison. They had Nebraska-native, Spencer Eliason redshirting last season, and they are bringing in two 6’8″ freshmen that they appear to be pretty excited about. With Kading and Werner, you kind of expect one of the two true freshman to redshirt though, right?
South Dakota
Eric Robertson, Tyler Flack, Tyler Hagedorn, Dan Jech
I admit that is pretty difficult to go on from here, so how about South Dakota? The Coyotes might actually have the most talented post players, but there are some questions to it. Can Tyler Flack bounce back from sitting out all of 2014-2015 with an injury, and does Craig Smith even like him? Flack was averaging 8.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.5 bpg, and shooting 55% from the field as a sophomore in 21 minutes on a pretty bad South Dakota team.
Flack is back.
Can Eric Robertson survive as a starter if Smith doesn’t feel comfortable with starting a true freshman? Then there is two freshman, Tyler Hagedorn and Dan Jech. Jech gives the Coyotes a post player and Hagedorn gives the team a stretch four. The Coyotes were able to survive last season with 6’3″ Tyler Larson and 6’5″ Tre Burnette as their primary options in the post last season, so what is going to happen when Smith adds some height to their post game. Oh yeah, and there is also Tre Burnette, who had the highest rebounding average of any player returning to the Summit League.
Omaha
Jake White, Tre’Shawn Thurman, Daniel Meyer, Zach Pirog (or Randy Reed)
It is kind of a bold move picking the Mavericks that high here. Consider this though, no player 6’7″ or taller that is returning to the league averaged more points per game than Tre’Shawn Thurman last season. Jake White is healthy apparently, while I cannot 100% verify this, but I am pretty sure he had limited minutes in his junior season due to injuries. Even with as many injuries that he had in his junior season, he was probably the fastest post player in the league. So you have to assume he will go from 20 minutes per game to 25-30, his field goal percentage should rise above 40% while he’s healthy, he can probably be a 10 and 8 guy. 10 and 8 should get you Honorable Mention in the Summit.
Could Jake White be the most underrated post player in the league?
Daniel Meyer should be getting a minutes increase as well. Statistically, he had about the same statistics that Dexter Werner had in his freshman season at North Dakota State, and he should receive an increased role (maybe even a Werner like role) with Mike Rostampour and Rylan Murry no longer on the team. One game last year, I was sitting near Matt Hagerbaumer, you seriously need to take the opportunity to sit next to Hagerbaumer if you ever get that chance. He’s constantly yelling support to younger players, and he was so excited about Thurman and Meyer as freshman. He at one point said that they needed Meyer to be a banger down low and be the dirty work guy. Basically, the Mavs need him to be Matt Hagerbaumer 2.0, and he is capable of being that. Meyer apparently played very well on the team’s trip to Italy as well.
I am still unsure if Zach Pirog will redshirt. Hansen kind of has a history of redshirting big players, and the team already has White, Thurman, and Meyer; but maybe Pirog is even better than advertised? He should add immediate rim protection to the team, which would be extremely helpful, but how many minutes would be able to get this season? Not to mention, there will probably be a lot teams playing 6’5″ guys at the 4 position for a decent chunk of minutes this season, so wouldn’t you want to play Randy Reed more at the 4 position this season; leaving a lot of the minutes at the 5 to White, Meyer, and even Thurman. Just seems like minutes wise it would be a good idea to redshirt Pirog, but he is someone that can immediately help this team.
South Dakota State
Connor Devine, Ian Theisen, Michael Daum, Adam Dykman
There is a big gaping hole to make up in the loss of Cody Larson for the Jackrabbits, and it is unclear who will fill that role. The Jackrabbits also grew comfortable playing Reed Tellinguisen at the 4 last season, as the team’s 5th best offensive player, they really couldn’t keep him off the floor, even if he was playing undersized at times.
You look at Devine and Theisen and you think two guys that don’t even combine for 5 points per game, but really they were playing behind Cody Larson and sharing that role of backup post player. Then you realize that they both shot over 50 percent from the field, and they both had stretches over the season where they were making big plays. It’s also not like Scott Nagy cannot develop guys at all. Devine as a 40% free throw shooter might get left off the court down the stretch of the few close conference games the Jackrabbits will have.
The Jackrabbits also had Nebraska-native Michael Daum redshirting last season, who seemed like a pretty attractive recruit coming out of high school, so who knows how much he developed under the Jackrabbits staff. The basketball fan in me says “oh wow this guy averaged 25 and 13 as a senior in high school,” but the Nebraskan in me says “I have never even heard of Kimball, how could anyone be good at basketball from there.” The Mavericks offered him a scholarship though, he also held offers from South Dakota, Wyoming, North Dakota, and others, so non-Nebraskans see something in him.
Then there is even another Nebraska-native on the team, 6’7″ Adam Dykman. I am pretty nervous about Dykman, I constantly saw his name in the paper for big games, and I know a few guys hugely into Nebraska high school basketball that were upset that UNO or Nebraska did not give an offer to this kid. I am afraid he’s psycho angry about that.
With such a strong group of starting guards, I don’t think it’s going to come down to the post players for the Jackrabbits. The show Scrubs had a great core of cast with JD, Turk, Kelso, Elliot, and Dr. Cox, would the show have been successful if they threw in a bunch of episodes centered around Ted and made a three episode story arch about Ted? Many people would have turned away. I actually would have watched the crap out of that. So how many times are you going to hear a ESPN3 commentator say: The Jackrabbits are having a great night with Marshall, Bittle, Parks, and Tellinghuisen knocking down all these outside shots and beating their defenders to the rim; but I really think they need to get the ball into Devine to work his magic on Dexter Werner? Probably never.
IUPUI
Nick Osborne, Matt O’Leary, Evan Hall, and Noah Thomas
Nick Osborne and Matt O’Leary were decent players at Loyola and will now have increased roles with the Jaguars. Evan Hall and Noah Thomas are both true freshman, so the hard part for the Jags is throwing in an entirely new core of post players into their lineup. Hall is a 6’7″ freshman that was rated as a 3 star recruit and had offers from Eastern Kentucky, Western Kentucky, and Lipscomb out of high school. Hall is a 6’9 and 235 post from the state of Indiana that averaged a double-double in his senior season. The Jaguars also survived last year on having guards playing as post players, so it’s not like they cannot win without a post game at all. Essentially, the team decided that they didn’t like the cast of the last season of the Power Rangers and went with entirely new ranger squad, and they feel pretty comfortable about how the new cast will go. How many other places are you going to find a Power Rangers reference talking about sports? Actually, I don’t think this my first time on here.
IPFW
Joe Reed, Brent Calhoun, Andrew Poulter, Racine Talla
You’ve got to feel confident in a 6’8″ guy like Joe Reed that has shot about 55% for his career. Like Jake White and Tre’Shawn Thurman getting more shots because of departures, you’ve got to think that Reed’s shot attempts will go up with the loss of Steve Forbes. Reed is another guy with potential to be a 10 and 8 guy. His other three front court teammates are kind of question marks.
I’ve seen people bragging up Andrew Poulter, and I do not get it. He was a 7 and 5 guy as a sophomore at a junior college, and he also shot 47% from the field. I watched a video of him in high school working on some 1 on 1 moves, he was looking like an All American but he’s 6’11” and 275 going up 1 on 1 against some 6’5″ 175 pound guy. Granted, it is high school and I doubt there were too many guys near his size to work out with, but still, I don’t see how his 1 on 1 skills will ever come into play from the Summit. Then there is sophomore Racine Talla who is 6’9″ but hasn’t played a game of basketball in 3 years. It just seems like a gamble to take them seriously at this point. Maybe Jon Coffman realizes how to use them appropriately though, we will clearly have to wait and see. And many people have them picked as the 4th best team in the conference, so maybe I am just a moron. 95% chance that I am a moron.
Oral Roberts
Brandon Conley, Tre Vance, AJ Owens, and Darian Harris
Did you know this team led the Summit League in blocks per game last season? They essentially did not need production offensively from their post players as they had Obi Emegano, Kory Billbury, and Bobby Word to take on a bulk of the scoring, so they really just needed their post players to play defense and make great outlet passes. I don’t think people are realizing how important Denell Henderson was to this team. None of these players are huge scoring threats, and a lot of people are high on Owens even though he basically only got minutes when the Golden Eagles were getting killed last season. He shot 40% from the field, and he was basically playing against other teams’ 3rd string most of the time. Darian Harris also seems like he should be a shooting guard, but the ORU had to use him at the 4 position several times last season due to lack of a post.
I am nervous for Scott Sutton this season, but not in a way that I think he’s going to get fired or anything. I really do not think he has a great roster this season, but it is Sutton and Obi Emegano. I love hearing rumors every off season about schools looking at Sutton as a head coaching hire, but we may not get that this April and May. If Sutton can come in top three of the league this season, I really think he deserves coach of the year, but I don’t think he’ll get it.
Denver
Marcus Byrd, Daniel Amigo, Christian Mackey, and 1 of 2 freshman.
I am scared for Denver this season. A few have selected them to finish in last this season, CBS Sports rated them as the 3rd best team in the Summit League but it was pointless. It is really hard to look at Denver and say they have the best players in anything, not because of a lack of talent, but because of the offense that Joe Scott runs. Marcus Byrd averaged 8.5 points per game as a junior, 8.5 at Denver is like averaging 13 any place else. Byrd can also step out and take the three, he actually has the highest three point field goal percentage of any player returning to the Summit League this season, and he makes nearly 2 threes a game.
Daniel Amigo was also giving the Pioneers pretty good minutes as a freshman, but his season ended early due to injury. The Pioneers also have a 6’7″ freshman named Abiola Akintola from Australia, who was not widely recruited, but he averaged 17.8 ppg and 6 rebounds per game in the U18 Australian Junior Championships, whatever the heck that is. I know there are a lot of question marks for international players, and it could be difficult to figure out if he is even the right fit for Denver, but it could be something amazing watching him develop.
Western Illinois
Tate Stensgaard, Jalen Chapman, Mike Miklusak, and the mystery man
All are average guys that on any other team in the Summit League would be role players, and really they are just role players for Western Illinois, but they give a lot of minutes to the Leathernecks when they are available. They many lost the last 13 of 14 games of the season because they had no Stensgaard or Chapman for that time, but still, could they have made the difference. The team has 4 freshman post players that will mix in. I wonder how they will work out.
With the addition of a 6’10” center from Colorado, the first year of being fully eligible for the post season, the UNO Mavericks men’s basketball team will be one of the biggest teams in the Summit League.
Okay, so height is not everything, but it does not hurt most of the time. South Dakota State and North Dakota State have been able to be dominant the last couple of years with their balanced attack of controlling the paint with their front court while being able to shoot the ball and play strong perimeter defense with their back courts. The Mavs are starting to get more and more of that balance as they are still growing. We are also still in transfer and late commitments period, so anything could happen to the Mavs roster, or to any Summit League team still. You still have to be excited about the signing of a guy like Zach Pirog. ESPN’s recruiting database, which could basically be summed up in three words “It really sucks,” has only taken the time to rate a few of the recruits that UNO has had over the last couple of years, Nick Billingsley in 2013 and Jalen Jones in 2014, neither of them ended up at UNO. I am not saying that to anger you or scare the crap out of you, just saying that anything can happen. Either way, I hope that Pirog is completely committed to the Mavs.
It is still unclear if Pirog will redshirt or not, Derrin Hansen has a history of redshirting bigger guys, but you know, we are kind of in a new era here, so we will have to wait an see. It is going to be interesting to see what unfolds with the Mavs front court with the loss of Mike Rostampour. Jake White can hopefully be more healthy in his senior year, Tre’Shawn Thurman is already a star, and Rylan Murry and Daniel Meyer showed moments of potential during their freshmen year. Now you are going to add Pirog (and walk on 6’8″ Ben Kositzke from Millard West) to that group, Thurman and Murry also both have the potential to play the 3, so at times the Mavs could have a very big lineup on the court like when North Dakota State did when they won the 2014 Summit League tournament.
So what do you think when you watch this video? With it starting with a minute and a half of his shot blocking ability, I immediately get excited of the potential. He is not just blocking his defender, he is blocking anything that comes at him. Take notice of how well he moves and shifts on defense. Pirog next to Thurman on the court at the same time has to get you a little excited. That combo on defense will provide so much rim protection. They will basically form a gate around the paint and make it extremely difficult for teams to get easy baskets. When we get a chance to get Pirog and Thurman on the court at the same time, I am going to coin it as “The Devil’s Gate.” It is a cattle term. We are the Mavericks. It sounds scary. Deal with it.
Another thing to take notice is how well he moves without the ball, his footwork is great. Yes I know it is a highlight reel, and I have no idea who the opposing players are, but he still gets to the ball with ease and spins around his defender extremely well. There are also a few highlights of him making some 15-18 foot jump shots, which can be extremely beneficial to a offense. I have always thought it was a great addition to a team’s offense, honestly it helps when anyone on the team can make mid range shots, but extremely helpful when a big man can do it. It keeps the opposing team’s defense honest and it can mess up their plans if they love to play a zone and hate to draw their post player out of the lane. John Karhoff had that mid range weapon and it was a big help for the Mavs in his senior season. Mike Rostampour and Jake White both had a decent mid range game, but it did not really seem like it was something the Mavs were really counting on this past season, those two spent more time in the post than Karhoff did. It was a different team though (obviously), Karhoff had Rostampour and Matt Hagerbaumer to bang down low and grab his potential misses so it seemed like there was more confidence in giving Karhoff the green light for that.
I was in Denver this last weekend and staying near the Pepsi Center and by coincidence the Colorado high school all star game was going on. I only had a little time to go, so I could not stay for the entire time, but Pirog was quick for a post player and ran the floor very well. Seemed like a healthy guy, but thought maybe he needed to put on some muscle for the next level, and really what high school athlete does not need to put on some more muscle for college? In a game that featured 3 other players that would be in division one next season, and maybe a few more, Pirog was able to put up 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks.
Per Verbal Commits, Pirog had other offers from: Air Force, Yale, Columbia, Albany, Lafayette, Holy Cross, Tennessee Tech, Northern Colorado, and Liberty. Along with JT Gibson also getting a good amount of offers, UNO is finally getting to the point where they are winning recruiting battles, probably directly related to the reclassifying period coming to an end and a brand new arena, but dang it feels good to finally see. Early in the transition phase, I would see UNO going up against other schools for kids and I would just instantly write them off and I was right for writing them off 100% of the time. I was still in that mode before the start of this season. I saw Pirog had some other offers and took some other visits, had some great length, and I instantly went to the old, Oh He’s Not Coming Here mentality. When I saw Pirog committed to UNO, that was the moment it finally hit me that this transition phrase was coming to an end.
Per MaxPreps, Pirog averaged 14.6 ppg, 10.5 rpg, and 3.4 blocks per game his senior year and led his team to the the state championship game, where he had 4 points and 9 rebounds against a team that featured a Wyoming commit and a junior center who holds offers from Pac 12, Big 12, and SEC schools. With Pirog, Gibson, Tra-Deon Hollins, Zach Jackson, and walk on Ben Kositzke, you have to find yourself wondering if UNO picked up their best recruiting class yet.
Welcome to the Mav family…I just hope he and Rylan Murry can get along…
With just a few weeks left in the basketball season, and with an 8-15 record, Mav fans may begin looking to UNO’s first full fledged season as a Division 1 institution. It’s okay to admit it, we have been looking forward to the 2015-2016 season for quite some time now.
Let’s add some more hype to next season by taking a minute to discuss future guard J.T. Gibson. I have stated before that it seems somewhat pointless to talk about recruiting, you do not really know what you have in a player until he is actually in a uniform on the court in a game. But hey, let’s try it.
Just looking at a few things, the commitment of Gibson already seems like a win for the Mavericks. The Mavs have wanted to recruit out of the state of Minnesota for a while now, even before transition, it was a great place to go on recruiting trips. With only one division one basketball team in the state of Minnesota, which is a Power 5 team that can recruit nationally, it leaves a lot of room open for “the other guy” to come and try and sell brake pads. That’s a Tommy Boy reference, a poor one, but still a Tommy Boy reference.
J.T. Gibson signed with the University of Nebraska at Omaha for basketball.
If you look at Gibson’s Yahoo profile, he held offers from Illinois State, La Salle, North Dakota, Northern Colorado, South Dakota, Western Kentucky, and the top dogs of the Summit League North Dakota State and South Dakota State. He also visited NDSU and SDSU. UNO has not gotten a commitment out of a guy yet that has had that many offers. A goal of the basketball program was to grow into the next North Dakota State and South Dakota State, so to pick up a commitment from a guy that visited those two schools, shows us that UNO picked up a win.
Let’s not get crazy though, he still has to get on campus and play. By that I mean, please don’t jinx it and go get in a fight with a Bison or Jackrabbit fan about how we’re better than them now, don’t be that dude. Players have committed to UNO and vanished before, so let’s just appreciate what it’s worth for now. The Minnesota High School Basketball bloggers and writers have referred to UNO picking up JT Gibson as a “steal”. Some of them seem to think he could be at a bigger school, maybe not as an immediate impact like he would be in the Summit League, but an impact for sure at some point down the road.
Assuming and praying that Gibson is in uniform next season for UNO, he has the chance to contribute right away. UNO still has room for one more commitment and current players could still potentially transfer out, so there is still time for a lot of things to happen. I have seen Gibson listed anywhere between 6’2″ and 6’4″, and he’s been scouted as being able to play the point guard or shooting guard. So on paper it sounds like we have a special wing player that can do a lot.
One thing I would like to put a random disclaimer on. I mention this kid’s height like it is an awesome thing, but height and athletic frame do not automatically equate to success. I never want to refer to a player as “a kid with a great body.” I was watching a Creighton game with some friends one time. It was P’Allen Stinnett’ s first game at Creighton, also the first game for Kaleb Korver and Casey Harriman (among several others). Biggest Douche in the Universe Nominee Travis Justice, that’s a South Park reference, kept referring to Casey Harriman as having a great body to the point that it became creepy. It created four years of my friends and I passing jokes on Casey “the body” Harriman. “The Body” faced many injuries over his career, and he was a classy dude, it was tough to watch him not turn into much at Creighton by his senior year. I do not think we should ever tout someone as a great player because their body looks awesome. The last thing I want to hear Gary Sharp say is “look at the body on Daniel Meyer.” Just say it out loud, it’s seriously creepy. The one take away you should take away from this is that Travis Justice is a freakin’ loser. I met the guy once when I was in high school, I tried to be nice to him because hey, it was Mr. Channel 10. Now I would just be a jerk to him. Hey Travis, I am really sorry you lost out to John Edward. The committee should have really given the award to you. That’s back to the South Park reference.
Gibson’s high school team is undefeated (as of the 7th) and he has the most points in school history. He is even up for Mr. Basketball in the state of Minnesota. You are thinking of him on the floor with Tre’Shawn Thurman right now, aren’t you? Gibson also comes from the same AAU team that some guy named Doug McDermott spent time on.
Here is a little video of him:
It looks as if he can shoot, and shoot well. He also appears to be a good ball handler and passer, but I believe those skills get a little harder to showcase in the next level when you are facing tougher defenses, so we have to obviously wait and see if those skills will translate. Would you compare him to any current and former Mavs? Maybe the height of Justin Simmons, the shooting and ball handling of Marcus Tyus, the speed and penetration of CJ Carter? Mavenstein!
Looking at the Mavs future, there will be J.T. Gibson along with (assuming these guys do not leave) Daniel Meyer, Tre’Shawn Thurman, Rylan Murry, and Devin Newsome as well as other signees C Zach Pirog and G Zach Jackson. A decent crew it seems. It certainly does seem attractive to think of those guys as a seniors with J.T. Gibson in the mix as a junior (along with the Zachs).
North Dakota State is a young team this year, they only lose Lawrence Alexander, who is the best player in the conference in my opinion. They also have four decent commitments coming in, which includes a JuCo player named Malik Clements who once held a scholarship offer from UNO and they also have native Nebraskan Spencer Eliason, brother of Minnesota Gopher Elliott Eliason.
Oh, look who wanted this kid…
The other head honcho in the conference, South Dakota State, does not have any commitments yet, but they are also a somewhat young team that only loses two players to graduation. South Dakota State could also land a transfer from a bigger school, or a juco player, they just have the power to do that. They also have Nebraskan native Michael Daum, who also held a scholarship offer from UNO at one point, redshirting this season.
That’s not to say no one else in the conference has anything else sitting there for future purposes. South Dakota picked up a commitment from Norfolk’s Tyler Hagedorn, another player UNO offered a scholarship. You are also just sitting there thinking that Craig Smith is going to do something. He’s waiting, he’s a sleeping giant that has already made South Dakota better, and will continue to make them better, until he probably gets a bigger and better job. Denver picked up a commitment from a 6’5″ McDonald’s All American nominee (Rylan Murry was also a nominee, just sayin’).
On paper, it seems that the Mavs are inching closer to being comparable to North Dakota State and South Dakota State, and Gibson is one of the puzzle pieces to hopefully get us there.
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