USD Blog w/ Mick Garry

Coyote seeding

The women’s basketball team finished the regular season with a 10-6 record in Amy Williams’ first year as head coach. They went into the season picked to finish sixth, so by that measure the Coyotes overachieved. Regardless of what happens in the tournament, the Williams II era has gotten off to a promising start by earning the third seed. They know their first game will take place at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 9 against Western Illinois, North Dakota State or Kansas City. USD has split with Kansas City and NDSU and beat Western Illinois twice.

The Coyotes didn’t shoot the ball very well at Omaha (33.9)  but the Mavs weren’t starting the court on fire, either, hitting 18-of-59 shots with an 0-for-8 effort on 3-pointers.

I think the Coyotes have arrived at a sort of inner peace regarding their periodic shooting issues. I think they’ve struggled with it enough to know there are going to be a lot of nights were hitting one of every three shots is how it’s going to go — so there is no reason to let that alone affect rebounding and defense. Perhaps earlier in the year not being able to score points would have altered other areas of their game, but not so much now.

The men are in an interesting spot as they prepare to end the regular season at Western Illinois. The game doesn’t mean anything to the Leathernecks as far as the tournament is concerned given that they’ve locked up the second seed already. A win for USD would secure the sixth seed and a game against NDSU on Sunday night, March 9. A loss would likely mean – assuming Kansas City will beat IUPUI on Saturday – that Coyotes would be the seventh seed and play Western Illinois again in the 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 9.

The tricky part is that based on what has happened during the regular season, earning a sixth seed and an opening game against NDSU doesn’t seem like such a great deal. No. 1, you’re looking at a bi-partisan crowd with scores of North Dakotans migrating this way to get a taste of a spring thaw that won’t work its way to Fargo until sometime in June. Plus, it’s the one school in the conference that twice posted one-sided wins over the Coyotes. In addition, the Bison would likely have Taylor Braun back for that game. Braun, a 6-7 junior, was first-team all-Summit as a sophomore and has been out for more than a month with a foot injury. He’s returning to practice this week. While he might not be 100 percent for the tournament, the Bison were looking like a potential league champion until he got hurt.

On the other hand, winning a pair of road games to end the regular season would be likely mean a lot to the Coyotes, who have lost five conference games by five points or fewer. And ending with regular-season with a three-game win streak would give the program a little mo going into next season, regardless of what happens in the tournament.

Additional recruits…

USD announced the signing of junior college linebacker Auston Johnson on Thursday. Johnson, 6-1, 237, was a three-star recruit who, according to Rivals.com, had been offered by several major colleges including Texas A&M and BYU.

“He’s a very good player,” USD coach Joe Glenn said Thursday. “He just finished his AA degree, which he had to complete before he got a scholarship. He had a really good career at El Camino and in high school. He can do about a 4.6, so he can run — we think we got one with this kid.”

Johnson father is Alondra Johnson, who played 16 years in the CFL and is in the CFL Hall of Fame.

The Coyotes are also expected to announce the signing of Jarrid Bryant, an Arizona State cornerback who has one year of eligibility remaining. Bryant, 6-4, 186, would appear to have immediate starter credentials. He began as a wide receiver at ASU.

“He got got log-jammed — it can happen,” Glenn said. “He’s a tall kid who can run fast. He doesn’t have a ton of experience but when you’re 6-4, you can make up for some mistakes. We’ve watched some of his film from ASU practices — he was covering some pretty talented guys.”

Glenn also said that linebacker Reggie Johnson was leaving the program. Johnson, a Tampa native, arrived at USD as a two-start recruit but injuries slowed his progress both as a redshirt and again in his second year in the program.

More on track

I wasn’t able to include as many comments from the winning coach in Tuesday’s story about the Summit League indoor track meet as I would have wished, but I will relay along a little more of my conversation with USD coach Dave Gottsleben today….

In my time covering the men’s and women’s programs I’ve always been impressed with the quiet way he’s gone about his business. If you’re going to last as long as Gottsleben (29 years at USD) and women’s coach Lucky Huber (19 years as a coach at USD) have in the college coaching business at the same place, especially in a small town, you have to practice a certain grace in dealing with your responsibilities, otherwise you start wearing on folks.

 Winning is obviously a big deal, but winning humbly is almost as important. A little arrogance goes a very long way when you are, as Gottsleben and Huber have been, in for the long haul. Consistently recruiting good athletes who are good students is another high priority in building a program — and re-building it for Division I, as Gottsleben and Huber have. I would add that getting along with all the people who come and go up and down the line in the athletic and academic administrations, not over a period of years but over several decades, is most likely more difficult than the USD track coaches have made it look.

The other element, and this is basic coaching but maybe the most important thing coaches do, is that you have to build up a personal history of helping kids build confidence in themselves.

When the Division I talk got serious at USD and it looked like it was going to happen, I was very curious to hear what the people who’d been there a while would think about it. In Gottsleben and Huber, you had two coaches responsible for building the programs they led. Both have enough Division II NCAA plaques and trophies and awards – national awards – to put together a bonfire. Departing from such a stable situation would be trying for a lot of coaches, especially those have been hanging around for a while.

The thing is, the USD men’s and women’s programs got good at the Division II level precisely because the guys who built them up continued to bring energy to their tasks. And when the jump to Division I became a part of the school’s history they were all in.

“This was the first Summit League title in the history of South Dakota,” Gottsleben said in the moments after the final team scores were announced.  “I hope it shows everyone that the Division I move was right and that it can be done.”

When USD learned they’d landed the meet, it became a focal point of sorts both in terms of organization and competition. Injuries can easily unravel the best-laid plans in this sport, so there has to be some luck involved. The USD women were without hobbled Analisa Huschle, for instance. As a freshman she scored 30 team points at the outdoor meet last spring while winning three events.

The men avoided a knee-buckling set back, however, then delivered.

“Our team has been able to do that,” Gottsleben said. “It’s a coaching staff thing —  we have great support from our administration, we hosted the meet – we were more comfortable here, we’re very competitive here, this was about all those things. We knew when we were going to host this meet that this had to be a target for us and then it worked out.”

Football awards

The sports info department at USD released the football team award winners today:

Will Powell was the MVP with 55 catches for 625 yards. Marcus Sims was the Dave Triplett offensive MVP and Tyler Starr was the Joe Salem defensive MVP.

Punter Cole Zwiefelhofer the special teams MVP and linebacker Keyen Lague was the freshman MVP. Jordan Eaton was the defensive lineman of the year and linebacker Tim Marlette won the coaches’ Tim Mojzik Bulldog award winner.

Of note for those looking toward next year, Trevor Bouma, a 5-11, 205-pound fullback, was the offensive redshirt of the year. I’m guessing based on what I’ve heard that if he stays at fullback he’s going to get the ball more than fullbacks have of late in the Coyote system, but that’s just a guess. We’ll see in the spring and on into the fall.

Chris Wiseman, who I heard a lot of good things about from coaches last season, was named the redshirt defensive player of the year. I think it’s very safe to say he’ll see a lot of action next year.

Full list of honorees:

Henry Heider Most Valuable Player:  Will Powell
Dave Triplett Offensive Player of the Year:  Marcus Sims
Joe Salem Defensive Player of the Year:  Tyler Starr
Beanie Cooper Special Teams Player of the Year:  Cole Zwiefelhofer
Offensive Scout Player of the Year:  Trevor Bouma
Defensive Scout Player of the Year:  Chris Wiseman
Tim Mojzik Bulldog Award:  Tim Marlette
Harry Gamage Most Valuable Freshman:  Keyen Lage
Tim McFarland Lineman of the Year:  Jordan Eaton
Coaches Award:  Tim Marlette

Last Dome game

The USD men’s basketball team played its last home game on Saturday with the contest ending up being another in a series with frustrating outcomes. The Coyotes were 4-4 in the Summit League after winning on the road at Oakland on Jan. 19. Included among the four conference losses were a last-second 73-71 defeat against Western Illinois at the DakotaDome, a 90-86 loss to Kansas City and a 62-60 loss at Fort Wayne. If anything, the 4-4 mark at that point was misleadingly poor. USD easily could have been 6-2 with some luck.

The problems since then have alternated between difficulties on defense and difficulties on offense with one or the other or both being sub-par enough on a given night to create a six-game losing streak. If you’d have asked me back in January whether this team would exceed last year’s conference win total I’d said it was a foregone conclusion, even with two fewer Summit games on the schedule. Now, matching last year’s five-win effort is going to be difficult — the Coyotes, after playing the BracketBuster game at Montana State on Sunday, will be playing at IUPUI and Western Illinois the following week.

Just as was the case last season, the absence of a second inside scoring threat in addition to Trevor Gruis – someone who can also rebound and defend at the level Ricardo Andreotti did last year  —  has made every single thing the Coyotes try to do seem a little more difficult. That includes getting open for inside and outside shots, staying out of foul trouble, rebounding on both ends, defending post players, etc. — you name it, having just one big guy who is ready for 30 + minutes of Summit ball often ends up giving the opposition an advantage in several categories that appear in the boxscore.

A conference tournament is a blessing for a team having a season like the Coyotes are having. With the exception of NDSU, they’ve played every other league team pretty tough at least once. Throw in the local fan base that will show up for an opening game at the Arena and there’s no reason to believe USD couldn’t put in a strong first-round effort, even if they go into the event with the same four Summit wins they have now.

I don’t see the team practice every day, or put the players through weekly psychological examinations, but it seems to me that coaches and players alike are trying very hard to maintain a positive environment as they fight through the final weeks of a season that has had its share of disappointments.

Throughout the season I’ve been impressed with the emotional makeup of guard Juevol Myles. Here’s a guy who grew up near Toronto (the one in Canada, not the one in Deuel County) and is at his third school. If there ever was someone who might not be bleeding red and white at this point in the season, it would be someone like Myles, who has no ties to the area.

Yet at postgame press conferences this year, many of which have included questions where players have to re-hash disheartening details of another game gone bad, Myles has projected both pain and resolve. There is genuine frustration at what just happened, and a genuine commitment to going out on the court next time fully expecting things will be better.

Myles had to sit out last season as a practice player who couldn’t play in games because he transferred from Kansas State. He is already has a degree from USD and will depart from the program appearing to be one who has embraced as much of the school and the program as he possibly could given the comparatively short time-frame involved.

Saturday night, he and Jordan Boots were the lone seniors playing their last home game, which meant there would a little ceremony prior to tip-off with the parents appearing at center court. It happens every season at every school so there is nothing inherently unique about it, other than in this case Coach Dave Boots was one of the fathers on the court.

It can be an emotional experience for kids and parents. You could definitely pick up on that from Myles as he stood out there next to his mom with an applauding crowd that had see him play just one season.

“I’ve never ever experienced what I experienced in the first part of that game,” Myles said after the 64-51 loss to Fort Wayne. “I’m a big family person and seeing my mom almost in tears, with my father figure there, too. I was a little messed up – I was taken aback. It was like ‘Wow, this is really my last home game. It went by so fast.’”

He continued:

“I want to say thank you to the fans. It’s been fun  here. I will never forget what they did for me, especially Nancy. I want you to know that Nancy has been like a grandmother/friend to me. I really want to say thanks to her tonight.”

“Nancy” is Dr. Nancy McCahren, a  USD graduate who has served as an English professor, alumni director and in several other positions of leadership within the school spanning more than four decades. Now retired, she’s at courtside for just about every home game.

Myles took the time at a press conference after a loss, in front of half-a-dozen media people, to give her a shout-out, so there must be something to it. Being witness to gratitude expressed by college athletes is not unusual but it is always refreshing.

At practice…

The University of South Dakota men’s basketball team was beginning its preparations for tonight’s game at the Dome against Oakland on Tuesday night. I was down there getting interviews in the afternoon and  decided to hang out for a while along press row and watch the team practice.

This is the sort of thing that keeps sportswriters sharp for game days—we try to recreate game conditions when we’re typing out recorded interviews.

OK, so roll back to the week before — I was sitting in the same spot about three hours prior to the USD women’s game with NDSU finishing a story that would go in that Sunday’s paper regarding football recruiting footprints. Adam Thoseby, a 6-5 Australian who transferred from Utah State, was working out that afternoon on the court, putting himself through various drills that combined dribbling through chairs with shooting. He was at it for some time. There was an impressive array of dunks, as well as outside shooting drills where he rarely missed.

You have to remember that most college basketball players look like world-killers when they’re just shooting around. Even guys who don’t shoot from the outside in games can make 3’s at a pretty high rate when there is no defense. Likewise, a lot of guys who wouldn’t dunk in a game can take a run at the basket and get the ball over the rim.

I’ve seen Thoseby practice before and I’ve heard the coaches talk about what he’s going to add to the program when he’s eligible next year, but I didn’t have a real impression of his skills until Tuesday. The Coyotes were involved in an intense half-court scrimmage that was set up to prepare the starters for Oakland, and in particular, Travis Bader, a 6-5 sharp shooter who is averaging 22 points a game.

The scout offensive team included Thoseby, whose assignment was to behave as if he was Bader. This essentially meant shooting a 3-pointer whenever it was physically possible to do so, regardless of how well he was being covered.

And then the 3’s began to fall. On a few of the early ones, he had good looks at the basket, but as the defensive attention intensified, the difficulty increased. During one streak, he hit three in a row, then hit a well-defended fourth on a high-arching bomb from the corner that had a few of us courtside shaking our heads.

“He’s not acting like Bader, he is Bader,” Dave Boots said during a short break.  The scout team was also occasionally attempting alley-oop plays to Thoseby. Those weren’t working but it was obvious that they’d worked at least once in a while in the past. The other thing that seemed obvious was that the starters acted as if getting lit up by this redshirt in practice was a fairly common occurrence.

This was not a casual pickup game going on out there — the coaches were constantly yelling instructions to the defense to maintain intensity while the scout offense looked for a shot. With Trey Norris, another gifted transfer who is sitting out this year, running the point, the scouts were giving the first unit all they could handle — and more than they could handle when Thoseby had the ball.

BracketBuster….

The Coyote men will play Montana State (7-5, 10-10) in Bozeman on Sunday, Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. It’s the first meeting of the schools since 1946.

USD (4-7, 8-15) will face an MSU team that is tied for second in the Big Sky with Southern Utah. Former NCC and Great West rival North Dakota is 6-6 and defeated Montana State 86-73 in Grand Forks this year.

Of note, the Bobcats have an eight-day break going into that contest, which is the last of the scheduled BracketBusters games and is not on national television.

The Bobcats are about as balanced as you can get scoring wise with seven players averaging 8.3 points or more a game. Christian Moon, a 6-2 senior guard, leads the way with 13.6 points a game.

The Coyotes will travel to Bozeman for the Sunday game after an identical eight-day break from the Summit League schedule.

Recruits

Here’s what I got on football recruits…a few more I expect will be revealed Wednesday:

Quarterback/TE…Aaron Ramsey, 6-3, 215, BlueValley Southwest High School, Overland Park, Kans.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/player/news/_/id/151896/aaron-ramsey

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8023444

Khorey Kilgore, 5-10, 195, RB, Blue Springs South High School, Blue Springs, Mo.

http://www.ncsasports.org/football-recruiting/mo/blue-springs/blue-springs-south-high-school/korey-kilgore

Riley Donovan, 6’1 185, QB/Athlete, Kasson-Mantorville - Committed to South Dakota. For 9-2 team, had 1394 rushing yards and 22 TDs and 120 yards passing and 14 TDs. On offense, had 32 carries for 216 yards and 6 TDs rushing and 26 receptions for 459 yards and 7 TDs. On defense, had 53 tackles, 2 sacks, and 12 PBUs.

Kiefer Ketelhut, 6-5, 255, OT, Plainfield North H.S., Plainfield, Ill.

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1023641/kiefer-ketelhut

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Kiefer-Ketelhut-135497

Jon Maag 6-5, 255, Scottsbluff, Neb.

http://www.ncsasports.org/football-recruiting/ne/scottsbluff/scottsbluff-senior-high-school/jonathan-maag

Stetson Dagel 6-5, 250, OL…Cherokee, Iowa.

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/790633/stetson-dagel

Ed Kennedy Colorado 6-5, 265, guard

http://www.highschoolcube.com/students/edward-kennedy

Sam McLeran, 6-3, 275, Iowa City West

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/604813/sam-mcleran

http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20130111/SPORTS010104/301110015/McLeran-now-headed-South-Dakota

Sean Glenn, defensive end, Windsor HS, Colorado, 6-5, 243

http://www.glennfootball.us/

http://www.denverpost.com/preps/ci_21835213/windsors-sean-glenn-holds-three-offers-seeing-additional

Courtney Wright 6-1, 194 DE/OLB, Coral Springs, Fla. Coral Glades HS

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/player/videos/_/id/129880/courtney-wright

Fred Beaugard, 6-3, 250, defensive end, Lombard, Ill., Montini

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Fred-Beaugard-132337

Garret Wooten, DT, 6-4, 250, Normal Ill.

http://www.ncsasports.org/football-recruiting/il/normal/normal-community-high-school/garrett-wooten

Allen Edwards, 6-3, 225, defensive end, LaSalle High School, Miami, Fla.

http://www.ncsasports.org/football-recruiting/fl/miami/lasalle-high-school/allen-edwards1

John Wessel, Sioux Falls Roosevelt 6-2, 220 LB

http://www.ncsasports.org/football-recruiting/sd/sioux-falls/roosevelt-high-school4/john—wessel

Kyle Staples, 6-1, 230, Fresno Community College (already enrolled)

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Kyle-Staples-137442

Jim Litrenta, 6-2, 215, Saint Laurence High School, Burbank, Ill.

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1354982/jim-litrenta

Tevin Foster, 5-10, 175, Lawton HS, Lawton, Ok

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Tevin-Foster-141149

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/478909/tevin-foster

http://newsok.com/tevin-foster-leads-lawton-to-35-7-win-over-norman-north/article/3622983

Luke Worden, 5-10, 175, Scottsbluff HS, Scottsbluff, Neb.

http://www.ncsasports.org/football-recruiting/ne/scottsbluff/scottsbluff-senior-high-school/luke-worden

http://myhitnews.com/luke-worden-his-fast-40-times-burn-up-turfs-at-college-football-camps/

Miles Bergen 6-1, 205, p/k, Longmont, Colo.

http://hscolorado.scout.com/a.z?s=385&p=8&c=1&nid=5871489

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/567698/brandt-van

http://siouxcityjournal.com/sports/high-school/football/siouxland-athlete-leadership-strong-for-b-h-rv-qb/article_3d187d13-c434-5cc9-8416-cdbee8de3e4f.html

Josh Hunt, 6-2, 185, DB, Central Lyon-George-Little Rock

http://siouxcityjournal.com/sports/high-school/football/two-time—yard-back-enjoys-blocking/article_d55cb9c6-1ac3-582a-84a3-231eaadb2e67.html

http://nwestiowareview.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=1521321&CategoryID=60446&view=1

LaSalle Defensive end…

Josh Hunt

Ryan Alger, 6-0, 190, DB, Broken Arrow HS, Broken Arrow, Okla.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Ryan-Alger-135813

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/678833/ryan-alger

 Oklahma kid

Marcquice Fletcher, 5-11, 170, DB, Union HS, Tulsa, Okla.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/blogs/sportspost.aspx?/Sapulpa_focuses_on_rivalry_game_after_big_upset;_Unions_Harper_commits_to_Army/26-18810

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=227&articleid=20121006_227_B6_KirkFr128655

Drew Potter, 6-3, 220, DE, Bashor-Linwood H.S., Kan.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/player/news/_/id/167996/drew-potter

Khalid Kornegay, 6-3, 185, WR,

http://rivals.yahoo.com/footballrecruiting/football/recruiting/player-Khalid-Kornegay-128582

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/TU/article.aspx?subjectid=94&articleid=20120609_94_B4_UnionH534113

Summit League road win….

The USD men were overwhelmed a year ago in their first trip to Oakland, losing 101-83. It was the first Summit League weekend in program history and a hint of what was to come during a 5-13 conference effort. A season later, it was a different story.

 Two nights after losing yet another tight league game at Fort Wayne (62-60), the Coyotes trailed Oakland 30-16 with 9:40 to play in the first half at the Grizzlies’ gym. Travis Bader, one of the best shooters in college basketball, had hit his first five 3-point attempts.

From that point onward, USD outscored Oakland 81-58 in a 97-78 win. Casey Kasperbauer, who rolled an ankle in practice earlier this week and didn’t play on Thursday night, led the comeback with four 3-pointers in the first half.

Oakland was midst a second-half rally when Duke Mondy was called for traveling on a drive for a layup. Had the shot counted it would have narrowed the margin to 81-74 with 3:16 remaining. Instead, the points were waved off and a fractious Grizzlies coach Greg Kampe was called for a technical foul. Kasperbauer made both the free throws for the technical, then on the Coyotes’ ensuing possession, Trevor Gruis scored. What could have been an 81-74 score was 85-72 and the threat was over.

“We did a great job with the matchup,” USD coach Dave Boots told radio man Joe Van Goor.  “We got to Bader off all of his cuts. Our rotations were really good. Obviously we had a big night on the offensive end but we did everything we could to defend them.”

Thursday night had been a difficult evening for the guards. Both Brandon Bos and Juevol Myles ran into foul trouble and Kasperbauer was unavailable because of injury. Against Oakland, the backcourt of Bos, Myles, Kasperbauer and Jordan Boots combined for 64 points.

“Our top two guys played very well no matter who I had in there,” Boots said. “Casey and Jordan were fantastic shooting the basketball tonight and they came up with six steals up on top and we haven’t had that lately. Even Thursday I thought we played well defensively. … Coming off a poor performance with our defense we got two good efforts on the road. And we have a very efficient offense tonight. If we’d have played a little better offensively on Thursday, we could have had a win there, too. “

With Omaha coming to town on Thursday, it gives the Coyotes another opportunity to win two Summit League games in a row, something they’ve not done this year. Momentum has had a short shelf life so far this season. Coming off the biggest Summit road win in Coyote history – albeit a short history – they would like to avoid taking a step backward as they prepare to enter the second half of the season.

“We just can’t let up now,” Boots said. “We have a tough game on Thursday, but we’ve been down this road before. Our kids get a little excited about some things they get done now because it’s all so new to them. We have to get over that. We have to get to where they expect to win and carry some of that burden with them.”

After last night

It was obvious that USD women’s coach Amy Williams was feeling good about what she’d witnessed on Thursday night in an 82-51 beating of IPFW.

Against a five-guard team that had the potential to present match-up issues, they were able to assert their own advantages rather than the other way around.

“It was a long bus ride home from Kansas City, it was a long Sunday, it’s been a long week,” Williams said as she opened the post-game press conference.

“It’s amazing how when the ball goes through the basket, everything else just seems so much better,” she said. “We’d been preparing for three days for preparing against that zone. We’d been thinking ‘Attack, be aggressive, don’t be soft with your passes.’ I think that was something that hurt us in our last outing. We were timid and tentative and we didn’t want to make those crisp skip passes.”

The lulls that USD had suffered through at the start of games recently didn’t happen against the Dons. The end of the first half was all IPFW, but the Coyotes answered quickly in the second half to secure the game.

“I the kids are learning that they can’t take let up the entire game,” Williams said. “You could see clearly in the last two minutes of the first half that we let off a little. We took some quick shots early in the shot clock that were not aggressive that led to long rebounds that led to transitional buckets.”

In regard to improved shooting:

“I’d like to give a lot of credit to my girls. They’d been reading the papers, they’d been hearing about how we’re a poor 3-point shooting team — ‘What are you guys going to do to solve the woes of how poor you’re shooting?’ They could have allowed that to get in their heads but they didn’t. They stayed confident. They stayed with it and they stayed aggressive. One of the keys tonight was to step up and make plays with confidence. Relax a little, quit being so uptight, shoot and play with confidence.”