kiyoat

Doesn't look like it. The league announced the fall sports cancellation on August 10, and I'd guess the preseason poll normally doesn't come out until late august. So they just skipped it? Maybe they will unveil one this week. Some conferences do their preseason picks a little earlier, and announced them in early August.

Clearly you guys are going to need to hire a new coach after the end of the season. Hopefully that new coach will be able to convince some of your good forwards to stay, while bringing in some talent at the guard spots. The extra year of eligibility might help. Looking at conference-only stats (the Summit site does this) the Hawks are one of the best rebounding and shot-blocking teams (#1 or #2). Lots of stats in the average range, but what has killed you is shooting efficiency offense, and perimeter defense. So basically you need to upgrade your guards (and coach). The program isn't in dumpster-fire territory. Just unbalanced, IMO. I think you'll win enough games to go to SF. I'd be shocked if that wasn't the case.

I only watched the first quarter, but there's no question that if all your players had been available for that game, you would have won. You could certainly use some shooters, as others have said, but saying you need to clean house is a bit of hyperbole IMO. You have some talented forwards. I was really impressed with Zander, and she's just a sophomore. Get the right coach in there, a few transfer guards, a nice recruiting class and you will be fine. Just my opinion. Plenty of talent in the region for all the Dakota 4 to be competitive. Hell, the turnaround at NDSU was quite shocking considering what they were a couple of years ago. You wouldn't have to clean house as much as he did.

OK, I completely take back my support of Summit League Scheduling. This basketball season's schedule is horrific. Double-headers are cool and everything, but it's like they sold out on that at the expense of everything else sensible. Just bizarre in some cases. It's like they have no idea what they are doing. My apologies.

My words were "the Bruising, foul-happy team last year". I never called them goons (I assume that is the hockey equivalent of a dirty player?). They were, in fact, foul-happy. It is no secret that UND produced the most fouls per game than any team in the conference last year. This is quantifiable. They eclipsed 30 fouls seven times, against both good and bad teams. This was clearly just they way they were coached to play. It is a strategy. Brewster chose to be a physical team, in a way that produces fouls. It is what it is. I wasn't a fan of that strategy when I watched the three times we played the Hawks. I'm not whining about it, or making excuses. Our young women did just fine against it. In fact, we have been called thugs by Iowa State and SD State fans in recent years for our physical play, just for playing an aggressive, turnover-creating style of defense. In the game in Vermillion last year, we won 87-54 in regulation. UND committed 36 fouls and had three players foul out of the game. In the game in Fargo is was 33 with one ejection. To me, that's a little excessive. Again, I'm not calling them dirty, or goons, or cheap-shot artists. Just that they played a "bruising foul-happy" style of basketball that I personally was not a fan of. On flopping: clearly you have watched a lot of basketball over the years, and you understand that there is a very fine line between offensive vs. defensive fouls, and what is or is not a foul. Fans tend to "see what they want to see" with basketball fouls, i.e. "the other team is always getting away with stuff". I won't try to change your mind on that, but if you think your teams don't try to sell contact, you are insane. To never sell contact is to put yourself at a distinct disadvantage. Obviously flopping is a form of selling contact that goes too far. Some flops are painfully obvious, and some are well disguised. I actually admired WIU's Emily Clemens with her ability to draw fouls. Many of those involved "excessive selling", but she was damn good at it. Our own Monica Arens is very very good at drawing charges. In her case, she is just really good at getting into position defensively, and holding her ground. There is probably an element of selling there after contact, but it's pretty clear that hard contact is made. She takes a beating. I've backed up my statement about UND's fouling with facts. Care to provide me with evidence that USD flops more than anyone else in the conference, or am I to just take your word? I'd love to see a no-contact flop, ala LeBron.

Thanks for your insights (this and the previous post). I had been wondering about this ND team, and why they had been doing so well this season. I'll have to admit I hadn't had a very positive view of your coach from what I had seen in the last couple of years. The bruising, foul-happy team from last year especially put a bad taste in my mouth. Coach Brew (in the past, anyway) doesn't interview well, either. But I guess that has zero to do with his coaching ability. I knew the team this year was a bit of a wildcard, as far as Summit ranking. I had withheld judgement, due to the weakness of the non-conference record. It's pretty obvious now that this is a much-improved team. Your posts have given me a better perspective on possibly why they are better. A fresh new group of players with a fresh new attitude from the coach. Whatever it is, it seems to be working. Tip of the cap to the Hawks and Coach Brew. Good luck this year. We need more successful programs to raise the league profile.

https://www.argusleader.com/story/sports/college/university-of-south-dakota/2019/12/17/south-dakota-coyotes-volleyball-nivc-tournament/2665288001/ Yotes lose to GA Tech 25-23 25-23 25-17. Disappointing outcome, but a nice tournament run leading up to it. GA Tech only lost two sets total in that entire 5-round tournament. They clearly should have been an NCAA Tourney team. We also set a program attendance record for the championship, nearly 2,500. That kind of thing is good for the sport in this state, IMO. It's already the fastest growing sport for girls 12-18 at the national level. Several club teams have appeared in Sioux Falls in recent years. As for next year, we will lose 2X DPOY Anne Rassmussen, but other than that all three of USD, Denver and Omaha were pretty young this year. I'm hoping the Summit starts to get at-large teams on a more regular basis going forward. North Dakota was fairly young as well, if I'm not mistaken. I'm not sure about NDSU. A new coach at SDSU will have a tough task, but there is talent in the region to be had.

Whatever, dude. I'd ask what unknown conference USU (Utah State?) and Creighton were both members of, but that is so off topic that I think I'll just agree with you and move on. Yes, St. Thomas will have magical insta-success in Division 1 within five years and leave us all behind, choking on their dust. Have a great day.

Yeah, I knew what I was getting into. Not meaning to troll. I just am a big fan of facts, not speculation disguised as facts.

OK, but that's not what you said. You said they have facilities that are better than two Valley schools right now. That's false. I'm sure there are ways to deal with the fact that they are essentially landlocked, and need space for new facilities, but those solutions will not be quick, cheap or easy. Booting the football team to an over-sized off-campus soccer stadium would be demoralizing to that program, IMHO. Rumors and message board chatter aren't a great source of factual info, anyway. I'm on-board with UST to the Summit, but let's not crown them the new Creighton before they tip off a single D-1 game. Crazy talk.

Some of what you are saying makes sense, but I'm sorry, St. Thomas does NOT exceed any current Valley schools in athletic facilities. Here's their massive 2,000-seat gym for basketball, nestled inside a student rec center...

Even if they want to do that, it would be a pretty heavy lift. They need some major facilities upgrades in order to be competitive in Division 1 sports. I have no doubt that they have the ability, money, support and desire to complete those projects, but those kinds of things don't just happen overnight. Let's not crown them Summit League champions just yet. In the meantime, having all our teams play in MSP will enhance our recruiting efforts there. Much better than SC. IMO they would be an attractive school for the MVC or Big East after a period of athletic success. Probably at least 10 years down the line. Hell, that's longer than some programs stay in a conference. Think of it like hiring coaches at a mid-major. Do you want the mediocre coach that will stay forever, or the coach that will raise the profile of the program, and possibly move on? JMO

I disagree that the Summit did a poor job scheduling. I tracked the schedule every week this year, and each week had one Tuesday evening match (because of the odd # teams), and four Friday evening matches, and four Sunday afternoon matches. It was consistent for most teams. You guys and Omaha were the only locations that had issues scheduling outside of that framework. In one case the Denver match @ UND had to be rescheduled due to weather. That was the 1PM Tuesday match (Oct 22). Not much to be done about that, I'm afraid. Bad luck. In most other cases the problem was facility conflicts. -On Friday, Oct 4 UND played WIU at home at 4PM, when all the other teams were playing in the evening. I don't know why in that case, but it was an anomaly that I have to guess had something to do with the facility. -On Tuesday, Oct 15 you played NDSU at 7PM. Sucks to have your rivalry game on a Tuesday, but every team played one Tuesday night game, and that happened to be yours. Not ideal. -On Friday, Oct 26 there was a hockey game, so the VB match was moved to Saturday morning. This was the only Saturday Summit match all season. Omaha's schedule was even more atypical for the conference due to multiple facility conflicts. They had to play extra Tuesday and Monday matches due to Hockey, Home Expo and rock concert conflicts. That sucks, but it certainly isn't the Summit League's fault. Just part of playing in a multi-use facility that is trying to stay financially solvent. An even number of teams would remove the one scheduled Tuesday night match each team would have to play, but overall I'd say the Summit did a good job keeping most matches on a Friday-Sunday rotation.

Question: has Brewster saved his job with the tourney win? Or was his seat ever hot to begin with?

Charlie Creme (ESPN bracket-ologist for WBB) has stated that, yes, the Summit would get 3 in. OTOH, Creme is not on the committee, and the committee typically looks for excuses to put P-5 teams in over mid-majors. My guess is that in that scenario, one of the SD schools gets bumped to the WNIT. JMO

Yes. And Sioux Falls, of course. Could try their message board too.

For those of you that have purchased all-session passes, but would like to improve your location, I believe you can ask to be placed on a waiting list, FYI. There are some pass-holders that choose not to renew every year. Also, there are a lot of individual game tickets on the secondary market (Craigslist et al.), but they go fast for some sessions.

Yes and no. I mean, the fact that the tournament has been in Sioux Falls for 11 years certainly is more convenient for SD fans. Some Summit fans like to complain about that, and I would say too bad. SF has supported it, and it's $ucce$$ful. Some might complain that the Jacks fans have taken it over, providing an unfair advantage, and I'd also say that argument is BS. The Jacks fans have had the same access to tickets as anyone else, and they have chosen to commit to it. Too bad. The thing that I would argue is that All-session pass holders having first option on renewal, and also the selling of 2-year passes with first option renewal has had a chilling affect on any fan base that wants to try to grow a presence at the tournament. That's not the Jacks fans' fault. They are just supporting their teams and supporting the tournament. I don't know if that ticketing model is used at other conference tourneys or not. Someone on here said that was how the Hockey tourney is. I'm sure that strategy is wildly successful at making money. I just wish the Summit would make an effort to involve out-of state fan bases more, and get them to grow their presence at the tournament. partition off some lower bowl sections for each team, Make it easier to get there with travel packages, or something. To me, the more out-of-state fans you can involve, and get to travel to SF the better. Like a tourism thing. Us Yote fans really have no excuse to not have a large presence there, but it's still a struggle. Mostly because you have to plan ahead and commit to the all-session passes if you want to get half-decent seats. Just my two cents.

I thought the same thing. Looked like something Lee said pissed your coach off. Lee explained it in the post-game interview: he said “we’ll see you again soon”. Or something to that affect. What he meant was that if both teams win their first round games in the SLT, they would play again. No offense meant by it, but tempers were probably high right after the game. Bad timing, I guess.

Not really. Sanford has given to USD, SDSU, NDSU, Augie, even Mankato State. It’s not like T. Denny is to our program like OSU’s T. Boone exclusively. We appreciate all he and the hospital has done for our university and Sioux Falls, but I’m not worried about Sanford helping out Augie (personally). Sanford’s money has been a shot in the arm for all of our athletics. plenty of fans from former NCC schools are rolling their eyes about Augie joining, but I see the benefits outweighing any sharing of limited resources. To me more drivable games means more fans for both institutions. Which means more money. Fans always show up better for familiar opponents IMO, which is why our two schools both struggled to keep fans interested in playing Great West opponents. Denver is a quality school to keep in the conference, but they do have a bit of a superiority complex about the Dakotas. Honestly where the h@ll do they think they are running off to? If they had a better invite they would have already taken it. JMO

I think its sad that the Argus is now reporting on how Twitter is reacting. As if that is some kind of "pulse of the nation" instead of a vocal minority of a subset of people on twitter that chose to respond to a tweet. Not all of those responses were from Augie fans. It would be like polling Bisonville on whether UND going D-1 was a good idea. I'd be curious what a poll of augie alumni or students would say.

It's a lot easier to get P-5 and elite programs for home games in WBB than men's. For the men, I think a big part of it is the guarantee money. For the women, the top teams don't want to tank their RPI, so they wouldn't risk travelling to a place where they risk a "bad loss" against a sub-150 RPI team. The Jacks are a perennial high-RPI team, and as such, are a lot more likely to get great teams to come into Brookings. I don't know what the Sioux/Hawks have been in average RPI over the last few years, but if the average is over 150, I'd say your coach just isn't doing a good job luring in teams to Grand Forks. I wouldn't say he is doing a terrible job scheduling, though, as your current SOS is #87. Because of that tough schedule, your RPI is #174, despite the 2-7 record. Good strategy for RPI, but one would think he could get some better home games for the fans. JMO.

Well, you guys must be doing something right to keep a player like Klabo home. I think there is plenty of opportunity, recruiting-wise in the region to support multiple elite programs. We will probably always go head-to-head for the best Minnesota girls, but the D-1 nets are cast a little further than the D-2 nets were.