sioux24/7

I’m a big Ty Danielson fan and I’ve really enjoyed what he’s brought defensively. But it’s funny looking at the numbers. In Summit League play, we have the No. 2 offense behind NDSU, while our defense is No. 5. We do force a lot of turnovers, which fuels the offense, but we also have the worst effective FG% defense, the worst 3P% defense, and give up the highest free throw rate in the league, per KenPom. Bart Torvik is similar: No. 3 offense and No. 6 defense.

I do wonder if we flip the results in some of the UC Riverside, CSUN, Montana and WIU games, where we would be in KenPom. Regardless, in a 1 bid league all that really matters is the SLT in March.

Purely KenPom. So big hole from the non-con.

There’s been a lot of talk about how down the Summit is this year and I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong but just wanted to take a look so this chart is based off KenPom. Only one year since being in the league have we been “above average”.

401k loans exist. Usually max at 50% of your value. Some plans don’t allow you to continue contributing though until you pay the loan off.

12-12 and 6-2 in the conference, about as good of a start as you could have expected. The back half of the schedule begins Thursday at St. Thomas and would say it’s a tougher half then the first. Looking at it, I would say there are 3 or 4 that I fully expect to win (@ USD is the questionable), otherwise will need to steal a game or 3. 9-7 conference finish is the minimum, in my opinion.

After the block?

I’m thinking it will be a 3 year deal and buyouts something like 75% of remaining salary fired in year 1, 50% year 2 and 25% year 3. Then add some automatic extension options or something we win a regular season title, win the tournament, have 20 some plus wins and take 2nd. I think it has to be a heavy incentive based contract.

Yeah looks like we went up 70-61 with 4:19 left and lost 72-73.

They got Fidlered that game.

I am already of the opinion that Sather is likely to get some sort of extension but a win tomorrow I think just about solidifies that beyond some complete meltdown.

UND (KenPom 290) went down to Tulsa and handled Oral Roberts exactly like they should, picking up a 79-62 road win. Zach Kraft had his best game in green and white, scoring 22 points on a ridiculous 6/7 from three and 8/9 from the field. Eli King did Eli King things, racking up seven steals, plus 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Complete game, statement type night. Now onto Denver. UND heads to Denver Pioneers (KenPom 259), who are coming off a close 82-77 loss at home to NDSU. When you pull up Denver’s KenPom page, it is basically a Christmas tree on offense and a crime scene on defense. Great offensive team, horrid defensive team. That pretty much sums them up. They are under first year head coach Tim Bergstraser, who came over from Minnesota State Moorhead and brought a bunch of his Dragons with him. The headliner is guard Carson Johnson (#20), who is averaging 18.6 points and 2.8 assists. He is the engine. Zane Nelson (#7) is another tough guard, putting up 14.0 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists. Jeremiah Burke (#0) transferred over from NDSU and has been excellent, averaging 15.7 points and 6 rebounds. And then there is Logan Kinsey (#5), another Moorhead import, averaging 11.1 points and 3.7 boards. UND’s defense is going to have to be locked in across the board to slow this group down. Denver can really score it and they have multiple guys who can go for 20 on any given night. One interesting side note: this will be the last time UND travels to Denver as a Summit League opponent, with the Pioneers heading to the Mountain West next season. KenPom projects Denver to win 86-80, so another high scoring track meet is expected. Tip is set for 3pm on Saturday and as always you can watch on the Summit League Network.

Bingo. Sure if you just look at the last 6 games you think things are great but is it extension worthy?

UND (KenPom 308) heads to Oral Roberts (KenPom 310) tonight looking to complete the season sweep, coming off what was arguably their best all around effort of the year in a convincing home win over South Dakota. Back in the first meeting at The Betty, UND controlled most of the game. ORU made a second half push, but UND steadied things and pulled away late. One of the big stories in that game was Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams (#27). He had his best performance of the season with 20 points. On the year he is averaging 8.9 points, but that jumps to 14.75 points in conference play, so he has clearly raised his level in league games. Ty Harper (#2), their leading scorer at 15.7 points per game, was mostly taken out of the game by UND’s defense. He went 2-11 from the field for 6 points and was later ejected after a flagrant 2 on a dirty play on Eli King. Connor Dow (#5) was probably their best all around player in that first matchup. He had 16 points, 4 steals, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds and was part of that second half push. He is averaging 12.7 points on the year but is up to 18 points per game in conference play, so he has been a problem lately. If I am being honest, ORU does not really do a whole lot well statistically under first year coach Kory Barnett. One thing that stands out is how much they shoot from deep. 46.3 percent of their attempts are threes, which ranks 40th in the country. They are 5-15 overall and 0-5 in Summit play, although they did push NDSU to double overtime after playing UND. UND sits at 4-2 in the Summit and in third place. If they want to keep this momentum and stay in that upper tier, this is a game they need to handle. The schedule does not get easier with Denver this weekend and then a trip to St. Thomas next Thursday. KenPom actually has ORU winning this one 77-74, while Vegas has UND favored by 1.5. Basically a coin flip. Tip is at 7PM on the Summit League Network. Good chance for UND to keep stacking wins before a tough stretch.

I thought you were a big Hutter guy….

Sure but there’s one major difference between us and those schools and we all know the answer to it and it’s something that’s not changing anytime soon.

Yeah basically. I don’t like admitting that this is tough place to coach in comparison to our peers but the more I think about it and the more I hear others opinions, it’s really hard to argue. I would have us above USD because Verm.

Suggest taking a listen to this latest pod. Listen to them all but this latest one they discuss best jobs in the Summit and I think that helps paint the story of how Sather’s done.

Figuring out what to do with Sather is one thing but there seems to be another problem on the women’s side. I get it’s year 1 for Hutter but they are horrific and no where near competitive. I guess thankfully Omaha is in the conference to prop us up slightly. Meanwhile, our neighbors to the south knocked off SDSU’s 67 game win streak and are on the verge of an at large bid if the don’t win the SLT.

They do charge less for beers but it’s in a Dixie cup. I don’t think that’s what you’re getting at though!

Has DuPont fallen off or something? I feel like I heard rumblings of him to UND a while ago but nothing now.

So what does a split for you do? NDSU may be the best team in the conference, would be surprised if we get both. What if we go 0-2 there but have success otherwise?

This has been in the back of my mind all year and I know we have the Next Head Coach thread but wanted to lay the situation out more. From just looking at the wins and losses, unless UND makes a run to the Summit League Tournament title game this year, it feels pretty easy to say it might be time to move on and see if the grass is greener. Sather’s career record at UND is 83-127 which is .395. That is without removing non D1 games. Prior to UND he had a .679 winning percentage at Northern State and a .603 mark at Black Hills State. The counter argument is that he walked into a pretty good situation at NSU, which may be fair. This year UND sits at 10-12 and 4-2 in the Summit. That is a nice turnaround after a rough non conference run and probably better than most expected. Sather is also in a contract year from everything that has been reported which makes the finish even more important. UND just went through coaching transitions in football, hockey, women’s basketball and volleyball. Sather is the last one standing. The part that keeps this tricky is that people seem to genuinely like him and he is well respected. Greg McDermott supposedly has said that for what UND can offer, there is not a better coach. Whether UND should be able to offer more is a totally fair debate, but that is a conversation for another thread. So the real question is what does UND need to accomplish to justify bringing Sather back. Is 9-7 in the league and at least one win in Sioux Falls enough? Is an extension coming no matter what just to keep things stable? Is it the opposite and anything short of a championship means they go in a different direction. Here is where the case gets interesting. I think Sather is a good coach and a good representative of UND. But the record during his time here is not good enough. Even if men’s basketball is no better than the third biggest sport at UND (which is a unique dynamic compared to our peers), the program should expect more. Roster wise, the future looks promising but also volatile. Sather has recruited plenty of talent but retaining it has been the challenge. The portal is not unique to UND so you can only lean on that excuse so much. The amount of talent that can return next year is pretty exciting. Greyson Uelmen, AS3, Zach Kraft, Wylee Delorme, Guga and Josh Jones all play real minutes and a few feel like players who can grow into All Summit level guys. Then comes the big question. The Curtis twins. One is out for the year. The other has seen his role decrease and was not dressed last game. I think most fans assume they are gone. If they go, Anthony Smith’s relationship with them and his connection with recruit Jayden Moore becomes a huge wildcard. Add Moore who might be UND’s highest rated incoming recruit ever and Carter Evanson and Sage Hanson who both look like they could be legit Summit players and there is something to build around. But does Sather’s status help keep this group together or does moving on send everything back into the washing machine. That is the tricky part for Bill Chaves and Erik Martinson to sort through. So it should be a fascinating finish. A decent final record and a win or two in Sioux Falls probably gets Sather extended. A fade to a bottom half finish or a one-and-done and the decision gets harder. And if UND wants to shoot higher, now might be the window. Either way the end of the season is going to tell us a lot.

Must have been a package deal with his brother.

Wow that is crazy. He gets to the line a lot where sometimes he score a quiet 16+. Needs to clean up the TOs but his game yesterday was a real nice game.