Thoughts on Recent Seasons and a Look Ahead

[UND Fan]

I have had this ready for 2-3 weeks but didn’t want to post it until the season was complete. Had we made the “Dance”, I would have been elated, excited and proud but my comments would not have changed much! Last night’s embarrassing performance also hasn’t changed this much. Comment – had we been going to the Dance the last 10 years, I still wouldn’t understand why we wouldn’t want to play hard, play smart and show some heart when playing a former NCC foe. I don’t buy the travel and disappointment in not winning the BSC title as legitimate reasons not to play with some pride and passion in a CIT game. I do realize we were playing shorthanded due to injuries.

What Could Have Been

• "Should have/could haves” don’t get you anywhere but last year had: 1) Brekke not been hurt, 2) Traylor remained eligible, 3) Nash been cleared to play and 4) Huff not missed a few games due to injury – it could have been a special season
  
• This year missing Brekke has hurt a ton. He knew how to box out – this would have made a great deal of difference on the defensive boards where we were quite inept. He would have also provided some inside scoring and, very importantly, leadership which wasn’t provided by the other seniors (other than Schuler when he was able to play). Had Traylor and Nash played last year, I think they would have both been bigger contributors this year. Schuler’s injury issues certainly hampered the team as well.
  
  The Years of this Senior Class
  • Winning the Great West tourney twice and finishing rather strong the last two years was good and the team got the reputation of being “strong finishers” each year. That may have been the case to some degree when this group was freshmen and sophomores. However, in my opinion, the team underperformed each year and then played closer to their abilities as the season progressed. Some feel this was the best class of players UND has ever had. Talent-wise I suppose that may be correct, but with season records of 19-15, 17-15, 16-17 & 17-17 (69-64) and no signature wins, it is scary what DI may hold for us if this was one of our best teams ever.
    
  • As I mentioned above, this group lacked leadership. I think Brekke would have provided this to a significant degree as well as Schuler but it was difficult for him without him seeing a great deal of playing time. The lack of “heart” (last night was a good example) was very disappointing.
    
    Coaching
    • I am not going to spend much time on coaching. I will simply say the team underperformed, fared poorly on the road, didn’t improve their rebounding efforts throughout this year, didn’t play as a team much of the time and had no signature wins (the SU game was certainly a positive, of course). See recruiting below.
      
      Recruiting
      • To me, this has been very concerning. Although the seniors who were with us for the 4 or 5 years were not heavily recruited, we saw that they had talent and signed them. However, since Brekke signed in 2009, we had not landed a HS recruit taller than 6’4” – until the 6’10” Cashman this year. That is four years without signing a HS forward or center. I don’t know how you can build a program without signing any freshman size for so long. You will notice that a total of one HS senior was signed in 2012 and 2013 – that is a major reason we had 7 seniors this year.
        
      • A look at who was signed during the last six years:
        

      2009 - Brekke, Schuler - good talent but received limited interest from DI schools

      2010 - Anderson, Huff, Webb - good talent but limited interest from DI schools

      2011 - Antwi, Benton, Gentry - all guards, none highly recruited. I believe both Benton & Gentry were recruited walk-ons

      2012 - No freshmen recruited. Nash, Salmonson, Traylor & Hobaugh (not recruited) transfered in

      2013 - Hooker (guard) – only HS recruit but a great get. I think many of us expected more from him but I expect him

      to become a very good player for us. Transfers included Calcaterra, Stefan and Tyler.

      2014 - Cashman (6’10” center), Crandall (6’1” guard) signed so far. As noted below, we are undersized. Neither

      Cashman nor Crandall will help that situation – although I would assume Cashman can put on significant

      weight. I don’t know for sure but it would appear we still have three available scholarships. As one who

      follows recruiting very closely, I am disappointed I haven’t heard more about who we might be after – but

      we certainly may have a line on some good talent.

      [*]The following is not a good comparison as it includes all players on some of the BSC teams – including those who seldom see the floor, but we are quite undersized at the 3, 4 and 5. This can’t be addressed overnight but we need bigger (meaning heavier/stronger) players to compete in DI. This is based on the positions noted on each team’s roster. Don’t spend a great deal of time on this but it does tell a bit of a story. A better story would be the comparison of each teams’ starters.

      School Guard-Ht/Wt Forward-Ht/Wt Center-Ht/Wt

      UND 6’1.8”/183 6’5.7”/204 6’9.0”/223

      Weber 6’3.4”/178 6’7.3”/ 221 6’10.0”/245

      NAU 6’2.4”/185 6’7.2”/218 6’8.5”/248

      UNC 6’0.0”/179 6’6.3"/219 6’9.0”/253

      UM 6’2.7”/188 6’6.4”/212 6’9.7”/227

      EWU 6’1.6”/179 6’6.0”/214 6’11.5”/263

      PSU 6’1.5”/184 6’6.3”/222 6’10.0”/280

      Sac 6’2.1”/179 6'7.0"/223 6'8.5"/238

      MSU 6'0.8"/177 6'6.5"/215 6'7.0"/250

      [*]Despite all of my above thoughts, it should be pointed out that it is difficult to recruit kids to Grand Forks. The weather doesn’t help but the biggest issue is that, in the vast majority of situations, there are numerous DI schools closer to the Midwest recruit than is Grand Forks. A kid from southern MN, WI, IA, NE, etc. has many options to play nearer home where family and girlfriends can see them play more often. Although I am pleased to be in the Big Sky, I would guess to works to our disadvantage more than to our advantage for kids from the Midwest.

      Next Year

      [*]We should be in pretty good shape at guard but it is pretty scary at all the other positions. While I am happy as heck that Shanks has joined the team, I am not sure how much we can expect from him early on. He will not have played a game for more than a year and he still needs to put on some pounds to be able to handle some of the big bodies in the league. At the 3 and the 4, we need to find some power, rebounding and some scoring!

      [*]While this year’s team had talent, I think they were very likely difficult to coach. Next year will be a good test for Jones. Hopefully, he will have a bunch of kids who want to play together as a team, work hard, have fun and win. It sure appears that we won’t have the same level of talent next year. If we play games without passion and heart again next year, I would think a coaching change would be warranted.

      I would guess that a couple of my facts may not be exactly correct and I don’t really care to debate any of my points – just expressing my thoughts/concerns.

[fightingsioux4life]

Good analysis overall, but I have a couple of comments (as always)!

• Despite all of my above thoughts, it should be pointed out that it is difficult to recruit kids to Grand Forks. The weather doesn’t help but the biggest issue is that, in the vast majority of situations, there are numerous DI schools closer to the Midwest recruit than is Grand Forks. A kid from southern MN, WI, IA, NE, etc. has many options to play nearer home where family and girlfriends can see them play more often. Although I am pleased to be in the Big Sky, I would guess to works to our disadvantage more than to our advantage for kids from the Midwest.
  
  

Then how do you explain NDSU's success in MBB at the mid-major level? Or SDSU's success in WBB? The Slummit is not exactly a bus league either (despite repeated attempts by the FU faithful to portray it as such). Also, a kid that is willing and able to leave home for college and to play college basketball isn't going to be as attached to playing close to home as you are implying. How many stories have we read about UND parents traveling hundreds of miles to watch their son/daughter play for one of UND's teams? Today's young people are very anxious to get out in the world and pursue their dreams. So I don't think we can use geography as an excuse for not recruiting well.

While this year’s team had talent, I think they were very likely difficult to coach. Next year will be a good test for Jones. Hopefully, he will have a bunch of kids who want to play together as a team, work hard, have fun and win. It sure appears that we won’t have the same level of talent next year. If we play games without passion and heart again next year, I would think a coaching change would be warranted.

I would guess that a couple of my facts may not be exactly correct and I don’t really care to debate any of my points – just expressing my thoughts/concerns.

Agree with you on this. Jones has been in charge of this program long enough to be responsible for how well it is performing. The differences between the MBB and WBB programs in terms of work ethic, team play and consistency from one game to another are glaring right now. And it explains why one of those teams is Dancing and the other just got finished getting blown out in the Crappy Invitational Tournament.

[UND Fan]

Good analysis overall, but I have a couple of comments (as always)!

Then how do you explain NDSU's success in MBB at the mid-major level? Or SDSU's success in WBB? The Slummit is not exactly a bus league either (despite repeated attempts by the FU faithful to portray it as such). Also, a kid that is willing and able to leave home for college and to play college basketball isn't going to be as attached to playing close to home as you are implying. How many stories have we read about UND parents traveling hundreds of miles to watch their son/daughter play for one of UND's teams? Today's young people are very anxious to get out in the world and pursue their dreams. So I don't think we can use geography as an excuse for not recruiting well.

Agree with you on this. Jones has been in charge of this program long enough to be responsible for how well it is performing. The differences between the MBB and WBB programs in terms of work ethic, team play and consistency from one game to another are glaring right now. And it explains why one of those teams is Dancing and the other just got finished getting blown out in the Crappy Invitational Tournament.

It certainly isn't impossible to get talented young athletes to UND, just more difficult at times. In situations where location may be a challenge, you need differentiators, i.e. great or very good coach(es), facilities, specific majors, tradition, fan support, schedule and/or conference, etc. UND coaches have told me more than a handful of times that an athlete had narrowed his choice down to UND and one other school. The athlete explained to our coach that it was a toss-up and he decided to go to the other school closer to home so it would be easier for his parents/friends to see him play. Yes, girlfriends come into play once in a while.

Again, this certainly isn't as big a deal as it was 10-15 years ago but it does come into play. Losing out on a top recruit (especially in basketball) can really make a difference.