SWSiouxMN Posted December 11, 2020 Posted December 11, 2020 UND and USD traded blows, but behind a strong night by Rebraca, UND was able to duplicate their win against the Yotes in Sioux Falls. Now its on to Day 2, and the match up against a very strong Jackrabbits squad. About South Dakota State: It was expected to be a bit of a rebuilding year for the Bunnies last year. With their coaching heading off to UNLV, having Daum graduate and having their 2nd best player transfer to UNLV, no would have been surprised if they took a step back, figured things out, and charged ahead in 2020-21. Um... surprise! SDSU finished tied for 1st in the league again! How? Douglas Wilson was a godsend from the JUCO ranks, winning player of the year. Solid play from Freidel and Dentilnger also contributed to a strong finish. They certainly were able to challenge for another chance to dance.... until Wilson injured his foot. Even with that injury, surely they were still going to.... Oh wait, Fort Wayne decided to pull one more spoiler before heading out to the Horizon. There is two ways to think on this. The pro was that SDSU overachieved last year. The con was that they had another flameout in Sioux Falls. This year has given SDSU high expectation to win the league again, given they return their entire core, with a much improved Freidel. They have picked up some nice wins this year against Iowa State and Bradley, and gave West Virginia and St. Mary's a scare. However, given what has happened the last two years in Sioux Falls, you have to wonder: will that be in their heads a little bit when it comes to the tourney? About Eric Henderson (2nd Year 26-12 record, 13-3 Summit) Hendo enters his 2nd year at SDSU with a stacked squad and ready to make a charge for the NCAAs. While he had a solid 1st year, the flameout in the tournament has been a thorn in the side of Bunny fans and this coming off of the one two years ago made things worse. While you can point to the Wilson injury as a big reason why, it still didn't sooth many. Winning the league will go along ways to putting this behind them, but if another early exit were to occur... the grumbling will just get louder. Key Player: Noah Freidel (6'4 Sophomore Guard) There is something about guards from small town South Dakota that give me nightmares (this goes back to unnamed guard from Madison, SD hitting a game winning 3 to beat UND several years ago). Freidel has built off of his breakout performance against Fort Wayne in the Summit Tournament, making an early statement of Player of the Year Honors in the league. He is putting up big numbers, averaging around 19 points a game, including a white hot 48.6% from 3 currently. He had put up big games against Bradley and Iowa State, including a 5-6 from 3 performance against the Braves. He will be just as big of a nightmare matchup as Umude was. Series History SDSU leads the D-1 series 8-1, UND leads the all-time series 106-87 Milestone Watch: Its time for our milestone watches for this year and Rebraca will be our first focus: He currently has 482 career rebounds and is 18 away from getting to 500 in his career. It is certainly possible for him to reach that mark during the showcase with a couple of good rebounding games. He hasn't grabbed double-digit rebounds yet, but he is definitely due. He still is far away from the top 10 in rebounding in UND history, but could get close (If there was a normal amount of games this year, I would believe it more) Questions: 1) What will be the status of Douglas Wilson? 2) How will UND guard Noah Freidel? 3) Can UND knock down shots? The Call: The question is going to be whether we see Douglas Wilson play or not. If he doesn't go, that means that UND can focus more of their effort at Freidel and Rebraca can breathe a little more of a sigh of relief. However, SDSU is going to be plenty tough and UND is going to need a better performance than they had against USD. If UND can hit their shots and Rebraca can dominate down low, they have a shot. However, I still have nightmares about Guards from small town South Dakota. Freidel will be too tough for UND and the Jacks come away with the Dub. SDSU 80-72 Bonus: Bison roll the Yotes 81-68 Games are on the MidcoSports+ 2 Quote
SWSiouxMN Posted December 11, 2020 Author Posted December 11, 2020 Mods: Is it possible for you to change Day 1 to Day 2 in the title? I copied this over and forgot to change it Quote
homer Posted December 11, 2020 Posted December 11, 2020 Great write up as always. Looking forward to the game tonight. Quote
forksandspoons Posted December 11, 2020 Posted December 11, 2020 They're all winnable if the three ball is falling! Quote
sioux24/7 Posted December 11, 2020 Posted December 11, 2020 UND is 10.5 pt dogs. Looks like it opened at 12.5. Quote
ND-fan Posted December 11, 2020 Posted December 11, 2020 I was thinking that may put Ihenacho on Freidel he could maybe shut down Friedel because of his size and speed. Then put Nero on Arians to begin with but if they bring in Easley like they did alot last night than they would move Nero to him and move Sims onto Arians which could be very good matchup because Sims is bigger and I think he's hair bit quicker than Arians but Arians is such intelligent player which makes a very interesting matchup. If Wilson plays then UND has harder time matching up to SDSU because it puts two power front line people .Suecker would be at disadvantage in the lower blocks and Rebraca would have his hands full with Wilson. Quote
SWSiouxMN Posted December 11, 2020 Author Posted December 11, 2020 No DAE again for UND No Wilson again for SDSU Quote
Nodak78 Posted December 11, 2020 Posted December 11, 2020 I can't wait to watch this game. UND MBB is exciting. Quote
SWSiouxMN Posted December 11, 2020 Author Posted December 11, 2020 I think Freidel hit that from his hometown Quote
SWSiouxMN Posted December 11, 2020 Author Posted December 11, 2020 Rebraca tried to hold off but got nailed with a charge. Quote
SWSiouxMN Posted December 11, 2020 Author Posted December 11, 2020 then he draws one on the other end! Quote
SWSiouxMN Posted December 11, 2020 Author Posted December 11, 2020 that jumper isnt falling for Rebraca Quote
SWSiouxMN Posted December 11, 2020 Author Posted December 11, 2020 Nero with the stepback a 2 11-6 SDSU Quote
SWSiouxMN Posted December 11, 2020 Author Posted December 11, 2020 colder than January in North Dakota Quote
SWSiouxMN Posted December 11, 2020 Author Posted December 11, 2020 Rebraca and 1! Media SDSU 15 UND 10 12:31 1st Quote
SWSiouxMN Posted December 11, 2020 Author Posted December 11, 2020 A little slow on D and a little cold on O However, sticking around right now. This is where not have DAE hurts, we don't have that other long body to help out. Wingett is a mismatch for Brady. Quote
forksandspoons Posted December 11, 2020 Posted December 11, 2020 They have taken Und out of their offense so far. Quote
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