North Dakota St

Daily Conference Poll: Who Will Win the Summit?

Shawn Siegel — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:52:05 -0500

Summit League Basketball Preview: 08-09

CHN — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:05:07 -0500

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Conference Rank: 25th

10 year average: 26th

All-Summit Team
Pos.	Player	Team	Yr.

G	Robert Jarvis	Oral Roberts	Sr
G	Ben Woodside	North Dakota St	Sr
G	Johnathon Jones	Oakland	Jr
F	Derick Nelson	Oakland	Sr
F	Brett Winkelman	North Dakota St	Sr
CHN Award Winners		Returning Leaders
Mid-Major All-Americans Robert Jarvis Ben Woodside		Points: Ben Woodside 20.7 Rebounds: Ben Winkelman 8.3 Assists: Johnathon Jones (Oak) 6.0

Summit Standings
Nat'l	Team	League	Tourney

118	North Dakota St	Summit	1	NCAA
136	Oakland	Summit	2
152	Oral Roberts**	Summit	3
207	IUPUI	Summit	4
224	Southern Utah	Summit	5
255	IPFW	Summit	6
271	UMKC	Summit	7
287	Centenary	Summit	8
314	South Dakota St	Summit	9
316	Western Illinois	Summit	10

*Click on links for full Top 144 team preview

** returning conference champion

Poll: Who Do You Think Will Win the Summit?

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Rise & Fall: Summit

2008-09 North Dakota State Preview: #118

Joel Welser — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:01:14 -0400

North Dakota State Bison

Overall Rank: #118

Conference Rank: #1 Summit

2007-08: 16-13, 10-8, 4^th

2007-08 postseason: none

Now that North Dakota State is eligible for postseason play, the pressure is on the Bison and Coach Saul Phillips to continue their recent success while transitioning into a full-fledged Division I team. And for a team that finished fourth in the Summit League last year and returns just about everybody, the success is there for the taking. Traditional conference powerhouses IUPUI and Oral Roberts are in transition years and that could pave the way for the Bison to become the darlings of the Summit League.

Who’s Out:

Nevin Lubarski is the only departure on the team and he only averaged two minutes per game in eight contests. In fact, of the eight players who started one game or more last year, seven of them are upperclassmen. Competing for an NCAA Tournament berth might be a new occurrence, but this is not a group that lacks in experience.

Who’s In:

The only thing NDSU could use this year is some depth in the frontcourt and a backup point guard. They addressed the former with the group of the newcomers. Junior college transfer Dejuan Flowers garnered first-team all-conference accolades at Mount San Jacinto Junior College in California and will immediately help out on the glass. He is not a bad scorer either and will use his athletic ability to get open looks around the basket. At 6-9 and 245 pounds, incoming freshman Andy Nagel has the size to be a force under the basket and you can never have too many big guys ready to come in off the bench. Eric Carlson, a 6-5 forward who redshirted last year, will add some more toughness to the team.

Who to Watch:

There are three players on North Dakota State who can put 20 points up in a hurry. Point guard Ben Woodside averaged 20.7 points and 5.1 assists last year. The 5-11 senior will not just chuck up three-pointers. Woodside does a great job of using his quickness to get to the basket and he averaged over seven trips per game to the charity stripe. Like Woodside, forward Brett Winkelman is also coming off a season in which he was named to the all-conference first-team. Winkelman tallied 19.2 points per game and a team high 8.3 rebounds. He is only 6-6, but Winkelman works extremely hard on both ends of the floor and can score and rebound over taller opponents. The senior will also step outside and consistently knock down the outside shot. Mike Nelson does not get the accolades that Woodside and Winkelman receive, but when defenses key in on those two superstars, Nelson will make them pay. Nelson, another senior, is a superb outside shooter and knocked down 46.1 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc last season. What makes him so dangerous is the fact that he is not simply a three-point specialist. He will get to the basket and score in a variety of ways.

Final Projection:

While those three will win plenty of games on their own, the Thundering Herd will need some other players to consistently help out the team if they have March aspirations. Lucas Moormann is the big man under the basket. The 6-10, 255 pounder is not a great scorer, or at least he does not need to score on this team, but he is a solid rebounder and the closest thing North Dakota State has to a shotblocker. Michael Tveidt and Josh Vaughan split starts last year and could again this year. Tveidt has the size and also was the most effective scorer outside of the big three. When the team wants to go a little smaller and add a more dangerous shooter to the floor, Vaughan is the answer. Add Freddy Coleman, Sam Sussenguth, Austin Pennick, Lorenzo Riley and all the newcomers to the mix and there will be a fierce battle for playing time at NDSU.

Projected Post-season Tournament: NCAA

Projected Starting Five:

Ben Woodside, Senior, Guard, 20.7 points per game

Mike Nelson, Senior, Guard, 13.8 points per game

Brett Winkelman, Senior, Forward, 19.2 points per game

Michael Tveidt, Sophomore, Forward, 6.4 points per game

Lucas Moormann, Senior, Center, 4.9 points per game

Complete Top 144 Ranking | 2008-09 Preview & Awards | Coach Interviews | Discuss the Preview

Daily Dribble: 3/28

Shawn Siegel — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 01:03:32 -0400

- NIT semifinals last night.. a pair of close 1-point games. Clemson will face West Virginia in the finals and hope to get one back for the ACC after Georgetown upset UNC. KC Rivers had 19 points for the Tigers..coming off a season-best 29 in the quarterfinals win over Syracuse. Rivers should emerge as a national star next season. - Thinking of UNC-Georgetown again.. man was that an epic collapse or what? Unbelievable. My arch-nemesis Billy Packer rightfully brought up how the Tar Heels looked demoralized late in the first half (even when they still had the lead).. and that carried to the end of overtime. - Most Georgetown fans expect Roy Hibbert to return next season.. but 5 double-doubles extended from the conference championship into the Final Four aren't helping the cause. Neither are the 6 blocks against North Carolina. - What's with teams contacting Bruce Pearl? Why would he leave a program building so much positive momentum? - Who ever steps into the Arkansas job lucks into an automatic NCAA Tournament bid. Say what you want about Stan Heath (and a lot of Arkansas fans wanted him gone), but he left the Razorbacks in a good spot. There's not one senior on the team.. and the point guard position is owned by one of the most underrated freshmen in the country, Patrick Beverley. The negative is that the incoming class for next year is pretty much empty. - A lot of eyes will be looking at Minnesota, looking how long it will take Tubby to turn around the program. The Gophers haven't recruited a 4-star recruit since Kris Humphries back in 2003.. though that should change. Ont guy to look out for, even though he's not even a Rivals Top 150 guy.. is shooting guard Blake Hoffarber. The 6-4 shooting guard can light it up, and could emerge as a key in cog in Smith's turnaround machine. - This happened a few days ago, but tough blow for North Dakota State losing Tim Miles to Colorado State. His success the past two years with the Bison is pretty darn impressive. Moving up to D1 as an independent and winning 16 games last year (including the win at Wisconsin that got national press).. and then going 20-8 this year (beating Marquette along the way). The success is even more impressive when you realize that there was only one upperclassmen on the squad (scoring leader Andre Smith). NDSU is moving to the Mid-Con.. and with Miles they could have already been a major contender. - I find it hard to believe Billy Donovan has any interest in Kentucky.. beyond simply using that opening to boost his current contract with the Gators. Its obvious he can win at Florida, and this shouldn't change any time soon with two Top 25 prospects coming in (Nick Calathes and Chandler Parsons) along with two other 4-star guys in Alex Tyus and Adam Allen. Tyus by the way, who might not be quite as big a name as the big two, is an absolute monster on the inside. - If you're looking for the next big non-BCS star.. Herb Pope will be your guy. The 6-8 New Mexico State recruit is an NBA talent. - Not sold on Josh McRoberts as an NBA Lottery pick. McRoberts final numbers, 13 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 3.5 apg, and 2.5 bpg look pretty good, especially the passing and block numbers. Compare those to potential Top 5 pick Joakim Noah: 12.2 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.3 apg, and 1.8 bpg. McRoberts basically has Noah across the board.. but that's until minutes played comes into play. McRoberts played a whopping 35.3 minutes per game, while Noah only played 25.8. Multiply McRoberts numbers times .73 (the % minutes Noah played) and you get a more comparable 9.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 2.5 apg and 1.8 bpg.

Daily Dribble: Independent Update

Shawn Siegel — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 13:02:43 -0500

Last night, Central Arkansas upset potential NCAA Tournament team Bucknell by the final score of 50-48. The Bears (that's Central Arkansas) are a first-time D1 squad that has only beaten one other D1 team this year (Bowling Green.) Central isn't actually an independent because they're playing a full Southland Conference schedule.. but in honor of their win I thought I'd take a look at how the independents and recent ones are doing this year. Like Central Arkansas, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is playing a full Southland schedule for the first time. The Islanders have been one of the best independent teams over the last couple years, and are considered to be a Southland contender in just their first season. Things have gone well for TAMU-CC, with a 7-4 record overall (5-4 against D1 teams). Their best two wins are at Detroit and South Florida. Like most independents or low-majors, TAMU-CC still has to play most non-conference games on the road.. but they have a rare 3-game home streak coming up, including a big game against Kent State. TAMU-CC is one of the most experienced teams in the country.. with 7 seniors that play at least 15 minutes per game, and all of whom scored 5+ ppg. This experience should put them right in the thick of the Southland title race along with SELU, Sam Houston St, and NW State.. Replacing TAMU-CC as the best independent is clearly North Dakota State, who has an impressive 8-4 record. Unlike the Islanders, the NDSU Bison are extremely young with just one player on their roster whose not a freshman or sophomore. Last year, NDSU got headlines for beating Wisconsin.. and they did it again this year with a big win at a ranked Marquette team. Perhaps more impressive than their 8 wins is the nature of their losses. They have an 85-81 loss at Big 12 Texas Tech, an 83-81 loss against Big 12 Kansas State, and a 82-80 loss at 9-2 Colorado State. The Bison have another chance at the Big 12 as they head to Iowa State on Sunday(this is a definite upset alert game).. and then head to Eastern Michigan before finishing the season against all the other independents. With 16 games left, NDSU has a great chance at making a run at the 20-win mark. South Dakota State hasn't done quite as good of a job representing the Dakotas, though the Jackrabbits do have 4 wins against D1 teams and one of the best mascots in the country. Another young team (just 2 seniors on the roster), the Jackrabbits have won 2 straight including a road win at UMKC. Both SDSU and NDSU will be joining UMKC in the Mid-Contintent conference in 2007 along with IPFW. IPFW (ie, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne) is just 4-9 and two of those wins were against non-D1ers. The key for the Mid-Con in getting IPFW is their mascot, the Mastadons. It appears the Mid-Con is stockpiling good nicknames like the Mastadons, Jackrabbits, Kangaroos (UMKC), Leathernecks (Western Illinois), and the Gentlemen of Centenary. Unlike the above schools that are joining the Mid-Con, Chicago State is playing an independent schedule after leaving that conference. The Cougars have just a 5-11 record, but thats understandable considering they've played 14 of 16 games on the road. Their biggest win was easily at 7-6 UTEP.. in which Chicago State's little backcourt combined for 44 points. Royce Parran and David Holston are just 5-8 and 5-9 respectively and are generally listed at weighing 160 pounds. Its safe to say Chicago State would dominate the biddy basketball circuit.. The indy team with the 2nd best record is 8-5 Texas-Pan American. UTPA is led by a JUCO transfer, Brian Burrell averaging almost 18 a game. The Broncs have won 3 straight, including most recently at James Madison of the CAA. Some other independent notes that stick out.. Utah Valley State is 7-5 and most recently beat a Southern Utah team that is 9-5. The Wolverines almost had a huge win against Utah State, falling by just 4 against a team that has an outside chance of making the Big Dance. Savannah State is this year's feel good story with a 6-11 record. Two years ago, the Tigers went 0-28 and last year they won just 1 game against a D1 team. Savannah shocked the world by starting 5-0 this year (though 3 were against non-D1 teams).. though they've come back to Earth having lost 11 of 12. The most recent win was at Bethune-Cookman.. an actual D1 team.. though one of, if not, the worst one in America. Bethune has yet to beat a D1 squad this year. Still, 6 wins is still 6 wins for this program. This year's Savannah State is Winston-Salem, off to a dismal 1-16 start.. including 0-16 against D1 teams. The Rams are a provisional team and have the unfortunate burden of playing 22 road games this year.. almost all of which will end up as losses. In fact, the Rams have only come within 10 points once all season against a D1 team, losing by 7 at Georgia State. Perhaps their only a chance for a win is on January 27th when they head to Bethune-Cookman. Of course there's also UC-Davis who has yet to beat a D1 team.. and NJIT who shocked the Northeast by beating Manhattan and Rider to start the season before losing 10 straight. Also there's 5-10 Longwood, who most recently beat Kennesaw State last night (making the jump to the A-Sun from the indy ranks) and who hosts American later today. - Don't forget to Dribble in the New Year -

Poll Positions: Top 25 Chatter

Kevin McNeill — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 11:32:30 -0500

Wichita State a #1 seed?

Wichita State (# 10 AP / # 16 Coaches) is still undefeated, with wins already on the road against half of last season’s Final Four and a huge upset of Syracuse (# 21 AP / Coaches) in the Carrier Dome. Neither LSU (# 9 AP / # 11 Coaches) nor Syracuse is overrated. Both are solid, experienced teams that will be ranked in the top 15 or higher at season’s end. These are exactly the kind of high-quality wins the Selection Committee looks for when determining seeding for the NCAA Tournament.

After non-BCS conference school Memphis earned a #1 seed last season, many fans in Southeast Kansas might be wondering if – assuming their dream season continues - it indeed may be possible for their Shockers to pull off the same feat. Improbable, maybe, but it is possible.

For the Shockers to earn a top seed, they will more than likely need to have an RPI at least in the top 5 or 6 nationally as well as a strong strength of schedule rating, which will be determined largely by the strength of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Take a look at last year’s #1 seeds. The top four teams in the RPI at the end of the regular season ended up being the four #1 seeds. Of those, Duke (#1) and Villanova (#4) were also in the top 4 in terms of strength of schedule. However UConn (#43) and Memphis (#31) were not. Still, UConn played 18 games against the RPI top 50 last season, winning 14 of them. Memphis played 12, winning 8. All four of their losses during the regular season came against teams in the RPI Top 50. In other words, Memphis and UConn both made up for a relatively weak December and conference schedule with a strong early season one – just as Wichita State has done.

The Shockers’ remaining schedule may actually be tougher than Memphis’ at this point in the season last year. Wichita State plays New Mexico on Dec 22, in Las Vegas. After that, they have the usual home-and-away sets with conference foes Missouri State, Southern Illinois, Creighton and Bradley – all of which have quality wins so far themselves.

By my count, Wichita State could play as many as 14 games against RPI Top 50 this season. This should be enough to merit consideration as a top seed, again, presuming they win the MVC automatic bid and end up with no more than 3 losses at season’s end.

As of right now the most likely top seed contenders are Pittsburgh (# 2 AP / Coaches), Ohio State (# 5 AP / # 4 Coaches), North Carolina (# 3 AP / Coaches) and UCLA (# 1 AP / Coaches), with Florida (# 7 AP / Coaches) not far behind. All of them will be playing more ranked opponents than the Shockers during conference play, giving them a greater chance of moving to the top of the RPI should they keep winning. Pittsburgh may play as many as nine games against ranked opponents this season.

But should one of them stumble, who knows.

College Basketball: It’s FANtastic

Whenever I get into an argument over the 1,793 or so reasons why the college game is superior to the NBA, one that often comes up is the fact that college coaches have job security that lasts longer than any given game. Well, scratch that one off the list.

Coach Dan Monson of Minnesota was given the resign-or-be-fired ultimatum just seven games into the season, in which the Gophers went 2-5 after a five game losing streak. He was coming off a winning record and a NIT Tournament berth last season, and expectations were high coming into 2006-07.

However, absent some sort of scandal, no college coach should be fired mid-season. Period. After a season is over, a decision can be made whether to retain or fire a coach. Once that decision is made, that should be the final word for the year so coaches, old and new, and their potential recruits can plan for the upcoming season with some semblance of confidence. Coach Monson should have been fired in April, or not at all.

High school recruits sign their letters of intent mostly, if not entirely, because of the coach. If that coach is suddenly gone a few games into the season, kids that commit to the school can’t demand a trade like the NBA. By and large, they’re stuck, and future recruits are going to think twice about committing to any school where the coach does not have a long-term contract.

Also, with parity what it is today, college basketball is now a game where upsets happen so often most are not even considered upsets. Every week they happen by the dozen.

These win-or-else threats to coaches puts even more pressure on a profession many consider the most ulcer-inducing in the nation already. If coaches want to put up with that kind of mentality from the front office, they should go to the NBA. At least they’ll get paid more.

Leave the instant-gratification, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately nonsense to the pros.

Huskies Getting Fat on Cupcakes

So UConn (# 19 AP / # 10 Coaches) is now in the Top 10, at least in the Coaches’ poll. No doubt they have played some great teams to move up eight places since the preseason.

Let’s see…Quinnipiac, Central Arkansas, Fairfield, Albany, Sacred Heart, and Texas Southern to name a few. Not exactly a trial by fire. Although they did beat an Ole Miss team that hasn’t played anyone either.

It doesn’t get much better. Over the course of the next few weeks leading up to Big East play, the Huskies compete against the likes of Northeastern (Coach Calhoun’s former school), Saint Mary’s and Coppin State. Compare this to last season when UConn faced a brutal early season schedule that earned them a championship in the EA Sports Maui Invitational – one of the most loaded early season tournaments in memory.

Jim Calhoun obviously believes this is the best way to develop his young team – one of the most inexperienced in the nation – before they face the likes of LSU and a tough Big East Conference schedule. I’m not one to doubt a Hall of Famer with two national titles, so we’ll just have to wait and see if he’s right.

Charging Bison

Move over Oral Roberts, we have a new champion in our ongoing upset-of-the-year category: North Dakota State 64, Marquette (# 17 AP / # 20 Coaches) 60. You may remember the Bison from their stunning victory against then-#15 Wisconsin last season.

What you may not know is that this is only their third season playing in Division I. They are currently still competing as an Independent, but have been invited to join Mid-Continent Conference next season, playing with the likes of the aforementioned Golden Eagles and Oooey-Pooey (otherwise known as IUPUI).

It’s not a stretch to imagine the Bison earning the MCC automatic berth in their first or second season there, putting North Dakota State into the NCAA Tournament just five years removed from Division II. If that happens, rest assured Coach Tim Miles will be entertaining many, many job offers in the near future.

Independents Preview

CHN — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 14:00:06 -0500

Conference Previews | Top 144 | 06-07 Preview Home

Independent Preview

"Conference" Rank: 32nd

Conference Page

All-Conference

Player of the Year - Ben Woodside, North Dakota St, G

Royce Parran, Chicago St, G

DeWitt Scott, IPFW, F

Ben Beran, South Dakota St, F

Clayton Morgan, Longwood, F

Nat'l	Team (Click for Preview)	Conf	Tourney
197	North Dakota St	1
247	IPFW	2
270	Utah Valley St	3
277	Longwood	4
291	UC Davis	5
294	Chicago State	6
317	South Dakota St	7
325	Texas Pan Am	8
330	Savannah St	9
331	Winston Salem St	10	Provisional
335	New Jersey Tech	11