The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

[laker]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

20 miles north of Minot

I think it was back in 1997 when some older lady's house near Marshall was buried. Neighbors came to dig her out. Lucky the chimney wasn't covered.

[Stanger86]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Interesting challenge this weekend. Heard the weather/roads are still pretty rough up north, which should make the Minot/Mary trip fun for the team, as I'm sure it always is.

20 miles north of Minot



http://abcnews.go.com/US/winter-stor...ry?id=44033477

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Interesting challenge this weekend. Heard the weather/roads are still pretty rough up north, which should make the Minot/Mary trip fun for the team, as I'm sure it always is.

Minot has played well against decent competition with a few wins and a 4-point loss to Northern in Aberdeen and a 9-point loss to Moorhead in Moorhead last weekend. Tyler Rudolph seems to be playing exceptionally well, putting up 22 points per game and grabbing almost 9 rebounds per game and shooting 43% from the 3-point line. Definitely 1st Team All-NSIC numbers if he can keep it up all season long. They seem to have a few other decent scorers, but Rudolph seems to make things go for the Beavers.

Hopefully Busack and/or Huisken are prepared to put in work defensively tomorrow night. I think if we can contain Rudolph a little bit (mid-teens or below), we'll have a good chance to win by double digits, as some of our perimeter guys (Warren, Beyer, etc.) seem to be playing well on the defensive end.

Mary is still tough to figure out, as they have also had some close games and they have two solid scorers in Bryan Jefferson and Damonta Henry.

My biggest concern is whether or not the Vikes will be mentally ready to take care of business. If they're flying a little too close to the sun after taking down the Mavericks, they could be in for a rude awakening up north. If they handle things with the mentality of last year's team, I feel good about things. I suppose Mary taking down Northern at home Saturday night might wake them up to the fact that neither Minot nor Mary should be overlooked.

Either way, I'm looking forward to the games this weekend, even if I (and every other sane person from this area) happen to be watching from a distance.

Go Vikes. Let's snag two more wins on the road.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Really good win for the Vikes tonight. Can't believe Augieholic has been so apprehensive about this Augie squad so far this season.

In all seriousness, it was good to see Huisken put together such a solid game. Would love to see more of that moving forward for sure.

Great weekend for Beyer and Spencer. Busack didn't try to do too much, which showed some maturity on his part.

No dunk for Lucas Walford tonight. Oh well. Maybe he'll have a couple in a game next weekend.

Solid work, Vikes.

[Augieholic]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Concordia has a couple really nice, young pieces in Bryndan Matthews, Ted Brown, and Sioux Falls' own Sam Siganos. Matthews showed a lot of potential last year and he appears to be building on it this season. Brown has all the physical attributes necessary to one day dominate the league but he needs to add a few more post moves to his repetoire and a jump shot. Siganos really understands how to open the court for his teammates and was one of the main reasons Concordia kept it close in the first half.

Now that I've given the multitude of Bears fans a reason to live, it's time to put them back in hibernation. Joey James is truly atrocious, there's little to no movement in their offensive schemes so the only time his squad looked truly dangerous was when they got out in transition. On top of this is his unbelievably whiney sideline demeanor. Every coach, especially Billeter, "works" officials but James' constant complaining give off the vibe of someone who has accomplished a lot more than several middling seasons in St Paul following USD regurgitating him back up 5 months after Dave Boots crammed him down their throats. The best example of this was his tech at the hands of Jacob Welch which came immediately after his team got away with a fairly obvious foul.

Moving along to the Busack Bowl, the Vikings could not be more prepared. A seemingly simple recipe of surrounding Spencer with the space created by 3 or 4 capable shooters produced an offensive explosion last night. Lots of quick ball movement kept the defensive swinging until it broke. If the defense is able to goad the Mavericks into jump shots by protecting the paint I think Augie has the offensive juice to win their 33rd straight NSIC game in Sioux Falls.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Very impressive game, especially the 2nd half. 28pts off of turnovers and 21 fast break pts. Andy Kerkman played 6 minutes is he still on the mend?

Pretty sure he wasn't able to even go full-contact in practice until a few weeks ago. Seeing as he got injured in June or July, it has been a pretty long time since being in a live game situation. I would imagine he is still just working back into things. But that's just a guess.

[vikingfaithful]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Very impressive game, especially the 2nd half. 28pts off of turnovers and 21 fast break pts. Andy Kerkman played 6 minutes is he still on the mend?

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Oh, and it was Coach Billeter's 350th career win. Congrats to Texas Tom and his staff for their success over the years.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Good games for several Vikes last night.

-Jordan Spencer gets his second straight points/assists double double with 14 and 12. That is really solid.

-Adam Beyer scores 21 second half points to finish with a career high 24.

-Steven Schaefer comes off the bench to score 17, including 10 or 11 in the first half that were hugely important.

-Busack had 18 points and 9 boards. That is helpful. Really hoping he plays his game tonight and doesn't try to do too much against his former squad.

-John Warren chipped in a quiet 11.

-Lucas Walford continued his 1 dunk per game rate after a solid dish from Spencer.

All in all, a solid, kind of must-win victory last night in the sense that Mankato should prove to be a lot tougher and we couldn't afford to go 0-2 on a home weekend. Glad the Vikes took over in the second half. Hope we can come out the same way tonight against the Mavs.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

As noted by wscsuperfan in the other thread, congrats to Jordan Spencer on being named NSIC South Division Player of the Week:

South Division Player of the Week
G - Jordan Spencer, Augustana (JR)
- Averaged 17.0 points, 9.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds leading Augustana to a pair of wins last week
- Shot 43.5 percent from the field and hit five 3-pointers while going 9-of-11 from the free throw line
- Nearly posted back-to-back double-doubles after finishing with 23 points, nine assists and four rebounds against Wayne State last Monday
- Followed with an 11-point, 10-assist, six rebound performance against Peru State
- Picked up his third career double-double against Peru State
- Has dished out 10 or more assists in a game 10 times in his career
- Has now handed out five or more assists in 58 of 74 career games played at Augustana

Is this his first PotW honor? Either way, hoping to see even more of them in the future. Keep up the good work, Jordan!

[Taxman]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

[runs in out of breath] Am I only a week late to this? The new points of emphasis for referees are big changes for the game. Dan Jansen would have been in foul trouble every game with the new screening rules and there will be a lot more contact on shots around the rim since the referees looking more at verticality than contact. Some games had a ton of fouls, like that USF-Emporia game had 60+ and I've seen quite a few more with high 40s and 50s in total fouls.

I'm all for more whistles to get the game cleaned up.

[fanofnsic]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Each new season the NCAA sends out its rules info and point of emphasis for the year. Each year starts out with a ton of fouls being called with pissed off coaches, players and fans. By January the calls start to become less and by March we are back on to hand to hand combat the way it should be.

[Guest69]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

If live stats were correct, WSC had five players foul out and two more with 4.

[runs in out of breath] Am I only a week late to this? The new points of emphasis for referees are big changes for the game. Dan Jansen would have been in foul trouble every game with the new screening rules and there will be a lot more contact on shots around the rim since the referees looking more at verticality than contact. Some games had a ton of fouls, like that USF-Emporia game had 60+ and I've seen quite a few more with high 40s and 50s in total fouls.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Back from Thanksgiving with a few quick thoughts on the Peru State game from Friday...

1) Glad to see John Warren have a breakout game. 23 points on 9-16 shooting, 5-10 from three, along with 3 steals (one of which led to a fast break dunk) and 5 boards. If he can keep playing like that--or even 85% of that--moving forward, I will be much less Apprehensiony about this year's team.

2) Jordan Spencer puts together a clean game of 11 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds and a steal. When guys like Warren are hitting their open looks, Jordan should be able to get 7-8 assists or more pretty much every game.

3) Busack continues to be a consistent scoring threat for us. I'm not sure how I feel about him yet in terms of how his skill set flows with the rest of our offense (he forces shots a bit more, both inside and outside, than I feel like I'm used to seeing from the Vikings, but maybe that's just my perception), but it's hard to deny how important he is when he's currently our 2nd-leading scorer at 11.2 points per game while grabbing 5.5 rebounds per game.

4) Lucas Walford didn't have as solid a game as he's been having, only putting up 4 points and grabbing 4 boards in 16 minutes, but he did have another nasty tip dunk, continuing his one dunk per game average that, from what I can remember, has not been matched in the Tom Billeter era. I tend to feel good about things when he's out there, even when he's not scoring 8-10 points like he had been up until Peru State.

5) Sounds like Levi Jansen suffered a pretty severe injury in the game. Broke the orbital bone under his left eye and damaged something else in his face from what I heard. On the "bonus points for toughness" category, Levi did go out and shoot his two free throws after essentially getting his eye socket caved in (went 1 for 2), so I give him props for that. Here's to hoping he recovers soon.

6) Speaking of injuries, Andy Kerkman finally got some minutes last night against the Peruvians. Only played 4 minutes but pulled in 3 boards and snagged a steal. He did miss three free throws, so hopefully he continues to work on that moving forward. Either way, he's a big boy. Hard to believe he's a true freshman with that kind of size. Should be crazy to see what he looks like after he's spent a season and summer working out with Augie's weight training staff. If he sheds a little non-muscle and adds some muscle, he'll be a physical force to be reckoned with for the next several years.

7) Steven Schaefer had another strong game, putting up 11 points and shooting 3-6 from three. He also pulled down 7 boards, which is great to see from a guard.

All in all, this weekend's games will certainly be telling. Not sure what to expect from CSP, but Mankato could either be fun if we keep it close or ugly if we go through any "noffense" (copyright colt45) stretches or just can't hit open looks. We've had a solid record at home for the past 2 seasons (I believe we're undefeated at home since at least the beginning of the 2014-15 season), so hopefully we can keep that magic alive and get through the weekend with two wins.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

A few quick(er than my last post-game thoughts post) thoughts:

1) I really hope Wayne is substantially improved. If this Wayne team finishes 14th or 15th in the conference, then I fear Augie will only be a spot or two above that. On the flip side, if it's less that Augie played poorly and more that the Wildcats are getting better, that's encouraging for both parties. Plus, it'd be nice to have a competitive travel partner after a handful of years where Augie's Saturday night opponent got to rest starters for the last 7-10 minutes the night before against Wayne on more than a few occasions.

2) Free throw shooting was a disappointment. 30-46 for 65% is not good enough, especially in close games against the top teams in the conference. We barely made it out with the win last night. Would love not to see a similar free throw shooting performance against teams like Mankato and Moorhead.

3) Jordan Spencer -- still good. 23 points, 9 assists (to 3 turnovers) with 4 rebounds and a steal. Those are solid numbers.

4) Lucas Walford -- another (nasty) dunk, this time a putback slam after someone's missed shot. His 9 points and 3 rebounds--in fairly clutch minutes, before he fouled out--continue to be more than I was expecting from him as a freshman.

5) Levi Jansen -- finally had some big shots and had a decent game overall. I've asked around a bit, and it sounds like he's battling some injuries, so hopefully he can get over that sooner than later. For how good he is supposed to be for us in the future, I'd love to see him playing at 100%.

6) Decent fan showing for a Monday night against Wayne a few days before Thanksgiving. Looking forward to some solid weekend crowds when conference play rolls around.

All in all, a conference, in-region win is a win, even if it didn't come the way Augie fans might've been expecting. As has been said, it may just be that Wayne is drastically improved, but there were still a handful of things the Vikes need to be working on before we're fully in the swing of conference play.

One thing Coach Billeter noted in the post-game show is that, when it comes to conference play, only 3 teams have beaten us in the last two years (Mankato and Winona in '14-'15 and Northern in '15-'16) and they're all going to want to get back at us this year. I realized while thinking about that stat that several of those wins were by high double digits. So a lot of these teams are going to be ready to knock us down a peg. I remember feeling that way about Winona for several years after the '08 season. A win against the Warriors just felt...bigger...than a similar win against even Mankato or St. Cloud. There's something about being able to say to people, "Yeah, I mean we just took down the defending National Champions...this is a big win..." And since the Vikes are probably still a year away from being solid Regional contenders again, this is the year for those teams we've been beating by 15, 25, 35 to get us back. Hope the Vikings keep that in mind and come prepared to defend their title every game, because NSIC teams in particularly are certainly going to come at them more aggressively than ever this season.