The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Just came across this on Twitter. Congrats to Augie Men's Basketball grads Adam Beyer and Austin Saugstad on their academic achievement as Vikings.

http://goaugie.com/news/2017/7/18/me...ors-court.aspx

NABC HONORS COURT

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

No full schedule released yet, but it appears the Vikes get to play in a pretty cool early-season non-conference tournament featuring 7 other usually strong D2 squads:

http://goaugie.com/news/2017/7/25/me...-november.aspx

Men's basketball invited to compete in 2017 Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Novemberwww.thefordcenter.com.

"It is a real honor to be a part of the 2017 Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic," Augustana head coach Tom Billeter said. "Our players will be guests at the induction ceremony of some phenomenal former Division II players, as well as legendary coach Don Meyer, which will be a memorable event for all involved. In addition to the ceremonies, the two teams we are competing against have been traditionally two of the best programs in the country and we are really looking forward to this opportunity."

The SCB Hall of Fame Induction ceremony will precede the Hall of Fame Classic, as the induction ceremony will take place on Thursday, November 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Doubletree in Evansville. The 12-member Hall of Fame Class of 2017 was announced recently, and consists of the following inductees: Zelmo Beaty (Prairie View A&M), Walt Frazier (Southern Illinois), Emil Liston (Baker/NAIA), Bob Love (Southern), Coach Don Meyer (Hamline, David Lipscomb & Northern State), Coach Dave Robbins (Virginia Union), Jack Sikma (Illinois Wesleyan), Elmore Smith (Kentucky State), Jim Spivey (Southeastern Oklahoma), Rico Swanson (Bethel, IN), George Tinsley (Kentucky Wesleyan) and Al Tucker (Oklahoma Baptist). Tables and tickets will be available through the Evansville Sports Corporation (www.hofclassic.com

Sounds like a really cool event for the Vikes to be a part of.

[vikingfaithful]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Texas Tom will find out early his teams strengths or weakness's. Pretty exciting, hope games will be streamed online.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Double posting, but since this is Augie news, this is the place to post it. A handful of recent commitments have netted the Vikings 3 of the top 5 South Dakota 2018 talents (according to our esteemed friends at the Prep Hoops Network):

Augustana added commitments tonight from a pair of top 5 South Dakota 2018 talents: Al Plitzuweit and Dylan Lebrun pic.twitter.com/3EesxK7EK6

— Prep Hoops Dakotas (@PrepHoopsDakota) August 3, 2017

Augie lands Trevor Hanson, who previously was committed to SDSU. https://t.co/5Cve1UC8yR

— Ryan Deal (@RyanDeal_DR) August 3, 2017

Augie is killing it: The Vikings have landed commitments from Trevor Hanson, AJ Plitzuweit and Dylan LeBrun in less than 24 hours.

— Ryan Deal (@RyanDeal_DR) August 3, 2017

Augustana adds third commit in two days as 2018 center Trevor Hansen committed to the school this afternoon. 3 of SD's top 5 prospects pic.twitter.com/VtIYeWbnvG

— Prep Hoops Dakotas (@PrepHoopsDakota) August 3, 2017

#GoVikes pic.twitter.com/AnKbnF8XY1

— AJ Plitzuweit (@ajplitz_21) August 2, 2017

#jeremiah29:11 #GoVikes pic.twitter.com/MNmUjGZeLy

— Dylan LeBrun (@djlebrun) August 2, 2017

Blessed to be apart of the Vikings family! #GoVikes pic.twitter.com/ucM146evHv

— Trevor hanson (@Trevorhans55G) August 3, 2017

I may jump back in later and throw in highlight videos if they have 'em. Either way, I've heard several good things about all three players and it's definitely a bright future and already a very strong 2018 recruiting class for the Vikes.

[Moorhead123]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

I expect Hansen to be very good at Augustana. Saw him in a few AAU games last year. Very good get for your squad.

[vikingfaithful]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

WOW, WOW and WOW! What a week for Augustana Viking basketball. Shout out to these 3 excellent young men for the commitments and to AU coaching staff for reeling them in.

[DapperDan]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

WOW, WOW and WOW! What a week for Augustana Viking basketball. Shout out to these 3 excellent young men for the commitments and to AU coaching staff for reeling them in.

Augustana looks to me to be winning the recruiting wars. Not hard to understand considering private school in a good sized community with a lot of recent basketball success and top notch coach. Tough to compete with.

[Moorhead123]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Augustana looks to me to be winning the recruiting wars. Not hard to understand considering private school in a good sized community with a lot of recent basketball success and top notch coach. Tough to compete with.

Augustana is excellent NSIC option for all the reasons you mentioned. I am still extremely high on Moorhead's 2017 recruiting class.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Augustana looks to me to be winning the recruiting wars. Not hard to understand considering private school in a good sized community with a lot of recent basketball success and top notch coach. Tough to compete with.

This is definitely a recruiting class with some exciting potential. Remains to be seen how it unfolds over the next several years, but so far it seems like a pretty talented group. Hoping the South Dakota kids can show simple that SD isn't as far behind MN as he'd like to think (at least when it comes to kids who choose to go D2). As it stands, we'll have 5 SD kids on our roster for the 2018-19 season. Might be the most I've seen on an Augie roster in the past 10+ years, unless I'm remembering wrong.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Realized this hadn't been posted here yet, but the Vikes also get a commitment from Minnesotan Eric Tiedman:

Eric Tiedman of Jordan/@mnfuryboys has committed to Augustana. That's 4 commits in 4 days for them pic.twitter.com/DSjGDlsl0f

— Ryan James (@RyanJamesMN) August 4, 2017

Love everything I've seen about him on Twitter. Sounds like he's just one of those hardworking, do-what-it-takes types of kids. Can't ever have too many of those in your program. Looking forward to see what he can do as part of this 2018 recruiting class.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Also, congrats to the Vikes on finishing 2nd in the nation in attendance this year. Obviously a bummer that the Wolves beat us out again, but we still managed to outdraw both USD and SDSU, so I'll consider it a win nonetheless. I hate them more than I hate Northern anyway. :)

http://goaugie.com/news/2017/8/8/men...ttendance.aspx

[vikingfaithful]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Also, congrats to the Vikes on finishing 2nd in the nation in attendance this year. Obviously a bummer that the Wolves beat us out again, but we still managed to outdraw both USD and SDSU, so I'll consider it a win nonetheless. I hate them more than I hate Northern anyway. :)

http://goaugie.com/news/2017/8/8/men...ttendance.aspx

You have to give NSU their creds, but outdrawing the two D1 teams who get all the media attention is sweet. #2 behind the Wolves, we will have to work on that.

[Stanger86]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

You have to give NSU their creds, but outdrawing the two D1 teams who get all the media attention is sweet. #2 behind the Wolves, we will have to work on that.

I was thinking about this today. I'd have to dive into the numbers more, but I'd think Northern and Augie benefit from the fact that the two schools only recently moved up to D1.

It isn't like Minnesota, where most fans of NSIC schools in the state are also Gophers fans. Up until the past decade, Augie fans hated SDSU and USD. I doubt many people suddenly went the Minnesota route and follow both Augie and one of the D1s.

Not only that, but I'd guess Augie benefits from being right in Sioux Falls and now also from being at the Arena. And Northern has had that corner of the state on lockdown seemingly forever.

[vikingfaithful]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

I was thinking about this today. I'd have to dive into the numbers more, but I'd think Northern and Augie benefit from the fact that the two schools only recently moved up to D1.

It isn't like Minnesota, where most fans of NSIC schools in the state are also Gophers fans. Up until the past decade, Augie fans hated SDSU and USD. I doubt many people suddenly went the Minnesota route and follow both Augie and one of the D1s.

Not only that, but I'd guess Augie benefits from being right in Sioux Falls and now also from being at the Arena. And Northern has had that corner of the state on lockdown seemingly forever.

You are correct Stanger about Augustana fans feelings toward SDSU and USD, their fans were hateful to Augie and their coaches were often condescending when discussing AU. When SDSU first decided to move up to D1, football coach for the Jacks John Steigelemeir proclaimed that AU was not a rival because they beat the Vikings most of the time. The next week Augie beat SDSU in overtime at Howard Wood field in front of a packed very loud crowd. After the game he was asked if he still thought there was no rivalry, with a hoarse voice he said maybe he was wrong! Ha.

[NSU4LIFE]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

You are correct Stanger about Augustana fans feelings toward SDSU and USD, their fans were hateful to Augie and their coaches were often condescending when discussing AU. When SDSU first decided to move up to D1, football coach for the Jacks John Steigelemeir proclaimed that AU was not a rival because they beat the Vikings most of the time. The next week Augie beat SDSU in overtime at Howard Wood field in front of a packed very loud crowd. After the game he was asked if he still thought there was no rivalry, with a hoarse voice he said maybe he was wrong! Ha.

Augie fans also said NSU was not a rivalry including that lovely wrote the Argus pays...the different of course is we haven't had the big win, except for the upset in hoops two seasons ago but it wasn't a playoff and you still won a title so...we need to do more to maximize the potential.

SDSU and NSU were pretty big rivals in hoops back in the hay day. I feel there were more fans at NSU games in the 90s but maybe it was just the student section was larger. Either way, I don't think the D-1 move for them effected us like it did/did not Augie.