The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

[Augieholic]

Friday and Saturday were Bennett Otto's best games of the season. It hasn't been a great season for him but he has always been a guy that plays better when the team is doing well.

This will go down as one of Tom's best coaching jobs. It is a talented group but they were in rough shape as of mid-January and he's pulled the right levers over the last three weekends. He got a young and new team to play defense at a high level for most of the season, that is probably the most impressive trait of this team.

[vikingfaithful]

There was a stretch of time in the 2nd half where Vikings had 3 true freshmen on the court. I believe it was Helgren, Hinker and Rensch, they were dominate over CSP. Would have liked them to stay out longer and had Loge join in. Was good to see Brady Helgren so strong around the glass, he going to be an exciting guy to watch.

[Moorhead123]

Augie definitely playing better later on, which was expected with a bunch of freshman coming into the season. I could probably get used to Augie fans getting excited about 4th place finishes in the south ;)

[Augieholic]

Brady Helgren had his best game of the season last night. He was active on the offensive glass and looking to finish when he got the ball in the paint.

That's 4 wins in 5 games for Augie and they could be the South 4 seed after tonight with a win plus a UIU loss. Never doubt Texas Tom.

[vikingfaithful]

Sources indicate that Isaac Fink will be back next season. Senior night on Saturday will recognize Ryan Miller and Eric Tiedman....again.

Fantastic news on Isaac Fink. That means 3/4 of the double digit scorers will back. Ryan Miller will be missed for sure. Guess that means Bennett Otto will?

[Augieholic]

Sources indicate that Isaac Fink will be back next season. Senior night on Saturday will recognize Ryan Miller and Eric Tiedman....again.

[Blue Ridge Viking]

It’s my understanding that Zac hurt his ankle during the first week of practice back in October, and it only got worse over time, thus they shut him down. I imagine it is relatively serious, as he’s been in a boot for at least the last two weeks. Not sure of the medical prognosis, and if/when he will be back. As mentioned above, Rensch has done a nice job taking advantage of the additional minutes.

As the majority stockholder in Zac Johnson Inc., this is disappointing news. Hope he's as good as new when he returns to the court.

As for the rest of the team, the boys definitely have found something on the offensive end the past four games. It's like they flipped the switch.

They're shooting 47 percent from the field in that stretch and 42.5 percent from beyond the arc. Never thought they'd approach those numbers given how poorly they shot it for most of the season.

They're also taking care of the ball, averaging fewer than 10 turnovers a game the past four games. Just might make the NSIC tournament after all.

Diversifying my portfolio by investing in Sam Rensch Ltd. Best shooter on the team (a small sample size, I know) and not afraid to take it the hole when he sees an opening. Fun to watch.

[UncleRico]

Is Zac Johnson injured? He is the forgotten guy on the roster.

It’s my understanding that Zac hurt his ankle during the first week of practice back in October, and it only got worse over time, thus they shut him down. I imagine it is relatively serious, as he’s been in a boot for at least the last two weeks. Not sure of the medical prognosis, and if/when he will be back. As mentioned above, Rensch has done a nice job taking advantage of the additional minutes.

[Augieholic]

Is Zac Johnson injured? He is the forgotten guy on the roster.

Hes been wearing a boot on the bench the last few weeks. I like Zac but his absence allowed the sun to rise on Sam Rensch Island and THE VIEW IS GLORIOUS!

[MrAugustana]

Is Zac Johnson injured? He is the forgotten guy on the roster.

Yes, he's been in a walking boot the last several games. Not sure what the actual injury is. It's possible it's been mentioned on the radio, but I haven't heard.

[vikingfaithful]

Is Zac Johnson injured? He is the forgotten guy on the roster.

[vikingfaithful]

Thats nuts how Kirkman bounced the ball off the glass then the flush, probably unnecessary. For one I appreciate your posts MrA, there nothing wrong with getting excited a recruits. Not to get ahead of this seasons rapidly improving Viking team, come November will be fun watching these sophomores and freshmen on the court. Also, your long well thought out posts are good reads.

[MrAugustana]

Came across this clip of incoming big man Caden Kirkman...

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If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that high school success certainly doesn't immediately translate to instant success at the D2 level, but there also aren't a ton of D2-bound 6'8" true posts doing this in high school, so sue me if I get a little excited. Mix him in with Helgren/Hinker/Loge and we could have a pretty salty frontcourt for the next few years.

[MrAugustana]

Nice to have a weekend to get fully excited about for the Vikings.

I was actually nervous about the St. Cloud game. We've lost games this season to teams that, on paper, we should beat (Concordia, for example). I was glad the guys took care of business.

To continue the "young guys vs. old guys" narrative, the young kids played well, with Hinker starting and playing 26 minutes to score 9 points and grab 5 boards with only two fouls. Sam Rensch also put up 12 on 5-9 shooting with 4 boards and 2 assists, Brady Helgren dropped 12 with 6 boards, and Jackson Loge jumped in with Akoi in foul trouble to put up 11 points and grab 5 boards.

Jadan Graves and Ryan Miller led all scorers on solid shooting night with 18 points and 13 points, respectively. Graves also had 4 assists and 3 steals.

Follow that up with a game in Duluth that I was nearly 100% certain the Vikings would drop. Between our Saturday night woes and Duluth's record/roster, it seemed very unlikely we'd come away with a win. But to prove me wrong, several kids stepped up to have big nights. Fink and Miller led the way with 18 points and 8 boards each, with Fink throwing in 5 assists for good measure. Jadan dropped 17 as well, and Akoi put up 12 points in his 19 minutes.

The young guys came up big again though, even if it wasn't necessarily big on paper. With Akoi in foul trouble yet again, Loge put in a solid stretch of minutes in the first half. Even though he didn't score a ton, he stayed active and didn't back down from a returning player of the year big man. Helgren had a bit of an off night, but Rensch put up 12 on a great 5-7 shooting, hitting some big shots when the Vikings needed them. Hinker didn't start (on the radio, Jeff Fylling suggested it could be because the Vikings planned to play pretty aggressive defense... I'm wondering if Billeter was hoping to keep Hinker out of foul trouble early, which might have paid off because last night's starter, Eric Tiedman, fouled out with 10:30 or so to go in the 2nd half and only played 8 total minutes in the game).

Fun to see so many guys play well on the same night, rather than a big game from one or two guys and a major drop off with the rest of the team.

The Vikings are in control of their own destiny right now. If we were to get wins over Winona and Mankato, we could claw our way back into tournament contention. Never expected to be saying that when the season started, but it is what it is. Still several tough games left: USF, SMSU, Mankato, Upper Iowa, Winona, and a Concordia team that already beat us once this season. But seeing that we have some fight in us is definitely encouraging. Just need to continue to get better through this closing stretch and see what happens.

[vikingfaithful]

Great weekend to be a Viking 4 BB games 4 wins. Augie women hand lady dogs their 1st conference loss. Suspicious number of late fouls on AU late including a technical on the bench with 25 sec. left and a 4-point lead. Krauth was hot after that.