The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

[MrAugustana]

tl;dr

So who is the Kyle Anderson of the team this year?

Next time I will be sure to include some very minor/trivial slight against Bigler or the Mustangs to be sure it catches your full attention. :)

Also, did you mean Luke Anderson? Or was there another Anderson brother that also played for 14 years at Mankato? I thought Grandpa Luke was one of a kind, but maybe I'm mistaken.

[Stanger86]

tl;dr

So who is the Kyle Anderson of the team this year?

[MrAugustana]

A couple of thoughts I'll throw in, as is my nature.

1) It does seem like an interesting line to be riding right now. Does Coach Billeter cash out on the upperclassmen and start investing in the freshmen or keep trying to win as much as possible playing the more experienced players?

For one thing, it's not as if Tiedman is playing 25 minutes a game. He's right around 15 or 16, and he's been out of the starting rotation for a little while now. In terms of who is left to pick up those minutes, it primarily leaves Hinker and Helgren to fill that time. Although he has cooled off the past few games, I think it's fair to say that Akoi is deserving of the minutes he's getting at the forward position. Obviously it would be good to see more consistent scoring from him (preferably not settling for mid-range jumpers so often), but he's an experienced player who happens to also be talented and athletic.

Regarding Hinker, he has certainly been solid and at times he absolutely plays like he belongs out there with the big boys, but he does have a tendency to get into foul trouble (4 fouls Friday night, 5 on Saturday, 4 against Moorhead), particularly in games when he has started or is playing more minutes. Foul trouble is not ideal for logging major minutes in games, especially if they are first-half fouls. He also is shooting a not-that-stellar 31% from the field, 20% from three and 59% from the free throw line, with only 13 assists compared to 22 turnovers. Again, I'm not even knocking Hinker, as I was extremely excited when he signed with the Vikings and I think his future is very bright. But even if he starts getting 5-7 more minutes per game to put him up to a solid 20-22 mpg for a freshman, I don't expect it would automatically translate to better output. Clearly Coach Billeter sees positives with Hinker though, moving him into the starting lineup these last few games. I don't think he'd be starting if they didn't have confidence in him.

As far as Loge goes, I'm not sure what the coaches are or aren't seeing. Generally speaking, Billeter has never seemed to be afraid to give minutes to young players when the talent is there, even when they are freshmen (Cody Schilling, Cameron McCaffrey, Casey Schilling, Dan Jansen, Jordan Spencer, etc.). If Loge was truly ready to make a big impact, I doubt Billeter and the other coaches would just be sitting on and squashing that talent by not playing him in games. My assumption is that there is a reason Loge isn't seeing significant minutes so far. When he has gotten in, he's made plays where I've thought, "Huh...he looks pretty good to me" and then literally gone down the next play and shot a layup from one side of the backboard to the other without even grazing the rim. Some of that might be nerves or the frustration of playing end-of-game minutes and not more meaningful minutes, but like I said, I doubt the coaching staff is thoughtlessly preventing a major impact player from seeing the floor. And to continue to clarify/over-clarify, I was as excited as anybody on here when Loge committed to Augie. While I've had to reserve myself a little more than I used to when it comes to recruiting thanks to NSU4LIFE's sage advice, I'm the one who gets on here and posts videos/tweets/etc. when players commit to the Vikings because I get hyped. So I wanted/expected Loge to come in right away and be one of those Freshman-of-the-Year candidates the Vikings have had in past years. But as good as he was in high school, I'm willing to believe there must be some reason we aren't aware of to explain why he isn't getting more in-game minutes.

Helgren is a puzzle to me. Some plays he looks incredible, some he looks overwhelmed. I do know that if/when the pieces fall into place for him, he will be a rare talent at this level. With his length and touch, he could be a big time player for the next several years, especially if he gets a little tougher and develops a keener defensive acuity.

Rensch has also looked good in flashes. He certainly struggles from time to time on defense, but I know in one of the post-game interviews I caught, Billeter mentioned giving Rensch more minutes as he continues to figure things out and build his confidence, especially with his offensive abilities, so the coaches must see the talent is there with him.

In general, I don't get the impression the coaches are holding the freshmen back from reaching their potential. I suppose as the season continues, we'll see whether or not they shift from "do everything we can to win now" to "let's take our lumps and get our younger guys some experience to prepare for next season."

2) My other thought as I've watched this team is that I'm reminded of the 2011-12 Mankato team. That team went from being 28-5 in 2010-11, winning the regular season conference championship and reaching the Final Four to going an abysmal 7-19 in 2011-12 and limping their way through one of the worst seasons of Margenthaler's tenure. It was particularly shocking because Mankato was (and generally still is) always a contender for a conference title. The year after that brutal 2011-12 season, they rebounded with a 28-5 record, winning the regular season conference title, the NSIC tournament title, and losing to Winona in a really close Regional Championship game.

Am I saying Augie is going to win the conference next year? Most likely not (though I won't be sad if they do). But I am saying that sometimes a team just has a surprisingly off year, and that's that. My hope is that however this season turns out, even if it's not what Augie fans are used to, next year will be a bounce back to the more competitive level Augie fans are used to.

If this current young group blends well with the four incoming recruits and we don't lose a bunch of kids to the transfer portal, the next couple of years could be exciting. No guarantees, obviously, but the possibilities are there.

At the same time, losing games to teams we are used to beating (like a Concordia team that hadn't beaten us since 2011 or 2012) definitely sucks. I can't imagine the players or coaches are particularly happy about it either. I've mostly committed to trying to notice and point out the specific positives I see, even if the Vikes aren't winning at the rate I'd prefer. And some games even that's not easy to do.

Like I said before, it could be that it's about time to say, "Screw it, run the young guns out there and let's see what happens." If that happens, we'll get to see what the freshmen can do when the spotlight is fully on them for more minutes per game. But several of the older guys are pretty good too, even if it's not as consistent as would be ideal.

[vikingfaithful]

I agree but I also would like to say that this isn’t because of the youth on the team. They have actually shot fairly well. Hinker is a good player with some strength and Rensch has shot very well. I think it’s hard for these player to get anything going when they are playing very little minutes. I think it might be time to move on from the upper classman and start to see what we have with the best recruiting class we have ever had. Three of these players were anchors on a very good Fury team that traveled the nation and won many games. And the other is Caden Hinker. All these players have played against D1 players in their careers and have done very well against them. The whole Loge situation seems a little odd. It’s very hard to assess a player that rarely sees the court but going from a high prospect with good upside to not even logging minutes in some game seems far fetched but maybe someone else has some insight on that. It’s tough to keep watching 2-10 and 4-12 out of your starters night in and night out. Don’t get me wrong they have had there moments but it might be time to try something different.

Thank you for your assessment of the state of AU BB. Would be great to have you post on a regular basis. Coach Billeter going to utilize the players that give his team the best chance of winning. Fink, Miller, Otto and Tiedman will graduate. Though I agree it would be great to see the frosh play more minutes. Don't understand the Loge situation and would like to see him on the floor more often. With another heralded class of freshmen incoming Augie will truly be a young team this fall.

[Augieman78]

I agree but I also would like to say that this isn’t because of the youth on the team. They have actually shot fairly well. Hinker is a good player with some strength and Rensch has shot very well. I think it’s hard for these player to get anything going when they are playing very little minutes. I think it might be time to move on from the upper classman and start to see what we have with the best recruiting class we have ever had. Three of these players were anchors on a very good Fury team that traveled the nation and won many games. And the other is Caden Hinker. All these players have played against D1 players in their careers and have done very well against them. The whole Loge situation seems a little odd. It’s very hard to assess a player that rarely sees the court but going from a high prospect with good upside to not even logging minutes in some game seems far fetched but maybe someone else has some insight on that. It’s tough to keep watching 2-10 and 4-12 out of your starters night in and night out. Don’t get me wrong they have had there moments but it might be time to try something different.

[vikingfaithful]

An excellent assessment of the state of AU BB. Hopefully the freshmen start to grow in abilities and Fink finds his groove as his ankle gets stronger. Will miss Ryan Miller 1 year on the team, much like Mike Busack in 16,17. Tiedman and Otto have logged more minutes than Tom expected I believe.

On a side note Caden Hinker is having his own skills camp in Mitchell in July. Have to give the man credit for confidence. Only $40 to learn from one of the greatest Kernels ever.
Caden Hinker (@CadenHinker) / Twitter

[Augieholic]

I'm curious what other Viking fans think what is holding back the Viks from being more competitive? IMO Brady Helgren needs to become more assertive with his size and shooting ability.

Short story: they have the worst FG% in NSIC games, they give up way more free throws than they attempt, and the defense can't be sustained for 40 minutes due to youth

Longer story:

DapperDan isn't wrong. The talent level, especially on offense, has been inconsistent at best. They have four guys with the ability to score in double digits each night - Fink, Graves, Miller, and Akoi - and the offense is dependent on making a healthy clip of contested jump shots. Those contested jump shots, many of which fell last year when a healthier Fink or LeBrun or Bryan were taking them are not falling this season, especially over the last few weeks. Fink was clearly not himself the first 6 weeks of the season but he's starting to look better. Graves can carry a team when he gets cooking. Miller has been extremely reliable the last few weeks which has offset Akoi's funk after a scorching start.

The young bigs have not developed as quickly as this team needed. Hinker is starting to show signs of growth and I did like Billeter putting him in the starting lineup this past weekend. Helgren is brutally slow and has a weak lower body so when he does catch a post up or get an offensive rebound it is difficult for him to put a productive move towards the hoop. Loge has been a non-factor which I think is the biggest surprise based on preseason hype. Unfortunately that happens.

I'm sure Tom is brutally stuck between trying to compete each night and just turning the underclassmen loose to see who can survive. That's probably why we haven't seen more of Sam Rensch, I think he's shown some promise on both ends as a wing who could be a starter in the next few years. Hopefully he gets more tick in the next few weeks to prove me right or wrong.

The Minot and Winona losses at home were killers for their faint NSIC Tourney hopes. This was always going to be a transition year and a .500ish record with the right amount of growth from the underclassmen could be a productive season and is mathematically still attainable.

[DapperDan]

I'm curious what other Viking fans think what is holding back the Viks from being more competitive? IMO Brady Helgren needs to become more assertive with his size and shooting ability.

Not a Viking fan but will weigh in anyway. They aren’t that good.

[vikingfaithful]

I'm curious what other Viking fans think what is holding back the Viks from being more competitive? IMO Brady Helgren needs to become more assertive with his size and shooting ability.

[MrAugustana]

Also, here's a quick highlight video of incoming guard Arhman Lewis from a recent tournament where he was the game MVP in a win:

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[MrAugustana]

Congrats to incoming Viking Brayson Laube on being named the KCRG Athlete of the Week: https://www.kcrg.com/video/2023/01/0...brayson-laube/

Also congrats to incoming big man Caden Kirkman for notching his first career triple double:

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[vikingfaithful]

I thought I'd let everyone know that AJ Plitzuweit is leading USD in scoring this season

I'm long over the dude. He has spent the vast majority of his 6 year career injured and probably would have transferred anyway despite his excuse for leaving Augustana. Schaefer and Cartwright bothered me more.

[MrAugustana]

I thought I'd let everyone know that AJ Plitzuweit is leading USD in scoring this season

Thanks bro.

[Stanger86]

I thought I'd let everyone know that AJ Plitzuweit is leading USD in scoring this season

[MrAugustana]

Fun to see so many guys step up in last night's win. Upper Iowa always plays us so tough, and after dropping one to Concordia last weekend, I did not have the highest hopes for this UIU game.

Great team effort. I was encouraged by Sam Rensch's continued development. He wasn't necessarily the most heralded recruit of Augie's 2022 class, but he seems to keep getting better with each game and has a tendency to hit big/tough shots when we need them.

Last weekend we had a big win, then came out and laid an egg the next night. Hopefully we don't do the same this afternoon and the Vikes come out locked in and ready to go against the Warriors.

We've shown we can win games when we play well. Now we need to play well with consistency instead of it being a roll of the dice on whether or not we're clicking or misfiring.