The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

[MrAugustana]

A few more of these little social media videos that Augie fans may enjoy:

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[MrAugustana]

Moorhead been trying to schedule game or scrimmage against ndsu for years. Ndsu only willing to scrimmage Concordia Moorhead.

If it makes you feel any better, it sounds like it's a closed scrimmage, so I don't know that there will be much be much fun or publicity or anything like that that comes out of it, regardless of how it goes.

[Moorhead123]

Just saw on the NDSU forum that the Vikings have a scrimmage scheduled with the Bison in Sioux Falls on Oct. 22. Wish it were an exhibition game instead.

Moorhead been trying to schedule game or scrimmage against ndsu for years. Ndsu only willing to scrimmage Concordia Moorhead.

[MrAugustana]

Just saw on the NDSU forum that the Vikings have a scrimmage scheduled with the Bison in Sioux Falls on Oct. 22. Wish it were an exhibition game instead.

[Augieholic]

Fine-looking group. Oddly excited for the season, given that there really is no reason for high expectations.

Curious which freshmen play and how many minutes they get. Also curious whether my rosy prediction for Zac Johnson comes to fruition.

Looks like new uniforms to boot.

I share your sentiments across the board. New blood up and down the roster with an intriguing mix of an experienced, not necessarily at D2, back court and an inexperienced, but athletically promising, front court.

The closest comparison for this team in the Billeter Era to me is the '13-14 squad when Dan and Casey were sophomores. That team was 5-5 vs D2 competition at Xmas break, that seems like a good baseline to use with this squad.

[MrAugustana]

Fun little social media feature on Isaac Fink to get ready for the season:

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[MrAugustana]

I hope you're right, and I agree that Augie is a special place. But recent history shows even Augie isn't immune to this trend.

Look at the players who left, for a variety of reasons, in just the past couple of years:

Plitzuweit
Cartwright
Schaefer
Todd
Wheelock
Winkel
Eze

A mixed bag, to be sure. It just shows you never know how recruits will pan out, both on and off the court.

I didn't include Trevor Hanson, who had to give up the game because of foot injuries, which is a shame, because I believe he would have gone down as one of the best big men, at least on the offensive end, in Augie history. He could flat-out shoot the ball.

Your not fully functional quote makes it look like I'm the one that thinks 80% of Augie's 2022 and 2023 classes will stay. While I am hopeful, I'm not quite as confident as vikingfaithful.

That list of transfers is always in my head. I have a hard time not playing the "what if" game, much to Augieholic's and others' annoyance, I'm sure. Plitzuweit is the biggest loss in that group to me by far. Cartwright and Schaefer are tough because it makes you wonder if we could've gone all the way last year with both of them adding to the depth we were lacking, particularly Schaefer in the frontcourt. That being said, NWMSU would've been tough whether we had a stronger bench or not.

That being said, I can't complain too much because last year was a special group. Maybe Cartwright, Schaefer, and Todd leaving helped with chemistry or something. Who knows? I know LeBrun was pretty intent on shutting Cartwright down from the sound of things, so there seemed to be no love lost there.

Either way, if we can at least get 2-3 seasons out of the majority of our 2022 and 2023 classes, I'll consider that in and of itself a win.

[vikingfaithful]

Yes, Trevor Hanson loss to injury was a shame, could shoot the ball like a guard. Cartwright and Schaefer hurt as they took lateral moves to other D2 schools. We have benefitted from at least 1 transfer from Mankato in Mike Busack 2016/2017 who tore it up as a Grad transfer. He still has AU BB pictured on his twitter acct.

[Blue Ridge Viking]

[QUOTE=vikingfaithful;n702599]

Maybe I'm naive, but I'd like to think that winning and Augustana being a special place would be enough to keep at least 80% of 2022 and 2023 recruits.

I hope you're right, and I agree that Augie is a special place. But recent history shows even Augie isn't immune to this trend.

Look at the players who left, for a variety of reasons, in just the past couple of years:

Plitzuweit
Cartwright
Schaefer
Todd
Wheelock
Winkel
Eze

A mixed bag, to be sure. It just shows you never know how recruits will pan out, both on and off the court.

I didn't include Trevor Hanson, who had to give up the game because of foot injuries, which is a shame, because I believe he would have gone down as one of the best big men, at least on the offensive end, in Augie history. He could flat-out shoot the ball.

[vikingfaithful]

[QUOTE=MrAugustana;n702491]

Truth. Would be awesome if they all committed to staying and winning at Augie though. Assuming they win. I'd like to think they will.

Maybe I'm naive, but I'd like to think that winning and Augustana being a special place would be enough to keep at least 80% of 2022 and 2023 recruits.

[MrAugustana]

[QUOTE=Blue Ridge Viking;n702475]

I'm getting terrible Dan Jansen vibes from Caden Hinker. That's not to say Hinker will be as good as Jansen, but I think I'm going to really dislike him playing in a Viking uniform for the next four years.[/QUOTE]

In the transfer portal era, I'll consider it a success if four of the nine Class of 2022 and 2023 recruits stay for all four years. Just the way it is.

Truth. Would be awesome if they all committed to staying and winning at Augie though. Assuming they win. I'd like to think they will.

[Blue Ridge Viking]

[QUOTE=Thunder;n702469]I'm getting terrible Dan Jansen vibes from Caden Hinker. That's not to say Hinker will be as good as Jansen, but I think I'm going to really dislike him playing in a Viking uniform for the next four years.[/QUOTE]

In the transfer portal era, I'll consider it a success if four of the nine Class of 2022 and 2023 recruits stay for all four years. Just the way it is.

[Thunder]

I'm getting terrible Dan Jansen vibes from Caden Hinker. That's not to say Hinker will be as good as Jansen, but I think I'm going to really dislike him playing in a Viking uniform for the next four years.

[MrAugustana]

Fine-looking group. Oddly excited for the season, given that there really is no reason for high expectations.

Curious which freshmen play and how many minutes they get. Also curious whether my rosy prediction for Zac Johnson comes to fruition.

Looks like new uniforms to boot.

This is the same boat I'm in. It's always kind of fun to have no expectations other than "Well, they should be good because they're usually pretty good."

If some of the recruits turn out to be as good as (or better than) expected, I have a feeling we'll have one of those seasons where we pick off a couple of top-tier teams like Moorhead or Duluth but manage to drop a few games to low/mid-tier teams like Mary or St. Cloud.

As Augieholic has noted, it should at least be a fun ride whether we repeat as conference champs or not.

I think the key will be some of these new guys. Jadan Graves at PG is a huge factor. A good point guard can make a team great, a bad point guard can really hurt a team. Also, going from Riemersma and Dykman to basically freshmen and Akoi will be a pretty dramatic shift in the frontcourt (particularly on defense...and rebounding, which Riemersma in particular excelled at). Hoping some of the young guns step in ready to fire away.

I'm also intrigued by the grad transfer guard from Grandview, Ryan Miller. He had a salty game against the Vikes and had a really strong senior year at Grandview, so hopefully that carries over to a new team/system without much dropoff.

Hard to believe games will be starting in just 3-4 weeks. Feels like summer takes five years and then all of a sudden games are just a few weeks away.

[War Eyore]

Fine-looking group. Oddly excited for the season, given that there really is no reason for high expectations.

Curious which freshmen play and how many minutes they get. Also curious whether my rosy prediction for Zac Johnson comes to fruition.

Looks like new uniforms to boot.

I will have to see this bunch in KC in a few weeks. Young, for sure. They are a fine looking group and the potential is there. Get Fink the ball, help him score, and it should all work out.

Looking forward to seeing all these teams in KC.