The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

[MrAugustana]

Bummer in the sense that it didn't work out. Seeing his high school stats and everything, I was hopeful he'd come in and be a serviceable replacement for Plitzuweit a couple of years ago, but that obviously didn't work out. Hope he lands in a place that's a good fit for him.

[Augieholic]

With all due respect to Matt Todd, this news does not upset me.

https://twitter.com/VerbalCommitsD2/...990426115?s=19

[MrAugustana]

In less depressing news than ending our season on another "could've beaten them" game against NSU, congrats to incoming Viking Zac Johnson on hitting the game-winning 3-pointer to send his River Falls (WI) team to the state tournament last night:

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He ended the game with 28 points, 8-13 from three, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Looking forward to having that level of shooting on our roster next year. Maybe with him and Cartwright, we'll get back to our old ways of shooting 40+ % from three as a team.

[vikingfaithful]

I know hindsight is 20/20, but if Cartwright, AJ and Trevor Hanson were still were on hand, this would have been an unbelievable team. The future is always bright for Augustana with Tom Billeter as a head coach.

[MrAugustana]

Sucks to end the season on such a punch in the gut. I thought when Riemersma hit that jumper it was the basketball gods' way of saying, "This one is going Augie's way." Then NSU started hitting 3s in overtime and making 9 out of their 10 free throws and we all realized that clearly wasn't going to be the case. Kind of felt like that was the way the whole season went. If we didn't win, we played just well enough to lose really close ones. Hopefully that experience this year helps these guys grow and be more prepared to handle end-of-game situations with poise. I'd also love to see just one guy step up as an "I want the ball in the clutch and I'm going to make sure we win this game no matter what" type of guy. Maybe that would've been Cartwright if he were healthy, but we really needed it all year long regardless. Hoping someone fills that role next year.

Despite the fact that the season didn't go the way we hoped, I won't be crushed if everyone on our roster decides to come back. Adding in a healthy Cartwright and current redshirted freshman Akoi Akoi (along with our two incoming high school players) could lead to a really fun season next year. Then again, everyone else is coming back too (other than the already announced outgoing transfers), so maybe next season will be just as tough as this season.

[MrAugustana]

This has been a weird year. Despite how good we were supposed to be in terms of preseason expectations, we also had some frustrating things happen (specifically not having a healthy Cartwright and missing LeBrun for the two Mankato games, when his athleticism and defense would've been hugely helpful). In general, I think this team looks dramatically different with Cartwright. Not only for his 15+ ppg and general court leadership, but also because it strengthens our bench, which has been shallower than a usual Augie team this season.

That being said, we still should've been a top team in the South. Our losses this season were by 5 points and 9 points (after fouling a few times at the very end) against Mankato, by 5 against Winona, by 10 against UIU (in a game closer than the score indicated), and by 5 the next night in overtime. The only game that was clearly out of reach was the Wayne game on Sunday. That one was out of reach with 5 minutes left and Wayne never let us get it back from there.

My point is, I think this Augie team is still a good team. While I didn't think when the season started that Augie fans would be celebrating sneaking into the conference tournament on a miracle play from another team, I'm glad we still have a chance. Would love to see these guys pull off the win against Northern and get a shot at a Regional bid. Definitely a tall task, but not impossible. Thursday can't get here fast enough.

[Moorhead123]

All I can say is I'm glad Augie played MSU-Moorhead the first week of the season. No way they sweep them if they played now.

I've watched parts of several Dragon games, and that is one deep team. Augie, of the seven-man rotation, is decidedly not.

[Blue Ridge Viking]

All I can say is I'm glad Augie played MSU-Moorhead the first week of the season. No way they sweep them if they played now.

I've watched parts of several Dragon games, and that is one deep team. Augie, of the seven-man rotation, is decidedly not.

[Moorhead123]

If anyone on here who is smarter than me (so basically anyone besides simple) is bored, I would love to hear some analysis of Augie's best case scenario, other than just winning both games this weekend. Who specifically do we need to lose games still have hope?.

[MrAugustana]

If anyone on here who is smarter than me (so basically anyone besides simple) is bored, I would love to hear some analysis of Augie's best case scenario, other than just winning both games this weekend. Who specifically do we need to lose games still have hope? Besides USF, I mean.

[MrAugustana]

Congrats to incoming Viking Angelo Winkel on surpassing his school's career scoring record and single-season rebounding record:

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[MrAugustana]

Augie's favorite former Argus Leader reporter Stu Whitney may have spoken too soon about Stephanie leaving...

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(I still think she's leaving, but it's interesting nonetheless.)

[Augieholic]

Non-political question: How has the school fared under her leadership? Tough to get a feel for these sorts of things when you live half a country away.

Is the school headed in the right direction? Financially healthy? Responding to demographic and technological changes appropriately? Holding its own in the pandemic?

She seemed to have ambitious plans for the school, which I liked, but I have no idea if that translated into real progress. She is a politician at heart, after all.

If she does leave in the near term I think the answer would be mostly positive. Obviously announcing the D1 move but failing to get a conference invite is less than ideal but we don't know how much of that was caused by the pandemic. Under her guidance the school expanded Masters offerings which was long overdue, appears to have adapted well to the pandemic with in person and online classes, and finally built the long discussed on campus track (even if it should've been an indoor complex). The small interactions I've had and have heard about from others have all been positive.

From a name recognition basis in our area it will be hard to do better than Herseth Sandlin.

[Blue Ridge Viking]

According to an Argus headline that links to a subscribers-only article: "Sandlin sworn in as federal lawyer, opening door for Biden appointment."

I would assume she will not be the president at Augie much longer.

Non-political question: How has the school fared under her leadership? Tough to get a feel for these sorts of things when you live half a country away.

Is the school headed in the right direction? Financially healthy? Responding to demographic and technological changes appropriately? Holding its own in the pandemic?

She seemed to have ambitious plans for the school, which I liked, but I have no idea if that translated into real progress. She is a politician at heart, after all.

[MrAugustana]

According to an Argus headline that links to a subscribers-only article: "Sandlin sworn in as federal lawyer, opening door for Biden appointment."

I would assume she will not be the president at Augie much longer.