The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Congrats to future Viking Matt Cartwright on being named the 2017 Gatorade Player of the Year in South Dakota:

@Mcartwright23 Congrats Matt Cartwright! The 2016-2017 Gatorade Boys Basketball Player of the Year in South Dakota. #GatoradePOY pic.twitter.com/x5vZU5ofsl

— Hudl (@Hudl) March 20, 2017

Nice little write-up about it here in the Argus as well: http://www.argusleader.com/story/spo...year/99404686/

[laker]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

All three pictures didn't come through. So here is the Augie one.

[laker]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Former Augie Viking forward Riley Nordgaard will play in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, against Washington in Seattle. She is averaging 13.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.9 steals for Montana State.

[Stanger86]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Former Augie Viking forward Riley Nordgaard will play in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, against Washington in Seattle. She is averaging 13.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.9 steals for Montana State.

[laker]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

This is funny.

But I can't give you any rep points, gotta share with the class.

Gotta have something to talk about today. Game is another 24 hours away.

[Purple Mav Man]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Odd. Your wife told me that she is looking forward to next season. I might have misunderstood what she said.

This is funny.

But I can't give you any rep points, gotta share with the class.

[laker]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

.On a side note, I'm kind of looking forward to disengaging from the boards a little bit the next few months. Especially after Tuesday night's game. My wife is probably looking forward to it as well.

Odd. Your wife told me that she is looking forward to next season. I might have misunderstood what she said.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Huh. Can't seem to edit my previous post, so I'll just have to make a new post instead of adding this to the previous one. As a follow-up to Spencer's 1st Team All-Region award, I think it may have gotten lost in the shuffle that Spencer broke the all-time career assist record this year at Augie as a junior.

Similarly impressive, in my mind, is the fact that he only had 2 fewer assists this season than last season (242 this year, 244 last year). Seeing as his recipients of those passes weren't necessarily of the same caliber scoring-wise as Jansen/Schilling/Richter, I'm kind of amazed he was able to put up such similar numbers.

Also found this stat from the press release interesting:

He is the NCAA Division II career active leader in assists 688, which is also Augustana's all-time career record.

That's kind of cool too.

Congrats again to Jordan. Looking forward to having him back next year to continue leading this team.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Also, congrats to Augie's Jordan Spencer. Just saw he was named to the D2CCA All-Central Region 1st Team: http://goaugie.com/news/2017/3/13/me...irst-team.aspx

Jordan Spencer named to D2CCA All-Central Region First TeamFirst Team
Gage Davis, So., G, 6-4, St. Cloud State
Aaron Lien, Sr., G, 6-4, MSU Moorhead
*Justin Pitts, Jr., G, 5-9, Northwest Missouri State
Braxton Reeves, Sr., F, 6-4, East Central
Jordan Spencer, Jr., G, 6-2, Augusana

*D2CCA Central Region Player of the Year

Second Team
Rob Davis, Sr., G, 5-11, Fort Hays State
Derylton Hill, Jr., F, 6-5, Arkansas-Monticello
Tyler Rudolph, Jr., F, 6-6, Minot State
Brady Skeens, Jr., F, 6-7, Washburn
Anthony Virdure, Sr., G, 6-0, Lincoln

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Regardless of what happens this weekend, congrats to the Vikes on making the Regional this year. I believe someone on the selection show last night mentioned that there were 40 at-large bids this year, meaning the Vikes were one of 40 teams in D2 to make the tournament without winning their conference tourney.

On the one hand, I know there are plenty of fans who think, Well, you just won the National Championship, your program should make the tournament every year, and I don't entirely disagree. That's part of being a top-tier program. On the other hand, the Vikes certainly lost a lot off of last year's roster, not just in terms of point scored, but in terms of defense (particularly a 2-time conference Defensive Player of the Year), and, probably most importantly, experience playing in big games. We returned a couple of starters and a few bench guys, but a lot of those bench guys played nowhere near as many big time minutes as last year's starters did. To still be in the hunt for a Sweet Sixteen or, depending on how tired and unprepared Northwest is on a back to back night and how hard Pitts gets fouled, possibly an Elite Eight berth is commendable in my opinion.

At the start of this season, I definitely can't say I was expecting to make the Regional. I was hoping for right around 18-12 or 19-11 or so at best. To be 23-8 with a 5-seed in a pretty tough region and, in my opinion, at least the chance to beat almost anybody in this region is more than I expected, and probably more than a few other fans expected too.

Congrats to the Vikes--players, coaching staff, administrators, etc.--on a great season regardless of what happens next weekend. Here's to hoping we keep things rolling for a few more games at least.

After last night's game, I still feel the exact same way. Very proud of our players, our coaching staff, and our administration for putting together a great team after losing so much.

One thing I wanted to point out is that there are many people who are viewing this as a down year, yet, statistically, this year still tied for the third-best win total in school history. Just shows the point we've reached as a program when some fans are seeing a 24-win season as somewhat of a down year.

For reference, here are the other top win/loss records in school history (the majority are from the Billeter era, other than the Bill Gross-coached 1988-89 season):

1988-89 | 23-7

2007-08 | 22-9

2008-09 | 21-10

2009-10 | 24-7

2012-13 | 22-9

2014-15 | 31-3

2015-16 | 34-2

2016-17 | 24-8

Again, really proud of what this team accomplished and I'm looking forward to what we can do in the future. We've got some really, really strong young guards coming in as freshmen, Levi Jansen should finally be healthy next season, and some guys who came in this year with little to no in-game experience (Marcus Asmus in particular, along with freshman Lucas Walford, and even Steven Schaefer a little bit) got lots of minutes this year and will hopefully be even more ready to be impact players next season.

Not sure if Mankato is getting rid of any more Mike Busacks, but I'd also be open to one of them again. :)

All in all, great effort from the Vikes this season, even if it didn't end as spectacularly as last year ended. Really like that this program didn't take a major step back as some programs do after winning a National Championship. We may not have been able to string together a Winona-esque run, but I'll still take what we've accomplished over the past few seasons over about what 95-99% of other programs in D2 have accomplished in that same stretch of time.

On a side note, I'm kind of looking forward to disengaging from the boards a little bit the next few months. Especially after Tuesday night's game. My wife is probably looking forward to it as well.

VST! VSS! Go Bearcats (at least until this season is over)!

[vikingfaithful]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Regardless of what happens this weekend, congrats to the Vikes on making the Regional this year. I believe someone on the selection show last night mentioned that there were 40 at-large bids this year, meaning the Vikes were one of 40 teams in D2 to make the tournament without winning their conference tourney.

On the one hand, I know there are plenty of fans who think, Well, you just won the National Championship, your program should make the tournament every year, and I don't entirely disagree. That's part of being a top-tier program. On the other hand, the Vikes certainly lost a lot off of last year's roster, not just in terms of point scored, but in terms of defense (particularly a 2-time conference Defensive Player of the Year), and, probably most importantly, experience playing in big games. We returned a couple of starters and a few bench guys, but a lot of those bench guys played nowhere near as many big time minutes as last year's starters did. To still be in the hunt for a Sweet Sixteen or, depending on how tired and unprepared Northwest is on a back to back night and how hard Pitts gets fouled, possibly an Elite Eight berth is commendable in my opinion.

At the start of this season, I definitely can't say I was expecting to make the Regional. I was hoping for right around 18-12 or 19-11 or so at best. To be 23-8 with a 5-seed in a pretty tough region and, in my opinion, at least the chance to beat almost anybody in this region is more than I expected, and probably more than a few other fans expected too.

Congrats to the Vikes--players, coaching staff, administrators, etc.--on a great season regardless of what happens next weekend. Here's to hoping we keep things rolling for a few more games at least.

Well stated Mr. A. AU is so fortunate to have Mike Busack join the team for a season, especially with freshman Jansen's injury. Would be fantastic to have another shot at NWMSU to see how the Vikings measure up as the team has certainly improved over the course of the season.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Regardless of what happens this weekend, congrats to the Vikes on making the Regional this year. I believe someone on the selection show last night mentioned that there were 40 at-large bids this year, meaning the Vikes were one of 40 teams in D2 to make the tournament without winning their conference tourney.

On the one hand, I know there are plenty of fans who think, Well, you just won the National Championship, your program should make the tournament every year, and I don't entirely disagree. That's part of being a top-tier program. On the other hand, the Vikes certainly lost a lot off of last year's roster, not just in terms of point scored, but in terms of defense (particularly a 2-time conference Defensive Player of the Year), and, probably most importantly, experience playing in big games. We returned a couple of starters and a few bench guys, but a lot of those bench guys played nowhere near as many big time minutes as last year's starters did. To still be in the hunt for a Sweet Sixteen or, depending on how tired and unprepared Northwest is on a back to back night and how hard Pitts gets fouled, possibly an Elite Eight berth is commendable in my opinion.

At the start of this season, I definitely can't say I was expecting to make the Regional. I was hoping for right around 18-12 or 19-11 or so at best. To be 23-8 with a 5-seed in a pretty tough region and, in my opinion, at least the chance to beat almost anybody in this region is more than I expected, and probably more than a few other fans expected too.

Congrats to the Vikes--players, coaching staff, administrators, etc.--on a great season regardless of what happens next weekend. Here's to hoping we keep things rolling for a few more games at least.

[vikingfaithful]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Hey guys, here's my most recent Mirror article on the team, with quotations from Billeter, Beyer and Spencer. I'm sure there's at least a few nuggets in here you'll find worthy of your attention, though the story is meant for a less-knowledgable audience. http://www.augiemirror.com/mens-bask...in-nsic-semis/

One of the great things about Tom Billeter is the speaks the truth and very little coach speak. In another interview with an Aberdeen radio program he said worrying about losing his job motivates him, how many coaches would speak that honestly?

[vikesfan]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Hey guys, here's my most recent Mirror article on the team, with quotations from Billeter, Beyer and Spencer. I'm sure there's at least a few nuggets in here you'll find worthy of your attention, though the story is meant for a less-knowledgable audience. http://www.augiemirror.com/mens-bask...in-nsic-semis/

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

So your dream NCAA D1 Tournament wouldn't involve any mid-mid-major schools? Randomness is throughly enjoyable, it's why people love March Madness and surprises like George Mason, Butler, VCU, Florida Gulf Coast, Northern Iowa, and the one that started it all Gonzaga.

It would involve the same number of mid-mid-major schools. I would just reward the team that won its conference regular season (by winning consistently all year) rather than rewarding the team that wins 3-4 games in the conference tournament. I know that cuts, like, 50% of the "Tourney Week" ESPN stuff, which, admittedly, is a blast. But I would rather see a team that worked hard all year get in--and, who knows, possibly make a solid, Gonzaga-esque Cinderella run because they're a good team--than see a less deserving team get in just because they won a few games at the right time and pulled off an upset in the championship game.