The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

[Stanger86]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

I've never even heard of this Division II school Augie is struggling against. A down year?

[Augieholic]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Spencer, Beyer, and Warren might not be completely over matched from a physical stand point but athletically the whole team is fighting a battle that was lost at birth. Anything less than a 40 point loss is cause for celebration in Sioux Falls.

I'll take Duke 93-50.

[laker]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

+1

Only time you'll hear me say Go Augie.

I did pull for them in the Elite 8. Wanted them to bring a natty to the NSIC.

Of course, I do hate Duke.

[Husky]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

I'll actually be pulling for for Augie tonight.

+1

Only time you'll hear me say Go Augie.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

136-47 :)

I didn't even disagree when you hadn't added the smiley.

[simple as a $3 bill]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Anyone want to jump in with predictions for tonight? As much as I'd love to see the Vikes pull another Iowa-style upset, it's safe to say there's about a 0.00001% chance of that happening. My guess is Duke wins by a clean 30, possibly even 40, somewhere in the realm of 101-65. I will be pretty happy if the Vikes keep it under 30, but I'm not expecting that. Also hoping nobody gets injured. The Vikes have had a few guys banged up earlier in the year, so keeping everyone as healthy as possible would be nice.

136-47 :)

[laker]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Here are a few of the preview stories/articles about tonight's match-up against Duke
.

I'll actually be pulling for for Augie tonight.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Here are a few of the preview stories/articles about tonight's match-up against Duke.

Local stuff:
-http://www.argusleader.com/story/spo...duke/93229802/

-http://www.ksfy.com/content/sports/A...399948331.html

-http://goaugie.com/news/2016/10/31/m...on-friday.aspx (this is just the GoAugie release with info on the watch party tonight at the Premier Center for those who wish to attend)

Duke stuff:
-http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/...uke-basketball (this one, as so many do, confuses us with the D3 Augie a little bit, claiming we were national runners-up in 2014-15...we weren't...)

-http://duke.247sports.com/Article/Pr...stana-48611205 (this one predicts Kerkman will start for Augie...from what I've heard in the past few days, Kerkman still has yet to practice even a single minute for the Vikes, let alone suit up to start against Duke...)

Also, this quote from Coach Billeter in the above article made me chuckle:
-http://bluedevilnation.net/2016/11/d...ake-augustana/


Anyone want to jump in with predictions for tonight? As much as I'd love to see the Vikes pull another Iowa-style upset, it's safe to say there's about a 0.00001% chance of that happening. My guess is Duke wins by a clean 30, possibly even 40, somewhere in the realm of 101-65. I will be pretty happy if the Vikes keep it under 30, but I'm not expecting that. Also hoping nobody gets injured. The Vikes have had a few guys banged up earlier in the year, so keeping everyone as healthy as possible would be nice.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Kind of a fun, fairly short audio interview with Coach Billeter and Carla Metts of Midco Sports. Gives a little more insight into how this upcoming season might look for the Vikes as well as some discussion of tomorrow night's game against Duke.

https://www.midcosn.com/blog/2016/11...in-the-nation/

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

For those interested, Augie is hosting a watch party for the Duke game. Here's the link: http://www.augie.edu/events/watch-au...l-take-on-duke

And here's the story/details:

Watch AU Men's Basketball Take on Duke

Event Details

Date: November 4, 2016
Location: Ballroom B of Sioux Falls Convention Center (1201 N. West Ave.)

Augustana men's basketball will open the 2016-17 season with an exhibition game at Duke University on Friday, Nov. 4.

Catch up with Augustana alumni and cheer on the men's basketball team as it opens its season at Duke, currently ranked No. 1 in the nation.

The Vikings will take on the Blue Devils at historic Cameron Indoor Stadium on Friday, Nov. 4, as Duke continues its tradition of inviting the previous year's NCAA Division II National Champion to Durham, North Carolina, for an exhibition game.

Details on where you can watch this historic game follow.

In Sioux Falls
-Friday, Nov. 4
-Starting at 6 p.m. CT
-Game time: 7 p.m. CT
-Ballroom B of Sioux Falls Convention Center of Denny Sanford PREMIER Center (1201 N. West Ave.)

Cheer on the Vikings with other local Augustana fans at our watch party within the Convention Center of the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. Watch the game on the big screen, and enjoy complimentary snacks and a cash bar. Fan apparel will be for sale by the Bookstore.

If you want specific links to things (how to order the game to watch at home, live stats, etc.), they're all in the story I linked to at the top of the post. I didn't want to do the work of embedding all of them.

[Stanger86]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Yeah, both St Cloud Times and Argus Leader are owned by Gannett, which laid off a number of people across the country. St Cloud newsroom is 55% of what it was just two years ago.

Both SCSU and USF/Augie lost beat reporters

[laker]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Slight bit of bad news here, but it sounds like Augie and USF beat writer Ian Frazer has been let go by the Argus Leader after its recent management shake-up. .

St. Cloud had a number of people let go. It makes me wonder about the future of daily newspapers. More and more people rely on online- they want their news right now, not wait until tomorrow. Unfortunate but that seems to be happening.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Slight bit of bad news here, but it sounds like Augie and USF beat writer Ian Frazer has been let go by the Argus Leader after its recent management shake-up. Based on the fact that he was already covering Augie, USF and the prep sports scene for the Argus, it's probably safe to assume neither of the local D2 schools will be getting the same level of coverage they've gotten in recent years. Hopefully Zimmer and/or Mick Garry will jump over from their D1 duties from time to time to cover the Vikes and Cougars, but I'd imagine those feature stories will be few and far between.

Unless the Argus surprisingly hires a replacement for Frazer, my guess is we get some coverage for season openers, an Augie/USF crosstown rivalry game feature, and maybe some postseason coverage if either team makes it very far in the postseason this year. If we get more than that, I'll be pleasantly surprised. Then again, maybe this is just an unnecessarily dire doom & gloom prediction. Either way, always a bummer to lose a beat-writer with no replacement in sight.

[vikingfaithful]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Happy 7-month anniversary of Augie's National Championship, Viking fans. Seems like just yesterday 9,000 pounds of confetti were falling from the ceiling and the Vikes were celebrating the conclusion of the best season in school history with a championship victory. Here's to hoping we can make another run like that sooner than later.

Fantastic young men and stupendous coaching staff made it happen. We are fortunate indeed!

[simple as a $3 bill]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

While we may not be the preseason #10 SCSU Huskies, I do have confidence in the Augie coaching staff's ability to find and cultivate good talent. Should be fun to see if Cartwright in particular proves you wrong over the next few years. I don't think Vincent is expected to be a knockdown shooter, so if that aspect of his game happens to be solid during his career as a Viking, it's probably just a bonus.

Hell, I don't even think that we are the #10 SCSU Huskies. :)