The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

You are absolutely right on Fox, and I have adjusted my original post accordingly. Either their website didn't sort the players by class correctly, or I completely overlooked it.

Like you, I don't believe it differentiates between redshirt freshman or true freshman.

[GrifFan]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Three frosh averaging double figures is pretty impressive.

[Moorhead123]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

I was reflecting on one of my predictions from the preseason (I did mention I was kidding about the Sharpie part in my full post, but I'll just go with the abbreviated post for everyone's sake):



...and it made me realize that I didn't have any idea which other teams have solid freshmen, so I wanted to look into it.

There's always a high likelihood that I missed a kid or two in my research, but here's what I came up with so far. I basically just checked on freshmen who had noteworthy stats to a degree that they could potentially be in the running or close to in the running for NSIC FoY this season.

Augie
AJ Plitzuweit - 14 ppg, 4 apg, 4 rpg
Michael Schaefer - 12 ppg, 6 rpg
Dylan LeBrun - 10ppg, 6 rpg, 2 apg

SMSU - No one

Moorhead
Baumgartner - 16 ppg, 5 rpg, 2.1 apg
Irsfeld - 10 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 3.2 apg

Bemidji - No one

USF - No one

Mankato
Baumgardner - 13 ppg, 2 rpg, 3.1 apg

Duluth - No one

St. Cloud - No one

Minot - No one

Northern - No one

Mary - No one

UIU
Joens - 8ppg but almost 0 in rpg and apg

Winona - No one

Wayne
Jordan Jannsen - 10.3 rpg, 7 rpg, 1 apg
Ferrarini - 9ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1apg

Crookston - No one

CSP
Baughman - 8.1ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.2 apg

In spite of the fact that I think there's a noticeable difference between a freshman and a redshirt freshman (seeing as they have an entire year to practice, get used to road trips, get comfortable with teammates, etc.), statistically it's looking like Moorhead123's shining star, Gavin Baumgartner, is the frontrunner. The one that surprised me was Mankato's similarly-but-not-exactly-named Baumgardner, who is having a solid statistical season as a freshman for the Mavs.

I think Plitzuweit having to miss 4 games with a lingering back injury probably hasn't helped him, but he has definitely come on stronger in the past 3 weekends or so as he has gotten more and more comfortable and is getting consistent minutes again. If he puts together a few more 20-25 point games to finish out the year, he might be able to work his way up to the top of the list in the freshman category, but it would also take a bit of an unlikely slide from Baumgartner at Moorhead in particular, and statistically he is slightly stronger, particularly with his 55% 3-point shooting.

Like I said, I think the redshirt freshman thing is different from true freshmen, but I'm sure others would argue that there's a big difference between practicing with the team for a year and actually playing a full season. Having played zero college basketball games in my life, I wouldn't know if that's accurate or not, but I'm willing to believe those who do know.

Won't surprise me if Baumgartner ends up as this year's Freshman of the Year, but I would love to see Plitzuweit continue his upward trajectory to close out the season, whether he wins it or not.

Side note: I think Dylan LeBrun is one of those sleeper type kids that is going to be really sneaky good in another year or two. You almost don't realize he's a freshman out there most of the time, but I think he's been overshadowed a bit by Cartwright, Plitzuweit, Schaefer, etc., in spite of his talent.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

I was reflecting on one of my predictions from the preseason (I did mention I was kidding about the Sharpie part in my full post, but I'll just go with the abbreviated post for everyone's sake):

AJ Plitzuweit, NSIC Freshman of the Year 2018-19. Sharpie.

...and it made me realize that I didn't have any idea which other teams have solid freshmen, so I wanted to look into it.

There's always a high likelihood that I missed a kid or two in my research, but here's what I came up with so far. I basically just checked on freshmen who had noteworthy stats to a degree that they could potentially be in the running or close to in the running for NSIC FoY this season.

Augie
AJ Plitzuweit - 14 ppg, 4 apg, 4 rpg
Michael Schaefer - 12 ppg, 6 rpg
Dylan LeBrun - 10ppg, 6 rpg, 2 apg

SMSU - No one

Moorhead
Baumgartner - 16 ppg, 5 rpg, 2.1 apg
Irsfeld - 10 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 3.2 apg

Bemidji - No one

USF - No one

Mankato
Baumgardner - 13 ppg, 2 rpg, 3.1 apg

Duluth - No one

St. Cloud - No one

Minot - No one

Northern
Parker Fox - 11ppg, 6rpg, 1apg, 3dpg (dunks per game)

Mary - No one

UIU
Joens - 8ppg but almost 0 in rpg and apg

Winona - No one

Wayne
Jordan Jannsen - 10.3 rpg, 7 rpg, 1 apg
Ferrarini - 9ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1apg

Crookston - No one

CSP
Baughman - 8.1ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.2 apg

In spite of the fact that I think there's a noticeable difference between a freshman and a redshirt freshman (seeing as they have an entire year to practice, get used to road trips, get comfortable with teammates, etc.), statistically it's looking like Moorhead123's shining star, Gavin Baumgartner, is the frontrunner. The one that surprised me was Mankato's similarly-but-not-exactly-named Baumgardner, who is having a solid statistical season as a freshman for the Mavs.

I think Plitzuweit having to miss 4 games with a lingering back injury probably hasn't helped him, but he has definitely come on stronger in the past 3 weekends or so as he has gotten more and more comfortable and is getting consistent minutes again. If he puts together a few more 20-25 point games to finish out the year, he might be able to work his way up to the top of the list in the freshman category, but it would also take a bit of an unlikely slide from Baumgartner at Moorhead in particular, and statistically he is slightly stronger, particularly with his 55% 3-point shooting.

Like I said, I think the redshirt freshman thing is different from true freshmen, but I'm sure others would argue that there's a big difference between practicing with the team for a year and actually playing a full season. Having played zero college basketball games in my life, I wouldn't know if that's accurate or not, but I'm willing to believe those who do know.

Won't surprise me if Baumgartner ends up as this year's Freshman of the Year, but I would love to see Plitzuweit continue his upward trajectory to close out the season, whether he wins it or not.

Side note: I think Dylan LeBrun is one of those sleeper type kids that is going to be really sneaky good in another year or two. You almost don't realize he's a freshman out there most of the time, but I think he's been overshadowed a bit by Cartwright, Plitzuweit, Schaefer, etc., in spite of his talent.

[laker]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

The world famous Sioux Falls Farm Show has the Arena from Wednesday through Friday.

I asked Matt about that on Saturday night. He would have preferred that the games been moved to the Elmen- which would have been very nostalgic- and played Friday/Saturday- but it was not to be.

[Augieholic]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Why are Wayne and Augie playing a home set on Sat./Sun the weekend of the 26/27 instead of the usual Fri./Sat?

The world famous Sioux Falls Farm Show has the Arena from Wednesday through Friday.

[simple as a $3 bill]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Why are Wayne and Augie playing a home set on Sat./Sun the weekend of the 26/27 instead of the usual Fri./Sat?

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Augieholic already mentioned this in one of the other threads, but if you had told me Trevor Hanson could do this before I saw him do it, I might have been skeptical:

Drop the hammer @Trevorhans55G ?#BuildingChampions pic.twitter.com/OStZ6FSaES

— AugieMensBball (@AugieMensBball) January 12, 2019

[Augie Skyhook]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

This link might be pertinent.

[Moorhead123]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

David Brown on MidCo says Riemersma is out 6-8 weeks with a stress fracture in his foot.

Tough lose. He is a heck of a talent.

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

In spite of a frustrating lost last night to a team that was picked to win the division, it has been a good stretch of games for the Vikes. Would have definitely loved to see a win against the Cougars, and there were a few more freshman mistakes made last night than there have been in recent games, but, in general, I think this group is showing it can be competitive in spite of missing not one but two starters and being so young. I find it hard to believe Riemersma's 17 points and 10 boards per game in particular wouldn't have helped us last night against USF, so for these guys to be doing what they are doing in spite of Dykman and Riemersma being out is commendable.

I was expecting that we would be clawing our way to 12 or 13 wins this year. If these guys keep playing like they have been playing, we will finish much better than I was afraid we would. Maybe not Regional contenders this year, but definitely more competitive than we could have been, especially with what we are missing on paper.

I will say that I'm looking forward to the rematch with USF at home. I don't know if we will be so fortunate as to get Guebert in foul trouble again, but it should still be a fun one. Interesting stat on the radio last night is that, in spite of his noticeable talent, apparently Guebert has never scored more than 18 against the Vikes in his career (he might've said 22, but I'm pretty sure it was 18). Hoping we can keep that streak going next time we go up against the Cougars. Of course, a better thing would be keeping both Guebert and Evans to under 18. But that's probably easier said than done.

[Augieholic]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

David Brown on MidCo says Riemersma is out 6-8 weeks with a stress fracture in his foot.

[Augieholic]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Augie and SMSU exchange banked in 3s in the last 6 seconds and the Mustangs end the Vikings perfect NSIC record. I cant believe how much better the SMSU women are than previous years, Webb is a monster.

[Augieholic]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Just heard on MidcoSn..."does not look like (Shelby) Selland will return" and just like that the NSIC womens race totally changed

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

He's been on the bench with a boot on his foot since he won player of the week in mid-December. Foot injuries for big guys usually dont heal quickly so who knows when or if we'll see him again this season.

This is a sad thing.