The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

[MrAugustana]

Nice to have a weekend to get fully excited about for the Vikings.

I was actually nervous about the St. Cloud game. We've lost games this season to teams that, on paper, we should beat (Concordia, for example). I was glad the guys took care of business.

To continue the "young guys vs. old guys" narrative, the young kids played well, with Hinker starting and playing 26 minutes to score 9 points and grab 5 boards with only two fouls. Sam Rensch also put up 12 on 5-9 shooting with 4 boards and 2 assists, Brady Helgren dropped 12 with 6 boards, and Jackson Loge jumped in with Akoi in foul trouble to put up 11 points and grab 5 boards.

Jadan Graves and Ryan Miller led all scorers on solid shooting night with 18 points and 13 points, respectively. Graves also had 4 assists and 3 steals.

Follow that up with a game in Duluth that I was nearly 100% certain the Vikings would drop. Between our Saturday night woes and Duluth's record/roster, it seemed very unlikely we'd come away with a win. But to prove me wrong, several kids stepped up to have big nights. Fink and Miller led the way with 18 points and 8 boards each, with Fink throwing in 5 assists for good measure. Jadan dropped 17 as well, and Akoi put up 12 points in his 19 minutes.

The young guys came up big again though, even if it wasn't necessarily big on paper. With Akoi in foul trouble yet again, Loge put in a solid stretch of minutes in the first half. Even though he didn't score a ton, he stayed active and didn't back down from a returning player of the year big man. Helgren had a bit of an off night, but Rensch put up 12 on a great 5-7 shooting, hitting some big shots when the Vikings needed them. Hinker didn't start (on the radio, Jeff Fylling suggested it could be because the Vikings planned to play pretty aggressive defense... I'm wondering if Billeter was hoping to keep Hinker out of foul trouble early, which might have paid off because last night's starter, Eric Tiedman, fouled out with 10:30 or so to go in the 2nd half and only played 8 total minutes in the game).

Fun to see so many guys play well on the same night, rather than a big game from one or two guys and a major drop off with the rest of the team.

The Vikings are in control of their own destiny right now. If we were to get wins over Winona and Mankato, we could claw our way back into tournament contention. Never expected to be saying that when the season started, but it is what it is. Still several tough games left: USF, SMSU, Mankato, Upper Iowa, Winona, and a Concordia team that already beat us once this season. But seeing that we have some fight in us is definitely encouraging. Just need to continue to get better through this closing stretch and see what happens.

[vikingfaithful]

Great weekend to be a Viking 4 BB games 4 wins. Augie women hand lady dogs their 1st conference loss. Suspicious number of late fouls on AU late including a technical on the bench with 25 sec. left and a 4-point lead. Krauth was hot after that.

[Augieholic]

Augie women go into Duluth and become the first NSIC team to leave with a win. Krauthketball rides again!

[Thunder]

Also Hinker Holdings venture capitalist have been a great investment starting to show an upside in value.

I feel like I’m one of the early investors on this one, even though it is a foreign investment. I’m really hoping to cash in in a year or so when he moves on up to bigger pastures.

[vikingfaithful]

As one of initial investors in Sam Rensch Island, initial purchase made on December 2nd, these last few weeks have seen an enormous growth in foot traffic and property value. All are welcome.

Also Hinker Holdings venture capitalist have been a great investment starting to show an upside in value.

[Augieholic]

Rensch and Hinker are carrying this hyped freshmen class right now.

As one of initial investors in Sam Rensch Island, initial purchase made on December 2nd, these last few weeks have seen an enormous growth in foot traffic and property value. All are welcome.

[MrAugustana]

Yes I did see your great assessment of the program. My latest comment was more for what I had seen this last weekend. When I watch the games the players I seen making the biggest impact on the game with and without the ball are Fink, Hinker and Miller. That being said I’m not to sure if there’s anybody on this team that should be playing over 30 mins a game beside Fink.

To be clear, I wasn't trying to imply that my assessment was all that important. Just that I had a couple of thoughts directly related to your post/comments/questions and wasn't sure if you'd seen them.

Regarding your comment that you aren't sure if there's anybody on this team that should be playing over 30 minutes a game, I get where you're coming from. It's not hard to see and point out flaws when things aren't going well, and this season we certainly aren't at the level we've been at in previous years. But that does happen from time to time, even for high level programs. Previously I brought up Mankato's 2011-12 season when they went 7-19 and the way they bounced back. This season also reminds me a little of Augie's 2013-14 season. Prior to this 2022-23 season, that was the Vikings' "worst" year of the past 10 or so.

That season featured a roster made up of primarily young/inexperienced players, with literally only one upperclassman (Yuriy Malashenko) who had played any quality minutes whatsoever in previous years. Alex Richter would've been another experienced upperclassman that season, but he redshirted due to injury.

Other than Yuriy, in terms of "key players" that season, it was six freshmen and five sophomores, with a couple of upperclassmen getting sparing minutes here and there.

That year was a bummer to go through as a fan (particularly the loss to USF at USF, which I believe was Augie's first loss to the Cougars since the rivalry had resumed in 2008 or 2009 or whenever that was...). There were times when, other than a few bright spots with Jansen and Schilling in particular, it seemed the Vikings maybe had lost some steam as a program. Then, lo and behold, players got better--despite those losses--and came back to put together the two best seasons in program history.

Is it a guarantee the same thing will happen again the next two seasons? Obviously not. Part of it depends on whether or not some of these key pieces want to stick it out or jump into the portal, which is a risk for every team, every season these days. But if they stick around, I think the Vikings could have a pretty special group. Plus, I'm pretty sure for some of those guys on the 2013-14 team (like Jansen), getting revenge on the teams that beat them up throughout that rough season was a motivating factor. So if any of the kids on this year's roster have that mindset and attitude, it could be a fun couple of seasons for the Vikings coming up.

Lots of ifs, but I personally remain optimistic, even if we don't finish as high in the standings this season as Augie fans are used to.

[Augieman78]

Yes I did see your great assessment of the program. My latest comment was more for what I had seen this last weekend. When I watch the games the players I seen making the biggest impact on the game with and without the ball are Fink, Hinker and Miller. That being said I’m not to sure if there’s anybody on this team that should be playing over 30 mins a game beside Fink.

[MrAugustana]

A tale of 2 teams, this seems to be the trend. Very inconsistent play on both ends of the court. Fink played well this past weekend reminding us of how good he can be. Beyond that it appears as if Caden Hinker is the next best player out there. He has good speed for his size and can cover space well. He needs to be able to hit on some of them easy baskets. It’s not just him missing them though, it has been contagious. Graves, Akoi and Tiedman were a combine 7-27 against Bemidji and that is tough to over come from guys that are getting major minutes. When the baskets go in it makes for a fun game but when they don’t it’s ugly real ugly. I understand no one is gonna make 100% of their shots but the problem is that we are 20 games in and 9-11 and 5-9 in the conference. The season is pretty much a wash at this point. I get it, Tom wants to put his players that have the best chance to win the game out there but there has to be a breaking point. I wouldn’t mind see the upper classman vs the freshman scrimmage. I think it would be a lot closer than one would think.

I made a few comments about this in my previous post. Not sure if you missed it or just didn't feel like acknowledging/responding, but I'll re-mention it here just in case:

Regarding Hinker, he has certainly been solid and at times he absolutely plays like he belongs out there with the big boys, but he does have a tendency to get into foul trouble (4 fouls Friday night, 5 on Saturday, 4 against Moorhead), particularly in games when he has started or is playing more minutes. Foul trouble is not ideal for logging major minutes in games, especially if they are first-half fouls. He also is shooting a not-that-stellar 31% from the field, 20% from three and 59% from the free throw line, with only 13 assists compared to 22 turnovers. Again, I'm not even knocking Hinker, as I was extremely excited when he signed with the Vikings and I think his future is very bright. But even if he starts getting 5-7 more minutes per game to put him up to a solid 20-22 mpg for a freshman, I don't expect it would automatically translate to better output. Clearly Coach Billeter sees positives with Hinker though, moving him into the starting lineup these last few games. I don't think he'd be starting if they didn't have confidence in him.

As far as Loge goes, I'm not sure what the coaches are or aren't seeing. Generally speaking, Billeter has never seemed to be afraid to give minutes to young players when the talent is there, even when they are freshmen (Cody Schilling, Cameron McCaffrey, Casey Schilling, Dan Jansen, Jordan Spencer, etc.). If Loge was truly ready to make a big impact, I doubt Billeter and the other coaches would just be sitting on and squashing that talent by not playing him in games. My assumption is that there is a reason Loge isn't seeing significant minutes so far. When he has gotten in, he's made plays where I've thought, "Huh...he looks pretty good to me" and then literally gone down the next play and shot a layup from one side of the backboard to the other without even grazing the rim. Some of that might be nerves or the frustration of playing end-of-game minutes and not more meaningful minutes, but like I said, I doubt the coaching staff is thoughtlessly preventing a major impact player from seeing the floor. And to continue to clarify/over-clarify, I was as excited as anybody on here when Loge committed to Augie. While I've had to reserve myself a little more than I used to when it comes to recruiting thanks to NSU4LIFE's sage advice, I'm the one who gets on here and posts videos/tweets/etc. when players commit to the Vikings because I get hyped. So I wanted/expected Loge to come in right away and be one of those Freshman-of-the-Year candidates the Vikings have had in past years. But as good as he was in high school, I'm willing to believe there must be some reason we aren't aware of to explain why he isn't getting more in-game minutes.

Helgren is a puzzle to me. Some plays he looks incredible, some he looks overwhelmed. I do know that if/when the pieces fall into place for him, he will be a rare talent at this level. With his length and touch, he could be a big time player for the next several years, especially if he gets a little tougher and develops a keener defensive acuity.

Rensch has also looked good in flashes. He certainly struggles from time to time on defense, but I know in one of the post-game interviews I caught, Billeter mentioned giving Rensch more minutes as he continues to figure things out and build his confidence, especially with his offensive abilities, so the coaches must see the talent is there with him.

To update these comments a little, Hinker has continued to start for the Vikings and along with staying out of foul trouble the past two games, he's getting more minutes than any other big man besides Akoi. Yes, he had a better game than Akoi against Bemidji, but it's not like he's proven so far this season that he deserves significantly more minutes than any other big on the roster. The night before he was 0-5 from the field against the worst team in the conference (although he did grab 5 boards and dish out 3 assists).

I personally would like to see a little more consistency from Hinker over the course of the next several games before I'd be willing to agree that he's the second best player on the team. And, just to make sure I make it as clear as I can, I think Hinker has a TON of potential. He seems stronger than average freshman bigs in the conference, he looks like he's getting better game-by-game (to a more noticeable degree than other young players on Augie's roster right now, except maybe Rensch), and I think he will be a key piece in the Vikings' success in the coming years. Earning a starting spot as a true freshman is always a great sign in my book. I just don't know that I've seen enough up to this point to declare him the second best player on the team or to justify giving him 30+ minutes per game.

At the same time, I'll be the first to admit I'm not the best at assessing players, their skills, or how they fit into a specific offensive or defensive scheme, etc. I typically leave the more analytical analysis to Augieholic, when he has the time to chime in.

Doesn’t augie redshirt anyone? This would have been a good year to redshirt a couple young guys, if they ever do…

Generally speaking, Augie recruits talent that can (and I'd assume often expects to) play right away. Poking around the Augie record books, nearly every significant impact player in Billeter's tenure has played as a true freshman: Nick Olson, David Foster, Jordan Dalton, Eric Krogman, Cody Schilling, Cameron McCaffrey, Dan Jansen, Casey Schilling, Alex Richter, Matt Cartwright, AJ Plitzuweit, Dylan LeBrun, Isaac Fink, just to name a dozen. One notable exception would be Jordan Spencer, who redshirted for one semester. Not sure any others come to mind, though Augieholic can correct me if I'm wrong on any of those.

Not ever having played college basketball myself, I guess I don't understand enough of the logistics of choosing which kids redshirt (in terms of how much of it is the coach's decision versus the player's willingness to redshirt, etc.), but I would imagine it was probably discussed/considered for some of the players in this current group but must not have happened for one reason or another. Other than Hayden Arndt, who I assume is redshirting, since he hasn't played yet this year in any regular season games.

[Moorhead123]

A tale of 2 teams, this seems to be the trend. Very inconsistent play on both ends of the court. Fink played well this past weekend reminding us of how good he can be. Beyond that it appears as if Caden Hinker is the next best player out there. He has good speed for his size and can cover space well. He needs to be able to hit on some of them easy baskets. It’s not just him missing them though, it has been contagious. Graves, Akoi and Tiedman were a combine 7-27 against Bemidji and that is tough to over come from guys that are getting major minutes. When the baskets go in it makes for a fun game but when they don’t it’s ugly real ugly. I understand no one is gonna make 100% of their shots but the problem is that we are 20 games in and 9-11 and 5-9 in the conference. The season is pretty much a wash at this point. I get it, Tom wants to put his players that have the best chance to win the game out there but there has to be a breaking point. I wouldn’t mind see the upper classman vs the freshman scrimmage. I think it would be a lot closer than one would think.

Doesn’t augie redshirt anyone? This would have been a good year to redshirt a couple young guys, if they ever do…

[Augieman78]

A tale of 2 teams, this seems to be the trend. Very inconsistent play on both ends of the court. Fink played well this past weekend reminding us of how good he can be. Beyond that it appears as if Caden Hinker is the next best player out there. He has good speed for his size and can cover space well. He needs to be able to hit on some of them easy baskets. It’s not just him missing them though, it has been contagious. Graves, Akoi and Tiedman were a combine 7-27 against Bemidji and that is tough to over come from guys that are getting major minutes. When the baskets go in it makes for a fun game but when they don’t it’s ugly real ugly. I understand no one is gonna make 100% of their shots but the problem is that we are 20 games in and 9-11 and 5-9 in the conference. The season is pretty much a wash at this point. I get it, Tom wants to put his players that have the best chance to win the game out there but there has to be a breaking point. I wouldn’t mind see the upper classman vs the freshman scrimmage. I think it would be a lot closer than one would think.

[Thunder]

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much Augie has struggled this year. The game in Aberdeen left me thinking this is one of the worst Augie teams I can remember. HOWEVER, I believe this young group is too talented to write off. If Texas Tom can keep the entire group together (no small feat in today’s college basketball landscape) I believe the Vikings will be very good in the coming years.

[Augieholic]

tl;dr

So who is the Kyle Anderson of the team this year?

Fink or Tiedman.

Kyle's new haircut is the first thing he's done to make himself appear younger in a loooonnnnggg time.

[vikingfaithful]

The call for freshman was answered tonight and Rensch answered. He had a dribble drive to the rack in the 2nd half that was a thing of beauty. Billeter mentioned it was great to get Loge some minutes. An upbeat Billeter said these guys are going to be good. Fink was fantastic with a double-double.

[Stanger86]

Next time I will be sure to include some very minor/trivial slight against Bigler or the Mustangs to be sure it catches your full attention. :)

Also, did you mean Luke Anderson? Or was there another Anderson brother that also played for 14 years at Mankato? I thought Grandpa Luke was one of a kind, but maybe I'm mistaken.

Augie fans are slipping...

This thread also used to be the go-to place on the D2 boards for Timberwolves talk...