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Post by kiyoat on Oct 9, 2019 12:50:49 GMT -6
Here's more links from media day:
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 16, 2019 16:06:49 GMT -6
Totally missed USD BB Media day yesterday... Here's the 1-hour men/women combined presser:
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 17, 2019 9:34:24 GMT -6
Some quotes from Lee I found interesting (there's a lot more in there, if you listen to it):
Lee: "At the mid-major level, you need to build a team. And they need to know your system. They need to be there every year. They've gotta get older, gotta get tougher. And the second year... makes a big difference.
At our level you need to be old to be good. Very rarely do you win with young kids at this level...A lot of these guys aren't gonna be "one and done" guys. They need to be in the system. When you look at teams that advance in the NCAA Tournament from the mid-major level, they are usually old."
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 17, 2019 9:46:32 GMT -6
Lee:
"Look. If we don't go to the NCAA tournament, It will be a disappointing season. That's the way I look at it. That's how I think our guys would look at it."
"I think it's a wide open race in the Summit. ND State's picked to win it. They should be. They've got most of their guys back from a team that went to the NCAA tournament last year. We've got our top 4 scorers back. We've got 5 of our top 6 back, and then you add Hags. We have some depth with the redshirts. We feel good about where we are, but it's gonna be a wide open race..."
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 17, 2019 9:59:40 GMT -6
On the potential roles of new players:
Lee: "We redshirted Simeon Jovik last year, and he'll back up Hags at the 5. So we'll have two five-men, which makes a big difference."
"Matt Johns has improved. He played last year. Significant minutes, at times."
"We have a couple freshmen: Kruz Perrott-Hunt, who played on the New Zealand National Team, who is a point guard. And Hunter Goodrick, from Australia. Both of them are a little bit older. They've played international basketball.
Hunter is a 6' 7" 4-man, and can shoot it left-handed. Tough kid. 220 pounds. Both of those guys will play, and add minutes and depth. They've played a lot of international basketball, and they're very intelligent. They're gonna help. Kruz is about 6' 3".
Tyler Chisom is a wing from Indian Hills. 6' 3" and is a tough defender. Someone that we really didn't have last year. He can attack the basket (really tough young man) and defends. He goes downhill and attacks people. We really didn't have that last year.
So those are the guys we've got right now. We've got a lot more depth than we had last year.
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 17, 2019 10:14:20 GMT -6
On Cody and Tristan:
Lee: "Cody is like a coach on the floor. We joke about it. I think he's working on his 2nd Master's. He graduated in three years from Wyoming. 4.0 in Kinesiology. He's got two years left and he grad-transfers. Finished a Masters, now he's working on another one.
He coaches the team, and I just let him coach. When Cody is saying something, Brad and I just shut up. He just tells guys where to go, and what to do. He wasn't doing that last year. He was just trying to figure out the system."
"Tristan's the same way. We huddle up, and Tristan's telling guys what to do. Not just with the play, but how the defense is gonna guard it, and how to counter. So that's the next step. He knows that, too."
"So, Tristan and Cody; Two tough young men. They both are point guard mentality players. Tristan is playing the point. Cody will play the 2 (he really shoots the ball well), but he'll play some point, too. To have both of those guys run the team, and understand the system, is a big difference."
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 17, 2019 10:43:08 GMT -6
On recruiting strategy:
Lee:
"We want to recruit the area within a five or six hour radius, and do the best we can in this region and know everybody. We feel like we want to recruit locally. It's best for the kids, it's best for the program, best for the families of the kids (they can come watch their sons play)."
"Basketball has changed in my lifetime. I've been doing this for a long time. This transfer market is completely out-of-whack. If you've got local players, they may end up wanting to stay."
"I'll give you an example: Hags is graduated. He could've transferred. But he's from an hour-and-a-half from here. His parents get to see him. They come up to see him all the time.... We spend a lot of time talking about guys who leave programs, and how great it is. Most of the time it doesn't work out. We should be applauding guys like Hags, who is a fifth-year guy who loves the University of South Dakota. He said 'I'm gonna do something for the program'. THAT'S who we should be talking about, but that's not our society. *soap box up* That's the way it works."
"We do recruit internationally. Coach Davidson is from Australia. I've had success recruiting in Australia in my career (and overseas). The guys come here from overseas, and they think everything's great. They love the facilities. Everybody's nice. Our administration does a great job of taking care of our players. I'm really proud of the fact that none of our players transferred last year. I think that says a lot about our staff, our administration, our town, the media coverage we get, ... so I was really proud about that."
"International players, a lot of times, they come in, and they're really well-prepared academically. They love it. They think it's great. They get to compete. They love the facilities."
"So we recruit a lot locally. And we try to find guys that we can have in this program that can be here and be successful. And I'm really excited about the three red-shirts we have sitting out. A.J. Plitzuweit's gonna be a really good player. Kannon Koster's gonna be a really good player, and Brady Heiman's gonna be a good player. And they're all from right here.... they're all gonna be here for the next four years. They've got a year to sit out, and play three. We're excited about the future."
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Post by yotefan90 on Oct 17, 2019 11:19:02 GMT -6
Looking ahead to next season's roster (I know, why when this season hasn't even started yet) and the Yotes will be heavy on sophomores. Sixteen players on the roster now and 5 will graduate this year. Assuming Kruz and Hunter both play as Coach Lee alluded to, there will be at least 7 sophomores next season (and potentially 8 if Tasos plays) out of the 11 left on the roster. USD will go from being an old team to a young team in short order with 2 seniors and 1 junior left. All of that can and will likely change with next season's incoming recruits and an almost inevitable transfer or 2 out. Regardless, this team will be set for several years if that nucleus of sophomores sticks together.
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 17, 2019 11:33:40 GMT -6
So, a four or five-hour radius from Vermillion covers most of ND, SD, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, and also extends to Kansas City. That's a decent "home range" for recruiting in many sports, and includes the cities of MSP, KC, Omaha, Des Moines, Fargo and Sioux Falls. I'd probably add Denver, Wisconsin and Illinois.
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