2024 portal

[sdyotefan]

Watched the Hillman game.
Solidly built--took a toll on 2 -3 opponents! Nice touch on numerous mid range shots and had several nice mid range passes. Solid rebounder and wasn't challenged defensively.

Season summary-- ave 14 pts, 49% fg, 68% ft with 8 rbs and 2 asst per game. Had 1 triple dbl
(17 pts, 13 rbs and 10 blks) and 8 dbl dbls. Was Iowa CC POW 3 times and national JCC d2 POW (135 teams) once.

Very good possibilities!

[kiyoat]

Bella Swedlund back in the portal for the second time in two years....




Winner, SD > KU > Toledo > ?

Reading between the lines.... It's about playing time.  Maybe she needs to look at lower mid-majors, or re-building programs where she would start immediately?

[hoopsmom]

If she has four years of eligibility left, I would guess it’s also about the injuries, and getting a coach to trust her enough to play her after so much missed time.

[fanatic]

If Ronsiek wants to come back state will get her but I think she will go to a big school.

[yotewannabe]

I see Ronsiek’s path as p5, play with sister, come back home in that order. If she comes back home state probably has the upper hand. They would have to do some magic with the full roster, but they would make it work.

[kiyoat]

....UND for Demers. She chose to be closer to home. I'm guessing she had other options. She will no doubt have playing opportunity there, but I'll guess it's the proximity to her hometown.

[GoYotes]

Apr 3, 2024 17:30:00 GMT -6 kiyoat said:

....UND for Demers. She chose to be closer to home. I'm guessing she had other options. She will no doubt have playing opportunity there, but I'll guess it's the proximity to her hometown.

Is this when we make tampering allegations, like a certain UND color commentator did ad nauseam when Paul Bruns moved from UND to closer at home at USD??

[marco]

Good Luck to her She should get more minutes up there. They only won 9 games and there best player is gone

[GoYotes]

The Grand Forks Herald article regarding the transfer included this quote from Walker:

“I didn't come in knowing them,” Demers said of South Dakota’s staff, led by coach Kayla Karius. “I wasn't recruited by them, so I didn't really gain that as much as I wanted to. That was a huge thing for me coming out of high school in my recruiting process. So just not having that and not growing that really impacted my decision to (transfer).”

Shots fired.

[captaincoyote]

Whatever. She didn’t just not grow. She physically shrank 2 inches.

[kiyoat]

Apr 3, 2024 20:30:33 GMT -6 captaincoyote said:

Whatever. She didn’t just not grow. She physically shrank 2 inches.

Well, you're not wrong.   Maybe she will be listed at 6-3 again in Grand Forks.  Something about the latitude, I guess.

Seriously, though.  This is just my opinion, but I think that relationships with coaches are two-way streets.  It's likely hard to get along with a new coach when you have your old coach in your ear all the time.

Kayla cares about development of players.  If you don't believe me, ask Hannah.  or Abby Fogg (still playing in Europe BTW) who credits Kayla with helping her develop her outside shooting so she was more attractive to European teams.  Heck, what about Coach Jewett?  He has had a large hand in developing players for years in Brookings.  Don't tell me there are better development coaches in Grand Forks.  If this was about development as a post, there are a lot of other options out there.

I hope Demers has success, but I really think she missed a growth opportunity in Vermillion.

[90yote]

Yeah, sometimes it just doesn't work between players and the staff, but it's an obvious question mark if that will improve at UND. That program has largely been a dumpster fire over the years. Coach Bernhard came in and looked to have turned things around and the program looked much better a year ago, but I did not like the way that team performed down the stretch this season. They looked like a hot mess. They had no chance of winning a game in Sioux Falls.

It's much closer to home for Walker, so maybe that will help her grow. But if that program struggles again this year, you have to wonder about the coach's job security.

Best of luck to her, but her lack of height and length relative to what is needed to win in this league was a big detriment. She is very strong physically and that may lead to her becoming a nice player in her last couple of years. But if her performance was going to be what it was this year, then it's probably best for all involved to move on.

[Men's League Waterboy]

Good luck to Walker and I really do hope she finds what she's looking for.

Kids, don't reclassify. There's plenty of time to get into the business (and pressure) of college athletics. Play for the love and joy and have fun with the people you grew up with for as long as you can.

[bedhogg]

From what I know, we are lucky we only lost 3 to the portal/retirement. Jewett is the team's salvation, the players love and respect him! The toxicity of this forum doesn't help matters either. It is easy to hide behind an avatar, criticize and degrade a player or coach's decision.

[dbyote]

Apr 4, 2024 10:03:31 GMT -6 bedhogg said:

From what I know, we are lucky we only lost 3 to the portal/retirement. Jewett is the team's salvation, the players love and respect him! The toxicity of this forum doesn't help matters either. It is easy to hide behind an avatar, criticize and degrade a player or coach's decision.

Heaven forbid anyone be held accountable for performance. I understand your player argument somewhat. They are kids brought in to do a job they may or may not be able to do. Your argument on coaching doesn't hold water. They're well paid to do a high profile job. They should expect professional criticism. Just because some of us disapprove of the job they do doesn't mean we are personally attacking them. Inability to separate the two puts a person in snowflake territory.