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Division I blues
By Jeff Kolpack,The Forum
Published Friday, January 14, 2005
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Scott Nagy is from Champaign, Ill., Time Miles from Doland, S.D.
Nagy went south to Delta State (Miss.) to play basketball while Miles went north to the University of Mary (N.D.) to play.
This year, the two head coaches have found common ground: the Division I transition blues.
"He tries to encourage me and I try to encourage him," said South Dakota State's Nagy, who like Miles, has a team playing its first season at the NCAA Division I level.
Nagy is enduring a 3-11 record that is a vast contrast from his Division II winning percentage of 78 percent in his first nine years at SDSU. Miles, the North Dakota State head coach, is 5-10 this year after winning 63 percent of his games in nine years as a head coach.
Transition battle
"Misery truly does love company," Miles said.
The company will gather Saturday night in Brookings when the Bison play SDSU. It will be the biggest home game of the season for the Jackrabbits, who played four of their five Brookings games when the students were on Christmas break. Both teams left the North Central Conference after last season and are Division I independents. SDSU is 1-8 against D-I teams and NDSU 0-8.
"Is there anything on the line?" Nagy said. "People say there isn't but for the kids there is."
Both teams are playing short-handed this year. The Jacks saw standout guard Andy Moeller transfer to Minnesota State-Mankato for his senior year and standout center Matt Jones -- who Nagy calls the best player he's ever coached -- leave because of chronic fatigue.
Nagy, who calls this team his least talented, is redshirting two of his best freshmen. Miles is redshirting all five of his freshmen.
That doesn't matter this week, however.
"It's an awesome week, our guys are so charged up," Miles said. "This is a team that we're going to be butting heads with all the time. It's a team that we've fought with for a long time."
The Jacks have won the last four against the Bison. They have two common opponents this year in Manhattan and Denver University. Manhattan edged SDSU 73-69 while the Bison were routed by 42 points. Denver beat the Bison by 17 and SDSU by 14.
Both teams have had close calls with Division I teams. SDSU's win was 82-80 at Tennessee State, a game where the Jackrabbits were down 10 points with five minutes to play and had two players already fouled out.
"Honestly, as little talent as we have this year compared to the past, we're not that far from competing," Nagy said. "It's not like we're getting crushed. I think our players are seeing that and there's no fear factor anymore."
SDSU's two top scorers, forwards Steve Holdren and Ben Beran, are a freshman and sophomore, respectively. Joe Green, a promising 6-8 sophomore forward, is coming on strong.
"I believe in two or three years that we'll be a pretty good team and they will too," Nagy said.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at (701) 241-5546
Photo caption: South Dakota State's Michael Loney, right, fights for a loose ball with San Diego State's Trimaine Davis during a recent game. San Diego State is one of 13 Division I teams SDSU will play this season. A
By Jeff Kolpack,The Forum
Published Friday, January 14, 2005
· advertisement ·
Scott Nagy is from Champaign, Ill., Time Miles from Doland, S.D.
Nagy went south to Delta State (Miss.) to play basketball while Miles went north to the University of Mary (N.D.) to play.
This year, the two head coaches have found common ground: the Division I transition blues.
"He tries to encourage me and I try to encourage him," said South Dakota State's Nagy, who like Miles, has a team playing its first season at the NCAA Division I level.
Nagy is enduring a 3-11 record that is a vast contrast from his Division II winning percentage of 78 percent in his first nine years at SDSU. Miles, the North Dakota State head coach, is 5-10 this year after winning 63 percent of his games in nine years as a head coach.
Transition battle
"Misery truly does love company," Miles said.
The company will gather Saturday night in Brookings when the Bison play SDSU. It will be the biggest home game of the season for the Jackrabbits, who played four of their five Brookings games when the students were on Christmas break. Both teams left the North Central Conference after last season and are Division I independents. SDSU is 1-8 against D-I teams and NDSU 0-8.
"Is there anything on the line?" Nagy said. "People say there isn't but for the kids there is."
Both teams are playing short-handed this year. The Jacks saw standout guard Andy Moeller transfer to Minnesota State-Mankato for his senior year and standout center Matt Jones -- who Nagy calls the best player he's ever coached -- leave because of chronic fatigue.
Nagy, who calls this team his least talented, is redshirting two of his best freshmen. Miles is redshirting all five of his freshmen.
That doesn't matter this week, however.
"It's an awesome week, our guys are so charged up," Miles said. "This is a team that we're going to be butting heads with all the time. It's a team that we've fought with for a long time."
The Jacks have won the last four against the Bison. They have two common opponents this year in Manhattan and Denver University. Manhattan edged SDSU 73-69 while the Bison were routed by 42 points. Denver beat the Bison by 17 and SDSU by 14.
Both teams have had close calls with Division I teams. SDSU's win was 82-80 at Tennessee State, a game where the Jackrabbits were down 10 points with five minutes to play and had two players already fouled out.
"Honestly, as little talent as we have this year compared to the past, we're not that far from competing," Nagy said. "It's not like we're getting crushed. I think our players are seeing that and there's no fear factor anymore."
SDSU's two top scorers, forwards Steve Holdren and Ben Beran, are a freshman and sophomore, respectively. Joe Green, a promising 6-8 sophomore forward, is coming on strong.
"I believe in two or three years that we'll be a pretty good team and they will too," Nagy said.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at (701) 241-5546
Photo caption: South Dakota State's Michael Loney, right, fights for a loose ball with San Diego State's Trimaine Davis during a recent game. San Diego State is one of 13 Division I teams SDSU will play this season. A