SDSU / USD @ VERMILLION

[GolfingYote]

Re: SDSU / USD @ VERMILLION

You should feel good too. A couple years ago we lost our best player every, last year we lost several thousand point scorers and we brought in some new guys and we are tied for first in the confrence. Also shows how good NDSU is after losing so much from last year and to be right there at the top is impressive. I am actually curious about our rosters? Just from an out side eye both your mens and womens team have an abnormally large junior class. Is that a put all your eggs in one basket aproach or just a bunch a transfers? Just usually dont see such large classes. Anyway. You guys should feel good about it, but you hopefully understand why we feel good about our future too.

I definitely understand why you do, success breeds success. I just wanted to show that there is a significant amount of the fan base that sees the big picture and understands one win against SDSU is only a small small part of the big picture of a season and program. If only the student body understood that and showed similar support. To answer your questions, on paper the mens side have a huge jr class. For eligibility matters, Flack and Avila will both be juniors next year as flack is redshirting and Avila out via the transfer rule. Still leaves the yotes with 7 seniors to be with I think 5 of those guys being transfers. 2016 recruiting class obviously a big one for Smith. Similar story for women, Fogg and Duffy will be juniors next year-both sitting out via the transfer rule.

[goon]

Re: SDSU / USD @ VERMILLION

Remind me again where what I said is opinion rather than fact? I think based on the initial post in the thread, the statements in my last paragraph are fact. Yoteforever does think the programs are even. I only said "I hope" other yote fans "continue to share" that thought, not that they already do. I'm not painting the whole fan base that way, although I think you could show some good facts to support that a lot of coyote fans do feel that way. I think you would agree that IF they do feel that way, that is why the program in Vermillion won't catch up - for as much as a fan base can affect an actual program anyway. Measuring success off a season split rather than the performance during the season, and against the whole schedule, will always hinder the overall success of the program.

I agree with your last paragraph. The program at USD is on the rise, and i think Craig Smith was a steal. So was Austin Hansen and you and you can see, just by watching sideline interaction during games, that Coach Smith relies on and values Austin's input greatly. It will be interesting to see what happens the next few years. USD has risen from the bottom tier of the conference to the middle, but i would argue that the rise from the middle tier to the top is even more of a challenge. If I've observed anything about college basketball at the Summit League level, it's that it is hard to predict. Too many things can change on rosters year to year (transfers, impact freshmen, dismissals, etc.) to ever have a real sense on where programs will be.

Honestly until this year, both mens and womens it seemed pretty obvious who the best teams where. this is the first year it was a crap shoot. Oakland, NDSU SDSU on the men, SDSU and ORU for the women were pretty much every year one of those teams was clearly a little better then the rest.