Young Jacks

[NorCalJack]

Here is an article from Terry about the status of the team.

Young Jacks shine as SDSU prepares for IUPUI
By Terry Vandrovec


It comes up almost after every game, win or lose, although there have been twice as many of the latter than the former: The South Dakota State men's basketball team is young.

So young that to refer to them as the junior Jackrabbits would be implying too much seniority. A statistical analysis of the 10-team, NCAA Division I Summit League reveals that nobody gets more points, rebounds or minutes from underclassmen than SDSU - and by a wide margin.

Consider:


The Jacks are getting 72.2 percent of their scoring from 11 freshmen and sophomores. Nobody else in the conference is higher than 38.1 percent and two-time defending champion Oral Roberts is at 1.7 percent.

Read the entire article here http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs...22/1002/SPORTS

Go Jacks!!!

[JackrabbitGuy]

Re: Young Jacks

I just read this article. Wow. Tell me you can't look at those numbers and suggest that you can there is no way we should be in this position (7-15, last in Summit). Hold it together until next year, better yet the year after and then we'll have a better picture of where this program is really at.

It pretty much tells the story when you look at the fact that our only experienced players (Beran, Berte, Loney) are post guys. I would think its natural to state that its easier to get by with inexperienced guards with experienced big men than the way the Jacks are having to do it right now. If the older kids we do have happened to be in the guard positions, you might see a little more consistency right now.

[jack power]

Re: Young Jacks

I just read this article. Wow. Tell me you can't look at those numbers and suggest that you can there is no way we should be in this position (7-15, last in Summit). Hold it together until next year, better yet the year after and then we'll have a better picture of where this program is really at.

It pretty much tells the story when you look at the fact that our only experienced players (Beran, Berte, Loney) are post guys. I would think its natural to state that its easier to get by with inexperienced guards with experienced big men than the way the Jacks are having to do it right now. If the older kids we do have happened to be in the guard positions, you might see a little more consistency right now.

I agree. It was a very informative article, really puts things into perspective.

[JackrabbitGuy]

Re: Young Jacks

The worst part is that there have been quite a few winable games. I'm not big into IFs, but bear with me for a bit. If the Jacks had been able to pull out 4 of the 9 single digit losses, how much different would the outlook today be for most fans? We would be 11-11 and in the middle of the Summit League standings.

[Nidaros]

Re: Young Jacks

This is really interesting take by Terry on the current roster. It certainly gives fans a sense of hope for next year and following years. I know its sounds kind of Chicago Cubish, wait till next year, but I dont think it will be several decades before we win the Summit and appear in the Big Dance. It may happen sooner than we think. When it does the NCC will be part of our golden past.

[filbert]

Re: Young Jacks

Article about UMKC in the KC Star:

Hamilton is among four freshmen at UMKC who are learning the hard way about the higher level of play and intensity that comes in Division I basketball.
The Kangaroos have struggled to an 8-16 record. They are 3-8 in the Summit League and battling hard to stay out of last place.
Southern Utah is nearly in the same place as UMKC. The Thunderbirds are 5-17 and 3-8. Last place currently belongs to South Dakota State, which is 2-10 in the Summit.
Regardless of what happens in the final month of the season, Hamilton, Spencer Johnson, James Humphrey and Nathan Balch should have learned a few lessons about Division I basketball that could help them down the road.
At least that’s what Hamilton hopes.
“Listening to the older players, Dane (Brumagin) and Tim (Blackwell), they say the early experience will help us a lot,” Hamilton said. “I hope what they say is true.”

I think what a lot of us (including myself) forget from time to time is that what we at SDSU are going through is a painful but necessary part of the process.

We need to keep repeating over and over to Williams, Callahan, Sargent, Cordova, Moss, Palarca, Bassett, and Engen that the experience they're getting now, on the court and in practice, WILL make them much better tougher players in their junior and senior years than they are right now.

I read somewhere (maybe in another thread here?) that college basketball players generally make their greatest skill level jump between their sophomore and their junior years.

They're taking their lumps now with the hope that the'll be able to deliver some lumps next year and the year afterward.

[jackmd]

Re: Young Jacks

I think what a lot of casual fans don't recognize is that many of us (obsessed individuals like myself) expected a tough transition. That doesn't mean we (meaning I) intended to take butt kickings lightly or let players/the program use "transition is tough" or "we are young" as an excuse. I thought things would be in a little better state by this time then they are now, as fate would have it, I thought wrong. At the beginning of this year I said 10 wins would be realisitic, we might get there. However, I don't think we have been as solid a TEAM as we could/should be. Why is that? Well, I think there are several reasons but I doubt anybody really cares what I think.

So, we're young, we should get better, the Summit League teams aren't going to wait for us. Lets make it happen.

[BornBredBunny]

Re: Young Jacks

Great article! And I couldn't agree more with it's implications.....We finally have the beginnings of a solid program, albeit young for the time being! All those frosh & sophs are the groundwork for the immediate future; recruiting is the development of the process! I'm as excited about men's basketball as I've been since before the move! It's been a very tough couple of years and this one isn't much better but I think Nagy's ready to turn the corner with the program

GO RABBITS!