2009-10 Recruits

[Billy Hoyle]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

I was at the Net Gain Fall Showcase....Nate Wolters, Trent Lockett and Taylor Filipek stood out amongst the other elite players from MN, WI and IA. I know we can't land Lockett (already committed to Arizona State) but getting Wolters and Filipek would be tremendous. We can't let the DII schools out work us for Wolters (he is a legit DI guy) and don't let Butler or NDSU get Filipek.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

What bothers me is the "fans" perception that SDSU can't win by recruiting the talent in the region and more specifically SD home grown talent. In reality SDSU has some outstanding talent from SD coming down the pipeline. They have verbals from arguably the three most talented basketball athletes in the 2009 and 2011 classes (White, Fiegen, Horstman). Still I hear that there is pressure from boosters to go outside the area as the perception is that a kid from NY, CA, TX or other state is better than what might be here in the "back yard". (Side note....Chad White has his bounce and swagger back...)

Ponder for the moment, what if the roster last season had some of the SD HS athletes who played DI last season:

Paige Paulson
Matt Martin
Joe Krabbenhoft
Adam Templeton (sat out last year after transfer to Drake)


Michael Tveidt
Sam Willard
Zach Finley
Dale Moss
Anthony Cordova
Steven Smith (remember he went to Creighton first before USD)

Obviously Krabbenhoft is a stretch as he is a High Major DI athlete but the others either did go to SDSU or turned down the opportunity for more established programs. Yet any of these athletes would have helped the program succeed.

When you overlook the talent in the state you regret it in the long run. The Summit League can be conquered with regional talent. Talent that grows up SDSU fans, has an identity with the university and doesn't bolt when the going gets tough. Talent that is low maintenance and not "high risk", kids who get it done in the classroom as well as on the court.

With that said...there is 2009 scholarship sitting there being pondered by two athletes from MN. The one is considering DII schools over SDSU....it bothers me because there is home grown talent being overlooked.....

Kids who can play in the upcoming classes:

2009
Brayden Carlson Brookings (has offers from NSU and SMS)
Dusty Tetzlaff Watertown

2010
Jared Bartling RHS
Adol Aluong RHS
Terrell Newton Huron

Cody Larson heads the 2010 class but is out of reach of SDSU.

Until everyone puts the expectations in order...win the league, win the conference championship, make the NCAA Tournament in that order...the perception is that there is no success. Local, regional talent can get it done at SDSU. The coaches have done a great job of recruiting the local talent and tied up athletes at an early age. They are also smart enough to recognize when talent is beyond their reach, yet they still build a relationship with the athlete in hopes of a fall back opportunity.

SDSU coaches were out in full force all summer long following the SD teams at virtually every game. The roster is improving and the program should see some turn around soon.

I think most SDSU fans would love to have as much "local talent" on the squad as possible. The cold reality is the best of the best (Krabenhoft, Miller, Larson and Iverson) are going to choose major conference programs in the forseeable future. The question is do the best of the rest have enough talent to help the program succeed in the Summit League. I like the fact we have gotten some early comittments from local kids who appear on the surface to be capable of being great players for the program. I personally don't want us to extend scholarships to local or regional players for the sake they are local as I think there is a balance. I want us to have the best talent possible regardless of where they come from. What Cadsev and his program do is provide the players an opportunity to showcase their talents and help prepare/ promote the Dakota Schooler players to Colleges. While he does a good job of that on here and elswhere I take most of it with a grain of salt as I don't believe all these players can help the Jacks. If the coaches think they can so be it.

[YanktonRabbit]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

Chris Halvorsen a 6-8 foward from Henry Sibley High has verbally committed to Valparaiso. I believe we had offered a scholarship to this young man.

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

Thanks Cadsev, for putting into words the feelings I have had! Have come to trust your judgment...can't give you many more rep points, but will keep going! I believe Coach Nagy has recruiting goals of getting the best in South Dakota (sure, some will go major D-I through the years: Mike Miller, etal), and then doing their best to compete for Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska players looking for D-I and attracted to a mid-size school.

[Jacked_Up]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

Great info and insight, Cadsev. Thanks. ... I wonder if the Minnesota players being recruited for 2009 will make a decision any time soon or drag out (and out) their decisions. I really like Fiegen and White. I saw Horstman only briefly but long enough to see him stuff one against high-level competition in a summer game. He kind of reminds me of Dusty Tetzlaff's father, who could dunk in high school and went on to be a heck of a good Jackrabbit player.

[Cadsev]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

What bothers me is the "fans" perception that SDSU can't win by recruiting the talent in the region and more specifically SD home grown talent. In reality SDSU has some outstanding talent from SD coming down the pipeline. They have verbals from arguably the three most talented basketball athletes in the 2009 and 2011 classes (White, Fiegen, Horstman). Still I hear that there is pressure from boosters to go outside the area as the perception is that a kid from NY, CA, TX or other state is better than what might be here in the "back yard". (Side note....Chad White has his bounce and swagger back...)

Ponder for the moment, what if the roster last season had some of the SD HS athletes who played DI last season:

Paige Paulson
Matt Martin
Joe Krabbenhoft
Adam Templeton (sat out last year after transfer to Drake)
Michael Tveidt
Sam Willard
Zach Finley
Dale Moss
Anthony Cordova
Steven Smith (remember he went to Creighton first before USD)

Obviously Krabbenhoft is a stretch as he is a High Major DI athlete but the others either did go to SDSU or turned down the opportunity for more established programs. Yet any of these athletes would have helped the program succeed.

When you overlook the talent in the state you regret it in the long run. The Summit League can be conquered with regional talent. Talent that grows up SDSU fans, has an identity with the university and doesn't bolt when the going gets tough. Talent that is low maintenance and not "high risk", kids who get it done in the classroom as well as on the court.

With that said...there is 2009 scholarship sitting there being pondered by two athletes from MN. The one is considering DII schools over SDSU....it bothers me because there is home grown talent being overlooked.....

Kids who can play in the upcoming classes:

2009
Brayden Carlson Brookings (has offers from NSU and SMS)
Dusty Tetzlaff Watertown

2010
Jared Bartling RHS
Adol Aluong RHS
Terrell Newton Huron

Cody Larson heads the 2010 class but is out of reach of SDSU.

Until everyone puts the expectations in order...win the league, win the conference championship, make the NCAA Tournament in that order...the perception is that there is no success. Local, regional talent can get it done at SDSU. The coaches have done a great job of recruiting the local talent and tied up athletes at an early age. They are also smart enough to recognize when talent is beyond their reach, yet they still build a relationship with the athlete in hopes of a fall back opportunity.

SDSU coaches were out in full force all summer long following the SD teams at virtually every game. The roster is improving and the program should see some turn around soon.

[JackrabbitGuy]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

I think the biggest challenge we have is a 4 year generation of not winning and how that has affected the confidence of the players,coaches and fans. We have to develop that tradition of expecting to win again like we had in the DII era and when that happens good thins will happen with the current roster and the recruiting will improve as well. I do believe there are some very good players who have the ability to play at the DI level like Nate Wolters who will get recruited heavily by the area DII's because they know he has expressed an interest in playing in the region. The DII's are trying to steal a recruit that may be a little out of their reach just like we are from the top mid-majors.

I think that is one of the things that could potentially be the best thing about having Austin Hansen on the staff now. He can't relate to the DI level per se, but he can sell to these players that if they buy in and give the kind of committment that Coach Nagy asks, that coach can take them were they need to go.

So Hansen's best work may be going on right now if he can relate to this group of players and make them really believe. He can help bridge the gap between the time when SDSU basketball was excellent and the present which is a work in progress.

[JackrabbitGuy]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

My expectation is that SDSU makes it to the Summit League tournament this year. If that happens, who knows? Maybe they get hot and win three games in a row in Sioux Falls, and get to play Duke at 11 a.m. on Thursday of the tournament?

That would be the most entertaining 25 point blowout loss in the history of SDSU athletics. Its actually the first thing that I started telling my buddies when SDSU announced the DI move years ago, "Just wait until the day when the Jackrabbits qualify for the NCAA tournament as a 16-seed and get to face Duke or Kansas, etc in the first round of the Big Dance. They'll get it handed to them by 25 points and it will still be the funnest thing ever."

[JACKGUYII]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

I think the biggest challenge we have is a 4 year generation of not winning and how that has affected the confidence of the players,coaches and fans. We have to develop that tradition of expecting to win again like we had in the DII era and when that happens good thins will happen with the current roster and the recruiting will improve as well. I do believe there are some very good players who have the ability to play at the DI level like Nate Wolters who will get recruited heavily by the area DII's because they know he has expressed an interest in playing in the region. The DII's are trying to steal a recruit that may be a little out of their reach just like we are from the top mid-majors.

[PatKraning]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

In some respects, Coach Nagy has already done some of that. I do not think that most people understand how good Chad White from Madison can be. I look at Chad and see a kid that would have been a Northern Iowa or Creighton type player had he gone through the recruiting process and not been injured this summer. The fact that SDSU got him early took some luster off the recruiting lists but not the player. I watched him last Sunday and has his "bounce" back and I see him playing right away for the Jacks. Tony Fiegen was the best player this past summer at the Elite Camp, which included some kids that were being recruited by more established DI programs. I think that the verbal from Zach Horstman from Winner will turn out to be the same type of signing by the time he graduates. In these cases, SDSU has "beat" other programs by offering early. It is harder to get out of area kids to take that jump early. That will come with more on the court success.

Coach Nagy is getting more and more talent on the roster and his current staff works very hard at identifying players. I can tell you first hand as I watched the summer basketball circuit as a parent - no one is out-working the SDSU staff.

[filbert]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

Is there really such a bright line delineating mid-major D-I talent? Somewhere in here is a quote from Nagy stating that his best D-II clubs would have won about 17 games against the present (two years ago?) schedule.

The bell curves definitely overlap, there's no doubt.

There's an element of D-I talent that's raw physical ability. And there's an element that's desire, want-to, inner drive, mental toughness. We've all seen guys on NCC teams (Northern Colorado and Nebraska-Omaha come immediately to mind) who had superior talent, but didn't have the mental game necessary to be a D-I athlete, so there they were, in D-II. And a lot of those guys had D-I physical ability but didn't even have the discipline to be good D-II players--you all saw it in Frost Arena, every time UNC or UNO came to town. UNO got good when their physically talented players started playing with enough discipline to be effective D-II players.

You can only teach physical ability to a limited extent. You can teach desire and toughness if you get teachable recruits. But success also feeds on success. We haven't had much of that since the transition began.

SDSU during our D-II heyday never had a lot of the really superior physical athletes--our best players have almost always had adequate athletic ability combined with superior desire to be stars at the D-II level.

I think that's a model we need to pursue into D-I. The truly gifted athletes are going to gravitate towards the elite programs. We need to get enough physical ability on the court to be competitive, then combine it with really superior effort and mental toughness to make our program work in D-I.

Could lightning strike and we get a steal of a guy who will turn the whole thing around? Sure.

Could the guys we have get some things figured out and start clawing their way out of the hole this program has dug for itself? Yes. That's more likely than lighning striking, in fact. I expect some modest improvement this year over last year, simply because the freshmen and sophomores last year are now sophomores and juniors. Experience counts.

My expectation is that SDSU makes it to the Summit League tournament this year. If that happens, who knows? Maybe they get hot and win three games in a row in Sioux Falls, and get to play Duke at 11 a.m. on Thursday of the tournament?

[Grizzled_Jack]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

Is there really such a bright line delineating mid-major D-I talent? Somewhere in here is a quote from Nagy stating that his best D-II clubs would have won about 17 games against the present (two years ago?) schedule.

[JamesJacks]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

I don't think people think of Wolters as "talblescraps" as someone put it. I just think people want to see us getting kids in the mens program who are being heavily recruited by other D1 schools instead of us being one of only two D1 schools and a bunch of D2 schools on their list. You want kids who, as high school seniors, are attractive to more than just two D1 coaches.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

Nate Wolters took his official trip to SDSU the first weekend of September. He is going to Minnesota State at the end of the month and Augustana the first week in October. Also still considering Winona State and St Cloud State.

[EQguy]

Re: 2009-10 Recruits

They are reporting on MN Preps that SDSU is the favorite to land Nate Wolters a 6'3 point guard from St Cloud Tech and that it speaks volumes that he will visit Brookings first this coming weekend. They felt he outplayed most of the top guards in Minnesota this summer. Also considering Winona State, USD, MN State and the rest of the other D2's in Minnesota. UNI showed interest until a recent backcourt committment. Has also had other DI interest including Bucknell, Cal Poly and others that he considers too far away.

Until the basketball team has on-court success, we need to work with whatever scraps are left on the table by more successful programs. We're simply not going to win head-to-head recruiting battles against our peer schools until the on-court product improves.

I don't think you can look at this kid as table scraps. Fact is other D-I schools have shown interest, UNI backed away after receiving another commitment and Cal Poly and Bucknell were interested they just were not close enough to home for Nate.

SDSU still has something to offer a recruit. The chance to come in a play right away, a damn fine arena and the history of SDSU basketball suggests that any kid coming would be a hero if he was part of a turnaround. Is that as much as UNI or Creighton, probably not, but coaches still shouldn't just back away from a kid just because a Big 10, Big 12 or MoValley school is recruiting him.

You just never know when your dealing with 18 year olds.