South Dakota State Jackrabbits
Summit League (27-7, 15-3)
South Dakota State finished second in a very tough Summit League. This is a program that is relatively new to Division I hoops and have never finished in the top three since joining the Summit League. This was supposed to be a good team, but it is still a young team and many though the Jackrabbits would make some serious noise in 2012-2013. But they made their noise a year early.
Big Wins: 12/18 at Washington (92-73), 2/2 Oral Roberts (75-60), 2/18 Buffalo (86-65)
Bad Losses: 12/15 at North Dakota (70-89), 1/26 at Oakland (87-92), 2/9 at South Dakota (68-72)
Coach: Scott Nagy (17 seasons at South Dakota State)
Why They Can Surprise:
The Jackrabbits are an amazingly efficient team on offense. This is a team that scores a ton of points and will get up and down the floor. However, they rarely turn the ball over and you can be sure that when SDSU puts up a shot, it will be a quality shot. Nate Wolters is a superb point guard and one of the best all-around scorers in the nation. Wolters will put up 30 points without a problem and also dishes out more than six assists per game. Wolters has struggled a little bit from long range, but he is a threat to hit some three-pointers. However, it is everybody else who will knock down the long ball more consistently. Guards Griffan Callahan, Brayden Carlson and Chad White and forward Jordan Dykstra all connect on over 40 percent of their attempts from three-point land. That is extremely impressive and the opposition never knows where the Jackrabbits offense is going to come from. Wolters is a good place to start, but once you start concentrating on him too much, South Dakota State will make you pay from outside.
Why They Can Disappoint:
The question is whether or not South Dakota State can get the opposition to play their style of basketball. When this squad played against Minnesota, Georgia and Nebraska early in the season, they were low scoring games, by Jackrabbit standards at least. Those teams were able to take advantage of SDSU’s lack of size and keep the game running slow. By comparison, when Coach Scott Nagy’s squad took on Washington’s high octane offense, the Jackrabbits came home with a 92-73 victory. Dykstra has decent size for a power forward at 6-8 and 235 pounds, but he is mostly a shooter. Tony Fiegan is the traditional big man, but he is just 6-7 and 220 pounds. Neither are major shot blocking threats or great rebounders. South Dakota State needs to get up and down the floor and score a lot of points if they want to pull off an upset. But dictating tempo will be in the hands of Wolters and he is one of the best players that nobody is paying attention to.
Probable Starters:
Nate Wolters, Junior, Guard, 21.3 ppg, 6.0 apg, 5.2 rpg
Brayden Carlson, Sophomore, Guard, 7.2 ppg, 2.5 apg
Griffan Callahan, Senior, Guard, 10.5 ppg, 1.2 apg, 4.8 rpg
Jordan Dykstra, Sophomore, Forward, 11.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg
Tony Fiegen, Junior, Forward, 7.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg
Key Roleplayers:
Marcus Heemstra, Sophomore, Forward, 2.6 ppg, 2.1 rpg
Taevaunn Prince, Freshman, Guard, 6.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg
Chad White, Sophomore, Guard, 9.1 ppg, 1.4 apg
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 78.6 (13th in nation, 2nd in conference)
Scoring Defense: 67.6 (196, 3)
Field-Goal Percentage: 47.1 (37, 4)
Field-Goal Defense: 45.1 (265, 3)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 8.2 (26, 3)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 39.5 (15, 1)
Free-Throw Percentage: 72.9 (55, 5)
Rebound Margin: 2.4 (99, 3)
Assists Per Game: 14.5 (58, 2)
Turnovers Per Game: 10.6 (10, 1)
Last Five Postseason Appearances:
None
*all team stats through 3/4
See All Men’s Basketball Postseason Capsules
