Bison men’s basketball preview
Written by Cavin Berube Friday, 30 October 2009 08:00
We all remember what happened last year. The Bison won the Summit League tournament en-route to their first NCAA Tournament appearance. But that is in the past, and the 2009-2010 men’s basketball team is looking to make a mark of their own.
Since last year, the Bison have lost three of the top seven scorers in Bison men’s basketball history. This team is hoping to make people forget about them.
“Our goal is simple: win every game we can,” Head Coach Saul Phillips said, “Oakland is going to be tough in our conference, but other than that, everybody has question marks.”
The Bison were picked in a preseason poll to finish 5th in the conference. Oakland received 34 of 35 first place votes and is clearly the favorite in the Summit League.
The Bison will return only one starter from last year’s team that went dancing, and that is junior Michael Tveidt.
“I think the only way we really compete this year is with our defense,” Tveidt said, “Last year we were second in the conference in overall defense, and we are looking to improve on that.” Tveidt is also the teams returning leading scorer, and will be relied on heavily to be a consistent scorer and a team leader.
But who will be filling in for the void left from the big three?
“Mike Felt and Jordan Aaberg have both been very impressive,” senior Josh Vaughan said, “Felt can shoot, and Aaberg has a great talent for shot-blocking.”
Vaughan will also be counted on to fill in the void for possibly the most popular men’s basketball player ever here at NDSU, Ben Woodside.
“I think Josh will have a big year for us,” Tveidt said, “he is out of the shadow of Woody and will now be able to show what he can really do.”
When asked how practices were going, Coach Phillips seemed very pleased.
“We’ve got a group that works extremely hard,” Phillips said. “They are very hungry. With so much unknown, it is good to have a hard working team.”
Another big question will be how the team gels into their new roles.
“Adjusting to new roles will be huge,” Phillips said. “Guys can practice well, but we need to find who is going to perform under the lights.”
Overall, Phillips has been really impressed with the incoming class as a whole. He believes filling in for the big three will be an effort by committee.
“You can’t tell one guy that he is filling in for the all-time leading scorer,” Phillips said. “You need to replace that with depth, and that’s what we have done through the recruiting process.” His anticipation for the season has been increased by the freshman as well.
“This is going to be an exciting team to watch,” Phillips said. “Felt is an amazing shooter who can hit from anywhere. He is going to give the fans something to cheer about.”
With a team full of questions, we look forward to finding some answers. Hopefully this team can meet their ultimate goal.
“We want to win the conference,” Vaughan said. “That is and always will be our main goal.”
As the team ventures into a pretty unpredictable season, let’s hope they find some consistency and make another run at the Big Dance.
