2011-12 SEASON PREVIEW
The South Dakota State men’s basketball team continued its climb up The Summit League in 2010-11, and even though they entered The Summit League Championships as the No. 5 seed, the Jackrabbits won their opening round game and advanced to the conference semifinals before falling to the eventual champion Oakland. The Jackrabbits did not reach the season goal of reaching their first NCAA Tournament at the Division I level, but the season did not go down as a complete disappointment on a team or individual level. As a team, the Jackrabbits won a Division Ibest 19 games, topping the previous mark of 14 set in 2009-10. The 19-12 overall record also marked the Jacks first winning season at the D-I level and the first since posting a 27-7 mark in 2003-04. The 2010-11 Jackrabbits also set team records for three-pointers in a season, both made and attempted, by going 276-of672 from long range. The graduation Clint Sargent, who set the SDSU record for career three-pointers, may keep the Jacks from topping the three-point mark again, but the return of junior point guard Nate Wolters puts SDSU in great position to reach numerous other goals. Wolters set the SDSU sophomore scoring record in 2010-11 with 604 points, which leaves him just 97 points shy of reaching the 1,000 point milestone, and puts him on pace to break the SDSU career scoring record of 1,931 points. More than just a scorer, Wolters also enters his junior season on pace to finish his
career in the top three in assists and top five in steals at SDSU. A solid supporting cast also returns, including senior swingman Griffan Callahan, sophomore forward Jordan Dykstra and host of other players with plenty of game experience to help the Jackrabbits in 2011-12. The success of the 2010-11 season showed in the 2011-12 Summit League Preseason Poll, as the league’s coaches, media and sports information directors picked the Jackrabbits to finish third in the league. SDSU received 369 points and one first place vote, which lands them in third place in the poll, trailing only Oral Roberts and two-time defending champion Oakland. Individually, Nate Wolters garnered a preseason all-league first-team selection. The junior from St. Cloud, Minn., led the Jackrabbits with 19.5 points per game in 2010-11, setting the sophomore scoring record with 604 points in the process. Sophomore Jordan Dykstra earned a spot on the second team after a standout freshman season with the Jacks last year, when he set the school record for three-point field goal percentage at 51.5 percent by going 34for-66. "We're very pleased to have two of our players chosen for preseason awards," head coach Scott Nagy said. "There is obviously still a lot of work to do, but being picked third at least gives us an idea that our program is moving in the right direction." Much of the team’s success can be attributed to the work in they do in the offseason with assistant athletic director for strength and conditioning Nathan Moe, who pushed the team to set 64 personal records in offseason performance testing and an additional 29 personal best marks in the preseason. “The Men’s basketball team showed steady improvement in size, strength, explosiveness and agility,” Moe said. “They worked hard pushing themselves and each other in every aspect of the off-season and pre-season program. I fully expect their efforts to pay off in them being a more physical and aggressive team.” Two games against Big Ten teams, single games against SEC and Pac 12 foes and three games at the CBE Classic in Macon, Ga., high-
Junior NATE WOLTERS earned all-leauge first team honors in 2010-11 after setting the SDSU sophomore scoring record with 604 points light the 2011-12 South Dakota State men's basketball schedule. "Once again I was so pleased with the effort coach Klinkefus and our administrative staff put in to get our schedule completed," Nagy said. "It's gotten increasingly difficult to complete the schedule over the last couple of years because we've become more competitive, and I hope that continues." In addition to road games at Minnesota, Georgia, Nebraska and Washington, the 201112 non-conference schedule also features a home game against Western Michigan, a homeand home-with North Dakota and a BracketBuster game on Feb. 18, against an, as of yet, undetermined opponent. "I think we were a bit spoiled last year with so many home games, but I know Rob Klinkefus worked hard to try and balance the schedule as much as possible," Nagy said. "The addition of the BracketBuster game gives our fans a chance to see plenty of competitive basketball."
MEN’S BASKETBALL STRENGTH & CONDITIONING RECORDS
Sophomore JORDAN DYKSTRA earned allleague newcomer team honors in 2010-11 after leading the Jacks with 5.1 rebounds per game
DISCIPLINE
RECORD HOLDER
RECORD
YEAR SET
Power Clean Squat Bench Vertical Jump 1-Step Vertical Jump Agility Test
Griffan Callahan Ben Beran Jordan Dykstra Troy Wipf Dale Moss Dale Moss
286 lbs. 375 lbs. 277 lbs. 34 in. 38 in. 7.99 sec. (AVG.TIME)
2011 2007 2011 2008 2007 2007
2011-12 JACKRABBIT BASKETBALL
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