The South Dakota State (SDSU) men’s basketball offseason has been relatively quiet up to this point. Where most Summit League foes have had some turnover on their roster, the Jackrabbits have had minimal losses. With two players transferring out and two freshmen coming in the Jacks will look very similar to what we saw this past year.
The Departures
The Jackrabbits will be losing Tracy Buchanan and Willie Mfum this offseason. Both players had very different experiences at SDSU. Tray came in as a JUCO transfer from Des Moines Area Community College and averaged 6.3 points in 12 games until he had an injury that ended his junior season in 2019. Tray opted out of the 2020 season when it was clear he wouldn’t see much playing time with what appeared to be a new injury.
Willie Mfum saw limited playing time in his first eligible season for the Jackrabbits. He was an early-enrollee and redshirted his 2019/2020 season. He was known as a high flyer with two memorable dunks in the Mount Marty game in Frost arena. SDSU loses one of the most athletic Jacks on the roster.
The Commits
South Dakota State has two freshmen coming to the team this year.Broden Lien is a 6-8 power forward from Ulen, Minnesota. Broden will likely see some playing time this upcoming season as a back to Doug Wilson. Zeke Mayo is an athletic 6-3 point guard who will fight for playing time in the deepest position group. Both players will likely ]have an impact for this season’s Jackrabbits.
The rest of the roster
At the time of this article being written, the SDSU men’s roster will be the same, with the starting five all coming back. The Jacks are also returning their main off-the-bench contributors from last season, including Charley Easley and Luke Appel. Easley and Appel both played important roles for the team down the stretch last season.