It still stings, I still have the image of Sam Griesel getting “blocked” (I still think he was fouled), on the last play of the Summit League Championship game burned into my memory. That play gave ORU their opportunity on the big stage and boy did they take advantage. While I cheered hard for our fellow Summit League members to put on a great display showing the quality basketball being played in the Summit, I couldn’t help but think our team could’ve done the same given the opportunity. It’s been two consecutive rough ends to the season for the herd. First, in 2020 we win the Summit Tournament but lose our shot to play in the big dance to Covid. Then this last March we watched our mighty Bison storm all the way back from a 25 point halftime deficit to fall a bucket short of making the field of 68.
Finally, a new season is upon us as the team opens play tonight in an exhibition game against Minot State and this NDSU team can start the journey towards March all over again. Expectations are high as ever, as the team returns every starter and 8 of their top 9 scorers from a year ago. This is a team with a ton of experience on the roster and is quite possibly the deepest team talent wise that NDSU has ever had. With regular season champ SDSU also returning nearly their entire roster and conference champ ORU returning the Summit League Player of the Year in Max Abmas, the top of the Summit will be as competitive as ever but this team will be ready to battle it out, Bison Nation can count on that.
Thanks to coach Richman, I had the opportunity to attend a team practice last week to make my observations on the team and based purely on what I saw with my own eyes, below are my depth chart projections and player breakdowns headed into the 21-22 season.
Projected Depth Chart
Projected Starter – Projected Backup
G – Sam Griesel – Dezmond McKinney / Willie Guy
G – Jarius Cook – Boden Skunberg
G – Tyree Eady – Andrew Kallman
F – Grant Nelson – Maleeck Harden-Hayes
F – Rocky Krueser – Andrew Morgan
Returning Players
Rocky Krueser – 6’10 Senior Forward
The 2021 Summit League 1st team selection and 1st team preseason selection this year elected to take advantage of an additional year of eligibility to play one more season at NDSU and I for one couldn’t be happier. Last time we saw Rocky on the court he was scoring at will while leading the comeback charge in the Summit League Championship game. He finished that game with 34 points and 9 rebounds and at times looked simply unstoppable. The good news for Bison fans, he looked the same in practice. Granted it was 2 true freshman trying to slow down an all-conference player but Rocky looked every bit poised to have a big year and even potentially give Abmas a run for his money for Summit League POY this season.
Sam Griesel – 6’6” Junior Guard
Sam was a 2021 Summit League 2nd team selection and is a 1st team preseason selection this year. He made the transition to the point guard position last offseason and while there were some growing pains early in the year, his play at the position created matchup nightmares for teams in the Summit down the stretch. Look for more of the same to continue this season as his size and physicality is tough to match at the guard position.
Tyree Eady – 6’5 Junior Guard
Tyree was left off of all of the post season awards lists last year but is a 2nd team preseason selection this season. Tyree is quietly the most efficient scorer on the Bison roster, he tied Harden-Hayes for the team lead in FG% at 51.6% and led the team in 3PT% at 39.1%. Not only was he efficient on offense but he was often the player tasked with defending the opponents best player. Look for more of that to continue this season, with the size of this team Eady will often find himself with a smaller defender on him and should be able to be very effective scoring down low.
Grant Nelson – 6’11” Freshman Forward
The Summit League 6th Man of the Year and All Newcomer Team selection returns for his 2nd year in the program. He received Honorable Mention votes on this site for All Summit honors and based on what we saw down the stretch last season there’s optimism that Grant Nelson could be one really special player in this league. His full offseason with the team and the strength program has definitely benefited him as he looks stronger already. Based on the lineups I saw in practice, he appears to have positioned himself to start for this team and with his skills along with improved outside shooting and more confidence on the floor he looks poised to make some noise this season.
Jarius Cook – 6’3” Sophomore Guard
Yes, at 6’3” Jarius is the shortest projected starter on this team just as he was last year. After somewhat of a rocky start to the season, he exploded for a 22 point outing with 16 coming in the first half against TCU. While he started the season very inconsistent, he scored in double figures in 10 of the last 11 regular season games and will look to carry that consistency over to this season.
Maleeck Harden-Hayes – 6’7” Sophomore Guard
Maleeck showed a lot of growth in his game from year 1 to year 2. He showed a lot more confidence with the ball in his hands and as mentioned above he was tied with Eady in leading the team in FG% and he was also 2nd on the team in 3PT%. He averaged 8.8ppg and 5.2rpg and had he not battled injuries on and off most of last season I think those numbers would have been higher. He’s another player who has a chance to take a big step forward this year as he can be electric when he’s healthy and flying around the court.
Boden Skunberg – 6’5” Freshman Guard
The Jamestown, ND product played as a true freshman last year and just as he started to ramp up and contribute some really solid minutes he was sidelined for a month with a foot injury. He made it back for the last month of the season but by that time the rotation had tightened up a bit and with all the missed time he was left just playing some spot duty. I fully expect Boden to be back in the primary rotation this year and from what I saw in practice he looks 100% back to himself and likely even a little stronger and more explosive than he was last year. If his confidence matches the coaching staff’s confidence in him he should provide some valuable scoring off the bench.
Dezmond McKinney – 6’0” Freshman Guard
In a somewhat unexpected move to those of us outside the locker room, Cam Hunter opted to transfer prior to last season. NDSU used that scholarship to sign McKinney to provide some depth at the PG position behind Griesel and JUCO transfer Donald Carter III. In another somewhat unexpected circumstance, Donald Carter’s spring leg injury did not heal as quickly and as well as hoped and he was not ready at the start of the season. All of a sudden the backup PG duties fell squarely on the shoulders of true freshman McKinney and he performed quite well given the circumstances. This season he will compete with another JUCO transfer in Willie Guy for those backup PG minutes and it will be a good battle to see who emerges. There’s no doubt McKinney has the fastest first step on the team as he could be seen in practice blowing by people on the way to a layup if given a crease. He will be a nice piece for this team both this season and going forward.
Grayson Haman – 6’4 Freshman Guard
A walk-on from Davies HS here in Fargo, Grayson totalled just 4 minutes in 4 games during the season. With some of the scholarship exemptions Covid granted teams, Coach Richman did award Grayson a scholarship for the upcoming season. He plays hard and he shoots the ball fairly well but outside of a ton of foul trouble or a lopsided game, I don’t see too many minutes for Grayson this season either.
Now for the players I’m guessing most of the readers want to know about…
The Newcomers
Andrew Kallman – 6’4” Senior Guard
Andrew is a graduate transfer coming to the Bison from Saul Phillips coached DII Northern State in Aberdeen, SD. He averaged 9.8ppg, 3.9 rpg, and 4.4 apg while playing alongside DII All-American Parker Fox who is now playing for the Minnesota Gophers. He helped lead the Wolves all the way to the Central Region Championship game where they lost a heartbreaker in overtime to end their season. Kallman is very much a Richman style player, he does all the little things right. He defends well, takes care of the ball and is just an all around solid basketball player. He will look to add some consistency to the 3pt shooting for the Bison as he averaged about 39% from the arc during his career at Northern State. He definitely hit some nice shots in practice and I think his game will fit this team well, he also gives us another lefty to cheer for after Tyson Ward graduated.
Willie Guy – 5’11” Sophomore Guard
Willie is the reigning NJCCA Tournament MVP and was a first team junior college All-American at Des Moines Area CC. He helped lead DMACC to their first ever national title while averaging 13 ppg, 6 apg and 4.8 rbg. In my observations in practice I’m not sure if the 5’11” listing is generous or if he just looks a little shorter due to the ridiculous size of this team but what did stand out on the court was his ability to create space to get a shot off and also to create angles to make entry passes. He does appear to be having some struggles making the jump to playing defense at the D1 level but he seems to have the work ethic to get it down as he grows in the system. As mentioned above, it will be between him and McKinney for the primary backup role, right now based on defense alone I would give the edge to McKinney but we’ll see who shines when the lights come on in the exhibition game and season opener.
Andrew Morgan – 6’10” Freshman Forward/Center
He might be a true freshman and pardon my french but Andrew Morgan is a grown a** man. The 6’10” 235 pound big man from Waseca was the number 3 ranked player in Minnesota in this recruiting class, a top 250 player in the nation in the Prep Hoops rankings and a Mr. Basketball finalist in the state of Minnesota. He averaged 20 ppg and 10 rbg in his senior season and will look to transition that production into making an immediate impact as a true freshman for the Bison. When coach Richman and I discussed the freshman before practice he made sure to note that Andrew could be something special and it was easy to see why he felt that way. He’s big, physical, has good footwork and great touch around the rim. Like the other young players he’s still learning how to play defense at this level but on the offensive end, if he catches the ball within 10 feet of the basket…good luck preventing him from scoring and hope he takes mercy on the backboards he could shatter.
Joshua Streit – 6’8” Freshman Forward
Joshua comes to NDSU from Eden Valley-Watkins HS as a do everything type of big that should be a great fit for the Bison offense going forward. Also a football prospect, Streit definitely comes to NDSU with the size and strength needed to play at this level. He actually looked a little taller than his 6’8” listing when I saw him in practice. He can score in a variety of ways, rebounds well, passes very well for a big and is the type of player that will do whatever a team asks of him to win without worrying about his own stat line. As with most freshman bigs, Joshua could improve his lateral quickness and explosiveness a bit which I have no doubt he’ll do in the NDSU strength program. With Andrew clearly ahead of him on the depth chart I don’t see much for minutes to be had this year by him so I’d say with about 95% certainty that he will redshirt this year and will have 4 full years ready to go after Rocky graduates in the spring.
Kolbe Rada – 6’1” Freshman Guard
Kolbe originally committed to DIII Washington University in St. Louis last year but their season was cancelled due to covid. Now Kolbe comes to NDSU as a walk-on who will look to contribute anyway he can on this loaded roster. He’s an intelligent player that can definitely shoot it from beyond the arc who averaged 16.1 ppg as a Senior. Playing time for any walk-on is going to be tough to come by at NDSU but just as Grayson did last season, he’ll put in the work and contribute any chance he gets.