Can you feel it UND fans?
No, not the feeling of finally taking down the Bison in football or the fast start from the hockey team. The excitment that basketball season is just around the corner, and there is plenty to talk about from this offseason. New faces, familiar ones, and everything that has happened inbetween.
Last Years Record: 13-20 overall, 6-12 Summit
Player Departures:
Caleb Nero (transferred to D2 Central Missouri), Matt Norman (professional contract), Jalun Trent (transferred to Delaware), Reid Grant (transferred to D2 UM-Crookston), A’Jahni Levias (transferred to D2 Cal State-LA). Mitchell Sueker (graduation).
Player Additions:
Eli King (transferred from Iowa State), Deng Mayar (transfer from JUCO Howard), Amar Kuljuhovic (transfer from JUCO Lake Land), Tyree Ihenacho (transfer from JMU), Zach Kraft (incoming freshman), Matthew Bothun (incoming freshman), Anthony Doppler (incoming freshman), Ryan Erikson (incoming freshman)
Returners:
5th Year: Brady Danielson, Tsotne Tsartsidze
Juniors: Brian Mathews
Sophomores: BJ Omot, Treysen Eaglestaff, Elijah Brooks
Freshman: Daniel Hong
Last Season’s Recap:
When looking back at last years 13-20 record and 6-12 conference conference season, you almost need to put this in 3 Acts
Act 1: An okay non-conference start
The non-conference was a bit of a up and down experience: They won on the road at Incarnate Word and Elon but then got blasted at home verses Pacific. They looked great in their Thanksgiving tournament, beating Cal State Fullerton and Utah Tech but then lost to Portland, Idaho and lost a heartbreaker at home verses Seattle. While their non-conference record did allow them to match their wins than they did all of last year (6-7), there was still some meat left on the bone and momentume wasn’t on their side going into conference play.
Act 2: A Forgettable 1st half of conference play
Conference play didn’t make things better, UND dropped 10 out of their first 11 games in the conference and there were a lot of them that were so close: a 2 point loss to USD at home, a 1 point loss to SDSU at home, a 6 point loss to Omaha on the road, and 7 point loss to Denver on the road. What could have been if some of those games had gone a different way but by the time late January/early February rolled around, it hit the bottom. 3 road games and all 3 of them were ugly, with the worst one at SDSU.
Act 3: A New Hope Rises
After the loss to SDSU and falling to 1-10 in conference play, you could really sense that the bottom had been hit and a trip to Verm was next. You couldn’t blame UND fans for feeling that they wouldn’t win another game, but a funny thing happened.
They went to Vermillion and won. Then they went home and beat Denver and Omaha, then scared ORU down in Tulsa before losing by 3. UND managed to win 5 out of their last 7 to close out the regular season with a 12-19 record and 6-12 in the Summit. They took down Denver in the first round before tapping out to ORU in the quarters.
It was a wild ride of a season that did double their win total from the previous season and triple their conference wins from a year ago.
Top Stories from the Off-Season:
- The Portal was a net positive for UND…. FINALLY
Portal Season has caused UND fans heartbreak over the past two offseasons and many feared that history would repeat itself once again. Funny thing about that: It didn’t.
Sure, there was still some roster movement. 4 players decided to hit the portal and Matt Norman decided that it was time to start his professional career. With that said, UND was able to maintain their freshman core and got Danielson and T to return for their COVID years.
However, the big story was the additions from the portal. UND made an early splash, brining in Eli King, a transfer from Iowa State. With his connections with Eaglestaff and Omot from their AAU days, it was an easy decision for him to join. Then, the shocker: the return of Tyree Ihenacho to UND. The 2020-21 Summit Freshman Player of the Year decided to come back after transferring and spending 2 years at James Madison. This required the NCAA to approve a waiver to play immediately since this was his 2nd transfer and unforuntaely, it was denied (pending appeal). King should provide an immediate upgrade at the PG position but without a legit backup right now, this could cause issues if something where to happen to King. Neverthless, it was nice for one year, UND actually won in the portal.
2. Sather’s Extension
This was a bit of a talker in the middle of conference season as to what AD Chaves was going to do with Sather entering the final year of his original contract. Well the wondering ended when he announced a 2 year extension through the 25-26 season. While there certainly has been some difficulties during the Sather tenure about player retention and success on the court, there may be optimism that this could change during this season, with a solid returning core and with some talented additions.
3. Staff Changes
There was some movement on the coaching staff as Steve Aldrige depart from the problem. UND decided to slide Estevan Sandoval from the DOBO position to replace Aldrige. So that opened the DOBO: which was filled by an old friend. Bentiu Panoam returned to the program to fill that open position.
The Questions:
- Are the Sophomores ready to take the jump?
If UND wants to have success this year, it is going to come from these 3 taking a big step: BJ Omot, Treysen Eaglestaff, and Eli King. Omot has shown flashes of being the guy at UND and has the IT factor that UND has been missing since Stewart. Eaglstaff has shown his elite oustide shooting in spurts and King has elite athletic ability for a point guard. It helps that these 3 have rapport from their AAU days. Can they take that next jump in consistency and burst onto the scene as stars, espeically for Omot and Eaglestaff?
2. Where the shooting going to come from?
With Norman heading off to pro ball, there is a huge hole in the 3 point shooting department. While Treysen Eaglestaff is certainly capable of filling that spot, there is still concerns on where some of this shooting from outside is going to come from. Its not like they need to be lights out shooters but they still need to shoot it well enough to keep the defense honest. This is where Omot, T, Danielson, Brooks, King, Mayar, etc, need to step up and as a collective whole, deliver on that front.
3. Backup PG?
This has become more of a talker because of the Ihenacho news. If he was eligibile, this wouldn’t be an issue. However, there is many question marks as to who is going to handle the ball when King isn’t in the lineup. Do you slide Eaglestaff in the role? Do you try Brooks? What about Point Omot or Point T? Every option should be on the table, even if that means lifting a redshirt off a freshman to do it. Answering this question will go along way to measuring UNDs success this year.
BEST CASE SCENARIO:
The 23-24 season will be remembered fondly the same way the 16-17 season was… dancing in March Madness. They won’t be the only UND team that will be dancing that day (spoiler alert for the women’s preview).
How did they get there? UND uses their athletic talent to blitz across the Summit League. BJ Omot takes the leap into the best two way player in the league and shoots the 3 well enough to make him virtually unguardable. He ends up with Summit League POY. Treysen Eaglestaff takes a step forward, becoming an elite shooter to keep defenses honest. Eli King fits the offense like a glove and gives defenses even more problems. T continues to provide UND with an inside/outside threat, while Brady Danielson continues to do Brady Danielson like things. The other newbies are ready from the jump: Kuljuhovic is grabbing rebounds left and right, Mayar provides even more athletic ability to UNDs frontcourt. UND finally breaks through and beats SDSU at home, sweeps the Bison and Yotes, and finish 2nd in the league.
NDSU and USD get bounced in the quarterfinals. With T and Brady graduating, UND is primed for another run in 24-25 with the core returning back.
WORST CASE SCENARIO:
Despite all of the athletic ability and improved height, there are still areas where UND could struggle. Teams decide to pound them down low and find ways to break down the pressure. The lacking of a legit backup PG starts to effect them when King isn’t on the floor and the lack of a true shooter allows defences to sit in a zone and dare them to beat it. Omot and Eaglestaff don’t make the big jump and the newbies are slow to develop. It plays out similar to last year and ends similar with a sub .500 record and a loss in the QF. They get swept by the Dakota Schools once again.
USD shocks the league and wins it all, with Paul Bruns winning POY. The portal bites UND harder this time around.
WHAT I THINK WILL HAPPEN:
There is reasons to be optimism about this team but as we have seen in previous seasons in the Summit that hype is a double edge sword. With that said, UND appears to still be flying under the radar and thought of as a sleeper. I think this will be fine because come February, no one will be sleeping on them. I think this is a team that will lean of their athletic ability and shoot it well enough to finish 4th in the Summit and complete a 18-13 record and 10-6 in the Summit. Setting up the table for a big 24-25 season.
Lets get it started!