September 1, 2008

There is a lot optimism heading into the 2008-09 season. We are picked to be among the top contenders for the league title this season. We return all five starters back from a team that won 19 games and can boast one of the best recruiting classes in school history.

Those are facts that no one in the Summit League will particularly care about.

Preseason projections and top recruiting classes always look nice on paper, but they become fact or fiction on the court. And we have a very challenging schedule before the Summit League action even gets started.

Following our season-opener (at home) against Rochester College, we have four straight road games. That trip begins at Oregon, with stops at Syracuse and Iowa before closing out the journey at Kansas State. Right before Christmas we will face Michigan and our first game following the holiday will be against Michigan State.

Last season we had seven losses to BCS schools. Had we scheduled differently we could possibly have produced a 24 or 25-win season. A difficult non-conference schedule is nothing new to our program. We have always challenged our team early in the season, with the hope of having them better prepared for the conference season.

Personally I believe the top of the Summit League is as good as it has been. Three-time defending champion Oral Roberts figures to be formidable again. North Dakota is now eligible for the title and they will vie for the crown with five senior starters. Despite the loss of George Hill, IUPUI should still be one of the league’s elite, while UMKC and IPFW (Fort Wayne) both figure to be challengers as well.

As for us, we have an interesting mix this season. I have never had a mix of returning talent and talented newcomers quite like this so it’s difficult to get a handle on. At some point this season we will have three 1,000-point scorers on the floor at the same time with Johnathon Jones (773 points), Erik Kangas (878 points) and Derick Nelson (1,106 points).

We have an outstanding incoming group, led by Ilija Milutinovic and Matt Samuels. Ilija is a 7-footer from Serbia with a high ceiling and Matt is an excellent guard from the Nation’s Capital. We also have a transfer from St. John’s University, in Larry Wright who is from Saginaw, MI.

How it all comes together is yet to be seen, but it will begin on Nov. 15 against Rochester College.
 

GOOD BUT NOT GREAT SEASON
by Greg Kampe

April 10, 2008

2007-08 was a good season, which never became a great season. We finished with 17 wins, including a victory over nationally ranked Oregon, but we were never able to sustain any long-term success.

Inconsistency plagued us throughout the season. We were capable of beating anyone in the league, but we proved we were also subject to lose to anyone. We just could never quite get on a roll.

Part of our inconsistency can probably be attributed to the loss of two All-League players from our frontcourt. I had hoped that we would find a rhythm as the season wore on, but that never happened.

Overall it was a good season in many respects. To win 17 games in a rebuilding season is very good and something we can feel good about as we prepare for the next campaign.

We return all five starters and welcome the best recruiting class in school history so there is a lot of optimism for the 2008-09 season. But while we hope to challenge for a Summit League title, there will be a number of other strong contenders for league supremacy.

There is no question that in our eleven years in the league (originally Mid-Continent) that this will be the strongest the conference has ever been. Conference regular season and tournament champion Oral Roberts welcomes back all of its key personnel. IUPUI returns Player of the Year George Hill and North Dakota State will have four fifth-year players back.

The top of the league will be very strong. In fact I would expect as many as three or four teams from our league to be ranked in the Mid-Major Top 25 at some point during the season.

While the top of the conference will be strong, the rest of the league figures to be very good as well. Centenary and Western Illinois will both have new coaches and UMKC will be in its second season with a new coach. However all three teams figure to be much improved.

The dark horse of the league might be South Dakota State. They had a young and talented team this past season. With a year under their belt they should be a real factor in the race for the Summit League championship.

We look forward to next season.