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Oakland women’s basketball coach Beckie Francis was in Sioux Falls over the weekend. But this visit had little to do with hoops.
Instead, Francis spoke at Children’s Home Society and a local church as an advocate of sexual abuse awareness. Why? Because she was a victim, and went public with her story in 2012.
She explains that and more in this week’s Too Much TV podcast. Here’s the link. And another.
Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.
Fingers crossed for nice weather this week:
The SDSU baseball team has a four-game edge for the top seed in the Summit League tournament at 10-6 after taking 3 of 4 over the weekend at Western Illinois. Omaha is in first place at 12-4, but isn’t eligible for the league tourney.
Up next: A busy week. The Jacks drove from Macomb to Brookings late Sunday after the conclusion of the series. On Tuesday, they’ll play North Dakota in Grand Forks before facing Creighton on Wednesday - at the home of the College World Series - and hosting Fort Wayne on Friday in the start of a four-game set. It’s the last home action of the season for the club.
In that regard, coach Dave Schrage is glad that the school year is done.
“The guys can focus on baseball,” he said. “We can come out early and practice - we can get into that flow. Hopefully, the weather turns.”
The SDSU softball team concluded its season Sunday, finishing 16-30 overall and 6-17 in the Summit League. That’s compared to 13-27-1 overall and 5-16 last year, the first for coach Kim Aggabao. Pretty similar, right? It could be considered a slight improvement in that the Jackrabbits did not play a single game in Brookings compared to 13 - with seven wins - in 2012.
As for the future, SDSU is losing six seniors meaning that a majority of the roster going forward will have been put together by Aggabao rather than predecessor Joanna Lane.
The four-team conference tournament will be held this week in Fargo with North Dakota State gunning for a fifth consecutive crown.
The Summit League track meet starts Friday in Muncie, Ind. Why Muncie? SDSU coach Rod DeHaven said that Fort Wayne is serving as the host, and it initially was going to use the (extremely nice) IUPUI facility. That changed in the fall.
Former SDSU volleyball coach Andrew Palileo has landed the top job at North Texas, a program that’s set to join Conference USA. Palileo left the Jacks in 2007 for Washington State in and then became an assistant at Ohio State in 2011.
Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.
Taevaunn Prince bid adieu to South Dakota on Saturday, leaving Brookings for Canada to set the course for the next leg of his basketball career. The sophomore guard said he hopes to land at another NCAA Division I school and has had talks with some already.
One year ago, Prince seemed a better bet to be a key player for the Jacks rather than an outgoing transfer. He said all the right things publicly when transferring out of South Dakota State. So did the Jackrabbits staff. Maybe there’s more to it, maybe there isn’t. The bottom line is this: More than 360 D-I players (and counting) will make moves this offseason, according to the annual list compiled by CBSSports.com writer Jeff Goodman. Last year, the number was in the 450 range.
That seems like a lot. But it’s not really considering there are 347 D-I programs. And most schools have 13 scholarship players. So you’re talking about 7.7 percent of the roster transferring out. That isn’t a lot - the retention rate for regular students nationwide is far lower. Even the comparatively stable SDSU football program has lost more than that on the average in recent years.
This is the way it is right now. And if coaches can’t be held to contracts and schools can’t commit to conferences, kids probably shouldn’t be criticized for moving, either.
What matters more: What do the Jacks do with their open spot? They’re at a place where they should be able to land an impact player, be it a transfer or a freshman. And how will the 6-foot-3 Prince do with his fresh start? He still wants to play pro ball after college, meaning he would do well to try to make an impact at a high-level program.
Things could work out for both parties. Or not. But adjusting on the fly has become a mandatory skill for players and coaches alike.
Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.
No, spring football did not go as planned for South Dakota State.
The Jackrabbits wound up leaving two practices on the table - of the allowed 15 - in light of co-defensive coordinator Jay Bubak resigning on top of more inhospitable weather. That was after the spring game was canceled and several other workouts were postponed or moved.
Coach John Stiegelmeier’s final assessment of the highly unusual spring season:
“We got some stuff done,” he said. “We didn’t get enough done, but we’ve got a long summer ahead. Our players know the drill - our defense and our offense and all that stuff.
“To me, it’s kind of like being down at halftime - are you going to do what you’ve done or are you going to find a way to play a little better?”
There won’t be much of a wait for that - summer workouts begin June 3. In advance of that, position coaches will offer up drill suggestions or other pieces of advice as they can’t oversee sessions per NCAA rules. Because of the missed spring work, simulated full-speed work will be emphasized.
Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.
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Is May Day still a thing? Who knows - but the weekly live chat is.
Here’s the replay from the latest edition.
See you all at the Dakota Relays this weekend.
Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.
Now that David Herbster is - officially - sitting in the athletic director chair at the University of South Dakota, he gets to deal with all sorts of questions about college sports in general.
That’s what we do this week on Too Much TV: Ask Herbster about the conference shuffle, the prospect of Big Ten schools avoiding Football Championship Subdivision games and his view for the future in Vermillion.
Also, stop back at 4 p.m. Thursday - note the time change - for the weekly live chat.
Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.
We’re track heavy this week in light of the upcoming Dakota Relays on Friday and Saturday at renovated Howard Wood Field:
When SDSU senior Tera Potts recently broke the school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Long Beach State Invite, she did so despite the fact that one of the hurdles was too high (the men’s height) for the first six laps, coach Rod DeHaven said.
Potts’ time of 10:34 shattered the old mark of (10:42) set by Nicole Davis in 2010.
In other track news, standout high jumper Mary Wirth is taking a redshirt this season. Why? In part because it will give her another year to train in the new indoor practice facility, according to DeHaven. The Lincoln High grad already holds three conference titles and a share of the school record (5-9.75).
The SDSU volleyball team has finished its spring season – one that was as unique as football’s if for different reasons. The Jacks had only seven players due to six graduations and one transfer (Sydney Howard to Minnesota). The coaches were forced to play more often, but that still wasn’t enough to go 6-on-6.
“The one great thing that came out of it, all of our players got a ton of touches over the spring,” coach Phil McDaniel said, “which is only going to benefit us over the next couple years.”
As of now, the Jacks will have 12 players for next season. But McDaniel hopes that will move to 13 or 14 pending the results of a couple spring recruiting efforts.
The SDSU baseball team leads the Summit League in terms of RPI at No. 158. NDSU is next at 204.
The Jacks will host the University of Winnipeg - a school that’s transitioning to NAIA - on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in a non-conference game that came together on short notice. SDSU is 21-14 overall with just four of those games being played in Brookings.
Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.
The NFL Draft came and went over the weekend with - for the 13th time in 14 years - nobody from South Dakota State being selected. That wasn’t surprising - nobody was projected to go.
But then free agency started Saturday evening and no news of any signings. Same with Sunday.
If nobody gets picked up, and there’s still time for that to happen, this will end a five-year run for the program of getting at least one rookie into an NFL training camp.
Meanwhile, the Jackrabbits faced plenty of new pros last season - a total of 14 as of Sunday night. That’s two draft picks (one from Kansas, one from Southeastern Louisiana) plus 12 rookie free agents.
That number doesn’t include players SDSU met in previous seasons (like Southern Utah QB Brad Sorenson, a seventh-round pick), the three guys from Illinois State (because the Jacks didn’t play the Birds in 2012 despite being in the same conference) or KU QB Dayne Crist, who has a tryout scheduled.
What does this all mean?
Nothing, necessarily. It’s just interesting that the first SDSU team to advance out of the second round of the playoffs had less pro talent (at least in the senior class) than other recent editions. Maybe a bunch of guys from other classes will go on to get pro opportunities, but the seniors - as the coaches said as far back as media day - were better collectively than individually.
Likewise, having pro prospects didn’t mean much by way of success for other teams. Southeastern Louisiana, for example, produced three news pros; same with Youngstown State. Neither of those clubs made the Football Championship Subdivision postseason. And two-time defending champ NDSU didn’t have any new pros as of Sunday night.
Add this to the list of reasons why people love sports. You just never know.
Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.