It’s almost that time of year again. Time for the basketball season and, boy, I am excited. Basketball by far is my favorite sport and is one of the main reasons why I can’t wait for the Bison to take the court in a month.
The way the game is played is so engaging and is something I miss a lot. And who isn’t excited about the new stadium?
Last year was another great year for Bison basketball. The team finished out with a record with 20-13. They were 8-8 in the conference and finished No. 5 in the Summit League. That didn’t stop the Bison from reaching the Summit League championship. They finished one game short of the NCAA tournament and came up short in a loss to South Dakota State.
The Bison were lead by senior Kory Brown and junior AJ Jacobson. Together along with the fury of other players, helped the Bison make a somewhat surprising run to the Summit championship game. Although Brown and others graduated, the team has added much more talent for the upcoming year
As the new season is about to begin, head coach David Richman has added three new freshmen. Jared Sameulson, Cameron Hunter and Tyson Ward join the Herd this year. The Bison will also be bringing back junior guard Paul Miller and senior forward Dexter Werner from last year.
For the preseason awards, Miller was selected to the preseason All-Summit League first team and Dexter Werner was selected to the second team. Miller was the leader of the team last year in scoring. Werner was the team’s leading rebounder and a guy you can always count on, as he didn’t miss a single game for the Bison all year last year.
Along with the preseason awards, the Summit League came out with their projected standings for the year, which had the Bison finishing in third behind Fort Wayne and South Dakota State. Both Fort Wayne and SDSU finished tied for first in the conference last year with a conference record of 12-4.
Arguably the most exciting thing about this year is the opening of the brand new Scheels Center. The entire building is called the Sanford Health Athletic Complex, a new name for the old Bison Sports Arena. The arena had been home to the Bison for the last 40 years. When construction began in 2013, the team moved to the Scheels Arena where they played for the last two years. But the drive there was awful. The arena was nowhere near campus and during the winter months no one wanted to drive there. That’s what I am most excited about. I can’t wait to see how many more people end up going to the games knowing that the game is so close.
Basketball season is something that I really look forward to, this year especially being the opening of the new Scheels center. The Herd once again looks good enough to make another run at the Summit League championship. And maybe, another run at the NCAA tournament.