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email John Stansberry |
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March 15, 2010
South Dakota looks to overcome the odds
Most folks wouldn't expect to find a school in the
third season of a transition from Division II to
Division I playing postseason basketball.
But winning basketball is a tradition at South
Dakota, so the school's fans aren't surprised at all
to find their team competing in the
CollegeInsider.com tournament (CIT) on Tuesday
against Creighton.
Since arriving in Vermillion in 1988, Dave Boots has
posted 465 victories and led the Coyotes to fifteen
straight 20-win seasons.
That includes the current campaign that has South
Dakota sitting at 22-9 after winning the Great West
tournament this past weekend.
The winner of the tournament was slated to receive
an automatic bid to the CIT. After dominating the
league all season, South Dakota was most certainly a
deserving recipient.
But the Coyotes can't rest on their laurels for long
as they get set to play at Creighton. Traditionally,
trips to Omaha have almost always ended in failure
for South Dakota teams.
Creighton is a mindboggling 31-1 all-time at home
against USD, with 21 of those games being
double-digit victories. Only a school like Clemson,
mired in a 54-game losing streak at North Carolina,
can sympathize with USD's plight.
But unlike Clemson's torture, none of South Dakota's
pain is recent in nature. USD and Creighton last
played way back in 1968, so this Coyote team
actually has a great shot at starting a new chapter
in the series.
Senior forward Tyler Cain will be looking to extend
his USD career by at least one more game. He
surpassed the 1,000 point and 1,000 rebound marks
this season and was named Great West Player of the
Year by both CollegeInsider.com and the Sporting
News.
Center Steve Smith also passed the 1,000 point mark
himself this season. For him, the visit to Creighton
brings his college career full circle.
He began his playing days with Creighton back in
2004 but leg and back injuries kept him sidelined
for most of his first two years in Omaha. Seeing the
writing on the wall there, he transferred to USD.
The injuries limited him in his first two seasons in
Vermillion, and he played last season with a torn
labrum and a torn rotator cuff that required
offseason surgery.
The fact that Smith even stuck around long enough to
make this trip back to his old haunts really is a
testament to perseverance.
And perseverance is what it'll take to beat a
Creighton team that, at least on paper, has a deeper
bench and a stout home court advantage.
A South Dakota win will most certainly be tabbed as
an upset, but would it really be? A team that's
forced itself into postseason play this quickly is
pretty damn good.
John Stansberry is in his thirteenth season as
a senior writer for collegeinsider.com. Check out
John's blog
LonelyTailgater.com.
EMAIL JOHN |
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