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St. Cloud State University
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Husky Basketball 2003-2004
Repeat not an easy job for SCSU
By Ben Birnell
Published:
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Pull out the astrology guide, call Ms. Cleo, heck, ask a random stranger off the St. Cloud streets. Picking who will win the North Central Conference is like getting a royal flush in cards: hard to do.
The South Dakota State University Jackrabbits are the clear favorite after it returns its entire starting five from last season. The Huskies are looking to repeat as NCC championships and aren't gonna give it away lying down.
"We know that SDSU is loaded," SCSU head coach Kevin Schlagel said. "The last two years we've been fighting it out with them, so it's going to be tough."
Schlagel also stated that he felt all the teams in the NCC are good and it's hard to pick who'll win without seeing any of the teams play a single game, and it'll come down to which teams can stay healthy and battle until the end.
"If you don't stay healthy, it'll hurt you and you'll be suffering come conference time," Schlagel said.
With going 26-5 overall and 13-3 in the NCC, the Huskies have a bull's-eye firmly planted on their chests. When it comes to conference play, senior Alex Carlson knows the conference will be tough as always.
"The conference looks as tough as it always does," Carlson said. "All the teams are tough, there's no team that you can take for granted."
Here's a look at each NCC team:
Augustana College
The Vikings come into their 2003-2004 campaign with a fresh face in new head coach Tom Billeter.
The Vikings look to build off their record of 11-16 (2-14 in the NCC) from last season. AC returns four starters, including senior Justin Van Meeteren, who averaged 17 points a game and eight rebounds. Senior Rod Henry is also a returning starter. Henry averaged 7.9 ppg and 3.8 rebounds. Besides that, AC has 10 new players (three redshirted) and things don't look to be much better.
MSU- Mankato
The Mavs return only one starter in senior forward Josh Ziemke. He averaged 10.5 ppg and 5.1 rebounds.
Scoring might be the biggest concern as the MSU lost three starters that averaged a combined 40 points a game. Head Coach Matt Margenthaler is in his third year with the team and looks to improve on last year's 15-13 record overall (6-10 in the NCC, good enough for seventh place). The team has eight new players, two being redshirts.
Nebraska-Omaha
UNO might have some problems scoring after losing three seniors who averaged a total of 39.9 ppg. The Mavericks return two starters in Calvin Kappels and Ryan Curtis. Both averaged under 10 ppg last season though. The team added six new players in the off-season, including six-foot-eleven Minneapolis native Levy Jones.
North Dakota
The loss of Jerome Beasley (now with the NBA's Miami Heat) is huge. He contributed 26.6 ppg last season and was a thorn in the Huskies' side.
The Sioux return one starter in Mike Johnson. UND also looks to improve off a 20-9 overall record.
North Dakota State
The Bison come off a 20-11 season and return three starters from last year. Senior CoCo Cofield and Ben Nemmers combined last season for a 25.9 ppg. Nemmers was also 52 percent from behind the three-point arc. However, the loss of Denver TenBroek's 21.5 ppg could be a major downfall for NDSU.
South Dakota
The Coyotes return their ending starting five from last season. Senior Tommie King is the big playmaker for the Coyotes scoring 22.5 ppg and 7.6 rpg. Junior Josh Mueller is also back after last season's performance of 14.4 ppg and 8.1 assists per game.
USD looks to improve off a 19-9 overall record and drop their final five games last season.
South Dakota State
The Jackrabbits look to be perennial favorites in an otherwise tough conference. Senior Marquise Richardson returns with his 10.5 ppg and 5.2 rebounds per game. The Jacks lose four starters from last year's team including Chris Stoebner (13.7 ppg, 7 rpg), Adam Robinson (10.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg), Austin Hansen (18.0 rpg, 4.3 rpg). SDSU also includes four newcomers and looks to capture the NCC title after a one year vacancy from the title.
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