This video is the culmination of a summer long fantasy baseball bet made by Journal copyeditor/reporter Josh Russo and assistant sports editor Jeff Budlong. Let this video serve as a lesson to all you kids out there, watch what you bet…you might have to pay up.
Andrew

I loved the recent hullabaloo about NBA MVP LeBron James (6-8, 260) being dunked on by Xavier’s Jordan Crawford (6-4, 195) at the LBJ Skills Academy in Akron.

Supposedly, after Crawford banged on Bronnie two-handed and sent the high school kids watching into a tizzy, a Nike rep went to two media-types filming the pick-up game and confiscated the tapes. Some are saying that the Nike employee was directed to do so after James came over and talked to him. If true, it really shows a lack of class by LeBron (give the kid his due, King!) but it takes me back to a discussion I have frequently when somebody loses their mind because somebody else got dunked on. That’s basketball, it happens, and it usually happens to the biggest, baddest guys because they’re the ones trying to make a play at the rim to stop it. Give the dunker his due and move on. It’s a great play by him, not a failing on the part of the shot blocker, some poor guy who is guarding someone else and, like a good teammate, is just trying to cover up for some clown on the perimeter (that might be me) who gambled on a steal or got shook with a crossover.

The idea that somebody should get ridiculed for trying to make a heroic defensive stop while some other more image-conscious dweeb runs out of the way to avoid the “embarrassment” of having a phenomenal athlete ram a ball through a hoop 10 feet off the ground is really goofy to me. If you try to block shots, or even if you just play in the paint against good players, you’re going to get dunked on every now and again (or if you’re Shawn Bradley, all the time). That’s just a part of the game when great athletes are playing against each other. It would be like an NFL player being embarrassed for getting blasted going across the middle. It’s an unavoidable part of playing, not some kind of referendum on your manhood.

Getting hammered on really shouldn’t be something that causes shame (unless you take the dreaded crotch rub to the face) and a guy who does it all the time to others should understand that. I hope that if tapes were confiscated it was at the direction of some 5-foot-7 Nike employee who has never played a game in his life — not somebody that should know a lot better.

- Padraic

It was a great college basketball season all the way around in this state this year — from the South Dakota State women’s near-miss to a top-10 Baylor team in the second round of the NCAA tournament to the selection of Faith’s Luke Enos to the NAIA Division II men’s second-team all-American status after the Jackets made it to the NAIA Final Four. Enos’ teammates Will John Johnson and Cain Atkinson were named honorable mention as well. Another Yellow Jacket, Onida sophomore Katelynn Lamb, was also named to the women’s honorable mention squad after the Jackets made the national tournament.

The USD women had a nice moment in their first year of D-I transition, nearly beating No. 10 North Carolina in Chapel Hill before falling late. The USD men also acquitted themselves pretty well in their first year of D-I competition despite taking a few poundings from Big East schools early.

A couple of Mines men, Brandon Smith and Brent Cass were also named academic all-Americans. The Hardrockers were a little overlooked with Black Hills being so good this year, but they were solid and will be again. The Mines women were young this season, but Coach Felderman will have them back competing for a conference title before long. She always does.

It was an excellent season for South Dakota college basketball and it doesn’t look like its going to regress any time soon.

- Padraic

Wow, South Dakota State made a statement on Sunday during the first round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. The seventh-seeded Jackrabbits blitzed tenth-seeded Texas Christian, 90-55, to advance to the second round. Not too bad for a team making its first-ever appearance in the tournament.

It looks like I could have been wrong saying they were seeded too high. Maybe they weren’t seeded high enough.

Andrew

Normally watching anything associated with women’s basketball on TV would not garner much attention from Journal sports writer Padraic Duffy or myself. But Monday was different with the NCAA Women’s Tournament Selection Show and the opportunity to see where the South Dakota State women’s basketball team would be seeded and who their first-round opponent would be.
Prior to the announcement, Padraic was sure the Jackrabbits would be no worse than a No. 4 seed. I thought SDSU would be a No. 12 or No. 13 seed. Of course, the selection committee met us in the middle and made SDSU a No. 7 seed, who would face Texas Christian in the first round.
Then our attention turned to whether they were snubbed (Padraic’s assertion) or seeded way too high (my argument). Either way, it is a pretty cool accomplishment for the Jacks in their first year of NCAA tournament eligibility.

Andrew

Just hop on board with the mighty Orange and their 2-3 zone and enjoy the ride to the Final Four.

God bless Lawrence Moten. Not that there’s anything wrong with him or anything … he’s just my all-time favorite player. Good to see G-Mac get a little love during the Big East tournament on ESPN, too.

- Padraic

How about some refreshing news in the world of sports for a change?

Star center Courtney Paris is confident that the Oklahoma women’s basketball team will win the national championship this season. How confident? She’s willing to bet her scholarship on it.

Paris, who holds the NCAA record for most consecutive double-doubles at 112 games, has stated multiple times in the last week that she would pay back her scholarship money if the Sooners do not win the title.

“I have a passion for our fans and university, and I want to do something special,” Paris said. “That’s why I put my scholarship on the table. I meant what I said.”

According to a report by the Oklahoman, that figure would come to roughly $16,000 per year, meaning Paris would “owe” close to $64,000 to the university if the team does not win it all.

“I love her passion, love her belief in what she thinks this team can do,” Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said, according to the paper. “The most important part of reaching a goal is believing you can.”

Paying it back would be difficult if Paris goes onto the WNBA, as most expect she will. Even top players in the league make less than $100,000.

Still, Paris is not backing off her promise.

“I feel like we’re not missing pieces. If we play hard, we execute, we are a great team that can win a national championship,” Paris said. “If we don’t do that, it won’t be because we’re not good enough.

“So when you’re good enough and don’t do something, then you have to take accountability for that and that’s your own fault. We can win a national championship. If we don’t, I’ll feel like I didn’t earn my scholarship.”

I’m rooting for ya Courtney.

-Lenn

Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin playing in his final home game at Loyld Noble Center put a Boomer Sooner stamp on a his sensational sophomore year.

Scoring 33 points and grabbing 14 rebounds on Saturday, Griffin, a national player of the year candidate,  put on a display that secured his spot in what will be the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft.

With him in the lineup the Sooners have lost twice, both on the road to Arkansas and Missouri. Since suffering a concussion midway in the Texas game; OU lost to the Longhorns, Kansas (he did not play) and Mizzou before righting the ship in a Bedlam game with OSU on Saturday.  

  

Griffin’s 14 rebounds on Saturday helped him surpass Drew Gooden for the Big 12 record for rebounds in a single season.

How far will OU go in March Madness? They are a probable No. 1 seed in one of the four brackets heading into the Big VII conference tourney next weekend.

Griffin has been a treat to watch this season in what will probably be his last at OU. He and his older brother Tyler, along with freshman transfer Willie Warren have helped put Oklahoma’s hoops program back on the map.

Not bad for a football school, not bad at all.

-Lenn 

   

A year after Black Hills State’s Cain Atkinson was named the Dakota Athletic Conference’s newcomer of the year it seems that Atkinson’s classmate and teammate, sophomore forward Luke Enos, should probably win the DAC most valuable player this year. Sure, there might be a week left in the regular season, but I think you can pretty much call it.

I know seniors will always get a bump, and the conference’s leading scorer, Minot’s Aaron Patterson, is a senior. Still, it seems to me that Enos is the pick.

The 6-7 forward is third in the conference in scoring (behind Patterson and Atkinson), he’s sixth in the conference in rebounding and he’s the most efficient shooter in the league, hitting 61.6 percent from the floor. He was also named conference player of the week three times in the first 10 weeks of the season. A previous winner would have to capture player of the week honors again this week just to be the only guy with two.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, if I had a vote for DAC MVP, Luke Enos would get the nod. If somebody thinks otherwise I’d love to hear it.

- Padraic

Figured it was time for an update on our out-of-state Division I basketball players … SDSU and USD players are easy enough to track down. So here’s how the out-of-staters are faring so far this season. 

Michael Tveidt (junior from Pierre), 8.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg and has started all 20 games at NDSU.

Adam Templeton (redshirt junior from Rapid City Central), 6.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.0 apg –started 21 of 22 games at Drake.

Colton Iverson (freshman from Yankton), 5.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 30 blocked shots in 21 starts at Minnesota.

Sam Willard (sophomore from Pierre), 6.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg in 17 starts at Pacific.

Joe Krabbenhoft (senior from S.F. Roosevelt), 8.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 2.4 apg in 20 starts at Wisconsin.

Zach Finley (junior from Rapid City — St. Thomas More), 5.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg in 17.9 minutes per game at Princeton.

Alexis Yackley, (freshman from Onida), 2.6 ppg in 8.1 minutes per game at Iowa State.

If I’m missing somebody, let me know.

- Padraic