Hoops HD

On Tuesday South Dakota State beat in-state rival South Dakota 97-87 in the Summit title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Jackrabbits won 18 games last year before losing to #1 seed Gonzaga in the NCAA tourney, but this year they are 28-6 and claimed the school’s 5th NCAA tourney bid in the past 7 years. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with FR SG David Jenkins Jr. about winning the Summit title this week and being named conference ROY last week.

You grew up in Tacoma, WA: what made you choose the Jackrabbits? Coach TJ used to be an assistant coach at Washington and I have known him for awhile. He gave me a scholarship offer after my junior year but the only thing I knew about South Dakota is that it was cold! He made me another offer after I went to prep school and we just kept building our relationship.  I finally realized that he was the only coach in the nation who wanted me.

Last year you played at Sunrise Christian Academy with a bunch of teammates who will also be in this year’s NCAA tourney (Isiah Jasey at Texas A&M/Derrick Walker at Tennessee/Matt Haarms at Purdue/Samba Ndiaye at Charleston): how did being around all of this great competition improve your own skills? It helped prepare me because I got to go against top players each and every day, which I also did during AAU ball. I remember playing Vermont Academy when they were the #1 team in the country, and we beat them.

Coach TJ Otzelberger was named 2018 conference COY last week: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him? He is not too worried about winning/losing: he cares more about his players. We had a conditioning test earlier this year and 1 of our guys could not make it: he just cared about the progress of his players even if it would end up costing us a win. He really believes in us no matter what. I had a terrible game in our conference tourney opener and he sat me. He knew that I would have a bounce-back game if I was more aggressive, and I did.

The awards continued last week as you were named 2018 conference ROY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It is obviously a blessing but I could not have won it without my teammates. They keep telling me to be aggressive on the offensive end night in and night out.

In the Summit tourney title game on Tuesday you scored a team-high 29 PTS in a 10-PT win over South Dakota: how big a deal is the rivalry, and how were you able to play your best when it mattered the most? The rivalry is huge: my guys told me coming into the season that it would be a big game. We just executed down the stretch even after our best player Mike Daum went out.

Daum ended up being named Summit tourney MVP for the 3rd straight year: what makes him such a great player? Just his ability to score at such a high clip both inside and out. He is 1 of the best shooters I have been around in a long time: when he actually misses a shot I am surprised. He can shoot over defenders, pump-fake, and makes FTs at a very high rate.

The other 4 starters on your team (including Daum) are all juniors/seniors: how have you been able to fit in with these veterans? My guys believe in me the same way I believe in them. They do not treat me as a freshman. A big part of my success was the maturity I gained from my year at prep school.

Your 1st 2 road losses this season were to the 2 best teams in the state of Kansas (Kansas/Wichita State): which of these projected tourney teams impressed you the most? I would say Wichita State: even though we competed with them (eventually losing 95-85) they are really good defensive team. I feel that we had a bad game against Kansas (a 98-64 loss). Even though the Jayhawks are a high-level team, I think that the Shockers would be harder team for us if we end up having a rematch in the NCAA tourney.

Your team is ranked in the top-10 in the nation in FGM/3PM/FTM/REB/PPG: what makes your team so successful on offense? A big part is to get in our individual work in and be in the gym all of the time: FTs before practice, extra shots after practice, etc. Coach sometimes makes time for us to get extra shots up during practice.

What kind of seed do you think that you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think that you are going to get? I feel that we should get a #12 or #13 seed. We were a #16 seed last year (after going 8-8 in conference play during the regular season) but we went 13-1 in the league this year. A better seed would help so we could play a team that we can beat and then try to make a run.

CLICK HERE for Jon Teitel’s latest Bracket Projection (where he guesses the NCAA Selection Committee)

CLICK HERE for Rocco Miller’s Bracket Projection at Bracketeer.org (updated as of 3/5/18)

CLICK HERE for Galen Clavio’s Bracket Projection at CrimsonCast (updated as of 3/6/18)

Tonight, our Hoops HD Selection Committee not only met for our annual pasta dinner, but we began our process for selecting the NCAA Tournament field as all of our panelists submitted 2 lists to our chairman Chad Sherwood. The first list consisted of up to 36 at-large teams that is colloquially known as the “First Ballot.” For a team to be added to the At-Large board, teams needed to get at least 8 out of 10 votes from our panel (much like the NCAA Selection Committee that meets in New York tonight). As of tonight, 28 teams were voted on to the at-large board. This means that there will be a minimum of 8 more teams that will be voted on to our at-large board when our Committee convenes via Skype conference call tomorrow night. We will also vote on more at-large teams as teams currently on the at-large board win automatic bids in their respective conference tournaments.

The second list of teams consists of “Under Consideration” – any team that did not merit at-large consideration on the first ballot and received at least 3 votes (on either the first or second list) are added to the Under Consideration list. Teams that finished in first place in their conference in the regular season are also automatically added to the list of teams Under Consideration. As of tonight, we have 47 teams added to the Under Consideration list plus our Centenary Award winner that will be announced tomorrow night. (CLICK HERE for a history of the Centenary Award).

Without further ado, here is the current cross-country board: (click on the board to enlarge)

The teams listed on the left in blue are the 13 teams that have already clinched automatic bids into the NCAA Tournament. The teams listed in green are the 28 teams that are currently listed as at-large selections. The teams listed in white are teams under consideration for the final at-large spots. The column on the right hand side is the master seed list that we will begin to fill on Friday night.

For tomorrow, our first major task will be to scrub the list of teams that are under consideration. After we vote on our Centenary Award winner, we will fill the remaining 8 at-large spots from the 47 teams currently under consideration. Each committee member will debate and then vote on 8 teams in the first round of balloting via secret ballot; the top 8 vote-getters will then be ranked 1 through 8. The top 4 teams out of that group will be added to the at-large board. Once that round of voting is over, there will be further debate and then each panelist will vote in 4 more teams from the Under Consideration board. The top 4 teams will be added along with the 4 carryover teams from the previous round of balloting. Again, the teams will be ranked 1 through 8 and the top 4 vote-getters will be added to the at-large board. Depending on results from other major conferences tomorrow night, more at-large spots should open up, but it is likely they will not be filled until Friday at the earliest.