NDSU Basketball Teams Finish Their Seasons, Football Gets a Bounce-Back Win

The NDSU Basketball teams return home this week after a Summit League tournament that may have not ended how we may have wanted, but nevertheless a great tournament at that. Football also got the bounce back win they needed.

Men's Basketball
Gosh, I am writing this hours after watching that game and I still feel shaky after that second half. I mean, come on, you can't ask too much more from this team. They came back from 25 down, by their own doing, to tie it up with 35 seconds left. Even though they couldn't come up with the win, this is by no means a disappointment for this team. There is a lot to look forward to with this group of guys. Now this is given that Rocky Kreuser decides to return for his last year (all Winter sports athletes get another year of eligibility), but this team comes back next year and is a scary group to every team in the Summit League. 
This team made huge strides this year. They lost their top 2 scorers in Tyson Ward and Vinnie Shahid and still found a way to make it back to the Summit League championship. This was supposed to be a year that the Bison don't go very far, but they still went further then expected and surprised in those final minutes. For most of this year this team still looked to be finding their identity. I think we finally saw that sense of identity in the last couple weeks leading to the tournament and then including all the tournament games. Even in the Kansas City game that was a very close game considering the Bison were up by 20 at one point. Against South Dakota their identity starting to come out and present itself and then finally in the championship it was out for all to see even though they lost. This team plays with a whole lot of heart. I hope that they use this loss as a chip on their shoulders next year. Now the vets and the younger guys know what it feels like to come up short in these moments and how bad it feels. Come back next year and play to be in this moment again, except next time I think they will prevail. 
At the same time, Oral Roberts played a phenomenal game and I wish them the best of luck in the NCAA Tournament.

Women's Basketball
Even though the women's team didn't make it as far as the men's team did this year, it was still a very successful year nevertheless. They got about where I expected them to after the successful season they had.
Its very obvious that this team has overcome the competition of most of the conference, but its the last hump they have to make it over the top. They need to figure out how to play with South Dakota State and South Dakota. If they can crack that magic ball, they strike gold. 
Here is my expectation for this team going forward: have another great season next year and take a game from either SDSU or USD. If they can do that then they have a much better shot in next year's Summit League tournament.

Football
This team had a rough week in Southern Illinois last weekend. The defense looked off and the offense looked lost. That is not at all how this team played on Saturday in Springfield, Missouri!! It almost looked like a completely different team! Now Coach Entz needed to call a couple trick plays to get this team going but that is ok for now. 
The game started a little rough with both teams going 3 and out to start. NDSU looked to be potentially starting to gain speed and MSU picked off Zeb. However on the very next play the defense forced and recovered a fumble by MSU! The offense still seemed lifeless on the next play and the Bison looked like they would punt. But then Entz pulled out the trick play and punter Garret Wagner ran for 25 yards for the first down and more! This seemed to spark the offense and they proceeded to score 6 plays later! 
The rest of the game was basically history from here on out. The offense ended up scoring 3 touchdowns and 1 field goal. The Bison also had two volume scores on the day. Jalen Bussey had yet another touchdown on a 50+ yard sprint to the endzone, proving he truly is a touchdown machine! Then just before halftime, quarterback Zeb Noland threw an 82 yard touchdown to wide receiver Braylon Henderson for his largest throw on the year! 
Neither team scored in the second half and the Bison finished the game with their second straight shutout against Missouri State and a much needed win. 
Next week's game is a tall task. #22 Illinois State is coming to town and they will be quite the matchup for this Bison team. Last year you may remember that Illinois State held the Bison to 9 points in the quarterfinal matchup in the FCS playoffs. However the key player on Illinois State's offense, star running back James Robinson, is no longer on the team as he plays for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL. 
Their defense is still just a strong as ever. Zeb and the offense need to be on their game on Saturday. The Bison also moved up to number 5 overall in the country this week after their win last Saturday. Illinois State moved down after their lose in Northern Iowa last week.

​Go Bison!