United Tribes starts season with new look
The word "heartbreaking" gets thrown around a lot in sports, but there is no better term that can summarize the way the last two seasons have ended for the United Tribes men's basketball team.
Two years ago, the Thunderbirds fell victim to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer against Dakota County Technical College in the Region XIII Championship. In a championship rematch last season, it was deja vu as UTTC saw dreams of its first title since the early 2000s and a trip to the NJCAA tournament come up seconds short as DCTC hit the eventual game-winning 3-pointer in the final moments of overtime.
The silver lining to these heartbreaking defeats for the Thunderbirds as a junior college program is every player that was on the roster for both of those memories have graduated. Only a handful of players from last year's team are back, but for coach Pete Conway, the sting is still there.
"It doesn't linger on the players so much because there's so much turnover, but with the coaches it's still in the back of my mind," Conway said. "But it's basketball. I'm happy that we were in those positions to begin with. A lot of teams aren't playing in championship games and these guys have been. We suffered a couple losses at the buzzer in those championship games, but it was a good experience for the guys."
Despite the disappointing finish to the season, the Thunderbirds posted a 21-10 record and were third in the Mon-Dak at 14-7, finishing behind Dawson (18-5) and champion NDSCS (21-3). UTTC defeated Gogebic Community College in the Region XIII semifinals to advance to the title game.
Last year's team relied heavily on the offensive end of the court, averaging 98.8 points per game, which led the Mon-Dak by a wide margin. Dakota College-Bottineau finished second at 85 points per game. The Thunderbirds eclipsed the 100-point mark 11 times last season, racking up a season-high 153 points against Presentation College JV.
This year's squad isn't expected to have the same amount of pure scorers after graduated six or its seven leading scorers, including Mon-Dak Most Valuable Player Famous Left hand, who led the conference and finished in the top 10 in NJCAA Division II in scoring with 23.6 points per game. The Thunderbirds also graduate DK Middleton (14.1 ppg), Jesse White (13.5) and Sylvester Union (12.2). Middleton and White were all-conference selections and Middleton was also named to the all-region team.
"We're going to have to work together as a team," Conway said. "We're not going to have a guy go out and give us 20 or 25 points each night. We're going to have to get it done collectively as a unit, defend as a unit, rebound as a unit and rely on one another and have a different guy step up each night."
Cayden Redfield is the leading scorer amongst returners. The forward averaged 11.4 points per game, shooting 51 percent from the field and 33 percent from beyond the arc.
"This season, something that's going to need to happen is work way harder on both sides of the ball," Redfield said. "We don't have as much scoring talent, but if we do work as a team, pass the ball, move without the ball, play hard defense and go after every rebound and loose ball, we'll have a chance of being just as good as we were last year."
Redfield is one of 12 sophomores and transfers on this year's roster to go along with eight freshmen.
"We return a couple guys from last year, but we don't have a ton of experience back," Conway said. "That crew we had the last couple years was a veteran crew at the JUCO level. We're kind of starting over a little bit this year, mixing in new faces and new players like a lot of other teams in our league are. it's exciting at the same time to get going with the new crew."
The Thunderbirds will continue to play an up-tempo style that Conway has embedded in the programing since taking over as head coach in 2015, but there will be an added emphasis on defense this season. Defense was a bit of an afterthought last year, allowing a conference-most 86.4 points per game.
"I hope to always be a bit more defensive-minded, but we're going to get out and play the style we've played since I've been here and try and get out and score easy buckets in transition and take open shots," Conway said. "I think we'll be able to score the basketball again, but it's going to come down to the defensive side of the floor."
UTTC is hoping the freshmen class can help usher in a defensive-minded era as the team looks to find its scoring identity. Conway brought in four local freshmen in Abrahm Peltier (Turtle Mountain), Houston Davis (Turtle Mountain), Jacolby Pearson (Four Winds) and Mark Fassett (Warwick) to fill out the roster.
"There's a lot of talent in the freshman class," sophomore guard Jayden Yankton said. "Personally I think they're ready to play. it's just getting that first game out of the way and hopefully start winning games early on."
Yankton played in 31 games last season, averaging 6 points per game. He finished in double figures nine times.
The Thunderbirds allowed 90 or more points 14 times last year, going 6-8 in those contests. They also played nine 1-possesson games and four overtime contests. They were 5-4 in those 1-possesson games and 2-2 in overtimes. While UTTC knows it has the ability to score, it would rather avoid getting into high-scoring affairs if it can this season.
"If we can get a lot of stops and a lot of defensive rebounds and have defense be our biggest focus, then I think as a team we can be really successful," Redfield said. "At the end of the day defense is going to win championships and offense wins games."
The Thunderbirds open their season with three games in three days at the Mon-Dak Tip Off beginning on Friday at 7 p.m. against Williston State in New Town. The team played a pair of exhibition games in Iowa as well as another against Turtle Mountain Community College, but they are ready to put last year behind them and showcase this year's talent.
"Our depth is crazy," Yankton said. "We have a lot of guys that can put it in the basket. We have a lot of guys that can defend. It's a great group of guys in here and in the end it's all of us coming together to get the job done."
Reach Mike Kraft at 701-250-8244