SDSU basketball: Loaded Jackrabbit women have sights set high

BROOKINGS South Dakota State's run through the Summit League women's basketball schedule last year had to be sobering for the rest of the conference.

Injuries hit the Jackrabbits so hard they were at one point down to seven healthy bodies and they had to raid the student body for reinforcements just to fill out the roster and get through practice.

ADVERTISEMENT They still went a perfect 19-0 in Summit League games, 27-6 overall, and reached the NCAA tournament.

Now the Jacks are healthy.

Virtually everyone from last year is back, including those that missed the season due to injury.

A decorated class of incoming freshmen joins them.

SDSU has perhaps never been as loaded going into a season as they are this year.

Anyone who pays any attention to Summit League basketball has already anointed SDSU as this year's conference champions, with what would be the program's 13th NCAA tournament berth considered a lock.

And the Jacks know it.

"We constantly hear about how good we should be and how we're expected to win, and our coaches do a good job with that," said junior guard Madison Mathiowetz.

"AJ always says nothing is promised to us.

Nothing is owed to us.

We have to go earn it.

Every single day.

That really drives us." 'AJ' is, of course, Aaron Johnston, who enters his 25th year as Jackrabbit coach with 598 wins and 191 losses.

Johnston did arguably his best work as a coach last year, coaxing another dominant season out of a team that was often overworked and undermanned.

He'll have to be adept at pulling strings this year, too, just for different reasons.

Last year there weren't enough bodies.

This year they've got more players than they'll be able to use on most nights.

ADVERTISEMENT Summit League MVP Brooklyn Meyer (16.8 points, 7.6 rebounds) is back at center.

Mathiowetz (11.5 points), Paige Meyer (15.2 points) and Haleigh Timmer are all prior all-conference picks, while Kallie Theisen was the 2023 Sixth Woman of the Year.

Madysen Vlastuin, Ellie Colbeck, Jenna Hopp and especially Mesa Byom (7.7 points, 6.7 rebounds) all emerged as reliable contributors last year.

So yeah, minutes will be tough to come by.

"It's a different challenge than last year but it's still a challenge," Johnston said.

"We don't have a cookie cutter that we come in and try to punch out.

We look at each team and figure out how to make the most of what we have and players buy into that.

We'll take the same approach this year." Joining that returning group is a freshman class that includes O'Gorman guard Mahli Abdouch, the South Dakota player of the year last year, as well as Jefferson post Jaidyn Dunn, Flandreau star Claire Sheppard and Mount Vernon guard Emilee Fox, all of whom received numerous all-state honors.

"We're just blessed to have the numbers we do," said Timmer, who was the 2023 Summit League tournament MVP before missing last season.

"There's so much talent and experience returning, and then to add such a strong group (of freshmen), that has us very excited.

I think it'll be fun to combine those groups and put together a team that can be special." The depth makes things easier for SDSU in a few different ways.

Foul trouble isn't the concern that it was last year, and Johnston will be able to rest players more often.

They should also be more versatile.

Expect more lineup combinations, more defensive formations and more creativity.

And practices have been intense, to say the last.

ADVERTISEMENT "Practices are super competitive," said Theisen, a sixth-year senior who missed all of last year after losing half of her freshman and sophomore seasons to injury as well.

"That will make us better, because last year it was hard to practice at all sometimes.

We have a lot of offensive weapons and people who can play multiple positions, and that gives us a wider range of things we can do.

We can't wait to get out there playing together." The Jacks' high-water mark is still the Sweet 16 they reached in 2019.

It feels like going that far (or further) is realistic this season.

The players don't shy away from that, but they're not talking about it.

For now they're focused on a non-conference slate that includes Creighton, Wisconsin and Duke (all at home), Georgia Tech, Oregon, Montana, Northern Iowa and Texas, among others.

"We have long term goals, and I think we all realize we have a chance to do something special this year," Timmer said.

"But we break it down to day-to-day building.

We all hope to progress further into the postseason.

That's always a goal.

But we're focused on one day at a time.".

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