Highlights courtesy KSDN Radio!

This season the men’s basketball media guide says “Looking for a Sweep” on the cover. It made reference to seniors Ross Pankratz, Ryan Miller and Dustin Undlin, who were searching for their fourth straight Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference title. As the Wolves charged through the conference schedule, it was apparent they had no trouble finding a broom. The Wolves’ season-opening tournament in Orlando was a precursor to how the season would end, as the Wolves again traveled south to face national competition. This time in Louisville, Kentucky for the Elite Eight.

NSU finished the conference season at 11-1 and and made its third straight appearance in the national tournament in as many years as an NCAA II member. But for the first time, the Wolves received the No. 2 seed in the North Central Region, which meant a bye in the first round of the regional March 6-8 in Brookings, S.D. Aided by the opening-round rest, the Wolves came out fresh to defeat Nebraska-Kearney 92-86 in the regional semifinal. Pankratz led the way in the paint with 23 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

That set up the championship the whole state was waiting for: Wolves-Jackrabbits II. South Dakota State was the top seed, ranked fourth in the nation and had thousands of Jacks backers – many of whom waited outside for two hours in frigid weather before the ticket window opened – ready to annoint their team as back-to-back North Central Region champions and watch the Wolves play second fiddle in South Dakota for the second time this season (the Jacks edged NSU 88-87 in Brookings earlier in the year). But that didn’t happen, as the Wolves made the most of their second chance and stunned the Jacks’ crowd into silence with an 88-82 win. It was SDSU’s first post-season loss at Frost Arena and broke a 22-game home win streak.

First-team All-American Ryan Miller was simply superhuman at State, exploding for 45 points on a sizzling 9-of-15 shooting from 3-point range. Down the stretch, Miller put the team on this shoulders, scoring 29 in the second half and 20 of his team's last 27 points. But his performance also rubbed off on his teammates, as NSU shot a scorching 17-of-29 from behind the arc. Many times in the second half, the great SDSU fan base would raise the audio level through the roof when Northern had the ball in a key moment, trying to help their team make a defensive stop to help start a Jackrabbit run. But Northern answered each challenge, many times by raining in long 3's that calmed the crowd's thunderous decibel storms. In the end, an uncommon noise was heard in Frost Arena as the opposing team's fans took care of the auditorium's audio with chants of "N-S-U!" as the Wolves cut down the nets.

As a team, the Wolves were ranked as high as third in the nation (their highest DII ranking in school history, enjoyed for three weeks) and ended up ranked fifth by the NABC/Division II Bulletin Poll. Miller led the team in scoring (22.7 points per game), rebounding (6.6 rpg), assists (4.3 apg) and steals (2.4 spg). He also won the conference scoring and rebounding titles. In all, he was in the top 10 in nine of the 12 individual categories listed on the NSIC’s final conference statistics package. Sophomore point guard Scott Hanson led the conference in assist/turnover ratio (3.35 assists to every turnover), and tied for the lead in free-throw percentage.

Both Pankratz and Miller cracked NSU’s top-20 all-time scoring list. Miller shot up from 30th at the beginning of the season to 9th (1,802 career points). Pankratz rose to 19th with 1,255 points. Undlin also came close to the 1,000 point barrier, ending his stellar career with 932 points. The three ended their career with the Wolves having accomplished something even larger than their 101 respective career wins. They leave NSU having done something unprecedented in its rich basketball history. They helped bridge the gap between Northern’s tradition of excellence from the NAIA to NCAA Division II.

Each one said a big reason they came to Northern four years ago was for the chance to succeed at a higher level. After just three years under its new affiliation, NSU is a national power. Mission accomplished.