Minnesota State University Moorhead has experienced a few periods of excitement in men’s basketball in the past four decades. There were the brief runs of excellence in the early 1970s under coach Marv Skaar and in the early 1980s under Dave Schellhase. In the mid-1990s, Dragons standout Brett Beeson lit up Alex Nemzek Hall with points and won the NCAA Division II player of the year award.
Other than that, it’s been mostly slim pickings. Medicocrity, or worse, has been the norm.
That began to change when Dragons athletic director Doug Peters made the decision to focus his department’s resources and energy on men’s basketball in an attempt to build a marquee program and grab some attention and sponsorship money in a crowded college sports market. He didn’t renew Stu Engen’s contract and hired Chad Walthall to begin the 2010-11 season. Walthall was an assistant at the University of Iowa, but graduated high school in Staples-Motley and played hoops at Concordia College just a couple of blocks away from MSUM.
The difference was noticeable immediately. What was a morose program was revitalized with Walthall’s intensity and energy, and it didn’t hurt he had recruiting connections that were able to bring in some Division I transfers who gave the Dragons some competitiveness. MSUM went 15-12 in Walthall’s first year, then won 21, 19 and 21 the next three. The Dragons were close to getting over the hump a year ago, finishing 15-7 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
This season has been a dream. After sweeping a pair of games last weekend, including an exciting 76-72 over strong Minnesota State Mankato, the Dragons are 24-1 and ranked seventh nationally in Division II. It’s their first top 10 ranking since moving from NAIA to Division II in 1995.
“We’ve been pretty good over the last four years, but we took another step this year,” Walthall said. “Last year we had some good players, but we hadn’t played together all that much. This year we have guys who know each other and know how to get it done. I’d say it’s maturity.”
And it’s been done with some local kids, including former Moorhead High School standout Aaron Lien. The sophomore played a huge role in the win over Mankato.
Lien grew up in Moorhead. He saw his share of Dragon games over the years while growing up. Nemzek was mostly empty and quiet during those contests. Not anymore.
“We don’t have a lot of history here, but we’re definitely trying to build some right now. It’s tremendous, the amount of community support we have right now,” Lien said. “To see these huge crowds we’ve been getting, it’s awesome.”
It was what Peters imagined when he made the strategic decision to put football on the back-burner in an attempt to build basketball into a winner.
“It’s so hard. You have 16 sports and you have to start somewhere and we picked basketball,” he said. “It’s mature now and you saw the effects tonight. It’s what I expect and where I want to get with every single sport we have.”
Even Nemzek, opened in 1960 as an all-purpose fieldhouse (complete with rubber-like Tartan floor through that fad in the ‘70s and ‘80s), is more palatable. A sharp-looking wood floor with a Dragons logo in the center and a massive video display screen at the south end of the court make for a pretty good atmosphere.
“We have the best technology in Fargo-Moorhead by far. You’re not going to find a better game environment for the things we do,” Peters said. “Last night we tried to give away a car. We give away about $400 a night to our fans. We gave away a big-screen TV. So we have all those in-game promotions and those things, but now we have a winning team to go with it. It all sort of melds together.”
MSUM has an important road weekend upcoming. The Dragons are at Wayne (Neb.) State on Friday before the NSIC showdown of the season on Saturday. That’s when the Dragons play at No. 5-rated Augustana, the first-place team in the NSIC’s South Division. The Dragons lead the North. It’s the only meeting this season between the teams
“I’m just happy for the university that they can get excited about our team,” Walthall said.
(Mike McFeely is a talk-show host on 790 KFGO in Fargo-Moorhead. He can be heard 2-5 p.m. weekdays. Follow him on Twitter @MikeMcFeelyKFGO.)