RR: This morning we have the head coach of the North Dakota State Bison basketball team with us. Tad Bolton is entering his second year as coach for the Bison. Welcome, Coach Bolton.
TB: Thanks Rory. It’s good to be here.
RR: Last season, Coach, your team won 16 games and tied for 2nd in the Summit. That was a dramatic improvement over how the Bison had performed for many years. Do you see a continuance of that improvement this season?
TB: That’s hard to predict. I think we’ve added depth this season, so while I’m hopeful, we still need to gel as a team this season after losing three starters from last year’s team.
RR: Are the three new players you recruited last year ready to step in?
TB: Yes, I think each one of them will contribute this season even though they still need to learn the system more. Ed Doss played JC ball so has maturity and should pick up a lot of minutes buoying our interior. Jared Bedard and Brian Degala, both guards and freshmen, are very talented and I believe they will rapidly develop as the season progresses. In fact, Jared nearly won a starting position and may well become a starter soon.
RR: So, who will be starting for the Bison in tomorrow’s first game?
TB: At times, I felt like I could throw darts at the board to select the starting lineup since we have no one who is our go-to guy. Players have been hot one day and cold the next, so it’s been hard to know who will show up each game for us.
RR: You HAVE selected starters, haven’t you?
TB: (Laughing). Yes, Rory, we have a lineup for game one, but I expect we will be experimenting with different combinations throughout much of our pre-conference play. Brandon Tracy is one of our steadiest players and will start again at SF. Michael Daniels, played well off the bench last year, so he will likely see a fair number of minutes off the bench at SF. We also may go with a small lineup at certain parts of the game and several of our guards can be slotted in at the 3 position. David Miller has been producing offensively for us and will start at PG. David may see quite a bit of time at the 2 position as well this season. At SG Kelsey Brown will start in game one. But he’s needs to gain some consistency or Miller may start at the 2 and, as I previously mentioned, freshman Jared Bedard could move in as a starter at PG. James Winter, who redshirted last season, has shown a lot of growth and will help us off the bench at PG. Freshman Brian Degala needs to get more comfortable with our system, but should gain in minutes at SG as the season progresses. Evan Williams has been productive offensively again and will start at PF. The center position is a toss-up for us. I’m starting Jaron Dickerson in game one, but James Hall is fighting to get back to his usual starter status and could take over there in future games. Ed Doss and C.J. Robertson will back us inside. Thus far we seem to be producing more points from outside. I’d like to see our interior players be more aggressive offensively and also haul down more rebounds. We’re going to continue to work with the entire group on this and see who responds best.
RR: Are you ready to take on Northeastern in game one?
TB: You’re never as ready as you’d like beginning the season and to start it off on the road makes it a bigger hurdle to jump, but I expect our guys to make a good showing against the Huskies.