The Winona State University men’s basketball team qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) after 11 seasons. They also won their first match at the NCAA against Southwest Minnesota State University.
Winona State finished in the seventh position this season before the playoffs in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). Later, they defeated Wayne State College to qualify for the tournament’s quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals of the NSIC, they faced Southwest Minnesota State and won the match 71-60. In the semifinals, Winona State had to face Minnesota State University, Moorhead, who was the champion of the NSIC tournament. The Warriors lost the match 63-47.
Just one week after that, Winona State again faced Southwest Minnesota for the fourth time this season, this time for the NCAA tournament. They managed to snag the win at 69-62 points.
The season for the Warriors ends with a match against Minnesota State, Moorhead, at the second round of the NCAA tournament with an unfortunate 70-59 loss.
To recap a little bit about last season, the Warriors lost four out of five of their starting players due to graduation and transfer. The coaching staff had to reorganize the team, keeping different aspects and skillsets in mind.
This season has been a dream for the Warriors. They started as a team who were testing out new players while they searched for their starting five. They are also looking for replacements for different positions.
They were known for their strong defense in the past seasons. However, at the beginning of this season, they were lacking, and their offensive combination also sometimes came up short.
By the mid-season, Winona State had their plans set. They were scoring points, passing the ball correctly and utilizing each player’s skills to their best ability. They looked like a good team with a combination of youth and experience.
While the team was looking good, the Warrior head coach, Todd Eisner, was not happy with the defense and its execution by the team.
Eisner had noted that if the team can fix the areas lacking in the defense, it will create an impact on their play overall. This became true at the end of the season when boss-like Southwest Minnesota was defeated by the Warriors.
This season, the Warriors won all of their matches except one, where they scored more points than the opponent in the first half. Winona State player Luke Haertle, in an interview, explained that they had a few fourth-year players who had been able to “read the game well.” These individuals had shared the supposed weaknesses of the opponents in the locker room, which had previously turned their games around.
This team had a solid mixture of players, with some experienced like Jhei-R Jones, Isaiah Thompson, and Connor Drew and some young like Haertle and Tyler Mason.
Among all the oldest players, Drew has played with the team for the most time. This is his fourth season at the NSIC. He said in an interview that they “always have fun” as a team and “treat everyone with respect.”
Taking a look at individual achievement, Haertle became the best newcomer in the NSIC. He had 568 points this season.
This team has a promising future overall. The coaches have taken to recruiting more players to make the Warriors stronger. In the next NSIC season, they have strong prospects to not be the underdog anymore, rather, they will be considered as one of the strongest opponents.
