Coyote Report 11-07-23

Speaker 1: >> On the Coyote Sports Network, from Learfield, welcome to the Coyote report brought to you by Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Also brought to you in part by Make Old Lumber Company Grill and Bar, your pre and post game headquarters with great food and drinks, and all of your favorite sports on dozens of TVs. Be sure to check out their famous rooftop patio located at 15th Court Street downtown Vermillion CorTrust Bank. Raise your expectations. Remember FDIC. Pepsi Cola is the official soft drink of the University of South Dakota. Be sure to pick up some Pepsi Mountain Dew or story to cheer on the yotes. By Sanford Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, the official sports medicine team of Coyote Athletics. Here for all, here for good. Learn more at Sanfordhealth.org. Now welcome to the Coyote Report. Here's John Thayer.

John Thayer: >> Welcome to the coyote report. It is a Tuesday evening coyote report edition after the coyote men's and women's basketball teams opened up the season last night at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center, and so a Tuesday edition of the coyote report tonight. The coyote report is presented by Bud Light, a proud sponsor of South Dakota Coyote Athletics. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. We'll kick out the Coyote report this week with head men's basketball coach, Eric Peterson, the coyote opened the season with victory last night over the Mount Marty Lancers, 85 to 53, and of course, if you were able to go to the game, watch the game or listen to the game, well, it was a whole new experience for this roster Coach Eric Peterson with us. Coach obviously there's a lot we're going to talk about here because it was a lot of changes on the roster for this team. The names are different, size, height wise is different. A lot of changes to this roster?

Eric Peterson: >> Yeah, good to be back here. Feels like just yesterday we were talking right at this table. Guys how did John do with the radio? Did he get all the names right? Did he get all the players right? Just give me a thumbs up [LAUGHTER]. He did good. A lot of new guys, you look at our roster, we have nine new players, we have two guys that red-shirted last year for us that are playing. We had one player that wanted to red shirt that played last year. You basically have Max Burchill, Paul Bruns, and then Felix Brostrom, guys that actually played on our floor before. We're very different new team. Obviously, we look a lot different. I think the goal is always to try to build your program so you have a chance to be good every year. If you can get guys back, and just develop them every single year, and guys aren't leaving constantly in, you're shuffling new guys in, that's how you truly have a chance to win every single year. Not saying like you got to win the conference championship, that's our goal, but if you can just hang around the top two or three, anything can happen in March? Yes, we have a lot of new guys, it's not the plan every year. The plan is to get these guys back we have one senior, and to keep building this thing and growing. Right now, said it last night, we're work in progress. I think we have a very good schedule early on to play some teams that will help us get better. Probably more focus this year, long-term just on how are we good in March. Last year, every game was so important where who are the guys that can get us there, and how do we get there? That's been the focus. Awesome non-conference schedule that I think will make us a lot better.

John Thayer: >> You look at this team, and obviously, last night some of the new guys really stood out. Obviously, Bostyn Holt gets the start, he played well last night. Burchill got the start on the inside, he was playing well. Then you get a freshman, Isaac Bruns, I mean, he looked apart, and a lot of, I think, our fans have been excited to see what Isaac was going to do at this level, knowing how good he was, not too far away Dakota Valley.

Eric Peterson: >> The part for me is coaching Bostyn. I coached him for four games at Utah, and he tore his ACL. This is a good story. Anytime somebody gets injured, what's their mentality when they come to practice? Are they just bummed? Are they just sitting there? Are they just icing their leg or knee or whatever? Bostyn can tell you this, this is true. I was always the guy, if I didn't think he was paying attention at practice or if I didn't think he was locked in, I'd walk up to be like, "What play is this?" He'd look at me like, "I don't know." "Well, Bostyn, do you plan on playing next year?" "Yeah, coach." "Well, why not learn all the plays, so when you come back, you can step right in." When he was in the portal, I was like, "Man, this could go one of two ways." He could be the guy that's always on me, but I cared about him, and I always believed in him. It was a good relationship. Obviously, I saw Bostyn playing junior college. He won a national title with Coffeeville, so I knew he was a winner, and I knew what he was capable of. At Utah, he was probably more of a big wing, like a 3, 4. If you watched him last night, he's a point guard. He's playing point guard for us, and playing off the ball a little bit. Anytime you can start at 6, 7 as you're starting point guard, that's a good thing. [BACKGROUND] Lahat, him and I have a unique relationship. I was a big coach at Utah, and some of you guys might have heard this story before, but when you take a different job, it was easier going from Utah state to Utah, because it was about an hour-and-a-half away, but still during the week, we would stay there. We wouldn't drive home back and forth during the week. I didn't have anything to do at night. I just work out our players. Every time I went to the gym, Lahat was there every time. I almost felt bad for him. He was in the portal. He jumped in the portal before we got hired. Finally, I just said, "Dude, do you want me to work you out? I'm here, you're here, let's get a workout in." Ever since that first workout, we just clicked together. He made a small mistake by going to Central Florida last year instead of South Dakota, but we got it corrected, and [LAUGHTER] we got him on the right path. Obviously, he'll look like a different player in our league with his size, his athleticism, his rim protection, needs to be an anchor for us defensively. But we have a unique relationship, and it goes back from one of those first nights I got hired, and just felt bad for him, honestly. I was bored and he was probably bored, and we were bored together. Now he's here [LAUGHTER], and I'm coaching him at about South Dakota. Really happy about Lahat. Last name, Thioune. It's th, but it's pronounced Thioune. Then Isaac is one of those guys, I think, everybody saw him play in high school, and everybody knows he's a winner. There's a lot of things that have changed. I talked to Isaac almost after every practice, because we've let him struggle through some things, and he'll just admit like, "Coach, this is way different." This drill is way more competitive than the drill we did in high school or whatever. It's slowly become a process for him where he's gotten better every single week, but the biggest thing with Isaac is, he has that like killer mentality. He doesn't care what we're doing or what game we're playing, he wants to win. I always tell our staff, he shoots the ball or he gets the ball, and like I'm going to score on you. That's the mentality that he has. A little bit, I don't want to compare anybody to Matt Mooney, because Matt was a tremendous player, play games in the NBA, but he's got that mentality in his head early on as a freshman, which is exciting.

John Thayer: Every game I guarantee you there will be a game within the game, when it comes to Isaac and Paul Bruns, because they are going to be competitive siblings trying to outdo each other. Last night, Isaac, five of eight from the field, Paul, five of eight from the three point in line. You can decide who was better, but those are good numbers [LAUGHTER]

Eric Peterson: I won't say that publicly, I'll never say that publicly. But it's funny. I grabbed my stuff out of the locker room, and I walked out and they both were right ahead of me, and they looked at me, and I was like, "Who had the better game?" Both of them raised their hand, "I did." [LAUGHTER] >> There's some sibling rivalry right there. But it's awesome because honestly, they guard each other at practice a lot. They're the same position right now, so it gets really competitive at practice. But they're brothers, honestly, they're trying to compete. They're trying to make each other better. Like how cool is that, to have your older brother. If Isaac's having a bad day, or if he messes something up at practice. Just to have your brother put his arm around you and say, this is what you need to do better. This is what you're not doing correctly. Isaac immediately just gets picked up. It's been cool to see that, and obviously I have high expectations for both those kids.

Speaker 2: You guys have been going through obviously a lot of practice leading up to the season opener. There's still some jelling, chemistry meshing maybe to do with this group as they get into game setting. How many games is the goal as you try to work through that and fine tune things a little bit?

Eric Peterson: I wish I knew.

Speaker 2: You got a number?

Eric Peterson: I wish I knew. I don't know. I think once you get through like five or six games, you should know a lot more about your team. That's why the next two weeks are really important. The way we played last night, we didn't play like that because we're playing Mount Marty or non Division 1. Honestly, I feel really good about who our top six or seven guys are, they've separated themselves over. Well, here's what's changed about college basketball. During the summer, we've only been able to work out in groups of four for the longest time. You can have team practices. I think probably about four or five years ago they said, hey, you get this many hours. You can do whatever you want with those hours, you can practice as a team. It's strange when the official first day of practice, you get these text messages like, hey, have a great practice. It's like, well, we've been at it since June 2, with full team practice. Now, they're just longer. To predict that, that's hard. But I feel like certain guys have separated themselves. But we're going to play a lot of guys, we're going to press a lot and just try to play faster. I think once you do that, after a certain amount of games, which we're trying to figure that out, the guys will rise to the top that should play. It'll separate itself even more.

Speaker 2: Counts will be back in action on Friday night. We'll talk about that match up, and what's ahead for Coyote Men's basketball when we come back to the Old Lumber Company Grill and Bar downtown Vermillion. This is the Coyote Report from Learfield.

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Eric Peterson: Look forward tomorrow. A lot of people don't know it's signing day. This week's a dead week. Obviously we can't have any visits or anything like that, but we'll have three young men joining our program that fit us really well. All are excellent students. They're all a little bit different types of players. If you watched us last night you can see how our team is changing and obviously you want to recruit to how you're going to play. That's the best part about being a college coach. You get to pick the guys that are in your program. Man, I feel so bad for some of those high school coaches. They're just going to give in what they have. But yeah, it's a big day tomorrow. We only have one senior, so that's a little bit different. But again, we hope to keep some of these guys around. Then if you have one senior and you get everybody back, I feel like you can really grow and build your program into being a contender every year.

Speaker 2: One of the big decisions we saw here just a few weeks ago that really impacts potentially the University of South Dakota. Certainly our level, the NIT has changed and no longer allows an AQ from some of these conferences. Previously, if we had won the regular season title but not won the Summit League Tournament championship, it's an automatic qualifier into the NIT. That has changed. I felt like that was really disappointing with that decision.

Eric Peterson: I think what happened was they were going to start another tournament in Las Vegas with a lot of high major teams. I think maybe the NIT was a little scared that they were going to lose some of those teams in their tournament. Everyone is just going to go to Las Vegas because it's a neutral site deal. They were going to try to pump it up with some TV stuff. The NIT came back strong and said, hey, these are the changes we're going to make. It eliminates everybody from our type of leagues. You win your league, you don't make the NCA tournament, you're automatically in the NIT. >> Unfortunately and fortunately, we had the opportunity when I was here the first time. We won the league in '16, '17, got upset in the tournament, and then played in the NIT against Iowa, which was still a tremendous experience for our players. Awesome, awesome deal. The one ring I have in my office from South Dakota was when we won the conference and played in the NIT. With that, I think the biggest thing is it just puts so much more importance on making the NCA tournament. You can win the conference, but that doesn't mean you're going to play in any tournament. You could play in the CBI or the CIT. I think there's going to be more changes there, John, where maybe the CBI becomes more important, where it's better. It's an invite deal, or maybe a new tournament pops up, but definitely hurts our level. I've been at every level, and I understand how some of these calls work, and the calls work to favor the big boys. That's just how it goes. I've been on those zooms, I've been on those calls, and that's life for us right now. Obviously, no control over that, but it just puts more importance on having a chance to make that NCA tournament.

John Thayer: >> One of the disappointing parts of it is you're going to take away some of these teams. Obviously, your goal is to make the NCA tournament. But teams at our level still want to play in a tournament like that a little bit more than some of the teams who maybe did not qualify for the NCA tournament.

Eric Peterson: >> Yeah. One of the key things here is I think they went through the TV ratings even as well. The ratings are better with a team like South Dakota playing Iowa than an eighth place team from the Big Ten playing the eighth place team from the SEC. Nobody wants to see that. Everybody wants to see the underdog and have a chance to win that game. When I was here and we did play in the NIT, a team that we play twice this year we play Bakersfield. I believe they made the final four out in Madison Square Gardens and made that run, and it was like an exciting deal and everybody was like pretty locked into the NIT most years. I don't know if people are locked into it. I think it's just going to decrease even more with those type of teams that people just aren't interested in watching.

John Thayer: >> Well, we'll see how it plays out, and all you can do is, I guess, more reason to win the summer league tournament, go to the NCA tournament. [OVERLAPPING] Let's just do that.

Eric Peterson: >> That's always the goal.

John Thayer: >> Well, busy week coming up for the men's basketball team, obviously, playing in Sioux Falls against UT Rio Grande Valley, that is on Friday, and then you start this little road stretch, a trip to DePaul next week, and then on to Arizona for the rest of that MTE.

Eric Peterson: >> Yeah, our schedule is much nicer for our student athletes this year. Last year we're flying all over the place. Like Mississippi State, that's one of the hardest places to get to. I mean, it was an all day trip to get there, and then trying to get home. This year, we played DePaul on Tuesday, and it didn't make sense to come home budget-wise and then fly back out to Phoenix. We're going straight to Phoenix, which our guys are happy about. But if you look at our schedule, it's the only time that we missed class the entire year in the non-conference. We play out in California right before Christmas, but it's after finals. I don't know, for me, when your student athletes are feeling refreshed and not like just worn down from traveling, you obviously play better. It was really hard to gain momentum last year when you're just going from here to there to Coastal Carolina and back. It was a lot. I'm really happy about our schedule this year. In the next couple weeks, we have an awesome opportunity, obviously, to play in Chicago, and then in Phoenix. When I got hired, actually, in the interview, I was in Phoenix sitting in a hotel room and I asked where two areas that we need to be better at as far as our fan base and our alumni and our boosters. The two answers, Chicago and Phoenix. A tournament popped up in Chicago and Phoenix, and I'm excited because I know we have a lot of Coyote fans down there. I lived in North Dakota for nine years, and almost everybody up there in the oil has a place down in Phoenix. I think we're going to have a good crowd at our pre-game event or the night before, and then also, obviously, for our two games down there. Pretty exciting that way.

John Thayer: >> Since you brought up that Mississippi State trip, I just got to mention, I don't remember if we talked about it last year, but we were on a little plane with a lot of wind. We actually had to stop in, I believe, St. Louis to refuel the plane to get all the way back home.

Eric Peterson: >> What time did we get home, like 4:30 in the morning?

John Thayer: >> It was definitely in the morning at some point.

Eric Peterson: >> It was tough. Going down there, I think we connected through Atlanta, got into Jackson, drove two-and-a-half hours. I don't know what town is it in. Do you remember? Anybody know what town Mississippi State?

John Thayer: >> Starkville.

Eric Peterson: >> Starkville?

John Thayer: >> Vegas.

Eric Peterson: >> Oh, yeah. Bus there. Got in at like 11:15 P.M. Man, I didn't even play the game and I was exhausted from the travel, 9:40, but still I was pretty exhausted. But I think our schedule is just much better. It's set up better this year, and obviously, we just had more control over it, which I think is better for our student athletes.

John Thayer: >> Well, coach, back in action on Friday night. Coach, thanks for the time. Really appreciate it.

Eric Peterson: >> Thank you. [inaudible 00:20:51].

John Thayer: >> That's head coach Eric Peterson, joining us here on the Coyote report. Coming up next, let's talk women's basketball. Kayla Carey is here. We'll talk to her next. This is the Coyote report from Learfield.

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Speaker 17: Here report is presented by Bud Light from fans of South Dakota Coyote Athletics easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Also brought to you by to CorTrust Bank, raise your expectations, member FDIC. Great to have you alongside tonight for the Coyote Report. On a Tuesday night edition of the Coyote Report, we're joined out by the head women's basketball coach at South Dakota, Kayla Karius. The Coyotes opened the season last night, the regular season, with a win over Northern State 85 to 57. Coach a team that I was talking to coach Peterson with team that fans are getting familiar with some of the new names on this group and some of those players really showed out the last couple of games.

Kayla Karius: They did, it was really fun to be back on our home floor and to get everybody in the game was especially fun and to get out of there with no injuries. I think we're always just going to say that every game this year, we're just really blessed to have good health and be where we're at right now. It was fun. There are some new faces that I think fans are going to love to watch. They're still getting more comfortable and more familiar with our system and with the rest of the team. But it is fun. I think Kendall Holmes had a great night last night. She's our transfer from DePaul. What a great fit as a player. Just the scores mentality can handle the ball really just brings a lot of experience behind her having played three years in the Big East. Then Tori DePerry is one who I think is turning some heads and making people excited, especially after the exhibition game. She just gives us a lot of power and intensity inside being that four spot, being a great rebounder, somebody that fans can look forward to. A couple of freshmen been out there too, making some noise early on. Olivia Keiffer and Addison Klosterbuer are really two that we feel are going to make an impact early in their careers, and they give us a little bit more depth at the guard spot, which is fun to have.

Speaker 17: Looks like a step forward a little bit for Walker Demers. We talked about her so much last year about getting forced into a bigger role in a way and she should still be in high school, but she's really grown, hasn't she?

Kayla Karius: >> She really has. There were a couple plays that were made last night, actually, when I watched them on film again. I thought, gosh, she wasn't doing that last year. It's just fun to see them take that next step and really grow. I think more than anything, just her comfort level out there just looks so different. She's a lot more confident. The pace of the game, she's matching that now rather than everything moving too fast around her. She's keeping up with that pace. It's really fun to have her back and to see that growth, not to mention Natalie Mazurek. She's back playing after a year and a half of being out. Just the combination of those two, it's just fun to have that depth, like I said.

Speaker 17: Obviously you have Grace Larkins, who everybody knows Grace. She continued to be herself last night. You can tell just how different this team is from a year ago.

Kayla Karius: Definitely. Like you said, last year there was so much focus on grace. I think she deserves a lot of that focus and attention. But I think now what you're seeing is more pieces around her, more scoring threats on the floor, people that you've got to respect. That's just a difference for her. She can be a little bit more of a distributor. She maybe has a little bit more space because people have to honor everybody else. At the same time, she's doing what Grace Larkins does, which is a little bit of everything. Along with that, I think most people don't see this side of her, but we get to is she's such a good teammate. She really wants all of her teammates to be so good and she wants to make everybody else around her better. That's just what elevates her to the whole another level. When she's on the floor, good things happen.

Speaker 17: No doubt about it. Well, we watched this team and you have an exhibition game this year. How important was that? Do you think for this particular group to have that real game setting with fans, with officials, and all of that before tipping off the regular season?

Kayla Karius: Very. I really like that opportunity to get out there on the floor and to wear your jersey and to have the game lights on. Anybody that came to that game or saw it, could probably see in the first half, we were a little bit tight and a little bit nervous and players admitted to us later that they were just a little uncertain going in. It's just a new situation, especially when you're talking about adding a couple of transfers and freshman who you expect to make a difference. It's nice to just give them a dry run out there and have them run things and understand what it's like to play in that arena with such a great support system. We didn't shoot it well in the first half. We finished out, in the exhibition game. Just going into that first real game last night, just how many people were like, we've done this before and they can take a deep breath and you'd be amazed at how much of a difference that makes. I do love that opportunity for that exhibition game. I think it's really important.

Speaker 17: You call it a dress rehearsal because even running out of the tunnel and going through the line ups, it's all just a different elements to the game that you have to settle down your emotions a little bit.

Kayla Karius: It is. And they're trying to figure out what they're going to do in the handshake line when their starting lineup is announced and all the little details. Say with our coaching staff. We've added a couple new coaches. For our staff to get that chemistry going, I think it's important to go through the whole game process and what things do we need? There's a lot of little details that go into it for all of us. It was very beneficial.

Speaker 17: Tomorrow I talked to coach Peterson about this. But it is National Signing Day. Is it a exciting day for [OVERLAPPING] women's basketball?

Kayla Karius: I can't answer specifics. [LAUGHTER] You know that until tomorrow morning we are very excited. We are adding a couple of players that I think will bring us great size and a great skill set. Really, players that are ideal for our system, that we really look for and we're excited to make it officially official tomorrow. It's different on the women's basketball side because we recruit girls when they're so young. Sometimes you're recruiting these players for literally years before you can actually talk about them publicly. We finally get to do that tomorrow. Once they sign their letters, it's a big day for them and for their families. We're excited to welcome them here.

Speaker 17: Excited for another game coming up on Friday. Your team, big challenge in Omaha. You'll take on 22nd ranked Creighton. They beat North Dakota State last night in the Sanford Pentagon. What do you see out of the Creighton Blue Jays?

Kayla Karius: That's a really talented basketball team. In fact, looking at our schedule overall is probably the most talented team, or the toughest team on our schedule at this point. They're ranked 22nd in the country. After watching what they did last night, it's very deserving. I remember their offense being very efficient and they move with a lot of pace and they aren't very big, but they put basically five big guards out on the floor. Then they're all physical, they can all shoot it, they can all space the floor. It's a tough match up for people, especially with the pace that they move at. But now I think their defense has gotten tremendously better too. They're a lot more aggressive. They forced like 26 turnovers last night, NDSU couldn't really get much going on the offensive end. It'll be a huge challenge for us, especially to go to their place and play. But what's fun about it is so early on you can get that measuring stick of where are we really at. An exhibition game in the first game we're fantastic to do against Division 2 opponents, might look a little bit different and so now we've got to put the ones out there who are ready to go and compete and see really where we're at, especially before we go and play this big tournament here in two weeks in the Bahamas. Less than that, even to figure out what we need to clean up before that. What a great challenge for us, but I do think it's a really talented team. They also return four of their top five leading scores from last year. That corps of four seniors who also have another COVID year if they want, it took them to the Elite eight as sophomores and have continued to build. They were an NCA tournament team last year, lost in the first round, but they have experience behind them, and it really shows.

Speaker 17: It's 11:30 AM tip off. Is it one of those elementary school invite games or what is going on?

Kayla Karius: >> It is a kids day. Yeah. When we had talked about it, we weren't sure how that was going to fall, but it would just worked out that they wanted to do an earlier game day and we were all for it. I'm all for the earlier, the better. That's perfect. Let's get up, let's get rolling. Otherwise, as coaches, you just do so much prep work ahead of time. When it gets to game day, you're like just sitting there going when is this game going to start? Its hard for coaches to sit around and wait. Earlier the better come have brunch down in Omaha and come join us, then you can get back for the men's game.

Speaker 17: You should key in. The last time I was a part of one of those type of games was in Boston when the women played North Eastern.

Kayla Karius: Yes.

Speaker 17: There were screaming kids. I don't know if they knew who they were screaming for, [OVERLAPPING] what they were screaming about, but they were screaming because they got a box lunch and they were happy.

Kayla Karius: I would be too, feed the cookie in there.

Speaker 17: They're happy. Definitely.

Kayla Karius: I would be too. [OVERLAPPING] No, it's a different environment and we'll talk about it as we prepare our team. I've heard teams prepare by pumping in a ton of crowd noise during practice. Because they don't really stop screaming is your point too. They don't cheer at the correct time. They just cheer, always. [LAUGHTER] You just have to be really efficient communicating and looking over at the bench and those things will be important because it's a different environment.

Speaker 17: It is fun for them, fun for their teams as well. We'll see how it goes on Friday. Good luck Friday.

Kayla Karius: Thank you.

Speaker 17: We'll don't keep talking about basketball throughout the season. Coach, thanks for the time.

Kayla Karius: Sounds great. Thanks for having me. [OVERLAPPING] That's great day of Coyotes.

Speaker 17: >> Joining us here tonight on the Coyote Report. Coming up next. Let's talk about volleyball, Michael Runde on the way. This is the Coyote Report from Barfield.

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Speaker 27: >> Report is presented by Bud Light, a proud sponsor of South Dakota Coyote Athletics. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. We're at Field Lumber Company Grill bar downtown Vermillion. It is your pre and post game headquarters. Great food drinks and arcade games. All of your favorite sports on multiple TVs. Let's talk Coyote Volleyball with Associate Head Coach Michael Runde Coyote volleyball team, coming off of a nice couple of games, a couple of sweeps the last time out. Now get ready for the final three game stretch of the regular season. These games, I know they're all important, but it feels like it's getting more and more important as we go on.

Michael Runde: >> For sure as we head down the stretch I feel like every match has postseason seeding implications. There's a lot to be decided yet at this point in time but we just continue to talk to our team about taking it day by day and controlling what we can in that moment and the rest will get settled as we go.

Speaker 27: >> How crazy are the summer league standings right now? Usually by now a team or two has separated themselves a little bit and it is a jumbled mess right now.

Michael Runde: >> Yeah, I think as a coaching staff I think, and even talking with some people around the league, I think we thought that's what this year was going to look like. But I think you still assume a couple people are going to separate and it just hasn't happened. You've just seen people winning at home, people winning on the road. There hasn't been a significant rhyme or reason to anything. For us, even early on through a couple losses, we just continue to talk to our team about just keep getting better and better and better because everyone's going to be very equal and we get that luxury of hosting the conference tournament.

Speaker 27: >> This team starts with a couple of losses in conference play and there was a little bit of panic in the fan base a little bit. You guys are saying, we're going to be all right. What has continued to progress for this team that has allowed it to go on? What has really been a good stretch in league play?

Michael Runde: >> Yeah, we talked about it and we started one in five and four of those five losses were to top 50 schools. Since then, I think we're 14 and four. Obviously a really good stretch through that. The thing that we've talked about a lot both as a coaching staff and with our team, is just we found ways to win that are very different. Sometimes we'll hit upwards of 300 and other times we'll hit one turn and just really limit what the other team is doing offensively. Just trying to be resilient, trying to get a little better each day in a lot of different areas is what's been critical. Then honestly just competing, like knowing that these matches are going to be a grind and trying to front load them of just, hey, we might lose a set, we might lose two, we might start down 2, 0, but just continuing to find a way to win is what this team has been able to do.

Speaker 27: >> We got pretty good at those reverse sweeps there for a while.

Michael Runde: >> We did, yeah, that was quite the crazy week with two of our biggest rivals. We'll take them anyway we can get them.

Speaker 27: >> No doubt, and they were exciting, obviously being right here as well. Exciting wins. You look at this team and I think one of the exciting things really about this team, they've got some veterans who obviously have some experience and have grown their leadership role and some young players who have had to grow up very quickly in this season.

Michael Runde: >> For sure. We knew our middles would be a strength. We have 11 years of college experience between the two of them. Definitely one of the oldest payers, I just learned U&D's middles, but outside of that Brandon Harms have provided a lot of stability and experience. Throughout the season we've had different people in different positions. A lot of freshmen have played and it's one of the things that we talked to the team about as well. Just like we don't have to figure out one line up and go try to win with that the rest of the year. Through the success of our conference season, we've had a lot of different people step up in different roles, whether it's a different Ds or a different attacker, or a different serving sub and just trying to have everybody ready so when they're time is called that they're ready to go.

Speaker 27: >> I noticed Leon does this too, and I just got to point it out. You say Brandon Harms. You use first name for some players, last name for other players.

Michael Runde: >> It started in the recruiting process really, because I have never looked at Harms and thought her name was Maddy or Madison. When you talk to her parents or her siblings and they call her Maddy, I'm like not Maddy Johnson. You're talking about your sister. Junkie's always been Junkie. I think whatever is the shorter one we tend to go with.

Speaker 27: >> Big week this week at home or Roberts is Thursday night at 6 o'clock start time. Then it is Senior Day on Saturday. That's a 4 o'clock start time. We'll follow the football game before the final state championship football game. It's squeezed in there, but obviously a big week at home for your group.

Michael Runde: >> For sure, we're definitely excited to be at home for the entire week. It's been a while since we've had that. The team was off today, NCA mandated civic engagement, a really good time to have an extra day off, and so I'm sure the team appreciated that. Then two really big matches coming up, Oral Roberts, a quirk in the schedule that I feel like we just played them. When Abby and I were talking today, she's like, it feels like we haven't played NDSU in a really long time because it has been, I think that was, might have been end of September, early October. Both will present different challenges. NDSU is one that's playing really well right now, and I think on a six-game win streak with a lot of wins against the top teams in the league, and so definitely excited to have them at home.

Speaker 27: >> I'll remind you not to say names, but are we excited about signing day tomorrow?

Michael Runde: >> We are very excited. Similar to women's basketball, we recruit pretty early. These kids have probably been verbally committed for probably like 15, 16 months. It's a really talented class athletically. It's one that we were very excited about when we got them. We are still very excited about them today. A lot of winning in their careers. Kids that are really excited to come to USD and be Coyotes and so not only are we getting great athletes but great people as well.

Speaker 27: >> We're excited for it. Signing day will be tomorrow for all sports except for football. Stick around, coach Runde's on the hot seat for as the coach. When we come back to the Old Lumber Company Grill and Bar, this is the Coyote Report from Learfield. [APPLAUSE]

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Speaker 34: >> Time now for the old Buber Company, ask the coach segment of our show, guests in attendance. We're given a chance to submit questions for Michael Runde. Of those questions asked on air, someone will win a gift card to the old Buber Company Grill and bar. I have no idea how we're getting through all these questions, we don't have that time, but we're going to give it a shot.

Speaker 35: >> Perfect.

Speaker 34: >> Are you ready?

Speaker 35: >> Yeah.

Speaker 34: >> How do you decide who to rotate through each set and match?

Speaker 35: >> When we start off a match, we know our rotation of who might go in the back row or the front row or the barrows where people are going to start on the court. The players know that, we know that and if we make changes, usually it's just a flow thing or a match-up. Most of them are predetermined, but there are some times where you see someone else come in to try to make an impact.

Speaker 34: >> How do you decide which set or to start?

Speaker 35: >> That is a tough one because we have a lot of talent in that position this year. Both all three of them have very different strengths and so it's just trying to leverage what their strengths are, how the team is and our opponent.

Speaker 34: >> Is everyone still competing for starting jobs or is that pretty much set at this point.

Speaker 35: >> We've talked with the team and I think for the most part things are pretty set about maybe who is going to start, but we are continuing to talk with people about just being ready and whether it's an injury or whether it's a flow of the game or a match up. Just trying to make sure everyone is still ready to come in and make an impact.

Speaker 34: >> Talk about the advantages of hosting the summer league tournament.

Speaker 35: >> It's huge. From a travel standpoint, we obviously don't have any. Normally, if when we play whatever our day one is, usually we're leaving two days before that. Two more days in a hotel, practicing at someone else's gym. Just the benefits of being home are really big.

Speaker 34: >> How has recent success help open the doors with recruiting?

Speaker 35: >> I think for one, like we recruit very regionally. There's a lot of really good talent in South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota, a little bit into Kansas City is very good volleyball and we try to go there as well. I think people know who our name is and it doesn't guarantee that they come here but I think with the success that we've had, and they know people that they played with or against in club and high school that have come here and had success and they see that and I think it interests them.

Speaker 34: >> Who would win in a one-set match, the team or the staff?

Speaker 35: >> Gosh, five years ago, maybe the staff [LAUGHTER] but I'm getting older, Abby gets injured easily, [LAUGHTER] Lean is very competitive, Noah's really good. Noah would give us a chance but the team.

Speaker 34: >> What are the rules that challenges? How many per set, per match and if you win, do you keep them?

Speaker 35: >> Yeah. We start off with two, and if we win them, we keep them and then if you go to a fifth set, you get an additional one, but no more than two. If you have one going into that fifth set, you go back up to two.

Speaker 34: >> Who is the best in the practice game tennis and why is it you?

Speaker 35: >> It is well documented that it's me. The team has nothing to do with volleyball, it's literally hitting the ball over one time. There's two people on the court. Whatever team I'm on, the other team does not hit the ball to me so I just stand there the entire time because they know I will find a way to win.

Speaker 34: >> What is your favorite dinosaur and why is it Brachiosaurus? [BACKGROUND]

Speaker 35: >> I know absolutely nothing about dinosaurs.

Speaker 34: >> I hope I said that right because I don't know either, I don't have dinosaurs knowledge. I watched Jurassic Park.

Speaker 35: >> It's a cool name, I'll go with that.

Speaker 34: >> Explain the rules, when the ball comes down right at the net and both sides go up and touch it at the same time.

Speaker 35: >> It depends if both people are in the front row, if the balls in the plane of the net, if any part of the ball is in the plane, both people can go get it. If the ball is on one side or the other, then that team has the ability to go get the ball first. But on the third context, you can break the plane of the net to try to go get the ball.

Speaker 34: >> How much of your time do you spend on recruiting?

Speaker 35: >> I would say, we're very seasonal base just because we can only go one class at a time and so our summer is all hands on deck recruiting and then like in the 24 class, we've been done for a while. In the 25 class, we actually have three student-athletes committed and so it slows down a little bit, but you have pockets where, that it's a little more time-consuming. Portal season, June 15th is our big recruiting period so more pockets here and there.

Speaker 34: >> Have you recruited a players 6 foot 4 inches or taller?

Speaker 35: >> Not that.

Michael Runde: >> No one that has come to USD but I'm sure at some point we've probably reached out to some tall ones.

Speaker 36: >> Who's the best practice player, and why is it you?

Michael Runde: >> It's not me anymore. [LAUGHTER].

Speaker 36: Anymore [LAUGHTER].

Michael Runde: It used to be. Noah is very skilled and can do a lot of different things. Do we have a freshman from the area that's been very inundated with our team? Our players love him. Jake is his name, so he's been a big addition as well. But there are some days when I have to set that, I'm like, man, I still have it, and other days where I'm like, get me out of here.

Speaker 36: >> Do the refs have to go through any training? How are the referees assigned to games?

Michael Runde: >> We have an assigner that works with most, if not all, of Division 1 and so she'll assign those and they have a lot of training. They move up in the college ranked based off of leagues. I know a lot of our line judges are like the up-rough and down-rough at GPAC matches in the area, and so I think it's just as they continue to grow, they can move up to leagues.

Speaker 36: >> What do you think of your first time being miked-up with Mike?

Michael Runde: >> There's been a lot of requests internally about me doing a miked-up session and practice. I don't have any desire to do that, nor do I have any desire to watch it. [LAUGHTER] I like this setting where I can hear myself but not really.

Speaker 36: >> Is there a player the team looks to for leadership in clutch moments?

Michael Runde: >> I think off the top like Harms. She's been one that's been extremely productive this year and can definitely make a play. We've talked with our team a lot too, especially this last week I feel our backcourt defense really sparked us. I know it's normally the big kill that you see that ends the play. But I feel we had a lot of momentum switches in both the UND match and the St. Thomas match because of what our back row was doing. Definitely a team effort.

Speaker 36: >> If you weren't a coach, what would your career be?

Michael Runde: >> The odd duck of the family. My mom's a nurse and my two sisters are nurses. My dad's an accountant, my brother's an accountant, and I'm the volleyball coach. [LAUGHTER] That's a great question. [LAUGHTER] I think something in the business world maybe, but I've been set on this since I was 18. My family thought I was crazy for a little bit there and they're like, we didn't know if it'd work out. I'm like, well, I thought it did.

Speaker 36: >> There was no Plan B?

Michael Runde: >> Yeah, there was no Plan B.

Speaker 36: >> Awesome stuff. Michael, Thanks so much for the time. Really appreciate it. Good stuff tonight.

Michael Runde: >> Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 36: >> Michael Runde, joining us here on the report that is ask the coach brought you by the old lumber company or wrap things up. Coming up next. This is the cow report from Learfield.

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