With the possible exception of draft week, the Purple completed the most steps of the #RosterReformation that we will see in a single week this offseason. Before they could capitalize on the League's negotiation window the team had to free-up more salary space. Jordan Hicks & Chris Reed were the first two to agree to restructure their contracts. The adjustment to Hicks' deal trimmed $1,500,000 off the ledger. The team then proceeded to take a much bigger chunk out by executing a "salary cap conversion" which adds to future years but freed $16,000,000 immediate. Harrison Smith also agreed to a deal that got them $6,700,000 more to play with.
The first of the new faces to come in via that space was TE Josh Oliver. Hockenson he is not but he has proven proficient as a blocker which the team still has great need for. They also worked out a one-year deal with former first round pick Marcus Davenport in the event that Za'Darius Smith continues his efforts to relocate. If he comes around to Flores' messaging then that just means the team will be that much closer to the sound & fury that the DC's past defenses have been known for.
Some of that pressure will help Byron Murphy's coverage during his first season with the team. They're still three good CBs short but at least now they have the one who could serve as the shutdown option.
They also worked out a three-year deal with Garrett Bradbury. It's not quite a prove-it deal but doesn't guarantee that he will finish training camp as the starter. The most meaningful part of the deal is that it effectively crosses center off the draft board for the first two days. Seems likely that they will bring one in as undrafted but having one less spot to try and figure out by way of the picks is a win.
In a surprise move, the team also opted to keep Alexander Mattison around on a two-year. The thought was that he would try and strike as much as he could but with the amount of carries he has this could open up the opportunity for a third contract before he's filtered out of the League. It's also a good step toward the formation of a quality committee of ball-carriers on the roster.
Less heralded but no less important, KA-M kept the special teams battery intact, at least for now, with a three-year deal for long-snapper Andrew DePaola & one year for K Greg Joseph. They continued to round-out the roster by retaining Ben Ellefson, Kenny Willekes, Nick Mullens to a two-year deal, OL Oli Udoh for one year, OL Austin Schlottman as well as added defensive lineman Dean Lowry after serving seven years of bad luck with Green Bay.
The week also included the loss of a veteran leader as Patrick Peterson opted to continue for Mike Tomlin. Considering the concerted-effort to get younger, Minnesota may not have made much of a push to retain him but it leaves them that much more needy for competence.
Sunday Adam Thielen decided that his next place will be in Carolina on a three-year deal.
If her performance in Minneapolis is any indication of what this season will include then softball has a Bell of the Ball on it's roster as freshman Bella Dean was named the Player of the Week!
Good as that is, Grant Nelson put it on his list of posters as he joined Ben Woodside as just the second NDSU player named to the Basketball Writers Association All-District 11 team!
The placard's continued to come in as Jo Baranczyk & Nate Adams were named the Golfers of the Week.
It was also a busy week of competition.
Men's ⛳️ took second in Phoenix as Adams had the best individual performance. The women finished the week second from the bottom in Sedona.
On the diamond, softball opened with a 2 - 0 win over Mississippi State while ⚾️ was dropped 7 - 2 by Texas. It was the same outcome the next day while the ladies were dropped 2 - 1 by Purdue. only to bounce-back with a 4 - 0 win Thursday. SB got back to it with a 7 - 1 win against Samford while the guys took two off Houston Christian but couldn't get the sweep by a run Sunday.
In Tulsa, 🤼 began the journey Thursday that culminated with Jared Franek & Michael Calliendo being named All-Americans & finishing fourth & seventh overall!
Men's & women's 🏃 also enjoyed their time under the sun in Tampa with strong performances both days.
Women's 🏀 concluded it's brief & underwhelming postseason with a 39-point loss to Oregon in the first round of the WNIT. One of their future gym-mates received better news as signee Darik Dissette was named Mr. Basketball with a sweep of the first place votes!
There was also good news for a former standout as New England signed Chris Board to a nice two-year deal!
While the season was ended in the first round of the national tournament what Jacob Beeninga does off the court will set himself up for even more success, such as the Academic All-American honor that he received to start the week!
The week of competition proved to be abbreviated as softball had four of their five cancelled, with the one that did get played finishing as a 5 - 2 win for the Fire.
That came after 🎾 was shutout by Concordia-Irvine and women's ⛳️ played to eighth in AZ. The racket squad was no more successful in Bismarck Sunday.
One of the first developments also proved to be the most significant as women's head coach Kim Wagers was named Region Coach of the Year!
The ⚾️ team didn't win much but Alex Rudquist was still named Conference Pitcher of the Week to start things off. They then proceeded to rattle-off three wins and a non-losing week, including their first set of wins against Hamilton.
Closer to home, 🎾 split with St. Mary's Saturday with the women getting the winning side and then handling Hamline 7 - 2 Sunday.
Faced with the opportunity to put a choke-hold on the West with a month to go in the season, Fargo came up small against their chief threat. Waterloo first won with a 3 - 2 overtime and then a 7 - 1 domination. The Bolts were able to prevent a sweep with a 4 - 3 win in-between and in-so-doing, kept their loss total in single-digits. So long as the bad taste that the final outcome surely generated does not linger into the coming weeks, Fargo should be able to skate through to the one seed and the tippy-top spot across the League.
Fargo continue the process of assembling it's roster with the signing of outfielder Carlos Rincon March 13th.
Reminder that scores and recruiting news are updated regularly so check back often!
Now for this week's highlights
Barnesville advanced to the section quarterfinals with a five-point win over Perham but then hit the D/G/F buzzsaw as the Rebels rolled to the championship. In the section final Owen Leach poured-in 50 as Thief River Falls forced overtime but then ran out of gas. It's the first state berth for the Rebels since 2016. They will face Plainview/E/M Tuesday night in Williams Arena.
Hawley beat Wadena by 20 to make the semi and nearly got through to face D/G/F as Sam Senske went for 36 points but came up just short of the 66-65 score. Fertile/Beltrami also advanced to the semi-finals with a thrilling 58 - 57 win over Cass Lake/Bena but then were routed by Fosston.
Moorhead's boys did make the section championship, by way of a 77 - 70 win over Brainerd, but then lost by 17 to Buffalo.
In Bismarck Central Cass put it's undefeated season to the ultimate test and fully proved to be deserving of the trophy. In the opening round they put a 20 - 3 fourth quarter on Warwick to advance and have to survive another fierce test by Des Lacs/Burlington. Having done those things they were able to play free & easy in the championship, a 61 - 44 win over Shiloh.
Outside the lines, Shanley had a pair of coaching developments. Head girls 🏀 coach Steve Jacobson decided to step down while 2018 Shanley grad Charlie Perhus was announced as the next head boys 🎾 coach.
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