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PRESS&DAKOTAN
YANKTON DAILY
WINTER SPORTS
PREVIEW 2011
JAMES D. CIMBUREK/P&D
The University of South Dakota men s basketball program includes five individuals who were born outside the United States: (left) Allen Saint-Gelais (Guadeloupe, France), Nick Mabbutt (England), Brandon Bos (Canada), Ricardo Andreotti (Brazil) and Juevol Myles (Canada). The only player who was with USD last season was Andreotti, who has been a kind of grandfather for the four newcomers.
International Presence Adds To USD Men s Basketball Program
BY JEREMY HOECK
jeremy.hoeck@yankton.net
VERMILLION It wasn t that long
ago when the foreign presence on the
University of South Dakota men s basketball team was a player from
Dubuque, Iowa.
Not exactly a passport-necessary
kind of a trek.
One look at this season s roster, however, shows a completely different story.
Of the 15 players on the 2011-12 squad,
five were born outside the United States
Brandon Bos (Fr.) and Juevol Myles
(Jr.) from Canada, Ricardo Andreotti (Sr.,
Brazil), Nick Mabbutt (Jr., England) and
Allen Saint-Gelais (Jr., Guadeloupe, a
French island in the Caribbean).
In other words, five-on-five scrimmages can take on the feel of the Pan
American Games.
It actually works out where we can
have an international team and an American team, said Mabbutt, a native of Milton Kynes, England, who came to USD
via Northeast Community College in
Norfolk, Neb.
And we can actually get a full team.
We try to just have fun and enjoy basketball.
Of the five, four are junior college
transfers new to the Coyotes this season. The elder of the group is Andreotti,
who came to Vermillion from Northwest
College in Wyoming.
Bos came to USD from Kiski Prep
School in Pennsylvania, while SaintGelais is a transfer from Laramie (Wyo.)
County Community College, where he
spent one season.
Myles played one season at Kansas
City, then transferred to Tallahassee (Fla.)
Community College before coming to USD
where he is redshirting this season.
Other than Brandon, they re all junior college guys, and for whatever reason, it fell into our laps that way. Trust
me, we didn t plan to load up on foreign
guys, joked USD assistant coach Joey
James, in his ninth year on staff with
Dave Boots.
A few of them are what we call nomaintenance. A few we have are low-
maintenance, but we just wanted guys
who fit our system.
That system still includes four South
Dakotans and one Minnesotan, but there
is certainly a new look to the Division I
program.
Yes, all five foreign-born players
speak English, and yes, there is good-natured ribbing by their United Statesborn teammates.
The guys give me a lot of crap about
the way I say certain words, or if I don t
know a certain question or something,
they ll say, Oh, it s just because you re
Canadian, Bos said.
It s all just fun and games.
That bond extends past the court, as
well.
Andreotti, Mabbutt, Saint-Gelais and
junior Jordan Boots are all living in the
same on-campus dorm room, in the
same village as Bos, Trevor Gruis, Jared
Bartling and Steve Tecker.
And yes, that has been the root of
many jokes.
We call our room the International
Room, Saint-Gelais said. We always
make jokes that the American guys need
a visa to visit our room.
Joking aside, there was a serious reason why Andreotti who appeared in
all 33 games and averaged 5.1 points
and 6.3 rebounds per game last season
NATIONS | PAGE 8A
New Faces, Outlook Have Things Looking Up For MMC Men
BY JEREMY HOECK
jeremy.hoeck@yankton.net
EDITOR S NOTE: This article
originally appeared in the Nov.
xx edition of the Press &
Dakotan. It has been updated
with statistics current as of Dec.
5, 2011.
LANCERS | SPENCER YACKLEY
Though he tries to remain
cautiously optimistic, Jim
Thorson s enthusiasm is evident.
With his program coming off
its first Great Plains Athletic
Conference (GPAC) post-season win, the Mount Marty College men s basketball coach
was asked if the Lancers are
ready to take the next step in
their progression.
At this point, I would say
yes, he said prior to the season. I think we re capable of
doing that.
Doing so will be a relatively
new-look Lancers squad, which
is 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the
GPAC through Dec. 5. Mount
Marty returns just one starter,
but brings back a key player
who was limited by injuries
and two other senior transfers.
Another significant change
for the 2011-12 squad, Thorson
said, is attitude.
Our attitude s been really
good and the guys have
worked hard so far, said the
17th-year coach, who guided
the Lancers to a 10-20 overall
record last season.
We ve got people who can
score and defend the ball, and
we re just a little tougher all
around, he added. I m encouraged by what I ve seen so
far.
Forward Spencer Yackley
(Sr., 10.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg this season) is the only starter back
for Mount Marty, which graduated two, lost one to transfer
and had another move back to
a reserve role for this season.
Yackley will be joined in the
frontcourt by sophomore forward Jeff Viereck (4 ppg), who
played in only 13 games a year
ago after getting injured. Junior
guard Joe Hieb (10.0 ppg)
moves into a starting role this
season after what Thorson
called a very strong finish to
last season.
We felt like those guys
back from last year should
know the system and should
give us some nice leadership,
Thorson said. That was a
pretty good nucleus to build
around. Then we set out, recruiting wise, to fill in the
gaps.
Enter Will Eddie and Mitch
Ackelson.
Though not a transfer this
year, Eddie a 6-foot-2 senior
guard played in only 11
games for the Lancers last season after venturing to Yankton
from the junior college ranks.
After playing in limited duty
last season, Eddie is averaging
5.0 points this season
Eddie will start this season
as an off-guard in the backcourt with senior transfer
Mitch Ackelson, who comes to
MMC from NCAA Division II
Missouri-St. Louis where he
played in 26 games a year ago.
MMC MEN | PAGE 2A
LANCERS | MITCH ACKELSON
Mount Marty has become a family away from home.
I have
had a wonderful time at Mount Marty, and I have learned
many things as a sportsman, a leader and a spiritual being.
MARTY COL
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Eldoret, Kenya
Nursing Class of 2012
U
- Titus Kosgei
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1936
1105 W. 8th St, Yankton, SD | 1-855-MtMarty (686-2789) | www.mtmc.edu
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