2014-15 Apparel Form

Here is the apparel form for 2014-15.  If you would like to receive your items by Christmas, please have orders turned in to Coach Erickson by December 1st.  We can place orders after that date, but not guaranteed to be here by Christmas.  If you have questions, email Coach Erickson at steve.erickson@k12.sd.us

http://se019.k12.sd.us/Elkton%20Baskeball%20Flyer%2015.xlsx

Mike Matheny Letter

As basketball season is approaching and I am beginning to start lining things up, I came across this link http://www.mac-n-seitz.com/teams/mike-matheny-letter.html to a letter that I had received a few years ago.  It is written by current St. Louis Cardinals Manager, Mike Matheny.  Mike has won World Series Titles with the Cardinals and is highly regarded in his professions as a great manager, a great baseball mind, and more importantly a great human being!  Mr. Matheny wrote this letter when he was coaching his own children in baseball.  It is very well written and something that I believe is very important pertinent to pass along.

This is something I will be handing out to my fifth grade basketball team and parents this year as well as my high school team and their parents.  Many of the core values we try to instill in our Elk Basketball Program are touched on in this letter

I don't know how many people actually look at this blog but hopefully someone will come across this and find it as important and worthwhile as I have.

-Coach Erickson
"Run With the Herd"

Good News...Congrats!!

I just received an email this afternoon from Jim Hensley who is the COO of Hansen-Anderson Basketball and I was informed that Heath Schindler (Senior PG) will be appearing on the cover of the 2014-15 Hanson Anderson Basketball Preview Cover.  This is a great honor for Heath, our basketball program, and our team.

CONGRATS Heath on another outstanding award for you!!

-Coach Erickson

Summer Dates

With summer approaching, we will be getting off-season workouts in.  Here is a list of the dates we have down so far.

Marshall Summer League June 2- July 30th  every Wednesday

June 12th Elkton Team Camp

June 23-24 Elkton Individual Camp

June 20th SDSU Team Camp

July 30th Elkton Team Camp

We will also have some open gym times as well as getting the acceleration program ready.  Brett Delaney and Austin Farnham will head that up this summer.  Brett is also looking at setting up some type of Shooting/basketball skills camp.  Look for more information to come.

GO ELKS

Year End Thoughts

Well, the Region Title game did not end exactly how we wanted it to.  We fell 66 to 63 to Ethan, a very talented and athletic team.  Our kids gave a great effort, left everything on the floor and have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.  Although we came up one basket short of our ultimate goal, this group accomplished a great deal this season and has left Elk Hoops near the top.

I could not be more proud of a group than these guys.  They have given everything they had all season long and simply battled every time they stepped on the floor.  It was a pleasure to coach them and make the memories we did throughout this season.

DVC All-Conference Selections are out:

Congrats to Heath Schindler and Nathan Krog for being selected to the 1st team as well as Trevan Farnham and Quinn Fargen for being selected to the 2nd team.  Coach Erickson was chosen as the DVC Coach of the Year.

2013-14 Accomplishments:
17-6 overall record
7-1 in the DVC
DVC Tournament Champions (3rd in a row, 4th in last 5 years)
DVC Regular Season Champions (2nd year in a row)
District 7B Champions
Region 4B Runner-Ups

Region 4B Game Tonight

Tonight we will play the Ethan Rustlers in the Region 4B Championship.  The winner of this game will advance to the State B Tournament next weekend in Aberdeen.

Game time is scheduled for 8PM at the Corn Palace in Mitchell.  There is another game before ours, starting at 6:30PM so start time may have to be adjusted somewhat.

If you are unable to make it to Mitchell, the game will be broadcast a couple of different ways:
Q107radio.com (107.3 FM) Clint Greenway on the call
KMIT.com (105.9 FM) Tim Smith with the call
Webcast on Cornpalace.org


Ethan Rustlers vs Elkton-LB Elks......a trip to state on the line!

District 7B Champs

Well, our guys got the job done!  District 7B Champions!  It was a hard fought, well-earned victory over a very talented, young, and well-coached Chester Area Team.  Hats off to Chester on the solid year and they are only going to get better in the future.

Our guys battled all night long, it was a struggle shooting the basketball for most of the game for us, but our kids stuck together and BELIEVED in the system.  I could not be more proud of a group of guys.  They are so humble and deflect all attention back to the team.  They truly play for one another and do everything we ask of them.

We move on to play Ethan on Tuesday night at the Mitchell Corn Palace at 8pm for the Region 4B Title.   Ethan comes in with a 17-3 regular season record and 19-3 overall.  We are currently 17-5.  There is a game that will start at 6:30 (Platte-Geddes vs Gregory).  Hopefully everyone can make the trip, I realize the distance is not ideal on a Tuesday night, but we need all of the support we can get.  Pack the Palace and make your ELK PRIDE be known!

I told the kids last night:  "This time of the year, throw out the seedings, records, rankings, it comes down to SURVIVE and ADVANCE."  -Tourney Time

BELIEVE IN BLUE
PLAY LOVED

District Tournament Info

If you click on the following link, it will take you to the South Dakota High School Activities Association page and then click on District 7 for a glimpse of the bracket for our District (7B) Tournament.    I have also pasted a copy of the bracket below.
http://www.sdhsaa.com/Athletics/BoysSports/Basketball/BracketsB.aspx

We have a bye for the first round tonight.  We play the winner of Dell Rapids St. Mary and Colman-Egan which is the #4 vs #5 seed.  Our game will be played in Elkton on Tuesday night at 7PM.  We have also just received word that our game will be broadcast on the radio.  KJAM 103.1 out of Madison will carry our game.  It will also be streamed live at www.amazingmadison.com

We have had a good week and a half preparing for our post season. The guys are ready to begin the "new" season and continue to get better each day.  This group is very humble and plays with such a team first sense about it.  I am thankful for the opportunity to coach these guys and look forward to the upcoming games with them.

District 7B Boys Basketball Tournament

#4 Dell Rapids St. Mary Score:  Date: March 3 Time: 7:00 Site: At #4 Seed Score: #5 Colman-Egan #3 Baltic Score:  Date: March 3 Time: 7:00 Site: At #3 Seed Score: #6 Oldham-Ramona/Rutland

#1 Elkton-Lake Benton Score:  Date: March 4 Time: 7:00 Site: Elkton Score:         Score:  Date: March 4 Time: 7:00 Site: At #2 Seed Score: #2 Chester Area

Score:  Date: March 7 Time: 7:00 Site: Dell Rapids Score:

CHAMPION Region Qualifier School Seed Pts. Elkton-Lake Benton 43.55 Chester Area 39.70 Baltic 38.25 Dell Rapids St. Mary 37.45 Colman-Egan 37.25 Oldham-Ramona/Rutland 36.79

Back to Back

After the conclusion of games last night, our conference schedule is complete.  For the second straight year, We are conference champions.  This year we sit alone at 7-1 and win the title out-right.  DeSmet with their win over Arlington finishes tied for second at 6-2 with Arlington.  Below is the final standings for this year.  I

It is the second straight year we have won the regular season title and the tournament title.  Hats off to our guys this year and those that have graduated and been a part of the success!!

Final DVC Standings:

Team                  Conf Record              Overall

1-Elkton-LB                    7-1                       14-5

2-Arlington                    6-2                       15-5

2-DeSmet                       6-2                       13-7

4-Lake Preston             5-3                       10-9

4-Deubrook                   5-3                       9-11

6- Estelline                      4-4                       8-12

7-St. Mary                      2-6                       5-15

7-ORR                          2-6                      6-13  

9-Colman-Egan            0-8                       4-16

Post Season & Updates

Check out the following link for some information and coverage of our team from Dan Genzler at SD Sports Buzz.com.

http://sdsportsbuzz.com/index.php?goto=blog&b=7421

We have finished our regular season at 15-5 and 7-1 in the DVC.  We will be the top seed in the District 7B tournament which will begin held March 3, 4, and 7.  We will have a first round bye and not play on the 3rd.  On March 4th, we will host the winner of a game from the night before.  District Finals will be held at Dell Rapids Public on Friday, March 7th.

This has been a great season and I am so proud of the effort and determination this group has played with all year.  I know that we have improved each and every day and will continue to work and get better leading up to our post season play starting.

Thank you to everyone for the support so far this season.  We have had great crowds and amazing fans.  Hopefully we can continue to play at a high level and keep our season rolling!

#PLAY LOVED

Tough game and some ramblings!

We came up a little short last night, losing 75 to 74 to the Arlington Cardinals.  It was a hard-fought game between two very good teams.  Coach Parry has a great program and does a nice job with his guys.  It was a game that could have went either way, unfortunately for us, we came up just a little short.

This game featured two of the premier point guards in the state.  Andrew King of Arlington and Heath Schindler of Elkton-LB.  They both put on a performance for the ages.  King finished the night with 44 points and 8 rebounds to help the Cardinals pull out the victory.  Schindler had a night as well, scoring 40 points, dishing out 7 assists, and collecting 6 steals.  Both of these kids are great competitors and hard working athletes.  They are only juniors, so they will have more opportunities to see each other in the future.

I was very proud of our guys for the effort they played with, I didn't necessarily think we played our best defensive game of the year, but they are so hard to guard and when they shoot the ball like they did last night, it is scary.  I thought our guys competed and hung in there, we just needed one more hoop to fall and it didn't.

We finish the DVC portion of our schedule with a 7-1 record, identical to last year, when we shared the regular season title with Arlington and Deubrook.  Currently we are guaranteed no worse than a share of the title again this season.  Arlington still has to play DeSmet so depending on the outcome of that game, will determine if Arlington and Elkton-LB will share the title once again at 7-1 or if the Elks can win it out-right.
No matter the outcome, this group has been part of 3 straight DVC tournament titles and now back to back regular season titles.

We finish our regular season on Tuesday in Watertown against Great Plains Lutheran.  We can get to the 15 win mark with a victory and head to the post season where everyone is 0-0!  It is getting to the point in the year where everyone wants to be playing their best and I feel we are where we need to be.

Thanks for all of you support throughout the year and we hope you continue to come out and cheer on the Elks as we enter tourney time!

Coach E

At Arlington

Tonight we are on the road for our final conference game of the year against the Arlington Cardinals.  We head into tonight's game with a 7-0 conference record and already a shard of the conf. title, we look to claim the out-right title this evening.  It will be a great game, Arlington is 12-4, the Elks are 14-4.  The teams met earlier this year in the DVC Tournament with the Elks earning an 80 to 67 victory.  Both teams matchup well against one another so we are looking forward to a great challenge and another exciting game.

GO BIG BLUE!

PLAY LOVED!

Back to Back

With our win over Lake Preston on Thursday, we have secured at least a share of the regular season Dakota Valley Conference Title.  We have one conference game left on Thursday at Arlington.  This will be a great test for us and a chance for us to claim the out-right conference title.

With two games remaining before the post-season, we are currently 14-4 (7-0).  Thursday we travel to Arlington and then on Tuesday, Feb. 18th, we travel to Great Plains Lutheran to wrap up the regular season.  
District play will begin on March 3rd.  We will have a first round bye and play our first district game on March 4th in Elkton.  District Finals will be in Dell Rapids and Dells Public on Friday March 7th.

Region Game will be in Mitchell at the Corn Palace on March 11th.  The State B tournament will once again be held in Aberdeen on March 20, 21, 22.

PLAY LOVED
COACH LOVED

RUN WITH THE HERD!!!

Updates

We head to Flandreau tonight to play against the Flandreau Indian School.  It is a doubleheader with the girls, schedule as follows:
4pm JV Girls
JV boys
Var Girls
Var Boys

Thursday we will travel to Lake Preston to take on the Divers.

We are currently 12-4 (6-0).  We have been playing really well as of late and hope to continue getting better as we come toward the end of the season and heading into Post season play.

10-3 (5-0) and some updates

We pushed our record to 10-3 on the year with a 75-35 victory over Deuel last night.  Making it to the 10 win mark makes it 6 of the last 7 years we have had double digit win totals in a year.  We look to add more to it as we have a busy couple of weeks coming up.  Schedule listed below:

Thursday - Home vs St. Mary

Saturday- Sanford Pentagon (Sioux Falls) vs Dakota Valley

Monday- Home vs Baltic (Parent's Night)

Tuesday- @ Flandreau Indian School

Thursday- @ Lake Preston

So, as you can see we have a busy stretch coming up with some challenging and exciting games.  After the Lake Preston game, we will only have two regular season games left in the season (Arlington and GPL).

Notes:

Thursday, January 30th vs St. Mary 

     1 JH Game at 5:00, followed by JV, then Varsity

Saturday, February 1st @ Sioux Falls vs Dakota Valley

    We play at 9AM (1st game of the day!!)

Monday, February 3rd vs Baltic

    This will be Parent's Night

Tuesday, February 4th @ FIS

   JV Girls at 4, JV boys 5:15, Var. Girls, then Var. Boys

GO ELKS!

3Peat

Last night, we captured our third straight DVC tournament title and fourth in the last five years!  A true credit to the dedication, commitment, and togetherness of the guys I have been fortunate to coach. Many players have graduated but Tradition never graduates. Thank you to all current and former players for being great players and greater people.
Play loved!

1st Round Update/2nd Round Preview

We go the first round of the conference tournament done on Tuesday in White.  We played Dell Rapids St. Mary and were victorious 70-28.  The first quarter was a bit sketchy but the guys settled down, did their job and played the game "our" way for the final three quarters.  I thought our defense was very solid in the final three quarters, holding St. Mary to only 12 points in those three quarters.

With the win, it sets up a semi-final match-up with Arlington.  Last year, these two teams played in the championship game with the Elks winning to claim back to back tournament titles and three of the last four.  Tonight we will try to take another step toward making in three in a row.

Tonight in Colman we will face a very athletic, physical, and well-coached team in the Cardinals.  Coach Parry always has his kids playing at a high level and we are going to need to be ready to go from the start. They will be comparable to us in terms of size and speed so, I think the keys to the game for us will be to contain their dribble penetration and try to turn them into jump shooters from the perimeter as much as possible.  We will have to make a conscious effort to block out and rebound on every shot.

This game will be a great challenge for us.  We have been playing pretty good basketball of late and need to keep working hard together and improving as a team.  I hope that everyone can make it to Colman tonight for the game, tip is scheduled to be at approximately 7:30.

GO BIG! GO BLUE! GO ELKS!

Fast Fact:
Tonight's game will be our third contest in the last week without having a single practice.  Weather has wreaked havoc on our schedule this last week and taken away our practice days.

 

Postponed

1st round action of the DVC tournament has been postponed until tomorrow. We will now play at 3:30pm tomorrow in White against St.Mary. 

#Proud

Last night, we defeated a very good Deubrook team 630-41.  Our kids played extremely hard from the start, always hustling, always playing together, and finishing the job.  I could not be more proud of their effort, teamwork, attitudes, and resolve. Great, great job by our guys! 

We are now 6-3(5-0).  This week we have our conference tournament in Colman all three nights, Monday we open with St.Mary, Thursday is second round, finals on Saturday.  We have won the past two tourneys and 3 of the last 4. We will need to play well to get it done again.

Also on Saturday, we will be c p.a. Hong barefoot for Samaritan's Feet.  As a conference, we are raising funds to put shoes on the feet of those less fortunate here in South Dakota.  Please support all the coaches in this great cause.

Dakota Valley Conference Tournament

The brackets have been released for the DVC tournament.  Next week, we will play on Monday at 6pm in Colman against St. Mary.  We will then play our second round game on Thursday, time will depend on the outcome of Monday's game.  The final day of the tournament will be held on Saturday in Colman.

Here is the link to the tourney brackets.

Dakota Valley Conference Tourney Brackets

Updates

Tomorrow's girls basketball game will be moved to a doubleheader on Friday against Deubrook.
JH boys and girls will start at 4pm
JV boys and girls will start at 5pm
Varsity boys will play at 6:15 followed by varsity girls

5-3 (4-0)

With our win over Estelline on Friday night, we got our conference record to 4-0 and we are 5-3 overall.  The guys played extremely hard the entire night, and we were able to mix up our defenses a little bit to keep them off-balance.  I was very pleased with our effort on the defensive end of the floor and we got things rolling on the offensive end a little bit to take some pressure off our defense.  It was fun to watch the guys play, as they were making hustle plays, getting on the floor after loose balls, and just really playing loose and playing well together.

What's on tap:
This week we have one game, Friday, at home against Deubrook. The Dolphins are currently 4-2 overall and 3-0 in the conference.  Last year, the Dolphins handed us a 1 point loss on a last second shot.  This year, Deubrook is a very athletic team with good size and good shooters so they are definitely going to present a challenge for us.  We will go over things this week and get our scouting reports out and the gameplan nailed down and be ready for the challenge.  It will be another opportunity for us to play together, play loved, and compete with and for one another.

4th & 5th Tourney:
This weekend, we hosted a 4th and 5th grade boys basketball tournament in Elkton.  We had a total of 16 teams here and had 4 games going on every hour from 9am to 3pm.  It was a very busy, productive, and fun day.  I could not be happier with our guys for the way they stepped up and helped ref, run clock and book, run the concessions, and then especially the help cleaning up.  It was a true success and only because of the volunteers and our guys stepping up to the plate like they did.

PLAY LOVED

Quality Win

Great effort by our kids tonight against a well-coached and talented DeSmet team.  They have some nice size inside, and guards that can shoot the ball, but I thought our boys came out and executed the game plan we discussed.  Very proud of the intensity and effort our kids play with.  We ran the floor well, shot the ball well, defended well, and got a good conference win.

With all of the things we did well tonight, there are many things we can learn and still get better at.  One of the best things about this group is the fact that they want to keep improving and know that they have things they need to get better at.  We will continue to practice hard, get better, and continue to work toward our goals.

We are currently 4-3 overall with a 3-0 record in the DVC.  Friday we travel to Estelline for another conference showdown against the Redmen.

#PlayLoved     #BelieveinBlue

Go Time!

We come out of Christmas Break with a record of 3-3 overall and 2-0 in the DVC.  Tonight we face a young, talented, athletic DeSmet team.  They are currently 3-1 and 2-0 in the DVC.  This will be a good test for us, coming off one of our better games against Canby.  Even though we lost by 3 points, we played well enough to win, shot the ball well, and had a great effort, we just needed one more hoop.

It is good to get back in the routine of school and we have a stretch coming up with three straight conference games and then the conference tourney.

DVC Tournament:
We are the #3 seed and will play St. Mary @ Colman on 1-20-14 at 6:00pm.  Second round will be on Thursday 1-23-14 at Colman against the winner or loser of Arlington and Colman-Egan.