Submitted Photo The 2024-2025 MSU Men’s Basketball team is gearing up for another strong season under new team leadership.
Minot State men’s basketball head coach Matt Marken is in his first dozen seasons as a baker with the Beavers. He and his team are ready to follow up on last year’s solid performance.
The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Coaches Survey doesn’t give a good impression of what the Beavers have in store for the rest of the conference. MSU is ranked 10th in preseason polls, according to the NSIC poll.
“We definitely finished off a great year with 20 wins and being ranked nationally for the majority of the season.” said Marken. “But a lot of the players on that team that people know have graduated and left. We’ve got a lot of really good players coming back that are still unknown to the public. We’ve got some really talented players as well. I know we’re going to play hard and get better and better, so I’m looking forward to seeing how far we can go.”
The 2023-2024 team was senior-heavy, with five players in their senior or graduate seasons. The 2024-2025 team has three senior or graduate student athletes.
“”We have a lot of experience returning with Jackson Gambill and Jalen Cook. They have been key parts of our team for five and four years, respectively.” Marken said. “They are good players and great leaders. Adding Darryl as a graduate transfer was also important to us. He was the university’s student-athlete of the year last year. He is an elite person with extraordinary energy and leadership. ”
Preseason polls and a new roster of youth and seniors are not issues that will seriously impact the Beavers’ thought process in preparation.
“To be honest, I don’t really look at outside opinions that closely. I care about the guys on the team and what we can control.” said Marken. “We can put in an elite effort, we can outperform our opponents, we can have a locker room that is closer than our opponents. All of these things are about winning games, and I It’s something we talk about on a daily basis.”
One of the fun and unique aspects of the MSU men’s team is its international lineup, which includes three players from Australia.
“We’ve had a lot of success working with Australian players in our program. They love the game, they’re tough, they compete and they’re far from home, so they embrace the whole team culture. Masu.” said Marken. “Caleb, Braylynn and Max fit that mold. They all have unique stories and connect with people literally all over the world. We’re thrilled to have them join our program. .”
The Beavers will play East Central University on Friday, November 8th in the Conference Challenge at the University of Minnesota in Duluth, followed by a matchup against Southeastern Oklahoma State University on Saturday, November 9th.
The team will then head south for the Puerto Rico Classic from Thursday, Nov. 14 to Saturday, Nov. 16 before returning to Minot to host Jamestown University on Wednesday, Nov. 20 to start the year.
MSU has 31 games heading into the first round of the NSIC tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 26, with the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals to be held Saturday, March 1 through Tuesday, March 4 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The good news for the Beavers is that the first round of the NSIC will be played at the MSU Dome.
“Last year we got a bye in the first round. It’s important to get that, or at least get a home game. Our conference tournament is a battle.” said Marken. “In one power ranking last year, NSIC had seven of the top 20 teams in the nation. It’s good basketball, and it’s got some good coaches and players. That makes it fun!”
WINONA, Minn. — The Minot State University (MSU) women’s soccer team picked up an important win on the road as they continued to play catch-up.
