Why scheduling a home-and-home with South Dakota State is a terrible idea

After filling out your staff and meeting with the players still on your roster, you are left with the task of arranging your nonconference schedule. Like most other coaches, you would like to have at least a few competitive games in your early slate, to test your squad without running it ragged. After a few calls, you hear back from some fellow Power Fours about setting up home-and-homes, plus a few notable mid-majors that are eager to take a five-figure paycheck to boost their NET rankings.

One mid-major has the gall to suggest a home-and-home. A mid-major! One that has no significant TV revenue to offer and plays in the Summit League, which will weigh down your strength of record the deeper you get into the season: South Dakota State.

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But Aaron Johnston’s program has made 12 of the past 15 NCAA Tournaments, including a Sweet 16 appearance, and won the WNIT the one time it missed March Madness in the last seven years. Perhaps this is an opportunity to build clout for your program with either a quality win or a competitive loss. You may be very tempted to take him up on his offer.

Let me offer you a piece of advice: Do not under any circumstances go to Brookings, South Dakota.

If you have any hope of making a postseason tournament, do not sign that contract. Do not go to the facility formerly known as Frost Arena, whose name was technically borne of the school’s men’s basketball coach from the 1950s but in reality describes what you will feel once you take a step outside in Brookings. Do not even think of getting on the long flight that takes you to Sioux Falls and still necessitates an hour’s drive — or worse, the flight to Minneapolis that requires three hours on the charter bus after.

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True, more proven coaches than you have signed up to visit the Jackrabbits. And how did that go for their teams?

• A very slowly but steadily improving Wisconsin kicked off a home-and-home with South Dakota State last season. The Badgers won a close game in November 2023 but lost by 22 in Brookings two weeks ago.
• Creighton has played South Dakota State every season for the past 13 years. The Bluejays won the Omaha leg of the series last year; last week, they lost in Brookings and fell out of the AP poll. In fact, since 2016, the Bluejays have won all four games at home and lost four of the five games at Frost.
• Three years ago, Mississippi State beat the Jacks in Starkville. The following year, new head coach Sam Purcell had to take the Bulldogs up to The Mount Rushmore State and lost. Purcell is now on the hot seat. Coincidence???
• Kansas State also went to Brookings in 2021-22. The Wildcats won there, but it was a pyrrhic victory. The teams met at a neutral site the following year, resulting in a Jacks win that knocked K-State out of the top 25. Even non-home games away from Brookings aren’t safe.
• Iowa State had a home-and-home with South Dakota State across 2020-22. The Cyclones won by nearly 20 at home, but do you know how the away game went? The Jacks opened their season with a convincing win over No. 15 Iowa State.
• Gonzaga has played the Jacks twice over the past four years, once in Brookings and once in Spokane. The latter was a blowout in favor of the Bulldogs, but the former? An overtime win for the Jacks.
• Drake had a home-and-home across 2019-21. The Des Moines opening of the series was a strong win for Drake, while the second game went the other way and knocked the Bulldogs out of the rankings.
• Even Sabrina Ionescu’s Oregon team nearly lost in Brookings, facing a one-possession game in 2018-19 at Frost with just over a minute left. When the teams met in Eugene the following year, though, Oregon won by nearly 40.
• FGCU, whose head coach was so esteemed that this week he was selected to lead the Atlanta Dream, hosted the Jacks in 2017-18 before a 2018-19 trip north. Even that esteem was not enough to sweep the series thanks to an 18-point loss in Brookings.
• Green Bay won at home by 14 in 2017-18 and was rewarded by taking a 30-point loss in South Dakota the following season.
• DePaul won in Chicago in 2014-15 before the road loss the next year nearly knocked it out of the top 25.
• Middle Tennessee for some reason scheduled three home-and-homes over 2009-15. MTSU won every game in Murfreesboro and lost every game at Frost.

Other teams that have suffered similar fates: Oklahoma; nearly Louisville, which won at home by 53 points in 2016-17 and was a missed layup away from a tie game with seconds left in Brookings a year later; Penn State; Nebraska.

Related reading: 2024-25 Summit League preview

You look at that history and tell me if even a moment’s thought over a home-and-home with South Dakota State is a good idea. Do you think yourself smarter than Karl Smesko, Doug Bruno, Rick Insell, Jennie Baranczyk, Jim Flanery, Kevin Borseth, Lisa Fortier, Bill Fennelly, Kelly Graves and Amy Williams?¹

Duke is headed there today, against all better judgment. Why?!

Then again, there is a Culver’s in Brookings. So maybe the trip is worth the season-altering loss.

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1. OK, maybe in one or two instances you, dear reader, are. ↩︎