NDSU Men’s Basketball’s Veteran Presence A Big Key To This Season

Sam Griesel, Tyree Eady and Rocky Kreuser all back for the Bison

FARGO, N.D. — The college hoops season is back. North Dakota State men’s basketball tips off season number eight under head coach Dave Richman looking for NCAA Tournament appearance number five. Those chances are as good as any with the roster that returns.

The bison have all five starters from last season back including their top three scorers guards Sam Griesel, Tyree Eady and big man Rocky Kreuser along with the Summit League’s freshman of the year in forward Grant Nelson.

Its a group that has a chip on their shoulder after falling a bucket short of reaching the big dance. In order to come out on the other end of that result this time, its all about Kreuser, Eady and Griesel providing that veteran presence.

“All three of us together I think do a pretty good job of leading. It helps out because we love everyone,” Kreuser said. “Everyone loves each other on the team. When you have that teammate chemistry out there, it really makes it easy to go out there and perform. One of the biggest things that people don’t talk about in college basketball is experience. Out of all the teams in college basketball I think we have a lot more experience then a lot of them. I think that’ll really help us throughout the season.”

“We actually all room together now, which is new. We’re even closer now because of it,” Griesel said. “Just building chemistry off the court just translates so well with us three and I’m just really excited to get on the court. All 14 of us. Just seeing the fans. This summer, I really embraced the community so hopefully seeing some of those people that I met and built relationships with. It’ll be a really special feeling.”

The Bison start out with two at home. An exhibition against Minot State on November 1st then Concordia on the 9th.