Month: December 2012

Move to Europe puts Dufault back on permieter

There have been some learning curves for Austin Dufault in his transition from the high-profile life of a NCAA Division I college basketball player to the nearly invisible existence as the lone American on his professional basketball team in the Czech Republic.

There are no more games in front of 10,000 screaming fans.

Though he is getting paid to play the game he loves, Dufault said BK Prostejov — the team he plays for in the Czech Republic’s National Basketball League — rarely fills its 3,000-seat arena. Some games, he said, have fan turnouts that would be similar to the Class B games he grew up playing at Killdeer High School.

Nonetheless, Dufault has earned a starring role in his new home.

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Dufault went from the Big Dance to the Czech Republic

AP Photo
Colorado’s Austin Dufault, left, runs down the court after making a basket during the semifinals of the Pac-12 conference championship in Los Angeles on March 9. The Killdeer High School graduate had an exhilerating year, helping his team win the Pac-12 title, playing in the NCAA tournament and moving on to a professional career in Europe.

This has been a year of transition for Austin Dufault. In January, he was adjusting to a role as a featured player on the Colorado men’s basketball team. By March, he and the Buffaloes were dancin’ in the NCAA Tournament.
Today, he is at his parents’ home in Greeley, Colo., taking a five-day break from his newest job: professional basketball player for BK Prostejov in Prostejov, Czech Republic.

“A lot of changes have occurred in the last year that I’ve had to adjust to and I think I’ve handled them pretty well so far,” Dufault said Saturday during a phone interview.
An outstanding 2012 for the Killdeer High School graduate and former North Dakota Mr. Basketball puts him at No. 6 on The Dickinson Press’ sports stories of the year.

In June, Dufault was named one of three winners of the North Dakota Associated Press Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association’s Dakota Award, an honor given to North Dakota natives who excel in sports outside of the state.
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Records, futility a rare combo for Blue Hawks

This sure was an interesting season for the Dickinson State football team. The Blue Hawks won just two games by a total of two points in 2012, their inaugural Frontier Conference season. Yet, head coach Hank Biesiot still managed to set a NAIA record for wins. (Though it’s a record in the eyes of some and not others, including the NAIA).

DSU finishing 2-9 — its second consecutive losing season and first time Biesiot has experienced back-to-back below-.500 years — in a season not without some historic moments is The Dickinson Press’ No. 8 sports story of 2012.

One great moment came Sept. 15 when the Blue Hawks beat Montana State-Northern 21-20 to help put Biesiot in a three-way tie for the NAIA’s coaching wins record.

On Oct. 13, Biesiot became the first football coach to win 257 games while coaching an NAIA school when the Blue Hawks got gutsy and scored a touchdown and went for the twopoint conversion with 14.6 seconds remaining to beat rival Jamestown College 8-7 in their lone nonconference game of the year.

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