Colorado’s Austin Dufault, front, gets a rebound against California’s David Kravish during the semifinals of the Pac-12 tournament in Los Angeles on March 9. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
On Monday night, I spent 20 minutes chatting over the phone with Colorado senior forward Austin Dufault. The 2008 Killdeer High School graduate and former North Dakota Mr. Basketball winner leads his team into their first NCAA tournament game since 2003 when they face UNLV at 8 p.m. Thursday at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M.
Below is our complete interview. In bold is a brief overview of the questions I asked Austin. Make sure to check out my feature story on Dufault in Wednesday’s edition of The Dickinson Press.
This image, taken from the Hettinger County Herald, shows the lack of action that was prevalent during the District 24 boys basketball tournament game that was played Feb. 27, 1992, at Bowman’s Solberg Gymnasium. Regent, a heavy underdog against Hettinger, chose to slow the pace of the game and take advantage of its four-corners offense. What ensued was a contest that likely will never be duplicated.
Curt Honeyman knew the idea was a little crazy.
Then again, it was also so simple he wondered if it also wasn’t the perfect plan.
In the days leading up the 1992 District 24 boys basketball tournament, Honeyman preached patience to his Regent Rangers team.
“Patience to the extreme,” said Scott Sheldon, the Rangers’ sophomore guard and leading scorer that season.
Honeyman’s theory was that if the Rangers could sit in their fourcorners offense long enough, they could force the taller, more talented Hettinger Black Devils into defensive errors, put points on the scoreboard and keep the game from spiraling out of their reach.
On the evening of Feb. 27, 1992, at Solberg Gymnasium in Bowman, Honeyman sent his team onto the court with simple goals: be deliberate and patient on offense and control the tempo.
He never expected, 20 years later, people would remember the game.
Then again, he also never expected the final buzzer to sound with this score: Hettinger 4, Regent 2.
“We knew we couldn’t play with them basket for basket,” Honeyman said. “We had to try and keep the score close and keep it low. But nobody in the gym, including myself, knew that it was going to turn out that way.”
Tyler Plummer poses with his wife, Annika. Tyler died Wednesday of a massive heart attack. He was a tireless volunteer and supporter of Dickinson State athletics, particularly its wrestling and rodeo programs.
The Dickinson State wrestling team lost one of its biggest fans, supporters and volunteers Wednesday when Tyler Plummer, 33, passed away.
Though the Baker, Mont., native never wrestled for the Blue Hawks, he played an integral role in the program. DSU head coach Thadd O’Donnell said he did it all for free and for no other reason than he loved being a part of the team.
Plummer spent several years helping O’Donnell run his statistics programs, even designing a tournament program that DSU used for years, and keeping score at nearly every DSU wrestling event. He also played a role as a volunteer recruiter for the Blue Hawks. His biggest recruit? Three-time national champion and current DSU assistant coach Justin Schlecht.
Tyler also helped with DSU’s rodeo team. His wife, Annika, works in the school’s Ag Department and his sister, Jennifer Obrigewitch, is the rodeo team’s assistant coach.
One of Tyler’s greatest claims to fame was his stunt man role in the movie “Wooly Boys” that was filmed in the North Dakota Badlands. His job? Getting bucked off a horse in place of actor Joe Mazzello. O’Donnell said Tyler would love to tell people about his acting career and getting to hang out with the movie’s stars, Peter Fonda and Kris Kristofferson. You can catch a quick glimpse of Tyler’s work in the “Wooly Boys” trailer here. He gets bucked off at the 1:05 mark.
In Tyler Plummer, the southwest North Dakota community– not just DSU — lost a person who can not be replaced. Read more about him in his obituary.
I was alerted to this story this evening and it is definitely worth sharing.
Former Dickinson State football player Trampus Haskvitz died Thursday afternoon from injuries suffered after he was caught in a burn over while fighting a fire near Edgemont, S.D.
Trampus and his twin brother, John, joined the Blue Hawks in the fall of 2006 as redshirt freshmen. John left the team after that season but Trampus, a wide receiver, stayed on for the next two seasons, playing mostly on special teams.
Trampus went to Hot Springs (S.D.) High School. Along with his brother, he was employed by the South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression Division.
Bully Pulpit Golf Course professional Dave Solga was kind of enough to post the video of the flooding on the course to YouTube. Here is the video. It is pretty ridiculous.
Dustin Monke 