2017–18 North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's basketball team explained

Mode:Basketball
Year:2017–18
Team:North Dakota Fighting Hawks
Conference:Big Sky Conference
Short Conf:Big Sky
Record:12–20
Conf Record:6–12
Hc Year:12th
Asst Coach1:Brad Davidson
Asst Coach2:Steve Grabowski

The 2017–18 North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's basketball team represented the University of North Dakota during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Fighting Hawks, led by 12th-year head coach Brian Jones, played their home games at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota as members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 12–20, 6–12 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for eighth place. They defeated Montana State in the first round of the Big Sky tournament before losing in the quarterfinals to Montana.

This season was the last for North Dakota as a full Big Sky member. On July 1, 2018, the school will join the Summit League in all sports except for football, in which it will remain a Big Sky member before joining the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2020.[1]

Previous season

The Fighting Hawks finished the 2016–17 season 22–10, 14–4 in Big Sky play to win the Big Sky regular season championship. In the Big Sky tournament, they defeated Portland State, Idaho, and Weber State to win the tournament championship.[2] As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and the school's first ever bid to the NCAA Tournament.[3] As a No. 15 seed in the West region, they lost to No. 2-seeded and No. 4-ranked Arizona in the first round.[4] [5]

Offseason

Departures

Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes
Corey Baldwin 1 G 6'3" 190 Senior Graduated
Carson Shanks 5 C 7'0" 230 RS Junior Graduate transferred to Loyola–Chicago
Shane Benton 10 C 7'0" 230 RS Senior Graduated
Wheeler Baker 13 G 6'2" 175 Sophomore Left the team for personal reasons
Thomas Blake 20 G 6'2" 200 RS Senior Walk-on; graduated
21 G 6'0" 205 Senior Graduated
Devon Pekas 25 G 6'4" 210 Senior Graduated
Drick Bernstine 43 F 6'8" 220 RS Junior Graduate transferred to Washington State

Incoming transfers

Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School
Jaqwan McCauley 10 G/F 6'6" 210 Junior Junior college transferred from Tyler Junior College.
Dale Jones 13 F 6'7" 227 Senior Transferred from Iowa. Will be eligible to play immediately since Jones graduated from Iowa.

2017 incoming recruits

Schedule and results

|-!colspan=9 style=| Regular season|-!colspan=9 style=| Big Sky tournament

Notes and References

  1. News: UND officially makes the move to the Summit League, Missouri.... Grand Forks Herald. 2017-08-16. en.
  2. News: North Dakota wins Big Sky tournament for first NCAA Tournament berth. OregonLive.com. 2017-08-16. en-US.
  3. News: North Dakota defeats Weber State to clinch automatic berth for NCAA tournament. SBNation.com. 2017-08-16.
  4. Web site: North Dakota vs. Arizona - Game Recap - March 16, 2017 - ESPN. ESPN.com. 2017-08-16.
  5. News: Arizona Wildcats beat North Dakota 100-82 in NCAA Tournament first round game. Pascoe. Bruce. Arizona Daily Star. 2017-08-16. en.