VERMILLION, S.D.—Throughout the 2015-16 basketball season, the South Dakota athletic department looked back on 37 years of Coyote basketball inside the DakotaDome. As part of that, fans were asked to weigh in on the best basketball players in the DakotaDome era.
 
The list of 16 men and 16 women was trimmed to eight candidates on each side. During the final two home games, the "Mount Rushmore of DakotaDome basketball" was announced at halftime.
 
After thousands of votes the men's winners were Tim Hatchett, Josh Mueller, Nate Tibbetts and Randy Rosenquist.
 
A two-time all-NCC honoree, Hatchett is both USD's and the North Central Conference's all-time leader in points scored with 2,280. He led South Dakota to its first 20-win season since the NCAA Championship team of 1958 with a 22-10 mark in 1989-90. Hatchett led the Coyotes to the NCC Tournament Championship that same year.
 
Mueller is USD's second all-time leading scorer and is a three-time all-NCC honoree. He's also USD's all-time leader in assists, steals and 3-pointers. During Mueller's four years in Vermillion, the Coyotes won 87 games and qualified for two NCAA Division II Regionals.
 
Tibbetts is the all-time assist leader in the 88-year history of the North Central Conference. He led the Coyotes to three consecutive NCC Championships from 1999 to 2001. He is currently an assistant coach with the NBA's Portland Trailblazers. He was previously selected to be the United States head coach in the 2011 Pan American Games where he led the group of D-League players to a bronze medal, USA's first medal since 1999.
 
Rosenquist was named the NCC Men's Basketball MVP in 1994 when he averaged 16.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in leading USD to a 24-6 mark en route to the Elite Eight Championships. A three-time all-NCC selection, Rosenquist ranks seventh in scoring, fourth in steals, 10th in assists and ninth in three-point baskets all-time at USD.
 
 
On the women's side the winners were Mandy Koupal, Nicole Seekamp, Amber Hegge and Katie Dailey.
 
Koupal was a two-time Division II National Player of the Year, a three-time All-American and the only three-time NCC MVP in the history of women's hoops in the conference. Koupal set USD's all-time scoring and rebounding records in three seasons. She also remains 10th in scoring and 17th in rebounding in the history of Division II.
 
A current USD player, Seekamp has been a leader for head coach Amy Williams' Coyotes as they finish off the Dome era. She is a two-time first-team all-Summit League performer and two-time Summit League Tournament MVP. Seekamp led the Coyotes to their first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament appearance. Seekamp currently sits second USD's all-time scoring list, second in assists and third in steals.
 
Hegge ranks third on USD's all-time scoring list, second in blocked shots, fifth all-time in rebounds and 10th in assists. A great all-around player, Hegge was a member of the 2008 Division II National Runner-Up team. She then led the Coyotes through the transition years as the school moved to Divison I.
 
A three-time all-NCC honoree, Dailey is USD's all-time assists and steals leader. Described as the player who made the Coyotes go, Dailey finished her collegiate career holding six school records. Thirty years later, the Coyote Sports Hall of Famer still holds five of those records.