"We want to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way."
 
South Dakota head coach Dawn Plitzuweit's words rang through the Sanford Coyote Sports Center prior to tip-off for all 13 home games last season, riling the Coyotes to finish undefeated at home, 28-6 overall with a trip to the NCAA Tournament. South Dakota stamped its name on the Associated Press Top 25 for two weeks, won the most regular season games (26) in the program's Division I history, and became the first Summit League team to earn an at-large berth to the big dance.
 
The calendar's been flipped and the season's changed, but the goals and expectations of the program remain the same.
 
South Dakota was voted as the Summit League favorite in the preseason poll with 11 returning players from last year's roster and 83 percent of the team's scoring back. Among returners are Summit League Preseason Player of the Year senior Ciara Duffy, fellow preseason first-team pick junior Hannah Sjerven, preseason second-team pick senior Madison McKeever and preseason second-team pick junior Chloe Lamb.
 
Also among the nine returning upperclassmen are senior forwards Taylor Frederick and Megan Bonar, along with junior guards Monica Arens, Liv Korngable and Claudia Kunzer. Forwards Allison Peplowski and Regan Sankey will look for expanded roles in their sophomore seasons.
 
New talent added to the lineup this season include freshman forward Jeniah Ugofsky of Harrisburg, South Dakota, freshman guard Macy Guebert from Minnesota, and freshman forward Alexi Hempe from Virginia.
 
"What has been really fun to watch is the development of our players over the course of time," said Plitzuweit. "It's easy to point to young players when you see them develop, because it seems like it happens almost overnight. Which, it didn't, but it seems to happen quicker. It can be more challenging to look at an upperclassman and see how they are improving. Our staff has been excited about how our upperclassmen have continued to improve their individual skill sets along with their understanding and awareness of what they are trying to accomplish on both ends of the court and in transition."
 
The 2019-20 season marks the Coyotes' fourth year under Plitzuweit, who became the first South Dakota head coach to win at least 20 games in three consecutive seasons. The players' initial learning curve with the motion offense and positionless basketball has been replaced by improving the little things.
 
"This group challenges me to find a way to help them to continue to refine," Plitzuweit said. "Say we have worked on this aspect for a while and here's the reason why. They are a group that really performs better when they understand all of the 'whys' behind it."
 
Perhaps the biggest challenge for this year's group will be replacing Allison Arens. The 2019 Summit League Defensive Player of the Year and three-time all-Summit League guard carried a large load for the Coyotes as the lone senior a year ago.
 
"We lost an awful lot in graduating Allison," said Plitzuweit. "To answer how we go about replacing that, the answer is not to replace her with one player, but rather to distribute the load and have each player assume different areas for us. We have nine upperclassmen who will have to take little bits and pieces of everything Allison did, from being able to get to the rim, get the ball around the basket and score, grab an offensive board or one-on-one defend, learn from them and grow from them. Then help us replicate those pieces on the court this year."
 
The Coyotes will answer that question while facing the toughest nonconference slate in the history of the program. South Dakota is set to face nine teams that finished in the top-101 of the RPI last year. By comparison, the Coyotes took on nine teams that finished in the top-150 last year in nonconference play.
 
"It's a stair-step approach to scheduling, where you gradually ramp it up," said Plitzuweit. "I think our players are certainly keyed in to how good the competition is that we are going to face. They are really attentive to looking at refining different areas and looking at ways that we can get better."
 
South Dakota opens the 2019-20 season on Nov. 5 at Northeastern in Boston, Massachusetts. The Coyotes have 15 home games on the schedule including hosting the SEC's Missouri on Nov. 21. The home opener is set for Nov. 13 against Drake.
 
Season tickets are available now by visiting GoYotes.com/tickets or by calling the Coyote ticket office at (605) 677-5959.