University of South Dakota Athletics

Todd Lee's first season at his alma mater had its share of challenges, though by the end of the year the Coyotes had transformed a midseason series of injuries into a testament of character rather than a theme that defined them.
 
The Coyotes' 96-70 loss to Purdue-Fort Wayne in the first round of the Summit League tournament  ended Lee's inaugural campaign before anyone was comfortable saying goodbye to basketball. The Mastodons' shooting show in the first half – they hit six of their first eight from beyond the arc and went into halftime leading 52-25 – was more than USD was able to overcome.
 
As a whole, however, the team's last six games had been a confirmation that the coach and his players had done what they could to make the most of a series of situations that could have sent the squad down a darker path.
 
"We went through a rough patch during the season, especially the conference," junior Triston Simpson said at the postgame press conference. "I'm proud of the team and my guys. We never were too high or too low. We always showed up for practice ready to work and get better. We won our last four out of five which was good to see."
 
To Simpson's credit, he returned to the moment at that point. Regardless of how things go next season, Sunday night had been a disappointment.
 
"We laid an egg tonight," he continued. "I feel awful for the seniors that we couldn't get them to the NCAA tournament in their last year."
 
Tyler Hagedorn, an All-Summit post player a year ago, sat out the season with a plantar fascia tear. Seniors Trey Burch-Manning and Logan Power both suffered stress fractures that kept them out of a series of games. Senior Dan Jech hobbled his way through a season where he'd originally intended to redshirt, and several others were either slowed or sat out games entirely based on a rash of injuries that compromised the Coyotes' efforts right to the end.
 
It created a difficult initial welcoming home for Lee, a 1986 USD grad and Huron native who had made his way back to Vermillion after five seasons as Dan Majerle's assistant coach at Grand Canyon University.
 
"I'm not sure what we would have done differently," Lee said. "Rarely do you start the season by losing your best player. You lose John Konchar, what kind of year is (Purdue Fort Wayne) going to have? (Hagedorn) was a first-team all-league guy."
 
The Coyotes lose seniors Burch-Manning, Jech and Powers but return starters Tyler Peterson, Simpson, Stanley Umude, Cody Kelley and Hagedorn. They also have coming back Brandon Armstrong, and a freshman class that includes Matt Johns, Nathan Robinson and redshirt Simeon Jovic.
 
USD also signed Hunter Goodrick, Kruz Perrott-Hunt and Rich Polanco Lantigua during the early signing period in November. All three have the potential to contribute immediately according to Lee, who hinted there would be other roster additions prior to next season.
 
"Stanley Umude is first-team all-conference as a sophomore, Tyler Hagedorn is an all-conference player and plays the post, Simeon Jovic is going to be a good player and could battle against a lot of post players in our league. Triston Simpson, Tyler Peterson, Cody Kelley and Brandon Armstrong – they're all juniors and they've played a lot of basketball…There are still a few things to add but from an optimistic standpoint we'll have a great group of seniors next year. Tyler Hagedorn will be back and Umude will be improved. The outlook is very good. With what happened tonight it's hard to think about but things look good."
 
Apart from basketball, the season included its own set of personal challenges for Lee, whose wife Kim remained in Arizona while middle son Jackson completed his senior basketball season at Chandler Seton Catholic high school.
 
The family time that would have served as a welcome diversion from the rigors of the Summit League were replaced by phone calls. It's no way to live, Lee will tell you, but he'll also tell you things are going to get better both for his family and for the program.
 
 "It's been a tough year from that standpoint," he said. "Not having my family around has been difficult. You always have the plans for what you see basketball-wise and then sometimes those things change and then you have to go through it, but it definitely has been a tough year personally. At the end of the year there are so many emotions that go into it. It finally hits you and it's like 'I guess that was it.'"

For more information on Sunday's game with a full recap, box score and photo gallery, click here.