University of South Dakota Athletics

Tyler Hagedorn says he's ready and anxious to be part of an effort that lifts the 2019-20 South Dakota men's basketball season up into areas it has never been before.
 
The 2017-18 second-team All-Summit post player sat out what would have been his senior season with a plantar fascia tear that was slow to heal. The decision made perfect sense for both Hagedorn and USD given that had he played, he would been part of just half a season. It was a difficult experience nevertheless.
 
Hagedorn and head coach Todd Lee have spent time discussing next season, setting up impressive targets, then working at hitting them.

"We've had a lot of conversations," Hagedorn said. "Coach Lee told me the day was going to come at some point -- this is your team. The team is going to rely heavily on you. It's your time to be a leader. That's what I've been working on this spring. My role on the team has changed every year I've been here. This year is no different. I look forward to being a leader and much bigger contributor than I've been in the past."

 
Hagedorn wants to be bigger, faster and stronger for the 2019-20 season. Lee has been impressed with his senior center's offseason efforts in that regard and expects it will continue on into the summer.
Beyond that, the pair are in agreement on what comes next.
 

"He knows exactly what it takes to win," Lee said. "He has goals, we have goals, they're the same goals. Let's embrace it, let's go with it. He's going to be the leader of the group. There will be other leaders, too, but the main guy has to be the leader."

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"I just had a conversation with (assistant coach) Brad Davidson about getting hurt," said Hagedorn, a native of Norfolk, Neb., who played his high school basketball for former Coyote standout Ben Ries. "He said he just couldn't imagine being out for a whole year. It's the first year in my basketball career that I didn't get to play in games. It was extremely hard to not be able to go out there and play in real games with a scoreboard and a winner and a loser."

 
That was part of it. The other part was the maddening margin for error in his absence. The Coyotes, who won four of their last five regular-season games, lost 12 games by seven points or less. On the sidelines was the 6-foot-10 center who averaged 13 points and 5.9 rebounds a game as a junior and was expected to build and expand on those numbers in 2018-19.
 
Could he have made a significant difference in terms of wins and losses? That seems pretty obvious.

"He was clearly our best player in practice – we didn't have anyone who could guard him," Lee said. "The other thing is that we have nobody like him. He can post up, he can step out and shoot it, plus he's an 82-percent foul shooter." 

 Hagedorn, who will graduate in the spring with a degree in innovation and entrepreneurship, will likely be the object of idle speculation for the next few months because, like so many other four-year college basketball players with a year of eligibility remaining, he would qualify as a graduate-transfer. He's fully aware of the talk, though he says he's not going anywhere.
 

"Right now I am completely set on USD," Hagedorn said. "I love the coaching staff, I love the players – I think we really have the opportunity to be something special. There have been family, friends and Twitter world asking about it but I am 100-percent set on playing at USD and excited to get started with the guys and the coaching staff to start working on next year."

 
Hagedorn, his father Randy, and Lee have had numerous conversations about the senior's future with the Coyotes with the three in agreement that his future is at USD. Much will be expected of a former all-Summit player who appeared poised to take another step prior to redshirting.
 

"Coach Lee has been talking about being a leader and Tyler likes that role," said Randy Hagedorn, a longtime high school and college basketball referee in the region. "He wants the ball at the end of a close game…Now that the season is over, he's pretty pumped up to work out and do the extra things. He loves the coaching staff and USD and the people there."

 
It will all ultimately be up to Tyler Hagedorn, of course, to see how the long-awaited senior season progresses. There is no reason to wait in working toward meeting and exceeding bold expectations, however. Lee envisions a potential Summit League player of the year cranking out the double-doubles as a matter of habit. Hagedorn sees a core group of experienced starters returning in Cody Kelley, Triston Simpson, Stanley Umude and Tyler Peterson and thinks the Coyotes can win a lot of games.
 

"There's only one way to get there – start out by saying it," Hagedorn said. "I think this team is capable of winning the regular season next year, winning the conference tournament, make the NCAA tournament and win some games in the NCAA tournament. And win the most games in USD history. Those are the goals and I'm excited about helping the team meet them."