One last hurrah for McKeever

GARRY: McKeever feature

By Mick Garry, Special Contributor

02.07.2020

When Madison McKeever and her South Dakota Coyote teammates take the floor on Sunday at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, she’ll have company coming in from her home.

Erskine, Minnesota, is a town of around 400 people about an hour from Grand Forks. It is where she grew up and where they all most likely remember her based on her exploits for Win-E-Mac High School.

McKeever, a 5-6 senior guard for the Coyotes who recently scored her 1,000th career point at USD, remains in 11th place all-time in the state of Minnesota with 3,298 points. She broke her own school’s career scoring record during her junior season.

So, yes, they remember her.

“So far we’re looking at more than 80 people coming,” McKeever said. “We’re trying to get everyone a ticket. My mom said they were struggling with that. Hopefully we get everyone in there.”

It will be a final chance for some of those people from “up north”, as Minnesotans in the lower third of the state call the region, to see their Division I basketball player compete.

They will be seeing a player who won a lot of people over with her spirited play in the time since she left Erskine. She did her hometown proud with an impressive run of excellence for her and her talented teammates at USD.

She’s got a great personality. I know she’s not a Green Bay Packer fan, but she reminds me of Brett Favre. She has a lot of fun while she’s playing, she’s got a great sense of humor, she’s witty and she catches on to things. It’s been a great time watching her evolve and be a leader for this team.

Coach Dawn Plitzuweit

It’s still a month until the Summit League Tournament begins, so this history-making season, as defined by being ranked No. 17 in the USA Today Coaches poll and being 21-2 overall and 10-0 in the league, will ultimately be defined by what happens in March, not in February.

Just the same, the 2019-20 season has been memorable led by a core group of players Coyote fans have become very familiar with.

“We got into the NCAA tournament,” McKeever said, alluding to last year’s 28-6 season that ended with a first-round loss to Clemson. “We were determined right then to go further this year. We worked hard last summer both individually and as a team. Through the preseason and the non-conference schedule we did the same.”

McKeever, along with seniors Ciara Duffy and Taylor Frederick, have combined for 369 games played going into Sunday’s contest at North Dakota. Juniors Hannah Sjerven, Chloe Lamb and Monica Arens have combined for 240 more.

That’s how to measure it by quantity. On the quality side, that group, with notable contributions from a few who have since graduated, has won 101 of its 125 games. That’s more than a few hot streaks here and there. It’s essentially a four-season hot streak.

I’m very grateful that this team is focused-in. I couldn’t be more proud of how we’ve taken on the schedule. We keep pushing.

Madison McKeever

Coach Plitzuweit talks with Madison during a game.

An elementary education major, McKeever wants to be a college coach at the end of her playing days. To that end she was selected by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association to be part of its “So You Want to be a Coach” program.

“During a film session or a pre-game talk or when I’m just talking to the team, if I miss something she catches it all the time,” Plitzuweit said. “That’s great because that’s what your point guard is supposed to do. She has such a good sense of humor about it. As soon as it happens where I realize I misspoke or a said a word wrong I can look over toward her and, rest assured, she’s smiling or laughing. She is very attentive to detail.”

McKeever will be able to take with her the memories of a culture of success created by her coaching staff and her teammates. It’s a head start on her next career no matter how you look at it.

“Coach P has given me the confidence to be more than just a basketball player,” McKeever said. “She’s our coach for basketball, but she’s helped me develop into someone who has the confidence to go out in the world and do whatever I want.”

Specifically within basketball, McKeever is a big fan of the motion offense the Coyotes run much of the time. Every player on the floor may be asked to fill any role in the offense. Even the 5-6 McKeever spends time in the post.

“She’s given us the capabilities to be versatile,” she said. “Anyone on our team is capable of going off in any given game. I’ve never seen a motion offense that works quite this way. It’s something I’d like to carry on when I go into coaching."

While the end of her career is yet to be determined, McKeever clearly remembers the beginning. During a season where she would go on to be named the Summit League’s Sixth Woman of the Year, she had a memorable introduction to Coyote practices under Coach Plitzuweit.

“It was one of our first days,” McKeever said. “I didn’t really know the coach that well yet. She took a charge on a play where I was running through the area. Man, did I run her over. I did not know what to do. I expected to have to get on the line and run or who knows what – I was in big trouble. But she took it like a champ.”

Coach Plitzuweit didn’t just decide not to make McKeever run, and she didn’t just decide to ignore what many coaches might deem the crossing of an imaginary line. No, in McKeever’s own words, her coach took it like a champ.

And that goes for a bunch of other people McKeever has met during her time in Vermillion.

I’m glad I get to play in front of great crowds at this school. They love us, they talk about us, they love to meet up with us. It’s been a great experience and I’m very thankful I chose USD.

Madison McKeever