Picking up the Sioux Falls paper, the sports editor called for his head, claiming the Jacks would be better without their leader. He was at SDSU forever, and yet he appeared as warm as a mid-January night. What was wrong?

He was losing and he hated it. Recently, he admitted to thinking about leaving the school back before there was Nate Wolters, Griffan Callahan and an NCAA tournament berth.

I had the legendary Collegian writer Travis Kriens talk with Mr. Nagy, I didn’t want to be within five feet from him.

Now, going into the 2012-13 season, there are few NCAA teams that I would want cover over the Jacks.

Why? Because Nagy, Walters, Tony Fiegem, Chad White, Jordan Dykstra, and a group of talented assistants have awakened the Jackrabbit nation and raised their hopes.

Nagy, to his credit, has told his players they are loved during The Summit League Basketball Tournament and during the run to play Baylor. That love that he talks about involves the state, students, the region and the coaching staff. While that love is great, in order to reach the next bar, they need love from the national media and respect from the whole nation.

Is making the tournament, for both the men’s and women’s a great accomplishment? Yes. But there is too much talent to satisfy with just a berth.

The Good news: The secret to the love from the national stage is simple – win and advance. Gonzaga, similar to SDSU, has made several NCAA trips, and won many games. They are now a national power.

The Jackrabbit women, led by the extremely talented Aaron Johnston, are fully aware how hard this task can be. Johnston’s warriors haven’t won a NCAA game since 2009, losing three straight to “major” schools, all across the country in the women’s tournament.

Can the Jackrabbit women be proud of making four straight NCAAs? Yes, but it shouldn’t be enough.

Was I proud to see Fiegen and White, who I covered at the Madison Daily Leader, play on national TV and play hand-in-hand against Baylor for 40 minutes? You bet.

I want the whole nation, and the mainstream media, to love the Jacks, just like the Jackrabbit Nation does.

The Summit League commissioner, Tom Douple, is a busy man.

However, this academic semester, Douple has left his office in Elmhurst, Ill., and seen the Jackrabbits earn a win in the NCAA Women’s Cup (soccer). On Dec. 6, he made a visit to the SDSU campus for the men and women’s basketball double-header.

Douple liked what he saw when he toured the campus.

“This is a great atmosphere,” said the fourth-year commissioner of the Summit League.

Douple enjoyed the “fabulous” Wellness Center and liked the new meeting rooms for both basketball teams, adjacent to Frost Arena.

The 1976 graduate of Louisiana State University has been pleased with what SDSU has added to the league.

“Fred Oien (SDSU’s director of athletics) and Dr. Chicoine (SDSU’s president) and the entire staff are really a joy to work with. It has certainly been a highlight to work with them,” he said. “SDSU’s women’s basketball program addition has been great for the league as a whole, and all other sports have added a lot to the competition to all sports.”

The biggest event annually for the Summit League is the women and men’s basketball tournaments. This year the tournament will take place in Sioux Falls. SDSU was named the host of the tourney just days after officially joining the Summit League Conference.

“It’s going to be really exciting. Ticket sales have already doubled from last year in Tulsa,” said Douple. “We’re going to take the top-eight teams; both (men’s and women’s championship) games we have on ESPN. We’re excited to have them in Sioux Falls, and Sioux Falls is excited.”

SDSU will host the tournament in 2009 and 2010, and the host for 2011 and 2012 tournaments has not been picked yet.

Douple cited Tulsa, which hosted the tournament from 2003-07, Sioux Falls and Detroit as possible future sites.

Douple is pleased with the progress of the improvements done to the Sioux Falls Arena so far.

“I visited a couple weeks ago, and they did what they just said they were going to do,” said the former Southern Utah University athletics director. “They have a good handle on the operations done there.”

One of the “highlights” that stood out from the 2008 Summit League Tournament was the mascot fight during the men’s basketball final game on March 13.

The mascots of IUPUI, “Jawz” the Jaguar, and Oral Roberts, “Eli” the Golden Eagle, had a “play” fight.

In the tussle, Eli’s head came off, and an actual fight erupted.

Douple and staff have made measures to stop anything like that from happening again.

“That’s a way to get publicity, but that’s not the publicity we’re after,” he said. “If any one of them (mascots) crosses the half-court line, there’s going to be some suspensions of mascots.”

Douple claimed that the conference is solid with the additions of SDSU, North Dakota State and IPFW in the last few years.

The Louisiana native said that the University of South Dakota and the University of North Dakota are interested in joining the Summit League.

Before the Oral Roberts/SDSU women’s basketball match-up, Jacks’ head coach Aaron Johnston was given a basketball to celebrate his 200th win.

Johnston retuned the favor by giving his players liberty with the ball before the match-up.

The Jacks used aggressive man-to-man defensive and impressive shooting to beat Oral Roberts 76-52 at Frost Arena on Dec. 6.

“A.J. said green means go, and everybody had the green light,” said Jackrabbit junior Ketty Cornemann, who led all scorers with 20.

Right behind Cornemann was SDSU sophomore Kristin Rotert, who scored a quiet 18 points. Six of the starter’s total points came from the free-throw line, out of eight tries. The Jacks made 15 points from the charity stripe, missing only five freethrows.

Both Cornemann and Rotert were a part of SDSU’s 12-0 run to start the game.

Johnston told Cornemann to shoot in the Summit League match-up. Good thing the junior Yankton listens to her coach.

She scored six straight points to propel the Jackrabbits to a 12-point lead. From that point on, SDSU’s lead would not be less than 11.

“We played strong today, and we’re glad to get the win, to start off 2-0 in the league,” said Cornemann.

After a horrid first four minutes of the Centenary (La.) College match-up two days earlier, the Jacks started strong and increased the built-up lead.

In the first four minutes, the Jacks had the same points as turnovers (one) in their first Summit League game, this time SDSU forced the Golden Eagles to only one field goal in the first six minutes. The Jacks’ lead was as high as 24 in the first half.

All in all, the Jacks dominated the preseason third-ranked team in the Summit League by shooting nearly 40 (38.9) percent from behind the 3-point line. The Jacks almost made half of their shots from the field (27-from-55).

Oral Roberts was led by Janae Voelker, who had 14 points and eight rebounds. Golden Eagle post-player Monah Pegorari had seven rebounds.

ORU (5-3 overall 0-1 Summit) had fewer turnovers, swiped nine more steals (14-5) and had four more blocks.

But the Jackrabbits (8-1, 2-0) led in every other category, including an 11-more rebounding margin. What will be remembered beyond the stats is SDSU’s 24-point victory.

The aftermath of the game was that the team that was picked first in the conference preseason poll crushed the team that was picked third.

At SDSU’s second conference game, the Jacks had a chance for revenge from last’s year season end.

Despite winning the Summit League by four games last year, the Jacks were unable to go to the conference tournament. Oral Roberts won the conference and went to the NCAA tournament last year.

“It’s great to get them on our home court; anytime you can beat the tourney champs of your conference you have to be happy,” said Rotert, who is from Salem.

Jenn Warkenthien added a double-double, with 15 points and 17 rebounds.

“You just don’t realize how good Jenn is sometimes. She’s not flashy but is probably one of the better players I have ever coached here,” said Johnston.

This is it; I’m done? Oh no, one more story to tell! And here it is:

More than a year and a half ago, someone thought it was a good idea for me to be a sports editor for The Collegian.

From that day to this, I would like to think that I will be remembered as more than just the “sports guy.”

Flies on the wall in the newsroom could have seen me answering the phone, selling ads and requesting more issues to be put out to the public than originally scheduled at the start of the year.

I also delivered the papers, was on the editorial-board, gave what I thought was good advice, and I hope I was a morale booster.

Some of my attempts at getting laughs to escape the boredom were a reality-based “show,” dancing and turning several singular words into plural words unnecessarily.

However, my time wasn’t all fun and games, as one of my first tasks as an editor was telling a co-sports editor she was unfit to write for The Collegian.

To be fair, my behavior was on the “creepy” side from time-to-time (okay, maybe more than that).

Witnesses could say I have pissed people off and thrown objects in the air at fellow editors almost like the objects were “rain.” Unfortunately, I also spilled pop on people, argued unnecessarily and was stupidly inappropriate at times.

But now this is all in the rear-view mirror. I can’t change the past, good or bad.

Most of you do not know that at times I put too much pressure on myself to be a “super” worker. I challenged myself not to burden anyone with more than I thought they should have been with my section, even though I had a great sports crew behind me. Thanks, Chris, Zach, Travis and others. No amount of words will show how appreciative I am of your work.

I did have a terrific staff backing me up, and I will never forget any of them.

Even with an amazing adviser backing me up in Susan Smith, I was too stubborn to open up. I was zoned in, and I glued my eyes on the prize, four pages a week. Every week I could breathe for maybe 12 hours, and then I blitzed the stories with extreme passion, determined to win and never wanting anyone to doubt if sports would have enough material for the open space.

Each week, I acted as though I put an “S” on my chest. I told myself every week that I would have to emerge from a pay-phone booth with a cape and a smile to survive.

I now discover my kryptonite is time.

I’m done; it’s time for my curtain call. I can take a bow, and I hope someone will clap.

From now on, the term “Ariy-El Boynton is The Collegian sports editor” is just a joke, no longer reality.

Looking back on my journey as sports editor and being so far away from home, there were things I wished I had more of.

At times, I would like to have had more courage, a larger heart and wish my brain was bigger. At times in my editorship, I realized that I was very far from Kansas.

I know that I can say I followed the Yellow Brick Road my way. And I’m fairly certain that the wizard talked to me.

“Ari, you tried your hardest for this paper, and it’s time to let go of the tight-grip you’ve had on this sports section for so long. Much like a butterfly, let go of it and see the beauty of it from the distance,” is what I think he told me.

So now I wave bye-bye, and there’s no Doc. Brown, Marty or the DeLorean to bring me back to the start of my editorship.

Mistakes are the past. Good stories are the past. Memories: priceless.

I came to The Collegian as a mid-20-year-old punk dude; I leave a happier, more confident man.

And I got paid for this change in my confidence? Wow, what a wonderful world.

Oh, I almost forgot about the sports talk.

Ari shoots ? he scores.

Thanks.

One point. One turnover.

This was SDSU’s women’s basketball outcome in the first four minutes of the first game in the 2008-09 Summit League Conference.

The Jacks battled back and beat the Ladies of Centenary (La.) College 63-41 at Frost Arena on Dec. 4. SDSU overcame late struggles to beat last year’s worst team in the Summit League with ease.

The win was SDSU’s first game after spending Thanksgiving break in Cancun to play top-caliber talent in Montana, Illinois and Maryland.

“It was a win, yes, but the slow start was disappointing,” said Laurie Melum SDSU’s associate head coach. “We just weren’t the aggressive team tonight.”

Centenary played loose defense, which gave SDSU problems scoring.

The Jacks were led by Jenn Warkenthien with 11 points and Kristin Rotert with 10 points. The Jacks shot a low 32 percent from the field.

“We were standing around more than usual, and once we started to move, we got more open looks,” said forward Ketty Cornemann.

Having the best team, according to the Summit League preseason poll, beat the worst team to open the Summit League may have not been the biggest news of the day.

The basketball game was played the entire game with a men’s ball.

SDSU (8-1, 2-0) players alerted the officials about the ball in the second half, but the Summit League crew ruled that it was too late in the game to switch.

Both Centenary (1-7 overall, 0-2 Summit) head coach Steve Curtis and Jackrabbit head coach Aaron Johnston was not pleased with the way the game was called. Johnston received a technical foul for “running at an official,” according to one referee.

Johnston and players would not comment on the referees outside of the wrong ball being used.

The Ladies were led by Bethany Joseph with nine points and Anne Farrell with eight points. Farrell had 10 rebounds in the Ladies’ second of three road games in Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota.

Curtis, seeing SDSU for the second year in a row, knew SDSU would be a challenge for his team.

“They’re the best team in the league, but I think we can play with them,” said the second-year head coach.

“I told my guys’ if we play 40 minutes, instead of 20, we’re right in this game.”

The Jacks were without two starting players Maria Boever (who should be back soon) and Macie Michelson, who should be back in the action closer to Christmas.

Neither Jackrabbit players nor coaches accepted the excuse for the sloppy play.

“We have a lot of quality players, which we can rely on,” said Melum.

Only one SDSU player did not score in the Summit League Conference opener.

On Dec. 6, before the SDSU/Oral Roberts match up, head Jackrabbit women’s basketball coach Aaron Johnston made news when he received a ball for his 200th win.

Two days earlier, a game ball used at Frost Arena made news for an entirely different reason.

The Centenary/SDSU women’s game, which was officiated by Phil Streit, Mary Toberman and Zac Brost, had a men’s basketball instead of the standard women’s basketball.

Summit League officials are looking into the error.

“We’re extremely disappointed; everyone regrets that it happened,” said Summit League commissioner Tom Douple. “I’m just astounded that it happened; we’re having meetings, and some of these mistakes happen.”

The Jacks shot less than 20 percent from the 3-point line and 31 percent from the field on Dec. 4. On Dec. 6, SDSU shot 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from behind the arc.

The mix-up just makes Johnston smile now.

“I kind off laugh about it now,” he said. “Sometimes we all take ourselves really serious here in college athletics, with something like that, if you can’t all get a chuckle out of it, I think we’re really missing out.”

A few weeks back, someone asked what my last column would be. I had no answer.

I guess I didn’t want to face the reality of a life without The Collegian. But kind of like facing a life with a realization that girls are attractive and not full of cooties, life must go on.

I really didn’t want just one last column, so this will be my first of two “last” columns.

And I will tell you what I have learned.

1. Writing is one of the most active processes I can think of, unless one does not want to be a good writer.

2. Just because a person is a good writer in essay form does not mean that person is a good newspaper writer.

3. If you ever interview an object and display the said interview in print, people will never allow you to forget it. Never.

4. Always know how to correctly say a coach/athlete’s name when conducting an interview.

5. A three-day state basketball tournament for young men aged 16 to 18 displays a lot of emotions for the ball players, some of which you wouldn’t expect from young men.

6. If you are ever going to have a story jump three times in a four-page section, you better start writing early.

7. Show me how good a campus newspaper sports editor is, and I can show how good his/her writers are.

8. Some of your greatest memories can be made in a small office in the basement of The Union.

9. Without Collegian alumni Brian Kimmes, Heather Mangan, Jeremy Fugleberg and the 2006-07 staff, I would not be writing this column. Thanks for your hard work.

10. I’d like to think that this group of editors has tried their best to pick up the torch and further the excellence showcased in years before. And that’s all you can ask for.

11. Being a biased sports writer towards a team blinds an individual’s writing, and it more than often shows.

12. I believe I was lucky to interview an extremely talented and nice student athlete like Megan Vogel for my first interview.

13. A sports section should not only inform but also present forms of dialogue.

14. Going into the press box at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium for the first time was one the most eye-opening experiences I have had in college.

15. A journalism degree is not required for one to be a confident newspaper writer.

16. There would be many things I would change in my time with The Collegian, but because I must live with them, it makes the “wins” that the section got that much more special.

17. When my column writing was given a regional blue ribbon, it was one of the proudest moments of my life.

18. I give a lot credit to my other staff members for making my time memorable with The Collegian.

19. Having a lot of freedom in the sports section given to me by the two editors-in-chief in my time at the paper was a gift that I can never pay back.

20. I’d like to thank my family for all the prayers and my vast extended family who gave their time to make me who I am.

21. This is the last issue in which I am the captain of this ship dubbed “The Collegian sports section,” and I’d like to think I made a difference. Knowing that a student/someone that was affiliated with SDSU would pick up the paper for the first time and read it made me work that much harder.

22. Well, for the last time ever, I can say I will see you next week, when Chris Mangan will take the baton from me as sports leader. I will more than likely stand in the background and be jealous of the awesome experiences ahead of him.

So until the second part of my “last” column, I’ll reflect and give the best column I can possibly write, like I have tried to do week in and week out.

Ari out.

Next football season will be full of challenges for SDSU in its second year in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Below is the schedule along with the possibility of a win for SDSU (strong, likely and hard) according to The Collegian.

GAME ONE

Who: Georgia Southern

Where: Coughlin-Alumni Stadium on Sept. 12.

Possibility of the Jacks winning: Likely.

The skinny: GSU went 6-5 this year and beat SDSU 41-38 in 2007. The Eagles pounded on the locker room after the win, which SDSU could hear loud and clear. That memory will gave SDSU motivation for the non-conference match-up. In the last three years, SDSU has only lost two home games.

GAME TWO

Who: Indiana State (Beef Bowl)

Where: Coughlin-Alumni Stadium on Sept. 19.

Possibility of the Jacks winning: Strong.

The skinny: ISU is terrible: the Sycamores have only won one game in the last five years.

GAME THREE

Who: Illinois State

Where: Normal on Sept. 26.

Possibility of the Jacks winning: Likely.

The skinny: Illinois State will be without Denver Johnson after going 3-8 in his ninth season with the Birds. This year, the Jacks threw for seven touchdowns in the frigid cold.

GAME FOUR

Who: Cal Poly

Where: San Luis Obispo, Calif., on Oct. 3.

Possibility of the Jacks winning: Hard.

The skinny: This year, the Mustangs were the only team that outplayed SDSU in all three phases (offense, defense and special teams). SDSU’s 2006 miracle comeback, led by quarterback Andy Kardoes, at Cal Poly may give extra motivation for the Mustang seniors. In 2008, the ‘Stangs made the playoffs.

GAME FIVE

Who: Missouri State

Where: Springfield on Oct. 10.

Possibility of the Jacks winning: Strong.

The skinny: The Bears will have a junior quarterback, Cody Kirby, who has played the last two years. However, Kirby will have an inexperienced line in front of him and will lack weapons to compete.

GAME SIX

Who: North Dakota State

Where: Coughlin-Alumni Stadium on Oct. 17.

Possibility of the Jacks winning: Hard.

The skinny: Traditionally, the battle for the Dakota Marker comes at the end of the season, but next year, this game lies before Hobo Day. SDSU has not lost to NDSU since the jump to D-I. The Bison had a lot of talent graduating from this year’s squad.

GAME SEVEN

Who: Northern Iowa

Where: Coughlin-Alumni Stadium on Oct. 24 (Hobo Day).

Possibility of the Jacks winning: Hard.

The skinny: The conference champion has beaten SDSU three years straight. The Panthers are always dangerous, with quarterback Pat Grace coming back for his senior season.

GAME EIGHT

Who: Youngstown State

Where: Youngstown, Ohio, on Oct. 31.

Possibility of the Jacks winning: Likely.

The skinny: The Penguins were extreme underachievers this year, losing five games in a row in the middle of the season. YSU was outscored by 81 points this season.

GAME NINE

Who: Southern Illinois

Where: Coughlin-Alumni Stadium on Nov. 7.

Possibility of the Jacks winning: Hard.

The skinny: SIU won the conference this year and carried the automatic bid due to winning the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Salukis carry short, speedy running backs and NFL-sized wide receivers.

GAME 10

Who: Minnesota

Where: Minneapolis on Nov. 14.

Possibility of the Jacks winning: Hard.

The skinny: The Jacks will be the seventh opponent to take on the Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium. This past year, SDSU lost to Iowa State (44-17) to kick off the 2008 season in a 50,000 plus outdoor seat stadium. UM has been ranked high in recruiting reports in the last few years.

GAME 11

Who: Western Illinois

Where: at Macomb on Nov. 21.

Possibility of the Jacks winning: Hard.

The skinny: Leathernecks’ quarterback Matt Barr has been impressive so far in his career. This game could decide whether either team will make the playoffs in 2009. The Jacks will not have to deal with graduating senior conference offensive MVP Herb Donaldson, who may play on Sundays next year.

Q: Now that we are a couple weeks out from the fifth match-up for the “rock,” did any one team, either the Bison or the Jacks, hold an upper hand in the last five years?

A: The “rock” that you speak of is the Dakota Marker, which was showed off by Jacks’ players at Fargo on Nov. 22. SDSU beat the North Dakota State Bison, 25-24, via a gutsy performance from record-setting quarterback Ryan Berry.

Now to answer your question, I think if anything, NDSU has had a slight advantage over SDSU in the last five years.

But the Jackrabbits have bridged the gap and will have held the Marker for three years total after this year, while the “rock” has been in Fargo for two years.

I really believe that SDSU’s victory was good for the rivalry, and that’s not just because I covered the Jacks on the gridiron. Between the years of 2005 and 2006, SDSU’s trophy case was empty of the traveling trophy. For more than 700 days, the Jacks’ coaches and players would peep at the various shiny objects, but one was over 150 miles away.

In 2007, SDSU wanted the Dakota Marker back, and the record crowd of 16,345 fans on Nov. 17 proved that.

Compare that to the last game at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium in 2008. That game only had a little over 3,000 fans show up to see the Jacks play Illinois State on Nov. 8.

Before this year’s Dakota Marker game at the Fargodome, no team had ever won the “rock” on the road. Now SDSU has won on the road and has bragging rights for over 350 days.

As the saying goes in the NBA, a playoff series doesn’t start until a road team wins a game.

Maybe a road victory and a void of two years without the traveling trophy for NDSU will increase this rivalry.

Perhaps 2008 will be the last time anybody refers to this rivalry as a “friendly” or a “not-really-a-rivalry-but-a-rivalry” game.

I saw the NDSU players walking off the turf and at the post-game press conference. You could tell winning the Marker was something they wanted to do in front of their fans.

Other things I noticed about this rivalry:

1. No Jackrabbit player on the 2008 roster hails from North Dakota, while the Bison have five players from South Dakota.

2. The Fargodome may be crowned as the site where the most unnecessary sounds in the world exist. The public address announcer was annoying, the cannon was horrid, a speaker was right in your ear in the press box and the fans made noise at unneeded times.

3. Not having the game at the end of the season, such as next year’s match-up, takes a little bit away from the match-up. Next year, SDSU will only have one post-Hobo Day hangover game, as the NDSU/SDSU game comes on Oct. 17, the week before Hobo Day.

4. When and if the universities of South Dakota and North Dakota come back on the schedule for SDSU and NDSU, there could be a mythical creation of the “Dakota Champion” for the team that performs the best against the three other schools during the season. That would be a total of two freaking trophies!

Editors note: Keep the questions coming! The Collegian sports department will answer questions every week.

Sports phrases that are too often used and should be no longer announced by sports reporters/announcers include:

Phrase: “Hot stove”

What it means: Major League Baseball trading dealings in the off-season

Rant: Baseball and kitchen appliances should never mix. What would Babe Ruth say …?

Phrase: A football team “running downhill”

What it means: A football team that is effective in running the ball.

Rant: Can a team run uphill? Does the grounds crew ever get credit for their “slant” at all?

Phrase: “Shutdown corner”

What it means: A talented player guarding players who catch the ball.

Rant: Do you have to apply to be a shutdown corner? Could every corner be a shutdown corner since they are in the NFL?

Phrase: Anytime Fox announcer Troy Aikman talks about the Dallas Cowboys.

What it means: The Cowboys are good, and even when they are bad, they’re good.

Rant: We get it, the Dallas Cowboys are good, Aikman, but talk about the game, too.

Phrase: “The player gave 110 percent out there.”

What it means: They tried hard.

Rant: Forget the mathematical side, did another give 109 percent, or was it 107?

Phrase: “Manny being Manny.”

What it means: Ex-Boston Red Sox and current Dodger Manny Ramirez is an oddball.

Rant: This has to be the worst example of talking in the third person a ball player can get. Can Manny be “Nomar?”

Phrase: “They left it all out on the field.”

What it means: The team played hard.

Rant: You mean they didn’t leave it all in the locker room?