Senior Griffan Callahan has given a lot to the Jackrabbits men’s basketball team and that was the case in the Jackrabbits’ 68-60 loss to Baylor on March 15 in Albuquerque, N.M. Callahan finished the game with five points, including a three-pointer in the opening minutes of the game. As both the coach and the team will attest, he means a lot more to the Jacks than what shows through on the stat sheet.

“It is going to be hard for us to replace Griffan,” SDSU head coach Scott Nagy said. “It just is. His leadership, his toughness, we’ll have to have people fill those gaps for us. But that’s the way it always works.”The loss was rough on the Seneca, Ill. native, who was a Jackrabbit in the rougher Divison I years but saw his and the team’s best season come to an end in Albuquerque.

“We stopped boxing out and that’s where we lost it on the offensive glass. They got some secondchance points, and they just beat us up in the first half,” Callahan said.

To say that he’s made an impact probably would be putting it lightly.

“We’ve got to replace Griffan, and Griff’s a role model of mine,” Chad White said. “We’ve got to have some players step it up. Yeah, our expectations are up now, and I think we have a target on our back now.”A national stage

Despite a loss to Baylor, SDSU received over two hours of marketing that the school would have a hard time ever paying for. The players also cite it as an opportunity that will be hard to replicate elsewhere, unless they get back to the tournament soon.

“You can’t explain the experience. The best thing is to have your kids be able to go through it one time. If you ever get back here with those same kids, it will be a lot easier. It will be less overwhelming,” Nagy said.

The Jackrabbits finish the season at 27-8 and Nagy will be the first to note that SDSU is not guaranteed to have the same amount of success next year, despite losing one senior and having a promising group of recruits coming in.

“But for me, the most satisfying thing is not to go through it as a coach,” Nagy said, “But to go through it with that group of kids who we love very much and who have given us everything that we’ve asked them to give us.”

The drive for five?

After losing two excellent scorers in Jill Young and Jennie Sunnarborg, women’s basketball head coach Aaron Johnston pretty well knows what his team will return in 2012-13.

Losing great players is the norm for the Jackrabbits, especially since the Jacks have made the NCAA Tournament over the previous three years and SDSU has moved on past the likes of Jennifer Warkenthien, Maria Boever, Ketty Cornemann, and the list goes on. However, like those off-seasons, the Jacks have wondered about the point guard spot and while the platoon role of Young, Steph Paluch, Tara Heiser, and Gabby Boever did the trick this year, that doesn’t mean it’s not a spot for improvement.

“I think we’ll be a very different team because of that point guard position,” Johnston said. “Having more true point guards is going to change our team dramatically. We’ll get back to being a little bit more up-tempo and get back to getting the pace we want out of our offense.”

“Next year, even though there will be a lot of the same faces. It’ll be fun to see how the team evolves over the spring,” the head coach said.

Hot in Indiana 

It’s not only unseasonably warm in South Dakota, but all across the nation and that was the case over the weekend in West Lafayette, Ind., the home of Purdue. The air-conditioning-less Mackey Arena got swelteringly hot during the Jacks’ first round game.

While it didn’t affect the game, it did make for an interesting subplot amongst the fans and the media, with temps near 80 degrees and high levels of humidity. The game drew more comparisons to the sweaty gyms of the summer instead of the cooler times of March.

“I don’t think it affected things. We were aware that it was going to be hot. We practiced in the heat [the day before], so I don’t think it affected anything,” Katie Lingle said.

Western Illinois continued their improbable Summit League Tournament run to pull away with a 54-53 win over Oral Roberts and advance to the Summit League Tournament Championship game against SDSU.

Oral Roberts' Dominique Morrison walks off the Sioux Falls Arena floor after a loss to Western Illinois on Monday night. / Collegian Photo by Aaron Stoneberger

WIU led by one point at halftime and built the lead to seven in the opening minutes of the second half but ORU rallied to tie the game in the next two minutes. WIU trailed by as much as eight points with eight minutes remaining but the Leathernecks rallied to within one and took the lead on a Terrell Parks jump shot with 26 seconds left. The ‘Necks were able to stop a potentially lethal ORU scoring attack when Michael Craion turned the ball over with seven seconds left, allowing WIU to claim victory.

“You got to give (Western Illinois) credit. I think they’re obviously a very good defensive team …They held us to 53 points,” ORU head coach Scott Sutton said. His players had few words in a quiet press conference after the game, as the top-seed was stunned.

It’s also worth noting that the Leathernecks were the preseason pick to finish 9th in the Summit League, and now they’ll finish as the Summit League runner up in the worst case scenario for WIU.

Defense wins championships?

A renewed focus on defensive intensity has the Jacks one game away from the NCAA Tournament.

“We don’t score as many points as we did last year, but we don’t have to,” SDSU head coach Scott Nagy said.

SDSU is averaging only 52 points allowed in this Summit League Tournament just one year removed from allowing 110 points against Oakland in a semifinal game.

“I think (defense) is the main reason for our success,” Jordan Dykstra said.

While Nagy said that his team is playing well, he also gave credit to Western Illinois head coach Jim Molinari and looked forward to the Tuesday matchup to determine the Summit League Champion.

“We better have ourselves prepared, because we know (Western Illinois) will be.” Nagy said.

Summit League Championship could be a low scoring affair

Both Western Illinois and SDSU are playing well defensively, so a lightning-rod Summit League Championship game may not be in order.

The highest point total for either team in the two regular season match-ups was a 76 spot put up by SDSU when WIU played at Frost Arena in Brookings Feb. 23. All other scores have been in the 50’s and 60’s. The Jackrabbits won 67-66 in Macomb on Dec. 3.

The Jacks will have to keep WIU leading scorer Ceola Clark in check if they hope to prevail. SDSU held Clark, who averages 14 points per game, to a combined 13 points in their previous games.

For WIU, Nate Wolters will have to be the top priority if they want to continue their improbable run to the NCAA Tournament. Wolters has averaged 14 points against WIU this season, and a big game from him would undoubtably quash any hopes WIU has of being Summit League Champions.

The Summit League Championship game between SDSU and Western Illinois can be seen on ESPN2 Tuesday at 8 p.m. and followed live at sdsucollegian.com.