FEATURE: Culture reigns supreme for DWU men’s basketball

MITCHELL, S.D. – With a plethora of All-Americans, All-Conference players, a National Player of the Year and multiple other milestones reached, it is evident that the history and culture runs deep for the Dakota Wesleyan University men's basketball team.

 Hanging in the rafters of the World's Only Corn Palace are banners reminding fans of the championship seasons at DWU, along with the seven retired jerseys, paying tribute to those that have marked their legacy in a Tiger uniform. The jerseys that are retired include Glenn Draisey, Randy Fletcher, Greg Hansen, Alan Miller, Scott Morgan, Brady Wiebe and Jalen Voss.

 Dating back to the days prior to the formation of the Great Plains Athletic Conference, DWU was a member of the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference. The original conference was formed in 1917, while DWU took a step away from the conference from 1940-1948. DWU rejoined the SDIC in 1948 until 2000, when they became a member of the GPAC. The Tigers won at least a share of the SDIC regular-season title 24 times, while having won a share of the GPAC regular-season title twice.

 With the first season for DWU men's basketball beginning in 1917, the Tigers boast a record of 1,501-948. This is a winning percentage of 61.3% all time.

 In order to win so many games, the teams throughout history were needed to score, and score they did. Jake Beier was the first DWU men's basketball player to eclipse 1,000 career points from 1930-34. The Tigers have 58 players all time who have scored at least 1,000 career points, while six players have scored over 2,000 career points.

 Players as recent as Ty Hoglund, Jalen Voss and Brady Wiebe joined the 2,000-point club and joined the collection of Alan Miller, Scott Morgan and Greg Hansen as the only players in program history to surpass the milestone. The trio of Miller, Morgan and Hoglund rank as three of the top five highest scoring players in a career in South Dakota collegiate scoring history. Mike Daum of South Dakota State University and Eric Kline of Northern State University are the only two in front of the DWU trio on the impressive list.

 With so many high-scoring players coming through DWU over the years, it is no surprise that the Tigers have landed 43 players on the NAIA All-American list and 66 players on the All-GPAC list. Of the 43 All-Americans, 12 have been named to the First Team, including back-to-back National Player-of-the-Year member, Scott Morgan. Of the 66 All-Conference athletes, there have been seven GPAC Player-of-the-Year members, three Freshman-of-the-Year players, two Defensive Player-of-the-Year honorees and three GPAC Coach-of-the-Year members.

 The most recent GPAC Coach-of-the-Year is current head coach Matt Wilber. He has been at the helm of the program for seven years and has taken his teams to six-straight national tournament appearances. To him, he says it's an unbelievable experience being able to coach at a program with so much history.

 "I have always felt humbled and lucky to be the coach at DWU and it has gone by so fast," Wilber said. "I have spent a lot of time looking at the names and record books over the years because of the extensive history and success of individuals and teams and it is easy to get lost in it. We are so tradition rich here at Wesleyan and it is so special to be a part of it all."

 There have been 21 seasons where the Tigers have won at least 20 games in that year. This explains why DWU has took part in 25 national tournaments, dating back to their first appearance in 1931. DWU surpassed its own mark of consecutive NAIA national tournaments appeared in with six straight trips from the 2014-15 season through the 2019-20 season. The previous mark was five straight trips from 1937-41 and from 2007-11.

 Whether they were a part of the first team in 1917, a member of the most recent team in 2020, or somewhere in between, there have been numerous players who have proudly worn the White and the Blue. Each player leaving their mark on the program and becoming another reason of why the tradition runs deep at DWU.