Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Mike Daum (24) in Tournament play in the Cancun Challenge in Cancun, Mexico earlier this season.
Kimball's Mike Daum is drawing national praise from several national sports sources for his basketball playing abilities as a red-shirt freshman at South Dakota State University.
The 6'9" former Kimball High standout signed at South Dakota State University after weighing his other options, feeling it was the right fit for him after visits and working out with members of the Jackrabbit team following his graduation at Kimball High where he set several new school records.
After sitting out his first year at the Brookings, South Dakota school, he has been drawing a lot of attention in this, his first true year on the courts in Division One basketball. In a release from 2016 NCAA Turner Sports Network, part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Network, with a listing of Under-the-radar freshmen making an impact in Division One basketball, there is our Mike Daum of Kimball, Nebraska and South Dakota State University.
The report in part said "There are rookies who are operating like veterans at schools that receive less national television exposure," and urging readers to remember the names of these listed.
In direct detail concerning Mike, it went on to read. "The Jackrabbits are 11-3 and ranked 60th in the Pomeroy Ratings and the high-volume, efficient Daum, helps the offense run smoothly. Coach Scott Nagy obviously instructs his guards to feed Daum, a 6'9" 230 pound center, who attempts 31 percent of SDSU's shots when he's on the floor. You could make a case that Daum deserves more than 16.7 minutes per game considering he's averaging 11.7 points on 52 percent shooting and snagging 5.1 rebounds a contest. So far, everything has fallen into place for the Jackrabbits, who are off to the best D-One start in school history."
This past week's play brought this same type of commentary from announcers covering the Sunday night game with Western Illinois, and Big Mike got his most minutes of the season with 22! He also got 17 points, on 5/9 shooting from the field and 7/8 at the foul line, plus 7 rebounds and 2 assists helping the Jackrabbits to a 63-59 win over Western Illinois.
On New Years Day, SDS won over Denver University 68-59 and Mike had 17 minutes of court time scoring 10 points on 1/2 shooting from the field along with 8/12 at the line and had 3 rebounds. This past weekend's play lifted the Jacks to a record of 13-3. Tonight (Jan. 7) SDS will be at Indianapolis to face IUPUI and are back home Jan. 14 to take on Fort Wayne.