Senior leaders with NCAA experience give SDSU an advantage heading into NCAA Tournament

BROOKINGS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) -The Jackrabbits are now preparing for their first game in the NCAA Tournament Friday night against Southern Cal. They celebrated Sunday night together at Cubby’s in Brookings during the Selection Show when they heard their name called and found out the venue. Blacksburg, VA, home of the Virginia Tech Hokies who are the #1 seed in the region.

But the first game is Cheryl Miller’s old team and when you have a #9 against a #8 anything can happen. And the Jacks Have NCAA experience with their 3 seniors, Selland, Gylten with Utah and Burckhard.

Aberdeen native Paiton Burckhard says, “And then our seniors, we’ve had some experience in the NCAA Tournament, so really just looking to us as seniors and leaders to kind of find that comfortableness going into the tournament and then just reflecting on the type of season that we’ve had. I mean we’ve had a really awesome season so why not keep that going.”

Utah transfer Dru Gylten says, ”Not like there’s a lot of nerves but it’s very exciting. It’s a very exciting week. So just being able to be that calming presence. Yeah, just being that calming presence is where I can bring it to the table for this team.”

SDSU plays USC Friday night at 7:00pm in Blacksburg, VA.

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