CJ Erickson to Winona

[Weisbrod]

Former Minnetonka prep basketball star CJ Erickson has officially signed with Winona State, giving the Warriors likely the most formidable starting 5 in Division II.
With Erickson, the team has three players in the starting line-up that transferred from Division I, including former Iowa State forward Clayton Vette, who is a former Mr. Basketball in Iowa. Here is a glance at the starting line-up:

PG-Ben Fischer, 6-1, Wausau West/Minnesota (football)
G-David Johnson, 6-3, Hayfield
F-CJ Erickson, 6-6, Minnetonka/Evansville
F-Joel Armstrong, 6-6, Stillwater
F-Clayton Vette, 6-9, Waverly/Iowa State

This program knows what its doing. The coaching staff doesn't settle for recruiting Division II athletes, they go after Division I guys that are looking for playing time right away. Remember, Travis Busch almost chose WSU over Colorado State.

 

[coolhandgopher]

I'm a WSU alum myself and excited to see another former D-1 player matriculate to the Warriors, but don't sleep on MSU-Mankato. They added two D-1 transfers for next season in Jefferson Mason (Northern Colorado) and Jermaine Davis (Iowa) who will team with center Travis Nelson who transferred from Wyoming. It should be some memorable games when these two match up this winter.

 

[tjgopher]

Do programs like Winona and Mankato offer full rides for hoops and football? How about for baseball and other sports?

 

[gopherkinta]

Also a WSU grad and am excited and proud of what Coach Leaf has built! Should be another exciting run for the Warriors over next few years.

 

[Weisbrod]

Do programs like Winona and Mankato offer full rides for hoops and football? How about for baseball and other sports?

Winona State does have the ability to offer full athletic scholarships for basketball. The maximum amount of scholarships available for a D-II basketball program is somewhere between 6-8, meaning a coach could offer a full ride to one particular player, but then would only have 5-7 scholarships remaining for the rest of the players. Most players are on about a half scholarship with the best players on about 90 percent scholarship with the occasional full ride.
Division II football has a maximum of 36 scholarships.
Many "non-revenue" sports (cross country, track, tennis) do not have the capability to offer full rides, and often can only offer several hundreds of dollars, even to the best athletes.
Hope this helps.

 

[Weisbrod]

I'm a WSU alum myself and excited to see another former D-1 player matriculate to the Warriors, but don't sleep on MSU-Mankato. They added two D-1 transfers for next season in Jefferson Mason (Northern Colorado) and Jermaine Davis (Iowa) who will team with center Travis Nelson who transferred from Wyoming. It should be some memorable games when these two match up this winter.

I grew up in Winona, and to see the basketball program take off like this is great to see.
I agree, those battles between Winona and Minnesota State should be epic (they always are).
Jefferson actually considered Winona before deciding on Minnesota State.
Davis is from Cooper and is very athletic; he just needs to work on his outside game.
I was born in Mankato, so I always try to keep up on their hoops program too.

 

[Schlic Daddy]

Winona State does have the ability to offer full athletic scholarships for basketball. The maximum amount of scholarships available for a D-II basketball program is somewhere between 6-8, meaning a coach could offer a full ride to one particular player, but then would only have 5-7 scholarships remaining for the rest of the players. Most players are on about a half scholarship with the best players on about 90 percent scholarship with the occasional full ride.
Division II football has a maximum of 36 scholarships.
Many "non-revenue" sports (cross country, track, tennis) do not have the capability to offer full rides, and often can only offer several hundreds of dollars, even to the best athletes.
Hope this helps.

Actually the limit is 10 in Division II. I'm not sure if Winona is at 10, but I'll bet their top 3 or 4 players are on full rides.

 

[Weisbrod]

That sounds right now that I think about it. I think Winona is at something like 8.4.

 

[tjgopher]

Thanks for the info guys. I always wondered about the schollie situation at DII level.

 

[ColNathanJessup]

It seems that DII basketball is going more toward recruiting other teams DI athletes that can't hack it or get homesick instead of recruiting and developing h.s. kids. Not that there is anything you can do about it but I think it's kind of sad that "recruiting" is going this way more and more. This is going to create a more and more uneven playing field for teams located closer to metro areas imo.

 

[WolfontheProwl]

Not close to the truth.

A team like MSU-Mankato has been getting D-I transfers for years and it hasnt helped them win big games. Winona on the other hand has built their program around recruits they usually develope from the high school ranks. This is the first time in some time they have built their team around D-I guys that have stepped down. That being said one of the transfers came from the football side of things not basketball.

This is all fine and dandy and congrats to Mankato and Winona but the road to the NSIC Title runs through last years Champs and Elite 8 team SMSU in Marshall Minnesota. Go Mustangs!!!

 

[coolhandgopher]

Those championship teams were spearheaded by two transfers from D-1 ranks, Jonte Flowers (Wisconsin-football) and Quincy Henderson (Creighton), so WSU has benefited too from the D-1 ranks.

 

[ColNathanJessup]

A team like MSU-Mankato has been getting D-I transfers for years and it hasnt helped them win big games. Winona on the other hand has built their program around recruits they usually develope from the high school ranks. This is the first time in some time they have built their team around D-I guys that have stepped down. That being said one of the transfers came from the football side of things not basketball.

This is all fine and dandy and congrats to Mankato and Winona but the road to the NSIC Title runs through last years Champs and Elite 8 team SMSU in Marshall Minnesota. Go Mustangs!!!

Well, I'm a Northern St. fan and I still think it will hurt teams like them and Southwest. I may be wrong. (Plus, we sent you Tim Miles so you have to cut me some slack. )

 

[Weisbrod]

Well, I'm a Northern St. fan and I still think it will hurt teams like them and Southwest. I may be wrong. (Plus, we sent you Tim Miles so you have to cut me some slack. )

Northern State certainly has the classiest coach in college basketball and the rowdiest fans. When that gym gets rocking, its tough for anyone to play (expect for Winona, they've owned Northern over the last 5 years or so )

 

[Weisbrod]

A team like MSU-Mankato has been getting D-I transfers for years and it hasnt helped them win big games. Winona on the other hand has built their program around recruits they usually develope from the high school ranks. This is the first time in some time they have built their team around D-I guys that have stepped down. That being said one of the transfers came from the football side of things not basketball.

This is all fine and dandy and congrats to Mankato and Winona but the road to the NSIC Title runs through last years Champs and Elite 8 team SMSU in Marshall Minnesota. Go Mustangs!!!

Southwest snuck up on a lot of people last season, but I don't think many teams in the conference (and Division II in general) can compete with the starting line-up Minnesota State and Winona can throw out there.
A little off subject, but many of those Minnesota State transfers actually might be playing in a better facility than they did playing Division I. The Mavericks' basketball arena is top-notch, no matter what Division.

 

[ColNathanJessup]

Northern State certainly has the classiest coach in college basketball and the rowdiest fans. When that gym gets rocking, its tough for anyone to play (expect for Winona, they've owned Northern over the last 5 years or so )

Uh, yeah. I'm aware.