Season Preview

Mount Marty College men's basketball has completed 42 years of competition with an overall win loss record of 539 and 685. The Lancers have only been a member of a conference for the past 17 years during which they won 2 South Dakota Intercollegiate titles and finished in the upper division of the Great Plains Athletic Conference 4 times. The Lancers have advanced teams to the National Tournament on 2 occasions, in 1978 and 1998. The 1998 team finished in the Final Four. Two players have been named First Team All-American, Mac Rops in 1997 and 1998 and Justin Bonnichsen in 2004 and 2005, 2 players earned Second Team All-American honors, Aaron Kranz in 1999 and Matt Giever in 2000 and eleven players have been named Honorable Mention All-Americans. There have been 46 all-conference selections including thirteen first team picks and three MVP's.

One attribute that has consistently defined Mount Marty basketball is the academic success of individuals and teams. Forty five student-athletes have been named Academic All-Americans in coach Thorson's tenure. Five student-athletes have been selected conference winners for the NAIA Emil S. Liston Award and in 2003 Lucas Klumper was selected the national winner. Jared Wall was a First Team COSIDA College Division Academic All-District and Second Team Academic All-American in 2010-11. The team has been a Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Team 4 out of the last 6 years and had the nation's highest team GPA of 3.55 in 2006-07.

Coach Thorson has been coaching at the collegiate level for 33 years, 30 as a head coach. He is currently ranked 12th among active NAIA coaches in wins with a total of 457.

The Lancer's made progress last year but the injury bug hit again and there wasn't enough depth to keep the momentum built in November and December The team did rally at the end and finished in the 7th spot earning another GPAC playoff berth. Five seniors departed and all were key players who had started at one time or another throughout the season. Spencer Yackley earned 2nd Team All-GPAC and Mitch Ackelson and Joe Hieb were named Honorable Mention.

The 2012-13 team returns only 5 lettermen and will have a new look as a mix of freshmen, redshirts, and transfers will account for over half the squad. The strength should lie in the depth and skill of the guard crew and the question mark is the size of the front line as the Lancers will be the smallest they've been in several years. The potential is there and overall success will depend on how long it takes the veterans and new players to mesh and everyone to learn the offensive and defensive schemes and their roles within that system.