Red Cloud hoopsters travel more than 8,000 miles for 51 games over summer
posted September 18, 2007

“We wanted to showcase our players this summer, have an opportunity to have as many college coaches as possible see them play and we wanted to find some tough competition that would help prepare the team for the coming season where we have set some very high goals,” said head coach Matt Rama as he looked back on a two month summer season that covered 8,000 miles, took the team to four different states and finished with a 45-6 record.

When possible, the Red Cloud basketball program took both a varsity and a junior varsity team to the team camps and to the league in Rapid City . The teams visited University of South Dakota in Vermillion, McCook Community College in southwestern Nebraska , Creighton University in Omaha , Neb. , University of Mary in Bismarck , N.D. , Augustana College in Sioux Falls , South Dakota Schools of Mines and Technology in Rapid City and Georgetown University in Washington , D.C.

The summer opened with a team camp in Vermillion at USD and Red Cloud finished up 6-0 with hard fought wins over Irene-Wakonda and an all star team from the Twin Cities. Next up was the Rising Stars tourney at Hill City , the Crusaders knocked off Hill City in the championship and went 5-0. For the second year in a row, Red Cloud went undefeated and won the McCook Community College team camp, finishing 9-0 this year with wins over strong Colorado and Nebraska teams.

Both the varsity and JV teams were able to make it to Omaha and Creighton University 's campus and the league in Rapid City at Stevens high school which went one night a week for five weeks. Red Cloud lost their first games of the summer to teams from Nebraska and Missouri and ended up 4-2 at Creighton. The campus was a treat to see and Creighton's coach, Dana Altman watched both the varsity and JV team play.

In regular league play, Red Cloud went 5-1, losing to Rapid City Central in the last game but in the league ending tournament wins over Rapid City Stevens, Hot Springs and an 82-40 win over RC Central gave the Crusaders an overall 8-1 league record and both the league and tournament championship. Red Cloud's JV also finished off league play by winning the tournament with wins over Rapid City Central JV and Rapid City Steven's JV.

During the summer, varsity players included seniors Christian McGhee, Billy Scott, Dave Giago, Lester Gotheridge, Mike Cuny and Art Vitalis; juniors Mike Twiss, and Wade O'Bryan and sophomores Bryer Iron Cloud and Carl Swallow.

Junior varsity players over the summer included Jeremy Blacksmith, Mike Clifford, Kiley Weston, JD Plume, Mike Richards, Truman Rossman, Ken Franks, Frankie Sioux Bob, James Pine, Henry Crow and Ryan Lays Bad.

During the first weekend of July, the varsity headed to Bismarck for a one day team camp at the University of Mary while the JV team went to Sioux Falls for a team camp at Augustana College . The varsity lost a hard fought game to Bismarck, a much larger school and split the next two games; Mary's coach Juno Pintar had a chance to watch the team and talk to some of the players about their future plans.

In mid July, Red Cloud entered three teams in the SD Tech team camp in Rapid City , varsity, JV and an eighth grade team. Red Cloud beat Gillette, Sidney , Laramie and Fort Totten in pool play and beat RC Stevens and Sidney in the first two rounds of the tournament then knocked off Platte 69-25 in the semis before defeating White River for the team camp championship. Red Cloud's junior varsity lost to Mandan in the JV Division championship game.

Red Cloud wrapped up their summer with a whirlwind trip to Washington D.C. which included a tour of Georgetown University, a visit to Capitol Hill and the South Dakota Congressional Delegation, the National Museum of the American Indian, a Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees baseball game, a Washington Mystics WNBA game and five basketball games with local teams from the D.C. area.

The Red Cloud team went to D.C. with the intention of playing in the National Powerhouse tournament but after arriving on Thursday, there was no schedule available and on Friday, still no schedule, so the team went with Plan B. A couple of local tournament coordinators and coaches bent over backwards and squeezed Red Cloud into their already scheduled game competitions. The Crusaders beat two local high school teams at Parkdale high school gym on the road to Baltimore on Saturday night and a little farther down that same road towards Baltimore at the Bowie City gym on Sunday, Red Cloud lost to a college/semi pro team and beat two local all star teams for a 4-1 record in the D.C. area.

“The trip was put together to give the boys a variety of experiences and to help them understand how the work they have been doing can pay off now and down the road,” said Rama, “many people helped us out and the local folks in the Baltimore who helped us overcome the failure of the Powerhouse tourney can't be thanked enough, they were great; this trip and the entire summer schedule was a fantastic experience for these young men, I hope it helps to continue to motivate them to set goals, work hard and pursue their dreams.”

The total cost of taking anywhere from one to three teams to team camps and the league during the summer of 2007 was just over $20,000.00 according to Rama. Assistance and support for the summer came from the Oglala Sioux Tribe's Anpetu Luta Otipi, Health Administration and Health Education, the National Indian Gaming Association, the Marongo Tribe of California , John McLaughlin, Stacy Ecoffey, Jess Renteria, Jen Schaer, Todd O'Bryan, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in the District of Columbia , KILI Radio and past and present Red Cloud volunteers.

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