North Dakota State’s men’s basketball team will be a young squad in 2015-16 with just two seniors on the roster (Kory Brown and Chris Kading). That means just two available scholarships for the Class of 2016 and the Bison filled one of those spots on Friday night as they received a verbal commitment from Minnetonka shooting guard Seth Coatta (pronounced Coat-ah).
Coatta (6’3, shooting guard) just wrapped up his junior season for the Skippers, and according to his former coach Tom Dasovich; “quite simply he’s the best shooter in the state of Minnesota.” Coatta’s numbers back that up, he hit 49 percent of his three-pointers and 91 percent at the free-throw line. Dasovich was on Kolpack and Izzo on Saturday morning and said while his shoot is his strongest skill, he added that his handle is getting better and can dunk the ball well.
Coatta only had offers from Division 2 schools, but I was told he said he had an immediate fit with NDSU. One source told me more offers from Division 1 schools would be coming if Coatta didn’t commit now.
This leaves one scholarship open for ’16. I’m curious to see if NDSU goes for height with the other schollie, they have 5 guys on the roster for that season that are 6’7 or taller, which will be by far the tallest team since the Bison moved up to Division 1. NDSU already has a verbal commitment for 2017 as well in Fargo North’s Siman Sem.