University of Jamestown heading to NCAA Division II level

JAMESTOWN — The University of Jamestown announced Thursday, July 11, it will move up to the NCAA Division II level with formal acceptance by the NCAA.

“It’s really exciting,” Jimmies Athletic Director Austin Hieb said. “It’s been a long time coming. We’ve put a lot of work into it and it’s really cool to see it all come to fruition.”

The Jimmies officially applied to join the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference on Aug. 23, 2023, and were officially accepted into the NCAA Division II conference on Nov. 21, 2023. The university had to wait until Feb. 1 to submit an application to the NCAA to complete the process. The Jimmies submitted a waiver in March to attempt to get their postseason ban shortened, which was successful. As a result, the Jimmies will only have one season in the NCAA without postseason play before being able to compete in the postseason in the 2026-27 season.

In the ensuing months after the university was accepted into the NSIC, the athletic department hired Bryce Nybo as the assistant athletic director for compliance and Nick Patterson as the assistant athletic director for operations.

Hieb said the school being accepted into the NCAA is not the final step of the process but a continuation.

“Now it’s just getting situated, getting in touch with the NSIC, the NCAA, working with our consultant, making sure we’re taking the necessary steps to make sure we’re doing everything we’re supposed to under the NCAA umbrella and checking all the boxes that we’re expected to check,” Hieb said.

The Jimmies will be competing in the North Star Athletic Association in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) during the 2024-25 academic year before moving up to the NSIC for the 2025-26 season. The Jimmies are now officially the 16th member of the NSIC and the third in North Dakota.

“I’m really looking forward to the enthusiasm of our athletes as they get back and our coaches and the preparation that’ll go into getting ready now to be in the NSIC in a year,” UJ President Polly Peterson said. “I’m actually really looking forward to being part of their NSIC Presidents Council and getting to know them better, building networks there.”

During the process between joining the NSIC and being accepted by the NCAA, members from the collegiate athletics governing body came to Jamestown, toured the campus and spoke with coaches, athletes and administration. Hieb said the representative from the NCAA came to campus in April.

“We felt really good about the visit,” Hieb said. “We thought it went really well. The University of Jamestown’s got a lot of really good people from our administration to our coaches to our student-athletes to faculty, everybody across campus … I would say it’s probably the best part of the University of Jamestown are our people. Obviously, our facilities are great as well but when you match the facilities we have with the people we have on our campus, it’s pretty easy for us to show pretty well.”

The Jimmies will have 16 teams joining the NSIC in two years. The school is still in the process of finding permanent conference homes for the men’s volleyball, men’s soccer and women’s wrestling programs.

The move to the higher level reunites the Jimmies with previous conference opponents Minot State University and the University of Mary. The three schools were all part of the North Dakota Athletic Conference until Minot State moved to the NCAA Division II level in 2009 and the University of Mary moved up in 2006. As a former Jimmies track athlete, Peterson said she has fond memories of competing against the Beavers and the Marauders.

“I was a track and field athlete and we really enjoyed the rivalries with Aberdeen, Northern (Northern State University), who was really great at the time, Minot, us and Mary, really strong programs,” Peterson said. “The same was true in many of the other sports as well. So to have those rivalries back and playing a lot of the teams that are recruiting from sometimes a little more closer is gonna be fun. I’m so excited about it.”

The Jimmies will be joining a conference that has had 27 team national championships including two in the 2023-24 season. In university history, the Jimmies have one team national championship, with the women’s volleyball team taking the 2022-23 national championship.

Jimmies football players enjoying playing College Football 25

JAMESTOWN — For the first time since 2013, college football fans including University of Jamestown football players have been enjoying a new video game after the release of EA SPORTS College Football 25 on July 19.

The EA SPORTS NCAA football series was released annually from 1993 to 2013 before the series was canceled as a result of a lawsuit against the video game company for using players’ names, images and likenesses in the games. The EA SPORTS College Football account announced the game's return in Feb. 2021.

“I think it’s a pretty big game because the last one that was ever released was 2013, so the anticipation and the talk about a new game has always been floating in the air,” said Nate Burke, University of Jamestown junior wide receiver. “What I think separates this game from a Madden or an old NCAA 14 is they made this game very very personable to enjoying your team the best way you can. What I mean by that is they made it so personable to the fans, they have every team's run out, they have theme songs, they have traditions. They really really took the time to make sure that the fans were happy and through the first trailer you saw everything.”

According to gameindustry.biz, EA SPORTS sold 2.2 million copies of the game during the early access period for $99.99 and an additional 600,000 people were playing the game through EA SPORTS' $6.99 per month subscription service, EA Play. The game has multiple game modes including Play Now, Dynasty, Road to Glory and Ultimate Team.

One of those players who got early access to the game is Jimmies junior linebacker Austin Brenn, who said he has been playing a lot of Ultimate Team, a mode where players build a roster from packs of digital playing cards purchased using in-game currency.

“It reminds me of Madden Mobile, so that one is really fun, creating your own team, making it the best you possibly can, playing online people or even just playing your friends if you wanted to,” Brenn said. “I think there’s a lot of fun in that. Then, 'Road to Glory,' who doesn’t want to build your own player, that’s really fun.”

The game also has a team builder feature, allowing players to build their own teams and use them in the game. After the game’s release, Jimmies wide receiver Burke and his teammate, defensive back Kyle Williams, utilized the feature and created the University of Jamestown in the game. The two made the Jimmies an 84 overall. One of the things that the two could not do was add real names to the virtual Jimmies.

“We spent quite a bit of time on that. We went through the uniforms, we went through the logos, the field,” Burke said. “… We put me in, we put Kyle in and with stats and numbers, we attempted to put most of the team in the game. So it really felt like we were in the game.”

The game has also invited real players to talk about their overall rating or speculate what it would be if they were in the game. That includes the Jimmies with Burke saying his real-life rating would be a 75. Burke estimates that the Jimmies' real-life team rating would be in the high 70s.

Jimmies senior quarterback Nick Martinez estimates that his real-life overall rating would be an 87.

One of the most popular game modes among the real-life Jimmies is dynasty mode, which allows players to take control of a program and try to lead it to a national championship. During the mode, players have to recruit for their team which has led to many automatically-generated recruits having names that have gone viral on social media. As far as some of the names that the Jimmies have seen in their adventures, Martinez said he has seen players share a name with current basketball stars Lebron James with the Los Angeles Lakers and Angel Reese with the Chicago Sky.

“I’ve been playing dynasty,” Martinez said. “I’m an Arizona guy so bringing ASU (Arizona State University) to the national championship that’s a big goal for me to get done within the next couple weeks before fall camp starts and I can’t play anymore. … I think with all the new recruiting stuff they’ve put in the game it’s pretty cool to go out there and be a part of all the new antics and techniques they have with the game.”

One of the biggest calling cards of the game is having real players in it, which allows some Jimmies to play as their friends or families.

“A kid (Zac Swanson) that I actually played against in high school goes to ASU and he was a huge runner stopper for me,” Martinez said. “… I sent him a picture because the first game of dynasty I played, he was our defensive player of the game, he had like three sacks and four tackles for losses. … It’s pretty cool seeing a whole bunch of names that I played against or know just from the Phoenix area.”

Martinez’ job as the signal caller is to read defenses and make plays in real life, something he says helps him in the game.

“I think certain plays like a dig, shallow concept, it’s pretty easy to see the defense, know who to read and come up with who you want to throw the ball to,” Martinez said.

The game includes all 134 football subdivision teams at the NCAA Division I level, but Brenn said he wishes NCAA Division I football championship series teams were included as well.

“I’d love to see them some FCS team or a little bit more in that depth. I think that'd be pretty cool but I think they’ve got a pretty fun game as it is so far,” Brenn said.

Martinez said he wants to see the game’s tackling engine be improved.

While EA SPORTS has not publicly announced it will bring the game back next year, it is widely expected the company will make it a yearly release, falling in line with the company’s releases for the Madden NFL and EAFC series of games.

“In a way, I hope not because with how much I’m enjoying this game and with talking with teammates how much they’re enjoying (it) I’d like to see them give it a little bit of time,” Burke said about the possibility of a yearly release. “You don’t really want it to be like Madden where it’s very very similar every year. You want something new and something fun and entertaining. So I hope they don’t do it but I could also see them doing it because of the hype now, they’re gonna want to get a new one out as soon as possible.”

Mason Walters excited to suit up for the Phoenix Suns Summer League team

LAS VEGAS — Jamestown native Mason Walters is getting the opportunity to live out a childhood dream when he plays for the Phoenix Suns 2024 NBA Summer League team.

“It’s amazing,” Walters said. “If you would’ve told me that I would have the opportunity to sign with the Suns and be on their Summer League team two years ago, I probably wouldn’t have believed you, just being honest. It’s a pretty crazy journey that I’ve had from high school until now. I’m really grateful and really blessed.”

Walters signed with the Suns on July 1 and headed to Las Vegas to practice with his new teammates on July 5.

“I’ve known him for two and half, three years now, to see him come from NAIA school, small-town North Dakota,” Walters' agent Drew Kelso said. “I know the family well, it’s become more than just transactional. It’s been bigger than that. So for him, I know he’s the pride of that community sports-wise. So to see him be able to get an opportunity to put on an NBA jersey, go to the NBA facility and work out and even go through the pre-draft process. He was fantastic at our NBA Pro Day in Los Angeles. I think he raised his stock a lot that day just because he didn’t really have much of a stock going into it. So I think he raised it a lot because people didn’t really know who he was amongst our guys. He did really well.”

Kelso said he was speaking to the Suns organization in the lead up to the NBA draft but a workout never materialized. Walters did work out for the Denver Nuggets and the Memphis Grizzlies. Walters said he was not completely surprised by the offer because he knew that Kelso and the Suns were interested in him.

During his four years playing for the University of Jamestown, Walters played in 119 games averaging 22.4 points, 2.5 assists and 10.4 rebounds per game. He solidified himself in the Jimmies record books, owning six career single-season or single-game program records. He is also in the top six in eight program records. Throughout his time representing his hometown team, Walters had 2,662 career points and 1,239 career rebounds, both the most in a career in program history.

For his fifth year, Walters transferred to the University of Wyoming where he played in 22 games, averaging 12.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.

After graduating from Wyoming, Walters signed with Kelso and the One Motive Sports agency. In May, Walters spent time working out with the agency’s trainers in Jonesboro, Arkansas. During his time working out at the agency’s headquarters, Kelso said Walters’ shot has tremendously improved.

“His shooting has infinitely got better,” Walters said. “It doesn’t look like the same shot anymore. Matt Jones, our player development guy, was phenomenal with him. It was a major emphasis coming into Arkansas, coming into the predraft process, if he’s gonna have a chance at all to play at that level, he’s gonna have to step out and shoot the basketball at a high level.”

The NBA Summer League takes place at the Thomas and Mack Center, the home arena of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a building where Walters has experience playing. While he was a Cowboy, Walters scored six points at UNLV on Feb. 3 and seven points against Fresno State University in the first round of the Mountain West Championship on March 13.

“I played a couple games there twice,” Walters said. “I’ve played a couple games there so I’m used to the gym itself but I wouldn’t say it’s home-court advantage by any means. But I think it helps playing a couple games there.”

While he said he does not know how much he will be playing during the five games, Walters said he is excited to have the opportunity. Kelso said he is viewing the week as an evaluation period for Walters.

“Right now, I’m just grateful to have my foot in the door and I don’t really know if I’ll play … I’ll be playing the last couple games if I play at all,” Walters said. “Honestly, just excited to be in the building and have the opportunity to be associated with something that’s as special as the NBA Summer League. I’m not too worried necessarily about my role, but I’m just glad to have my foot in the door, make the most of it and give it my all.”

Walters said regardless of his playing time, he will do whatever he can to make an impression on the decision-makers who are watching.

“Every day I feel like is an opportunity to prove why you feel like you should be there, in practice, being a good person, being around the facility,” Walters said. “I think that’s something I do every day. I think I’ll show up and work hard and it’ll translate and if I play zero minutes of Summer League, I’m gonna show up every day at practice, I’m gonna work hard, I’m gonna be the best teammate I possibly can and do whatever I can to help the team get better. Whether that’s playing, not playing, whatever I’m asked to do.”

Kelso said he thinks the Suns are looking at Walters for a spot on their NBA G-League team, the Valley Suns.

“Summer League is all 30 teams are watching every single game,” Kelso said. “So it’s an evaluation for the whole NBA. His agreement with them as of today is just through Summer League. So he can pick up and sign a contract with any team during Summer League, after Summer League. As of today, his options are pretty wide open going forward or going overseas, whatever it might be because there a lot of international teams that come and scout this event as well.”

While he prepared before heading down to Sin City, Walters said he will continue working out and staying in shape.

“I feel like I’ll be able to compete and hold my own,” Walters said. “… Obviously, having never been in Summer League, I don’t know what to expect so it’ll be nice to get out there and get a feel for it.”

Walters said he has watched the weeklong league before and is looking forward to taking part in it.

“I definitely watched the Summer League before and have always thought it’d be cool if I had the opportunity to be there,” Walters said. “I never necessarily thought that hey, I’ll be able to be in that position. But now, I’ve gotten a lot better in my career and I’ve developed and became a better basketball player. So I’m now in a position where it’s possible and like I’ve been saying I got my opportunity and I’m excited and It’ll be an awesome experience.”

University of Jamestown accepted into the Northern Sun

JAMESTOWN — The University of Jamestown will be competing at the NCAA Division II level beginning in fall 2025.

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference announced Tuesday, Nov. 21, that it voted to accept UJ into the conference. The Jimmies will be the conference’s 16th member.

The Jimmies are the third conference member from North Dakota, joining the University of Mary in Bismarck and Minot State University.

Jimmies Athletic Director Austin Hieb said he's "really excited" about the news. He said NSIC Commissioner Erin Lind reached out to him and UJ President Polly Peterson to tell them the news.

Despite being removed from the Great Plains Athletic Conference, Hieb said he wasn’t worried about the university figuring out its next steps.

UJ will compete in the North Star Athletic Association during the 2024-25 academic year before joining the NSIC in fall 2025.

“ ... this is just another thing that makes our future even more exciting,” Hieb said.

The university will enter the conference in the 2025-26 academic year. Hieb said the next step for the school is to submit an application to the NCAA.