MITCHELL — As his confidence has grown, so has Volga native Collin Kramer’s role with the Dakota Wesleyan University men’s basketball team.
The sophomore forward endured an up and down freshman campaign, but has been inserted into the starting lineup this season. He’s since found his niche as a jack-of-all-trades player for the Tigers, who are 14-5 on the season and have won four straight games.
“There’s times when I do get ahead of myself and I am trying to make a play with the ball and that’s just not my role with this team,” Kramer said. “I am a defensive stopper, a rebounder and distributor of the ball to these guys. So I just need to find my role there and just be good at your role.”
Kramer, a bouncy 6-foot-7 power forward from Volga, has been good at a little bit of everything for the Tigers this season. He’s averaging 5.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, while also registering 40 assists, 14 steals and nine blocked shots. He can also stretch the floor and has knocked down 15 3-pointers.
“He’s just been getting better and better all the time,” DWU coach Matt Wilber said. “He’s a very good passer, he’s a good rebounder and he moves well. He just plays really well within a team.”
Wilber credits Kramer’s progress to playing with more comfort and confidence this season. Last year, Kramer stepped into the backup center position after Kellen Barden went down with a foot injury. He’s playing his natural spot at the power forward spot this year.
“He’s more comfortable and he’s more confident as he plays,” Wilber said. “He just has progressed. He’s put a lot of work in the offseason. He was around Mitchell all summer and those things make a difference.”
Kramer worked on his footwork with DWU center Jason Spicer during the offseason and that’s allowed him to stay in games longer. As a freshman, Kramer battled foul trouble.
“If I am playing the four for us, I am able to help with my length and if I am fouling all over the place, I am not doing us any good on the bench,” Kramer said. “Last year, I was too slow. I couldn’t move my feet. That was kind of a big thing for me in the offseason. Me and Spicer would go do one-on-one.”
But the results didn’t immediately follow. Kramer didn’t score a point in two of the first four games and didn’t play in the fifth game against the University of Jamestown.
But he never complained.
“He never once has been like, ‘Hey, what’s the deal?’ ” Wilber said. “He’s never once had anything but a great attitude here and through those ups and downs, it’s just been really good to see and I am hopeful that we are just seeing the start of it. I do see a high ceiling for him as a basketball player for us.”
Once the Tigers started playing teams with more traditional lineups, Kramer was inserted into the starting lineup. The Tigers are 10-2 with Kramer in the starting unit and Wilber said his defensive prowess late in games have been key.
“He’s made our defense a lot better,” Wilber said. “He’s a very good team defender. He’s a big, long guy who affects shots around the rim.”
Kramer’s best outing this season was recently against Keiser University in Florida. He registered seven points, seven assists, nine rebounds and four blocked shots in 31 minutes. DWU hosts Morningside at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Corn Palace.
“It’s definitely a confidence builder when you can see yourself fill up the stat sheet like that,” Kramer said. “It’s always fun to see just the results of you working hard and having a game like that.”
Photo by Matt Gade/Mitchell Daily Republic.
