DICKINSON, N.D.—As Austin Dufault drove to the hoop, a defender violently ripped the basketball from his hands. As Dufault waited for a foul call, the pick-up game continued at the other end of the court.
That was the first time the Killdeer High School graduate and University of Colorado recruit noticed the difference between high school basketball in North Dakota and NCAA Division I college ball.
“The speed of the game is so much greater,” said Dufault, who was named North Dakota’s Mr. Basketball and Class B senior athlete of the year last season. “There’s guys flying around the rim. It’s so much quicker than you’re used to.”
Dufault spent the past month and a half living in Boulder, Colo., taking two summer school classes and training with the Colorado team.
He returned to North Dakota this week to play in the North Dakota Lions all-star games in Bismarck and Fargo.
While the majority of Dufault’s basketball experience at Colorado has been limited to pick-up games and drills, he’s spent several hours in the weight room.
One of the biggest knocks against Dufault during the recruiting process was that despite his 6-foot-8 frame and soft shooting touch from beyond the 3-point line, he was too skinny to play near the rim.
Despite working hard to change those opinions, Dufault said, he hasn’t seen much of an increase in his weight.
“It’s tough to put on weight because you’re constantly doing stuff,” he said. “You don’t have much down time. You burn so much energy.”
After six weeks of working on his game at Colorado, Dufault has had a chance back in North Dakota to relax and hang out with friends he likely will not see again for some time.
“We’ve had a pretty good week of practice,” Dufault said. “Overall, things have been a lot of fun.”
Class B coach Mike Hanson, who led Grafton to a state championship in March, said Dufault quickly assumed a leadership role on the all-star team.
“He’s so good that it makes my job a lot easier,” former Hazen standout Jacob Erhardt said. “He does so many different things. Sometimes I get caught watching, which isn’t a good thing. But he’s a lot of fun to play with.”
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Information from: The Dickinson Press,
