NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of South Dakota of last decade

5. Skyler Flatten – South Dakota State

A 6’6 guard from Clark, Flatten arrived on the campus of South Dakota State way back in 2013. When you include two separate redshirts, he was part of the Jackrabbits for six years across two different head coaches and a ton of on-court success for this program. Flatten played a small role early on but developed into one of the Jackrabbits’ most important pieces during his upperclassman years.

Flatten sat out his first season and then was mostly a backup player as a redshirt freshman, though he had a few nice performances early in the year. He missed his next season to injury and played sparing minutes as a sophomore under new head coach T. J. Otzelberger. Flatten’s final two seasons were more impressive; he helped lead the Jackrabbits back to the NCAA Tournament as a junior. As a senior, his role was vital as he averaged 15.5 points per game and won another conference regular season title, though the Jackrabbits were upset in the Summit League Tournament and he ended his career in the NIT.

Flatten was an important part of the Jackrabbits program across those six years, even when he wasn’t on the court, and ended his career in style, winning Second Team All-Summit League honors. That final year saw him become one of the top offensive players in the conference, leading it in effective field goal percentage and total usage. His basketball career has continued overseas the last few seasons, playing most recently over in Sweden.