Q5: Sean Armstrong

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SEAN ARMSTRONG

Sean Armstrong, a Blue Springs High School graduate and former Examiner All-Area player, helped lead the Colorado School of Mines to an at-large bid in the NCAA Division II Tournament after helping the Orediggers claim the school’s first Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference East league title. The 6-foot-1 junior guard was second on the team in scoring (15.1 points per game) and was named to the RMAC East all-conference second team. He took a few minutes to discuss his successful year and career.

1. What was your reaction to being named to the all-conference team?
It’s a great honor to be selected to the all-conference team and I’m very grateful. But the award is a reflection of great teammates who made it possible for myself and the team to succeed over the course of the season.

2. How happy are you with your choice of attending the Colorado School of Mines? What attracted you to that school in the first place and how has it worked out academically and athletically for you?
I couldn’t be happier with my choice to come to Colorado School of Mines. It has lived up to all my expectations since I first left home. The School of Mines has one of the best engineering programs in the country, and initially that’s what drew my interest. And during my official visit my senior year of high school, I knew the team, coaches, school and community would be a great support group for my future. Academically, it is very challenging but pushes me to work hard and tests me intellectually. Being an athlete, you don’t have nearly as much time for school work but I have been able to handle the work load and still get good grades. I’m an undergraduate civil engineering major with a specialty in economics. Athletically, it has worked out great as well. I knew when I committed that the basketball program wasn’t a powerhouse in Division II, but I wanted to be one of the players who went against the grain and turned a program into a contender. Along with my teammates, coaches and administration, we have been able to do that. The one thing I said to myself when I decided to play basketball here was that “I want to leave the program in better place than when I came here.”

3. What has been the best thing about playing at the Division II level?
Obviously Division II does not get the same attention as the Division I level, but in my eyes I just wanted to make a big impact on a basketball team rather than go to the largest school that recruited me. The people I’ve met in a somewhat small college atmosphere have been very friendly and supportive. It’s nice to have most of your professors and classmates know who you are. I knew my athletic career would probably be over after college, so I just wanted to choose a place that I could get a great education.

4. What has been the highlight of your career there?
The highlight of my career so far would probably be winning the RMAC East League Championship for the first time in our program’s history and clinching an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament this season. Since our school has made the change to D-II, we have never done either of these. So to be the first is a great accomplishment.
 
5. What are your goals for the rest of this season and for your senior year?
Our goals at the beginning of the season were to win the league and go to the NCAA Tournament. So now that we are one of the teams in the tournament and all but one of those teams will end the season with a loss, we have the same goal as all the other teams probably do at this point in the season. To end our season with a win and get to the national championship. We aren’t getting too far ahead of ourselves though. We are just going to take it one game at a time. My senior year I just want to improve on what I did this past year. That will come with hard work and training during the offseason and over the summer.