Recruiting Report: Landon Foster (2018)
Landon Foster is a Rugby Panthers standout in hoops and baseball. This is one of those young athletes who spends every spring and summer night competing.
On the hardwood Foster was a key piece for the Panther 2016-17 season. Landon was the playmaker for a 13-10 team.
“Our winter season was a good season, we grew as a team from the start of the season to the end,” Foster explained. “We have a great coaching staff in Rugby so that helps a lot. They have taught me a lot so I have a pretty high basketball IQ.
“Our scoring was led by senior Anders Johnson so I was able to create a lot of shots for both him and myself. Being the point guard, I was a team leader and tried to control the tempo of the game.”
There was a point this year that Rugby’s team had a reality check and that moment led to the program bringing more gold to the school trophy case (District 11 Gold).
“An experience I will always remember was losing to “rival” Bottineau in a regular season matchup,” Foster explained. “I think in the long run the loss was good for our team because we started to work harder in practice.
“We carried that momentum with us into districts as we played some of our best basketball in the district tournament. We won the district championship but lost first round of regionals against a solid Berthold team.”
Landon is a fantastic baseball player but he’s also finding time to compete with the North Dakota Cougars spring and summer team.
“Over the summer playing AAU with the Cougars helps a lot,” Foster explained. “Almost every game is tough competition. The games can be very physical which is teaching me to be stronger with the ball.
“Going from AAU basketball to Class B basketball is a big difference. I want to develop a better midrange and become stronger over the offseason.”
With such a busy schedule why does Landon make a basketball commitment as well? Because it makes him better as an all around athlete.
“The AAU games have taught me to make open shots when you have them because finding an open shot is much harder at the AAU level. I have become a better defender having to guard good shooters and quick ball handlers. Most of all I have learned to finish through contact because the physicality of the game is at a much higher level.”
Landon has spent time on a pair of college campuses so far.
“I have not decided if I want to play a college sport but I will be touring Concordia-Moorhead and Jamestown this summer.” Landon said. “I am also interested in possibly playing college baseball.”
What are Landon’s goals for his basketball future? Foster told PHD before we parted ways.
“My goals for the next year are to continue improving my game through the summer and fall,” Foster explained. “As for the winter season I hope to lead my team to win another district championship and go deep into the region tournament.”