SIOUX FALLS — Basketball has forged a relationship between Todd Schlekeway and Nate Malchow.

They developed their basketball bond through Northern State University camps, to being AAU teammates and coaching their sons together in third-through-eighth grade basketball. But will no longer coach their sons in youth basketball, as they’ll be high school freshmen this season. 

That created a void between the basketball buddies, who have discussed creating a South Dakota hoops podcast for the past couple of years. Enter the State of Hoops: A South Dakota Basketball Podcast that officially launched on Oct. 1. 

“Basketball is really the fabric of our friendship,” Schlekeway said. “From the old NSU basketball camp days, to being AAU teammates together in high school, and roommates right out of college and in each other’s weddings, and coaching our kids. This is the next evolution.”

Schlekeway and Malchow will co-host the podcast, providing South Dakota-centric basketball content throughout the hoops season. It will feature in-depth interviews, game analysis, and stories spanning the state’s rich basketball history. 

“South Dakota basketball is kind of a never-ending topic,” Malchow said. “You can branch from one thing to another and there’s always a story or always a relation with it. It was really, really easy to maybe choose some base content, to cover topics and guests.”

The podcast is believed to be the first of its kind in South Dakota, and the hosts will aim to provide coverage to all things South Dakota basketball — past, present and future. 

“We are adding to the options for a basketball hungry state and everybody knows basketball is king in South Dakota,” Schlekeway said.  

The State of Hoops Podcast episodes will be unveiled once a week (each Wednesday) during the primary basketball season months of December, January, February, and March. Additionally, new episodes of the State of Hoops Podcast will be unveiled two times per month (the first and third Wednesday of each month) during the shoulder season months of September, October, November, April, May, June, July, and August.

“It’s going to be all things South Dakota basketball,” Malchow said. “Probably with a heavier emphasis on high school and the history. But we will also talk about college basketball. We will look into if there’s connections in the pros.”

The hosts have a number of guests lined up for upcoming episodes, and they will be unveiled in the weeks ahead. But listeners can expect a number of highly-recognizable South Dakota basketball figures.  

“We really want to cover it from all angles,” Schlekeway said. “That’s athletes, that’s coaches, that’s administrators, that’s media personalities, that’s officials. Because South Dakota has a great story to tell.”

State of Hoops Podcast episodes will also feature the interactive segments “Chalk Talks”, “Give and Go”, “Show Out-Shout Out”, and a fan engagement favorite called “Bleacher Preachers”.

“It’s been a lot of fun just being able to choose some things and who knows where this branches off,” Malchow said. “We just want to be people friendly with it too and we’re willing to take ideas.”

The hosts are well-known basketball figures in the South Dakota hoops scene. Schlekeway, a Mobridge native, was the 1996 South Dakota co-Mr. Basketball and played basketball collegiately for five years at Northern State University and the University of Sioux Falls, respectively. 

Schlekeway’s father, Jim, was a long-time high school basketball coach that amassed 501 coaching wins. 

Malchow, an Aberdeen native, played college basketball for four years at St. Olaf College (Minn.) and Concordia College (Minn.), respectively. Malchow coached the Sioux Falls Washington High School girls basketball team to three state championships, and now serves as the school’s activities director. 

Malchow’s father, Tom, was a high school basketball standout at Aberdeen Central and led the Golden Eagles to the state title in 1961. He’s a member of the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame. 

While the hosts have strong basketball backgrounds, they’ve never produced a podcast. They’ve each been guests on podcasts, and Malchow has done media interviews during his coaching days. 

But hosting and developing a podcast was uncharted territory. Schlekeway researched podcast platforms, and lined up sponsors for the debut season.