WhoÂ’s Bret Vandergard and whatÂ’s he done for us lately?

[PointGuard]

Indiana State—77, Illinois State—63 (Indiana State led throughout the game. SG Charles Stoa led Indiana State with 19 points. PG John Gresham scored 30 points for Illinois State’s losing effort.)

Evansville-77, Wichita State—65 (Wichita State jumped out to an 8 point lead but by the half, Evansville led by 9 and wasn’t seriously challenged in the 2nd half. C Brian Covert scored 20 for Evansville.)

[PointGuard]

Southern Illinois—70, Evansville-58 (Southern Illinois came out of the 1st half with a slim 3 point lead, but took control early in the 2nd half and coasted to a win. SF Brian Biggs led the Salukis with 21 points.)

Indiana State—67, Northern Iowa—56 (This was a game of two distinctly different halves. Northern Iowa was in control in the first half, but the 2nd half was an entirely different affair with Indiana State taking over in the 2nd half and winning going away. C Jared Cox and PF Albert Massiah both scored 10 points to lead Indiana State.)

Drake—66, Loyola-Chicago—53 (Drake’s defense squelched the Ramblers in the first half and they extended their lead in the 2nd half. Reserve C Dupree Weathers scored 18 points in 17 minutes on the court.)

Paris George, 3rd Assistant Coach

Game #29, Mar. 4, 2019: Missouri State Bears (17-11, 10-8) vs Bradley Braves (13-15, 10-8)

During the season, home court prevailed as each team when playing at home beat the other team. Since this game is on a neutral court, may the best team win! In our win, our defense was stellar. We’d like to repeat that effort. In Bradley’s win, their two starting guards, PG Khalid Hawkins and SG Adam Ross, burned us for a combined 36 points. So we need to keep those two in control.

Both teams are tight early, but the refs came to use their whistles against both teams. While we held a small lead throughout a good portion of the first half, Bradley came back to take the lead with about 5 minutes to go and held it until we moved ahead in the final moments of the half to leave the floor with a 37-33 advantage. C Marquis Hollins scored 10 points to lead us offensively.

We continued to hold a small edge in the 2nd half, but could not pull away. With just under 8 minutes to go we were up 48-46. But then the roof caved in and Bradley scored 7 unanswered points. We then clawed our way back to cut their lead to 55-54 with 3:40 to go. Our shooting, which had been poor the whole second half continued to be our Achilles heel. Bradley hit a 3 with a little over 2 minutes remaining to take a 59-54 lead. The Braves knocked down a 3 from the corner with 40 seconds left to go up by 8 points. We crashed and burned in the 2nd half by hitting less than 20% of our shots and finishing the game with a woeful 31% from the field for the entire game. We thus let a game we had in our hands slip away.

Final Score: Bradley—64, Missouri State (17-12)—55.

Leading players for Missouri State: SG Brent Gregory-15 pts, 3 reb; C Marquis Hollins-12 pts, 6 reb, 1 steal; PF Ricky Lee-9 pts, 2 assists, 3 reb.

Player of the Game: Bradley’s PG Khalid Hawkins-18 pts, 2 assists, 5 reb, 1 steal.

So, out of the conference tournament, and with an RPI of 117, we can only await to see if we get into one of the lesser post-season tournaments.

[PointGuard]

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament—Round 2

Southern Illinois—56, Drake—42 (Southern Illinois stopped Drake with a sound defense that held Drake’s shooting to 32% and forced the Bulldogs to turn the ball over 22 times. PF Cliff Thorne was the Player of the Game for the Salukis with 9 points and 9 rebounds as no one on the Southern Illinois team scored in double figures.)

Indiana State—65, Bradley—53 (Indiana State jumped out on top and never looked back. But the Sycamores actually won the game by getting to the foul line 13 more times where they scored 14 more points than the Braves. SG Charles Stoa topped Indiana State’s scoring with 18 points.)

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament—Championship

Southern Illinois—58, Indiana State-47 (Another strong defensive effort by the Salukis brought them the championship. Not only did they limit the Sycamores shooting to 38%, but they forced 25 turnovers on Indiana State. PG Jamie Mueller was the leading scorer for Southern Illinois with 15 points, but sub PF Alvin Webb scored 12 points and pulled down 8 rebounds plus had 5 steals to win Player of the Game honors.)

[PointGuard]

Here's the player stats for the Missouri State Bears for the 2018-2019 season:

[PointGuard]

NCAA Selection Show:

#1 seeds: Syracuse, Florida, North Carolina, Duke
Southern Illinois is a #13 seed in the Indianapolis Regional and will play #4 seed UCLA

NIT:

Drake is the #5 seed in the East and will play #4 seed Tulsa
Eastern Washington is the #5 seed in the South and will play #4 seed Idaho

CBI:

Northern Iowa is the #8 seed in the East and will play #1 seed Lipscomb
Loyola-Chicago is the #4 seed in the East and will play #5 seed New Mexico State

So we miss out on getting any of the tournaments.

NIT Tournament Round 1:

Tulsa—69, Drake—64 (Drake played tough but was behind by a small margin throughout most of the game. PF Kevin Jackson scored 19 points to lead Drake’s offense.)

Eastern Washington—61, Idaho—55.

NIT Tournament Round 2:

Eastern Washington—66, George Mason—48

NIT Tournament Round 3:

Eastern Washington—58, Michigan—43

NIT Tournament Semi-Finals:

Oklahoma—62, Eastern Washington—59

NIT Championship:

Louisiana Tech—78, Oklahoma--63

CBI Tournament Round 1:

Northern Iowa—73, Lipscomb—67 (In a game that was close throughout, Northern Iowa pulled away enough late in the game by outshooting Lipscomb. SG Edwin Walton had high point honors with 17 points.)

New Mexico State—77, Loyola-Chicago—69 (Loyola-Chicago led early in the game but then the Aggies gradually asserted control as the refs piled up fouls against the Ramblers awarding 27 more free throws to New Mexico State where they outscored Loyola-Chicago by 19 points. In other words, Loyola-Chicago wuz robbed. SG Andre Arnold was high point man for the Ramblers with 12 points.)

CBI Tournament Round 2:

Northern Iowa—74, New Mexico State—64 (Northern Iowa revenged Loyola-Chicago’s loss to New Mexico State by controlling the boards 33-20. PF Edwin Walton had a phenomenal game for Northern Iowa, scoring 32 points.)

CBI Tournament Semi-Final:

Northern Iowa—67, Florida Atlantic—64 (This game had 24 lead changes and 13 ties. Northern Iowa pulled out the win by out-shooting Florida Atlantic 46% to 39%. SG Edwin Walton scored 18 points for Northern Iowa.

CBI Tournament Championship:

Northern Iowa—68, Southern Methodist-60 (Northern Iowa led from the outset and built as much as a 19 point lead, then held on to win the Championship. PG Ronnie Towns came off the bench to score 18 points to lead Northern Iowa’s offense.)

NCAA Round 1:

UCLA—69, Southern Illinois—55 (While the Salukis were out-classed by the Bruins, Southern Illinois hung in to keep the game somewhat competitive. PG Jamie Mueller was Southern Illinois’ top scorer with 14 points, but C Jamar Peterson scored 20 and hauled in 11 rebounds to lead UCLA.)

NCAA Semi-Finals:

Indiana—64, North Carolina State-59
Cincinnati—64, Arizona—66

NCAA Championship:

Cincinnati—64, Indiana—54

[PointGuard]

The Missouri Valley Conference awards came out. While we garnered only one award, it was a well-deserved one:

Brent Gregory—1st Team All-Conference

I'm glad Brent will be back for another year.

Several schools called to inquire if they could interview Coach Vandergard for positions, but he said he preferred to stay here and try to take the next step in improving the team. Coach V met his goals this year, but I want him to improve school prestige next year from its present state (30).

He requests a facilities upgrade for a second straight year. But again Jerome Nevins, a major benefactor for out athletic department, expresses some concerns since the team didn’t impress in conference play, failed in the conference tournament, and didn’t get to a post-season tournament. While there was overall improvement, it wasn’t enough for Nevins, so he again withheld funding. Therefore, no facilities improvements this year.

Coach V and Erick McGadney, his first assistant, are bringing in some excellent incoming recruits for next season, who should give us some good depth at the guard positions:

SG Kareem Masiello, 6-2 HS Sr, Marysville, KS, 3.9 GPA, 1180 SAT. 20.9 ppg, 4.6 apg, 8.5 rpg, 2.8 spg, 4.6 bpg. Outstanding scorer with an excellent shot from outside, Great passer, Very strong rebounder and shot blocker. Hard working kid who’s not a leader but doesn’t cause problems either. Ranked #25 in the nation. Overall rating: A.

PG Matt Lewis, 6-1 HS Sr, Peoria, IL, 2.9 GPA, 1010 SAT. 14.0 ppg, 5.8 apg, 5.8 rpg, 3.0 spg, 1.1 bpg. Great outside shot and very good scorer, Excellent passer and very good ball handler, Strong defender, adroit at making steals, very good athleticism. Tremendous work ethic. Not a leader but doesn’t cause problems. Has had some recurring injuries. Ranked #653 in the nation. Overall rating: C.

Paris George, 3rd Assistant Coach, stopped by to chat and said: "Buzz, with just a year left on my contract, I was getting nervous about job security. But Coach V met with me and his offer of a 2 year extension for a little higher salary was gratifying so I jumped at the opportunity. Thanks for approving it. It's going to be good to have our staff remaining intact for the upcoming year."

My response: "Yes, I think the stability within the coaching staff will be a big plus. Coach V has repeatedly said he has been pleased with what you've done thus far and he looks forward to working with you to develop players further next season. So I'm glad you decided to remain with us, Paris. Now let's see how far this team can go next season!"

[PointGuard]

I’m overseeing the Athletic Department budget and am concerned that Coach V decided to purchase the Gold Report for the Great Plains Region this year. That’s a huge increase over what we’ve done previously and cuts the basketball recruiting budget nearly in half. I argued against it, but Coach V took his case to Buzz and I was overridden. Fortunately we only have 2 graduating scholarship players this coming year. After getting a top 25 recruit last season, I think Coach V wants to repeat that this coming season, so he’s pulling out all the stops. But there is no wiggle room in the overall Athletic Department budget, so Coach V better carefully manage his remaining recruiting budget since there will be no supplemental funds allotted.

Then in June, a bomb is dropped when PF Jimmy Woni decides to transfer. We tried talking him out of it, but he was unhappy that he got so little playing time last season. Coach V was particularly disappointed since Woni appeared to make some big strides in his skills late in the season to the point where he could have challenged for a starting role this coming year.

Now the recruiting budget is even tighter since there will be 3 scholarships to fill. It looks like there are some good players in the transfer pool, so Coach V may decide to try filling the scholarship void left by Woni’s departure with a transfer player.

Coach V attracts two SF’s early in the transfer season and quickly hauls in Quin Bruton, a transfer from Michigan State. Bruton is a 6-7 junior with a sweet outside shot. When he was a high school senior, he was ranked #23 in the nation. He played little as a freshman at Michigan State, but got into every game as a sophomore, averaging about 11 mpg and 4 ppg, but hit a very high percentage of his shots, particularly from 3 point range. But he fell into serious problems with his grades this past season, so we’re going to have to work hard to raise his GPA this coming season, which as a transfer, he has to sit out of action on the court. With Quintin Asbury being our only SF and graduating after this coming season, Bruton hopefully will be able to take over as the starting SF in his final two years of eligibility.

Jimmy Woni gets picked up by the Chattanooga Mocs of the Southern Conference.

Fortunately for our dwindling budget, Coach V opts for minimal travel to summer camps. He’ll only attend the Houston Classic.

[PointGuard]

I got a call from Coach Bret Vandergard tonight following the completion of the Pro Draft. During Coach V’s last season at Eastern Washington, I was his recruiting assistant. We pulled in two top-notch JC players just a couple weeks before Coach V got upset with the lack of support from the athletic department and left to take over the reins at Missouri State.

Coach V congratulated me since both of those JC recruits were selected in the Pro Draft after finishing their college careers a few months ago. PG Quintin Brown was the 50th player selected and C Adam Stevenson was the 55th player selected. Having two players selected in the draft is quite an accomplishment for Eastern Washington basketball. Coach V said he would really have liked to have seen them develop and then said he could really have used them at Missouri State the past two years.

I told Coach V that I was in the process of interviewing for two head coaching jobs, one at an NAIA college (Evergreen State College) and the other at a Division II school (Seattle Pacific University). He wished me luck, said he thought I'd be a heckuva good head coach, and told me to feel free to use him as a reference.

[PointGuard]

We took a shotgun approach early in the recruiting season. Since we aren’t in desperate need at any position, we don’t feel constrained to seriously go after recruits for the two positions that the graduating seniors play. Therefore, we focused on players at all 5 positions, based purely on their capabilities and potential. We’ll let the chips fall where they may. I think if he had his druthers, Coach V would like to recruit a PG and a big man this year, though. At this point we’re not straying out of the Great Plains region.

After landing a top 25 recruit last year, the expectations by the alumni are very high. That resulted in our recruiting for last year being rated as the 20th best in the nation!

But our program and our reputation aren’t strong enough to routinely accomplish that. I think it’s more important to find two recruits with the potential to grow into solid starting players by their sophomore or junior year.

As summer and fall recruiting proceeded, we made slow progress toward getting recruits interested in our program and our school. In September we had two guards spurn our scholarship offers, one choosing Oklahoma and the other Temple. At the end of September we get two to accept our scholarship offers:

PF Pete Diame, 6-7 HS Sr from Anadarko, OK. 3.2 GPA. 15.3 ppg, 1.6 apg, 7.5 rpg, 1.3 spg, and 2.9 bpg last season as a junior. An effective inside shooter and scorer. A very good rebounder and shot blocker with good athleticism. A significant factor in our choosing him was that he’s a great leader on and off the court. Ranked #303 nationally with an overall B rating.

PG Albert Hunter, 6-3 HS Sr from Columbia, MO. 3.1 GPA 16.2 ppg, 3.4 apg, 3.5 rpg, 1.6 spg, 0.4 bpg last season as a junior. Excellent outside shooter who scores well. Very good ball handler and strong defender. While not a leader, he doesn’t cause problems. Ranked #679 nationally with an overall rating of C.

So, two solid players who will take time to develop and aren’t likely to be big stars, but we just didn’t have the muscle to snag top-flight players.

[PointGuard]

I’m not happy with my efforts at creating this year’s schedule, but other programs aren’t jumping at the chance to play us.

When I show Bret the schedule he’s less than enthusiastic also. 6 of the 9 pre-conference games will be on the road. Bret’s Washington ties did allow us to get Washington State to come here for our season opener. We’re taking on a tough Louisville squad in Louisville. Otherwise our away games are against teams that are unlikely to inspire our team or spark interest among our fans. Bret’s parting comment, “Wins against these teams on the road won’t do much for our RPI and playing 2/3 of our games on the road makes it tough to post a good record before we go into conference play.”

WASHINGTON STATE
@ Maryland Eastern Shore
SOUTH CAROLINA
@ Louisville
@ Oakland
USC
@ Wofford
@ Hartfield
@ Niagara