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Buzz Moriarity, Missouri State Athletic Director 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

Cheating Revisited The ex-player who was accused of using stolen tests came in and testified to the administration that he did in fact get old tests for a course. But the professor for that course had totally restructured the curriculum and had handed the old tests out to the entire class saying that while the material covered in the tests would no longer be a part of the new curriculum, the questions on those tests covered issues that were worth the students being aware of. A subsequent discussion with the professor in question revealed that to be the case. Since no cheating was involved, Athletic Director Steve Forester went to the university’s administration and then to the American Athletic Conference and NCAA. All agreed that his decision to take away the scholarship could and should be vacated. Voila! We now have a scholarship to offer and it’s back to the drawing boards after losing 2 weeks of activity on the recruiting front. [i finally realized why there was no scholarship to offer earlier. I had two recruits on my international list but wasn’t doing much with them and seldom looked at that list. But I must have mistakenly clicked on “offer scholarship” to one of them. Since I was only looking at the National recruit list and not the International recruit list, I didn’t notice that a scholarship had been offered. When the international recruit decided to go to another school, the scholarship rightfully became available again. So no game error, but operator error.] With the scholarship back in place, we immediately make home visits to four players: #2 ranked SG Joe Asbury; #3 ranked C Donny Mims; #9 ranked PF Jeremy Harris; and #11 ranked C Andy Hamilton. We offer the scholarship to C Donny Mims. Two days later we find out that our scholarship offer has been accepted by: C Donny Mims, 6-8 Sr, New Milford, CT, 3.1 GPA. 23.5 ppg, 3.9 apg, 20.4 rpg, 2.2 spg, 3.1 bpg. Excellent scorer with a particularly devastating inside game, Outstanding rebounder, Great shot blocker who also gets his share of steals; Talented passer. Weak areas are ball handling and free throw shooting. While not a leader, he doesn’t cause problems. Was MVP at the Big Apple Showcase. 3rd highest ranked recruit in the nation. Overall rating: A. We stash away $35,000 for the car we offered and that he will get before he arrives on campus. Where did the other players to whom we offered bribes eventually go? #1 PF Andrew Thomas: Georgia Tech #9 PF Jeremy Harris: Arizona #11 C Andy Hamilton: Illinois #13 C Tanner Yeager: UCLA #15 PF Shryone Bell: Indiana #17 PF Bryan Kirkland: Kentucky #23 PF Maxey Nicholson: Arkansas

Erick McGadney, 1st Assistant Coach 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.

Norton Award Two of our freshmen, PG Isaac Wright and PG Morris Wolfe, were nominated for the Norton Award. While it’s great to have two of our players nominated, since they’re both PG’s that means that it will be tough to give both enough minutes to have much of a chance to really compete for the award. Especially when we have a 3rd freshman, Roy Field, who is a top-notch SG. We’ll see how the three freshman do, but if they all play as well as expected, maybe we can split time at the 2 guard positions between the three of them. But that means that PG Troy Cox and SG Georgiy Zolkin, both returning sophomores who probably each felt to be the heir apparent for their respective positions, are likely to be miffed. Also I wouldn’t be surprised if Roy Field isn’t disappointed not to have been a Norton Award nominee.

Top Delvon Washington, Eastern Washington Asst Coach 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.

Start of 2019-2020 Season: Ansel Adamson, Missouri State Asst AD 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.

Season 6 Recruiting Our incoming recruit class is rated as the 3rd best in the nation. Only Syracuse and Stanford were rated above us. None of our returning players transferred. Yes! We only have one scholarship to award this recruiting season. While we’re solid at all 5 positions, our depth up front is slightly less than at the perimeter. So we focus mostly on big guys. Recruiting throughout the summer goes extremely well. We quickly build strong interest in 7 of the top 10 recruits nationally and our success with those in the top 25 and top 50 is also solid. As we reach the time to offer our lone scholarship and do home visits, we have a dilemma. The number 1 and number 3 ranked recruits are pure studs, either of which we’d love to have on our team. But we also know that top 10 (and particularly top 5) recruits often declare for the draft after just spending a year in the college ranks. So do we want to go after one of the studs or do we want to go after a very strong big man who is ranked somewhere from 11 to 20 nationally and have a better chance of having him play for us for 4 years? Looking at the recruits who rate highest on our radar: #1 is a 6-7 PF who scores at will and totally dominates the boards. While we’re high on his list of top 10 schools, there are a couple schools ahead of us and prestige is of high importance to him, so we could be edged out by some of the more prestigious schools. We discuss offering a substantial bribe, but it’s hard to know if it will move us up or if he will be turned off by it. #3 is a 6-8 C who is a very strong scorer but an even more imposing presence on the boards. But while he is very interested in our program, we’re not cracking his top 10. Again, what would be the effect of offering a bribe? That’s further complicated by the fact that his family is very well off, so money likely won’t have as much weight in influencing him...or will it? #9 is a 6-8 PF who is a great scorer and while not in the class of the previous two recruits with respect to rebounding, still has top-notch rebounding skills. And we’re at the top of his list of schools in which he’s interested. Additionally his family is dirt-poor so if we were to offer a bribe it may cement the deal. #11 is a 6-7 PF who is very similar talent-wise to the #9 recruit (above). But his interest level in Memphis, while good, isn’t totally solid yet. Again though, his family is at the bottom of the economic spectrum, so a bribe might significantly increase our standing. #12 is a 6-8 C who is as good a scorer as #9 and #11 above and looks to be a bit better on the boards. His family is middle-class, so would a bribe positively or negatively affect his interest in us? #13 is a 6-8 C who is slightly below the skill level of #9, #11, and #12. But he’s still a very good player. His family is lower-middle class so he might welcome a bribe. #14 and #18 are both 6-6 PF’s and are pretty similar to #13 talent-wise. Both of their families are a little above middle class. #19 and #20 are also 6-6 PF’s with pretty equal skills to #13, #14, and #18. But we’re almost at the top of their lists of top 10 schools and their families are just a little below middle class. The #6 ranked recruit, a 6-8 PF, has excellent skills and he’s a great leader, but his grades are poor so we’ve ruled him out of consideration for now since he might not meet our minimum SAT scores. While we probably can’t go wrong with any of these players, some will have a bigger impact on our program, either immediate or long-term, than others. The more we compare these guys, the more confused we get. What to do? We decide that while a lot of the top recruits are very interested in our program, that it’s very difficult to beat out the big-time programs. So we decide to toss out a lot of bribes and see who bites and if that significantly moves us up their top 10 list to give us a chance of landing them after our home visits. So in late August we make the following moves: #1, PF Andrew Thomas—lower middle class family, he’s very interested in our program but we’re not in his top 10—offer a $20 campus apartment—he spurns our offer and interest in our program immediately drops to somewhat interested. #3, C Donny Mims—family is very well-off, he’s very interested in our program but we’re not in his top 10—offer a $35K car—he finds that tempting and says it will factor into his decision. No immediate perceived change in his interest level though. But by the next week we’re #1 on his top 10 list! #9, PF Jeremy Harris—family is very poor financially, we’re #5 in his top 10 list—offer $10K in cash—he finds that tempting and says it will factor into his decision. No immediate perceived change in his interest level though. #11 PF Shyrone Bell—family is very poor financially, he’s very interested in our program but we’re not in his top 10--$10K cash offer, but he’s offended by the offer. His interest in our program immediately drops to somewhat interested. #12 C Andy Hamilton—family is a little above middle class, he’s somewhat interested in our program but we’re not in his top 10—$10K cash offer--he finds that tempting and says it will factor into his decision. No immediate perceived change in his interest level though. His interest level in our program immediately improves to very interested. #13 C Tanner Yeager—family is lower-middle-class, he’s somewhat interested in our program but we’re not in his top 10--$10K cash offer-- he finds that tempting and says it will factor into his decision. No immediate perceived change in his interest level though. His interest level in our program immediately improves to very interested. #18 PF Bryan Kirkland—family is upper-middle-class, he’s somewhat interested in our program but we’re not in his top 10--$10K cash offer-- he finds that tempting and says it will factor into his decision. No immediate perceived change in his interest level though. His interest level in our program immediately improves to very interested. #19 PF Maxey Nicholson—family is lower-middle-class, we’re #5 in his top 10 list—offer $10K cash-- he finds that tempting and says it will factor into his decision. No immediate perceived change in his interest level though. By the next week we’re #1 on his top 10 list! [AARGGGHHHH!!!!! Even though we have a graduating senior (Jules Grant) who is on a scholarship, the recruiting screen now shows us with NO scholarships to offer and we can’t offer the one we scholarship that should become available after this season. ?????????? ] [is this some strange quirk within DDSCB? Maybe.] But....in order to work around this quirk for purposes of this dynasty report: Did the NCAA come down on us? No. Steve Forester, the AD, says that he discovered that one of our players (who has since graduated) got hold of some old tests and used them to jack his GPA up to avoid ineligibility. He’s concerned that the NCAA might decide to begin an investigation to determine the extent of the problem and whether any coaches or others in the AD department were responsible. Since Steve is aware that bribes are being offered and accepted, he is also afraid that if the NCAA begins investigating this cheating incident, that they might stumble onto the bribes also. So in an attempt to forestall this, he is imposing a university penalty (loss of one scholarship this coming season) to show the NCAA that we’re penalizing ourselves for this incident, even though it was a player who did the cheating of his own accord. So the hard work we did this season on recruiting goes down the toilet.

NOT for NCAA Eyes Here's a report providing information about each of the recruits Coach Bradbury has given scholarships to with their season-by-season stats. It also shows bribes that were taken by various players, thus Coach Bradbury and his staff have encrypted this to avoid it getting into the hands of the NCAA. Below the recruit information is a summary of the Memphis Tigers record and Coach Bradbury's record. Dynasty Threads:

Buzz Moriarity, Missouri State Athletic Director 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!"

End of Season Odds & Ends Awards: SG Austin Hunter—2nd Team All-American SG Austin Hunter—AAC Player of the Year C Jules Grant—AAC Defensive Player of the Year SG Austin Hunter—AAC 1st Team All-Conference PG Jared Keady—AAC 1st Team All-Conference C Kelvin Ross—AAC 2nd Team All-Conference Tom Brady—AAC Coach of the Year Season Review: We achieved 3 of our 4 goals: winning 20+ games, winning the conference tournament, and improving school prestige. The only goal we failed to achieve was winning the national championship. Our request for a budget increase was denied. A number of top-flight schools approached Coach Brady to take over the reigns for their programs, but he opted to remain at Memphis since the bribes he’s given might come back to haunt him. All 3 assistant coaches will remain on-board for next season. Incoming Recruits: SG Roy Field, 6-4 HS Sr, Sarasota, FL, 3.6 GPA, 1290 SAT. 27.1 ppg, 6.0 apg, 10.8 rpg, 7.4 spg, 3.6 bpg. Excellent scorer with sweet shooting from both inside and out; Strong rebounder; Outstanding ball thief and very good shot blocker; Great passer; Good athleticism; Not a leader but doesn’t cause problems; Talented player who could work harder; Top 25 at Indy Elite Camp; MVP at Memphis Hoops Summit. Ranked #5 with an overall rating of A. We’ve stashed away $10,000 for him when he arrives at campus. PG Morris Wolfe, 6-0 HS Sr, Maynardville, TN, 2.9 GPA, 1090 SAT. 25.2 ppg, 8.4 apg, 8.0 rpg, 5.7 spg, 3.5 bpg. Excellent scorer with a good shot from outside and inside; Excellent passer; Strong rebounder; Great defensively; Excellent at stealing the ball and a good shot blocker; Tremendous work ethic; Top 5 at Indy Elite Camp. Ranked #9 with overall rating of A. No bribe was offered. PG Isaac Wright, 6-0 HS Sr, Burbank, CA, 3.0 GPA, 1070 SAT. 24.0 ppg, 7.8 apg, 10.6 rpg. 2.9 spg, 2.1 bpg. Excellent scorer with great outside range; Excellent passer; Strong rebounder; Very good defensively; Good athleticism; Hard working kid with a tremendous work ethic; Not a leader but doesn’t cause problems; Doesn’t have many problems with injuries; Top 10 player at the Indy Elite Camp. Ranked #16 with an overall rating of A. Another $10,000 has been held aside for him when he gets here. SF Julian Blevins, 6-7 HS Sr, Whitwell, TN, 3.4 GPA, 1110 SAT. 16.9 ppg, 3.4 apg, 5.9 rpg, 1.6 spg, 2.0 bpg. Excellent scorer who can shoot well from both outside and inside; Strong athleticism; Weak rebounder; Hard working kid; Doesn’t have many problems with injuries; Decent, but not spectacular, showing at the Indy Elite Camp; Top 5 at the Memphis Hoop Summit. Ranked #69 with an overall rating of B. No bribe was offered.

Post-Season Tournaments 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

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

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Conclusion 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.)

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament—Round 1 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.

NCAA Tournament NCAA Selection Show: #1 seeds: Indiana, Oregon, Memphis, UCLA Connecticut is in a play-in game with Providence for a #12 seed Tulane also has a play-in game against Tennessee for a #12 seed Temple is a #9 seed in the Pittsburgh Regional and will play #8 seed Utah Memphis is a #1 seed in the Austin Regional and will play #16 seed Jacksonville State NCAA Tournament Play-in Games: Connecticut—78, Providence—74 (POG: SG Bobbie Harris, 27 pts) Tennessee—75, Tulane—71 NCAA Tournament Round 1: Temple—80, Utah—63 (POG: SG Anthony Smith, 23 pts) San Francisco—80, Connecticut—71 (SG Bobby Harris, 28 pts) Game #34, #16 seed Jacksonville State (19-11): We hold the lead throughout the first half and go to the break with a 36-22 lead. We expanded our lead to 20 after 4-1/2 minutes of play in the 2nd half. We roll to a 77-58 victory. PF Angelo Craft led our scoring with 18 points. Jared Keady dropped in 13 points, and Austin hunter and John Jones both added 12. (30-4) NCAA Tournament Round 2: Indiana—75, Temple—69 (SF Freddie Williams scored 22 points for Temple, but C Craig Davis scored 23 and pulled down 15 rebounds for Indiana). Game #35, #9 seed Butler (23-9): We hit two 3’s on our first two possessions and then after taking an 8-0 lead, we couldn’t buy a bucket, allowing Butler to tie us at 11-11. But then we scored 10 straight points. Butler made a couple runs but we came away with a 38-25 halftime lead, primarily due to an 11-4 turnover advantage. SF John Jones dropped in 13 points. Two minutes into the 2nd half we had a 20 point lead, but our big guys were in foul trouble. And that turned out to be our winning margin as we cruised to a 75-55 victory. We dominated the boards 37-25 and turned the ball over just 9 times compared to Butler’s 17 turnovers. SF John Jones scored 20 points, had 2 assists, pulled down 7 rebounds, and had 3 steals. SG Austin Hunter tossed in 15 points and PG Jared Keady added 12. (31-4) NCAA Tournament Sweet 16: Game #36, # 4 seed #23 ranked Duke (21-12): We beat Duke79-66 in the Coaches Classic at the beginning of the season but they won the ACC Tournament and have 4 players averaging in double figures. SG Austin Hunter picks ups 2 fouls in the first 3 minutes of the game. But we hit 52% of our shots in the first half to take a 42-37 lead to the locker room. We were led by our two PG’s with Jared Keady’s knocking down 12 points and Troy Cox drilling in every shot he took to score 9 points in 9 minutes of play. But 3 of our starters each had 2 fouls and a 4th starter picked up his 2nd foul 8 seconds into the 2nd half. The first part of the 2nd half was a horrible display of ugly basketball by both teams. Duke came on to take a 49-47 lead with 12-1/2 minutes to play. From there the lead flip flopped until the final 2 minutes when Duke moved ahead and led by 4 with 55 seconds remaining. We called a time out to set up a 3 for Austin Hunter. He had a contested shot but drilled the 3 to get us within a single point. Duke’s center drove the lane and was fouled with 23 seconds on the clock. He sunk both free throws. Another time out and this time we cleared out a 3 for Jared Keady who also hit his shot to tie the game with 12 seconds to go. We forced the ball into the corner where Duke had to put a desperation 3 that missed everything taking us to overtime knotted at 70-70. Halfway through the OT, we led 76-71 after Jared Keady hit a 3. We hit two more 3’s to pull ahead by 11 with a minute to go. And after a scare in the 2nd half, we drubbed the Blue Devils in OT for an 85-73 win. SG Austin Hunter came up big in the 2nd half and OT to finish with 25 points along with 7 rebounds. PG Jared Keady scored 16 and dished out 5 assists, and PG Troy Cox added 9. (32-4) NCAA Tournament Elite 8: Game #37, #10 seed Boston College (20-12): We outclassed BC in the first half and took a 47-33 lead to the intermission. C Jules Grant topped our scoring with 9 points. But Boston College cut our lead to 9 in the first 4 minutes of the 2nd half. We had to work but the Eagles worked harder and with 5-1/2 minutes to go our lead was down to 6 points. We held on to pull out an 82-72 victory. High point honors went to SG Austin Hunter with 16 points, but more impressively he had 9 assists, 7 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 blocks. PF Angelo Craft score 14, and C Jules Grant, PG Jared Keady, and C Kelvin Ross each scored 11 points. (33-4) NCAA Tournament Final 4: Game #38, #1 seed #5 ranked UCLA (28-7): We beat UCLA 93-78 in the Coaches Classic at the beginning of the season. Their SF Greg Wall is averaging 17.6 ppg. The game was extremely close the first 10 minutes, but then UCLA opened as much as an 8 point lead and finished the half ahead of us by a 35-28 score. We hit just 32% of our shots and were 0 for 11 from beyond the arc. SF John Jones led our scoring with 9 points. We fell behind by 13 points early in the 2nd half and midway through the half trailed 62-52. But we then put on a run that cut UCLA’s lead to 2 with 7-1/2 minutes to go. We then tied the game at 69-69 with 6:10 remaining. We then fell apart and UCLA caught fire and we went down to an 86-75 defeat. Our shooting failed us as we hit just 36% of our shots while UCLA knocked down 48% of theirs. SF John Jones was our top scorer with 20 points and he also had 2 assists, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and a block. SG Austin Hunter scored 17. C Kelvin Ross had 14 points plus 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks. PF Angelo Craft added 12. But the star of the game was UCLA’s PG Ross Smiley who scored 31 points and saddled both of our PG’s (Jared Keady and Troy Cox) with 4 fouls apiece. For the 2nd straight year we lost in the semi-finals and for the 2nd straight year we lost to the national champs. (33-5) NCAA Championship Game: It was all Pac-12 with UCLA knocking off Oregon 69-54 to take the championship.

Season 5 Memphis Tigers Player Stats

American Athletic Association Tournament—Championship Game #33, Mar. 12, 2018, Tulane (20-9, 12-6): We fell behind 6-0. Before 5 minutes had expired we trailed 14-6 and all 5 of our starters had been called for a foul. But with 11-1/2 minutes to go in the half, we took an 18-17 lead following 2 consecutive 3’s by Austin Hunter. The refs took the game out of the hands of the players as they continuously blew their whistles. We escaped with a 36-32 halftime lead. Austin Hunter led our scoring with 10 points. We continued to lead throughout the 2nd half and with 6-1/2 minutes to go took a double digit lead. We then held off the Green Wave to win 75-68 and become conference champions. SG Austin Hunter was top scorer with 19 points. C Kelvin Ross put in 15 points, and PG Jared Keady added 12. (29-4, Ranked #3 in the polls, RPI: 3)

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament—Play in Games 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.)

Mike Martin, 2nd Assistant Coach Here's the Final Standings for the Missouri Valley Conference for the 2018-2019 season: At first blush it looks pretty good. We tied for 3rd place! But...those last two losses really hurt. While we tied for 3rd place, the MVC's tie breaker system put us at the bottom of the 4 teams that tied for 3rd place. That means we’re the 6th seed for the MVC Tournament. And our RPI is now 5th best in the MVC. If we are to make the NCAA Tournament, I think we will HAVE to win the MVC Tourney.

Steve Piersall, KSMO TV sports anchor What’s up with the Missouri State Bears? They played like zombies in their last two games. They shot like they had no idea where the basket was located, failed to pound the boards, and turned the ball over like it was a hot potato. Coach Bret Vandergard seems to have no idea how to get this team firing on all cylinders. While there is no doubt the team is better than before he came, his vaunted prowess has been tarnished by his inability to get the team playing with any consistency. It’s time for the athletic department to start considering a replacement. This time find a coach who knows how to motivate his players!

American Athletic Association Tournament—Round 2 Tulane—81, Temple—53 (POG: PG Mac Olson, Tulane-22 pts and 8 assists) Game #32, Mar. 11, 2018, Houston (14-16, 9-9): We pull away early and finish the first half with a 40-29 lead. PG Jared Keady again has a big first half, hitting for 13 points. We open a 20 point lead with 15-1/2 minutes left in the game. 3 minutes later we were up by 30. We let the Cougars come back a little but were never threatened and topped Houston 80-63 to advance to the championship game. We totally dominated the boards 45-22. C Kelvin Ross had a big game with 18 points and 12 rebounds. PG Jared Keady also scored 18. SF John Jones had 12 points and 9 boards. While SG Austin Hunter had an uncharacteristically low scoring night with 3 points, he dished out 8 assists and pulled down 7 rebounds. (28-4)

Buddy and Brenda Portman, Branson entertainers Game #28, Feb. 25, 2019: Indiana State Sycamores (12-14, 7-10) at Missouri State Bears (17-10, 10-7) Whooo Hooo! It’s like a big party here at JQH Arena tonight. The university is putting on its version of Mardi Gras and its extended to the game tonight. We had plenty of drinks with dinner before coming to the game so the atmosphere here is just right for us. We brought some of cast and crew with us tonight, so we’re all whooping it up and probably making big asses of ourselves. We’re hoping to see the Bears whip these guys from Indiana. Due to our performance schedule, getting to the conference tournament games will be difficult, so this may be the last game we see this season. Alexei Koramatsov came by and said he could get in a bet for us, but we declined since we’re sort of buzzed. Damn…4-1/2 minutes into the game and the Bears haven’t scored yet and trail 9-0. They better get at it soon or they’re gonna dampen the party atmosphere mighty fast. Twelve minutes into the half and the Sycamores have a 25-5 lead and the Bears have already turned the ball over 10 times. The first half ends with the Bears trailing 36-22. While they finally started scoring toward the end of the half, they just played horribly, allowing Indiana State to hit 58% of their shots and turning the ball over 12 times. Kenneth Grandison and Donte Hartfield led their scoring with 5 points apiece. That was so bad, we went out to our car and downed a few more drinks during halftime. Things don’t start any better in the 2nd half. With 15-1/2 minutes to play the Bears are down 49-24. With 8 minutes left, the Bears had only closed the score a little, trailing 57-39. This game was a downer the entire way and definitely took the air outta the party. A terrible home loss. Final Score: Indiana State—69, Missouri State (17-11, 10-8, 3rd place tie)—50 Leading players for Missouri State: SG Brent Gregory-18 pts, 3 assists, 3 reb, 1 steal; PF Ricky Lee-10 pts, 1 assist, 2 reb, 2 steals; PF Kenneth Grandison-9 pts, 1 reb, 1 steal. Player of the Game: Indiana State’s C Jared Cox-12 pts, 3 assists. 9 reb, 4 steals. Others for Indiana State: SG Charles Stoa-18 pts. Injury: PG Terrence Simmons went down hard toward the end of the game and sustained a concussion. Fortunately we have over a week off before our next game and he should be ready to play by that time.

AAC Tourney American Athletic Association Tournament—Play in Games Central Florida—61, South Florida—43 (POG: SG Josh Zimmerman, Central Florida-16 pts) Cincinnati—67, SMU—60 (POG: SG Kevin Martin, Cincinnati-20 pts) American Athletic Association Tournament—Round 1 Temple—74, Central Florida—51 (POG: SF Freddie Williams, Temple-17 pts) Tulane—74, Tulsa—48 (POG: C Frank Rivera, Tulane-23 pts) Houston—71, Connecticut—60 (POG: C Jeff Hinton, Houston-12 pts, 8 reb) Game #31, Mar. 10, 2018, Cincinnati (8-20, 4-14): Although we held a small lead throughout most of the first half, the Bearcats hung with us. We held a slim 36-33 edge at the break. PG Jared Keady led our scoring with 11 points. After 6 minutes of the 2nd half we had opened a 10 point lead and then with 9 minutes left in the game we jumped out on top by 20 points. We didn’t let the Bearcats come back and came away with an 84-66 win by outshooting Cincinnati 51% to 40% and controlling the boards 34-22. PG Jared Keady tossed in 20 points. SG Austin Hunter scored 13 while dishing out 5 assists and pulling down 8 boards. C Jules Grant finished with 12 points, 1 assist, 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 block. PF Angelo Craft and PG Troy Cox both scored 8 points. (27-4)

Tyson Rodero, play-by-play announcer for KSMO radio Game #27, Feb. 22, 2019: Missouri State Bears (17-9, 10-6) at Bradley Braves (11-15, 8-8) Play-by-play excerpts: Hey Bears fans, this is Tyson Rodero bringing you Missouri State basketball! Tonight the Bears take on a tough foe on the road. This is a big game for Missouri State since a win will give them sole possession of second place in the Missouri Valley Conference since Drake has already lost their game earlier today. While the Bears easily beat the Braves when playing in Springfield earlier this year, Bradley has been tough at home while the Bears have not done all that well when playing away. Unfortunately the Bears’ starting PG, Bart McCain still is not 100%, but he is suited up tonight and may see limited time on the court even though he’s not in the starting lineup. But Bradley’s starting SG Adam Ross has been nursing a sore back. The Braves have him starting again though. Ross, along with PG Khalid Hawkins and reserve big man, Michael Whitworth are the mainstays of Bradley’s offense. ***** Ouch! That foul was assessed against Ricky Lee, so not only does Bradley’s Nick Williams drop in the basket and go to the line with a 3-point chance, Lee goes to the bench with 2 fouls after just 3 minutes of play. Kenneth Grandison comes in to replace Lee. Williams toes the line but misses the shot so Bradley leads 9-6. ***** Oh, Hawkins hits a his second 3 to put the Braves on top 15-6. ***** Grandison hits a reverse layup. That’s 6 straight points for the Bears who cut Bradley’s lead to 15-12. ***** Another foul against the Bears. Bart McCain returns to the court after missing 3 games. Let’s see if he can shake the rust off. ***** That’s the 4th blocked shot by the Braves who quickly bring the ball up court and Whitworth makes them pay by putting in a 10 footer to make increase their lead to 28-17 with 8 minutes left in the first half. ***** Another offensive rebound by Bradley. Mason puts the ball back up and scores making it 32-23. ***** Another miss. The Bears shooting in the last 10 minutes has been atrocious. That taken together with their ineffectiveness on the boards and their propensity to turn over the ball makes it unsurprising that they trail by 13. Vandergard doesn’t seem to be able to put the right combination on the court. ***** OK, the buzzer sounds ending the first half with the Bears behind by a 42-26 score. The Bears hit 39% of their shots, were a minus 8 in rebounds and had 10 turnovers. Kenneth Grandison and Brent Gregory topped the Bears’ scoring with 6 points each. Bradley’s Khalid Hawkins topped all scorers with 10 points. ***** We’re nearly to the midway mark of the 2nd half, and with Simmons two free throws, the Bears finally cut the lead to 10 points, but they have yet to show an ability to make an extended run to get back into this game. ***** Missouri State’s shooting woes continue. That miss makes them 0 for 11 on three point attempts. ***** Gregory takes the pass and puts up a shot over his defender. It drops for 3 points to cut Bradley’s lead to 59-56 with 4 minutes left in the game. ***** Hawkins sneaks inside and puts up a tough shot around Simmons. The shots drops and he’s fouled with 2:29 remaining. His free throw gives him 20 points and makes it 65- ***** That’s it…game over. The Bears go down in defeat and stay tied for 2nd place. Not a lot of difference in team stats, but just enough of an edge for the Braves in most all categories to keep Missouri State from being able to pull out the win. Final Score: Bradley—71, Missouri State (17-10, 10-7, 2nd place tie)—62. Leading players for Missouri State: SG Brent Gregory-17 pts, 2 reb, 1 assist; PG Terrence Simmons-13 pts, 2 assists, 2 reb; PF Kenneth Grandison-9 pts, 2 reb, 1 steal. Player of the Game: Bradley’s SG Adam Ross-16 pts, 4 assists, 6 reb, 2 steals, 3 blocks. Also for Bradley: PG Khalid Hawkins-20 pts. Post Game interview of Coach Bret Vandegard by Tyson Rodero: TR: Tough loss tonight, Coach. BV: Every loss is a tough one, but yeah, we had a chance to win this game but just couldn’t make a final push. TR: Do you think that not having Bart McCain playing at the top of his game was the difference? BV: Bart did OK, and Terrence (Simmons) came on strong at the point, so no, I don’t think that was the reason we lost. Our shooting was off. We need to hit more than 42% of our shots to have a chance. TR: What did you think of Bradley’s guards? BV: 36 points between the two of them speaks volumes. Gotta tip my hat to both of them. They fought all the way through the game. TR: Your final game of the regular season is this Saturday at home against Indiana State. Think there’s any chance to take sole possession of 2nd place in the conference? BV: Anything is possible. But let’s be realistic, both Drake and Northern Iowa have home games also. Plus our opponent, Indiana State, whipped our butts in our earlier game this season against them. So, the main thing is for us to focus on revenging that embarrassing defeat, then go to the conference tourney with the aim to knock off each opponent we take on to become tournament champs and get to the Big Dance. TR: Thanks, Coach. We’re behind you on that one.

Meaghan Kriley, KSMO TV News Anchor My investigation into Alexei Koramatsov continues on its private course. Doing this on my own, without the backing of the TV station, makes things more difficult plus means I have to tread lightly to get myself in trouble with the station. I now am certain that he’s a gambler but am having trouble nailing down if it goes further than being a personal vice. The mere fact that he personally is into high stakes gambling worries me about his contact with Bret. But before I can say anything to Bret, I have to fully understand the scope of his gambling activity and have my information rock solid. Otherwise since he and Bret have become good friends, I fear that Bret might become defensive and be unwilling to accept what I have to say.