The Jeremy Knight Experience v2.0 [Hoops Dynasty]

WarEagle22 · July 21, 2015

NCAA TOURNAMENT

DIVISION III

FIRST ROUND

MIDWEST

[1] Dallas 86, [16] Johns Hopkins 46

[8] Chowan College 92, [9] Hampden-Sydney 88

[5] Union College 84, [12] Lebanon Valley 80

[4] Augustana College 88, [13] Marietta College 74

[11] Fitchburg State 96, [6] St. Norbert 95 (OT)

[3] Wisconsin-Stevens Point 98, [14] Geneseo 67

[7] Menlo College 93, [10] Shenandoah 78

[2] William Patterson 67, [15] Upper Iowa 65

EAST

[1] Howard Payne 68, [16] Concordia-Moorhead 53

[9] Southwestern 91, [8] Bethany College 81

[12] Anderson 78, [5] Misericordia 62

[13] Westminster (MO) 63, [4] Catholic 61

[6] Ozarks 72, [11] Brooklyn College 62

[3] Greensboro College 93, [14] Olivet College 41

[10] Vassar College 75, [7] Moravian College 52

[2] Colorado College 89, [15] Ohio Wesleyan 53

SOUTH

[1] Wisconsin-Stout 114, [16] Trinity College 73

[9] Lewis and Clark 68, [8] Yeshiva 58

[12] Texas-Tyler 91, [5] Sewanee 83

[4] Oglethorpe 83, [13] Philadelphia Biblical 62

[11] Clarkson 67, [6] Mary Hardin-Baylor 61

[3] Utica College 88, [14] Casleton State 73

[7] Wisconsin Lutheran 64, [10] City College of New York 50

[2] Chestnut Hill 103, [15] Capital 80

WEST

[1] Centre College 74, [16] Southern Vermont 68

[8] Wilkes 83, [9] Oneonta 71

[5] Lakeland College 67, [12] St. Mary’s 60

[13] Concordia-Austin 75, [4] California Tech 59

[11] Rochester Tech 63, [6] Ramapo College 53

[3] Neumann College 76, [14] Williamette 62

[7] Heidelberg 70, [10] Endicott College 65

[2] La Grange College 74, [15] Massachusetts Liberal Arts 58

SECOND ROUND

MIDWEST

[1] Dallas 105, [8] Chowan College 84

[4] Augustana College 106, [5] Union College 80

[3] Wisconsin-Stevens Point 98, [11] Fitchburg State 52

[2] William Patterson 103, [7] Menlo College 83

EAST

[1] Howard Payne 79, [9] Southwestern 69 (OT)

[13] Westminster (MO) 72, [12] Anderson 61

[3] Greensboro College 89, [6] Ozarks 62

[2] Colorado College 70, [10] Vassar College 66 (OT)

SOUTH

[1] Wisconsin-Stout 80, [9] Lewis and Clark 64

[12] Texas-Tyler 88, [4] Oglethorpe 84

[3] Utica College 90, [11] Clarkson 60

[7] Wisconsin Lutheran 71, [2] Chestnut Hill 68

WEST

[1] Centre College 80, [8] Wilkes 77

[5] Lakeland College 65, [13] Concordia-Austin 48

[11] Rochester Tech 72, [3] Neumann College 69

[2] La Grange College 63, [7] Heidelberg 57

SWEET SIXTEEN

MIDWEST

[1] Dallas 71, [4] Augustana College 67

[3] Wisconsin-Stevens Point 118, [2] William Patterson 81

EAST

[1] Howard Payne 79, [13] Westminster (MO) 70 (OT)

[2] Colorado College 78, [3] Greensboro College 57

SOUTH

[12] Texas-Tyler 83, [1] Wisconsin-Stout 80

[3] Utica College 75, [7] Wisconsin Lutheran 67

WEST

[5] Lakeland College 70, [1] Centre College 58

[11] Rochester Tech 66, [2] La Grange College 65

ELITE EIGHT

MIDWEST

[3] Wisconsin-Stevens Point 83, [1] Dallas 74 (OT)

EAST

[1] Howard Payne 63, [2] Colorado College 58

SOUTH

[3] Utica College 104, [12] Texas-Tyler 85

WEST

[5] Lakeland College 58, [11] Rochester Tech 56

FINAL FOUR

[3] Wisconsin-Stevens Point 85, [1] Howard Payne 78 (OT)

[3] Utica College 78, [5] Lakeland College 63

CHAMPIONSHIP

[3] Wisconsin-Stevens Point 115, [3] Utica College 85

NCAA TOURNAMENT

DIVISION II

FIRST ROUND

MIDWEST

[1] Tarleton State 61, [16] Fort Valley State 46

[8] Cal State-Santa Barbara 66, [9] Florida Southern 57

[5] Indianapolis 71, [12] Ouachita Baptist 64

[4] Merrimack College 68, [13] North Dakota State 51

[6] West Texas A&M 101, [11] Western Oregon 91

[3] Cal State-Chico 79, [14] Lake Superior State 63

[7] LIU-CW Post 66, [10] West Florida 57

[2] Colorado School of Mines 81, [15] Post 57

EAST

[1] Northwest Nazarene 85, [16] San Francisco State 60

[8] Bowie State 80, [9] Fort Hays State 57

[12] Wisconsin-Parkside 62, [5] Delta State 57

[13] Catawba College 88, [4] Southeast Oklahoma State 68

[6] Philadelphia 56, [11] USC-Upstate 55

[3] Wayne State (MI) 87, [14] Central Oklahoma 83

[7] Grand Canyon 73, [10] Southwest Minnesota State 69

[2] Mercyhurst College 72, [15] Alaska-Fairbanks 65

SOUTH

[1] New Jersey Tech 61, [16] Findlay 60

[9] Salem International 92, [8] Mount Olive 75

[5] Eastern New Mexico 102, [12] Armstrong Atlantic State 86

[13] Arkansas-Monticello 77, [4] Southwest Baptist 69

[11] Hillsdale College 58, [6] Quincy 53

[3] Cal Poly-Pomona 106, [14] Molloy College 79

[7] Chaminade 74, [10] Rollins College 60

[2] Southern New Hampshire 73, [15] Clarion 66

WEST

[1] UNC-Pembroke 80, [16] California-San Diego 70

[8] Oakland City 64, [9] Northern Kentucky 57

[12] Angelo State 108, [5] St. Paul’s College 94

[4] Limestone College 75, [13] Seattle 66

[6] Cal State-Los Angeles 86, [11] Minnesota State-Moorhead 61

[14] Charleston 46, [3] Midwestern State 43

[10] St. Michael’s 68, [7] Western State 59

[15] Felician College 70, [2] Green Mountain 65

SECOND ROUND

MIDWEST

[1] Tarleton State 77, [8] Cal State-Santa Barbara 68 (OT)

[4] Merrimack College 62, [5] Indianapolis 60

[3] Cal State-Chico 90, [6] West Texas A&M 86

[2] Colorado School of Mines 80, [7] LIU-CW Post 76

EAST

[1] Northwest Nazarene 98, [8] Bowie State 79

[12] Wisconsin-Parkside 65, [13] Catawba College 52

[6] Philadelphia 70, [3] Wayne State (MI) 69 (OT)

[2] Mercyhurst College 86, [7] Grand Canyon 70

SOUTH

[1] New Jersey Tech 79, [9] Salem International 61

[5] Eastern New Mexico 79, [13] Arkansas-Monticello 73

[3] Cal Poly-Pomona 76, [11] Hillsdale College 60

[2] Southern New Hampshire 85, [7] Chaminade 73

WEST

[1] UNC-Pembroke 77, [8] Oakland City 69

[12] Angelo State 95, [4] Limestone College 84 (OT)

[6] Cal State-Los Angeles 67, [14] Charleston 52

[10] St. Michael’s 73, [15] Felician College 64

SWEET SIXTEEN

MIDWEST

[4] Merrimack College 66, [1] Tarleton State 55

[2] Colorado School of Mines 73, [3] Cal State-Chico 67

EAST

[1] Northwest Nazarene 65, [12] Wisconsin-Parkside 54

[6] Philadelphia 52, [2] Mercyhurst College 50

SOUTH

[1] New Jersey Tech 79, [5] Eastern New Mexico 65

[3] Cal Poly-Pomona 111, [2] Southern New Hampshire 81

WEST

[1] UNC-Pembroke 96, [12] Angelo State 74

[10] St. Michael’s 93, [6] Cal State-Los Angeles 82

ELITE EIGHT

MIDWEST

[2] Colorado School of Mines 74, [4] Merrimack College 71

EAST

[1] Northwest Nazarene 67, [6] Philadelphia 50

SOUTH

[1] New Jersey Tech 77, [3] Cal Poly-Pomona 72 (OT)

WEST

[1] UNC-Pembroke 110, [10] St. Michael’s 75

FINAL FOUR

[2] Colorado School of Mines 86, [1] Northwest Nazarene 79

[1] New Jersey Tech 69, [1] UNC-Pembroke 63

CHAMPIONSHIP

[2] Colorado School of Mines 69, [1] New Jersey Tech 65

NIT

FIRST ROUND

[1] Furman 70, [8] Rutgers 60

[5] Stanford 81, [4] Maryland 70

[6] Vanderbilt 111, [3] Robert Morris 101 (2OT)

[2] Columbia 63, [7] Texas Southern 48

[1] Arizona State 52, [8] Michigan 50

[4] Dartmouth 78, [5] DePaul 75

[6] LSU 71, [3] Virginia 63

[2] La Salle 57, [7] San Jose State 54 (OT)

[1] Brown 85, [8] Georgia Tech 74

[5] Western Carolina 71, [4] Long Island 65

[3] Miami (FL) 79, [6] USC 75

[2] Kentucky 68, [7] Cleveland State 53

[8] Fresno State 57, [1] Purdue 54

[4] Georgetown 71, [5] Wichita State 57

[3] Prairie View A&M 71, [6] Howard 54

[2] Oregon 79, [7] Clemson 72

SECOND ROUND

[1] Furman 67, [5] Stanford 59

[6] Vanderbilt 77, [2] Columbia 63

[1] Arizona State 55, [4] Dartmouth 42

[2] La Salle 76, [6] LSU 71 (OT)

[1] Brown 74, [5] Western Carolina 66

[2] Kentucky 69, [5] Miami (FL) 59

[4] Georgetown 85, [8] Fresno State 61

[3] Prairie View A&M 74, [2] Oregon 68

THIRD ROUND

[1] Furman 59, [6] Vanderbilt 52

[2] La Salle 61, [1] Arizona State 50

[2] Kentucky 73, [1] Brown 70 (OT)

[4] Georgetown 88, [3] Prairie View A&M 71

SEMIFINALS (@ New York, N.Y.)

---Madison Square Garden---

[2] La Salle 60, [1] Furman 53

[4] Georgetown 61, [2] Kentucky 60 (OT)

CHAMPIONSHIP (@ New York, N.Y.)

---Madison Square Garden---

[4] Georgetown 64, [2] La Salle 59

NCAA TOURNAMENT

DIVISION I

FIRST ROUND

MIDWEST

[1] Florida 105, [16] Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 55

[8] Louisville 79, [9] Princeton 67

[12] Wisconsin 57, [5] Arizona 54

[4] Baylor 81, [13] Central Connecticut State 60

[6] Florida State 91, [11] Hampton 87

[3] Utah 78, [14] Wofford 53

[7] Syracuse 70, [10] Oklahoma State 55

[2] Michigan State 65, [15] California-Irvine 54

EAST

[1] Colorado 71, [16] UAB 54

[9] Oregon State 52, [8] Minnesota 47

[5] Wake Forest 87, [12] Florida A&M 65

[13] Idaho State 71, [4] Providence 69

[6] Washington 81, [11] Gardner-Webb 49

[3] Illinois 71, [14] George Mason 58

[10] St. John’s 62, [7] San Diego State 58

[2] Tennessee 81, [15] Ball State 62

SOUTH

[1] Connecticut 72, [16] Birmingham-Southern 48

[8] UCLA 76, [9] Bradley 63

[5] Ohio State 66, [12] South Carolina 50

[4] Oklahoma 73, [13] UMBC 48

[6] Gonzaga 85, [11] South Florida 71

[3] Virginia Tech 72, [14] Chicago State 39

[7] Air Force 86, [10] Kansas 76

[2] Indiana 93, [15] Charlotte 75

WEST

[1] California 97, [16] Detroit 62

[8] Northwestern 64, [9] Massachusetts 50

[5] Seton Hall 71, [12] Fairleigh Dickinson 55

[4] Texas 96, [13] Arkansas-Pine Bluff 61

[6] Alabama 74, [11] Harvard 72

[3] Iowa 72, [14] Washington State 60

[7] Texas A&M 75, [10] Texas Christian 67

[2] Duke 65, [15] Marist 43

SECOND ROUND
MIDWEST

[8] Louisville 83, [1] Florida 79

[4] Baylor 77, [12] Wisconsin 65

[3] Utah 69, [6] Florida State 55

[2] Michigan State 62, [7] Syracuse 59

EAST

[1] Colorado 66, [9] Oregon State 59

[5] Wake Forest 78, [13] Idaho State 71

[3] Illinois 77, [6] Washington 62

[2] Tennessee 91, [10] St. John’s 83

SOUTH

[1] Connecticut 67, [8] UCLA 51

[4] Oklahoma 78, [5] Ohio State 68

[3] Virginia Tech 65, [6] Gonzaga 62

[2] Indiana 66, [7] Air Force 62

WEST

[8] Northwestern 57, [1] California 47

[5] Seton Hall 82, [4] Texas 78

[6] Alabama 79, [3] Iowa 76 (OT)

[2] Duke 67, [7] Texas A&M 59

SWEET SIXTEEN

MIDWEST (@ Minneapolis, Minn.)

[8] Louisville 64, [4] Baylor 51

[3] Utah 66, [2] Michigan State 64

EAST (@ Washington, D.C.)

[1] Colorado 70, [5] Wake Forest 59

[3] Illinois 78, [2] Tennessee 77

SOUTH (@ Memphis, Tenn.)

[1] Connecticut 64, [4] Oklahoma 62

[3] Virginia Tech 75, [2] Indiana 61

WEST (@ Oakland, Calif.)

[8] Northwestern 56, [5] Seton Hall 52

[2] Duke 56, [6] Alabama 40

ELITE EIGHT

MIDWEST (@ Minneapolis, Minn.)

[3] Utah 57, [8] Louisville 48 (OT)

EAST (@ Washington, D.C.)

[3] Illinois 78, [1] Colorado 68

SOUTH (@ Memphis, Tenn.)

[3] Virginia Tech 50, [1] Connecticut 48

WEST (@ Oakland, Calif.)

[2] Duke 70, [8] Northwestern 51

FINAL FOUR (@ St. Louis, Mo.)

---Edward Jones Dome---

[3] Utah 74, [3] Illinois 66 (OT)

[3] Virginia Tech 70, [2] Duke 61

CHAMPIONSHIP (@ St. Louis, Mo.)

---Edward Jones Dome---

[3] Virginia Tech 65, [3] Utah 50

WarEagle22 · July 21, 2015

AP AWARDS

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Robert Ross SG Sr. Gonzaga (23.8 ppg, 3.9 apg)

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Kevin Moline C Sr. Connecticut (9.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.2 spg, 1.8 bpg)

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

John Daniel PF Fr. California (13.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg)

COACH OF THE YEAR

Brian Cowitz HC Connecticut (6^th AP Coach of the Year Award)

*30-0 regular season record

*Big East Champions

*Big East Tournament Champions

FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICA

PG Thomas Gassaway Sr. Hampton (18.8 ppg, 2.4 apg)

SG Robert Ross Sr. Gonzaga (23.8 ppg, 3.9 apg)

SF Igor Glomski Sr. Hampton (15.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg)

PF Adam Liles Sr. Duquesne (17.1 ppg, 9.2 rpg)

C John Fisher Sr. Loyola (MD) (20.6 ppg, 9.3 rpg)

SECOND TEAM ALL-AMERICA

PG Richard Harber Sr. Minnesota (19.2 ppg, 2.6 apg)

SG Clinton Spooner Sr. Florida A&M (24.6 ppg, 2.5 apg)

SF David Pasko Sr. UAB (20.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg)

PF Brian Moore Sr. Eastern Kentucky (17.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg)

C Ellis Gurganus Jr. Miami (FL) (19.2 ppg, 7.9 rpg)

THIRD TEAM ALL-AMERICA

PG David Golden Sr. La Salle (23 ppg, 2.3 apg)

SG John Scriber Jr. Western Carolina (20.6 ppg, 2.3 apg)

SF Miguel Silva Sr. Idaho State (17.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg)

PF Hugh Hughes Jr. Navy (18.1 ppg, 7.6 rpg)

C Frederick Carpenter Sr. Texas Christian (19.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg)

HONORABLE MENTION ALL-AMERICA

PG Paul Shires Michigan State

Oscar Morris Florida

Devin Budge The Citadel

SG Bo Todd Princeton

Michael Lowther Florida State

Felix Meza BYU

SF Edwin Statler Bradley

Billy Wagner Drake

Michael Bates Utah

PF Dikembe Amedee Monmouth

Marvin Knouse Rutgers

Tony Raines Alabama

C Thomas Bailey Southern Methodist

Ernest Espinosa Washington

Brett Henriksen Louisville

WarEagle22 · July 21, 2015

FINAL INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Richard Kanagy PG Sr.

30 GP/26 GS 28.2mpg 45.8%/43.8%/84.9% 15.4 ppg 3.3 apg 2.9 rpg

*1^st in Big South scoring

*8^th in Big South assists

*3^rd in Big South steals (1.6 spg)

*6^th in Big South 3-point field goal percentage

*1^st in Big South free throw percentage

*18^th in NCAA free throw percentage

*Finished career with 44.3% 3-point field goal percentage (6^th all-time at BSC)

*Finished career with 83.8% free throw percentage (1^st all-time at BSC)

Jared Lobdell PG Sr.

30 GP/13 GS 19.9 mpg 44.5%/0.0%/78.0% 6.2 ppg 3.6 apg 2.3 rpg

*5^th in Big South assists

*Finished career with 448 assists (2^nd all-time at BSC, 4 assists shy of all-time record)

*Finished career with 76.7% free throw percentage (10^th all-time at BSC)

Donald Bowen PG Jr.

30 GP/1 GS 17.9 mpg 49.3%/46.9%/55.6% 10.3 ppg 2.0 apg

*12^th in Big South scoring

*8^th in Big South field goal percentage

*2^nd in Big South 3-point field goal percentage

Melvin Frisby PG Fr.

---Redshirted---

Shaun McCague PG Fr.

30 GP/0 GS 14.7 mpg 46.5%/ n-a /65.2% 1.8 ppg 0.7 apg 1.3 rpg

Mark Parry PG Fr.

30 GP/26 GS 20.9 mpg 42.9%/26.9%/67.1% 7.8 ppg 1.8 apg 1.7 rpg

Donald Gayhart SG Fr.

30 GP/24 GS 18.4 mpg 43.5%/0.0%/81.6% 2.8 ppg 2.0 apg 1.9 rpg

Michael Davis SF Fr.

30 GP/19 GS 16.7 mpg 56.4%/50.0%/69.4% 3.8 ppg 1.0 apg 3.2 rpg

Michael Stutes PF Jr.

28 GP/3 GS 14.8 mpg 52.1%/ n-a /66.7% 3.7 ppg 3.9 rpg

Donald Dargan PF So.

30 GP/25 GS 22.1 mpg 48.7%/ n-a /61.6% 6.6 ppg 5.7 rpg 1.0 spg

*9^th in Big South field goal percentage

Shawn Beauvais C So.

30 GP/8 GS 16.6 mpg 50.0%/ n-a /64.5% 5.4 ppg 5.4 rpg

Jeffrey Cain C Fr.

29 GP/5 GS 13.0 mpg 51.8%/ n-a /63.2% 5.2 ppg 3.0 rpg

TEAM STATISTICS

(Big South rank in parenthesis)

OFFENSE DEFENSE

PPG 68.7 (7^th) 64.7 (3^rd)

RPG 31.6 (9^th) 32.1 (3^rd)

APG 15.7 (1^st) 11.7 (3^rd)

TOPG 13.0 (2^nd) 14.3 (7^th)

FG% 47.7% (1^st) 43.6% (4^th)

FG3% 41.9% (1^st) 31.3% (1^st)

FT% 71.1% (3^rd) 67.4% (1^st)

WarEagle22 · July 21, 2015

Updated NCAA Tournament with Elite Eight scores

WarEagle22 · July 21, 2015

THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS

Knight Reflects on Season, Looks Ahead to Future

BIRMINGHAM | The Birmingham-Southern Panthers just finished the 84 season with an 18-12 overall record after a 72-48 loss to Connecticut in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers went 12-4 in Big South conference play, good enough for a second place finish, and went on to win the Big South Tournament with a 54-49 victory over VMI in the championship game. Birmingham-Southern will lose senior guard Richard Kanagy and Jared Lobdell to graduation, but the Panthers will return the rest of the roster which includes some very promising underclassmen. The Birmingham News recently sat down with BSC coach Jeremy Knight to get his thoughts on the previous season and his outlook for the future of the program.

BN:

Congrats Coach Knight on another great season at Birmingham-Southern. As you reflect, how would you grade this season?

JK:

I think this season was a great success for us. Each year our goal is to win the Big South Conference, then win the Big South Tournament, and finally to make the NCAA Tournament. We came up just short on winning the Big South Conference, but we took advantage of our opportunity to win the Big South Tournament and make the NCAA Tournament. Anytime you can accomplish the goals you set for your season I would say it’s a very successful season.

BN:

The team got off to a rocky start this season, going 3-7 in the non-conference schedule. Can you talk about that and some of the challenges it presented?

JK:

As a staff we knew coming into the season that this would be a challenging year for us. We went 16-0 last season in the Big South and lost five seniors who played some major minutes for us from that team. We had a very young team this season and we weren’t really sure which guys would take on different roles we needed for our team to be successful. Having said that, we were prepared for a challenging season but I don’t think any of us envisioned starting out 3-7. That was a very difficult time for our staff and me personally. In my entire career as a coach I’ve never had a losing record out of the conference or in conference play. I’m a very competitive person and I don’t like to lose, so it was very hard for me to start the season 3-7. But give our staff and our players credit; they could have very easily packed it in and instead we all continued to work hard every day and eventually turned it around.

BN:

You did a great job of righting the ship as you started Big South play 7-0. What adjustments did you and your staff make that helped the team bounce back from such a rough start?

JK:

We were 0-4 early on and at that point we weren’t really sure of what to do with our rotation. Guys that had some success last year weren’t exactly performing at the high level we expected and some new guys or guys that were less experienced were playing better than we expected. Those first few weeks were so difficult in terms of deciding who we should play and how long each player should play. We hoped the win against Arkansas would get us started on a winning streak, but that didn’t exactly happen. At that point my staff and I decided that we needed to take the approach that the conference schedule was a new season and prepare for that. We started the season off so bad and our RPI was awful so we knew the only way to make the NCAA Tournament was to win the Big South Tournament. We then spent less time in practice working on player development and more time going over our offensive and defensive sets because we felt like our young guys were talented enough already to compete in the Big South, but they were still very raw in their knowledge of our sets.

Because our team, overall, was so inexperienced in running our sets we played most of the nonconference schedule at a much slower tempo than we normally do. Our logic was that since most of our guys don’t know the offense at that point we knew they were going to make mistakes. We thought playing slower would in turn have our mistakes not hurt as much as they normally would, but in hindsight I think that hurt us more than it helped. We were playing so slow and not scoring any points. It was so painful to watch, and as you know, I’m a guy that likes to see the ball constantly going through the net and I like high scores. It just got to a point where it was so difficult watching us play each game that I decided if we’re going to lose lets at least lose while scoring a lot of points. Once we sped up our tempo we started winning more.

The other thing that helped us was the emergence of Richard Kanagy. In his first three years here he was stuck behind some very talented guards and never got serious minutes, so we weren’t really sure what he could do as one of the main guards on our team. He scored 19 points against Central Connecticut State and we were kinda’ like wow, we had no idea he could do that. He scored in double digits in five straight games and then he dropped 23 points on San Diego. At that point we knew he was going to be our guy and he just did so many different things for us. He made assists, he rebounded, he played defense, and he got a lot of steals. He’s just capable of impacting so many different areas of the game and we turned him loose in conference play. Once we started Big South play he averaged 18 points, four assists, three rebounds, two steals, and shot over 48 percent from the field and the 3-point line. I don’t know that I’ve ever had a player that could impact the game in so many ways and at the level that Richard did this season.

BN:

You’re currently leading Birmingham-Southern through the most successful run in school history. In your 11 years as the head coach you’ve won four conference championships, three conference tournament championships, and played in four NCAA Tournaments. You’ve won two consecutive Big South Tournaments and have earned three consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, a first in school history. What’s it like to think about all of the things you have accomplished at BSC so far?

JK:

I never really sit back and look at all of the things we’ve done here. I’ve been blessed to have some wonderful men on my staff and some great young men that have played for me. They’re just as much a reason for the success we’ve had here as I am. Everyone always asks me how it feels to go to three straight NCAA Tournaments and I never think of it that way. I do enjoy winning and I enjoy each championship or NCAA Tournament game, but I never sat down and made it a goal to go to three straight NCAA Tournaments. We went to the first one and it was a great experience. Then it became can BSC go back-to-back years in the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever. Now it’s we’ve made it three years and next year everyone will be asking if we can make it four years in a row. I never try to think of our success like that because it can tend to make you complacent when you reflect on all of your success. In my mind we just lost the last game of the season. Our season is over. We did some great things but its time to focus on next year. We’re losing some great guys and we’ll need to replace them with some good recruits. I’m not focused on winning a third consecutive conference tournament or making four straight NCAA Tournaments. My mindset and our team’s mindset is doing what we need to do in order to win the 85 Big South Championship. We need to focus on what we need to do to win the 85 Big South Tournament. We need to focus on doing what we need to do to make the 85 NCAA Tournament. All of the things we’ve accomplished in the past is great, but it means nothing. We’re at the same spot as the other 11 Big South teams and we’re all fighting for the same thing. We need to focus on doing what we need to do in order to be successful, one day at a time and one game at a time, and everything will work out just fine for us in the end.

BN:

With all of the success you’ve experienced recently it’s reasonable to expect some mid-major or even high-major schools might come calling. Do you ever think about jumping ship to a different school or trying to move up to a bigger school?

JK:

I mean it’s not something I really think about. I don’t think about things like that because it can take away your focus from being successful where you are. At the end of the day, I want to be successful. I want to compete for championships, and I’m going to go to whichever schools gives me the best chance to be successful and win championships. I don’t get too caught up in whether a school is mid- or high-major. Yeah I could move up to a lower end high-major school and have a bigger budget, but I would get my brains beat in by the conference opponents for several years and that’s just not that appealing to me. I make enough money at BSC and I’ve been very blessed to be apart of a very successful run here. At the end of the day I’m happy here. We’re successful and we compete for championships. That’s all I can ask for.

BN:

You only lose two players from this year’s team and will return a deep roster next season with some talented young players. What is your expectation for next season?

JK:

Our expectations will be the same as they are every year. We want to win the conference, win the conference tournament, and make the NCAA Tournament. When we make the NCAA Tournament we want to advance in it. We’ll be in a really good spot next year with so many returners, but we still need to go out and reach our goals. There’s some really good coaches and great teams in the Big South and nothing is given. We have to take each game one at a time and focus on what we need to do in order to be successful. As long as we do that I have no doubt we can accomplish all of our goals.

BN:

Coach, thank you for your time. Congrats again on another great season and best of luck next year.

JK:

Thank you.

WarEagle22 · July 22, 2015

COLLEGE HOOPS BLOG

NBA Draft Prospect Rankings

We’ve finally reached the Final Four, which means that the NBA Draft is just right around the corner. Below we list the top ten players at each position. The point guard position for this draft class is nonexistent, at best. Michigan State’s Paul Shires is the only impact point guard in the class. Frederick Fred from Colorado is the only other point guard considered a first round talent, and the sophomore will have an interesting decision to make. Fred could leave school and most likely be a late first round pick, or return for his junior season and establish himself as the top point guard in next year’s class and possibly move into the lottery. NBA teams looking for point guard help would be best served by looking into free agency. The shooting guard position has much better depth in this class. There isn’t a 2-guard that projects to be an elite, impact player from the get go, but there are definitely some solid options that should have great NBA careers. NBA teams in need of a shooting guard with a draft pick in the mid to late first round slots should have no trouble finding the help they need in the draft. The small forward position is similar to the shooting guard class. Great depth throughout the first round, however, the small forward class also feature the top two prospects who are sure to become elite players in their career. All season long the question has been Kansas’ Warren Kelly or Florida’s Eric Hunter for the number one pick. Neither player helped himself in the NCAA Tournament with Kansas losing in the opening round and top seed Florida falling in the second round. Most scouts still consider the choice between the two to be a toss up so it will be interesting to see who is selected first overall pick. The power forward position will also feature great depth throughout the first round. We don’t think there is any elite talent in this group, but there is definitely a plethora of solid players that are capable of contributing at the next level. NBA teams looking to draft a center need to be selecting in the top five of the draft or they might be better off looking to veteran free agents for help. Ronald Moss, John Helms, and Ellis Gurganus are the three centers that are hands down the top big men in the class and are projected as top ten picks. Once those three players are gone the draft becomes very bleak at the center position with barely any projected first round talent available. There’s only three games left in the NCAA Tournament and once the championship game is played Monday night it will be time for us, as well as the players, to turn our attention to the NBA Draft. As always, it will be interesting to see which underclassmen stay in college for another year and which ones decide to make the jump to the NBA.

POINT GUARD

OVR NAME YR HT WT COLLEGE

4 Paul Shires Jr. 6-3 198 Michigan State

25 Frederick Fred So. 6-0 190 Colorado

42 Oscar Morris Jr. 5-8 164 Florida

47 Robert Stravinski Sr. 5-10 175 Duke

52 Richard Harber Sr. 6-6 215 Minnesota

54 Bruce Orlowski Jr. 6-2 201 San Diego State

55 Raymond Losada Jr. 6-1 176 Northwestern

56 Jason Davis Sr. 6-0 179 Providence

58 David Grady So. 6-2 192 Miami (FL)

62 Paul Pierce Jr. 6-2 204 Connecticut

SHOOTING GUARD

OVR NAME YR HT WT COLLEGE

9 Ronald Antunez Sr. 6-3 207 Syracuse

13 Jeffrey Skulski Jr. 6-3 197 Connecticut

15 Charles Hawkins Jr. 6-2 196 Oregon State

16 Jurica Zediker Jr. 6-0 181 Oklahoma

27 Charles Spencer Jr. 6-2 174 Illinois

29 Justin McKay Sr. 6-4 191 Virginia Tech

30 John Burgess Jr. 6-2 199 Kentucky

34 Alfred McCullan So. 6-6 217 Ohio State

43 Darryl Payne Jr. 6-4 209 Illinois

53 Mario Guerrero Jr. 6-5 213 Arizona

SMALL FORWARD

OVR NAME YR HT WT COLLEGE

1 Warren Kelly So. 6-4 204 Kansas

2 Eric Hunter Jr. 5-11 189 Florida

14 Christopher Aguinaldo Jr. 6-3 203 Colorado

18 Darren Banks Sr. 6-3 196 Iowa

19 Cesar Russo Jr. 6-3 188 North Carolina

20 Clarence Davis Sr. 6-4 184 Duke

26 Judson Thompson Jr. 6-5 204 Texas A&M

28 Andrew Webb So. 6-5 193 Seton Hall

39 Jerome Strickland Sr. 6-7 208 Northwestern

44 Edmund O’Donell So. 6-2 197 Texas A&M

POWER FORWARD

OVR NAME YR HT WT COLLEGE

6 Michael Clark So. 6-7 218 Ole Miss

7 Jeffrey Rehkop Sr. 6-6 200 Minnesota

10 Bobby Tims So. 6-8 231 Duke

11 David Jamison Sr. 6-9 243 Georgetown

12 Raymond Berry Sr. 6-11 253 Connecticut

17 Kent Guidi Sr. 6-10 221 Duke

21 Leonard Griffin Jr. 6-11 258 Colorado

22 Samuel Bowen Sr. 6-8 225 Seton Hall

31 Hung Tang So. 6-8 213 Michigan State

32 Barrett Thompson So. 6-9 214 Washington

CENTER

OVR NAME YR HT WT COLLEGE

3 Ronald Moss Jr. 6-6 208 Michigan State

5 John Helms Jr. 6-9 209 Duke

8 Ellis Gurganus Jr. 7-0 257 Miami (FL)

23 Kenneth Andrews Sr. 7-1 261 Providence

24 Eric O’Bryan Sr. 7-1 270 Iowa

33 Kevin Moline Sr. 6-11 258 Connecticut

37 Kevin Ogles So. 7-0 233 Florida

38 Fidel Yanez Sr. 6-7 220 Miami (FL)

40 Mario Adams So. 6-7 225 UCLA

41 Angel Lombardi Sr. 6-11 233 Virginia Tech

WarEagle22 · July 22, 2015

Updated the NCAA Tournament with Final Four scores.

WarEagle22 · July 23, 2015

84 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

Division III: Wisconsin-Stevens Point (31-4) ***3^rd National Championship 66, 75, 84***

Division II: Colorado School of Mines (34-1) ***1^st National Championship***

NIT: Georgetown Hoyas (18-15) ***1^st NIT Championship***

Division I: Virginia Tech Hokies (30-5) ***5^th National Championship 66, 67, 72, 77, 84***

WarEagle22 · July 24, 2015

BIG SOUTH SPORTS BLOG

Knight Leaving Birmingham-Southern?

Rumors have begun to heat up over Birmingham-Southern head coach Jeremy Knight leaving the team. Knight is the longest tenured coach currently in the Big South, having spent the last 11 years at BSC. Knight has guided the Panthers to four Big South Championships, three Big South Tournament Championships, and four berths in the NCAA Tournament, including the current streak of three consecutive trips. During his time in Birmingham, Knight has amassed a record of 245 wins and 71 losses and a 137-39 record in the Big South. Sources say that Knight is in serious talks with administration to become the next head coach at Saint Louis. The Billikens finished last season 12-15 (6-10 in the Atlantic-10) and lost seven players from last season’s squad. It’s very confusing to try and figure out why Knight would want to leave a program in the midst of its most successful run in school history, in addition to returning 10 players from last season’s team. Sources have also mentioned that Knight has grown irritated with the administration at BSC over the last year or two over the school’s unwillingness to upgrade facilities to match the Panthers on court success. As of right now the talks between Knight and Saint Louis are just rumors, but stay connected with the Big South Sports Blog to stay up to date on this situation.

WarEagle22 · July 25, 2015

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Billikens Hire Knight

ST. LOUIS | The search for the next head coach of the Saint Louis Billikens men’s basketball program is over after Jeremy Knight has accepted the offer for the open position. Knight’s deal is rumored to be for $2,000,000 over five years, or $400,000 each year during the contract. Exact details haven’t been released but it’s probable that Knight also will receive performance-based incentives for post-season appearances and wins.

Knight comes to Saint Louis from Birmingham-Southern where he spent the previous 11 years as head coach. While at BSC, Knight put together an overall record of 245-71 and went 137-39 in Big South play. Knight also won four Big South Championships and three Big South Tournament Championships with the Panthers. Knight also guided BSC to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including each of the previous three seasons. Last season Knight’s squad started the season 3-7, but bounced back and finished the season 18-12 before losing to Connecticut in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Knight has earned a reputation as a great player developer. During his 11 years at BSC, Knight coached the conference player of the year nine times. Knight had 17 players named to the First Team All-Big South team and three players were named to the AP All-America team during his tenure.

Before his tenure at BSC, Knight started his coaching career at Division III East Texas Baptist. Knight experienced great success from the beginning of his career with an overall record of 256-53 at ETBU. Knight led the Tigers to six conference championships, five conference tournament championships and eight NCAA Tournament appearances. In his first season as a head coach Knight guided ETBU to the Division III National Championship with an overall record of 34-1. Knight also led ETBU to the Sweet Sixteen in 67 and the Elite Eight in 71.

Knight will inherit a Billikens squad that went 12-15 (6-10) and finished eighth in the Atlantic 10 last season. Saint Louis currently has only five players on its roster, which will make Knight’s rebuilding process more challenging. However, the flip side of having only five players on the roster means that Knight will have seven scholarships to use this year in recruiting and in return can bring in “his guys” more quickly which will speed up the process. Junior guard Bruce Karsten will the returning leading scorer for Saint Louis. Karsten averaged 7.7 ppg last season and has started every game of his college career. Senior center John Myers will be the only other returning starter for the Billikens. Myers averaged 7.3 ppg and 6.7 rpg last season. It’s reasonable that Knight will rely heavily on those two players this upcoming season as he brings in his own players and develops them for his system.

The Billikens basketball program has fallen on hard times recently. In the previous 20 seasons Saint Louis has had a winning record just eight times, with six of those coming during Trent Cole’s two four-year stints as coach. During that span the Billikens have won four Atlantic 10 Championships (the last one came in 70), two NIT bids, and two NCAA Tournament bids. Saint Louis last made the NCAA Tournament in 80, which was Cole’s last season as coach. The other NCAA Tournament appearance, also under Cole, came in 68. Needless to say, Knight will have his work cut out for him to turn Saint Louis into a consistent member of postseason play.

A press conference to introduce Knight as the next coach is scheduled for Thursday morning in Chaifetz Arena. A full write up of the press conference will be available in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

WarEagle22 · July 25, 2015

SAINT LOUIS ATHLETICS

PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

John Wilkins:

Good morning and welcome. I would first like to thank each of you in attendance and watching online for attending this press conference. Two months ago when I began to search for the next individual to lead the Saint Louis men’s basketball program I selected very distinct qualities that the right coach would have. The first quality is that he would be a man of great character. We are certainly proud of our athletic traditions at Saint Louis, but even more so important is how each individual associated with this great university carries himself or herself off the court and in the community. The second quality I desired in the coach is leadership. I wanted a coach that was capable of not only preparing his players and staff for each opponent throughout the season, but someone who would also prepare every member of the program for life beyond the game of basketball. I wanted someone who would mold the young men that come into our program into great contributors of our society once they graduate from the program. The third quality that I wanted in a coach is someone who is driven. I want someone leading this program that strives to improve each and every day, on and off the court. Lastly, and certainly not least, I wanted an individual who is a proven winner. Saint Louis has a very proud and rich history, and while we have certainly not lived up to that standard in recent years, it was very important to me to find an individual who could help return the Billikens program to the success it has enjoyed in the past and then go further than ever seemed possible.

Jeremy Knight has all of those qualities. He was a candidate that I targeted from the very beginning because of his proven track record of success. Once I started digging around and learning more about him, I realized that he possessed all of the other qualities that I desired in a coach. Coach Knight is a tremendous man of great character and has helped shape the lives of many young men over the years of his coaching career. He displays great leadership and has shown a desire to improve in every aspect of his life. And, as it is well know, he is a winner. He put together a very impressive resume in his first coaching job at East Texas Baptist, which was capped off with a Division III National Championship. He restored Birmingham-Southern to be a great power in the Big South Conference and has won many conference championships and been to the NCAA Tournament several times. Now we believe, with time, he will do the same here at Saint Louis. I, and the entire staff here, have full faith that Knight is the man to restore Saint Louis to its rightful place in the Atlantic 10 and in the college basketball landscape. Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to introduce you to the new coach of the Saint Louis Billikens men’s basketball team, Jeremy Knight!

[Applause]

[Coach Knight enters stage and shakes Wilkins’ hand]

Jeremy Knight:

Thank you very much. First and foremost I would like to thank Mr. Wilkins and the Saint Louis athletic department for having the confidence in me to hire me. I would also like the thank Richard Vasquez for the opportunities he gave me at Birmingham-Southern. Finally, I would like to thank all of the former coaches, former players, and fans that have supported me throughout my career and have helped me reach this moment in my career. Without them none of this would be possible right now and I am very grateful for all the contributions they have made. I’m very excited to lead the Saint Louis basketball program and I look forward to the great opportunities and challenges involved with this job. I know we only have five players on the roster right now so that means there will be a lot of new faces in the fall. It’s very difficult to be successful while depending on a bunch of young guys. However, I promise that I, my coaching staff, and our players will do our best every day to improve and bring this program closer to where it should be. The recruiting class that we bring in this summer will serve as the foundation for this great program and its bright future. Like I said, I’m looking forward to the wonderful opportunities and challenges here and I can’t wait to get started.

Wilkins:

At this point Coach Knight will answer questions from the media.

Reporter:

Last season you won your second consecutive Big South Tournament Championship and took Birmingham-Southern to the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row. You only lost two players off of that team. On paper it seems like you were set to continue your recent run of success for a few more years so why did you decide that now was the right time to move on?

Knight:

First let me say that it was a very, very difficult decision for me to leave Birmingham-Southern. Over the last 11 years I’ve built many wonderful relationships with people throughout the community in Birmingham, as well as a great relationship with all of our players. I do realize that it seems like I left a very good situation, and Birmingham-Southern is in a great spot by the way, to come to a school where, at the moment, it appears we’ll have to work a little hard to be successful. One of the main reasons I was interested in coming here is for the opportunity to coach and compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The A-10 has an outstanding reputation and has some of the top mid-major programs in the country. As a competitor I get excited over the opportunity to compete against the best and I thought Saint Louis offered me an opportunity to do that. Another aspect I liked about Saint Louis is the facilities. Saint Louis has top-notch facilities and Chaifetz Arena is an amazing place to play basketball. For a lot of people replacing seven players seems like a daunting task, but that challenge is very appealing to me. Recruiting is probably my favorite part of the job and I enjoy it even more so when I have a large class to sign. Yes we have to replace a lot of players, but we also get to bring in a lot of guys that are going to be our foundation going forward so that is very exciting. The last thing about this job that really excited me is the location and recruiting territory. This is a wonderful school to be at from a recruiting standpoint. I can get guys from around here in the Midwest. I can dip down into Texas. I can go over to the Rockies or the Great Lakes region. I can also recruit down in the Deep South where I’ve built some wonderful connections and relationships during my time at Birmingham-Southern. There’s just so much recruiting territory available at Saint Louis and that was one of the primary reasons I wanted to come here.

Reporter:

Have you had a chance to meet with the remaining players yet, and where are you in terms of evaluating them?

Knight:

I met with the players briefly earlier this morning and as a part of my evaluation process I will meet with each of them individually throughout the week. In terms of where I am at evaluating each of them, it’s still very early in the process. I’ve only watched a handful of games from last season so I’m still learning about each player’s strengths and weaknesses. Another benefit from having only five players returning is that I have fewer players to evaluate going into the offseason program.

Reporter:

What type of offense and defense will you use this season?

Knight:

I’ve always used a motion offense since I’ve been a head coach and played man-to-man defense. From my brief film evaluation I know Saint Louis runs a lot of man-to-man also so that shouldn’t be an issue this season. We will definitely play a lot of man-to-man defense. From what I’ve seen Saint Louis ran a triangle offense last season. We’ll definitely run a motion offense, but this season will be a little challenging. My job is going to be finding a way to balance the motion offense I want to run with the triangle offense that these guys know. At the start of the season we’ll probably use a good bit of triangle bases and as the players learn the motion more we’ll fade the triangle out until we’re playing primarily motion. Hopefully we can have the motion down before A-10 play starts.

Reporter:

Where are you in terms of assembling your staff?

Knight:

It’s an ongoing process. I would like to bring a lot, if not all, of my staff from Birmingham-Southern, but I also understand that some of those guys want to pursue other opportunities and advance in the coaching ranks. I’ve got a list of coaches I want to work with in my head. I’ll contact those coaches and see if they’re interested and if they are we’ll go from there and continue until I complete my staff. I will have the associate coach position reserved for Danny Matthews if he is interested. He has served as my associate coach at Birmingham-Southern for several years and he’s the ideal coach that I would want involved with my program. He might look into a few head coaching opportunities and that makes me very happy for him. If he decides that he doesn’t want to go the head coach route at this time then he’ll have a spot on my staff for sure if he wants it. I’m also planning on hiring David Johnson as the director of operations. Davis was a fantastic player for me and really knows the offense and what it takes to succeed in it. He’s served the last two seasons as a graduate assistant on my staff and he’s excelled at that position so he is very deserving of the promotion. Other than those two I’m really not 100 percent certain which direction I want to go for the rest of the staff.

Reporter:

With only five players returning, what positions will you focus on mostly during recruiting?

Knight:

I don’t know that there is a single position I want to focus more than the others. We have seven openings so we really need guys at every position. My main focus during recruiting will be signing the best players that will come in and lay a foundation for the future through hard work.

Reporter:

What are you expecting from the team on the court this season? What will be considered a successful season for Saint Louis?

Knight:

Well, first and foremost I always expect my team to compete and give 100 percent every day in practice and every game. At Birmingham-Southern we didn’t sit down and make it a goal to make the NCAA Tournament three years in a row. Every year I want our goal to be winning the Atlantic 10 Championship. Then I want us to focus on winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Then our goal is to make the NCAA Tournament and then we want to win a game. Yes, our end goal is to make the NCAA Tournament, but you can’t focus on that from the beginning or you can get lost throughout the season. Our primary goal is going to be winning the A-10. We’re going to accomplish it by taking every game on our schedule one game at a time. Each and every game I want our guys to focus on doing whatever is necessary to be successful that night, and to improve as a player. If we focus and do that for every game we play then the championships and the tournament bids will fall in place, just like they did at Birmingham-Southern. A successful season for me will be one where our guys work on getting better every day. If we do that then everything else takes care of itself.

Wilkins:

Thank you media members for the questions. At this time I want to thank everyone once again for being here today or viewing this press conference online. At this moment Coach Knight has to leave for a tour of Chaifetz Arena and other obligations. Thank you again and go Billikens!

WarEagle22 · July 25, 2015

Jeremy Knight enters his office with Danny Matthews, his newly hired assistant coach, to go over the returning players for Saint Louis’ roster.

Knight:

We definitely have our work cut out for us. Having only five players returning is bad enough, but none of them are really that great. Nobody on this roster right now is the caliber of player we want and need to be successful here.

Matthews:

I completely agree. We’re probably not going to win a bunch of games this season, but I do think we need to go out and sign two or three studs and a few solid guys that will probably begin their career as a starter and then move to the bench as we continue to overhaul this roster.

Knight:

(Nodding in agreement) If we’re going to commit to the rebuild we just need to go at it all out. I’m all for starting five newcomers this season if we can find the right guys. I want us to target a few JUCO guys as well. They’ll be more experienced coming in and could really be valuable to us, and it doesn’t give us a logjam of seven freshmen. Let’s really focus on the junior colleges in Mississippi. There were a couple of guys that I really liked that I thought would be good additions at Birmingham-Southern. If they could contribute at BSC they should be starters here.

Matthews:

Hit up Mississippi for some JUCO players, check. Let’s go over the returning roster and decide what we want to do with them.

Knight:

Dikembe Abdula. Six-foot point guard from Senegal. Will be a junior this season. Averaged 4.1 points last season in 14 minutes-per-game. Shot 40.5 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from 3. From the free throw line he shot 75.6 percent. Had 29 assists last season to 41 turnovers. He’s pretty fast and somewhat athletic. Decent defender with some upside. Great ball handler but poor passer, which led to his turnovers. His jumpshot is decent.

Matthews:

He’s not going to cut it here. He has some nice qualities. I like his speed and ball handling. I can live with his athleticism and defense. He’s just such a poor passer and I don’t know that we can get around that.

Knight:

Bruce Karsten. Six-foot point guard from Lancaster, South Carolina. Will be a junior this season. Started all 27 games last season and averaged 7.7 points and 2.7 assists. Shot 41.9 percent from the field and 29.6 percent from 3. He’s started every game in his college career and last season his scoring and assists went up while his turnovers went down. He’s similar to Abdula. Great speed and ball handling. He’s not a great passer, but he’s a better passer than Abdula. He has a very solid shot and I don’t really know why he didn’t have a higher 3-point percentage last season. The downside is that he’s not very athletic. He’s not bad, but he’s not great.

As far as guards go, I would like to have two guys that we bring in be the starters. Karsten could start if we needed him to, but I would prefer to bring in guys good enough to force him to come off the bench. Abdula should be the third guard off the bench. Maybe we can develop him into a guy that can play the 3 some if needed.

Thomas Ayers is a 6-foot-8 small forward. He’ll be a senior this season. Last he only played in 18 games and averaged just 3.3 minutes. Nothing really positive about his stats other than he’s an 82 percent career free throw shooter. He’s not great at anything, but he’s also not awful either. He’s just very average. I would like to cut him, but he will be a senior so I think we can ride him out for one year.

Matthews:

We really need to find a good wing player and possibly another wing to backup or a third guard that is versatile enough to play the 3.

Knight:

Yes, and like I said, worst case scenario we could probably get away with Abdula at the 3.

John Myers is a 6-foot-9 senior center. His athleticism and defensive ability are just okay. He’s a good rebounder and he’s great at protecting the rim and playing with his back to the basket. He started all 27 games last season and averaged 7.3 points and 6.7 rebounds.

Matthews:

I think he’s just alright.

Knight:

I agree. He’s not great, but he’s solid enough we could start him if need be. I would prefer to have him as the first post off the bench, but we could definitely survive with him as a starter.

Edgar Madrigal. Seven-foot-one junior center. I think he’s awful. I don’t like anything about this kid’s game. I’m going to release him from his scholarship.

Matthews:

Now we have eight slots to fill.

Knight:

I don’t want us to get caught up in thinking we have to sign eight players either. I’ll be content with bringing in six guys that can play. It would probably wouldn’t hurt to try to sign an ineligible that can contribute next year. If we sign an ineligible and redshirt a guy that’ll give us two players to carry over to next year’s freshman class and balance our roster out a little bit. Let’s go find some players and get this thing rolling.

PointGuard · July 27, 2015

War Eagle: Keep up the good reporting on your dynasty! Good luck at St. Louis.

WarEagle22 · July 28, 2015

84 NBA DRAFT

ROUND ONE

PICK TEAM PLAYER POS HT WT YR COLLEGE

1 Houston Rockets Warren Kelly SF 6-4 204 So. Kansas

2 Phoenix Suns Ronald Moss C 6-6 208 Jr. Michigan State

3 Milwaukee Bucks Paul Shires PG 6-3 198 Jr. Michigan State

4 New Orleans Pelicans Eric Hunter SF 5-11 189 Jr. Florida

5 San Antonio Spurs John Helms C 6-9 209 Jr. Duke

6 Brooklyn Nets Bobby Tims PF 6-8 231 So. Duke

7 Memphis Grizzlies Jeffrey Rehkop PF 6-6 200 Sr. Minnesota

8 Utah Jazz Ellis Gurganua C 7-0 257 Jr. Miami (FL)

9 Los Angeles Clippers Ronald Antunez SG 6-3 207 Sr. Syracuse

10 Chicago Bulls Raymond Berry PF 6-11 253 Sr. Connecticut

11 Atlanta Hawks David Jamison PF 6-9 243 Sr. Georgetown

12 Charlotte Hornets Christopher Aguinaldo SF 6-3 203 Jr. Colorado

13 Detroit Pistons Jeffrey Skulski SG 6-3 197 Jr. Connecticut

14 Indiana Pacers Kent Guidi PF 6-10 221 Sr. Duke

15 Golden State Warriors Charles Hawkins SG 6-2 196 Jr. Oregon State

16 Denver Nuggets Jurica Zediker SG 6-0 181 Jr. Oklahoma

17 Dallas Mavericks Clarence Davis SF 6-4 184 Sr. Duke

18 Oklahoma City Thunder Justin McKay SG 6-4 191 Sr. Virginia Tech

19 Miami Heat Darren Banks SF 6-3 196 Sr. Iowa

20 Boston Celtics Michael Clark PF 6-7 218 So. Ole Miss

21 New York Knicks Frederick Fred PG 6-0 190 So. Colorado

22 Sacramento Kings Samuel Brown PF 6-8 225 Sr. Seton Hall

23 Orlando Magic Eric O’Bryan C 7-1 270 Sr. Iowa

24 Portland Trailblazers Judson Thompson SF 6-5 204 Jr. Texas A&M

25 Philadelphia 76ers Angel Lombardi C 6-11 233 Sr. Virginia Tech

26 Toronto Raptors Kenneth Andrews C 7-1 261 Sr. Providence

27 Washington Wizards Kevin Moline C 6-11 258 Sr. Connecticut

28 Cleveland Cavaliers Cesar Russo SF 6-3 188 Jr. North Carolina

29 Minnesota Timberwolves Thomas Walker PF 6-8 233 Jr. Oklahoma

30 Los Angeles Lakers John Burgess SG 6-2 199 Jr. Kentucky

ROUND TWO

PICK TEAM PLAYER POS HT WT YR COLLEGE

31 Houston Rockets Jerome Strickland SF 6-7 208 Sr. Northwestern

32 Phoenix Suns Richard Harber PG 6-6 215 Sr. Minnesota

33 Milwaukee Bucks Ernest Espinosa C 6-10 233 Jr. Washington

34 New Orleans Pelicans Fidel Yanez C 6-7 220 Sr. Miami (FL)

35 San Antonio Spurs Terry Darby SG 6-0 176 Jr. Duke

36 Brooklyn Nets Fadey Graminski SF 6-2 183 Sr. Colorado

37 Memphis Grizzlies Jason Davis PG 6-0 179 Sr. Providence

38 Utah Jazz John McCurtain SF 6-3 196 Sr. Ohio State

39 Los Angeles Clippers Michael Trisler C 6-10 246 Sr. St. John’s

40 Chicago Bulls James Almanza SG 6-3 190 Sr. Tennessee

41 Atlanta Hawks Kenneth Clanton C 6-10 230 Sr. Kansas

42 New Orleans Hornets Peter Ledford C 7-0 249 Sr. Northwestern

43 Detroit Pistons Michael Lowther SG 6-4 201 Sr. Florida State

44 Indiana Pacers Harry Doud C 6-6 207 Sr. Colorado

45 Golden State Warriors Donald Conner SG 6-4 208 Sr. Michigan State

46 Denver Nuggets William Backer SG 6-2 198 Sr. Ohio State

47 Dallas Mavericks Scotty Johnson C 6-8 222 Sr. Syracuse

48 Oklahoma City Thunder John Parr C 6-11 239 Sr. Xavier

49 Miami Heat Brett Henriksen C 6-11 256 Jr. Louisville

50 Boston Celtics Melvin Zusman PG 5-9 156 Jr. Florida

51 New York Knicks John Belin PG 6-1 197 Sr. California

52 Sacramento Kings John Winfield PG 5-11 177 Sr. Miami (FL)

53 Orlando Magic Michael Hall SG 6-2 205 Jr. Kansas

54 Portland Trailblazers Rubin McDowell SG 5-11 186 Sr. Air Force

55 Philadelphia 76ers Edgardo Romano SG 6-0 175 Jr. Providence

56 Toronto Raptors John Pray SG 6-2 204 Sr. Texas A&M

57 Washington Wizards Pete Swoope C 6-9 240 Sr. LSU

58 Cleveland Cavaliers Philip Cooley C 6-11 225 Sr. DePaul

59 Minnesota Timberwolves Trevor Holford PF 6-6 223 Jr. Northwestern

60 Los Angeles Lakers Melvin Thornton C 6-10 233 Sr. Tennessee

Minnesota Timberwolves defeat Boston Celtics in NBA Finals 4-3

WarEagle22 · July 31, 2015

Billikens Sign Four Players on National Signing Day

ST. LOUIS | New Saint Louis coach Jeremy Knight has laid the first bricks in his foundation for a new Billikens basketball program. Four prep players signed with Saint Louis Wednesday, the first day of the signing period for men’s basketball. Knight and his staff needed several players to fill glaring holes in the post with only one post player returning in the fall. Three of the four signees are post players and all three should see playing time this fall.

The first letter-of-intent received in the Billikens office this morning was from 6-8 power forward Randy Erhardt. Erhardt prepped at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, Indiana and led the Giants to an IHSAA Class 4A Sectional Runner-Up finish this past season. Erhardt averaged 36.9 ppg and 7.9 rpg during his senior season. He is ranked as the No. 185 overall player and No. 49 power forward by Rivals. Erhardt was also a 2^nd Team All-State selection.

Knight used his connections from his time in Alabama to sign another power forward, 6-foot-4 Dennis Ross from Trinity Presbyterian in Montgomery, Alabama. Ross averaged 25.5 ppg last year and led the Wildcats to a sub-regional appearance in the AHSAA Class 4A playoffs. He also earned 2^nd Team All-State recognition. Rivals lists Ross as the No. 173 overall player in the class of 85 and the No. 47 power forward.

Keith Shaul, a 7-foot-2 center from Lakeside High School in Hot Springs, Arkansas, also signed with the Billikens. Shaun is ranked as the No. 84 center and helped lead the Rams to an AAA Class 5A Runner-Up finish this past season. He averaged 14.5 ppg and 5.7 rpg and was selected for 1^st Team All-State honors.

The final player to sign with Saint Louis on Wednesday was Ryan Doran, a freshman point guard from Clarendon College in Clarendon, Texas. Doran is 6-foot-3 and originally hails from Richmond, Virginia. The guard averaged 23.5 ppg last season and helped the Bulldogs to a 3^rd place finish in the WJCAC. The Bulldogs, led by Doran, got hot in the NJCAA Region 5 Tournament and won the tournament championship and automatic berth in the NJCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs run ended in the opening round of the NJCAA Tournament. Doran is ranked as the No. 106 point guard. Doran earned 2^nd Team All-WJCAC and 1^st Team All-Region 5 honors this past season. Doran will be a sophomore in the fall and have three years of eligibility for the Billikens.

Knight and his staff still have four scholarships to fill, but will most likely only sign one or two more players in order to balance out the class of signees over the next year or two. The St. Louis-Post Dispatch will be the source for all information in regards to Saint Louis recruiting as Knight looks to add more players to his team.

WarEagle22 · July 31, 2015

Saint Louis Adds Another JUCO Guard

Jeremy Knight has increased the depth of the Billiken backcourt with the addition of JUCO transfer Paul Rymer. Rymer is a 6-foot-3 point guard from Brookhaven College in Texas. Last season Rymer averaged 19.4 ppg and 4.9 apg for the Bears while helping the team to a runner-up finish in the Metro Athletic Conference. Rymer and the Bears also reached the semifinals of the NJCAA Region 5 Tournament. Rymer, originally from Wheeling, West Virginia, is ranked as the No. 69 point guard in the class of 85 and will have three years of eligibility remaining once he arrives on campus.

WarEagle22 · August 2, 2015

SAINT LOUIS ATHLETICS

Knight Announces Addition of Six Players to Billikens Squad

Saint Louis men’s basketball coach Jeremy Knight officially announced the addition of six new players for the Billikens basketball team. The new players include a nice mix of front court and back court players as well as high school seniors and JUCO transfers. The incoming players are Paul Rymer, Ryan More, Ryan Doran, Randy Erhardt, Dennis Ross, and Keith Shaul.

Paul Rymer PG 6-3 193 Wheeling, W.Va/Brookhaven College (Texas) (#69 PG)

Knight’s Take:

Paul was a guy we targeted very early in the recruiting process. We backed off because it certainly seemed like he was headed to Valparaiso. Fortunately for us, Valpo cooled off and after signing started he was still available. I called him to see if he would still be in interested in attending Saint Louis and we went from there. I’m really excited about what he brings to the team. He’s a JUCO transfer so he already has some experience playing at the collegiate level and there won’t be as steep of a learning curve for him this season. He’s pretty athletic and plays the point guard position wonderfully. He’s still developing as a player and we’re extremely pleased that we have an opportunity to help him grow and develop at Saint Louis over the next three seasons.

Ryan More PG 5-11 185 West Paducah, Ky./Heath HS

Knight’s Take:

Ryan More was a player that we had on our original recruiting big board. From the very beginning of the recruiting process we decided we wanted him our team. When he announced a few weeks ago that he chose Saint Louis over Robert Morris we were ecstatic. Ryan is a very good shooter, but he’s still a little raw overall. He has the potential to become a tremendous player for the Billikens and we’re excited about helping him reach his goals and developing him into a great player. He’s an extremely heard worker and we truly believe that the sky is the limit for him.

Ryan Doran SF 6-3 191 Richmond, Va./Clarendon College (Texas) (#106 PG)

Knight’s Take:

Ryan is another JUCO transfer that should be able to help us and contribute immediately. He ran the motion offense at Clarendon College so he’s very familiar with some of the things we want to do at Saint Louis from a schematic standpoint. He’s a very solid player and he played point guard in junior college. We felt like with his skill set and our need that he would fit in better as a small forward at this level. His background as a point guard in an offense similar to what we will run will only make him even better as a small forward and can be a strength for us.

Randy Erhardt PF 6-8 240 Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis HS (#185/#49 PF)

Knight’s Take:

Randy is a great player for us that helped fill an immediate need in our front court. He’s just a freshman but his low post game is already at a collegiate level. He’s also an exceptional ball handler and passer for a post player. He will be a great asset as a player that can score from the block in one-on-one situations or kick out to an open player on the wing when he gets doubled. We’re very excited about Randy and are looking forward to him having a wonderful career at Saint Louis.

Dennis Ross PF 6-4 195 Montgomery, Ala./Trinity Presbyterian HS (#173/#47 PF)

Knight’s Take:

Dennis is a player that I’ve been building a relationship with over the last year or so while I was at Birmingham-Southern. When I got the job at Saint Louis and saw that there was a huge hole at the 4-position I knew Dennis was a guy I wanted to get out here. He’s very similar to Randy in that he has a great low post game for being just a freshman and he is also a great ball handler and passer for a post player. We’re extremely thrilled that Dennis chose to come out here and be a member of our team.

Keith Shaul C 7-2 268 Hot Springs, Ark./Lakeside HS (#84 C)

Knight’s Take:

Keith is a guy we found later on in the recruiting process, and man am I glad we did. He’s extremely raw from an offensive standpoint and will need to develop his game there, but defensively he is great. He’s going to protect the rim and he’s going to grab rebounds. He’s in a great situation where we have John Myers returning. Keith will be able to learn from John and it will be mostly John who is counted on to produce offensively and Keith can just go in and grab rebounds and block shots while he grows as a player. Keith is also an exceptional passer so I was very pleased that we were able to add three post players that are all capable of making good passes.

Overall my staff and I are very pleased with this class. My staff worked tirelessly putting this class together. It was certainly a challenge with so many openings and so many recruits to scout and look at, but we truly believe that we found six guys who are not only great players, but great people as well. The St. Louis community will be proud of these players and how they represent the program and the community on the court and off the court. The foundation for the Saint Louis men’s basketball program has been laid. Now it’s time to start building this program.

WarEagle22 · August 23, 2015

ATLANTIC 10 TOURNAMENT

-Brooklyn, N.Y.-

-Barclays Center-

FIRST ROUUND

[4] George Washington 78, [5] Rhode Island 60

[3] Temple 65, [6] Saint Louis 63

[4] St. Bonaventure 79, [5] Dayton 68

[3] La Salle 82, Saint Joseph’s 52

SECOND ROUND

[1] Massachusetts 60, [4] George Washington 57

[2] Xavier 65, [3] Temple 63

[4] St. Bonaventure 70, [1] Richmond 62

[3] La Salle 68, [2] Charlotte 58

SEMIFINALS

[1] Massachusetts 84, [2] Xavier 82

[3] La Salle 71, [4] St. Bonaventure 66

CHAMPIONSHIP

[3] La Salle 77, [1] Massachusetts 70 (OT)

ATLANTIC 10 AWARDS

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Alexis Yazzie Sr. PF La Salle (21.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg)

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Mark Davis Sr. PF George Washington (10.9 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.8 bpg)

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

Randy Erhardt Fr. PF Saint Louis (8.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg)

COACH OF THE YEAR

Terrance Bigby HC Richmond

FIRST TEAM ALL-ATLANTIC 10

PG Kevin Mulkey Sr. Massachusetts (13.4 ppg, 3.6 apg)

SG Lewis Adams Sr. Massachusetts (13.6 ppg, 3.9 apg)

SF Michael Lewis Jr. George Washington (12.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg)

PF Alexis Yazzie Sr. La Salle (21.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg)

C Wendell Griffin Sr. Richmond (10.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg)

SECOND TEAM ALL-ATLANTIC 10

PG Marvin Barton Jr. Xavier (11.7 ppg, 3.3 apg)

SG James Smelley Sr. Charlotte (15.7 ppg, 2.5 apg)

SF Thomas Long Sr. Richmond (9.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg)

PF Paul Ryan Sr. Massachusetts (8.9 ppg, 6 rpg)

C William Parkins Sr. Xavier (8.1 ppg, 8.6 rpg)

THIRD TEAM ALL-ATLANTIC 10

PG Steve Bonds Sr. La Salle (11.1 ppg, 3.8 apg)

SG Ryan Lee Jr. Massachusetts (9.4 ppg, 1.8 apg)

SF Richard Reid Sr. Massachusetts (9.1 ppg, 4 rpg)

PF Todd Mertz Sr. Richmond (10 ppg, 8.2 rpg)

C George Smith So. George Washington (6.9 ppg, 5.7 rpg)

HONORABLE MENTION ALL-ATLANTIC 10

PG Ellis Bourland Richmond

Wilbur Cochran La Salle

Steve Dotson George Washington

SG Gregory Locklear Temple

Christopher Hintze Richmond

Michael Gaier Xavier

SF James Kraszewski Xavier

Matthew Evans Massachusetts

Eugene Cambridge La Salle

PF Stephen Pendergast Charlotte

Brian Kemp Xavier

Mark Davis George Washington

C Clarence Patrick Massachusetts

Franklin White Temple

Robert Bartee George Washington

WarEagle22 · August 23, 2015

Knight Reflects on Tough First Season at Saint Louis

Saint Louis men’s basketball coach Jeremy Knight recently held a press conference to discuss the end to his first season at the helm of the Billikens program. Saint Louis lost to Temple 65-63 in the opening round of the Atlantic-10 Tournament at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, which dropped the Billikens record to 7-20 for the season.

“This season was definitely tough for us in many different ways,” Knight said, “We definitely didn’t win as many games as we wanted. This is the first losing season I’ve ever experienced as a coach so its definitely not something I enjoy. However, I do believe that we did a good job of laying the foundation for our program. A lot of our freshmen got to play big minutes this season and that will definitely pay off down the road. Another thing we have going for us is we’ll have eight players returning for next season and the majority of them played big roles for us this season. We definitely have brighter days ahead of us at Saint Louis.”

One of the few bright spots from this past season was freshman power forward Randy Erhardt. Erhardt started all 27 games for Saint Louis and averaged 9.6 ppg and 5.5 rpg and was named the Atlantic 10 Freshman of the Year for his performance.

“Randy did some really good things for us this season. For an 18 year old to come into the A-10 and average nearly 10 and 6 each game is impressive. He still has some work to do. We would have liked for him to have been an even bigger factor late in the season in the conference stretch, but some of that is due to being a freshman and some of it is from fatigue. He, just like everyone else on the team, has to keep working and continue to get better, but he certainly seems to have a very big future ahead of him in our program.”

Junior guard Bruce Karsten averaged 15.4 ppg during the season, but failed to earn any all-conference recognition.

“I thought Bruce had a phenomenal year for us. He really is a gifted scorer and he carried our team at different point throughout the season. This season he had the best field goal, 3-point, and free throw percentages of this career and he also averaged over one steal per game. He had more turnovers that I would have liked but that’s something we can fix.

“Like Randy, I would have liked Bruce to have had a bigger impact down the stretch. I think over our last five or six games he really only had one great game. And that’s not to say what he did throughout the season wasn’t incredible. There were several games that the only reason we won was because he kept us in the game. We just have to get him to a point where he can go all out throughout the entire schedule. I’m very excited to see what he does next year in his final season.”

With the season over, Knight and his staff will turn their full attention to summer workouts and recruiting.

“College basketball never stops. The season is over, but now we have eight guys that we need to be working with every day to get better. Starting now the work that our guys do will determine how successful we are next season. Each and every member of this program needs to get better in some area every day. As each individual becomes a better player or better coach we ultimately become a better team. Our guys just have to realize that and continue to put in the hard work so next year we can extend our season a couple of games.

“My staff and I are also going to be busy recruiting. We’re in a much more stable situation than we were last season at this point so we can take a little more time and be a little more selective with who we sign. I want to bring in a couple of guards and maybe one more post player to help balance out our roster. Last season at this point I said we were going to lay the foundation for our program with our first recruiting class. That foundation has been laid. Now its time to start bringing in some guys to build up from the foundation.”

WarEagle22 · August 23, 2015

NCAA TOURNMENT

DIVISION III

FIRST ROUND

MIDWEST REGION

[1] Oglethorpe def. [16] Elms College

[8] Clarkson def. [9] Catholic

[5] Cal State-Eastbay def. [12] Concordia-Austin

[4] Upper Iowa def. [13] Wisconsin-Oshkosh

[6] Utica College def. [11] Bethany College

[3] Augustana College def. [14] Heidelberg

[7] Potsdam def. [10] Wilkes

[2] Dallas def. [15] Finlandia

EAST REGION

[1] Greensboro College def. [16] Southern Vermont

[8] Louisiana College def. [9] Fitchburg State

[5] Montclair State def. [12] Ohio Northern

[4] Geneseo def. [13] Widener

[11] Sewanee def. [6] Endicott College

[14] Averett def. [3] Wisconsin-Stout

[7] Chestnut Hill def. [10] Dominican

[2] Colorado College def. [15] Oberline College

SOUTH REGION

[1] California Tech def. [16] East Mennonite

[9] Mississippi College def. [8] Misericordia

[5] Chicago def. [12] North Carolina Wesleyan

[4] St. Norbert def. [13] Lakeland College

[11] Capital def. [6] Frostburg State

[3] Lewis and Clark def. [14] Dickinson College

[7] Ozarks def. [10] Transylvania

[2] LaGrange College def. [15] Trinity College

WEST REGION

[1] Menlo College def. [16] Augsburg College

[8] Wisconsin Lutheran def. [9] Christopher Newport

[5] Westminster (MO) def. [12] Rutgers-Camden

[4] Wisconsin-Stevens Point def. [13] Keene State

[11] Texas-Tyler def. [6] Anderson

[3] Yeshiva def. [14] Shenandoah

[10] Howard Payne def. [7] Fisk

[2] Centre College def. [15] Staten Island

SECOND ROUND

MIDWEST REGION

[1] Ogelthorpe def. [8] Clarkson

[5] Cal State-Eastbay def. [4] Upper Iowa

[6] Utica College def. [3] Augustana College

[2] Dallas def. [7] Potsdam

EAST REGION

[1] Greensboro College def. [8] Louisiana College

[4] Geneseo def. [5] Montclair State

[11] Sewanee def. [14] Averett

[2] Colorado College def. [7] Chestnut Hill

SOUTH REGION

[1] California Tech def. [9] Mississippi College

[4] St. Norbert def. [5] Chicago

[3] Lewis and Clark def. [11] Capital

[2] LaGrange College def. [7] Ozarks

WEST REGION

[1] Menlo College def. [8] Wisconsin Lutheran

[5] Westminster (MO) def. [4] Wisconsin-Stevens Point

[11] Texas-Tyler def. [3] Yeshiva

[2] Centre College def. [10] Howard Payne

SWEET SIXTEEN

MIDWEST REGION

[1] Oglethorpe def. [5] Cal State-Eastbay

[2] Dallas def. [6] Utica College

EAST REGION

[1] Greensboro College def. [4] Geneseo

[11] Sewanee def. [2] Colorado College

SOUTH REGION

[1] California Tech def. [4] St. Norbert

[3] Lewis and Clark def. [2] LaGrange College

WEST REGION

[5] Westminster (MO) def. [1] Menlo College

[2] Centre College def. [11] Texas-Tyler

ELITE EIGHT

MIDWEST REGION

[1] Oglethorpe def. [2] Dallas

EAST REGION

[1] Greensboro College def. [11] Sewanee

SOUTH REGION

[1] California Tech def. [3] Lewis and Clark

WEST REGION

[2] Centre College def. [5] Westminster (MO)

FINAL FOUR

[1] Greensboro College def. [1] Oglethorpe

[1] California Tech def. [2] Centre College

CHAMPIONSHIP

[1] California Tech def. [1] Greensboro College

NCAA TOURNAMENT

DIVISION II

FIRST ROUND

MIDWEST REGION

[1] Colorado School of Mines def. [16] Eckerd College

[8] Delta State def. [9] Kutztown

[5] Mercyhurst College def. [12] Hillsdale College

[13] North Dakota State def. [4] Grand Canyon

[6] West Texas A&M def. [11] LIU-CW Post

[3] Seattle def. [14] Felician College

[10] Presbyterian def. [7] West Florida

[2] Angelo State def. [15] Charleston

EAST REGION

[1] Catawba College def. [16] Southwest Oklahoma State

[9] Findlay def. [8] St. Thomas Aquinas

[5] Fort Hays State def. [12] Ouachita Baptist

[4] UNC-Pembroke def. [13] Cal Poly Pomona

[11] Virginia Union def. [6] Southern Connecticut State

[3] Sonoma State def. [14] Grand Valley State

[7] Oakland City def. [10] Fort Valley State

[15] Philadelphia def. [2] Midwestern State

SOUTH REGION

[1] Tarleton State def. [16] Southwest Minnesota State

[9] Southern New Hampshire def. [8] Mount Olive

[5] Metro State def. [12] Lake Superior State

[4] San Francisco State def. [13] New Jersey Tech

[6] Wisconsin-Parkside def. [11] Clark Atlanta

[3] Merrimack College def. [14] Humboldt State

[10] Green Mountain def. [7] Arkansas-Monticello

[2] California-San Diego def. [15] Minnesota State-Mankato

WEST REGION

[1] California State-Chico def. [16] Washburn

[9] Adams State def. [8] Tusculum College

[5] Chaminade def. [12] East Central

[4] Bowie State def. [13] St. Michael’s

[6] Western State def. [11] Indianapolis

[3] Wayne State (MI) def. [14] Shepherd College

[7] Cal State-Los Angeles def. [10] Eastern New Mexico

[2] Limestone College def. [15] University of D.C.

SECOND ROUND

MIDWEST REGION

[8] Delta State def. [1] Colorado School of Mines

[5] Mercyhurst College def. [13] North Dakota State

[6] West Texas A&M def. [3] Seattle

[2] Angelo State def. [10] Presbyterian

EAST REGION

[9] Findlay def. [1] Catawba College

[4] UNC-Pembroke def. [5] Fort Hays State

[3] Sonoma State def. [11] Virginia Union

[7] Oakland City def. [15] Philadelphia

SOUTH REGION

[1] Tarleton State def. [9] Southern New Hampshire

[5] Metro State def. [4] San Francisco State

[6] Wisconsin-Parkside def. [3] Merrimack College

[2] California-San Diego def. [10] Green Mountain

WEST REGION

[9] Adams State def. [1] California State-Chico

[4] Bowie State def. [5] Chaminade

[6] Western State def. [3] Wayne State (MI)

[2] Limestone College def. [7] California State-Los Angeles

SWEET SIXTEEN

MIDWEST REGION

[8] Delta State def. [5] Mercyhurst College

[2] Angelo State def. [6] West Texas A&M

EAST REGION

[4] UNC-Pembroke def. [9] Findlay

[3] Sonoma State def. [7] Oakland City

SOUTH REGION

[1] Tarleton State def. [5] Metro State

[2] California-San Diego def. [6] Wisconsin-Parkside

WEST REGION

[4] Bowie State def. [9] Adams State

[2] Limestone College def. [6] Western State

ELITE EIGHT

MIDWEST REGION

[2] Angelo State def. [8] Delta State

EAST REGION

[3] Sonoma State def. [4] UNC-Pembroke

SOUTH REGION

[1] Tarleton State def. [2] California-San Diego

WEST REGION

[4] Bowie State def. [2] Limestone College

FINAL FOUR

[2] Angelo State def. [3] Sonoma State

[1] Tarleton State def. [4] Bowie State

CHAMPIONSHIP

[2] Angelo State def. [1] Tarleton State

NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT

FIRST ROUND

[8] North Texas 66, [1] Iowa State 55

[4] Brown 73, [5] Richmond 67

[3] Auburn 71, [6] Georgetown 59

[2] Washington State 73, [7] Central Connecticut State 65

[1] North Carolina 72, [8] Hawaii 63

[5] South Carolina 70, [4] Massachusetts 67 (OT)

[3] San Jose State 55, [6] Navy 54

[2] Villanova 77, [7] Kansas State 58

[1] Texas Southern 69, [8] Fairliegh Dickinson 62

[4] West Virginia 85, [5] Missouri-Kansas City 73

[3] Harvard 77, [6] Southern Methodist 54

[2] USC 61, [7] Texas Tech 60

[1] St. John’s 91, [8] Stanford 77

[4] Oklahoma State 70, [5] BYU 69 (OT)

[6] Michigan 69, [3] Western Carolina 58

[7] Alabama 84, [2] Memphis 77

SECOND ROUND

[4] Brown 69, [8] North Texas 58

[2] Washington State 55, [3] Auburn 42

[5] South Carolina 58, [1] North Carolina 50

[2] Villanova 68, [3] San Jose State 57

[1] Texas Southern 59, [4] West Virginia 57

[2] USC 78, [3] Harvard 62

[1] St. John’s 60, [4] Oklahoma State 59

[6] Michigan 55, [7] Alabama 49

THIRD ROUND

[2] Washington State 55, [4] Brown 52

[5] South Carolina 60, [2] Villanova 55

[1] Texas Southern 78, [2] USC 70 (OT)

[6] Michigan 59, [1] St. John’s 47

SEMIFINALS

New York, N.Y.

[5] South Carolina 69, [2] Washington State 66 (OT)

[6] Michigan 62, [1] Texas Southern 51

CHAMPIONSHIP

@ New York, N.Y.

[5] South Carolina 65, [6] Michigan 62 (OT)

NCAA TOURNAMENT

DIVISION I

FIRST ROUND

MIDWEST REGION

[1] Illinois 105, [16] South Alabama 69

[8] Arizona 84, [9] Arkansas 74

[12] Baylor 66, [5] Princeton 47

[4] Utah 58, [13] Idaho State 45

[11] Fresno State 66, [6] Iowa 56

[3] Duke 72, [14] Morehead State 44

[7] Colorado 59, [10] Kentucky 46

[2] Connecticut 87, [15] Cleveland State 60

EAST REGION

[1] Boston College 102, [16] Hofstra 60

[9] Purdue 77, [8] Washington 69

[5] San Diego State 83, [12] Minnesota 57

[4] Providence 90, [13] UMBC 70

[6] Texas 81, [11] Syracuse 79 (OT)

[3] Wisconsin 90, [14] Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 80

[7] Virginia 92, [10] Long Island 71

[2] Tennessee 79, [15] Loyola (MD) 51

SOUTH REGION

[1] Florida 88, [16] Tulsa 55

[9] Oklahoma 74, [8] IUPUI 50

[5] Michigan State 60, [12] La Salle 53

[4] California 96, [13] Davidson 74

[6] Wake Forest 71, [11] Georgia 63

[3] Northwestern 70, [14] Hampton 55

[7] Kansas 85, [10] George Mason 70

[2] Seton Hall 71, [15] Ball State 50

WEST REGION

[1] UCLA 81, [16] Birmingham-Southern 66

[9] New Hampshire 78, [8] Air Force 68

[5] Ohio State 74, [12] Maryland 63

[4] Texas A&M 69, [13] Mississippi State 60

[11] Bradley 65, [6] Louisville 61

[3] Indiana 84, [14] Gonzaga 64

[7] LSU 87, [10] Northern Arizona 54

[2] Virginia Tech 75, [15] Cal State-Northridge 60

SECOND ROUND

MIDWEST REGION

[1] Illinois 87, [8] Arizona 74

[4] Utah 56, [12] Baylor 46

[11] Fresno State 65, [3] Duke 62

[2] Connecticut 53, [7] Colorado 45

EAST REGION

[1] Boston College 67, [9] Purdue 64

[5] San Diego State 72, [4] Providence 60

[3] Wisconsin 94, [6] Texas 87

[2] Tennessee 92, [7] Virginia 85

SOUTH REGION

[1] Florida 86, [9] Oklahoma 79

[4] California 66, [5] Michigan State 55

[3] Northwestern 63, [6] Wake Forest 47

[7] Kansas 63, [2] Seton Hall 60

WEST REGION

[9] New Hampshire 90, [1] UCLA 79

[4] Texas A&M 69, [5] Ohio State 59

[3] Indiana 84, [11] Bradley 76

[7] LSU 70, [2] Virginia Tech 64

SWEET SIXTEEN

MIDWEST REGION

@ Oklahoma City, Okla.

[1] Illinois 84, [4] Utah 63

[11] Fresno State 87, [2] Connecticut 80

EAST REGION

@ Brooklyn, N.Y.

[5] San Diego State 65, [1] Boston College 61

[2] Tennessee 82, [3] Wisconsin 65

SOUTH REGION

@ Greensboro, N.C.

[1] Florida 69, [4] California 59

[3] Northwestern 58, [7] Kansas 53

WEST REGION

@ Sacramento, Calif.

[4] Texas A&M 87, [9] New Hampshire 77

[3] Indiana 81, [7] LSU 65

ELITE EIGHT

MIDWEST REGION

@ Oklahoma City, Okla.

[1] Illinois 103, [11] Fresno State 68

EAST REGION

@ Brooklyn, N.Y.

[5] San Diego State 71, [2] Tennessee 63

SOUTH REGION

@ Greensboro, N.C.

[1] Florida 79, [3] Northwestern 76

WEST REGION

@ Sacramento, Calif.

[4] Texas A&M 86, [3] Indiana 76

FINAL FOUR

@ Indianapolis, Ind.

[1] Illinois 81, [5] San Diego State 66

[4] Texas A&M 105, [1] Florida 100 (OT)

CHAMPIONSHIP

@ Indianapolis, Ind.

[4] Texas A&M 91, [1] Illinois 63

WarEagle22 · August 23, 2015

85 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

DIII: California Tech (34-1) ***2^nd National Championship [72, 85]***

DII: Angelo State (28-6) ***4^th National Championship [46, 50, 82, 85]***

NIT: South Carolina (17-16) ***2^nd NIT Championship [58, 85]***

DI: Texas A&M (27-8) ***4^th National Championship [68, 70, 74, 85]***

WarEagle22 · August 23, 2015

AP AWARDS

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Robert Nicholson PF Jr. Virginia Tech (22.1 ppg, 5 rpg)

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Hao Zheng PG Sr. Hampton (9.2 ppg, 4 apg, 2.2 spg)

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

John Gregory SG Fr. LSU (6.2 ppg, 3.2 apg)

COACH OF THE YEAR

Bill Gally HC Illinois (27-4, Big Ten Champions, Big Ten Tournament Champions, 2^nd AP Coach of the Year Award)

FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICA

PG Raymond Losada Sr. Northwestern (23 ppg, 1.3 apg)

SG Billy Brown Sr. IUPUI (17.8 ppg, 3.2 apg)

SF Christopher Simons Sr. LSU (16.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg)

PF Robert Nicholson Jr. Virginia Tech (22.1 ppg, 5 rpg)

C Mario Adams Jr. UCLA (14.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg)

SECOND TEAM ALL-AMERICA

PG Paul Pierce Sr. Connecticut (19.4 ppg, 3.4 apg)

SG Bo Todd Sr. Princeton (21.8 ppg, 1.9 apg)

SF Ronald Hansley Jr. Eastern Kentucky (16.7 ppg, 5.9 rpg)

PF Alexis Yazzie Sr. La Salle (19.5 ppg, 7.1 rpg)

C Robert Johnson Sr. Gonzaga (16.8 ppg, 7.3 rpg)

THIRD TEAM ALL-AMERICA

PG Steve Wright Jr. Davidson (24.9 ppg, 2.8 apg)

SG Wayne Elmore Sr. Connecticut (12.1 ppg, 4.0 apg)

SF Alan Callis Sr. Fairleigh Dickinson (14.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg)

PF Clifford Vetter Jr. Valparaiso (21.9 ppg, 7.8 rpg)

C John Sanders Jr. Bethune-Cookman (15.6 ppg, 10.3 rpg)

HONORABLE MENTION ALL-AMERICA

PG Jason Nisbet LSU

Manuel Connor New Mexico State

Joseph Defalco UMBC

SG Darryl Payne Illinois

Robert Tyberg Gonzaga

Kevin Culley Air Force

SF Marshall Zerbe Iowa

John Mayer UCLA

Edmund O’Donell Texas A&M

PF William Norris Long Beach State

Hugh Hughes Navy

James West Texas

C Thomas Bailey Southern Methodist

Lloyd Schnieders Indiana

Randy Ford Northwestern

WarEagle22 · August 24, 2015

FINAL INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Paul Rymer PG So.

27 GP/27 GS 31.6 mpg 47.3%/0.0%/71.7% 7.0 ppg 3.6 apg 3.2 rpg

*3^rd in A-10 Assists

Ryan Doran SF So.

27 GP/27 GS 27.9 mpg 43.4%/39.7%/76.3% 5.9 ppg 2.0 apg 2.4 rpg

Bruce Karsten PG Jr.

27 GP/27 GS 27.1 mpg 42.4%/36.2%/72.2% 15.4 ppg 1.9 apg 1.9 rpg

*3^rd in A-10 Scoring

*7^th in A-10 Steal (1.2 spg)

Randy Erhardt PF Fr.

27 GP/27 GS 24.1 mpg 51.8%/n-a/74.7% 9.6 ppg 5.5 rpg

*25^th in A-10 Scoring

*18^th in A-10 Rebounding

*5^th in A-10 FG percentage

John Myers C Sr.

27 GP/2 GS 23.7 mpg 45.6%/n-a/64.4% 10.0 ppg 5.4 rpg

*17^th in A-10 Scoring

*7^th in A-10 Blocks (1.0 bpg)

Dikembe Abdula PG Jr.

27 GP/0 GS 21.9 mpg 36.7%/21.4%/74.6% 4.2 ppg 1.8 apg 1.4 rpg

Dennis Ross PF Fr.

25 GP/25 GS 21.3 mpg 39.8%/0.0%/63.8% 5.6 ppg 3.7 rpg

Thomas Ayers SF Sr.

27 GP/0 GS 15.1 mpg 42.7%/0.0%/75.3% 5.7 ppg 2.4 rpg

Keith Shaul C Fr.

27 GP/0 GS 14.6 mpg 42.1%/n-a/40.0% 2.1 ppg 4.3 rpg

Ryan More PG Fr.

---Redshirted---

TEAM STATISTICS

(Atlantic 10 rank in parenthesis)

OFFENSE DEFENSE

PPG 65.2 (8^th) 73.9 (12^th)

RPG 30.0 (8^th) 35.7 (12^th)

APG 12.6 (8^th) 15.8 (10^th)

TOPG 13.9 (7^th) 13.4 (7^th)

FG% 44.2% (9^th) 47.1% (7^th)

FG3% 35.2% (8^th) 34.8% (4^th)

FT% 69.9% (9^th) 70.5% (5^th)

WarEagle22 · August 29, 2015

85 NBA DRAFT

ROUND ONE

PICK TEAM PLAYER POS HT WT YR COLLEGE

1 Sacramento Kings Edmund O’Donell SF 6-2 197 Jr. Texas A&M

2 Dallas Mavericks Raymond Losada PG 6-1 176 Sr. Northwestern

3 Minnesota Timberwolves Andrew Webb SF 6-5 193 Jr. Seton Hall

4 Utah Jazz Brian Snyder PF 6-7 222 So. Utah

5 Toronto Raptors Marvin Lynch SG 6-4 184 Jr. Kansas

6 Miami Heat Charles Spencer SG 6-2 174 Sr. Illinois

7 Boston Celtics Dan Finch SF 6-6 216 Jr. Illinois

8 Indiana Pacers Robert Nicholson PF 6-8 207 Jr. Virginia Tech

9 Brooklyn Nets Carl Allen SF 6-7 217 So. Kansas

10 Orlando Magic Mario Adams C 6-7 225 Jr. UCLA

11 Washington Wizards Leonard Griffin PF 6-11 258 Sr. Colorado

12 Los Angeles Lakers Samuel Williamson C 6-6 214 Sr. Virginia Tech

13 Houston Rockets Ronald Whitby PF 6-4 213 Sr. Tennessee

14 Los Angeles Clippers Stephen Clark PF 6-9 240 Sr. San Jose State

15 Chicago Bulls Barrett Thompson PF 6-9 214 Jr. Washington

16 Cleveland Cavaliers James West PF 6-5 197 Jr. Texas

17 Oklahoma City Thunder Robert Jones PF 7-1 259 Jr. Florida

18 Milwaukee Bucks Matthew Wesley PF 6-8 230 Jr. Utah

19 New York Knicks Paul Pierce PG 6-2 204 Sr. Connecticut

20 Detroit Pistons Hung Tang PF 6-8 213 Jr. Michigan State

21 New Orleans Pelicans Alfred McCullan SG 6-6 217 Jr. Ohio State

22 Atlanta Hawks Bruce Orlowski PG 6-2 201 Sr. San Diego State

23 Golden State Warriors John Hart PF 6-8 220 So. Ohio State

24 Philadelphia 76ers Brian Starling PF 6-8 230 So. Connecticut

25 San Antonio Spurs Kevin Ogles C 7-0 233 Jr. Florida

26 Phoenix Suns Richard Rowen PG 6-2 179 So. Texas A&M

27 Portland Trailblazers Mario Guerrero SG 6-5 213 Sr. Arizona

28 Memphis Grizzlies Albert Rust PF 6-5 210 Jr. Seton Hall

29 Denver Nuggets Jason Nisbet PG 6-1 186 Jr. LSU

30 Charlotte Hornets Robert Stravinski PG 5-10 175 Sr. Duke

ROUND TWO

PICK TEAM PLAYER POS HT WT YR COLLEGE

31 Sacramento Kings Oscar Morris PG 5-9 164 Sr. Florida

32 Dallas Mavericks Lawrence Shutts PF 6-8 212 Sr. Illinois

33 Minnesota Timberwolves Scott Townsend PF 6-7 215 Jr. Duke

34 Utah Jazz George Boner PG 6-2 182 Sr. Seton Hall

35 Toronto Raptors Michael Pereira PG 5-9 171 Jr. Wisconsin

36 Miami Heat Christopher Simons SF 6-4 210 Sr. LSU

37 Boston Celtics Eric Minich PG 5-10 160 Sr. Minnesota

38 Indiana Pacers Marshall Zerbe SF 6-9 217 Jr. Iowa

39 Brooklyn Nets Arthur Fryer SF 6-3 195 Sr. San Diego State

40 Orlando Magic Larry Hendricks PG 6-6 205 Sr. Arizona

41 Washington Wizards William Bellanger SG 6-1 184 Jr. Colorado

42 Los Angeles Lakers David Grady PG 6-3 193 Jr. Miami (FL)

43 Houston Rockets Kenneth Hayne PF 6-11 234 Sr. Ole Miss

44 Los Angeles Clippers Wayne Dobson PF 6-7 228 Sr. Wake Forest

45 Chicago Bulls Jimmy Johnson C 6-7 216 Jr. South Carolina

46 Cleveland Cavaliers Leroy Rollins SF 6-5 221 Jr. Providence

47 Oklahoma City Thunder Steven Ferranti SF 6-2 198 Sr. Arizona

48 Milwaukee Bucks David Secor PG 6-0 183 Jr. Baylor

49 New York Knicks Austin Shemanski PG 6-7 222 Sr. Minnesota

50 Detroit Pistons Barry Hall PG 6-0 172 Jr. Kansas

51 New Orleans Pelicans Reginald Walker SG 5-11 183 Sr. Northwestern

52 Atlanta Hawks Edgar Krebs SF 6-5 209 Sr. Colorado

53 Golden State Warriors Steven Harrison PF 6-7 223 Jr. Wake Forest

54 Philadelphia 76ers Frank Carstensen PG 6-1 182 Jr. Kentucky

55 San Antonio Spurs Gus Beardsley PG 5-9 170 Sr. Indiana

56 Phoenix Suns Andrew Caver SG 6-2 190 Sr. Utah

57 Portland Trailblazers Valentin Russo PF 6-4 215 Sr. Ole Miss

58 Memphis Grizzlies Ronald Olson SF 6-6 204 Sr. Baylor

59 Denver Nuggets James Vanetten PG 5-9 170 Sr. UCLA

60 Charlotte Hornets Anthony Earl C 6-11 238 Sr. Colorado

WarEagle22 · August 31, 2015

Billikens Add Three Players on Signing Day

ST. LOUIS | Saint Louis men’s basketball coach Jeremy Knight announced the signing of three prep players for the upcoming 86 season. Knight and his staff received signed letters-of-intent on signing day from guards David Phillips and Bernard Jackson and center Greg Coulston.

“We’re extremely excited to have these three young men join our family here at Saint Louis,” Knight said in a press conference. “Each one possesses the intangibles and characteristics that we look for in our players both on and off the court.”

The first LOI received this morning was from David Phillips. Phillips is a 5-foot-11 point guard from Hampshire High School in Hampshire, Tennessee. Rivals has Phillips ranked as the No. 278 overall prospect and the No. 47 point guard in the class of 86. Phillips averaged 30.1 ppg during his senior campaign and helped lead the Hawks to a TSSAA Division I Class A playoff berth.

“David is a great kid who really has a knack for putting the ball through the rim. He needs to improve his defense, but other than that we really like where his skillset is coming out of high school. He’s definitely a guy that has some versatility and could potentially play both guard positions for us.”

The next LOI received belonged to Bernard Jackson from Cole Camp High School in Cole Camp, Missouri. Jackson is a 6-foot-1 point guard and ranked by Rivals as the No. 271 overall prospect and the No. 44 point guard. Jackson averaged 29.5 ppg last year and led his team to a District 13 championship. He also led his team to the quarterfinals of the MSHSAA Class 3 tournament.

“Bernard is a guy we really focused on during his junior year of high school when we first arrived at Saint Louis. We really like his skillset and his game. I believe that a key to building and maintaining a great program is to keep the top talent in your state at home and Bernard is definitely one of the top players from Missouri. He’s more of a traditional point guard at this moment but he has the potential to really work on his jump shot and possibly be a combo guard for us in the future. One of the key traits we like in recruits is versatility and Bernard certainly has the potential to be a versatile guard for us.”

The final LOI received by the Billikens staff was from 6-foot-11 center Greg Coulston from St. Rita High School in Chicago. Coulston averaged 9.6 ppg and was ranked by Rivals as the No. 185 center. Coulston also helped lead the Mustangs to a berth in the IHSA Class 4A Tournament.

“Greg is going to come in and give us another big body that protects the rim. He’s a good rebounder and has an excellent defensive presence. His low post game is still developing and with some work with our coaching staff I really think he’ll become a well rounded, complete big man for us for the next couple of years.”

Knight and his staff still have one scholarship open. It is currently unknown if they will try to fill it or be contempt with the team they currently have. Saint Louis failed to sign a small forward, which was a need heading into the offseason. However, Knight has been known to play versatile guards at the 3 as he did last season with Dikembe Abdula and newcomer Ryan Doran. Doran played point guard at Clarendon College in Texas before moving to small forward at Saint Louis.

With recruiting winding down its only a matter of time until Saint Louis tips off year two of the Jeremy Knight era. The Billikens will open the season with an exhibition game against Missouri State followed by another exhibition game against VMI before opening the regular season against Central Florida.

Sign In

The Jeremy Knight Experience v2.0 [Hoops Dynasty]

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