O.T. Indiana State MBB is worth watching
(Full disclosure: I received my bachelor's degree from Michigan and my masters from Indiana State.)
If you haven’t had the opportunity to watch this year's Indiana State Sycamores men’s basketball team, Thursday will be your last opportunity. Their record of 32-6 is one victory short of Larry Bird’s final season when the Sycamores achieved the #1 ranking prior to their loss to Magic Johnson in the national championship game. The game was the most watched college basketball game in history with almost 1/4 of the nation watching the game live.
Coached by Josh Schertz, who was linked to the Michigan job prior to the hiring of Dusty May, the Sycamores play an entertaining style of basketball. Coach Schertz shuns the mid-range jump shot and, instead, coaches his team to take 3 pointers or layups, and that' s exactly what they do..
Speculation is strong that coach Schertz will be hired away as soon as the Sycamore’s season is over. It’s not a stretch to believe that at least some of his players will enter the portal and either follow him to his new team or possibly transfer to other teams so this is likely the last time we will see this team play as currently structured.
Led by sophomore Robbie Avila a.k.a:
- Cream Abdul-Jabbar.
- Larry Nerd.
- College Jokic.
- Larry Blurred.
- Rob Wave.
- Milk Chamberlain.
- Steph Blurry.
the team ranks:
- #1 in effective FG%
- 3rd in Free Throw %
- 4th in 3 pointers/game
- 11th in assists/game
Snubbed by the NCAA for the Big Dance, the Sycamores gladly accepted the invitation to the N.I.T. where they have disposed of SMU, Minnesota, Cincinnati and Utah on their way to the finals against Seton Hall.
With all that said, if you have not watched this entertaining team, I encourage you to watch them in the N.I.T. final tomorrow 7:pm on ESPN.
You won‘t be disappointed.
Weird that Josh Schertz has an MGoBlog burner account but here we are.
Schertz has a super interesting background as detailed in a great story on the Athletic a month or so ago. Easy dude to root for.
I peeked at his Wikipedia entry admittedly, which is not extensive but does display his coaching history and record. Not sure how competitive the South Atlantic Conference is as I am not terribly familiar with DII hoops, but that is quite the run with Lincoln Memorial. He was 337-69 overall.
They're the most exciting team to watch in basketball this year. Even if they got bounced in the first round of the tourney, it would have been an exciting game to watch 100%.
Can we all please admit that the Sycamores is one of the great nicknames in American sports.
Professional nicknames are particularly bland or poor.. but some schools have great ones and a few have the very greatest among them. We are lucky to be another of the latter.
Totally agree, I’ve always been a fan of that name and their basketball baby blues with the state outline of Indiana standing in for the “I” is such an underrated uniform.
I will contend that Baltimore Ravens is one of the best names in all of sports. Unique, local, and good colors.
They are the only reason I have tuned in for any NIT action. Selfishly have enjoyed the run (while they were snubbed for the Big Dance) it has made for good standalone viewing mid week.
On a side note, the timeout situation is out of hand. Taking TV timeouts at the under 17, 14, 11, 8, and 4 is absurd. Timeouts every three minutes to start is bonkers. Especially when the U17 could come at 16:11, and the next one at 13:48. What are we doing!
I watched pieces of two or three of their games and agree that they're fun to watch. One of the better passing teams you're going to see and they sure found a lot of open shots. It was impressive.
IIRC, Seton Hall played in the post season back in 1989. I like how that game turned out.
And - Indiana State was definitely screwed by the NCAA Selection Committee, they deserved to be in the Dance.
Thanks for the info.
I really wanted Josh to be the coach at Michigan. Dusty May is great and will do great here but Josh is something special…Nate Oats light who understands defensive principles too. I concur - watch them play, lots of guys, lots of motion, secondary action and all driven by a point forward who can shoot and pass so efficiently. Fun to watch….he will be at St. Louis next year I believe but this years team is already magic. Seton Hall is a tough draw though…will be a hell of a game…