Nov. 18, 2002
Truman Men's Basketball Opens 2002-03 Season At Northwest Missouri Milner Classic
Truman State University (0-0)
vs.
#3 South Dakota State (0-0)
Friday, November 22, 2002, 3:00 p.m.
(Bearcat Arena, Maryville, Mo.)
Truman State University
vs.
Florida Tech (0-0)
Saturday, November 23, 2002, 3:00 p.m.
(Bearcat Arena, Maryville, Mo.)
Radio Broadcast:
94.7 FM KRES
Brad Boyer, Play-by-Play; Hank Janssen, Color
Pre-Game shows begins 30 minutes prior to the games
Internet Broadcast:
Go to regionalradio.com and click on KRES
Teamline:
Live KRES braodcast can be heard by calling 1-800-846-4700.
Access Code: 6350 (A reasonable fee is charged)
Complete Game Notes in .pdf format
The Bulldogs slate is wiped clean as the Truman State University men's basketball team takes the floor for the first time this weekend at the Northwest Missouri Milner Classic.
Truman opens up its season on Friday afternoon with perhaps the toughest opponent on its schedule, South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits open up the year ranked third in the country according to the Division II Bulletin preseason Top 25 poll. Saturday, the Bulldogs will take on Florida Tech.
Scouting the Jackrabbits: South Dakota State compiled a 25-6 record during the 2001-02 season, winning both the North Central Conference regular season and postseason titles before ending the year as North Central Regional runner-up. Four starters return from that team that is ranked third in the country in the preseason poll.
South Dakota State showed off a high-scoring offense in an exhibition game last Thursday against the XBA Rookie All-Stars, winning 105-76. Five Jackrabbits scored in double-figures led by Chris Stoebner with 22 points and Austin Hansen with 19. South Dakota State shot 49.4% from the field in that game and outrebounded the All-Stars by a 55-31 margin. Jared DeJong led the way on the boards with nine. Marquise Richardson had team-highs with eight assists and five steals.
The Jackrabbits are coached by Scott Nagy who is starting his eighth season at the school. He has a career coaching mark of 159-45, all at South Dakota State.
Series Record: Truman and South Dakota have met just once before all the way back in 1940. South Dakota State earned a 41-30 victory in that contest.
Scouting the Panthers: The Florida Tech Panthers are a Division II school out of the Sunshine State Conference. The Panthers will take on Northwest Missouri on Friday night before facing the Bulldogs on Saturday.
Three starters and eight letterwinners return for Florida Tech from last year's squad that went 5-21 overall and 0-14 in conference play. Greg Barnes was the leading scorer last year for Florida Tech, averaging 13.4 points a game. Jon Brown returns after averaging 7.0 points and 5.9 rebounds a game a year ago.
The Panthers are coached by Kris Olson who is beginning his fourth season as a head coach at Florida Tech. He has an all-time coaching record of 22-59.
Series History: The Bulldogs have also met Florida Tech just once before in the history of the two schools. In 1993, Truman dropped a narrow 72-70 decision to the Panthers.
2002-03 Truman Preview: The 2002-03 Truman Bulldogs men's basketball squad is looking to return winning ways to Pershing Arena and head coach Jack Schrader thinks his team has the right group of guys to do just that.
"We have a great combination of upperclassmen and freshmen this year," said Schrader. "The returners are hungry to win and they have a lot of pride so they want to go out and prove that they can get the job done. The newcomers are all fierce competitors who will raise the level of toughness and competiveness of the entire team."
Schrader sees the team's depth as the number one strength of this year's squad. The 2002-03 squad will be composed of eight returning players, seven of which started at least one game last year, one redshirt freshman and six true freshmen.
Out of this group, there is plenty of open competition as no one has a starting spot or playing time secured. This has led to more competitive practices which Schrader believes will make the team mentally and physically tougher than last year's team. The depth will also serve as a safeguard in case the team is hit by injuries like previous seasons.
Only one Bulldog returns in 2002-03 with three years of playing experience. Senior forward Jiri Mikl is the returning leading scorer and three-point shooter. Last year, he averaged 12.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.7 three-pointers a game. He hit a team-high .422 of his three-point attempts, connecting on 65 of 154 tries.
"Jiri has steadily improved year-by-year and is poised to have an outstanding senior season," said Schrader. "He is one of the most talented offensive players in the league."
The other seven returning letterwinners all have two years of collegiate playing experience.
Forward Matt Beran and center Adam Glosier were the leading rebounders on the team last year. Beran averaged 6.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists last year and knocked in over 48% of his field goal attempts. Glosier averaged 6.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and shot over 52% from the field.
"Matt came on strong at the end of last year, including four double-doubles late in the season, and is entering the prime of his career," said Schrader. "Adam hasn't been able to show us what he is capable of yet because of injuries but he appears to be healthy this year."
Aaron Mueller, Torre Finley and Jeff Nepple are the top returners at the guard positions. Mueller averaged 3.2 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and nearly a three-pointer a game last year. Finley played in 18 games and averaged 2.6 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists. Nepple was having a strong finish last year before being sidelined with an injury and averaged 4.7 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.1 three-pointer per game.
"All three are solid guard players and they know what we like to do both offensively and defensively," said Schrader.
Guard Cory Long and forward Bret Maxwell are the other returners. Long got opportunities to play late in the season last year and Maxwell also contributed in several games.
"Cory and Bret are two more players who know how to run things which is very important in our system," said Schrader.
Seven freshmen round out the 2002-03 Bulldogs' roster.
Guard Matt Brock redshirted last year after being an all-district performer at Camdenton High School. Other guards are Derek Lindsey, a honorable mention all-metro pick from Eureka, and Chip Sodemann, last year's player of the year in the Suburban West Conference while playing for Parkway West.
Twins Gavin and Ryan Welker are the newcomers at the forward position. Both were all-Olympic Conference selections last season for Farmington High School in Illinois.
Nathan Zondag and Garret Grimm bring some needed height to the team at the center position. Zondag was a two-time first-team all-conference selection while playing at Randolph High School in Wisconsin and Grimm was a Class A first-team all-state honoree from Macomb High School in Illinois.
"All of the newcomers are very talented and have the ability to contribute right away," said Schrader.
Truman will be tested early this season, opening the year at this weekend's Northwest Missouri Milner Classic against South Dakota State, a team ranked third in the nation. Other key non-conference battles include two games apiece against Drury and Lincoln, and games against Florida Tech and Quincy.
"The last couple of years we have scheduled tough competition during the non-conference portion of the schedule and this year is no different," said Schrader. "I feel that this type of competition prepares us better for the conference season."
The MIAA season promises to be as competitive as always as the conference looks to extend its streak of sending a team to the Elite Eight to five years. Northwest Missouri (12th) and Washburn (15th) are both ranked in the preseason poll and several other teams are also expected to fight it out for the conference crown.
"The MIAA is the best conference in the country because top-to-bottom, there is not that much difference in talent level," said Schrader. "There is no real favorite and every game is hard-fought the way all conference games should be."
While many teams coming off a losing season would set modest goals, Truman is setting a higher standard for itself.
"The goal for every basketball team at the beginning of the year should be to win the National Championship," said Schrader. "I have challenged our players and our coaching staff to set our sights high and begin returning this program to that type of level. I expect us to work as hard as we can and play the best we can to try to achieve that."
Head Coach Jack Schrader: Jack Schrader is in his eighth season as head coach of the Truman men's basketball team after serving as an assistant coach at Truman for four years under Willard Sims.
In seven years under Schrader, the Bulldogs have made five appearances in the MIAA postseason tournament. He has an 83-110 career record prior to this year and, in 1998-99, led the team to one of the best seasons in school history which concluded with an appearance in the NCAA Championship Semifinals. Truman claimed the MIAA postseason tournament championship that year and Schrader was named the conference's co-coach of the year and the NABC Regional Coach of the Year.
Prior to coaching the Bulldogs, Schrader has coached professional and high school teams all over the world. He also has playing experience including being a member of the Arizona State Sun Devils for three years. He was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 1975 and played professionally in Europe.
Assisting Schrader for the third consecutive year is Tim Deidrick. Deidrick is in his 11th year as a collegiate coach, starting as a student and graduate assistant at Truman under Sims. Before returning to Truman in 2000 after assistant coaching jobs at Scottsdale and St. Louis Community Colleges.
2001-02 in Review: The 2001-02 Truman State University Bulldogs brought one of the most explosive three-point offenses in the country to the court but in the end, the youth and inexperience of the team was too much to overcome as Truman won just three of 26 contests. The Bulldogs finished the year in 10th place in the MIAA with a 1-17 mark.
The Bulldogs were competitive with nearly everyone on their schedule, especially on their home court, Pershing Arena. Truman lost over half of its game by ten points or less. Ten of its MIAA contests were lost by ten or fewer including four by four points or fewer.
Truman rewrote many of its three-point records last year as it made the seventh-most three-pointers per game in the nation (9.5). As a team, they set marks for most three-pointers made in a game (16) and season (246) and most attempted in a game (41) and season (735). Mark Huppe, who was 11th in the nation in three-pointers made, set a school record with 239 three-point attempts on the year.
Bulldog History: Truman will be tipping off its 83rd season of men's basketball. The Bulldogs have an all-time mark of 990-857 (.536), have won nine MIAA titles, two MIAA postseason tournaments and advanced to nine national postseason tournaments.
The Bulldogs missed the MIAA Tournament a year ago but had made the previous five tournaments. Truman's last appearance in the NCAA Tournament came in 1999 when the team won the South Central Regionals and advanced to the semifinals before falling to Metro State by a 69-65 score.
2003 Sonic MIAA Tournament: The men's and women's MIAA Postseason Tournaments will be held at a neutral site this year for the first time. The Sonic MIAA Tournament will take place on March 6-9 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. For ticket information, call the Truman ticket office at (660) 785-4167.