Not one. Not a soul. Not a single expert picked the SEMO men’s basketball team to finish anywhere but dead last in the Ohio Valley Conference for the 2020-2021 season.
With SEMO’s season coming to an end at the hands of Murray State on Friday, March 4., I think now is as good of a time as ever to discuss what I think is the future of SEMO basketball and reflect on where we’ve come from.
Simply put, I think the sky's the limit for the Redhawks. Are we going to be nationally ranked anytime soon? Probably not, but with Murray State and Belmont’s departure from the OVC next season, the only major contenders for the OVC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament are Southeast Missouri and Morehead State.
College basketball is funny. It’s easy to look at the current roster and think we have a serious contender next season, but nobody can predict who might transfer, or how graduating seniors might affect the team dynamic.
However, I’m a serious believer in the program Brad Korn has built. Southeast struggled through the 2000’s and 2010’s not because they were incapable of recruiting talented players, but because they could not keep the the players they recruited.
In the five years before Korn took the head coaching position, SEMO’s average percentage of points scored from the previous year’s roster was a miserable 43%. In Brad Korn’s second year, the percentage of points scored from the previous year’s roster was 88%.
The numbers speak for themselves. Korn has built a system that players want to be a part of and in my eyes, this has been Korn’s greatest success in his short tenure.
If SEMO wishes to continue to compete for the conference titles, Korn needs to keep the core together, and recruit center depth to replace graduating Senior center Manny Patterson. True Freshman Sam Thompson should continue to improve and fill Patterson’s shoes nicely, but outside of Thompson SEMO lacks a tall presence in the paint.
I am a believer in the program Korn has built. So much so, I’m going to make a bold prediction. I think the Redhawks will make an NCAA tournament appearance in the next three seasons. Just making that prediction is a breath of fresh air. If anyone would have made that prediction three seasons ago, they would have been a laughing stock.
Southeast was long removed from its triumphant victory over Murray State in the 1999-2000 conference tournament, punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history under coach Gary Garner.
Gone were the days of electric Show Me Center crowds, and the buzz of college basketball in the air. Hopefulness was replaced with disdain, and the sentiment of “oh boy here we go again” would be the lingering thoughts of those who had the great displeasure of watching SEMO basketball in the years following their tournament appearance.
After Garner’s departure in 2006, SEMO underwent three coaching changes in the span of four seasons, earned two last place finishes, and had only two winning seasons for a combined record of 156-304.
Flash forward to 2022, and the Redhawks make the conference semifinals as their highest seed in 22 years.
I can say from personal experience that going to the Show Me Center is enjoyable once again, and the future is bright for Southeast basketball as they will look to compete for the conference title next season.
