Edgar more optimistic than ever

It's not very often that struggling college basketball programs get turned around in one season.

Southeast Missouri State's program didn't, but that has not dimmed coach Scott Edgar's enthusiasm.

Edgar's first Southeast squad went 11-20 overall and a sixth-place 9-11 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

While Southeast had its second straight 20-loss season, the Redhawks improved by five wins in OVC play -- jumping from 10th place to sixth place -- and made the conference tournament after missing out last year.

Asked recently if he is as enthusiastic and optimistic regarding the Southeast program as he was when hired last April, Edgar did not hesitate.

Southeast Missouri State freshman Marcus Rhodes averaged 6.5 points per game in his first season. (Steve Pope ~ Associated Press)

"I'm more so," he said. "When you can have the kind of record we did at home and have the kind of season we had and still lead the league in attendance ... this can be the finest mid-major program in the country."

The Redhawks, whose conference record featured somewhat curious marks of 5-5 on the road but only 4-6 at home, averaged 3,559 fans per Show Me Center contest to lead the OVC.

In retrospect, Edgar said expectations -- largely centered around touted transfers Brandon Foust and Mike Rembert -- were probably too high for a team that won only seven games last season, had just one season of more than 11 wins in the past five years and returned only two experienced players.

"I think aspirations were probably higher than they should have been," Edgar said. "All of us aspired to be No. 1 [in the OVC]. Early on, I got them believing from worst to first. Maybe they shouldn't have been so high.

"It was a year in transition, it was a year to build a foundation. I think a lot of things were accomplished. We went from four wins to nine wins [in conference play] with very little experience."

Southeast Missouri State center Michael Rembert, top, battled for possession of the ball with Arkansas' Vincent Hunter during the season-opening game Nov. 10 in Fayetteville, Ark. Southeast lost 92-52 to kick off an 11-20 season. (APRIL L. BROWN ~ Associated Press)

The season was marked by an extremely slow start, a host of narrow losses in OVC play and injuries, illness or suspensions to several key players.

Southeast had its entire roster for just eight OVC games. The Redhawks went 5-3 in those contests, but were only 4-8 when short-handed.

Most notable was junior center Rembert's knee injury that forced him to miss the regular season's last five games and all but 2 minutes of the first-round OVC tournament contest.

The Redhawks went 1-5 in those six games, including an 88-60 tournament loss at Tennessee Tech that ended their season.

"We were the resilient Redhawks for a while when guys would go down, but the final blow -- Mike's injury -- we never really overcame," Edgar said.

Southeast Missouri State's Paul Paradoski (14) passes against Drake guard Chris Bryant (2) during a Top of the World Classic basketball tournament game in Fairbanks, Alaska, Friday, Nov. 17, 2006. (AP Photo/Matt Hage)

The Redhawks were exciting after a slow start, ranking second in the OVC in scoring during conference play with 74.5 points per game, and setting school single-season records for 3-pointers made (254) and attempted (765).

But defensive deficiencies hurt the Redhawks, as did poor free-throw shooting, although that area improved significantly over the late stages of the season.

Southeast was last in the OVC in scoring defense (76.9 points per game), field-goal percentage defense (47.7 percent) and free-throw shooting (63.2 percent), although the Redhawks shot 65.7 percent from the line in league play.

Nationally, among 325 Division I teams, Southeast ranked 308th in scoring defense, 307th in field-goal defense and 302nd in free-throw shooting. The Redhawks were also toward the bottom in rebounding margin and turnovers.

"We're going to be a lot better defensive team next year," Edgar said. "Field-goal percentage defense, it's a very, very important stat. It's something we're going to personally address.

Southeast Missouri State's Marcus Rhodes drives against Iowa State's Brock Jacobson during the second half of a college basketball game Saturday, Dec. 23, 2006, in Ames, Iowa. Iowa State won 87-71. (AP Photo/Steve Pope)

"Our free-throw shooting improved as time went on. It's something you always want to be good at. We addressed it, put a lot of time into it."

Southeast loses just two seniors, the only starter being guard Terrick Willoughby, who led the OVC in 3-point shooting at 44 percent while averaging 8.1 points per game, which was fourth on the team.

Ten of the Redhawks' 12 scholarship players are eligible to return, led by their top two scorers and top two rebounders.

Foust, a junior forward who made the OVC all-newcomer team, led the Redhawks in scoring with 12.1 points per game and was second in rebounding with a 5.6 average.

Rembert averaged 9.9 points and a team-best 5.8 rebounds, while junior guard David Johnson was Southeast's No. 2 scorer with a 10.2 average and made a team-leading 64 3-pointers.

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Scott Edgar's team got off to a 3-11 start before winning eight of its last 17. (Fred Lynch)

Foust and Rembert were billed as saviors for the program -- mostly by fans and media -- and had solid seasons but perhaps did not meet expectations from those aforementioned factions outside the program.

"In defense of Mike and Brandon, too much pressure was probably placed on them to deliver," Edgar said.

Freshman point guard Roderick Pearson displayed the kind of talent that could eventually make him among the OVC's better players at that position.

Among the remaining juniors, point guard Paul Paradoski saw his playing time decrease after an injury and Pearson's emergence, and post player Dionte Perry came on strong at the end of the year after Rembert got hurt.

Four more freshmen -- guards Marcus Rhodes, Johnny Hill and Jimmy Drew, along with forward Jajuan Maxwell -- all had their moments in varying amounts of court time.

Edgar said Southeast's players should naturally improve with an additional year's experience -- and it's also largely up to them regarding how much they improve.

The coach cited the two teams that recently played for the OVC tournament title as squads that made large jumps primarily from within.

Regular-season champion Austin Peay and tourney winner Eastern Kentucky -- picked sixth and eighth, respectively, in the league's preseason poll -- both were led by players who had not previously been marquee names around the conference.

"Offseason player development is very important," Edgar said. "Some of the players around the league still standing on the last day [of the tournament] were not premier players a year ago.

"I'm going to talk to my team about that."

Edgar expects several new players to make impacts next year, including one that is already in the program.

Colorado transfer Calvin Williams -- an athletic 6-8 forward -- becomes eligible after practicing with the Redhawks all season. Williams will have three years of eligibility remaining.

"I'm very excited. I think he's going to help us a lot," Edgar said. "But he's not the savior of this program. No one player is."

Although Edgar is prohibited by NCAA regulations from commenting on recruits before they sign -- the spring signing period begins April 11 -- two players have already given Southeast verbal commitments.

Bell City High School senior Will Bogan, a 6-foot-10 center, and athletic 6-5 wing Jaycen Herring from Palm Beach (Fla.) Community College have said they plan to sign with the Redhawks.

Another potential new player for next year is forward Herbert Terry, who like Williams practiced with the team this season but was not eligible for games.

Terry, who was not on scholarship this season but instead paid his own way, was not on the bench in street clothes for the last few games of the season -- unlike Williams -- and Edgar said Terry still has to earn a scholarship for next year.

Edgar said having a year in his "Fast and Furious" system should be a major advantage next season.

"I know it's going to help tremendously," he said. "Next year when we start, we'll be so much further ahead than where we were this year.

"This year we were probably the least experienced team on paper to start with [in the OVC]. Next year, we'll be close to one of the most experienced teams."

Added Edgar: "I'm very, very optimistic about next year. If we can improve as much from beginning to end as we did this year, and stay injury free, I think we could be very, very good and have a very good conference record."

Asked if he expects the Redhawks to challenge for the OVC title next year, Edgar smiled.

"That's our aspirations," he said.