Redhawks hoops fans must wait again for next year

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team probably didn't live up to expectations this season despite a strong finish that ended in the quarterfinals of last week's Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

But there is no denying that the Redhawks took another step forward, even if it wasn't as big as fans hoped.

There is also no denying that fourth-year coach Dickey Nutt continues to deserve credit for bringing Southeast hoops back to respectability and relevancy after he took over a floundering program that ranked among the nation's worst.

Southeast, for the fourth straight season under Nutt, improved its overall record although the Redhawks' 8-8 OVC mark was a game worse than last year's 9-7 ledger.

The Redhawks went 17-16 for the program's first winning season since the 2004-05 team went 15-14.

Southeast recorded the program's most victories since the 2000-01 squad won 18 games and notched OVC tournament wins in three consecutive years for the first time in program history.

All of those accomplishments should not be taken lightly, especially considering where Southeast basketball was when Nutt took over.

There is no question that the Redhawks underachieved for a good part of the year, but they did get their act together and made a strong late-season push after being mired with records of 11-13 overall and 3-7 in the OVC.

Southeast ended the regular season winning five of its last seven games -- the two losses were on baskets in the final 10 seconds that broke ties -- then rolled past Eastern Illinois in the opening round of the eight-team conference tournament.

The Redhawks' run finally came to an end when Eastern Kentucky romped 84-69 in the tournament quarterfinals.

Looking ahead to next season, Southeast fans realistically should expect a significantly bigger step forward -- really, anything less than a serious run at an OVC championship would probably be a major disappointment, especially since so many of the best players on the league's top teams were seniors.

The Redhawks will miss their three seniors, all shooting guards in second-leading scorer Corey Wilford, school career 3-point record-holder Marland Smith and Nick Niemczyk.

That trio provided the bulk of Southeast's 3-point shooting and will not be easy to replace.

But everybody else is eligible to return, led by the imposing front line of junior forward Tyler Stone, the team's top scorer and No. 2 rebounder, and sophomore forward Nino Johnson, the squad's leading rebounder who set the school single-season record for blocked shots; junior point guard Lucas Nutt, third on Southeast's career assists list; and junior guard A.J. Jones, who came on late.

Add in several anticipated newcomers -- led by 6-foot-7 Auburn transfer Josh Langford, who can play multiple positions and should immediately rank among the OVC's best athletes when he becomes eligible after the first semester -- and it's clear that the Redhawks should field another talented roster.

But talent doesn't always translate into big-time success in the win column, so it remains to be seen if the Redhawks will finally have the breakthrough season their fans are longing for.

---

Nutt told me after Thursday's loss to Eastern Kentucky that Southeast's season might not be over.

Nutt said there is a chance the Redhawks will be invited to one of the two lower-level postseason tournaments that started a few years ago -- the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and the Collegeinsider.com Tournament (CIT).

Several OVC squads have participated in those events, although with stronger records than the Redhawks. But teams from other lower-level leagues have been invited with similar records, so you never know.

---

Belmont's men and Tennessee-Martin's women captured OVC tournament titles Saturday to earn automatic NCAA tournament berths. Both championship games went to overtime.

First-year OVC member Belmont's 70-68 triumph over second-seeded, defending champion Murray State gave the top-seeded Bruins their third straight NCAA berth and sixth in the last eight years.

UTM's fourth-seeded women claimed their third straight OVC tournament crown, beating second-seeded Tennessee Tech 87-80. The Skyhawks have defeated the Eagles in the past three tourney finals.

The Skyhawks were led by junior guard Jasmine Newsome, the OVC player of the year who earned tourney MVP honors after scoring a tournament-record 98 points in three games. She set the single-game tourney scoring record with 41 points against Eastern Kentucky in the quarterfinals, had 23 against Eastern Illinois in the semifinals and 34 in Saturday's final.

---

Arkansas State women's basketball player Jane Morrill, a Notre Dame Regional High School graduate, was named to the all-Sun Belt Conference second team for the second year in a row.

The 6-foot-1 junior forward finished the season as ASU's top scorer and rebounder for the second consecutive year, averaging 14.3 points and 5.4 boards. She ranked among the Sun Belt leaders in scoring, field-goal percentage (51.2) and free-throw percentage (83.9).

Morrill, from Scott City, became the 21st player in ASU women's basketball history to surpass 1,000 career points this season. She currently ranks 16th on the all-time ASU scoring list.

ASU finished the year 15-15 overall and 12-8 in league play.

---

The Jackson High School boys basketball team fell short of a final four berth as the Indians were thrashed by St. Louis powerhouse De Smet 81-48 in Saturday's Class 5 quarterfinal round.

But what a remarkable accomplishment for the Indians to even make it that far as Wednesday's thrilling 60-59 win over Chaminade advanced them to their first quarterfinal since 1992.

Kudos to coach Darrin Scott and the Indians, whose top players were non-seniors -- meaning even more good things should be in store for the squad next season.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.