Rebuilt from 'ground zero,' Indiana State basketball is winning with nation's top offense

[Muda69]

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/2023/12/15/indiana-state-basketball-josh-schertz-leads-sycamores-revival-mvc-mid-major-ball-state-indianapolis/71884535007/

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Indiana State basketball coach Josh Schertz has built his head coaching career on quickly turning around programs. In 2009, he led Division II Lincoln Memorial to a 14-14 record in his first year, a six-win improvement from the previous season.

What followed was an extremely successful 13-year run leading the Railsplitters to 11 consecutive 20-win seasons and 10 trips to the NCAA tournament while becoming just the second team in the history of Division II to post four consecutive 30-win seasons from 2014-18.

Schertz had stability at Lincoln Memorial, but he took the ultimate leap of faith in 2021 when he took over at Indiana State. A string of transfers after former coach Greg Lansing's departure and the logistical difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic meant Schertz joined a program with just two players officially on the roster and no way for players to visit the campus in person.

He stressed the importance of "faith over sight" to prospective recruits, using his natural charisma and stellar career at LMU to attract new players and re-recruit former Sycamores who entered the transfer portal.

Year 1 was a mix of former LMU players, three freshmen, several transfers and two holdovers from the previous regime. The result was an 11-win season, but the Sycamores did not stay down for long. Last season, Schertz orchestrated a 12-win improvement, leading ISU to a 23-13 record.

In Year 3, ISU is off to a 9-1 start and is ready to re-introduce itself to a national audience ahead of Saturday's game against Ball State at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The game will be broadcast exclusively on Peacock and serves as the lead-in to the Purdue vs. Arizona game, a possible Final Four preview.

....

Schertz's free-flowing offense has the Sycamores playing some of the best offensive basketball in the NCAA. Per KenPom, ISU is No. 4 in the nation in 3-point percentage and No. 5 in the nation in 2-point percentage, giving the Sycamores the No. 1 offense in the nation in effective field goal percentage, a stat that differs from regular field goal percentage because it adds extra value to 3-pointers made.

....

ISU has five players averaging double-figure scoring. Southern Indiana transfer Isaiah Swope leads ISU at 19.7 points per game. Sophomore center Robbie Avila is second (16.6) followed by former Pike standout Ryan Conwell (15.2), junior Jayson Kent (13.1) and junior Larry Julian (10.5).

Per ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, ISU would be one of the first four teams out of the NCAA tournament if the season ended last Tuesday. With a chance to make a statement in front of potential selection committee members, ISU is embracing its opportunity to be on a national stage.

...

Go Sycamore, beat the Cardinals.  Too bad Mr. Schertz probably won't be in Terre Haute for long.

 

[Muda69]

Something special is happening with Indiana State basketball, and Terre Haute is in love.

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2024/01/27/indiana-state-basketball-beats-bradley-continues-mvc-surge-under-coach-josh-schertz-robbie-avila/72303003007/

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TERRE HAUTE – The game is over and nobody is leaving because something special has just happened here — because something special is happening here. Indiana State basketball just happened, all over Bradley. Indiana State basketball is happening all over the Missouri Valley Conference, and don’t be surprised if Indiana State basketball happens to somebody in the 2024 NCAA tournament.

Right now, Robbie Avila and Jayson Kent and Ryan Conwell are celebrating this 95-86 victory against Bradley on Saturday evening with a slow tour around the Hulman Center, slapping palms with fans on the front row and waving to fans higher up the recently remodeled basketball arena that was home to Larry Bird.

Nobody’s leaving because this is too much fun at the Hulman Center, where the Sycamores are running an NBA offense with speed, skill and explosion. The team has some imperfections, depth being one of them — the starting five played the entire second half, and would’ve played the entire overtime had one not fouled out — but Indiana State is the kind of team, all that shooting and guard play and coaching, you won’t want your favorite team to see at the NCAA tournament.

....

Yeah, it's special until some major program snatches up Josh Schertz.  Enjoy it for the short period it lasts.

 

[EasyEJay]

They are a lot of fun to watch no doubt and I'd imagine will have a massive following if they make the tourney with IU sitting at home. I'm the only person in my family who did not attend ISU. (delusions of grandeur through D3 Football) mom and dad ventured back a couple of weeks ago to watch them. 

Hard not to compound this success into a bigger paid day for coach, it does stink to think the roster will probably be decimated by the portal . Though the avid IU fan in me smiles at the idea of a Swope and Conwell (two Indiana kids) in back court in Bloomington next winter ........ one can only hope. 

[Muda69]

No. 23 Indiana State ranked for first time since 1979 : https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-25-indiana-state-3c6c79d5075264f525c5b78b4148db2c

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Indiana State’s balanced scoring, free-flowing offense and its goggle-wearing big man have the program off to one of its best starts in years.

Now the Sycamores have something that hasn’t happened since Larry Bird played in Terre Haute: a spot in the AP Top 25.

Riding a nine-game winning streak, Indiana State debuted at No. 23 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll Monday, the Sycamores’ first ranking since reaching No. 1 in 1978-79.

“It’s a group that the community can really wrap their arms around and I think they have. That’s just great to see,” Indiana State coach Josh Schertz told reporters recently. “I know Terre Haute. They love basketball. I know there’s a great history and tradition, from Larry Bird to John Wooden to Clarence Walker.”

.....

Schertz took over the Indiana State program during the pandemic, inheriting a depleted roster with no chance to get players to visit campus. Schertz cobbled together a team that won 11 games his first season and the Sycamores improved to 23-13 last season.

Indiana State (22-3) has been on a roll in Schertz’s third season, winning all 11 home games while taking a two-game lead over Drake in the Missouri Valley Conference at 11-1.

The Sycamores have five players scoring in double figures, led by dynamic 5-foot-10 guard Isaiah Swope’s 17.7 points per game. Big man Robbie Avila has become a fan favorite with his goggles, averaging 16.4 points and 7.4 rebounds.

Indiana State is fifth nationally in scoring at 85.6 points per game, ninth in 3-point percentage (39%) and is No. 1 in adjusted field goal percentage, according to KenPom. The combination has the Sycamores eyeing their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2011.

“Our goal is we want to get to the NCAA Tournament and advance,” Schertz said. “You never want to put ceilings on yourself. You want to get to the tournament and win games and go as far as you can. You saw what happened last year with Florida Atlantic and San Diego State playing in the Final Four — there’s nothing outside of your reach.”

Go Trees.

 

[Muda69]

Report: Indiana State basketball coach Josh Schertz in talks over Saint Louis job

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/2024/03/17/indiana-state-basketball-coach-josh-schertz-in-talks-with-saint-louis-coaching-candidate-job/73013023007/

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The hits just keep on coming.

Indiana State basketball coach Josh Schertz is in talks with Saint Louis to be the Billikens next head coach, ESPN's Jeff Borzello and Pete Thamel first reported.

Schertz, the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year, led the Sycamores to a regular-season league title and a No. 1 seed in the NIT. Indiana State was among the first four teams left out of the NCAA tournament, a victim of a bevy of conference tournament bid thieves. The Sycamores host SMU in the first round of the NIT.

Schertz steadily built the Sycamores from the ruins of the 2021 exodus of most of the roster, going 11-20 in his first season, then 23-13, and now 28-6 in Year 3.

St. Louis just fired Travis Ford, who reportedly made $2.3 million this season, more than six times the $365,000 Schertz earned.

Before arriving in Terre Haute, Schertz was a four-time Division II national coach of the year at Lincoln Memorial University. He transformed the Sycamores into one of the nation's most-pleasing-on-the-eye teams.

The Sycamores shot 38.5% on 3s this year and plays with tempo. Per KenPom, the average Indiana State offensive possession lasts 15.9 seconds, a top-30 rate in the country.

...

Well it was fun while it lasted.

 

[Muda69]

On to the NIT semi-finals at Hinkle Fieldhouse.  

https://www.tribstar.com/sports/second-half-rally-propels-indiana-state-to-nit-semis/article_6a22fa6a-ebd7-11ee-a129-c774182f982b.html

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Sophomore Robbie Avila hit a 3-pointer at the top of the key with 59.7 seconds left to break a deadlock after Isaiah Swope’s finger-roll layin was long and Julian Larry misfired on a wide-open right-wing triple that Ryan Conwell tracked down.

After a flurry of activity at both ends of Hulman Center on Tuesday night, Indiana State emerged with an 85-81 victory over Cincinnati that propels the Sycamores into the Men’s National Invitation Tournament semifinals next Tuesday at Indianapolis’ Hinkle Fieldhouse.

....

On Tuesday, the Sycamores (31-6) booked passage to the NIT semifinals after a third straight win at Hulman Center. ISU will play the winner of VCU-Utah, who square off Wednesday, on April 2 at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the Butler University campus.

..

Nice that the Sycamores are going to play the entirety of the NIT in Indiana.

 

[Coach Nowlin]

thought the same too.   been enjoying watching them when they made it to the channels I get.  

Great call having it in Hinkle 

[Irishman]

Go Trees

[Muda69]

ISU is going to the NIT championship game on Thursday and will play Seton Hall.  Then by the weekend they will have lost their coach, and probably four of their starting rotation,  to St. Louis.  A bittersweet time

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2024/04/02/indiana-state-into-nit-final-as-coach-josh-schertz-considers-saint-louis-job-basketball/73178991007/

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...

Nobody was asking Josh Schertz after this game about the Saint Louis Billikens. No idea what a Billiken is, but I’m calling it an elephant — you know, the one nobody’s talking about.

Schertz or his agent — a distinction that matters more to Schertz and his agent than it should to you and me — has been in talks with Saint Louis about its coaching vacancy since shortly after Indiana State’s loss to Drake in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament March 10. That was almost a month ago, and I'm told Schertz has indicated to Saint Louis he’s coming. It’s an open secret in the Sycamores’ locker room that four of their five starters would most likely follow him to Saint Louis. The one player not going? Julian Larry.

 

Things could change. Things do change.

Just five weeks ago Indiana State was America’s favorite college basketball ferocious darling, a team everybody wanted to find on Google — other Avila nicknames: Milk Chamberlain, Steph Blurry — but nobody wanted to see in the NCAA tournament. The NCAA tourney selection committee took care of that, ignoring the Sycamores and ruining the championship chances of the other 31 teams in the NIT.

Now Indiana State is just the strangest story ever, because the only thing the Sycamores are likely to lose during this memorable run is their coach.

After his news conference I followed Schertz into the hall to ask him privately about Saint Louis, and don’t even think about getting mad at me for that. You want to get mad? Get mad at the coach who’s halfway out the door — not the reporter who asked him about it. My advice: Don’t get mad at anyone. Saint Louis would more than quadruple Schertz’s salary, from less than $500,000 to $2 million or more, and how can you get mad at him for that? Meantime, he hasn’t left yet, didn’t abandon his team. He’s still coaching the Sycamores, and deflecting questions about Saint Louis.

Here’s what he told me late Tuesday night.

“I never, ever talk about a job other than the one I have,” he said, “but I know that’s on everybody’s mind. The reality is, I’m going to take a day when the season’s over, make a decision, and everybody we’ve communicated with knows that’s kind of the plan of it. I know everybody’s speculating, but at the end of the day we’ll finish the season and obviously play to Thursday — which I’m looking forward to — and then take a day. I don’t want to make an emotional decision. I’m going to take a day and lock in on what I want to do and then decide what’s best.”

Coaches everywhere, print that out. Because that’s how you handle a situation as delicate as this. Schertz made no promises and told no lies, and said nothing to alienate either school.

Impressive, really, but this guy’s a smart cookie. Schertz is reinventing some things, like the way he sends out his players in two waves for pregame warmups. First on the court are his deep reserves, the guys who don’t figure to play much if at all, while his core of six guards — er, five guards and point-center Larry Nerd — are stretching in the locker room. After 20 minutes, the groups switch. Schertz’s reasoning? He wants his main rotation players to get up every shot they want, as close to tipoff as possible.

 

After the game Schertz was asked about his team's playing style.

“We’ve got really, really talented guys who are super-skilled, incredibly unselfish and super smart,” Schertz said, and then casually quoted Leonardo da Vinci without being an arrogant oaf about it. Nope, he just concluded that train of thought by saying: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

You can see why Saint Louis wants to get him, why Indiana State wants to keep him, and why Terre Haute is following this team and this coach to its final destination. And when this night ended, same as it began during pregame introductions, the biggest cheers at Hinkle Fieldhouse — Terre Haute Northeast, I’m calling it — were for the coach who might just win an NIT on Thursday and leave for Saint Louis on Friday.

Sad, but understandable.    

 

[Muda69]

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2024/04/05/indiana-state-josh-schertz-to-be-new-saint-louis-basketball-coach-nit-run-mvc-champs/73184760007/

From the website headline:

 

So in the eyes of the Indy Star ISU is a high school.   Their pitiful editors/proofreaders (if they even have them anymore)  are more upsetting than Mr. Schertz leaving, that has been pretty much a given since the end of the regular season.