Western Illinois' Final Four run in Year 13, continued
Welcome back to Western Illinois’ quest for immortality in College Hoops 2K8. You can find a full explanation of this series + spoiler-free links to previous seasons on the About page of this website. Perhaps you even want to share it with a friend!
This is the conclusion of Year 13 (or the 2019-2020 season) for Coach Rick at Western Illinois. Here’s everything that has happened so far this season:
We started the year unranked in the preseason polls but rated as a 98 overall. After early losses to Northwestern and two-time defending national champ Louisville, our Leathernecks proceeded to win out and enter the NCAA tournament at 29-2 overall.
We earned a No. 7 seed to March Madness. We beat No. 10 seed Pitt, 99-84, in the opening round. We then defeated No. 2 seed Gonzaga, 94-85, in the round of 32 to advance to the Sweet 16.
We beat No. 6 seed Memphis in the Sweet 16 and then beat No. 1 seed Kansas in the Elite Eight to advance to the Final Four during a live Twitch stream. It’s our third Final Four trip in the last six years (and third in program history).
We recruited for four open scholarships. We signed two players at the end of the early signing period: four-star point guard Brandin Price (No. 50 overall) and three-star center Sidney Dupre (No. 144 overall).
Catch up on Year 13 if you haven’t already.
Here’s a look at our roster heading into the Final Four:
The first time we advanced to the Final Four back in 2015, our boys came home with a national championship. We also took an undefeated record into the Final Four in 2018, only to get smoked by Michigan State once we got there.
UCLA is our opponent in the Final Four. The top-seeded Bruins entered at 28-7 overall, advancing to the national semifinal after a blowout victory over Louisville in the Elite Eight. Here’s a look at UCLA’s roster. You will notice the Bruins do not have much size in the front court. Leatherneck Nation spent the last few days calling for our 7’1 center Trevor Hoyer to emerge as the hero.
Here’s how the two teams matchup:
We streamed this game on Twitch, as we always do once we make the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. As a reminder: I’m not actually playing any of the games throughout this series. We watched a simulated game together.
I exported the Twitch stream to YouTube. The game should start when you press play on this video, but if not just go to the 23:14 mark for tip-off:
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Oh my god, oh my god. Najeeb Goode stole the ball! Najeeb Goode stole the fucking ball! The Leathernecks are going to the national championship game!
This was the most stressful game we’ve ever played. UCLA punched us in the mouth early, jumping out to an 18-4 lead after the first seven minutes. I started to think we were going to get blown out in the Final Four once again. Thankfully, the belief of Leatherneck Nation never wavered.
Steadily, we chipped away at the deficit. Bert Draughan was our most consistent scorer all night, stretching the floor with his shooting and providing some tough interior defense. I thought the bench gave us a nice lift as well, with RS sophomore point guard Diondre Haynes hitting a three to cut the deficit to 39-32 late in the first half, and Raymond Harper playing his best game of the tournament with some crafty inside finishes and impressive work on the glass. When Ime Terrell splashed back-to-back threes at the end of the first half to make it a three-point game going into the break, I knew we had the Bruins where we wanted them.
The Leathernecks have long had a reputation as a second half team, and we lived up to it again.
We took our first lead all night with 11:15 remaining when Trevor Hoyer finished a beautiful sweeping layup for an and-one. The score would remain within a point or two the rest of the way through the frantic final minutes. With our Leathernecks ahead 79-76 with 40 seconds left, UCLA hit an outside shot with their tippy-toes on the three-point line, meaning we still had a one-point lead. Terrell would miss on the ensuing possession, giving the Bruins one more chance to win. Instead, Goode stole the ball with seven seconds left and Western Illinois punched its ticket to the title game.
I still can’t believe we won. I still can’t believe Goode stole the ball.
Our opponent is No. 3 seed Florida, who beat No. 5 seed Indiana in the other national semifinal.
No. 7 Western Illinois vs. No. 3 Florida, national championship, 2020 NCAA tournament
Here’s a look at the Florida roster:
Honestly, I couldn’t even think straight after the ending to the UCLA game. I did notice that Florida’s star wing Maury Little is projected to be a top pick in the NBA draft. Little was so hyped up by tip-off that he was rated as a 99 overall (players will go up a point or two during big games).
Western Illinois won it all in 2015. Could we do it again? Our guys had come too far just to come up short now. Let’s go!
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Win, 107-77! THE LEATHERNECKS ARE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!
This game couldn’t have started any better. Breakout junior point guard Billy Assel ripped a pull-up three off the dribble for our first points. On our next possession: Assel pushes the ball in the open court, throws a one-handed alley-oop from nearly halfcourt to Bert Draughan, who hammers it home. WATCH THAT PLAY. It was glorious. From then on, I knew it was a rout.
Assel was truly a stud the entire night, finishing with 22 points and nine assists to be named Most Outstanding Player. Reader Abby cut up some Assel highlights to check out. I thought our defense was terrific and led directly to our offense, with Assel and Terrell getting in the passing lanes and the bench keeping the pressure up in their minutes. The Gators were able to cut the deficit to eight points with about 11 minutes left, but we immediately responded with a 12-4 run ensure this game never actually got close.
What more can you say about this group? Draughan is an absolute legend and lived up to every bit of hype he entered the program with as the former Mr. Basketball out of Chicago. Terrell was a late bloomer who turned into a stud. Goode won Summit League POY as a junior, grabbed 21 rebounds in our Elite Eight win over Kansas, and stole the fucking ball vs. UCLA. Hoyer grew from a 6’9 recruit to a 7’1 stretch five who had some huge moments during our run. Assel, the only non-senior in the starting lineup, blossomed into everything a coach could ever want his point guard to be.
I also thought Borislav Grimes (Comrade Grimes, as he was nicknamed in the chat) and Orien Newton both played terrific off the bench, which is a great sign for the future.
National champs, baby! Woooooo!
We’re … not going to the White House!
When it was over, we partied. No Malort this time, though. This video tribute from @BallInEurope made my night:
How about this?
Forever:
Now: who’s going to make me a banner to hang in the next post? Here’s the one we hung in 2015.
Here’s one last look at the champs:
What a time.
Two titles and three Final Four appearances in 13 years at Western Illinois. I didn’t think it was possible. Remember: this dynasty goes for 40 years. Part of me thinks it’s a time for a new challenge somewhere else. For the first time, I’m wondering if the timing may be right to take a different job. But not yet. We’re running this thing back.
Offseason
You can watch me play through the offseason starting right here. To recap:
The offseason begins with shocking news: Billy Assel, a projected lottery pick, has decided to return for his senior season. I can’t believe it, and I am so hyped for next year. Draughan and Terrell both get drafted. Hoyer and Goode do not get selected.
Coach Rick is now 331-90 for his career. Our Hall of Fame post had my record in every season. To update it: we went 25-8 in Year 12 with a first round tournament exit, and finished this season at 35-2 as national champs.
I earned one coaching point and added it to defense, where I’m now an A-.
I was offered the Louisville, Texas, and Clemson jobs, but turned them down.
Spring recruiting
Remember, we have already filled two of our four open scholarships with four-star point guard Brandin Price (No. 50 overall) and three-star center Sidney Dupre (No. 144 overall). We have two open scholarships left to fill.
We’ve been recruiting three-star power forward Cam Medina all season. The Charleston, SC native — ranked No. 123 overall and No. 16 at his position — signs with us after the first week of spring recruiting:
Our next open scholarship is offered to the top unsigned player in America, All-American small forward Ndudi Clinton out of New York City. Unfortunately, he gets a Georgia Tech offer during the second week and likes the Yellow Jackets way more than he likes us. We scour the country for another recruit and decide to offer four-star point guard Lucious Killingsworth out of Compton, who is ranked No. 27 overall in his class.
Killingsworth decides to sign with UNLV the next week. Back to the drawing board. After weighing our options, we offer five-star international small forward Renardo Verdejo out of Argentina. He signs with us on the final week of recruiting.
I’m feeling pretty good about this class. Price is our third top-50 recruit ever. Dupre and Medina should both be solid in the front court. There is more variance with international recruits, and we kind of got burnt last year with Kim Kone out of France, but I’m staying optimistic with Verdejo. We’ll see.
Now it’s time to set our schedule for next year. We let the Twitch viewers call out who we should face in the non-conference portion of the season. This is what they came up with:
NIT Tip-Off Classic tournament, @UConn, @Duke (Fats Geiger matchup!), @Northwestern, vs. Valparaiso, vs. Iowa, vs. Kansas, @UNLV.
Year 14
Here’s a first look at the roster:
We’ll aim to be back next week with Year 14. But first, some news.
Some news …
In need of a new revenue stream in the wake of a global pandemic, the NBA has turned to the easiest way to give the league a cash influx: expansion. The Seattle SuperSonics are returning to the NBA, and they’ve tabbed Coach Rick to be a prominent member of the front office.
How can one man be the head coach of college basketball’s newest dynasty while also running an NBA team? Ricky Charisma is just that talented. He accepts the job on one condition: that an old friend who has been playing as a pro internationally ever since becoming a college hoops legend finally gets his shot in the NBA.
Can Deke Van bring the Sonics back to glory? A new series coming soon to this newsletter. Subscribe for free email updates.
A few other things ….
Subscribe to the fan-started Leathernecks Reddit page and Leathernecks Instagram page.
Follow the fan-started @deke_van account, now more than ever.
New Thanh! Read the latest from Thanh’s book “Simulating Success”
I’m at Ricky-ODonnell-1 on Venmo
Thank you to everyone who has supported the series so far. We’ll be back soon.
NATIONAL CHAMP X 2.
My man!! First you choose WIU where my parents met and Macomb, the town I was born in. Now you’re choosing the Sonics, my all time favorite NBA team. I quit following a team after the Sonics left Seattle! #Leathernecks #Sonics Let’s go!!
congrats to the two timer.