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Indiana State Basketball: 2021-22 season preview and outlook for Sycamores

By Harry Schroeder

Mar 5, 2021; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Indiana State Sycamores guard Julian Larry (10) drives to the basket as Evansville Aces guard Jawaun Newton (3) defends during the second half at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 5, 2021; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Indiana State Sycamores guard Julian Larry (10) drives to the basket as Evansville Aces guard Jawaun Newton (3) defends during the second half at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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Indiana State Basketball
Indiana State Basketball Tyreke Key Ue Vs Indiana State Mvc 11 /

Josh Schertz is bringing completely new offensive and defensive systems and several new players to Indiana State basketball. The long-time and historically successful Division II coach has made the leap to the Missouri Valley and is hoping his high-pressure defense and high-volume offense will be successful at a higher level.

The jovial Schertz compiled a 337-69 record at Lincoln Memorial University and won nine league championships and was a regular in the D2 Final Four. His teams were consistently among the highest-scoring teams in D2 and while they yielded a lot of points their opponents’ shooting percentages were down and their turnover numbers were up.

Schertz’s ‘kaizen’ mentality is about buy-in and hard work. ‘Kaizen’ according to Schertz is a Japanese term that means ‘commitment to continual improvement.’ Relentlessly he preaches to his players about controlling what they can, and that the key to winning is not losing. He wants them to make ‘winning plays’ which will lead to winning games.

Returners Tyreke Key, Cooper Neese, and Julian Larry will ease Schertz’s Missouri Valley transition and he brought three of his former LMU players along with him to help teach the others his style and desires.

The Valley is known as a ‘coaches’ league’ and a defensive-minded conference. How Schertz’s high-pressure defense and quickly-paced offense measures up against the Valley elites will be an interesting case study.

Some early-season injuries and suspensions could hinder Indiana State basketball from starting the season as smoothly as desired.