Future Cinderella's? Horizon League Champion: Wright State Raiders

The Horizon League has run through Ohio for the last few seasons, and by that, I mean the Wright State Raiders have run the league for the better part of the last 10 seasons, but don’t have a whole lot to show for it outside of regular-season Horizon League titles.  Such is the life of a team in a single-bid league.  Wright State swept the Horizon League regular season and the tournament title. 

The Raiders are in their second season under head coach Clint Sargent, and they got the job done in year 2.  It will be the first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2022 and their fifth appearance overall.  Wright State has likely slipped into the 14-seed range, where they will have a tough matchup with a 3-seed.  The Raiders, like any team in the tournament, can make some noise given the right matchup.

Do what got you here.

Past teams and coaches at Wright State have built a reputation for playing fast with a high-scoring, efficient offense. Those teams used to light up the scoreboard and score 100 frequently.  Defense was at times optional because they could outscore teams.  The version of Wright State under coach Sargent is a little different.

The Raiders do not play nearly as fast as past Raiders teams.  They don’t play extremely slow by any means, but they don’t play overly fast as well.  The offense is still efficient, but it works differently.  In years past, the Raiders would take very few threes and pound the ball into the paint.  This team is built a little differently. Wright State will take threes, but the volume is still not large, and there are not nearly as many players to break teams down off the dribble and get to the rim.  Everything needs to come into the system.

That isn’t to say the Raiders don’t have guys who can break teams down off the dribble, because guys like TJ Burch can do just that, but this offense relies on ball movement and balanced scoring.  The key for Wright State is to not deviate from what got you to the tournament, just play Raider basketball.  There were too many times in the conference title game where Wright State didn’t play its brand of basketball, and it almost cost them.  They won’t get that lucky in the NCAA Tournament.

Defense Travels

The Raiders are going to be overmatched by whoever they play in the NCAA Tournament because they are not a team with a ton of size, but they have not had size all year, and it hasn’t stopped them from being a decent rebounding team.  I know, I know, rebounding is 20% skill and 80% want to.  If that really is the case, then Wright State has a lot of want to on that end of the floor.

To make up for their general lack of size, the Raiders have had to play fantastic defense all season long. In the Horizon League title game, the Raiders found themselves down by 12 points with 7 to go, and nothing was going right.  All they did was dig their heels in on defense and started getting turnovers and runouts for easy baskets.  That game still came down to the last second, but Wright State relied on its defense again to block the final shot and punch its ticket to March Madness.

Enjoy the moment

There is one senior on the Wright State roster who contributes.  There is not a single player with any NCAA Tournament experience, and that does sometimes pose a problem.  Wright State is already going to have an uphill climb, given the glaring talent disparity of the teams they could potentially play.  So, not having experience and knowing what to expect can be a daunting task for a young team.

Just enjoy it, the schedule is going to be something no one is used to, the appearance,s the open practices, media sessions, all of it.  It is daunting and tiring.  It will be a whole lot worse if Wright State isn’t loose and plays tight.  Have fun, enjoy it, and whatever happens, happens.  Everyone wants to win, but if sports have taught us anything, it isn't the team that is tight and not playing loose and free.