No. 6 – Southeast Missouri Redhawks
After winning the OVC Tournament in 2023 the Redhawks stumbled to nine wins last season. The portal season was not kind to SEMO and head coach Brad Korn. His win total had increased every year until last season. Now the fifth year coach has taken a fresh approach to recruiting.
While the Redhawks lost five of their seven top scorers to transfer, it may be a case of ‘addition by subtraction’. Only three of those five have found a Division 1 home and Korn has replaced them with six junior college players ready to contribute immediately.
Point guard Rob Martin led the team in scoring, assists and minutes played. The St. Louis native and former Indiana State Sycamore made .392 of his long range attempts last season and handed out 3.5 assists per game. 6’5 slasher Braxton Stacker (7.4 ppg) returns for his senior season looking to explode on the OVC scene.
Other returners of note, T.J. Biel (4.9), Marqueas Bell (4.8), B.J. Ward (4.0) and seven footer David Idada all appeared in at least 25 games and garnered some starting opportunities. This athletic group seems to be ready to ‘come of age’. Of that group, only Biel is a senior.
Korn’s junior college invasion has great promise. Another seven-footer, Elliot Loundes played at nearby John A. Logan where he was ranked as the nation’s 100th best junior college player. He averaged 10.6 points and 7.5 rebounds last season. The country’s 95th best junior college player Troy Cole Jr is a 6’5 guard from Highland Community College where he averaged 16.5 points per game. Moberly Community College’s Tedrick Washington is another double-digit juco scorer.
Saxton Hoepker is a 6’8 power forward who averaged a double-double at Southwestern Illinois College and Damarion Walkup averaged nearly 19 points for Olney Central. Junior college watchers know that these are all junior colleges with national reputations, but Korn used his Midwest roots to win them over. These five programs are driving distance from Cape Girardeau, Missouri and Korn formerly coached at Southern Illinois.
The final piece of this juco recruiting class is 6’7 Brandan Terry who averaged 7.7 points at highly regarded Pensacola State.