Interview with Wright State University President David Hopkins

By Mike Reynolds

WSU President David Hopkins

RRB: How does WSU Athletics contribute to the greater institution?

DH: Well, I always like to start out and say that I had a student-athlete experience in college. First and foremost, I think athletics should be what we call the collegiate model; the one we are trying to protect now – the integrity of the model. This model really puts the student-athlete first. Being part of an athletic team is part of growing, not only personal development but leadership development. It should always be about the individual student athletes and what they are gaining.

I do think that it can be a great spirit enhancer for a campus. You can see that at Wright State and see that across the NCAA where there is a great deal of pride that you can have in your alma mater and your institution when you see your teams participating at a level of excellence against others. I think there is a spirit that grows from athletics on a campus that I think is very positive. I think the other thing that athletics can do is give us a visibility that you can’t get with everything. Many times we have found in working with prospective donors is that they became hooked into Wright State through a connection to athletics but then they become individuals who care about, say science. So they are much more than athletic donors, they become connected to the university because of their passion for the competition. And so I think the visibility, and there are multiple ways that we get visibility at this institution: our theater program, our music program, is great. We think that anything that puts Wright State name out nationally or internationally is a positive because our athletics teams are made up of men and women who do a great job of representing this university. I think a lot of people take that for granted; these are high quality young people who are working so hard. You see it every time they represent us. I am so proud of them.

RRB: The time that student-athletes put in on a daily basis is incredible.

DH: Having been a former student-athlete in two sports, I never took a day off. I went from preseason basketball, basketball season, right into preseason baseball and then baseball season. So for me it was a daily thing and yet, how these young people manage their time … their performance in the academic arena is superb. We consistently have our athletes doing better than the general student body. Each year we recognize the students with a GPA of at least 3.0; that line gets bigger and bigger each year and that also makes us proud. This is the model at Wright State … these are true student-athletes. I can’t say that about all the NCAA teams today. I’m truly proud that we have a Division I student-athlete program here that’s really focused on the student-athlete but can play at a level of excellence that I think is surprising to people

RRB: How much are you involved with the athletics department?

DH: Well first of all, what I’ve learned from my mentors through the years, President Goldenberg that I worked with here and President John Moore from Indiana State and lots of other colleagues, is the understanding that this is something that Presidents have to pay attention to because athletics are so much in the public domain. There’s so much in the news and something can wrong very quickly and things do happen all over the country. I am really proud of how our coaches manage their teams and how they are work with these young people. But anything can happen so I find myself very hands-on. Our athletics program reports to Dan Abrahamowicz, our vice-president of student affairs. Bob Grant has been a fantastic athletic director in terms of driving the core values that we care about and maintaining a value-driven athletic program. Dan reports through the Provost to me but I make time to meet with the athletics director on a regular basis so that I’m not hearing it second and third hand. I have distinct questions that I ask about things and I want to know first-hand. So while the reporting line doesn’t show he reports to me, I really try to stay hands-on because it’s so easy for intercollegiate athletics to morph into something that we are not proud of … that’s not the case here but it’s happening all over the country where Presidents have lost control of the collegiate model of athletics and we are not going to do that here.

RRB: What are your impressions of our two basketball coaches?

DH: They are both very passionate about what they do and all you have to do is watch them coach. I have been proud of both of them in that, again, to me, it’s about striving for excellence in everything that we do at this university, no matter what program, what department, we are going to be the very best we can be. And that’s the way they both approach it. The other thing I’m proud about both of them is that they build teams. They help people grow as people but they build a concept of team and the “it’s amazing what you can accomplish when it doesn’t matter who gets the credit” kind of teams and I love that about athletics. It was something that was ingrained in me many years ago and it’s something that I try to create here on this campus is this environment where if you think like a basketball team sometimes, where everybody has got their role to play … sometimes somebody has to step up but it doesn’t matter who – one time it’s one individual that steps up and another time it’s another person. I think both coaches epitomize this in their coaching. They are passionate but they are passionate about the student-athlete … I keep saying that but it just the type of coaches we hire. If you hear Billy Donlon and Mike Bradbury go out and talk to Rotary Clubs, you’ll hear them talk about the greatness of Wright State academically. You hear that all the time from these coaches because they believe it. That’s the heart and soul of what we do here and they won’t let that fall apart and that’s why I’m really pleased with them and, all of our coaches are like that. We hire them and have certain expectations and we hold them accountable for the success of their student-athletes. It’s the most important thing they do.

We are not trying to be something we can’t be. We know we are, we know who we serve and we are going to be darn good at it. And I think that’s the way the coaches feel about their teams. They are not going to cut corners or take shortcuts to achieve excellence – they are going to do it through hard work and setting high expectations. That’s the nature of Wright State University; that’s who we are. A lot of times people talk about us being a blue-collar institution; when someone says that, well I’m kind of proud of that comment because we serve a lot of students who come from blue-collar families. So, I like that I our coaches; they epitomize that whole approach to sport and athletics.

RRB: Wright State, Ohio, the country and the world for that matter are going through a difficult economic crisis. How will this impact WSU Athletics and collegiate athletics in general?

DH: Well, I think we’ve lived within our means here. You can look at all the national statistics. Now we don’t have football; we cannot afford to have football. It’s not something we intend to invest in although I’m really glad we have a club football program. We think that those young men can have a lot of fun and learning experiences. Like all of the university, we all have to tighten our belts and we have asked the athletic department to tighten its belt the last four years. It’s been one of those times in the economy. We’ve have to live within our means and then tighten the belt even more. Athletics is not immune to this. They have the same expectations and in some ways greater, to make sure they maintain their budget. We make tough decisions every day. We have to make them and athletics is going to be part of those tough decisions and already have been. I’ve been proud of the way they’ve handled it and will continue to because it’s not like this economy is going to come roaring back. The state certainly does not have the funds so we are going to be in this mode for a number of years.

RRB: You’ve already talked about this but any other remarks on WSU Athletics?

DH: I think we have made a commitment to field the sports that we can afford. I think we’ve made a commitment to field sports where we think we can compete in our league. We don’t ever want to be in sports where we don’t think we have a chance to win our conference championship. We owe our young men and women, through good coaches, good facilities, and the support system they need to be able to compete for a conference championship. Now I’m not talking about NCAA, we love to think that someday but right now our goal is to make sure that we field teams that are competitive in our league. And we do that consistency. I think, obviously, as the future goes on we have to look if there’s opportunities to add sports within a more budgetary limited climate; we’d certainly do that but at this point in time we are pretty happy with where we are. I am really pleased with the way we’ve done things in our athletic program with people and players.

RRB: You alluded to this briefly earlier, but increasing attendance at basketball games. We have a very competitive team and we have a large alumni base in the region. It’s the million dollar question but how what can be done to get more people into the Nutter Center.

DH: I think you have to get the context first. First of all, we are number two in the Horizon League in attendance and we have been number one. Secondly, we are in the top one hundred in attendance in the entire nation out three hundred and thirty-some teams. It’s one of those things where if you have a little bitty gym and you didn’t have this beautiful Nutter Center and you had five thousand people, it would be jam packed. We also are often compared to neighbors, University of Dayton who have been around for a long time and have developed a wonderful history and program; they get 12 or 13 thousand a night. It becomes a comparison which is truly unreasonable; we’ve been in Division I since 1987. We are doing pretty well. Now, I’m not satisfied because I think we should be getting much more support for these young men and women. When you are beating Butler, the runner-up for the National Championship and you have the quality to compete there, our schedule is getting better every year – well, I want to see bigger crowds and more students there. I want to see these young people recognized for what they do so well.

The other thing that I am proud of is that we are creating a very family friendly atmosphere at our games. You are seeing a lot more younger families coming. I like to say we are growing Raiders. So, I think we are doing pretty well averaging 5 or 6 thousand; it’s a matter of time, we’ll build that following. Give us 20 more years. When we go to semesters things will change. On the quarter system, we play, this year, like five home games when our students are gone on break. And we only play about 15 home games the whole year. So you can see, since we are not on semesters, we’ve always had that challenge. Now we can do better but I think that when we go to semesters next year it will change the involvement of the students and it changes the whole pace of the calendar for us. It will change the whole dynamic of getting students involved. I’ve been very pleased; we have had some great student turnouts. We’ve had a thousand and two thousand students turn out but not consistently.

So, I think we have to keep things in perspective for where we are in Division I basketball and how we compare nationally and in our conference. We are making pretty good progress.

You have to win and we now we winning and once you have a consistent winner, people will look at you. And, look at the schedule, we have UC coming to town, we have OU coming to town, we have Charlotte. We have Ohio State, Florida – now those are not at home but by just competing with these teams then you are seeing a high quality product on the court.

I’ve been working hard on this; I’m not finished with this about idea … Ohio State coming to Wright State to play someday. President Gee and I have had some conversations and I’m happy we are on their schedule – that’s the beginning, but I’ve been saying how important it is for the whole region to have the Buckeyes come here. So we are not done working on that.

RRB: The inevitable question … the Gem City Jam. Will the game ever be played?

DH: No. I think it’s very clear that there is no interest from UD in playing that game. And that’s fine. We’ve approached them a number of times. We’ve offered up the idea of playing it for charity and they have been clear that they have no interest in playing. I do think that is a shame for the community; I’ve said that consistently and publicly. I think it’s short-sighted for what athletics is all about and building a community spirit. But, I am not in their shoes; I’m looking at it from the Wright State perspective. They certainly have a different perspective but to me it’s difficult to understand when, in other communities, where there are two Division I team in a town they play. Why our community doesn’t demand it – it’s strange.

RRB: You are now on the Division I Board of Directors. Tell us more about the board and the duties and responsibilities.

DH: The first meeting was in August in Indianapolis. The Division I board has 18 Presidents that serve and I, of course, represent the Horizon League. Not all leagues are represented; there is a rotation of the leagues on the board. I have a four year term. Essentially we approve and oversee all the policies and procedures for Division I athletics – all sports. So, I learned a great deal at this meeting. I was really proud to be part of this. Fifty presidents were invited to a two-day retreat and then 18 of us stayed for the board meeting on the third day. What happened was, well … Presidents are really fed up to be perfectly honest.

In that room we had Presidents from all the big conferences SEC, ACC, Big Ten. We all sat in the room and said in unison, we are fed up with the perceptions of college athletics. We are going to regain control of college athletics. In a way that reminds people that it’s a collegiate model. We are never going to undo the commercialized model of football; it’s going to be there and we are not to try to undo it but have to get our hands around the fact that these are student-athletes. We all agreed we are not paying the athletes but we do think that there must be a way to spend more money on supporting student-athletes. We are going to maintain the collegiate model; we are not turning this into a professional model. It has been at some select institutions.

There are 331 Division I institutions and 22 actually made money. This is public data. We have a financial sustainability problem in higher education athletics. So we have to get control of that; we have to find efficiencies, we have to quit trying to keep up with the Jones’s. There’s only a small segment of the institutions doing that. Everybody thinks the institutions are making all this money and truth is it’s only 22 schools out of 331.
We’re talking in great detail about how to change the 464 page rulebook that is totally out of control. We talked a lot at the retreat about financial sustainability; making sure we are spending money on student welfare and taking care of students in all ways, most importantly in their academic success. On the rulebook, out of the retreat come two working groups that President Emmert (NCAA President) is going to put together. We’ve asked him to come back to the board in October for some of these matters and by April next year with a review of the rulebook. We need to look at the book and the most important values and principles – having rules around those but streamlining this rulebook; it’s just totally out of control. People don’t understand it; nobody understands the expectations or penalties. So the Presidents really came out strong that we are going to follow through this. I think there is a real sense of urgency that if we don’t do something now, we’ve lost control of the collegiate model. It’s important to remind people though that there are 34 sports that they play national championships in and most of the perceptions of college athletics are from around two sports, basketball and football. So be it. We run those other programs in ways that really honor the collegiate model. Basketball has its issues and football has its issues but we are going to change a lot of things this year.

One thing we already changed was how the academic progress rate (APR). It’s going to go from 900 – today if a team has an APR under 900 there is a penalty structure (lose scholarships, etc). We are changing the penalty structure to have five levels. In the third level if you drop below 930, your team will not be eligible to have postseason play, including bowl games. We’ve asked for a plan to be delivered in October at our next board meeting on how we transition this to “930.” It’s going to change the way coaches see things. We are trying to make this very clear that the Presidents are going to bring the hammer down. We want these penalties to be much clearer. We want them to understand that if you are going to break a rule, these core principal rules, then here’s the consequence. I was really proud to be part of this. I think we are all of the same mind.

Over the next year we are looking to change the freshman eligibility requirements – for you to be able to play your freshman year right now your GPA must be 2.0 – there’s a sliding scale with your SAT – we are going to move that GPA to 2.5. What we are finding with the data is that a lot of these young men and women were not prepared to succeed in college coming in at those low levels and it’s just overwhelming them to be in a Division I sport and try to succeed in class at the same time.

We are looking to change the transfer eligibility rules. All these will be ratcheting up the higher expectations of the academics. I am going to do my best, as one of the 18 Presidents in charge of this, to really follow through on this matter. It was a little over 100 years ago that when Teddy Roosevelt brought the Presidents together because football was totally out of control and the NCAA was formed to get control of football. We have to have integrity in the collegiate model or we might as well forget it. So we are going to work very hard to improve the integrity of the collegiate model for 99% of the student-athletes who participate. It was an interesting conversation but one that we needed to have. That may be the first retreat the presidents have had in a long, long time.

I want to protect the student-athlete collegiate model. It is one that is very sacred to me personally because I had that experience. We spoke about the one and done in basketball; partly that problem is the NBA because they have rules different from Major League baseball or the NFL. We have too many young men that come in and enroll in classes for the fall semester at some of these schools; they stay eligible, barely, sign up in the spring semester that they don’t even attend because basketball season is over in March. They don’t have any intention to get a college degree. Then what happens in the future is this impacts the APR for their team. If you leave a university in good standing then it’s not held against your APR because people leave to go get jobs all the time. But, when they don’t leave in good standing, it will affect the APR; we are working with the NBA to try to get them to change the rules to say you’ve got to go to two years of college or be 19 years old before you can go into the NBA.

There are some things that can’t change completely without the support of the NBA. The one and done only applies to a few student-athletes but so many think they are going to do that and then that sets them into a downward spiral in what really should be a great opportunity to get a college education for quality of life beyond the days of professional sports.

RRB: On to the Horizon League, you are still on the board of the Horizon League. Tell us what is involved with this board and you activities.

DH: Well, now that I’ve had a meeting with the Division I board, I realize the Horizon League Board is a smaller version of that. We bring the 10 Presidents of the Horizon League together with Commissioner Jon LeCrone twice a year. We have some committees like the audit committee, the finance committee that meet by phone, but the entire board comes together to make sure that we are financially stable as a conference, how championships are run and that we are really focus on our values of the student-athletes. Again, I’m really proud of the Horizon League. We have great competitive programs; Butler has demonstrated that. The schools are focused on getting the athletes to graduate on time and with the right support systems. Another example of an action from this board is about a year ago we made some changes where not all teams go to the championship series now. We were sending everybody and it was really not cost-effective. Those are the kinds of things we do.

RRB: Please talk more about the league in general. It would be considered strong and stable, true?

DH: Yes, very strong. I think the addition of Valparaiso was very important to get us to a ten team league. They brought value to our league. I think we are very comfortable where we are with ten members but again, that’s part of our duty as Presidents of the league to look at things like, do we add teams in the future or do we not. The conference is very stable right now. Financially, we are in the best shape we’ve been in for a very long time. The Butler wins have brought some funds to our conference that the league didn’t have before and helped out the member institutions.

One of the things that is really frustrating to all of us in the Horizon League, a proud and competitive mid-major conference, is to see 11 teams from the one big conference going to the basketball tournament. When you have Butler going to the tournament and no one else from the Horizon … I think the NCAA is really concerned about how the wealth is being distributed. It’s like a lot of things in life, the rich get richer. There’s no reason to have that inequity in some of the distribution of basketball money. We’ve got to look at the ways that money is distributed and so the Horizon League is very interested in that of course.

RRB: So league expansion is not “off-the-table” but not a high priority issue at all.

DH: Not with Valpo now in the league. I think at this moment we don’t see any teams looking to leave. I think we are very comfortable where we are. Valpo is the one we worked hard on to get done and so we’re comfortable. But it doesn’t mean never. It’s a nice way to compete with 10 teams.

RRB: Does the league have a strategic plan or long term goals?

DH: I would not say we have built a typical strategic plan but I think we have what we call core values or principles that guide us. I think we’ve been the type of league that’s been able to adapt to the changing environment in terms of the NCAA. We have to respond to a lot of things and hopefully we change some of those things. I think we just try to work every day with these core values that are fundamental to the league. We are always trying to improve the student-athlete experience. We talk about that a lot. We are looking at ways to support research at each of our institutions that looks at the quality of the student experience and athletics. It could be around the psychology of coaching for example. We want to have a competitive high-quality conference but we want to make sure that we add new knowledge that can help our institutions learn to be more effective with student-athletes. That’s something that differentiates us from a lot of conferences. We talk about that a lot. Jon LeCrone has been a magnificent commissioner. He has been commissioner 18 or 19 years and I think he has created something really special. Our league is very unique compared to a lot of leagues in that we really worry about the student-athlete all the time.

RRB: College athletics in general … costs are escalating … coaching salaries keep growing. Any other comments?

DH: Not sustainable. We cannot sustain that model. Very few institutions can as I mentioned earlier. Maybe 22 are “in the black” and the rest lose money. The problem is there is a level of the BCS schools, then there’s this other level and those are the schools that are really losing their shirts. They are trying to emulate something they can’t. Everybody has to start to understand that fact. We are certainly not trying to emulate those models. We are going to be what we are and continue to be more effective and efficient. We are going to have to cut costs and that’s the way it is because we are doing that all over campus. The State of Ohio is doing it all over and we are a state institution.

The other thing I heard at the NCAA meeting was well, there’s this talk about how we should put caps on coaches’ salaries and all that. We should have the discipline at each institution to do what we can afford and that’s what we’ve tried to do here within a competitive market. The NCAA has talked about caps before but the anti-trust laws come in so the NCAA cannot cap salaries. There have been legal tests to that matter. I think if they could, they would, but it’s market driven and as long as some of these intuitions are going crazy with it, others will try to keep up. I can tell you that not the mode of the Horizon League. We are going to try to stay competitive within the domain where we compete.

RRB: There have long been discussions about paying student-athletes a stipend in addition to the tuition and such.

DH: We think that is a slippery slope. I think the idea of a stipend is something that will be explored. Right now the conversation at the NCAA meeting was about providing the full “cost of attendance.” Right now, we don’t in Division I. I don’t understand all those details but there are other costs that are calculated into being a normal student that the scholarships do not cover. Some people are saying if a conference wants to do it, pay the cost of attendance, then fine. The Horizon League probably couldn’t afford to do that. It may change the competitive equity but the reality is that there is not competitive equity as it is now. We want to compete within the domain of our conference. As long as the conferences are doing similar things it will be under control. I do think we need to revisit the issue of four year scholarships. A long time ago they used to be; WSU honors them as four year awards but that’s not the typical case. There is a tendency for some coaches to run players off. I think we’ll be visiting this at the NCAA meetings soon.

RRB: Any final comments or remarks you’d like to make as we wrap this up this afternoon?

DH: I appreciate RaiderRoundball and I tell people that I like to get on there and catch up with what’s going on. I ‘m a guest and don’t get on there and say things but it’s very informative. It’s important for me to see what people are saying; it’s important for me to get a context and see what others are saying. I read some things and say to myself, well, they don’t get the whole picture, but, how could they? I appreciate that RaiderRoundball exists.

RRB: Thank you for your time Dr. Hopkins.

Women make History and Advance in Tournament

By Kevin C. Smith

In their first ever post season tournament game the Lady Raiders beat Buffalo 82-79 in the opening round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI). They will play again on Sunday at 2pm against the winner of the Sacred Heart/Manhattan game tonight.

Statistically this looked to be a close game. That proved to be correct. In front of the 316 fans, the Lady Raiders took to the floor in their first DIV I post-season game against an opponent they have never played. The Raiders wanted to win and they did, with a mix of plays and shutting down one of the nation’s top players, Kourtney Brown.

Wright State scoring started with Courtney Boyd hitting a three to give WSU a 3-2 advantage with 18:24 left in the first half. The lead would change three times and be tied five times in the half. The Lady Raiders were shooting 39.5%(17-43) in the first half, to 45.5% (15-33) for Buffalo. The two teams sent up a total of 26 three point shots with WSU hitting 38.5% (5-13). The Lady Raiders also had just three turnovers, while picking up 8 points from nine Buffalo TOs. The largest lead the Raiders could manage was 10 with 36 seconds left. At the half, the Lady Raiders were leading Buffalo 43-36.

Maria Bennett was leading the scoring with nine points, all coming from her three three-point shots out of six attempts. Molly Fox was getting the most rebounds in the game with eight while Shaunda Sandifer was right behind her with seven.

Coming out of the locker room, the Lady Raiders were in charge and stayed in the lead for the rest of the game, despite several runs by Buffalo. They would get a 16 point lead at the 7:57 mark for their largest lead before a run by Buffalo cut the lead. Buffalo could never overtake the Raiders however.

WSU finished the game shooting 39.2% (29-74) while Buffalo shot 39.5% (30-76). They also shot 90% (18-20) from the free throw line, to Buffalo’s 80% (8-10). The Raiders controlled the boards, 50-42 and finished with just 11 turnovers to 13 assists.

Four Lady Raiders scored double digits in this game. Molly Fox lead the way with her tenth double-double, scoring 20 points and pulling down 16 rebounds in 24 minutes of play. She also had one blocked shot. LaShawna Thomas scored 18, Ta-myra Davis hit 14 and Maria Bennett hit for 12 points. Shaunda Sandifer joined Fox in the defensive effort with 14 rebounds and two blocked shots. In the end, the Raiders held on for the win, 82-79.

This game made several records at WSU and for the women:

-The first post-season game for the women since coming into DIV I.
-The first DIV I 20 win season for the Lady Raiders.
-Maria Bennett now holds the season record for three point shots made with 88.
-The first WSU post season win at the Nutter Center

The Lady Raiders will now host a WBI Quarterfinal game on Sunday at 2pm. The opponent will be the winner of Sacred Heart/Manhattan game to be played tonight. Plan on attending and cheering for the Lady raiders to advance!

Women Basketball Receives First-Ever Division I Postseason Bid

By WSU Sports Information

The Wright State women’s basketball team will play in its first-ever Division I postseason game Wednesday at 7:00 as the Raiders host Buffalo in the opening round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI). The game will also be the first collegiate postseason event held at Wright State’s Nutter Center.

The Wright State/Buffalo winner will face the winner of Sacred Heart and Manhattan in the quarterfinals with the date and site to be determined.

It is the first postseason appearance for WSU since splitting a pair of games during the 1987 NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Tournament, the program’s final season in Division II. The Raiders defeated Bellarmine in the opening round 80-67 on March 7 of that year before falling to Northern Kentucky 74-63 in the second round of March 10, with both games taking place at the Physical Education Building.

Wright State enters the WBI with a 19-12 overall record and finished fourth in the Horizon League with an 11-7 mark. The 19 wins tie the 2004-05 squad for the most wins for the program since moving up to Division I and only trail the 24-6 mark in 1986-87 for the most ever in school history. The 11 Horizon League wins also tied a program record with 2004-05, when the Raiders were 11-5.

While the WBI will be a new experience for WSU, it will be the second straight appearance in the tournament for first-year head coach Mike Bradbury as he led Morehead State to the WBI last season.

“Following up the year that we’ve had, being able to play in the postseason is something we’re definitely looking forward to,” said Bradbury. “It is an honor to be playing at this time of year and we’re really embracing the opportunity to play in the Women’s Basketball Invitational.”

“It’s a great opportunity for everyone in our program, but particularly for our seniors,” added Bradbury. “Our seniors have made a huge effort to improve our program and what they have accomplished this year is unbelievable. Without that effort, none of this would have been possible and I’m glad they get the opportunity to experience postseason play.”

Along with the record-tying 19 overall wins and 11 in league play, Wright State has also set several three-point records this season. The Raiders have made 10 or more threes in a game six times this year and set a single-season record with 213 triples in 31 games, bettering the previous mark of 161 in 32 games during the 2007-08 campaign. WSU also set a single-game record for threes with 13 against Valparaiso on January 8, with junior guard Maria Bennett setting the single-game individual record in that game with eight.

WSU is led by senior guard LaShawna Thomas, a First Team All-Horizon League selection who is currently 20th in Division I in assists per game at 5.6 and 25th in scoring at 18.6 points per game. Thomas has reached double figures in scoring in all but two games this season and has scored 20 or more points 13 times, including a career-high 35 against Youngstown State on February 19. Thomas appears in the Raider career Top 10 list in games and minutes played, points, field goals made and attempted, three-pointers made and attempted and assists.

Junior forward Molly Fox was a Second Team All-League selection as she currently is 17th nationally in field goal percentage at .553 and 55th in rebounds per game at 9.1 while senior forward Shaunda Sandifer, in her first season with the program after a four-year career with the WSU volleyball team, was selected to the League’s All-Newcomer Team after averaging 6.2 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.

Buffalo enters the WBI with an overall record of 16-15, its best mark since going 18-11 in 2002-03, and the Bulls finished 8-8 in the Mid-American Conference’s East Division, good for third place behind Bowling Green and Kent State. Buffalo features the MAC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in senior forward Kourtney Brown, who currently has 1974 points and 1119 rebounds for her career, including a MAC-record 367 rebounds this season. Brown ranks fifth nationally in rebounds (11.8) and blocked shots (3.3) per game, is seventh in field goal percentage (.588) and is ninth in scoring (22.2).

Tickets, which are on sale at the Nutter Center box office, are $7 individually, with $6 for group tickets and $5 for children ages 3-17. Wright State students along with faculty and staff are free with a valid ID. For more information, call (937) 775-4789.

Wright State Women Advance to the Semifinals

By Kevin C Smith

The Lady Raiders (19-11) hosted UW-Milwaukee (12-18) in the Horizon League Quarterfinal game and got the win to advance to the semifinals. The Raiders won 63-58 and now will play in a semifinal game against Green Bay on Friday in Green Bay.

Sometimes the shots just don’t fall for you. Some people say beating a team three times in one season is difficult. On Wednesday the Lady Raiders overcame both of those to hold on for a win against Milwaukee. It wasn’t a pretty game, but it was an exciting close game.

Wright State jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Milwaukee got on the scoreboard. The score would stay close after that with the lead changing hands twice and one tied score. The Raiders would only get a six point lead in the half, while Milwaukee managed a four point lead. At the halftime buzzer it was Wright State leading by just one point, 29-28.

The Raiders were only able to sink 35% (13-37) of their shots in the half. They went just one for ten from beyond the arc. Milwaukee was shooting 37.5% (12-32) and controlled the rebounds, 25-22.The Raiders turned the ball over just five times, while picking up 8 points from 10 Milwaukee turnovers.

Lashawna Thomas had nine points, five assists and four steals in the first half. Shaunda Sandifer pulled down seven rebounds and provided four points.WSU had six steals to none for the Lady Panthers.

The second half saw Milwaukee take the lead and open up a nine point advantage at the 15:21 mark. The Raiders, shooting just 30% (9-30) in the second half struggled to beat the Panthers. The Lady Raiders were able to control the boards, 47-43 while giving the ball up just three times in the half, while getting three points from Milwaukee’s 5 TOs. This games outcome would come from the charity stripe. The Raiders would hit 15 out of 20 attempts in the second half, including seven in the last four minutes.

Two Raiders had double-doubles in this game. Ta-myra Davis had 14 points and 15 rebounds, while Sandifer hit for 11 points and also had 15 rebounds. Thomas finished with 21 points, five assists and four steals.

This game saw six lead changes and six ties.  It came down to the last few minutes, but the Raiders pulled out the victory, 63-58.  They now advance in the HL Tournament to play Green Bay on Friday at 7pm. Green Bay is undefeated in Horizon League and has only lost to Marquette all season. However as the Coach stated “we aren’t afraid of them”. The Lady Raiders will play the best they can to topple the HL powerhouse and continue to advance in the tourney and improve on what has been a great season for them.

Photos © and Courtesy of Tim G. Zechar

Women Beat Milwaukee to Finish Regular Season

By Kevin C. Smith

Fighting to host a Horizon League Quarterfinal game, the Wright State women defeated UW-Milwaukee today, 86-69. The Lady Raiders finish the season in fourth place and will host a quarterfinal game on Wednesday in the Nutter Center – against UW-Milwaukee!

Milwaukee had to win this game for a chance to host the quarterfinal game.  WSU needed to win to make sure they would host it. The Lady Raiders had beaten UWM earlier this year at home but it was a close game. Today, especially with five seniors being recognized in their last regular season game, it would not be close. The Lady Raiders were here to play – and win. First however, the five seniors on the team were recognized in a pre-game ceremony.

The game started with Milwaukee taking the lead and holding it for the first five minutes. A three point basket by Junior Maria Bennett gave the Raiders the lead, 10-9. The lead would change hands a total of seven times all in the first half. The Raiders would grab the lead with 8:38 left in the half with a 20-19 score and would never give it back. By the half time buzzer they led 47-24.

The Raiders sank their shots 59.4% (19-32) of the time. That includes 63.6% (7-11) from beyond the arc. A big statistic for the Lady Raiders was they only had five turnovers in the half and were controlling the boards, 22-15. All eight players who played in the half scored and seven of the eight had at least one rebound.

Senior LaShawna Thomas and Junior Maria Bennett both had eleven points in the first half. Senior Shauna Sandifer led the defensive effort with 5 rebounds and five assists. Junior Molly Fox, returning to play after suffering a sprained ankle, and freshman KC Elkins both had two steals in the half. Elkins also had three assists and one rebound in seven minutes of play. Half-time saw the Lady Raiders comfortably in the lead, 47-24.

The second half saw a battle of the three point shots. The two teams shot a total of 55 three point attempts in the game, sinking 20 of them. The Lady Raiders provided a mix of plays, including fast breaks, grabbing 24 points in the paint and twenty-seven from beyond the arc. Five different WSU players hit three point shots. Overall they hit 50% (32-64) of their shots. Milwaukee controlled the boards, 44-40 and got three blocked shots.  The Raiders also blocked three shots, but also had six steals while only turning over the ball eight times, one of the lowest totals for the season.

Four players hit double digits in this game. Thomas led the crowd with 19, followed by Bennett (16), Davis (14) and Fox (14). Sandifer grabbed eight rebounds for the most of any Raider. Thomas also had a team leading nine assists in this game.

Milwaukee (12-17/9-9 HL) lost 86-69 and will have to return to the Nutter Center on Wednesday to play the Lady Raiders (18-11/11-7 HL) again in the Horizon league Quarterfinal game. Wright State finished the season in fourth place in the HL after a pre-season poll predicted an eighth place finish. Game time Wednesday will be 7:00. The 293 fans present saw an excellent regular season final game today.  Hopefully more fans will be present on Wednesday.

Photos © and Courtesy of Tim G. Zechar

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Green Bay Overpowers Wright State Women

By Kevin C. Smith

Dayton, OH – The #15/12 Green Bay Phoenix, undefeated in Horizon League play, came to the Nutter Center last night and departed still undefeated.  They beat the Lady Raiders 75-54 in a tough, physical Game. The Raiders will now close out their regular season hosting Milwaukee on Saturday at 2pm.  The departing seniors will be recognized BEFORE the game starts.

This game started out looking like Green Bay would just run over the Raiders. However, the Lady Raiders would not be beaten that easily. Green Bay got off to a nine to nothing start before LaShawna Thomas was able to hit a jump shot with 16:03 on the clock. Wright State battled the rest of the half, with a mix of shots from around the floor but they could not overtake the Phoenix.

Six Raiders scored in the first half of this game and at the halfway point they only trailed Green Bay by three points, 30-27. During the first half the Raiders got 13 points from 13 Phoenix turnovers.   Green Bay averages just 16 turnovers a game. The Raiders protected the ball during the half, giving it up only 9 times for ten Phoenix points.

The Lady Raiders were being lead by Thomas with 8 points and 4 rebounds. Shaunda Sandifer had six points in the half. Overall, Wright State was sinking 31.3% (10-32) of their shots while Green Bay was hitting 43.3%(13-30) The Phoenix controlled the boards 24-18, while WSU had 8 steals and the only blocked shot in the half.  WSU was playing without Molly Fox who is still suffering from a sprained ankle.

Every season a new player comes into the spotlight with their performance in a game. Last night 5-6 Freshman Guard KC Elkins (West Jefferson OH/West Jefferson) stepped into the spotlight.  She will, I hope, become our starting point guard next year.  Elkins only played 4 minutes in the first half, providing two assists and one steal. In the second half, substituting for Thomas, she showed the fans what she could do as a new player for us to enjoy the next few years.

Elkins played 17 minutes total in this game.  She sank 11 points (her career high), had one rebound, two assists and a steal. Two of her shots were three point baskets, going 2-3 from beyond the arc. Not shown in the stats was her presence on the court.  She was involved in a lot of plays, some frustrating the Green Bay players. Elkins will be a Wright State player to watch in the future.

The second half started off with a basket by Ta-myra Davis to bring the Raiders within one point of Green Bay.  That would be the closest they would come to the Phoenix. Green Bay would show why they are undefeated when they opened the lead and never looked back. In the second half, the Raiders frustration would mount.

Maria Bennett received an obvious intentional foul call for pushing a Phoenix player on a fast break with 8:18 left in the game.  Bennett did not play the rest of the game. Then, with just a little under six minutes left, Coach Bradbury got a technical foul for challenging a call (he was correct in my and some other fans opinion).  The same referee would check whether an Elkins three point shot was a three or two pointer late in the game when WSU was down by almost 20 points and very little time left on the clock.

The Lady Raiders failed to protect the ball in the second half and finished with 23 turnovers, giving Green Bay 22 points. They shot 33.3%(18-54) for the game, while Green Bay was sinking 42.6% (26-61).  They did match Green Bay on the boards, each team getting 37 rebounds. Tanni Scott got the only blocked shot in the game, while she also had 4 points and three rebounds in 17 minutes of play.

Thomas would finish leading the Raiders with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Elkins was the only other player in double digits with 11.  In total eight WSU players would score during this game.

Green Bay (28-1/17-0 HL), who has only lost to Marquette this year, got the win over the Raiders (17-11/10-7 HL) 75-54.  Wright State now finishes the regular season with Senior Night against Milwaukee on Saturday. The seniors on the team will be recognized before the 2:00 tip off.

Free Throws Give the Women a Win

By Kevin C. Smith

Dayton, OH – This game saw plenty of three point shots. However, it was Wright State’s free throw shooting that gave them the 70-67 win over Youngstown State Saturday in the Nutter Center. The Lady Raiders now have two road games before returning for their final home stand this year on March 3rd.

Wright State (16-9/9-5HL) hosted the Horizon League last place team, Youngstown State (4-22/2-13HL) on Saturday. It turned into a battle and the Wright State women held on for a 70-67 win. The win was achieved at the free throw line.

The Lady Raiders saw YSU jump out to an 11 point lead before Shaunda Sandifer scored the first Raider basket at 16:45. A LaShawna Thomas basket at 12:27 gave the Raiders their first lead at 14-13. The first half saw the teams trading three point shots. In the half they shot 30 three point shots. WSU sank 5 of their 14 shots, for 35.7% while YSU hit 50% (8-16). The Lady Raiders gave up 18 points on eleven turnovers. Youngstown State’s last second shot gave them lead going into the locker room, 36-35.

The second half saw WSU come out and take the lead back before YSU again got the lead on a three pointer. This game saw nine ties and the lead changed hands 15 times. Forty eight three point tries between the two teams kept the game close and the lead changing. The Lady Raiders finished with 31.6% (6-19) from beyond the arc. Overall they were able to hit 36.8% (21-57) of their field goals. They finished with 17 turnovers for 24 YSU points, while getting 20 points for themselves from 16 YSU Turnovers.

Although the Lady Raiders controlled the boards, 43-32, they had a long dry spell for field goals. Their last field goal at 1:35 broke an eight and a half minute drought in field goals. During that time the only WSU scoring was at the line. The Raiders picked up 22 points out of 33 attempts from the charity stripe, shooting 73.3% (22-30). Sixteen of those points came during the last 10 plus minutes of this game.

LaShawna Thomas had a career high and a double-double. She sank 35 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. She also had two steals. Shaunda Sandifer also had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Maria Bennett finished with 11 points, while Molly Fox sank 10.

The women struggled at times in this game but they pulled out the win from the line. The 70-67 win will keep them in third place in the Horizon League race.

They now play two games on the road against Loyola and UIC before their return to the Nutter Center for their last home stand. They will play #14 UW-Green Bay on Mar 3rd and UW-Milwaukee on Saturday the 5th to finish the season before the HL Tournament starts on Monday Mar 7th.

Photos © and Courtesy of Tim G. Zechar

Turnovers, Poor Plays Cost Women a Win

By Kevin C. Smith

Looking like the women’s team from recent past years, the Lady Raiders (15-9/8-5 HL) went down to defeat as Cleveland State (15-10/8-6 HL) overcame a deficit to win 74-66. Saturday, the women will host Youngstown State starting at 1:30.

This was a battle between the Horizon Leagues third and fourth place teams. WSU had previously beaten CSU in Cleveland, so a home win could be expected. That was not to be. The Lady Raiders played as they have done in the past and got beat. Twenty three turnovers gave CSU 24 points and the game.

The Lady Raiders seemed to want to only pass the ball to the key, as was done in the past, but that play was not working. The team is known for its three-point shooting, but in this game could only hit 5-16 for 31.3%. That is below their average attempts of 24 per game and completing 7.4 each outing. No, this game was mostly under the boards and it hurt.

WSU shot 38.7% (24-62) in this game, compared to 44.4% (24-54) for Cleveland State, including ten CSU three point shots. The Raiders also out rebounded CSU 47-24. Many of those shots and rebounds were put backs and missed layups due to CSUs defense in close. In many cases players on the outside where open and waiting for the ball.

Wright State had a 15 point lead at one time in the first half. It looked like they would sweep CSU. However we watched as that lead disappeared. In fact in the last eight minutes and 44 seconds, the Lady Raiders scored only three points and those were from the charity stripe.

LaShawna Thomas again lead the Raiders with 19 points and seven rebounds. Ta-myra Davis picked up a double-double with 16 points and ten boards. She also had one of the two Raider steals in the game.

On Saturday the women will host last place Youngstown State (4-21/2-12 HL) after the men’s game. Start time is projected as 1:30. Wright State remains in third place in the HL. However they need to win to remain there. Third and fourth seeds in the tournament will host a tournament quarterfinal game on March 9th. Wright State has a good chance of being third, but they need to protect the ball.

Women’s Basketball Pulls Out 71-66 Exhibition Win Over Georgetown (KY)

by WSU Sports information
Wright State was down by five with eight minutes to go and trailed 64-63 with 1:52 left, but the Raiders rallied from there, outscoring Georgetown (KY) 8-2 the rest of the way to pull out a 71-66 exhibition win over the Tigers in women’s basketball action at the Nutter Center Monday night.

10 unanswered points, including a pair of three-pointers by Maria Bennett, erased an early 4-0 deficit, but back came Georgetown with nine straight of their own before another Bennett triple tied it at 13 with 9:09 to play in the first half.

An 11-0 run late in the period, a run that featured threes from Bennett and Courtney Boyd, helped the Raiders take a 29-24 halftime lead.

Ta-myra Davis made it 34-26 with a basket at the 17:59 mark of the second half, only to see the Tigers go in front 38-34 with 12 straight over a 5:42 span. Georgetown maintained the advantage from there and was up 50-42 on two Devon Golden free throws with 9:55 to play.

Layups from Boyd and Thomas, however, cut the margin in half and WSU eventually tied it at 53 on a fast-break layup by Kayla Lamotte at the 6:55 mark. After four more ties and two lead changes, two Kourtney Tyra foul shots and one from Gina Beining with 1:52 remaining put the Tigers up 64-63.

After Thomas and Tyra exchanged baskets to again put Georgetown up one, a Thomas jumper in the paint with a minute to go gave the Raiders the lead for good at 67-66. An offensive foul call against the Tigers gave Wright State the ball back and Thomas connected on a basket with 11 second left to make it a three-point game.

Georgetown had one last chance to tie, but Tyra missed a three from the left wing and Davis made two foul shots with 0.3 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

Georgetown outshot WSU for the night 44 percent to 35 percent, but the Raiders attempted 19 more shots thanks in part to a 22-12 turnover differential. Wright State was also nine of 38 from three-point range compared to two of 12 for the Tigers.

Thomas led all scorers with 26 points for the Raiders, 19 of those coming in the second half while Bennett added 18 points, 12 coming before halftime. Boyd, in her WSU debut, had 10 while Ta-myra Davis just missed a double-double with nine points and 14 rebounds.

Tyra paced Georgetown with 17 points, all but one coming in the second half, while Mikkah Rogers had 11 and Lizza Jonas chipped in nine points and nine boards off the bench.

Wright State wraps up the exhibition portion of its schedule on Monday, November 8, as the Raiders host Kentucky State in a 7:00 contest.

Raiders Invite Fans to the Free Raiders Represent Game

DAYTON –In what has become a tradition, the home opener against Northwood Wednesday, November 17 will once again be the Raiders Represent game — admission will be free to everyone who wears Wright State apparel to the game.