Hey, guess what?
It’s time to start talking basketball. Well, it’s never NOT been time to talk about basketball, because that time is all the time for me. But we are getting closer to the basketball season,
and I’ve already started prepping for the SEC Conference Previews. That means it’s also time to look at the non-conference schedule.
The Full Non-Conference Schedule:
- October 24th — vs. Kansas State (exhibition)
- November 3rd — at Howard Bison | Preview
- November 7th — vs. Southeast Missouri | Preview
- November 9th — vs VMI | Preview
- November 12th — vs Minnesota | Preview
- November 17th — vs Prairie View A&M | Preview
- November 20th — vs South Dakota | Preview
- November 25th — vs South Carolina State | Preview
- November 28th — vs Cleveland State | Preview
- December 2nd — at Notre Dame | Preview
- December 7th — vs Kansas (in Kansas City, MO) | Preview
- December 11th — vs Alabama State | Preview | Preview
- December 14th — vs Bethune-Cookman
- December 22nd — vs Illinois (in St. Louis, MO)
These previews aren’t here to re-hash the argument over whether Dennis Gates put together a good schedule or not. It’s simply to talk about the opponents, and what can be expected. We’re also not going to use these to preview Kansas State since it’s an exhibition. We’ll do a quick K-State preview before the game, but for now we’re going to focus on the games that matter.
Let’s Meet: Bethune Cookman Wildcats
Who wouldn’t want to go to school in Daytona Beach, Florida? (me, actually)
Founded in 1904 by Mary McLeod Bethune, the school was originally called the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls. In the early 1920’s it merged with the Cookman Institute to become the Daytona Cookman Collegiate Institute. In 1941 the name was officially changed to Bethune-Cookman College when its teaching curriculum was approved by the state of Florida.
The school began playing hoops in 1930, but didn’t join Division I until 1980 when they joined the MEAC. A few years back the school joined the SWAC, but in 44 season neither conference affiliation has produced an NCAA Tournament trip. There have only been two conference championships with the most recent being in 2018 when they tied with Hampton, but lost in the conference tournament.
Head Coach | Reggie Theus | 5th Season 55-74
If you don’t know who Reggie Theus then I’m guessing you didn’t grow up watching the NBA in the 1980s. A California native, Theus played college basketball at UNLV in the last 70s and was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 1978. From there he managed 14 seasons playing for the Bulls, the Kings, the Hawks, the Magic, and the Nets. His best season was in 1983 when he averaged 23.8 ppg for Chicago, and in 1988 when he averaged 21.6 for Sacramento.
After his playing career ended he did some TV, but ultimately fell into coaching in the early 2000s. He took over as head coach at New Mexico State in 2005 and performed well going 25-9 in just his second season. He jumped back into the NBA before taking the Cal State Northridge job in 2013, and in six seasons struggled to find success. In 2021 he found his way to Bethune-Cookman where the results have been mixed, but overall positive.
Last season the Wildcats had their best year going just 17-16, but 13-5 in the SWAC and they finished in 3rd place.
Series History | none
I thought I remembered the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats popping up on the game schedule at some point in the past but that was obviously incorrect. (editor’s note: I thought I remember this as well, but maybe it was another sport?)
What about the team now?
Theus went all in on the transfer portal and pulled out a quality roster in doing so. The portal was needed after they lost 5 of their top 7 scorers to graduation and the transfer portal.
The best prospect coming in is Doctor Bradley, a high scoring combo forward who landed at Arkansas-Pine Bluff last season and scored 19.6 ppg over 18 games. Bradley might be best known for running into some trouble at New Mexico State in the sexual misconduct case that emerged a few years ago. Bradley ended up taking a plea deal to testify against two teammates, and the whole thing is pretty ugly. But there are always second chances if you can get buckets, I guess.
Back on the team is Zion Harmon, a well-travelled point guard who scored 14 ppg at Bethune Cookman two years ago before trying to scale up at Seton Hall. Jakobi Heady is also returning after being a double-digit scorer two years ago, he averaged 15.4 ppg as a Junior two years ago, then 15.0 points at Central Michigan last year. So that’s two double digit scorers from two seasons ago to go with one of the top scorers in the SWAC last season. They also added Reggie Bass who was a 12-point scorer at Lindenwood last season.
A lot of scoring gone, a lot of scoring replaced. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Wildcats atop the SWAC standings at the end of the year. In EvanMiya.com’s preseason rankings they’re third in the SWAC behind Jackson State and Southern. So this could be a bit of a fight, but they’re still projected to be the 236th best team in the country.
