INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Wright State coach Clint Sargent watched quietly as his players bounced and weaved their way through the team circle with large, plastic gold chains dangling from their necks to celebrate their Horizon League Tournament title.
He wanted those guys, the ones who stuck around, the ones who transferred in and the freshmen who were introduced to college basketball this season, to savor the moment of a lifetime.
“I think we probably lead
the nation in starting lineups,” said Sargent, the conference’s coach of the year, as the wild on-court scene played out around him. “We’ve had so many different guys step into the moment and hit big shots, I’m not surprised.”
Now, a little more than a week later, they face an even more daunting challenge — becoming the second Horizon League team in three years to advance to the second round of March Madness.
Wright State (23-11) tends to hold that conference celebration every four years, with its previous two titles coming in 2018 and 2022. Still, few expected that to continue — or Wright State to wind up the NCAA Tournament's 14th seed in the Midwest, matched up against ACC Tournament runner-up and No. 3 seed Virginia on Friday in Philadelphia.
Sargent followed his former college coach, Scott Nagy, to Dayton, Ohio, in 2016. Five years later, he went from assistant coach to assistant head coach and when Nagy left for Southern Illinois in March 2024, then-interim athletic director Joylynn Brown promoted Sargent to head coach.
It was a forgettable first season for Sargent and the Raiders. Despite finishing among Division I's top 15 in field-goal percentage (49.4%) and 3-point percentage (38.4%), Wright State couldn't overcome a sub-par defense. The result: A 15-18 mark that prompted six of 12 projected returnees, including Wright State's top four scorers, to exit through the transfer portal.
Outside of the program, not much was expected from a team essentially starting over with a 37-year-old coach in his second season. League's coaches picked Wright State to finish seventh out of 11 teams.
Inside of the program, though, promising signs emerged during a rocky 6-6 start. The turning point came in mid-December, specifically in the second half against Miami (Ohio) when the RedHawks shooting percentage dropped from 75% in the first half to 41.7% in an 83-76 loss.
The Raiders rebounded by winning their next seven in a row, four of them without emerging freshman guard Michael Cooper, who was injured. Suddenly, their confidence soared.
“I felt like when I got hurt and we kept winning, that's when I was like, ‘When I get back, we’re going to be even better,'" said Cooper, who averages a team best 13.4 points per game. “I feel like that's what happened. We're the deepest team in the league, and I think it showed in the tournament.”
Cooper wasn't the surprise on Sargent's squad.
Guard TJ Burch, who played just 9.5 minutes per game in 2024-25 at Ball State, wound up averaging 12.3 points while leading the team in assists (115). He earned first team all-conference honors, was named the league's defensive player of the year and newcomer of the year and his 19-point performance in a 66-63 come-from-behind title game victory over Detroit Mercy led to him being named tourney MVP.
Forward Michael Imariagbe, one of the key holdovers, earned second team all-conference honors by averaging 11.8 points and 7.0 rebounds after logging just 16.3 minutes last season, and forward Kellen Pickett took home the league's freshman of the year award.
But the Raiders didn't get there on talent alone.
"He spent so much time with them (the players) in the summer to try to get them to know each other and he's just stuck with it,” Brown said after watching her department's team erase an 11-point deficit in the final 10 minutes of the title game. “I feel like that's a testament because at the end of second half, he made some changes — brilliant coaching moves. They all trust each other. Nobody wants to be the star because that's what he has instilled in those gentlemen."
And the all-inclusive celebration captured that spirit.
The school's mascot, “Fierce Wolf," joined the postgame dance team. Brown found her way into the team photos and Sargent gladly accepted the congratulatory handshakes and high-fives from fans who spilled onto the court as blue-and-gold confetti covered the players who achieved something almost nobody else thought possible just a few months ago.
“Everybody came to Wright State with a first-year head coach who went 15-18, so I think that bond, the reason they came here, really allowed us to grow," Sargent said. “That's why this is so special.”
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
