Post by gerb on Mar 7, 2018 20:40:09 GMT -5
National interest is obviously going to be heightened over the next week or more to a level not seen for a decade. I imagine a lot of outsiders will be coming to the board to figure out who the hell we are. I'm starting this thread as a kind of press kit to supplement the Men's Basketball News thread because we've got a HELL of a lot of human interest stories and hell of a lot of reasons to love this team/school. Those of us who post regularly know Wright State's team, culture, and history better than anyone.
Also, it's kinda fun to just stand back and think about all the cool stuff that's happened this year. This was a fun first post to write.
If you're a regular poster, load this thing up with facts!
If you're a visitor, welcome! Ask us anything!
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To start it off, this team is LOADED with human interest stories and can easily be this year's media darlings:
Last year's leading scorer/first teamer, Mark Alstork, left before his senior year to raise his NBA profile and interviewed a number of major programs to do so. He wound up at Illinois where he has since struggled. Another senior, Justin Mitchell, showed potential to be an all league first-teamer through the first half of the season. A few games into league play, he stepped away from the team for personal reasons.
Our lone remaining senior, Grant Benzinger, actually asked for and received his release before his junior year when we made a coaching change. Coach Nagy re-recruited him and he has gone on to become the school's all-time leader in 3-pointers. He stuck around to become the undisputed leader of an underclassmen-heavy team and it's paid off. His hustle and headiness earned him first team all-league honors without eye popping numbers outside of efficiency ratings. Truly a selfless player who will go diving three rows into the stands to get a loose ball.
Loudon Love is the key to this team. He was getting scholarship offers from Big Ten schools as an offensive lineman recruit, but had some mid-major basketball offers including from Coach Nagy (who was then at South Dakota State). The final play of his senior year, his teammates decided they wanted to get him a touchdown, so they called an unauthorized audible and he went out for a pass. He tore his ACL on the play and missed his senior year of basketball. Nagy still kept his offer in tact when he took the job at WSU. During his redshirt season, Love shattered a backboard in our practice facility. Since getting to campus, he has shed 50+ pounds and is now close to 300 pounds of muscle. Another note: he legally changed his surname to his mom's when he turned 18. High school stories/stats/etc can be found under the name Loudon Vollbrecht.
Parker Ernsthausen got little to no interest out of high school at 6'11". Someone correct me on this because I may be inaccurate on a few things here. Our head coach at the time offered him a preferred walk-on spot. He tried to transfer out as a freshman, but couldn't get a spot at BGSU so he came back (this is how I understand it). He has since worked his butt off, put on muscle, and become a twin tower in the starting lineup with Love. He graduated as a junior and will be playing in grad school for us next year as a senior, eligibility-wise. He isn't a big shot blocker or thunder dunker, but he will give teams fits on dribble drives. He is the best charge taker I've seen in the post at this level.
Cole Gentry followed Coach Nagy from SDSU. He played and started a number of games for the Jackrabbits as a freshman, but transferred to WSU midway through the season so he could be eligible to play for the second half of this year. He has pulled the team together in a huge way as the floor general. He's the type of sure handed, muscly, 5'9" pogo stick that becomes lethal in March Madness.
Gentry, who's played two half seasons over the last two years, joins three freshmen (Love, Hall, and Winchester) to make up over half of our seven-man rotation. We aren't deep, but there is very little drop-off in production. Benzinger and Love average double digits scoring, but the next four guys all average eight to ten points per game.
We are playing that seven-man rotation for a number of reasons. Two transfers are sitting out. One is redshirting. Mitchell left midway through the year. The biggest story you'll hear about is Ryan Custer'd. His story has already become the focus since the national media picked up coverage.
Ryan was a solid contributor as a freshman power forward, averaging about ten minutes a game. Over the summer, he slipped at a pool party and has become paralyzed from the chest down. He is still the heart, soul, and compass for the team. He's on the sidelines at the end of the bench at home games and has been an inspiration all year long.
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AS FOR THE SCHOOL ITSELF:
We're named after the Wright Brothers, who built the first flying machine in their bicycle shop in Dayton. We are nowhere near North Carolina. North Carolinians try really hard to take credit for flight because that's where Orville and Wilbur tested the Wright Flyer. That's BS. Always remember: Dayton has the brains, Kitty Hawk just has wind.
Yes, we're the Raiders and our mascot is a wolf. We don't understand it either.
Yes, our fight song is note-for-note the same as Arkansas's. Most of us are not fond of that fact. It was a stand-in during our D2 days and we just never got around to changing it, I guess.
Bob Pollard of Guided By Voices played baseball here and threw the first no-hitter in school history. He threw with precision and, dare I say, Surgical Focus
Tom Hanks donated a large sum and provided resources to establish the Tom Hanks Film School
Alright. Keep it going, guys!
Also, it's kinda fun to just stand back and think about all the cool stuff that's happened this year. This was a fun first post to write.
If you're a regular poster, load this thing up with facts!
If you're a visitor, welcome! Ask us anything!
----
To start it off, this team is LOADED with human interest stories and can easily be this year's media darlings:
Last year's leading scorer/first teamer, Mark Alstork, left before his senior year to raise his NBA profile and interviewed a number of major programs to do so. He wound up at Illinois where he has since struggled. Another senior, Justin Mitchell, showed potential to be an all league first-teamer through the first half of the season. A few games into league play, he stepped away from the team for personal reasons.
Our lone remaining senior, Grant Benzinger, actually asked for and received his release before his junior year when we made a coaching change. Coach Nagy re-recruited him and he has gone on to become the school's all-time leader in 3-pointers. He stuck around to become the undisputed leader of an underclassmen-heavy team and it's paid off. His hustle and headiness earned him first team all-league honors without eye popping numbers outside of efficiency ratings. Truly a selfless player who will go diving three rows into the stands to get a loose ball.
Loudon Love is the key to this team. He was getting scholarship offers from Big Ten schools as an offensive lineman recruit, but had some mid-major basketball offers including from Coach Nagy (who was then at South Dakota State). The final play of his senior year, his teammates decided they wanted to get him a touchdown, so they called an unauthorized audible and he went out for a pass. He tore his ACL on the play and missed his senior year of basketball. Nagy still kept his offer in tact when he took the job at WSU. During his redshirt season, Love shattered a backboard in our practice facility. Since getting to campus, he has shed 50+ pounds and is now close to 300 pounds of muscle. Another note: he legally changed his surname to his mom's when he turned 18. High school stories/stats/etc can be found under the name Loudon Vollbrecht.
Parker Ernsthausen got little to no interest out of high school at 6'11". Someone correct me on this because I may be inaccurate on a few things here. Our head coach at the time offered him a preferred walk-on spot. He tried to transfer out as a freshman, but couldn't get a spot at BGSU so he came back (this is how I understand it). He has since worked his butt off, put on muscle, and become a twin tower in the starting lineup with Love. He graduated as a junior and will be playing in grad school for us next year as a senior, eligibility-wise. He isn't a big shot blocker or thunder dunker, but he will give teams fits on dribble drives. He is the best charge taker I've seen in the post at this level.
Cole Gentry followed Coach Nagy from SDSU. He played and started a number of games for the Jackrabbits as a freshman, but transferred to WSU midway through the season so he could be eligible to play for the second half of this year. He has pulled the team together in a huge way as the floor general. He's the type of sure handed, muscly, 5'9" pogo stick that becomes lethal in March Madness.
Gentry, who's played two half seasons over the last two years, joins three freshmen (Love, Hall, and Winchester) to make up over half of our seven-man rotation. We aren't deep, but there is very little drop-off in production. Benzinger and Love average double digits scoring, but the next four guys all average eight to ten points per game.
We are playing that seven-man rotation for a number of reasons. Two transfers are sitting out. One is redshirting. Mitchell left midway through the year. The biggest story you'll hear about is Ryan Custer'd. His story has already become the focus since the national media picked up coverage.
Ryan was a solid contributor as a freshman power forward, averaging about ten minutes a game. Over the summer, he slipped at a pool party and has become paralyzed from the chest down. He is still the heart, soul, and compass for the team. He's on the sidelines at the end of the bench at home games and has been an inspiration all year long.
-----
AS FOR THE SCHOOL ITSELF:
We're named after the Wright Brothers, who built the first flying machine in their bicycle shop in Dayton. We are nowhere near North Carolina. North Carolinians try really hard to take credit for flight because that's where Orville and Wilbur tested the Wright Flyer. That's BS. Always remember: Dayton has the brains, Kitty Hawk just has wind.
Yes, we're the Raiders and our mascot is a wolf. We don't understand it either.
Yes, our fight song is note-for-note the same as Arkansas's. Most of us are not fond of that fact. It was a stand-in during our D2 days and we just never got around to changing it, I guess.
Bob Pollard of Guided By Voices played baseball here and threw the first no-hitter in school history. He threw with precision and, dare I say, Surgical Focus
Tom Hanks donated a large sum and provided resources to establish the Tom Hanks Film School
Alright. Keep it going, guys!
