Column: Plano’s Brad Korn and Southeast Missouri State deal with likely NCAA, NIT shutout. ‘It makes me mad.’

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Call it the very good, the very bad and the very ugly.

Brad Korn certainly could.

That derivative of the 1960s movie title might best sum up what will stand as an impressive fifth season for the Southeast Missouri State basketball coach who hails from Plano.

His team had a bounce-back season, winning the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title and earning the top seed in the tournament, only to be upset last weekend in the title game 69-48 by SIU Edwardsville, a team the Redhawks had beaten twice.

“It’s been a remarkable year that will stick with me forever,” Korn posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Success is fleeting. I’m sorry we won’t get to play in the NCAA Tournament, but this team will forever be Ohio Valley Conference champions and that brings a smile to my face.

“It’s my hope that we’ve made our folks proud. I know I am.”

So much for some of the good and the bad.

The third time was a charm for the Cougars, who grabbed the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth. It left Korn, the conference’s coach of the year, and the Redhawks dealing with the ugly.

The Ohio Valley is not a power conference and won’t receive a second NCAA bid. Unfortunately, Southeast Missouri State (21-12) isn’t likely to have a strong enough profile to receive a bid to the National Invitation Tournament either. The NIT is also run by the NCAA.

“We play a 20-game conference schedule and win it by two games,” Korn said. “I think we should be in the NIT. It makes me mad we don’t get rewarded for the season we had, but it is what it is.”

He pointed to a recent reduction in the NIT field to 16 teams as hurting a team like SEMO that stumbled in a conference tournament.

“It’s kinda (baloney),” Korn said, noting that the NIT field will likely be filled with higher-profile teams from power leagues who didn’t do enough to make the NCAA Tournament.

How about remaining postseason tournaments like the College Basketball Invitational that will be played at…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/column-plano-brad-korn-southeast-163300855.html

Author : Chicago Tribune

Publish date : 2025-03-12 16:33:00

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