By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
With three starters back not to mention three immediate impact talented players through the transfer portal, even a ramping up of the schedule, especially on the road, does not seem to have the defending champion Norse backing off a bit.
Sure, heading down to Middle Tennessee for the opener, then crossing the country to Seattle for a game at Pac-12 program Washington, then back to town for a return trip to Cincinnati where the revenge-minded Bearcats await at home in Game 4, seems a challenging start. Just as bringing in Mid-American power Akron and then heading off to the West Coast again to play perennial power Saint Mary’s in Moraga, Calif., before Christmas, is a solid follow-up chapter for an NKU team that’s been there, done that.
NKU Coach Darrin Horn with his three returning starters — Trey Robinson, Marques Warrick and Sam Vinson (Photo by Dan Weber/NKyTribune reporter)
As an indication that NKU isn’t looking to ease up on the schedule. The Norse lost a home game to Final Four Florida Atlantic when they bought out of the game for a national TV appearance. So they had one game to fill and chose to go to California for the best challenge they could find.
“We want to play the best schedule,” NKU Coach Darrin Horn said, “but we can’t get anyone to call us back,” especially not for a home game. So away they’ll go to Saint Mary’s, a team that seldom misses the NCAA out of the Pacific Coast Conference where they have often challenged Gonzaga.
But this isn’t like last season when NKU finished 22-13 by winning seven of their final nine as something of an underdog on the way to their fourth Horizon championship – and NCAA Tournament trip — in the last seven seasons. This year, they’re the coaches’ and media’s pick to win it all again.
Michael Bradley (NKU Photo)
“We’re really ready to play somebody else,” Horn says of his team that’s been together since a summer trip to Italy. They’ll get that chance with an exhibition game against Cincinnati’s Mt. St. Joseph Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Truist Arena.
And if it’s looking like Horn & Co. are feeling pretty good right now, it’s because of how the transfer portal worked out for them. Leading scorer Marques Warrick, athletic senior Trey Robinson, both seniors, and Highlands’ alum Sam Vinson, a junior do-everything 6-foot-5 guard, are all back.
They could have departed for “Power Five programs and NIL deals and none of them left,” Horn said. “I just want to win,” said Warrick, out of Lexington Henry Clay who led NKU in scoring with 18.8 points a game.
“Basically, this is home for me,” said Vinson, from Fort Thomas, whose coach calls him “as complete a player as there is in college basketball.” Vinson responds in kind: “I have such a close relationship with this coaching staff, I just want to win.”
Fairfield, Ohio’s, Robinson, says “I wasn’t leaving anyway, NKU has been my home.” His parents get to watch him play and “I love the grind . . . and winning in March.”
Keeyan Itegere (NKU photo)
That’s the theme for Horm. You’re playing an entire season to be ready to play when it matters most, those three conference tournament games in March. It’s a theme here.
But it doesn’t end there. There was that first-round game against top-seeded Houston that came down to a two-possession game at the end in a 63-52 NKU loss. The words of Houston Coach Kelvin Sampson still ring in Horn’s ears: “He said we played tougher” than a Houston team for whom that was their trademark. “But we scored only 52 points.” You can’t win that way, Horn said, even with NKU’s unique FIST defense firing on all cylinders.
That’s where the three transfers come in. Michael Bradley, out of San Antonio, Tex., by way of Div. II Mercyhurst, looks to be the perfect replacement for last season’s point guard transfer Xavier Rhodes. He’s a 6-foot grad student with four years of college experience coming off a 14.9 points and 4.8 assists average season.
“Michael may be a little farther along in his transition,” which Horn says could be “a little more seamless.” He’s a point guard who can distribute it while getting his own shot.
With Warrick talking of his reason for returning is “winning,” he adds, “We have guys coming in to help us do that.”
Cade Meyer (NKU photo)
Helping from inside out are the pair from Wisconsin – 6-8, 220-pound Cade Meyer, a two-year Horizon League starter against NKU at Wisconsin Green Bay, where he scored 10.5 ppg and 5.0 rebounds a game last year.
He’s joined by jump-out-of-the-gym Marquette transfer, 6-9, 220-pound Keeyan Itegere, who’s already become something of a legend for his practice athleticism that has his teammates’ just shaking their heads at his leaping ability.
“I feel like our top seven is pretty strong,” Horn says, and much more settled than in previous seasons. That would include shooter Hubertas Pivorias, a 6-2 junior from Lithuania by way of Florida.
That same evaluation can be made of the Horizon League, Horn says, of a league that’s “definitely gotten stronger every year,” especially the top half. Which is why he tells his guys: “They’re not handing us the trophy for being preseason No. 1.”
This schedule, Horn says, will prepare this team for playing those games in March.
But there’s something else. Last year, to get a Power Five game, NKU agreed to make an inconvenient trip to Pullman, Washington, to play Washington State and got skunked, 68-47.
“We didn’t go into that game last, year to compete as hard as we can and win that game,” Vinson said. That won’t be the case this season, he says, when the Norse head west.
Playing its one-of-a-kind FIST defense – “not a man-to-man, not a zone, not a matchup (zone),” Horn says, but something teams find hard to get ready for. Especially since no one else plays it since it takes such a long time and complete commitment to play it. He says that Mick Cronin played it his last two years at UC, but that’s it.” And he doesn’t play it at UCLA.
But NKU does. “We’re fully committed to it,” Horn says. “It gives our guys the freedom to make plays.”
And opponents can’t necessarily know how that will go.
2023-24 NKU Men’s Basketball Roster
* Trey Robinson G 6-6 220 Sr. Hamilton, Ohio / Hamilton High School
* Sam Vinson G 6-5 205 Jr. Fort Thomas, Kentucky / Highlands High School
* Marques Warrick G 6-2 185 Sr. Lexington, Kentucky / Henry Clay High School
* Bryce Darbyshire G 6-4 180 Fr. Cincinnati, Ohio / Sycamore High School
* LJ Wells F 6-8 205 So. Eau Claire, Wisconsin / Eau Claire Memorial High School
* Cade Meyer F 6-8 220 Jr. Monroe, Wisconsin / University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
* Randall Pettus II G 6-3 185 Fr. Bessemer City, North Carolina / Bessemer City High School
* Mitchel Minor G 5-10 175 So. Taylor Mill, Kentucky / Scott High School
* Cole Sherman G 5-11 190 So. Louisville, Kentucky / St. Xavier High School
* Jeramiah Israel G 6-3 190 Fr. Erlanger, Kentucky / Lloyd Memorial High School
* Cesar Tchilombo F 6-9 205 R-Fr. Democratic Republic of the Congo / John Carroll High School
* Michael Bradley G 6-0 185 Gr. San Antonio, Texas / Mercyhurst University
* Fiston Ipassou G 6-5 Fr. Adelaide, Australia / Adelaide 36ers
* Hubertas Pivorius G 6-2 170 Jr. Vilnius, Lithuania / Christopher Columbus (Fla.) High School
* Keeyan Itejere F 6-9 220 So. Knightdale, North Carolina / Marquette University
2023-24 Men’s Basketball Schedule
Date Time At Opponent Location Tournament Result
Nov 1 (Wed) 7 PM Home Mount St. Joseph (Exhibition)
Nov 6 (Mon) TBA Away Middle Tennessee
Nov 9 (Thu) 11 PM Away Washington
Nov 14 (Tue) 7 PM Home DePauw
Nov 19 (Sun) 2 PM Away Cincinnati
Nov 22 (Wed) 6 PM Home Texas A&M – Corpus Christi )
Nov 24 (Fri) 2 PM Neutral Texas A&M – Corpus Christi vs. LIU
Nov 25 (Sat) 4 PM Home LIU )
Nov 29 (Wed) 7 PM Home Robert Morris )
Dec 2 (Sat) 12 PM Away IUPUI
Dec 6 (Wed) 8 PM Away Illinois State
Dec 9 (Sat) 7 PM Home Akron )
Dec 14 (Thu) 7 PM Home University of the Cumberlands (Ky.)
Dec 17 (Sun) TBA Away Eastern Kentucky
Dec 21 (Thu) 10 PM Away Saint Mary’s (Moraga, Calif.)
Dec 29 (Fri) 7 PM Away Purdue Fort Wayne
Jan 4 (Thu) 7 PM Home Youngstown State )
Jan 7 (Sun) 4 PM Away Cleveland State
Jan 10 (Wed) 7 PM Away Oakland
Jan 13 (Sat) 1 PM Away Detroit
Jan 18 (Thu) 7 PM Home Milwaukee
Jan 20 (Sat) 6:30 PM Home Green Bay
Jan 25 (Thu) 7 PM Home Purdue Fort Wayne
Jan 28 (Sun) 1:30 PM Away Youngstown State
Feb 4 (Sun) TBA Home Wright State
Feb 8 (Thu) 7 PM Home Oakland
Feb 10 (Sat) 4 PM Home Detroit
Feb 14 (Wed) 7 PM Away Green Bay
Feb 17 (Sat) 8 PM Away Milwaukee
Feb 22 (Thu) 7 PM Home Cleveland State
Feb 25 (Sun) 2 PM Home IUPUI
Feb 28 (Wed) 7 PM Away Robert Morris
Mar 2 (Sat) 7 PM Away Wright State
