Arch Madness 2011 – Missouri State Keeps Finishing Second

(St. Louis, MO) – I will always remember Arch Madness – 2011 as the year Myles Walker’s mother was sick and we met a gangly freshman named Jake Odum.

Indiana State was under the leadership of a first-year coach in Greg Lansing and their point guard was this awkward looking, long and lanky home-town boy named Jake. It sounded just like an Indiana basketball story. The Sycamores finished third in the Missouri Valley Conference and were a team on the rise.

Regular season champion Missouri State was led by a rising star in the profession in Cuonzo Martin and they had talent. Kyle Weems was a stud. Nafis Ricks could shut you down. Adam Leonard could drill the three and Jermaine Mallett could drive. They had size with Will Creekmore and Caleb Patterson.

But this tournament belonged to Odum and a guy named Myles. Walker’s mother was battling heart ailments in Texas while her son played with a heart as big as Texas in St. Louis. The undersized post player stood tall in their semi-final win over the bigger and more athletic Wichita State Shockers. He was scoring, rebounding and even overcoming a season long problem of making free throws.

When we interviewed him after the game on 101 ESPN, he told us he was giving all he had because he was playing for and praying for his Mom.

Both teams earned hard fought two point victories in the quarterfinals of Arch Madness. Then Missouri State had to get by a Creighton team that seemed to own St. Louis, and had a pretty good freshman of their own in Doug McDermott. The Bears won by 10 and they were on their way to their fifth championship game since I’ve been sitting court side and their sixth since winning their only MVC tournament championship in 1992.

If Odum was the spark and Walker the heart, then Dwayne Lathan was the legs. He could fly up and down the court and to the rack. Lansing told me recently the Sycamores were riding a wave of great chemistry that spring.

 

Indiana State took the measure of WSU in the semis behind Walker’s super human rebounding effort. He didn’t make the all-tournament team, but he received my vote.

Lansing told me that team did rally around Walker’s mother’s health problems.

 

Jermaine Mallett was brilliant in the final and named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. As a matter of fact two other Bears made the all tournament team and only two Sycamores landed there. That happens when many of the voters only come to the championship game and you have to vote before the game is over.

Mallett scored 17 points while Weems (also on the all-tournament team) scored 11 and both players grabbed eight rebounds. Aaron Carter scored 15 points for the victorious Sycamores and the Arch Madness Most Outstanding Player was Odum. That rookie seemed to lead his team to victory, by the force of his own will during each round of that tournament.

If they needed a bucket, he would set it up or score it. Did they need to get to the foul line? He’d create havoc and get fouled. It was the beginning of a four year ride for Indiana State with Jake Odum behind the wheel. It hasn’t always been pretty, but it has always been scenic!

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