From St. Louis to SEMO

Gateway City Pipeline to Cape Girardeau

(St. Louis, MO) – High level basketball players are making the trip from St. Louis to SEMO. The Gateway City is playing an important role in the resurgence of the Southeast Missouri basketball program. After reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 23 years, Redhawks coach Brad Korn believes his program is heading in the right direction and St. Louis area players are an important part of the Redhawk equation.

SEMO’s historic trip to ‘The Big Dance’ was sparked by St. Louisian Phillip Russell and numerous of Russell’s regional neighbors have found their way to Cape Girardeau. Five players with St. Louis roots are on this year’s squad and Korn is ready to make another successful run through the Ohio Valley Conference.

While Russell left the Redhawks via the portal, there has been a steady stream of players heading south on Interstate 55 from St. Louis to SEMO. Dylan Branson was the first significant St. Louis signing in over half a decade. Russell followed the next season and the spicket was wide open.

Branson (Mehlville High School) had a history with Korn who had recruited his brother to Kansas State. The junior wing says St. Louis being under two hours away is an important factor in players coming to SEMO. He sees the luxury of being away from home, but close enough for friends and family to make it to games.

Branson says there is a mutual benefit to the players and the school.

 

 

Branson, Russell’s high school teammate Kobe Clark and transfers Braxton Stacker, Rob Martin and freshman B.J. Ward hail from the Gateway City. Each player comes from one of the top high school programs in St. Louis and several have played summer ball together.

While geography is important, Branson, the elder statesman of the St. Louis contingent says Korn is a great person who treats his players with respect.

 

 

Building the Program & Building Trust

After a playing career at Southern Illinois Korn has worked for his former coaches Chris Lowery, Bruce Weber and Paul Lusk. The former Saluki standout worked at SIU, Kansas State (twice) and at Missouri State. When hired prior to the 2020-21 season, Korn’s roots in St. Louis recruiting came in handy.

SIU and K-State had a proven and trusted recruiting reputation in St. Louis when Weber, Lowery and Korn were there. Korn says landing Branson that first season was important and nabbing Russell in season two, was game changing.

 

 

Building trust in a basketball community isn’t easy, but Korn has done that in St. Louis. His reputation is growing. Geography helps get players from St. Louis to SEMO, but Korn’s trusted, hard-working style is what tends to keep them there.

 

 

Recruiting the St. Louis area is an obvious priority for the SEMO staff. Former assistant Keith Pickens was a St. Louisian and current staff member LaDon Champagnie has deep roots in the home of the Cardinals. He was a player and assistant coach at Missouri Baptist University and a successful high school head coach.

While always looking for talented players, Korn has been able to land players from elite programs.

 

 

Scouting the St. Louisians

Korn believes Branson is on the verge of a big season. The 6’5 junior tells me he’s in the best shape of his collegiate career and is taking on a larger leadership role. All of the St. Louis newcomers were ranked as a top ten State of Missouri recruit coming out of high school. Like Russell, Clark, Stacker and Martin began their careers somewhere else and are ready to be significant Division 1 contributors.

Clark is still recovering from a mid-season ACL injury and may not be ready at the beginning of September practices. The former Georgetown player is a stat-box-stuffer and Branson calls him an intimidating force. Branson believes in transfer guard Rob Martin and incoming freshman B.J. Ward.

 

 

Martin began his collegiate career at Indiana State and Stacker comes from Murray State. Neither received much playing time at their previous schools, but had illustrious high school resumes. Stacker was ranked sixth in Missouri’s 2022 senior class and Martin tenth.

While Korn says Stacker is one of the best athletes he has ever coached, Branson says Stacker fits SEMO’s ‘get it off the glass and go’ style perfectly.

 

 

Ward (Chaminade Prep), Missouri’s seventh highest rated player is another recruiting coup for SEMO. Korn recruited the 6′ freshman early and often. He calls Ward ‘a basketball player’ who is an outstanding shooter.

 

 

Ward averaged nearly 15 points per game and 6.5 assists for last year’s 21-9 Red Devil team. He and Stacker were grade school basketball teammates.

While Stacker’s 2021-22 Cardinal Ritter squad finished third in the State sparked by his 16.6 scoring average, Martin’s team was even better. Christian Brothers College won the State championship as Martin scored 18 points in the title game. Martin’s 20.1 point scoring average led the Cadet team that also featured Saint Louis University signee Larry Hughes Junior and recent Florida recruit John Bol.

Continuing to Build

Korn recently signed a contract extension (through 2026-27) and while we were writing this story, two more St. Louis area players were offered SEMO scholarships (Columbia, Illinois junior Sam Donald and St. John Vianney sophomore Eddie Smajic). The four year extension gives Korn and his staff the ability to recruit aggressively, with players knowing they will be sticking around.

 

 

The NCAA Tournament appearance was SEMO’s first in twenty-three years. While the breakthrough season was huge for the Redhawks program, Korn wants to build a consistent Ohio Valley Conference contending program. Branson says winning the OVC Tournament and playing in the NCAA Tournament was the thrill of a life-time. He wants to do it again.

 

 

The emotional nature of the overtime, OVC title game still resonates with the head coach. Korn says he’s watched the video of that game more than any he’s ever watched.

 

 

True to his reputation, Korn wants more than winning records and cutting down nets. He believes his greatest job is to help his players grow and mature as men. Korn wants to give them the best opportunity to excel at basketball and improve their possibilities of playing beyond college. He wants them to succeed at ‘life’, and that drives him even more.

 

 

Three seasons into the Brad Korn era at SEMO and the program appears to be headed in the right direction. His teams have won eleven, fourteen and nineteen games. Since that recruiting pipeline from St. Louis to SEMO seems to be flowing freely, we expect the Redhawk program to continue to grow.

Do Good

 

Editor: Cover photo courtesy of gosoutheast.com.