Growing the Sycamore Program

Indiana State Building on Last Season’s Success

(St. Louis, MO) – 2022-23 was a breakthrough season for the Indiana State basketball program. Twenty-three wins and a semifinal appearance at Arch Madness signaled a strong resurgence under head coach Josh Schertz. Now he is intent on growing the Sycamore program.

Six seniors graduated and took a lot of starting minutes away with them. Impact players Cooper Neese, Courvoisier McCauley and Cameron Henry were huge parts of last year’s success. McCauley was the Valley’s ‘Newcomer of the Year’ during his only season in Terre Haute and Neese will go down as one of best long-distance shooters in Sycamore history.

Henry was central in everything Schertz has been building during his first two seasons at ISU.

Returners Robbie Avila, Julian Larry, Xavier Bledson and Jayson Kent now carry the leadership mantle previously worn by others. They come into this season with great credibility. Larry was named to the Valley’s ‘all-defense’ team, while Avila landed on the ‘all-freshman’ team and Bledson on the ‘all-bench’ team.

Indiana State’s newcomers are outstanding. Three highly regarded freshmen join four Division 1 transfers in what could be the Valley’s best recruiting class. Ohio Valley Conference transfers Isaiah Swope and Jake Wolfe will be instant impact players and South Florida’s Ryan Conwell isn’t far behind. As of this writing the fourth transfer, Aaron Gray is waiting on eligibility issues to clear.

All three freshmen enjoyed outstanding prep careers. One rating service called guard Eli Shetlar the best high school player in Kansas. Jaden Daughtry is a two-time all-state forward and 6’10 Derek Vorst was prephoops.com’s tenth rated player in Ohio.

Growing the Sycamore Program – Relationships

Schertz is a highly relational coach, and his approach reverberates throughout the program. His years at Lincoln Memorial were marked with outstanding basketball success, but also scores of players that spent four and five years as Railsplitters who became college graduates.

Players want to play for Josh Schertz and he has always wanted to run a ‘relationship’ program.

His players say he is a brilliant basketball mind and his emphasis on relationships is clear. Avila and Bledson each use terms like ‘second father’ and Larry emphasizes his coach’s humility by treating everyone with respect.

Bledson, Henry and McCauley were each Lincoln Memorial players that followed Schertz to Indiana State.

Schertz routinely uses the term ‘corporate knowledge’ and believes his returning players are the key carriers of that valuable commodity. Continuity is critically important to Schertz’s unique offensive system and his players’ ability to improve year after year.

He says his four main returners are doing a great job of welcoming and leading the newcomers.

Avila’s outstanding freshman season was more than just numbers and production. The be-goggled Avila is good around the basket and from deep. His ability to take defenders outside (34% from long distance) and utilize his 6’10 frame inside provides defensive problems for the opposition. Avila says his experience as a football player has helped his footwork as a basketball player. He’s been working on speed and strength during this offseason.

Growing the Sycamore Program – The Newcomers

Southern Indiana transfer Isaiah Swope enjoyed a brilliant season in Evansville. The 5’10 guard averaged 15.6 points-per-game on his way to earning an all-Ohio Valley Conference honor. Swope is lethal from deep (42%) and uses his quickness on the defensive end, collecting 46 steals.

Fellow OVC transfer Jake Wolfe comes from the league champion Eagle program. The grad-transfer does a lot of everything. He averaged 9.1 points, makes threes, plays elite and rugged defense. Wolfe has played big roles on winning teams and at 6’5 and 200 pounds, he can guard multiple positions.

South Florida transfer Ryan Conwell is another regional player ‘coming home’. The Indianapolis native averaged 5.1 points and is practically automatic from the charity stripe (82%). If Gray ends up eligible, this group of transfers is the Valley’s best.

Schertz says Wolfe is feisty and a winner. The Aurora, Illinois native is ultra competitive.

Avila, Bledson and Larry are super impressed by Swope. Each of the returners predict greatness for the Newburgh, Indiana native.

The three freshman are 6’6 (Shetlar), 6’7 (Daughtry) and 6’10 (Vorst) so it is clear that Schertz was looking for some size. After Avila amongst the upper classmen, only Kent who is 6’8, is taller than 6’6. If Gray (6’7) can get eligible, he brings talent and size the the ISU lineup. He was a double-digit scorer, playing over 30-minutes per game last season at Niagara.

Josh Schertz is growing the program and this could be a season where they contend for the Valley title. The Sycamores were picked slightly ahead of Belmont for fourth in the official Valley poll. Avila was named to the Valley’s preseason second-team and Swope was voted to the third team.

Expect some high-scoring games from this team and to see them near the top of the league race.

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Editor: Cover photo credit: Maeve Coulter