Wooster Men's Basketball Game Notes | Wooster Men's Basketball Record Book
Outlook: The College of Wooster men's basketball team is off to Illinois to take on NCAA Div. I Illinois State University in an exhibition contest. Tipoff from Redbird Arena is slated for 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT on Sunday, October 30. Illinois State is led by first-year head coach Ryan Pedon, a 2000 Wooster alumnus. This is Wooster's second straight year with an exhibition contest against a NCAA Div. I program. Last year, Wooster played an exhibition contest at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, which was led by Lamont Paris, a 1996 Wooster alumnus, who is now head coach at the University of South Carolina.
Media Coverage: Illinois State will have live stats and an audio broadcast of Sunday's exhibition contest. You can find the links on the men's basketball schedule page on Wooster's athletic website.
Series History: The two programs have never met before.
A Look at Ryan Pedon's Career: Pedon was a three-year letterwinner for the Scots. Wooster won three regular season NCAC championships, three NCAC Tournament titles, and advanced to the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Div. III Championships during his junior and senior years. He played on teams that went 96-19.
Wooster is the Winningest NCAA Div. III Team of the 2000s: Since the start of the 1999-2000 season, Wooster has Div. III's highest winning percentage at .812 (544-126). In fact, Wooster's winning percentage in the 2000s is higher than Duke University (.811; 660-154) and every other NCAA Div. I and Div. II men's basketball program except for Gonzaga University (.836; 658-129) and the University of Kansas (.814; 669-153).
NCAA Tournament Success: Wooster holds the NCAA Div. III record with 18 consecutive NCAA Tournament berths. The 2021-2022 season marked the first time Wooster did not make the NCAA Tournament since the 2001-2002 season. Wooster's 18 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances is tied for the seventh-longest streak in NCAA men's basketball history, trailing Kansas (32, 1990-present), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (27, 1975-2001), Duke (24, 1996-2019), Michigan State University (24, 1998-present), Gonzaga (23, 1999-present), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (19, 1999-2017). Wooster's run is tied with Indiana University Bloomington, which had an 18-year tournament streak from 1986-2003. Wooster has made 29 NCAA Tournaments since the formation of Div. III, which is second all-time. Longtime nemesis Wittenberg University has made a Div. III-leading 30 Div. III Tournaments, and the University of Scranton ranks third at 28 trips.
One of the Nation's Elite Programs: Wooster carries a 33-year run of winning at least 18 games into the 2022-2023 season. Wooster saw its simply remarkable run - only 25 regular-season games in NCAA Div. III - of 24 consecutive 20-win seasons snapped last year. Wooster's 1,717 wins are the second-most in NCAA Div. III history, trailing Wittenberg's 1,825.
Notable Wooster Alumni in Basketball: Wooster has several notable alumni in prominent coaching and administrative roles in college and professional basketball. L.W. St. John '06 served head men's basketball coach at Ohio State University from 1911-19, and was the Buckeyes' athletic director for over 30 years. Reggie Minton '63, an alternate for the 1964 United States Olympic Team, went on to have a decorated career as a coach and administrator, including a near two-decade tenure as a top administrator for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Minton was selected by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to receive the 2022 John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award, and the honor is considered to be the top award given out by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame outside of enshrinement. Larry Shyatt '73 was an assistant coach at numerous programs, including the University of Florida, when the Gators won the NCAA Div. I national championship in 2006 and 2007. Shyatt had two stints as head coach at the University of Wyoming, was the man in charge at Clemson University for a five-year stretch, and worked in the Dallas Mavericks organization. Lamont Paris '96 was on staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for seven seasons, during which the Badgers made back-to-back appearances in the Final Four (2014-15), including the 2015 title game. Paris then became the head coach at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he went 87-72 over five years, including 65-29 over his final three seasons. At present, Paris is in his first season as head coach at the University of South Carolina. Ryan Pedon '00 spent five years as the lead assistant at Ohio State, which ranked as high as second in the AP Top-25, before taking the head coaching position at Illinois State University.
All-America Success: Wooster is the only Div. III program to have five different players selected as first-team NABC All-Americans in the 2000s. Bryan Nelson (2002-03, NABC Div. III Player of the Year), Tom Port (2006-07), Ian Franks (2009-10), Doug Thorpe (2013-14), and Danyon Hempy (2019-20) are Wooster's first-team NABC All-American selections in the 2000s.
Scots Go Abroad: Wooster's team spent fall break in France. The NCAA permits such international trips every three years. The trip to France marked the seventh for the program, which previously traveled to England, Ireland, and Scotland (2017), Spain (2014), Ireland and Scotland (2011), Italy (2008), Germany and Austria (2004), and England and Scotland (2000).
