Wright State hopes its surprise season can become a Cinderella story in March Madness
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Wright State coach Clint Sargent watched quietly as his players bounced and weaved their way through the team circle with large, plastic gold chains dangling from their necks to celebrate their Horizon League Tournament title. He wanted those guys, the ones who stuck around, the ones who transferred in and the freshmen who were introduced to college basketball this season, to savor the moment of a lifetime. “I think we probably lead the nation in starting lineups,” said Sargent, the conference’s coach of the year, as the wild on-court scene played out around him.
“We’ve had so many different guys step into the moment and hit big shots, I’m not surprised. ” Now, a little more than a week later, they face an even more daunting challenge — becoming the second Horizon League team in three years to advance to the second round of March Madness . Wright State (23-11) tends to hold that conference celebration every four years, with its previous two titles coming in 2018 and 2022.
Still, few expected that to continue — or Wright State to wind up the NCAA Tournament's 14th seed in the Midwest, matched up against ACC Tournament runner-up and No. 3 seed Virginia on Friday in Philadelphia. Sargent followed his former college coach, Scott Nagy, to Dayton, Ohio, in 2016.
Five years later, he went from assistant coach to assistant head coach and when Nagy left for Southern Illinois in March 2024, then-interim athletic director Joylynn Brown promoted Sargent to head coach. It was a forgettable first season for Sargent and the Raiders. Despite finishing among Division I's top 15 in field-goal percentage (49.
4%) and 3-point percentage (38. 4%), Wright State couldn't overcome a sub-par defense. The result: A 15-18 mark that prompted six of 12 projected returnees, including Wright State's top four scorers, to exit through the transfer portal.
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