After a heartbreaking last minute loss, the DePauw men's basketball season came to an end Tuesday.
The Tigers capped off a five-game slide with the 51-59 loss to the College of Wooster in the quarterfinals of the Northern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament.
After losing to Wooster on the road the previous Saturday, DePauw once again failed to stage a last minute rally to upend the defending NCAC champions, a frustrating culmination for a team that once had high hopes.
"The major problem was that we dug ourselves in too many holes at the start," said sophomore point guard Alex Payne. "Another part was a little bit of inexperience. A lot of guys were put in situations they had never been in before."
DePauw started the season with major question marks, including an unknown starting lineup, a young supporting cast and a new lineup of conference opponents.
The NCAC proved to be more competitive than the Southern Coast Athletic Conference as Wabash College, Wooster, Wittenberg University and Ohio Wesleyan University placed in the top 25 and/or received votes by D3Hoops.com pollsters to be in the top 25.
DePauw's strength of schedule was compounded by having to play each of the top-three teams in the conference twice during the season, and fourth place Wabash three total times.
Despite the challenges, DePauw made some noise midway through the season with back-to-back wins against Wabash and Wooster. DePauw would go on to win games against Denison University and Oberlin College by a combined 37 points, extending the Tigers win streak to four games.
When DePauw played winning basketball, it was the team's efficient shooting and cognizant front court defense that led them to win and close games.
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In these wins, the Tigers led a concerted effort to play possession-by-possession basketball.
This trend declined with a close loss on Jan. 25 to Wittenberg, 66-62. The Tigers lost in the waning minutes and could not rebound despite playing a consistently competitive brand of basketball. After the loss, DePauw dropped 8 of 9 games to end the season.
Six of the Tigers last 10 games were losses by less than 10 points. Five of those six games were to the top-three teams in the NCAC: Wittenberg, Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan.
"We did a good job of fighting all year and we were in a lot of games," said senior guard Sean Haseley. "But a 500 [winning percentage] isn't what DePauw basketball is all about."
The Tigers biggest struggles in losing such close games included rebounding and a consistent offensive plan. DePauw was out-rebounded by 23 total rebounds in the final five contests — a problem that exposed an inconsistent offensive plan.
"The biggest struggle for the offense was inexperience in the motion offense," Payne said. "The more games you play in it, the better you get. One thing we can do better is getting in the lanes and making smart passes."
The Tigers showed they had the ability to compete with any team in the NCAC, but their youth and subsequent inexperience was a large component to the dramatic season downfall.
DePauw had only two seniors on this year's team after losing six seniors last year. And after losing fellow senior Tommy Weakley, Ian Rumpp and Haseley had to pick up the role as leaders for a young team entering a new conference.
"It was tough for both of us because we aren't big vocal guys," Haseley said. "We tried to lead by example. But, overall I think we did a pretty good job."
After having limited playing time in his first three seasons, Rumpp became a key contributor for these Tigers, adding a spark off the bench with a tall frame and adept three-point shot.
"I just put the work in and was grateful for the opportunity to really contribute this season," Rumpp said. "You just understand the responsibility. Sean and I both understood our role on the teams as leaders and contributors."
Haseley, on the other hand, came into the season with a great amount of experience, a starter in last year's 19-9 finish. After averaging 14 points per game last season, Haseley averaged 12.1 points per game this season. Haseley also eclipsed the 1,000-point marker in his career.
"It's awesome to get to that mark," Haseley said. "It was a testament to the work I put in, and I'm proud that I made it past 1,000 points for my career."
Although the Tigers suffered a rough finish to the end of the campaign and will lose two valuable seniors, the team can have confidence in its youth and many returners in its second season in the NCAC.
"Right now, you've got to be really excited for next year with the people we have coming back," Payne said. "Everyone needs to work hard and not take a summer off."
DePauw returns its top-three post players: freshman Tommy Fernitz, sophomore Camron Burns and junior Barry Flynn. Flynn, a Ball State University football transfer, led DePauw with 13.3 points per game and seven rebounds per game.
The Tigers also return valuable backcourt options including sophomore point guards Michael Wilkison and Payne. Three-point threat Connor Rich will also be another consistent presence for the Tigers next season.
Freshman Bob Dillon, Tommy Hanrahan, and sophomores Jeff Sustarsic and Pat Haggin also figure to be important role players for DePauw's deep squad.
The Tigers may also have the opportunity to take advantage of player losses with teams such as Wooster and Wittenberg. Wittenberg's entire starting five consists of seniors and Wooster's star scorer and all time three-point NCAC champion, Justin Hallowell, exits the ranks of NCAC actives this year.
Although DePauw returns most of its core group, and other NCAC heavyweights certainly lose key performers, it's no secret that Wittenberg and Wooster will reload, a fact the Tigers will not take for granted.
"We have played a lot of good teams this year," said freshman Tommy Fernitz. "We are just getting more experience with each game [we play] and that will help us going into next season."
The Tigers learned a lot about themselves and their competition from their first full season in one of the nation's most competitive NCAA Div. III basketball conferences. DePauw will look to be one of the favorites in the NCAC next year, a challenge these newly experienced Tigers should be able to handle.