“We’d like to win the league, but we know that’s not possible now, so what I’ve told the players is everything we do from here on out needs to be for performing well in the tournament,” WSU coach Scott Nagy said. “The tournament at the end of the year is the most important thing, and everything we do in terms of how we take care of our bodies, how we practice, what we eat, all those things need to lead toward us playing our very best in the tournament.”
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Not only is Wright State (19-10, 10-6 HL) out of the running for a regular-season title, it can’t finish higher than the No. 3 seed.
That means the Raiders already know they will begin play in Detroit on Sunday, March 3.
And unless WSU wins out and Green Bay loses at home to Oakland and Detroit, the Raiders will play in the 4-5 game at 7:30 p.m. against NKU, which beat them twice this year.
“For any team, it’s going to take three or four really good games,” Nagy said. “That’s just what it takes. I’ve been through it enough times to know the most important game is the first game. You have to win that to move on. Then you tend to relax a little bit and play a little bit better.”
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One way to head to Detroit with a crate of confidence would be to knock off the first-place Crusaders (23-6, 13-3) in the penultimate game of the regular season.
Or so it would seem.
“It should, but then you have a game after that (Sunday vs. Illinois-Chicago), which could affect it,” Nagy said. “I tend to be careful about making statements that are definite because you’re dealing with human beings who are imperfect, and then you’ve got a coach who is the most imperfect.
“So I don’t say hey, that’s definitely going to help us,” he continued. “But yeah, I think if you can beat one of the top teams, it should give you confidence going into the tournament knowing you can beat anybody.”
Valpo, which beat Wright State 61-42 on Jan. 27, has a one-game lead on Oakland with two to play, although the Grizzlies have the tiebreaker via a season sweep. That means the Crusaders still will have plenty to play for against the Raiders.
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And while WSU certainly would like to win, having no tangible prize on the line could give Nagy and his staff a chance to experiment with some things this weekend in preparation for the tournament.
“I feel like I’ve been banging my head against a wall for 29 games, wanting us to be better defensively,” Nagy said. “We talk about the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. That’s where I have to flexible, and I’m not very flexible. It’s just not one of my good qualities.
“There may be some other things we have to do,” he continued. “We may have to change, just to keep teams off balance instead of just saying this is what we’re going to do and this is what we’re going to be and making decisions based out of pride instead out of being smart.”
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