Will EKU’s thrill ride in the CBI launch A.W. Hamilton’s Colonels to a special 2023-24?

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Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball coach A.W. Hamilton likes to promote the uptempo system the Colonels utilize as “the most exciting 40 minutes in sports.”

However, Hamilton jokes that EKU’s overtime-filled thrill ride to the championship game of the Discount Tire College Basketball Invitational last week led to an altered slogan.

“We were the most exciting 45 minutes in sports for our first two games,” Hamilton said. “We were the most exciting 50 minutes in sports for our semifinal.”

If you missed it, Hamilton and EKU turned a trip to Daytona Beach, Fla., to participate in men’s college basketball’s third-tier postseason tourney (behind the NCAA and the NIT) into a wildly entertaining hoops excursion.

Over four days, CBI No. 8 seed Eastern:

beat No. 9 seed Cleveland State 91-75 in overtime;

beat No. 1 seed Indiana State 89-88 in overtime;

beat No. 4 seed Southern Utah 108-106 in double overtime;

and, after cutting a 21-point first-half deficit to one in the game’s final minute, lost to No. 3 seed Charlotte 71-68.

That defeat in the CBI finals only came when the Colonels’ potential game-tying three-point shot — which looked dead center on release — skimmed the rim at the buzzer.

Speaking via phone Thursday evening from the Charlotte Douglas International Airport as EKU was traveling home from Florida, Hamilton said he was convinced that freshman guard Tayshawn Comer’s last-gasp trey attempt was going to go in.

“Because that was the kind of luck we were having (in the CBI),” Hamilton said. “Everything magical that could happen to you, was happening for us.”

Having been so close to winning a national postseason tournament, it would have been nice to bring home the championship trophy, of course. Still, Hamilton believes the momentum built by Eastern’s drama-filled charge to the CBI finals has the Colonels program set up to potentially do something special in 2023-24.

“Best thing about (the CBI), you play in a postseason tournament, get that experience,” Hamilton said. “We’ve got guys who built some nice momentum for next season.”

That list starts with junior post player Isaiah Cozart, the former Madison Central High School star and Western Kentucky Hilltopper.

The 6-foot-7, 240-pound Cozart (9.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks on the season) had an offensive breakout in the CBI. Over the four games, Cozart averaged 18 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks while shooting 64 percent (29 of 45) from the field.

“He’s become a guy that we can throw the ball into (on the block) and he can get us baskets,” Hamilton said. “I’m so proud of him, I can’t even think straight.”

While earning CBI All-Tournament Team honors, Eastern Kentucky big man Isaiah Cozart (dunking) averaged 18 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks while shooting 64 percent from the field.
While earning CBI All-Tournament Team honors, Eastern Kentucky big man Isaiah Cozart (dunking) averaged 18 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks while shooting 64 percent from the field.

The other EKU player to join Cozart on the CBI’s all-tournament team was junior wing Devontae Blanton. Over the first three contests in the CBI, Blanton scored 22, 32 and 24 points.

However, in the finals the 6-6, 214-pound product of Macedonia, Ohio, went scoreless in 15 minutes and sat out the entire second half. Hamilton said Blanton, EKU’s leading scorer on the season (16.9 points, 6.1 rebounds), suffered a twisted knee in the team’s 79-73 loss at Liberty in the ASUN Tournament semifinals on March 2.

By the fourth game in four days in the CBI, Hamilton said Blanton’s injured knee had begun to swell by halftime of the finals.

“I knew he was hurting,” Hamilton said. “He cried, I cried, but I just said, ‘You got us here, let’s let the other guys do it now. You just cheer for the guys.’”

Junior wing Devontae Blanton had games of 22, 32 and 24 points in Eastern Kentucky’s three victories in the College Basketball Invitational. He went scoreless in EKU’s 71-68 loss to Charlotte in the CBI finals and only logged 15 minutes of game action due to a knee injury.
Junior wing Devontae Blanton had games of 22, 32 and 24 points in Eastern Kentucky’s three victories in the College Basketball Invitational. He went scoreless in EKU’s 71-68 loss to Charlotte in the CBI finals and only logged 15 minutes of game action due to a knee injury.

There is history of teams that participate in the CBI going on to become NCAA Tournament darlings in the ensuing season. Most famously, the year before Shaka Smart led VCU from the NCAA tourney’s First Four to the Final Four in 2011, the Rams were the 2010 champions of the CBI.

Florida Atlantic, which was to play Kansas State on Saturday for a berth in the 2023 Final Four, played in the 2022 CBI.

For Eastern to become the next program to make noise in the NCAA tourney a season after playing in the CBI, one would presume Hamilton must hope his roster stays largely intact. Other than starting guard Cooper Robb, the former Scott County star, and backup forward Michael Wardy, everyone else on the EKU team can return to play next season.

However, in the era of the one-time free transfer rule, we live in what is essentially unlimited college basketball free agency. Hamilton saw firsthand two seasons ago how his team’s prospects can be impacted by portal losses.

With EKU, coming off a 22-7 season in 2020-21, the Colonels lost their two leading scorers, Wendell Green and Tre King, via transfers to Auburn of the SEC and Georgetown of the Big East, respectively.

Without its two stars, Eastern sagged to a 13-18 mark in 2021-22.

This time, “I think we’ve really got a chance to keep this team together,” Hamilton said. “I think we’ve got a special group. I think this is a group that wants to stay together and they want to put themselves into position to do something special next year. If we stay together, we are going to be awfully good next season.”

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