Tom Archdeacon: 'She knows how to be a gamer'

Jan. 7—FAIRBORN — Kari Hoffman suddenly was coughing, gasping, struggling to catch her breath.

"I got to get some water here," the Wright State coach said in a ragged voice that was no more than a whisper.

Her team had just beaten Milwaukee, 77-70, Friday night at the Nutter Center. It was the Raiders fourth win in a row.

Going into today's huge matchup with visiting Horizon League powerhouse Green Bay, WSU is 10-6, which already is more wins than either of Hoffman's first two Raiders teams had in their entire seasons.

But one of the first post-game questions had focused on a not-so-victorious decision.

Alexis Hutchison, a fifth-year transfer originally from Centreville High School, had led the Raiders once again. She had a game-high 24 points against Milwaukee, an effort fueled by 5-for-9 shooting from beyond the arc.

She is averaging 19.6 points per game, which is tops in the Horizon League and 28th in the nation.

Hutchison also leads WSU in minutes played, assists and 3-point field goals.

When Hutchison came out of the Elks' program in 2019, Hoffman was coaching at Cedarville, the nearby Division II school.

But the 5-foot-7 guard ended up at Malone -a Great Midwest Athletic Conference rival of Cedarville — and in four seasons there, played in 108 games, started 103, and scored 1,387 points.

"Didn't you try to recruit her to Cedarville?" Hoffman was asked Friday night.

"We did not," said Hoffman, who is always candid. "We chose not to recruit her. She wasn't quite the player she is now — she developed massively at Malone — but at this point, I feel really dumb for not recruiting her.

"We saw her — we definitely did — but we chose not to ...."

And that's when Hoffman began to cough and choke.

Joylynn Brown, WSU's Senior Women's Administrator, happened to come past just then and she rushed off to find the coach a glass of water.

After a few sips, Hoffman's discomfort was gone, and she managed a small laugh:

"You made me feel stupid for not recruiting her...that's how I choked up!"

She was joking.

But there was truth in the regret.

And to be fair, not one Division I school in the nation — and that includes local programs like Dayton, Wright State and Miami — offered Hutchison a scholarship.

She tore her ACL as a sophomore and after that many suitors who were just taking notice, looked elsewhere.

"When you tear your ACL, people back away," Hutchison said.

She recovered from her injury and as a senior captained the Elks team that went 25-3 and made it to the regional finals. She was also captain of the soccer team.

For a while, she believed that would be enough.

"I remember John came to a lot of my AAU games," she said of John Leonzo, the WSU associate head coach who then was at Cedarville. " I'd see him there and I was like, 'Oooh, Cedarville's here! I got to play well!'

"But now I'm not even sure he was looking at me."

She finally accepted an offer from Malone, a Christian school in Canton that has just over 1,000 undergrad students.

Hutchison credits a couple of people for that massive development Hoffman spoke of:

"I want to give a shout out to my trainer back home here, Zack Johnson, and my Malone coach, Selana Reale. They really helped me develop."

Along with that development, there was real drive, Hoffman said:

"She had a chip on her shoulder that grew into a very large chip. And that chip is still there."

After four seasons at Malone, Hutchison had accomplished a lot on the court and had her undergrad degree. Thanks to the extra COVID year, she had one season left and decided to enter the transfer portal.

She wanted to end her college career closer to home and looked at Miami and Northern Kentucky, too.

Wright State, it turned out, checked all the boxes. She was near home and would get a chance to show she could play at the Division I level.

An added bonus was the fact that her boyfriend, Bo Myers, the 12th all-time scorer in Malone history with 1,739 points, was able to transfer to the WSU men's team.

And then there was the opportunity to finally play for Hoffman, who by now knew her game well, after coaching five games against her Malone team.

"I just knew I wanted to come here and play for her," Hutchison said. "I wasn't holding any grudges with Kari."

Comfortable at home

After Friday's game, the Raiders players autographed posters given out to the fans.

As is the case each game, Hutchison had one of the biggest followings in the crowd. On this night, her parents, brother, grandparents and several friends, some going back to grade school, were there.

Some 45 minutes after the game — with both locker rooms already deserted and the Nutter Center stands empty, too — there stood Hutchison, still in her white WSU uniform, talking with two longtime friends at the edge of the court.

Although she lives in a nearby apartment with two teammates — Layne Ferrell and Kacee Baumhower, both transfers and starters themselves — she said she's often making the 15-minute trip home:

"I love it that I can see my dog, Ava, now. She's a Cavapoo, that's a mix of a Cavalier (King Charles spaniel) and a poodle.

"And I love my mom's cooking, especially her baked ziti.

"I just love everything about being close to home again."

Hoffman said that's one of the benefits of having local players — she has six — on your roster:

"I've never seen a local player at Cedarville or here who didn't play well. I feel like there's something about being familiar, being comfortable. You have your support system around you. You have your community. That makes you play better.

"I definitely believe local talent is some of the best talent you can get."

Showdown vs. Green Bay

Today's 1 p.m. showdown with 11-3 Green Bay is huge.

The Phoenix have been the gold standard in the Horizon League, winning 22 conference titles since 1996 and having gone to the NCAA Tournament 18 times. They're now well on their way to their 47th straight winning season.

This season Green Bay knocked off No. 22 Creighton and No. 23 Washington State. Friday night it hammered host Northern Kentucky, 86-56.

In Hoffman's two previous seasons at WSU, Green Bay has won all four matchups.

"This is a really big game for us to show who we are and what our defense is about," Hutchison said. "They're tough, but we're good too and I think we're going to take off this season. This is exciting."

Except for a couple of clunkers early on — she went 1 for 13 at Michigan State and 1 for 10 against Bowling Green, both WSU losses — Hutchison has had big games against good teams.

She scored a career-high 37 against unbeaten West Virginia in Morgantown a week before Christmas. That was biggest offensive game by a Raiders player in 10 years. Three days later she scored 28 against Wyoming in a Las Vegas Tournament, and twice she's had 26 — at Indiana State and at Youngstown State — this season.

"She's s been huge for us," Hoffman said. "From the minute she got here, she's just been a winner. She's just such a competitor and that translates no matter what level you're at.

"She's a confident kid who knows how to play, knows how to be a gamer. She shows up in our biggest moments."

Hoffman rose to cause herself when Hutchison entered the transfer portal last spring. This time she said there was no hesitation:

"Not at all. We were beggin.' We learned our lesson the first time."

She was laughing now.

No more coughing. No more gasps.

Kari Hoffman was feeling smart again.