Warren Central duo together again, and wins are piling up for Division II No. 4 UIndy

By now, Jesse Bingham II and Jakobie Robinson playing beside one another seems as natural of a combination as peanut butter and jelly, Batman and Robin or Jordan and Pippen.

Put these two on a team together and the wins will follow. As high school teammates, they were teammates on the only boys basketball state championship team to go undefeated in the past 14 years – the 32-0 Warren Central team in 2017-18 that found a way to win game after game with different heroes every night.

Bingham and Robinson were juniors that year, then seniors the next year on a 23-3 team that came up short in the sectional to a Lawrence Central team with Nijel Pack, Jake LaRavia and Dre Davis. Bingham was named an Indiana All-Star and recruited to the University of Indianapolis. Robinson signed with Great Lakes Valley Conference rival McKendree (Ill.).

“Out of high school, I wasn’t offered by UIndy,” Robinson said. “But (Bingham) was.”

The 6-6 Bingham was not even sure would end up at UIndy after the top assistant who recruited him, Paul Corsaro, left the Division II program for a spot on Jon Coffman’s staff at Fort Wayne. Corsaro was asked by then-UIndy coach Stan Gouard to help finalize things with Bingham.

“I’d worked with (Gouard) for several years and he told me there were a few kids I need you to finalize for me, even after you’re gone,” Corsaro said. “He said, ‘I might need you to call a kid for me and say you still need to go play there.’”

No problem, Corsaro said. He enjoyed talking to Bingham and knew the 6-6 wing had what it took to make the transition from primarily an interior player in high school to a college guard. He put up solid numbers as a senior (14.0 points and 4.1 rebounds on 61.4% shooting), but had only started to scratch the surface of his college potential.

“In high school, he had to play the big man role, but he had guard skills,” Robinson said of Bingham. “Now he’s in a position where he has the ball in his hands a lot. It’s a lot of work for him to transition into that role, but he can do it. He has been doing it.”

Bingham is doing it at a high level. He is averaging a team-leading 16.0 points, 3.0 assists and 1.0 blocked shots per game, along with 3.0 rebounds. Of more importance to Bingham than those personal numbers is his team’s 24-2 record (going into Thursday night’s game at Missouri-St. Louis) and No. 4 national ranking. With a road sweep of UMSL and Missouri S&T this weekend, the Greyhounds would take a 20-game winning streak into next week’s GLVC tournament in St. Charles, Mo., with a chance to host the NCAA Division II Midwest regional from March 11-14.

“I feel like the big thing is we have a group of guys where our intensity and hunger level is not dying down one bit,” Bingham said. “We all know that this has never been the end goal for us. The end goal is to come out with some hardware and that’s what we plan to do.”

It is made even more special for Bingham that Robinson, his best friend and roommate, is part of the experience. It did not originally start out that way when they parted ways after graduating from Warren Central. Bingham decided to redshirt his freshman season at UIndy, sensing significant playing time would be unlikely on a team that went 24-6 and had five double-digit scorers, including Trevor Lakes (Lebanon), Jimmy King (Roncalli) and Jordache Mavunga (Brownsburg).

“That (redshirt) was a difficult decision for him,” said Bingham’s father, Jesse Bingham Sr. “He made that decision himself, knowing he probably wasn’t going to get much time. He didn’t want to waste a year. I think that really changed him for the better. He did a lot of watching and visualizing.”

That same year, the 6-7 Robinson was in the process of earning a spot on the GLVC All-Freshman team. Ever the stat-sheet stuffer, Robinson averaged 7.4 points and 5.6 rebounds, leading McKendree in blocks and steals and ranking second in rebounds.

After the 2019-20 season, though, the stars aligned for Robinson to return home. Gouard, after leading UIndy to eight NCAA Division II tournament appearances in 12 years, was hired at the University of Southern Indiana, where he earned Division II National Player of the Year honors in 1995 and ’96.

Corsaro, after two seasons at Fort Wayne, was hired as Gouard's replacement. Robinson, who had entered the transfer portal, quickly became a recruiting target for Corsaro and Bingham, who had no intention of transferring despite the coaching change.

“Once coach Corsaro became the head coach, he knew me from Warren and because he’s from Indianapolis as well,” Robinson said. “Once I transferred from McKendree, he offered me maybe a couple days later.”

Robinson did not need much convincing to make the move, even though it meant he would have to sit out a season due to conference transfer rules. But Bingham offered his opinion anyway to his “brother,” who he had played with since his freshman year at Warren Central in school ball and on travel teams.

“Me and ‘Kobie’ are so close,” Bingham said. “Coming up in high school and AAU, playing at every single level, it always felt like we experienced being overlooked by other guys around us. But that never really stopped the work. I always knew it was in us and the work was going to show at some point. He’s one of the most versatile, talented players I’ve ever played with. We benefit playing together because we know each other so well. Even if he doesn’t score, his fingerprints are going to be all over the game.”

In high school, Bingham and Robinson were juniors on a team that had senior guards Dean Tate and Antwaan Cushingberry. David Bell was also a junior on that team. They were balanced and tough, winning games that sometimes seemed impossible. Three were in overtime, another an unforgettable 64-62 semistate win over Romeo Langford and New Albany at Seymour.

Bingham and Robinson were the quieter types on a team that had plenty of confidence.

“Jesse kind of has that old-school spirt,” Bingham Sr. said. “He’s always been that person that doesn’t say too much but leads by example. I’m the big mouth in the family so I’m glad he didn’t get that from me. But on those Warren teams you had more outspoken guys like David, Dean and Cush. I know Corsaro wants Jesse in that role as a leader and he’s been more vocal.”

Robinson, after sitting out 2020-21, teamed up with Bingham again last season. Robinson started 18 games, averaging 7.1 points and 5.8 rebounds on a team that finished 19-11. Bingham, after a breakout redshirt freshman season, averaged 14.7 points and 4.7 rebounds.

“He’s the hardest worker,” Corsaro said of Bingham. “Sometimes I have to hold him out of drills because I want to play him 35 minutes and don’t want to wear him out. He’s the consummate lead by example guy and he’s doing a much better job picking his spots to be vocal. That’s something he’s had to learn.”

It is a team without many weaknesses. Kendrick Tchoua, a 6-7 junior, is a load inside, averaging 14.4 points and a team-leading 7.8 rebounds. Bruno Williams (8.9 ppg), Jarvis Walker (7.9 ppg) and Josiah Tynes (7.8 ppg) are all capable scorers and the rotation goes 11 deep with local players like Ben Nicoson (Center Grove) and Aaron Etherington (Hamilton Southeastern) playing key roles.

Defense is priority No. 1, which fits Bingham and Robinson perfectly. UIndy allows just 63 points per game and opponents shoot 39.9% from the field.

“(Corsaro) is very intense,” Bingham said. “He’s going to push every single player to the limit because he knows what we’re capable of and that we have a whole ‘nother level of play. Our best basketball is still to come.”

Corsaro has a team he trusts. And Bingham and Robinson, forever winners, are a big reason why UIndy has a chance to bring home some hardware.

“When the game is on the line, they know exactly what to do,” Corsaro said. “I can look in their eyes late in a game and have all the confidence in the world in them.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: UIndy basketball benefits from Warren Central teammates