OLIVET, Mich. (WLNS) – It was a celebration 54 years in the making for the University of Olivet men’s basketball team over the weekend, as the Comets secured their first outright MIAA Championship since 1972.
Heading into the final day of the regular season, the Comets were tied with Hope College atop the league standings.
Olivet was on the road to play Trine University, and hung on for an 84-80 win to guarantee themselves at least a share of the conference title for the first time since 2018.
Then, the team huddled around to watch the end of the Hope vs. Calvin game, and when the Knights handed the Flying Dutchmen a 96-88 defeat, the league championship belonged to the Comets alone.
“We went absolutely nuts and what it really is about is it rewards the past six to seven years that the coaching staff and the administration have put into this thing to get to this point,” said head coach Sam Hargraves. “It is very rewarding to see all that work come to fruition.”
Olivet’s run to the conference title seemed improbable when the team started the season by winning just three of its first 11 games.
Hargraves said he scheduled a challenging non-conference slate on purpose to get the team prepared for MIAA play.
“We played some really good teams and just little by little you start to build that confidence,” he said. “You start to believe. You keep chipping away, and then when we played our first couple of conference games we started to think we might be able to do this.”
The Comets’ belief continued to build as they put up win after win in league play. Ultimately, they finished 12-2 in conference play after the 3-8 start.
Hargraves says building the belief that has come to define this group was a gradual process that took several years.
Two seasons ago, Olivet finished with a 5-20 overall record. Several players who were freshmen or sophomores on that team are still with the program.
“I think this is so important for people to hear that nobody left,” said Hargraves. “We had a really good freshman class [in 2023-24] and some good upperclassmen that attracted those guys here. They could have left. They could have said it’s too hard, we don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel… But the guys saw the vision. They saw what we thought we could maybe become.”
One player who stuck it out is junior guard Nathan Richardson. He’s the team’s leading scorer this season at just under 15 points per game, and he says the coaching staff has been harping on that word belief ever since he got here.
“Freshman and sophomore year, that’s all our coaches would preach,” said Richardson. “It was almost like a broken record because he would say all the time ‘guys, you’ve got to be confident.’ We’ve matured. We’ve grown up. We’ve gotten the right guys in here to build around to get things going. It’s been a great experience.”
Freshman Sean Shenker says Richardson really helped him get acclimated early on and helped him understand the team’s zone defense. As the season has gone on, Shenker has come to appreciate the way everyone on the team is empowered to speak up.
“Everyone allows everyone to coach everybody,” he said. “So there’s no I can’t coach a senior or I shouldn’t be able to say something. I think everyone has that understanding of making each other better every day.”
The Comets’ ability to stick together through tough times and instill belief in each other has paid off with this conference championship, but the Comets have their sights set on bigger goals ahead.
As the conference champs, they get to host the MIAA Tournament this weekend and will look to add more hardware to their memorable season.
Olivet plays Trine again in the MIAA Tournament Semifinals on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Cutler Event Center. If they win, they’ll play for the tournament championship on Saturday night.
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