# 2003–04 Wright State Raiders men's basketball team

The 2003–04 Wright State Raiders men's basketball team represented Wright State University in the 2003–04 NCAA Division I men's basketball season led by head coach Paul Biancardi.

## Season Summary
### Paul Biancardi

Jim O’Brien protégé Paul Biancardi brought credibility and stability to Wright State Raiders basketball. He was highly regarded nationally, having most recently been assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Ohio State.
The experienced assistant coach arrived with relatively little fanfare and went straight to work by filling roster holes and preparing his team. He acknowledged the high goals that the school sets, but set the table by saying “. . . we’re not going to talk about that now. We have to take small steps before we can take big steps.” He cited the need to take his time hiring assistants, and promised to work hard at recruiting.

### Regular Season

The outlook for 2003-04 was bleak. The season began with the new coach wishing for a deeper bench and another month to prepare. The Raiders had two star senior leaders in Seth Doliboa and Vernard Hollins, but then it was freshman and two senior role-players. It was unclear who would step forward and contribute. Two things worked in Biancardi’s favor. The two senior stars would both finish the season all-league, and freshman recruit DaShaun Wood turned out to be one of the most talented players in Wright State history.
Not unexpectedly, the season began poorly. The Raiders opened with a three game losing streak, including a loss to NAIA Cedarville. After six games they only had one win. But then signs of life were found and the Raiders went 3-3 in the next six games. Partway through this stretch redshirt freshman Drew Burleson join the team and provided a welcome spark. In the next six games Wright State went 6-0 and was back in the basketball business.
The freshmen class flourished with extended playing time that the unbalanced roster provided. “We’re seeing real growth,” observed Biancardi about Alex Kock, Drew Burleson, DaShaun Wood and Zakee Boyd.
The regular season ended with disappointing losses to UIC and Green Bay, but 10-6 in the league was good enough for a fourth place finish. It was a successful season, far above any preseason expectations.

### Tournament

Wright State’s lack of experience and thin roster finally caught up with them with an early exit to lowly Loyola in the Horizon League tournament.

### Roster Changes
#### Joining

* DaShaun Wood recruited from Detroit Douglass High School.
* Alex Kock walked on out of DeKalb, Indiana
* Zakee Boyd as a highly regarded prep star from Newark, NJ.
* Vova Severosa from Vilnius, Lithuania recruited out of Birmingham Groves High School in Michigan
* Rick Poole walked on from Charmiade-Julienne High School
* Joe Bozeman walked on from Fairborn
* Zach Williams transferred from Ohio State and would have a redshirt transfer year

#### Leaving

* Lloyd Walls dropped out of school before the season.
* Trent Vaughn quit the team before the season.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| Nov 25, 2003* | | Cedarville | L 66-68 | 0-1 | Nutter Center Fairborn, OH |
| Nov 29, 2003* | | at South Florida | L 59-74 | 0–2 | USF Sun Dome Tampa, FL |
| Dec 3, 2003* | | at Morehead State | L 60–65 | 0–3 | Ellis T. Johnson Arena Morehead, Kentucky |
| Dec 6, 2003* | | Ball State | W 64-50 | 1–3 | Nutter Center Fairborn, OH |
| Dec 11, 2003* | | at Miami Ohio | L 61-76 | 1–4 | Millett Assembly Hall Oxford, Ohio |
| Dec 15, 2003* | | Southern Illinois | L 73-79 | 1–5 | Nutter Center Fairborn, OH |
| Dec 18, 2003 | | at Youngstown State | W 69-59 | 2-5 (1-0) | Beeghly Center Youngstown, OH |
| Dec 22, 2003* | | at Toledo | L 66-103 | 2–6 | Savage Arena Toledo, OH |
| Dec 28, 2003* | | at Brown | W 74-71 | 3–6 | Pizzitola Sports Center Providence, RI |
| Dec 30, 2003* | | at Akron | L 67-85 | 3-7 | JAR Arena Akron, OH |
| Jan 3, 2004 | | Butler | W 51-39 | 4–7 (2–0) | Nutter Center Fairborn, OH |
| Jan 5, 2004 | | Green Bay | L 46-53 | 4-8 (2–1) | Nutter Center Fairborn, OH |
| Jan 8, 2004 | | at Cleveland State | W 78-73 | 5-8 (3–1) | CSU Convocation Center Cleveland, OH |
| Jan 10, 2004 | | at Detroit Mercy | W 67–61 | 6-8 (4–1) | Calihan Hall Detroit, MI |
| Jan 14, 2004* | | Texas-Pan American | W 82-60 | 7–8 | Nutter Center Fairborn, OH |
| Jan 17, 2004 | | at Loyola | W 83-68 | 8-8 (5–1) | Gentile Event Center Chicago, IL |
| Jan 21, 2004 | | UIC | W 83-68 | 9-8 (6–1) | Nutter Center Fairborn, OH |
| Jan 24, 2004 | | at Butler | W 54-53 | 10-8 (7–1) | Hinkle Fieldhouse Indianapolis |
| Jan 27, 2004 | | Milwaukee | L 53-68 | 10-9 (7-2) | Nutter Center Fairborn, OH |
| Jan 31, 2004 | | Cleveland State | W 72-56 | 11-9 (8–2) | Nutter Center Fairborn, OH |
| Feb 4, 2004 | | Loyola | W 83-71 | 12-9 (9–2) | Nutter Center Fairborn, OH |
| Feb 7, 2004 | | at Milwaukee | L 66-72 | 12-10 (9–3) | UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena Milwaukee, WI |
| Feb 11, 2004 | | Detroit Mercy | L 60–74 | 12-11 (9-4) | Nutter Center Fairborn, OH |
| Feb 14, 2004* | | Fort Wayne | W 66-64 | 13-11 | Nutter Center Fairborn, OH |
| Feb 19, 2004 | | Youngstown State | W 81-61 | 14-11 (10–4) | Nutter Center Fairborn, OH |
| Feb 26, 2004 | | at UIC | L 71-75 | 14-12 (10–5) | UIC Pavilion Chicago, IL |
| Feb 28, 2004 | | at Green Bay | L 65-76 | 14-13 (10–6) | Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena Green Bay, WI |
| Midwestern Collegiate Tournament ||||||
| Mar 2, 2004 | (5) | (8) Loyola First Round | L 61-78 | 14-14 | Nutter Center Fairborn, OH |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest. ||||||
Source

## Awards and honors

| Vernard Hollins | MVP |
| Tyson Freeman | Raider Award |
| Seth Doliboa | First Team All Horizon League |
| Vernard Hollins | Second Team All Horizon League |
| DaShaun Wood | All Newcomer Team |
| Paul Biancardi | Horizon League Coach of the Year |

## Statistics

| Number | Name | Games | Average | Points | Assists | Rebounds |
| 00 | Vernard Hollins | 28 | 16.3 | 456 | 130 | 166 |
| 15 | Seth Doliboa | 28 | 15.0 | 420 | 29 | 207 |
| 00 | DaShaun Wood | 28 | 8.7 | 243 | 88 | 116 |
| 4 | Drew Burleson | 28 | 7.6 | 213 | 8 | 117 |
| 40 | Alex Kock | 28 | 7.3 | 203 | 42 | 90 |
| 33 | Zakee Boyd | 28 | 5.9 | 164 | 14 | 49 |
| 12 | Vova Severosa | 28 | 4.8 | 133 | 5 | 102 |
| 3 | Braden Bushman | 11 | 0.9 | 10 | 3 | 5 |
| 21 | Mark Starkey | 12 | 0.8 | 10 | 0 | 5 |
| 2 | Rick Poole | 12 | 0.4 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| 14 | Joe Bozeman | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Source