By Chuck McGill
MountainEast.org
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — In the first sentence of the third paragraph of Ben Howlett’s professional bio, the not-so-secret secret to West Liberty’s success is mentioned.
First, it reads, it is imperative to share the basketball with teammates.
Then, stealing the ball away from opponents and shooting at a high percentage, both widely accepted outcomes among hoops coaches, are listed.
The first objective — sharing — is the most critical component to Hilltoppers men’s basketball. If it was an easy concept to implement, more teams would find more immediate success with a fundamental and foundational aspect of the sport.
“We pass and catch every single day in practice,” said Howlett, who leads the Hilltoppers (30-4) into the NCAA Division II Elite 8 on Tuesday afternoon (3:30 p.m., ESPN+) against Cal State Dominguez Hills (28-5). “It’s basically a third- or fourth-grade drill. You get a partner and you pass the ball back and forth.
“It’s really important.”
Simple, but vital, for a program that this season set an NCAA Division II record for consecutive tournament appearances (16), improved to 38-15 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, and eclipsed 30 wins in a single season for the seventh time in program history. West Liberty leads the MEC in scoring, margin of victory, 3-poitners, turnovers forced, turnover margin, assist-to-turnover ratio, assists, and steals.
The Hilltoppers are seeded No. 2 among the final eight teams who will vie for the Division II National Championship at the 11,000-seat Ford Center this week. Cal State Dominiguez Hills is seeded No. 7.
The semifinals are set for Thursday, while the final will be played Saturday in front of a nationwide CBS audience.
Howlett, who Monday was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Atlantic District Coach of the Year, said modern basketball development has placed an emphasis on 1-on-1 training, while the focus on passing has diminished over the years. When he hits the recruiting trail, and initiates a discussion with prospective student-athletes, the role within the team is clearly explained. If there is not total buy-in — all five players on the court placing the same emphasis on sharing the ball — then the system will fail.
Overall, West Liberty has five players averaging double figures: Kyler D’Augustino, JJ Harper, Lanyc Shuler, Kameron Tinsley, and Finley Woodward. The next quartet — Dante Spadafora, John Dragas, Daniel Autrey, and Vadim Clanet — average between 5.8 and 9.9 points per game.
Stunningly, in the past 11 games, eight different Hilltoppers have either led the team in scoring at least once.
“If you look at the amount of guys we have, and we usually play 10 guys — two platoons — a lot of times our best players are in that second platoon,” Howlett said. “It looks like we have a starting five, but that second five has some of our best players.
“We have more balance this year than we’ve ever had.”
West Liberty had won 15 consecutive games prior to the Mountain East Conference championship game, and have won 18 of 19 entering Tuesday’s national quarterfinals. Prior to that run, though, the Hilltoppers reckoned with the process of evolving as a team, losing to Missouri S&T in Las Vegas five days before Christmas, and then two of their first three games in MEC play to start 2025.
After the second of those two conference defeats, an 85-77 loss in West Liberty’s home gym, Howlett’s players flipped a switch.
“With the way we play, it’s so different and so foreign to most players, it does take some time,” he said. “We have nine new guys this year, and it’s more about the mental part of playing in our system. You can’t take plays off, and if four guys are doing it the right way and one isn’t doing it correctly, it’s not going to work.
“After the Concord loss, we went back to the drawing board. We weren’t moving fast enough, but there’s a different between sprinting and running. We needed to sprint.”
And now, West Liberty is sprinting into the national championship conversation once again.
Chuck McGill joined the Mountain East Conference in September 2024 as the Associate Commissioner for External Engagement and Communications. A longtime college athletics administrator, McGill is also the nine-time West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.