Stories of the Decade: #6
Oskaloosa–Early dominance in a new league was awarded the #6 slot on the Stories of the 2010s top-10 list.
The Statesmen men’s basketball coaching staff did its homework in planning for the school’s transition from the Midwest Collegiate Conference and NAIA Division II to the Heart of America Athletic Conference and NAIA Division I. All the hard work, most notably on the recruiting trail, paid off huge dividends as WPU won conference regular season titles in its first three years in the league.
William Penn began its tenure in the Heart in the 2015-2016 school year. Having won four MCC crowns and qualifying for five NAIA Division II national tournaments, all since 2006-2007, the navy and gold were making the jump with confidence that they could hold their own, but had no delusions of being the perennial power that they actually became.
In that first campaign of 2015-2016, WPU started the season at 13-1 and eventually reeled off a 17-5 conference record that would be good enough to tie MidAmerica Nazarene and Peru State for the regular season crown. The Statesmen, due to tiebreakers, dropped to the third seed for the Heart Tournament, but still rolled through the event, including beating #2 seed PSC and #1 seed MNU on the road for the automatic berth to nationals.
William Penn eventually reached the quarterfinals of its first-ever NAIA Division I National Championships.
Steven Roundtree was named a Third-Team All-American, while Brady Burford was an Honorable-Mention pick. Five players collected all-Heart laurels with Roundtree and Burford on the top squad, while Dondre Alexander was a second-teamer. Jessie Pernell and Jarvis Haywood were both honorable mentions.
The winning train continued to run at breakneck speed in 2016-2017. The navy and gold won 11 of their first 12 contests and continued to play at a high level throughout the Heart slate, going 23-3 en route to another league crown. The Heart Tournament was also easily secured by William Penn and it entered nationals as the top seed in its bracket.
The Statesmen rolled all the way to the semifinals, but were upended in heart-breaking fashion by the eventual national champion.
Torren Jones topped WPU as a First-Team All-American, while Lionel Ellison was an Honorable-Mention All-American. Jones was picked as the Heart’s Player of the Year with Ellison joining him on the first team. Jarvis Haywood and Charles Knowles each earned second-team nods, and Head Coach John Henry was named Coach of the Year.
Another tremendous start (11-0) came in 2017-2018, and after 22 matchups, the navy and gold had still only lost once. The Statesmen continued to take care of business, dropping only three games (16-3) in the Heart en route to a its third-straight title as well as a 30-5 overall record.
Despite all of its success, William Penn’s 2017-2018 season will unfortunately forever be remembered for the devastating loss of one of its own–Marquis Todd. The squad regrouped with extremely heavy hearts prior to the national tournament and made an inspirational run to the Fab Four, but could not finish the march.
A program-record three individuals were named All-Americans with Terrell Thompson being a First-Team selection, Dominique Shaw receiving Third-Team laurels, and JC Washington collecting an Honorable Mention.
Shaw and Thompson were both first-team all-Heart honorees, while Washington was a second-teamer. Corbin Medley and Aakim Saintil each took home honorable-mention status from the league.
During the incredible three-year run, WPU owned a 92-16 record (.852 winning pct.), including a 56-11 mark in the Heart (.836 winning pct.).
