A Bittersweet Finish For St. Ben’s Basketball This Season

St. Ben's basketball saw their season end Saturday despite a 79-57 win over Augsburg.  The Bennies finished with an 11-7 MIAC record and 16-9 overall mark but due to losing a tiebreak with St. Scholastica, St. Ben's will not play in the MIAC playoffs for the first time in more than 5 years.  Bennies Head Coach Mike Durbin joined me on WJON.  St. Ben's lost their only meeting with St. Scholastica, who also finished 11-7 in the conference.

Good Season

Durbin says he's not disappointed in the player development piece or any one individual.  He says there are a lot of positive things to take away from what happened this season and he's not dwelling on the negative.

Top Heavy Conference

Seven teams in the MIAC won 11 or more MIAC games this season making the league very top heavy.  Durbin says it was an incredible year filled with really good high end talent in the league.  The Bennies were 9-0 against teams below them in the standings and they also posted wins over top conference teams like Gustavus and St. Mary's.

Important Accomplishments

St. Ben's led the conference in many categories including least turnovers, steals, free throw shooting attempts and percentage.

Looking Ahead

St. Ben's expects to return 4 starters from this year's team along with important depth players.  He says they look forward to recruiting and their camps this summer.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Mike Durbin, click below.