Senior Series: Mike Hart

Recruiting is a very important part in building a team and a program. You need the right guys to play for you if you want to win games. For Butler that means getting guys willing to play in Brad Stevens' style, in the so called "Butler Way". Memphis coach Josh Pastner only gets guys who can play above the rim. Kentucky recruits only the best players regardless of the fact that they will play for just one season. Those teams, and many others, have found success through a certain style of player that fit into the style of the program.

Mike Hart has been called many things. He's a defensive specialist, a hustle player, a glue guy and a liability on offense. Those are all fairly accurate descriptions. What he is more than anything though, is a personification of Gonzaga Basketball.

 

To understand what I'm saying you need to go back to when Gonzaga and Mike Hart were unknowns.

Gonzaga University is a small Jesuit school in mid-sized Spokane, Washington in the mid-major West Coast Conference. The school was known as much for Bing Crosby as anything else. John Stockton was the reason Gonzaga and basketball were ever simultaneously on anyone's mind (and that probably only happened when he stated his alma mater). It took until 1995 for the Bulldogs to make the NCAA Tournament. It took until 1999 until anybody really knew that Gonzaga was in the NCAA Tournament.

Mike Hart, a product of Jesuit High School in Portland, Oregon, was largely overlooked as an athlete. In his senior year he received all-district second team honors. Despite that, and his average of eight points per game, he received no interest from any college basketball team.

Gonzaga, in the mid-1990s was largely overlooked as a basketball team. In that time the Zags had no losing records. In 1998, despite a 23 win season, the Zags received no interest from the NCAA Tournament selection committee.

Hart and Gonzaga had humble beginnings but both felt they could play basketball with the best. 

For the Zags the breakthrough came in 1999 when they, thanks to winning the WCC's automatic bid, made the NCAA Tournament and ran to the Elite Eight. 

For Hart it came at an open tryout in his first Fall at Gonzaga. The freshman, who chose Gonzaga because it was Jesuit, close to Portland and had a good business program, was the only player at the tryout to make the team.

So there they were, in 1999 and 2008 respectively, alongside the big boys.

The Zags have made every NCAA Tournament since the 1999 Cinderella run. They were no one year wonder. Mike Hart developed from 0 minutes (but on the team) his first year, into a key reserve by his third.

Hart's development was stunningly similar to the program's as a whole. As a redshirt sophomore, Hart began earning time at the end of each half. He earned it by giving one hundred percent for every second of his minute or two spent on the court. He wasn't out there to be flashy, he was out there because he was effective.

Gonzaga's development came without flash as well. The Zags weren't out chasing top tier recruits. They were picking up local guys from around the Northwest that nobody was looking at, or they were going halfway around the world to find guys that were too far away for anybody else. When you think back on the early 2000s, Gonzaga wasn't landing McDonald's all-Americans or fighting with high-major schools (except Washington) for top-100 recruits. The Zags' best player of that era, the nation's best player in 2006, Adam Morrison, was from Mead HS in Spokane. Morrison's junior year included guys like Sean Mallon, also from Spokane; David Pendergraft, from Pop. 2,370 Brewster, WA; Josh Heytvelt, from Clarkston, WA; Derek Raivio, from Vancouver, WA and Errol Knight, from Seattle.

After Morrison, Gonzaga was cemented as a national power. That 2006 team had a guy by the name of Jeremy Pargo, from Chicago, who is now in the NBA. Gonzaga had begun to land big name recruits.

After his RS Sophomore year, Hart was glued as a key player on the team. He opened up his junior year as a starter. That season he more than doubled his total career minutes played.

From that point forward, Hart's junior season and the first post-Morrison year, it was evident that he/the program was here to stay.

Perhaps simply because this past season was the most recent, as well as the last Mike Hart was eligible, but it seems to have been the culmination of this rags to riches journey. Though that is not to say Gonzaga will not reach or exceed the level of 2012-2013.

Gonzaga became the #1 ranked team in the nation and earned a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Zags, formerly of Bing Crosby fame, made it to the top without needing to change much during the journey. Mike Hart played for the #1 team in America. Nay, Mike Hart started for the #1 team in America, a mere five years after zero teams in America had any interest in him. He didn't change over the journey either. He played his trademark blue collar style, that you almost didn't notice, for his entire career.

According to the exalted data of KenPom.com, Hart finished his senior season as the most efficient offensive player in the nation. Not exactly what you would expect from a guy who scores two points per game. Similarly, the Gonzaga that builds exceptional teams from local, overlooked players, has recently been reeling in some pretty big fish. Guys like Gary Bell Jr., Steven Gray, Demetri Goodson and Austin Daye were ranked in ESPN's top-100 as recruits. Przemek Karnowski was snagged despite efforts by Duke and Kansas.

While Hart finished the 2012-13 season as America's most efficient offensive player, he finished his career with a fourteen rebound game. That total not only was a game high, but he was two offensive rebounds short of Wichita State's entire team in that category.

While the Zags have been going out and getting top notch talent, they still recruit like an underdog. Next season brings virtual unknowns Luke Meilke of Tacoma and Ryan Edwards of Kalispel, MT.

Mike Hart, like the Zags, came out of nowhere and achieved sustained success at the highest level.