Scott Dennis was absolutely giddy when he entered Mike Nienaber’s office.

After suffering through four miserable high school basketball seasons, Dennis, then a freshman guard, had finally found a winner in Division-II Christian Brothers University (Tenn.). And after an Elite Eight run in the NCAA Tournament sparked by his play and the performance of fellow freshman Zack Warner, both Dennis and Nienaber, the CBU head coach, had no reason to believe the winning would stop.

‘Right after the 2008 season, he came right into my office smiling,’ Nienaber said. ‘He looked at me with that twinkle in his eye and said, ‘Coach, I want to do this again.’ And I remembered thinking with him and Zack we had a chance to do it.’

Nienaber believed his star players could lead CBU to its first title before injuries derailed the Buccaneers’ high tournament hopes a year ago. Both Dennis and Warner sat out portions of the 2010-11 basketball season with injuries. As a result, the Bucs plummeted to the bottom of the Gulf South Conference.

But after a disappointing, injury-riddled season, both Dennis and Warner are back for their senior seasons in 2012, keying a resurgent Bucs team that has tournament aspirations once again. After sitting at the end of the bench at home games, Warner said both players are ‘hungry to win again.’ But to recapture the glory of previous seasons, both Warner and Dennis had to endure an excruciating rehab process.

Dennis suffered a stress fracture in his foot when he landed awkwardly after a rebound. Suddenly, the player who averaged 11.3 rebounds per game —most in the nation for a guard —could barely walk, let alone jump to grab rebounds.

‘He was miserable,’ Nienaber said. ‘You could tell by just looking at him that he wanted to be out there, and not competing was driving him crazy.’

Warner shared that desire to compete, but he couldn’t play through his pain either. The 6-foot-10 forward could hardly run the court during a midseason loss to Delta State (Miss.), and he decided to re-evaluate his decision to keep doctors as far away from his injured back as possible.

‘I was playing nowhere near 50 percent, and even worse, my back was contorted because I was in so much pain,’ Warner said. ‘I wasn’t really surprised when the doctor said it was broken.’

CBU struggled without their injured stars. Nienaber said he wanted to keep Dennis and Warner around as the Bucs lost 8 of their last 10 games, but sometimes, he’d have to exclude them from road games and focus on the players that he had who were healthy.

Dennis and Warner said that even at their lowest points, they didn’t let that disappointment affect their recoveries. Dennis had a cast and Warner wore a cumbersome plastic back brace, but inside their apartment, the two roommates focused solely on their respective returns.

Staying positive helped more than just Dennis and Warner. Sophomore guards Cory McArthy and Harry Green gained more playing time and valuable experience with the two stars out.

‘When Scott and Zack came back this season as seniors, they came back to a team with role players who could ease them back into the rotation,’ Nienaber said. ‘It was really a silver lining because this season we can rely on either guy to take over, but we’ve got other options.’

A deeper CBU team has looked good so far. More than halfway through the league schedule, both Dennis and Warner are playing like their freshman-year selves for the 17-3 Bucs. Warner said the mission this season is to send his senior class out with the championship they’ve been denied so long.

‘Being out has made me cherish the ability to be out there this season,’ said Warner, who leads CBU with 17.6 points per game this season. ‘I know Scott feels the same way. There’s a sense of urgency with this team to send us out in style.’

Nienaber can’t think of a better way to send his two stars out than making another Elite Eight run. And this season, the Division-II Elite Eight is in Highland Heights, Ky., not far from Dennis’ old high school in Cincinnati, where he remembers losing season after season.

If CBU were to win there, Nienaber expects Dennis to be giddy again.

‘I don’t want to put the cart ahead of the horse,’ Nienaber said, ‘but after all they’ve been through, these guys deserve to win.’

 

nctoney@syr.edu

Published on February 6, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Nick: nctoney@syr.edu | @nicktoneytweets