Where is Rienk Mast? Have you seen him? I fear he’s lost at sea, for he did not show up for his Missouri Valley semifinal game on Saturday afternoon in St. Louis. If you find him, please return him to Bradley’s head coach, Brian Wardle. He’s worried sick.
Physically, he’s hard to miss. The 6 foot 9 junior from Groningen, Netherlands sticks out like a sore thumb on a lineup of average joes. On the court, he certainly distinguished himself throughout the year as well. Mast averaged 14.6 points and eight assists for Bradley this season, and his 381 points have been the high water mark for the Braves season-long. Mast has been especially exceptional in high-leverage games throughout his three year career at Bradley, capped off by his 30-point, 9-rebound performance Friday against the Northern Iowa Panthers.
In Friday’s postgame press conference, Mast spoke about playing with a chip on his shoulder, and acknowledged that he felt slighted by the MVC media who did not name him Conference Player of the Year despite being the highest scorer on the conference’s top team. Wardle also acknowledged that Mast felt slighted, but conjectured that if Mast could keep putting up 30-point stat lines, he would come home with some all-tournament team hardware. Which brings us to today:
1 for 4. Two points. 29:45 minutes played. How did this happen? The Braves superstar was practically invisible for the duration of Saturday’s matchup. In fact, his first basket didn’t rattle home until there were just three minutes remaining in the contest.
Mast only had one other game all season with less than 10 points, a 3-point showing in a game that Bradley lost by nine at Murray State on January 4. A normally steadfast and remarkably consistent player like Mask shouldn’t just have games where he’s completely invisible. To have a game like that in this high leverage of a situation is utterly remarkable.
Ultimately, the Braves were able to take the Indiana State Sycamores without the help of Mask, and they managed a thrilling 71-70 victory which will send them to the tournament championship tomorrow afternoon. Frankly, this only presents more issues for the Braves, however. Head coach Brian Wardle will ultimately have less than 24 hours to locate Rienk Mast, and if he fails to, the Braves’ NCAA Tournament hopes might be dashed before they begin. Certainly, only time will tell if Mast will be found.