University of Denver Athletics

Bacari Alexander enters his second season as assistant coach for Denver in 2020-21.

In his first year under head coach Rodney Billups, Alexander helped reshape a culture while creating a positive impact and environment with the players.

He played a role in the growth of senior Ade Murkey, resulting in a second team All-Summit League selection. The senior had one of the more productive seasons in recent memory, averaging a team-leading 18.6 points per game, the highest by a DU player since former teammate Yemi Nicholson posted a Denver DI record 19.9 during the 2005-06 campaign. 

Alexander also shape the young core of Jase Townsend and Robert Jones, who gave glimpses of big things to come after successful seasons under Billups in 2019-20. 

Alexander was a former standout basketball player and head coach at University of Detroit. Alexander was the leader of the program from 2016-18. 

In his first season at Detroit, Alexander started to put together his program both on and off the court. The offseason brought such announcements as games against in-state rival Michigan at the brand new Little Caesars Arena as well as match-ups against old MCC foe Saint Louis and the ACC’s Virginia Tech in the 2K Classic.
 
On the court, the Titans played one of the toughest schedules in the Horizon League with five postseason teams during the non-conference season. Detroit Mercy also came up with a couple of big conference victories, knocking off first place Oakland on the road and third place Green Bay at home.
 
As a team, the Titans were second in the HL and 73rd in the nation in three-point field-goal percentage (37.2%), third in the conference and 54th overall in turnovers forced (14.71) as well as fourth in the league and 87th in the country in scoring (77.0).
 
The Titans had one player earn All-Conference honors in second team member Jaleel Hogan as well as the conference’s Freshman of the Year Corey Allen. 

Alexander, who served as an assistant coach with the University of Michigan for six seasons (2010-2016), was born and raised in the Motor City and transferred to Detroit Mercy for his final three years of college. He later began his coaching career at his alma mater after spending two years with the Harlem Globetrotters.
 
The pride of Detroit's Southwestern High School, Alexander started his collegiate career at Robert Morris College from 1994-96, where he played in 55 games and was named to the Northeast Conference's All-Newcomer Team as a freshman. He then decided to transfer back home to Detroit. He would go on to start 57 of his 62 career games for the red, white and blue and helped Detroit Mercy reach championship heights on the hardwood as the Titans won back-to-back Midwestern Collegiate Conference (MCC) regular-season titles. He also helped his alma mater earn NCAA Tournament bids in 1998 and 1999, where Detroit Mercy posted first round wins over St. John's and nationally-ranked UCLA.
 
As a senior, Alexander was named to the MCC All-Defensive Team and received the President's Award as Detroit Mercy's most outstanding senior student-athlete in 1999. He is still the last men's basketball player to garner that accolade.
 
After college, he began a professional career working with the Detroit Pistons as a Player Programs Coordinator and then playing with the Harlem Globetrotters for two years before returning to Detroit Mercy again as an assistant coach under Perry Watson. He spent six seasons (2001-07) on the sidelines next to his collegiate coach, helping the Titans post 96 wins and finishing over .500 in conference play five times. Detroit Mercy had three seasons with 18 or more wins, made four trips to the Horizon League Championship semifinals, one finals appearance and an NIT berth in 2002.
 
Alexander came back to his alma mater after finishing his sixth season with Michigan under head coach John Beilein in 2015-16. In his six years, Alexander helped the Wolverines to five NCAA Tournament bids (2011, '12, '13, '14 & '16), with a trip to the 2013 Final Four and national title game -- the first for the program in 20 years, followed by a return trip to the Elite Eight in 2014.
 
U-M averaged 24 wins per season in his tenure, including a school record tying 31 during the 2012-13 campaign. Michigan claimed a share of the 2012 Big Ten regular-season title with a 13-5 record -- the first for the program since 1986 – and also helped the team win its first outright Big Ten title in 28 years in 2014 with a 15-3 record.
 
He worked and helped eight Wolverine players garner All-Big Ten honors -- Darius Morris (2011), Trey Burke (2012 & '13), Tim Hardaway Jr. (2012 & '13), Nik Stauskas (2014), Caris LeVert (2014), Derrick Walton Jr. (2016) and Zak Irvin (2016). The Wolverines also had back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Years with Burke in 2013 and Stauskas in 2014. In addition, Burke went on to be named a consensus National Player of the Year and All-America honors in 2013.
 
During Alexander's stint with U-M, seven Wolverines reached the NBA: Morris (2011, No. 41 by Los Angeles Lakers), Burke (2013, No. 9 by Utah Jazz), Hardaway (2013, No. 24 by New York Knicks), Stauskas (2014, No. 8 by Sacramento Kings), Mitch McGary (2014, No. 21 by Oklahoma City Thunder), Glenn Robinson III (2014, No. 40 by Minnesota Timberwolves) and Caris LeVert (2016, No. 20 by Indiana Pacers). 
 
Throughout his coaching career, Alexander has developed over 80 percent of his former frontcourt players to gain opportunities to play professional basketball at various levels.
 
Alexander came to Michigan after spending two seasons at Western Michigan (2008-10), where he worked with the Broncos' frontcourt players. The Broncos would go on to win their second-straight MAC West Division championship in 2009. Prior to his work with the Broncos, he spent one season at Ohio University (2007-08), where the Bobcats won 20 games and made the second round of the College Basketball Invitational. 
 
As a member of the Harlem Globetrotters, he toured in 13 countries while also directing several camps for the team around the United States. He also served as an "Advance Ambassador" for the Globetrotters, performing public relations duties, while making media and school appearances. In 2002, he along with all past and current Globetrotters were inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
 
In high school at Southwestern, he won a state championship as a freshman with his future college coach Perry Watson leading the way. As a senior, he was Third Team All-PSL by the Detroit Free Press and Honorable Mention All-Metro and All-State by the Detroit News. He was also Southwestern's Scholar-Athlete award winner.

He graduated from the University of Detroit Mercy in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Finance.
 
Alexander and his wife, Kesha, have one son, Mekhi.