May 8, 2008

Pocatello, ID --- Looking back at the 2007-08 season for the men's basketball team, specifically in the waning moments of what would be a 75-45 loss to Washington State in Holt Arena, it might have been hard to see the forest through the trees so to speak. That loss was a third straight 30-point loss for the Bengals, and the squad sat at that point at just 2-8, with a win over an NAIA program and an overtime win over Idaho. Things looked bleak ... like five-win bleak. Like disaster-of-a-season bleak. But in the midst of that drubbing came a revelation...one that came from an innocent enough looking play, but it was the play that started ISU back on the road to respectability, and ultimately, to the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference tournament.

The play in question was a steal by Donnie Carson, who picked off a pass from Nikola Koprivica and hammered home one of the loudest dunks in years in Holt Arena. It was the proverbial light going off, not for Carson, who would eventually be voted the teams' most improved player, but for the entire squad. It would eventually push the team to a fourth place finish in the Big Sky, and near upset of Portland State in the Big Sky Tournament.

"Donnie's dunk was one of the few positives to come out of that game, but that play was his true debut as a Bengal," said head coach Joe O'Brien. "It was a very daunting task to take on a top five team in the nation ... on our own court."

Thinking back on the game wasn't a huge memory boost for O'Brien, but it was the game that really did turn around the season, and not just for the Carson dunk. "We didn't play smart, hard, or to our potential that afternoon. We watched the game, we watched Washington State show us how a great team executes ... for the second game in a row. But boy did we learn some things from it."

That they did, but the learning didn't start until game 11. The start of the year saw ISU lose three straight, including an opening night 58-43 loss at Iowa in a Homecoming of sorts for the coaching staff, most of which grew up in Iowa, including head coach Joe O'Brien, who won three national titles at Southeast Iowa Community College. The team also suffered a 21-point loss against Brigham Young, but the team suffered a heart-wrenching 66-61 overtime loss to Long Beach State. ISU finally got on the board with a 76-69 win over Montana State-Northern, but it was followed by a pair of losses in Oregon, to OSU and the University of Portland.

That pushed ISU to 1-5 in the preseason, and it set up an interesting showdown in Moscow, one which would showcase a trend that would carry throughout the season and reverse a trend from 2006-07. The Bengals led practically the whole game, but with just 15 seconds left, the Vandals hit a three-pointer to take a two-point lead. However, the running trend of the season emerged right here, as sophomore Amorrow Morgan drove the lane and was fouled with 2.6 seconds left. Morgan calmly hit both free throws, sending the game into overtime, where with 4.2 seconds left, another sophomore Demetrius Monroe, would hit a backdoor layup for a 71-69 win, ISU's first road non-conference win in the O'Brien era.

"The win at Idaho was critical for our guys. We had just lost a game at Long Beach State that was winnable, and we had a schedule that did not have a lot of games that appeared winnable through the end of December," said O'Brien.

The big shots by sophomores were a running theme throughout the season, as Austin Kilpatrick hit a game-winning three with a minute left against Weber State, and Donnie Carson would hit the winning basket against Montana with 3.6 left as well. The Bengals were snakebit in 2006-07, losing five overtime games, including going 2-9 in games decided by six or less or in overtime. In the 2007-08, they would reverse that trend immeasurably, going 8-3 in those same types of games.

"We frequently referred back to how we won that game during the remainder of the season...it was "experience" everyone could immediately relate to on the sideline."

After the Idaho game came the aforementioned three game stretch where ISU wasn't in any game, losing by 30 or more to three NCAA Tournament teams in Boise State, UCLA, and Washington State, but the squad bounced back nicely in Salt Lake City, losing 68-51 in a game that was just a 1-point affair with 10 to go. ISU rounded out the non-conference portion of the schedule with a win over Northwest Nazarene and a loss to Washington in Seattle, setting up their conference opener against Northern Colorado.

To this point, the Bengals were 3-10 overall, and guys like Donnie Carson had scored a grand total of 14 points on the season. Things weren't rosy, but Joe O'Brien has always said he'll play anyone, anywhere, anytime, in order to get his team ready for conference play. Well, the method to that madness certainly paid dividends early on. ISU traveled to Greeley, Colorado for the conference opener, and the team rolled to a 76-65 win, never trailing in the second half, and fittingly taking the lead for good on a basket by Carson, who would set a career-high with 10 points. Carson would eventually set career-highs in scoring in four of his next six games as ISU bolted to a 4-2 conference start.

"We had repeatedly discussed with our team throughout November and December that every game during the non-conference season was a "stepping-stone" to prepare us for the conference season. We were only returning three upperclassmen, 37% of our scoring, and 36% of our rebounding from the previous season ... we were a team that had to rebuild in many areas." O'Brien realized that in order to keep winning, he was going to need all those sophomores to contribute. "We had to rely on four sophomores with an average of 8 minutes per game of D-I experience to become starters or play significant minutes against a great schedule."

The team followed the Northern Colorado win with a 58-56 win over Eastern Washington, a game ISU looked doomed to lose from the start, as the Eagles bolted out to an 18-4 lead in Holt Arena. However, it was two upperclassmen, Matt Stucki, and Logan Kinghorn who would lead the comeback. Stucki hit an and-one basket to end the run, and he would go on to post his first double-double with 11 points and 10 assists. Kinghorn, the unabashed heart-and-soul of the club, led the team with 14 points, including two huge three-pointers. Another upperclassman, Lucas Steijn, hit the go-ahead basket with 1:26 left as well.

ISU then split their next four games, including a tense 56-54 win at Montana, giving the Bengals back-to-back regular season wins in Missoula for the first time in 31 years. Down one in that game with time running down, Carson got a rebound of his own miss over 6-foot-9 Jordan Hasquet and stuck the putback, despite being inadvertently poked in the eye in the process. The basket and free throw gave ISU a 56-54, and when Hasquet's desperation heave ended up as a very close near-miss, ISU had another thrilling last second win.

Now at 4-2, a national television audience via Altitude Sports saw the game of the year. Sadly for ISU head coach Joe O'Brien, they don't get Altitude in the locker room. O'Brien suffered the first ejection of his ISU career, earning a second technical foul early in the second half, putting ISU down 11 at 40-29. However, the technical and ejection energized a Sunday crowd, and certainly lit the appropriate fire under the ISU bench, because the Bengal came storming back. An Amorrow Morgan dunk got the crowd into it, and Austin Kilpatrick started burying threes, nearly raising the Holt Arena roof off in the process.

Matt Stucki earned a slew of honors in 2007-08, including a little ESPN face time.

Finally after tying the game several time, Matt Stucki's three off of a hustle rebound by Logan Kinghorn gave ISU their first lead in what seemed like ages in the game, and ISU pushed the lead to seven on an emphatic dunk by Carson. Well, a little too emphatic, as he was whistled for a technical for pulling himself up on the rim (a tough but correct call), and that swung momentum back towards NAU, who not only tied the game with 1:44 to go, but took a lead with 1:08 left at 67-65 left. But like all season long, it was the super sophomores to the rescue.

Morgan tied the game back up with an acrobatic drive into the lane to tie it at 67 with 57 seconds left, and then Monroe picked off a pass under the ISU basket. After a timeout, Associate Head Coach Steve Swanson, who took over for O'Brien, drew up the final play, which eventually went awry, as Stucki missed a short jumper, but he followed that up with a key rebound, getting the ball to Carson. Carson's shot was blocked, but it bounded straight to Monroe, who laid the ball in uncontested with 7.6 left to give ISU a 69-67 lead. Stucki then took a charge with 0.9 left, and ISU not only had a key win, but the ending sequence was one of the top plays on ESPN's College Basketball Game Night, where they described the highlights as showing "A little Big Sky love".

"That game ... that win ... was about a team growing up and deciding to do the things necessary to compete in the upper tier of our league and refusing to lose". It was a win that had O'Brien and company beaming afterwards, and rightfully so.

ISU had to love being 5-2 entering a weekend series with Weber State, and both games came down to the wire, with ISU losing in Ogden 59-57, missing a tying shot with four seconds left. ISU however won the rematch in Holt 63-59, getting the tiebreaking basket with 49.7 second left from Austin Kilpatrick, who hit an NBA three on a play that started with an inbounds pass with just two seconds on the shot clock.

The Bengals at 6-3 went into a mini-funk, losing a home game to Northern Colorado 76-66 in what might have been the season's most disappointing showing, and then a pair of road games against Portland State and Eastern Washington. At 6-6 and coming back home, ISU knew two wins would put them in the conference tournament. The first one turned out to be easy, as ISU avenged an earlier loss to Montana State with a 64-49 victory, setting up another showdown with Montana. In the last three meetings between the two teams, two games went to overtime, and the other was decided at the buzzer. This one would be no different, and again, it was on Altitude Sports.

A see-saw affair that saw eight ties and eight lead changes ended up right where it started, as with 16.9 seconds left, Jordan Hasquet of the Griz hit a three to tie the game at 58. Montana immediately called their last timeout, which would be crucial, or rather, it should have been crucial. ISU held for the last shot, but Matt Stucki's three was short, and Hasquet grabbed the rebound. However, Hasquet called a timeout, which Montana didn't have, seemingly giving UM a technical foul and ISU two free throws with just tenths showing on the clock.

However, something happened on the way to the free throw line, and after a huddle, the officials waved off the timeout and sent the game to overtime, and no amount of pleading by the ISU bench to check the replay would be heeded. Instead, Montana hit a big three late in overtime, and late fouls gave them a 72-63 win, and neither the public apology from the league office for the incorrect application of the rule, or the suspension of all three officials, could take back the fact that ISU still needed another win to clinch a tournament berth.

"We were not down or humbled after that loss ... we were mad!" said O'Brien, who handled all the hoopla regarding the incident with both humor and tact that earned him plaudits from many of the members of the media and even league officials. "In addition, we had won seven games in the league at that point, and we knew one more win would get us into the conference post-season tournament, and that was our first goal for the 2007-08 season."

ISU at 7-7 headed to Sacramento, and seemingly like every other game in conference play, it was tied entering the final minute, so cue up a sophomore for a big shot. This one belonged to Amorrow Morgan, who drove baseline, pulled up, and hit a sweet jumper to give ISU a 50-48 lead. A questionable travel on the Hornets led to a pair of Carson free throws, rendering a final three by Sacramento State moot, and ISU was in the tournament with a 52-51 win, and the combination of other games meant ISU was locked into hosting Montana in the quarterfinals, meaning ISU's 76-53 loss at Northern Arizona didn't amount to anything.

The rematch with the Griz is exactly what ISU wanted, but the 32-26 halftime deficit certainly wasn't wanted for ISU, having gone just 1-17 during the season to that point when trailing at the half. ISU was dead set on making that 1-18. ISU quickly retook the lead on a Kinghorn jumper, part of a tremendous final home game night for the senior, who posted a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double. Back-to-back long three from Austin Kilpatrick sent Holt Arena to new heights and gave ISU the lead for good, and although Montana cut an eight-point lead in the final minute to just two with 14 second left, ISU hit their free throws in the final minute, giving the Bengals a 67-65 win, and putting ISU in the semifinals for the first time in the O'Brien era. It was most definitely a signature win.

Amorrow Morgan's unbridled joy at advancing to the Big Sky semifinals was evident

"It was the most significant win of the season. It was a statement that as a basketball program we had grown, improved, and most significantly advanced to a new level in the conference, for the second year in a row." That level was a trip to Portland for the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament, just two wins from the Big Dance.

ISU took on the top seed and host Portland State Vikings in the Rose Garden, and ISU more than held their own against a team with a 12-game conference winning streak, as ISU was down just 33-28 at the half. ISU stayed within range for much of the second half, but PSU's depth proved too much, and ISU's season ended at 12-19 with a 71-60 loss. Matt Stucki, who had 22 against PSU, earned All-Tournament honors for the Bengals.

"We went out against Portland State and played to win! We did not get the win, but we were competitive and did not quit when we had several opportunities to do so." The loss to Portland State ran the Vikings streak of conference wins to 13, and their championship game rout of Northern Arizona would make it 14. ISU's tight battle with the Vikings was vindication of sorts for the program, battling with the best the league had to offer neck and neck for 40 minutes. "They were the best team in the league for two and half months, and we were right there with them all night. It was as good a way to end the season as I could have asked for, outside of an upset win."

Stucki, along with All-Tournament, was also honored as Second Team All-Big Sky, and he was one of five players in District VIII (comprising all Division I schools in Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico) to be named CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine All-Academic District VIII. Logan Kinghorn and Amorrow Morgan each earned Honorable Mention All-Big Sky honors.

Much like Bill Cosby would tell you one story to set up another, the 2007-08 season is a story unto itself, but it most certainly will set up the 2008-09 season. Only one scholarship player in Logan Kinghorn graduates, as ISU returns their top four scorers and seven of the top eight. So what's a coach to do? How about add four junior college transfers, including a pair of guards in Kal Bay out of Eastern Utah and Phyllip Taylor out of Manatee, plus to big bodies in 6-8 Felix Caspari (also of Eastern Utah), and 7-0 David Busma from Western Nebraska; plus one of the top prep players in Memphis in Sherrod Baldwin. Those five, plus ISU's eight returning scholarship players, should give the Bengals a leg up on the competition next season. ISU now has the depth, and talent to battle for the Big Sky title, and the roster is entirely made up of Joe O'Brien recruits, save for one of the two seniors in Matt Stucki. It's a season that is far off in the distance, but one that has O'Brien and staff itching for the October practice to start.

"Next season we will have eight experienced returning players, and four seasoned junior college additions coming into the program, and a very talented freshman, and we have a lot of positives to talk about."

The thought of the start of the 2008-09 season compared to last year is a no-brainer as far as what is in the cupboard as well. "Last year vs. what we have for next year, well last year was a team with very limited experience a year ago, and depth and experience are great things at this level. We have been preparing for the 08-09 season since we left the court in Portland on March 11th. "

Since O'Brien has been at ISU, the Bengals have consistently climbed the standings, a trend he intends to continue. "We have shown improvement by finishing sixth and then fourth in our first two seasons in the league. We are not only expecting, but demanding great things next season."

With another big schedule ahead, including road games at Wisconsin, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Arizona State, Nevada, Hawaii, Kansas State, Washington State and Boise State, and maybe the greatest home schedule ever with Idaho, Utah, Utah State, and Brigham Young coming to Holt Arena, the 2008-09 season certainly should be one of fun and excitement. It will also be one in which a team of 11 upperclassmen, including two seniors and nine juniors, will look to lead ISU to heights not seen since 1994, when the Bengals last shared a conference title. "Hopefully, demanding those great things includes a run at a Big Sky championship. Our fans deserve it ... it is time."