Denim Millward
Sports Editor
The ISU men’s basketball squad has a lot more in common with legendary singer Aretha Franklin than may appear at first glance.
Just like the original R&B diva, the Bengals are looking for some R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Emanating from a dismal 2012-13 campaign that saw the Bengals finish dead last in the Big Sky Conference and compounded by the recently-released coaches and media polls, which predict little to no improvement, an air of displeasure and aggravation surrounding the ISU squad is palpable.
“It gets under my skin,” said ISU men’s head basketball coach Bill Evans, referring to the aforementioned polls. “When you’re around our guys all the time and you see how hard they work…I feel like there’s a lack of respect.”
Senior point guard Tomas Sanchez, the clear vocal leader of the team and court general, echoed his coach’s sentiments.
“I take it as disrespect,” Sanchez said of the polls. “Our whole team knows we were picked [to finish] near the bottom. I just take it as motivation and try to prove them wrong.”
Realistically speaking, the Bengals have plenty of proving to do. In his first year at the helm, Coach Evans orchestrated a dramatic about-face on the defensive end, taking the Bengal defense from near the bottom of the conference in points allowed per game (73.1) in 2011-12, to second overall (64.3) in 2012-13. Unfortunately, the defensive improvement from 2011-12 to 2012-13 was accompanied by an equal or greater regression in offensive production and efficiency.
Last season, the Bengals averaged an anemic 57 points per game, last in the conference by a significant margin (Sacramento State, second-to-last in points per game in 2012-13, averaged 64.7.) To top it off, Melvin Morgan, who led the Bengals in scoring last season, is no longer on the team.
Morgan’s departure will place additional pressure on Sanchez and sharpshooting junior Chris Hansen to shoulder more of the scoring load and inject some life into ISU’s anemic offense.
Despite last year’s dismal offensive showing, the Bengals are optimistic that marked improvement will be shown this year, thanks in large part to a cadre of new players, many of whom are expected to contribute immediately.
The cavalcade of new blood represents such significant cosmetic change to the ISU roster, Joan Rivers would be impressed. Including both junior college transfers and incoming freshmen, a whopping eight new players will don orange and black, many of whom are expected to contribute immediately. There are new faces at every position, a few of whom give an international flavor to the Bengal roster.
Junior Ben Wilson is a 6’5”, 200 lb. junior guard who played last season at North Platte Community College, but originally hails from Bardon, Queensland, Australia. Ajak Magot is a towering 6’11”, 225 lb. junior center born in South Sudan who spent the 2012-13 protecting the rim for Cochise College out of Arizona. Andre Slavik, a Ziar n Hronov, Slovakia, native will join Magot at the post position this year. Slavik averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds for Beacon Prep in Houston and suited up for the Slovakian Under-20 National Team.
Joining the international players and drawing rave reviews from his point guard Sanchez is Jeffrey Solarin, a junior transfer from Northwest College. Though undersized for a forward at 6’4” 210 lbs., Solarin had a much decorated 2012-13 season at Northwest College. He averaged 16.6 points and nearly 9 rebounds per game, was voted to 1st team All-Region 9 and received a National Player of the Week award.
“He’s a hell of a rebounder,” Sanchez said when asked about Solarin. “He’s undersized for a post, but you can tell by watching him that he works hard. I think he’s going to be a big asset for us.”
The new Bengals will face fairly immediate pressure to get accustomed to the Bengal way of doing things. Coach Evans made it clear how important Solarin, Magot and the rest of the new crew were to the improvement or lack thereof of the squad.
“I think the success of our team will [depend] in large part will be how our new guys adjust and perform,” Evans said.
Solarin’s scoring punch will certainly be appreciated, but his rebounding skills may be an even bigger factor for Bengal fans and coaches to get excited about. Coach Evans mentioned improved rebounding multiple times when asked about improvements he hopes and expects to see.
“One thing that we’ve spent a considerable amount of time on [in the offseason] is rebounding the basketball,” Evans remarked. “We really struggled last year. Now we have guys who are more capable of rebounding well.”
The last time Idaho State made the NCAA Tournament, current UCLA men’s basketball coach Steve Alford was a key player on the Indiana Hoosiers national championship team, and Hulk Hogan had shocked the world by slamming Andre the Giant in front of over 70,000 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome in the main event of Wrestlemania III (the year was 1987 for those of you too young to remember.) While a return to the March Madness spotlight would be ideal, the Bengals would probably be happy with making a respectable run within the Big Sky Conference tournament. But clearly, they don’t expect anything less than a little respect.
Idaho State will kick off his season with an exhibition game against Dickinson State on Nov. 4 at 7:05 p.m. at Reed Gym.
