Lucas Gebhart
Sports Editor
@IdahoSportsLG
Some of the best parts of March Madness are the Cinderella stories. From Davidson’s magical Elite 8 run during the Stephen Curry era in 2008, to Florida Gulf Coast’s 2013 run as the Eagles stole the hearts of every college basketball fan who didn’t attend Georgetown or San Diego State, on their way to the Sweet 16, the first and only 15 seed to do so.
March has a history of these Cinderella stories.
There were Cinderella teams 30 years ago, there are Cinderella teams now and there will be Cinderella teams 30 years from now.
Idaho State is no exception to this.
In 1977, the Bengals were just one win away from a Final Four appearance.
This was arguably the best team in school history, as the Bengals started a 7-foot center by the name of Steve Hays, who was joined by 6-10 forward Jeff Cook.
Playing alongside the 7-foot Hayes as the 6-10 power forward gave Idaho State one of the best front-line combos in the history of Big Sky Conference. Cook is fourth in both all-time rebounds and shot-blocks in school history. Small-forward Greg Griffin played substantial minutes.
But make no mistake, ISU was in no shortage of guards, as the consistent back-court of Scott Goold, Ernie Wheeler and Ed Thompson helped the Bengals race to a 25-5 record and only lose one game in the Big Sky Conference, an 80-73 defeat at the hands of Weber State.
Cook was picked in the third round of the NBA draft by the Kansas City Kings in 1978.
Both Hays and Griffin were chosen in the fourth round of the 1977 NBA draft, Griffin by the Phoenix Suns and Hays, an American Falls native, by the New York Knicks.
Hays is ISU’s second all-time leading scorer and all-time leading rebounder.
The Bengals won the Big Sky, and earned a NCAA tournament berth.
Back in 1977, the NCAA ran the tournament a bit differently.
Instead of the 68 team field and natural sites located throughout the country, only 32 teams made the Big Dance and teams were placed into regions based on their geographical location instead of the seed-based system used today.
ISU was placed in the West Region with UCLA, Louisville, Long Beach State, Utah, Saint Johns, San Francisco and UNLV.
The Bengals got lucky in the first round, as newly-opened Holt Arena was set to host two opening round games in the West Region.
Under former Head Coach Jim Killingsworth, the Bengals were the Cinderella story of the 1977 tournament, defeating Long Beach State in the opening round 83-72, a game that was played in Holt Arena.
After the thrilling victory in front of the hometown crowd, the Bengals were to play the mighty UCLA Bruins, a team with a college basketball-rich history.
The Bruins were ranked second in the country and overlooked ISU, for the Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV were waiting in the wings for a much-anticipated Regional Final matchup.
ISU defeated UCLA 76-75 in Provo and the loss forced UCLA Head Coach Gene Bartow out of Los Angeles after just his second season in the shadows of the great John Wooden.
The loss to ISU helped topple the Bruin Empire as it broke UCLA’s streak of 10 concentrative Final Four appearances. The Bruins won 10 NCAA National Championships from 1964-1975 but failed to win another championship until 1995 and only had two other Final Four appearances from 1976-2006.
Hays lead the way again for the Bengals hauling in 12 rebounds along with his 27 points, and 6-10 forward Cook chipped in 8 points and 14 rebounds.
The nation was shocked.
The lowly Idaho State Bengals, a team from an unknown conference, just took down the mighty UCLA Bruins, a team from the prestigious Pac-8 conference.
The Bengals could not ride the momentum into the next round however, as the Runnin’ Rebels up-tempo style was too much for the boys from Pocatello, falling in the Elite 8, 107-90.
