Admittedly, we have pretty low standards to show improvement these days. The Idaho State men's team hasn't finished a season over .500 overall since 2002-2003 (and that was a 15-14 mark). The Bengals haven't had a winning record in league play since the 08-09 team finished 9-7 (and that team's overall record was 13-19). So a lot of Bengal fans have died, moved on to other interests or just flat weren't born yet the during the last "golden age" of ISU basketball in the mid-90s, when ISU tied for one conference regular season title, and followed that up with an 18-win season. Modest enough achievements, but enough to put 4 to 5 thousand people in Holt for rivalry games, and over 3,000 on a regular basis.
This year's team is 11-11 overall and 6-4 in league play. According to KenPom, they are favored to win 5 of their last 8 games, which would give them a 16-14 overall mark and an 11-7 record in league. Again, a modest enough achievement on its face, but for a program that was overwhelmingly picked to finish last in the conference by both the media and the coaches, it a season that should get Bill Evans more than a few votes for conference coach of the year. He probably won't win-- the coaches almost always give the award to the coach whose team wins the regular season title, but I don't know anybody who has done a better job this season. Bill and his staff have dramatically changed their approach to the game, smoothly integrated 9 players who had never played a minute of D-1 basketball, and helped develop returning players like Geno Luzcando and Ben Wilson into much better players than they had been. If ISU doesn't win another game, they have already wildly over-achieved.
And the fun part is that most of these guys will be back next year. With the exception of Wilson, every player who started a game this year will be back (barring the unforeseen transfer or injury). And we can all fantasize about how the young talent on this team will continue to improve with time and seasoning. With a couple of scholarships available, and a lot of improvement to show, we can also hope the coaching staff can find a couple of JC recruits who would like to play with ET and company and fill the holes that Wilson and Evan Hall will leave.
It's far from a perfect team and there are a lot of landmines to sidestep as the season progresses. But this is as optimistic as I have been about the program in a long time. Now we need Bengal fans to start refilling those seats that have been abandoned in recent years. Come on out folks, this is a fun team to watch -- and a good time to be a Bengal.
This year's team is 11-11 overall and 6-4 in league play. According to KenPom, they are favored to win 5 of their last 8 games, which would give them a 16-14 overall mark and an 11-7 record in league. Again, a modest enough achievement on its face, but for a program that was overwhelmingly picked to finish last in the conference by both the media and the coaches, it a season that should get Bill Evans more than a few votes for conference coach of the year. He probably won't win-- the coaches almost always give the award to the coach whose team wins the regular season title, but I don't know anybody who has done a better job this season. Bill and his staff have dramatically changed their approach to the game, smoothly integrated 9 players who had never played a minute of D-1 basketball, and helped develop returning players like Geno Luzcando and Ben Wilson into much better players than they had been. If ISU doesn't win another game, they have already wildly over-achieved.
And the fun part is that most of these guys will be back next year. With the exception of Wilson, every player who started a game this year will be back (barring the unforeseen transfer or injury). And we can all fantasize about how the young talent on this team will continue to improve with time and seasoning. With a couple of scholarships available, and a lot of improvement to show, we can also hope the coaching staff can find a couple of JC recruits who would like to play with ET and company and fill the holes that Wilson and Evan Hall will leave.
It's far from a perfect team and there are a lot of landmines to sidestep as the season progresses. But this is as optimistic as I have been about the program in a long time. Now we need Bengal fans to start refilling those seats that have been abandoned in recent years. Come on out folks, this is a fun team to watch -- and a good time to be a Bengal.
