Off-Season Mismash

As we wait for more hard news, beginning with the opening of the spring signing period for basketball next week (April 14), here are some tidbids to nibble upon....Idaho State's women's team will have at least one more scholarship to offer for next year than Coach Seton Sobolewski anticipated, with the news that freshman shooting guard Brea Matthews is leaving the program, along with walk-on teammate Rayneiqua Edwards. Matthews is reportedly transferring to a school in California and does not intend to play basketball....Air Force's women's team is still under contract to come to Pocatello next fall, but it turns out the Bengals won't be facing their former coach, Ardie McInelley (above), who was fired with two years (and about $355,000) left on her contract. Ardie's last two Falcons teams failed to win a conference game. She finishes her Air Force career with a 57-201 record overall, just 12-124 in Mountain West Conference play. Two former Bengals, ISU Hall of Famer Holly Togiai and Cassie Bro, were on Ardie's staff at the Academy, as was current Bengal assistant Angela Munger.....There has been no confirmation out of Weber State yet, but rumors are flying on the Wildcats message board that swing-man Franklin Session, the Big Sky newcomer of the year, is transferring. This will be a story worth watching...As I've noted many times in the past, a lot of things can happen in the off-season, and most of them (trouble with the law, transfers, academic issues) are bad. The University of Georgia, who will host Idaho State on Nov. 6, is having one of those off-seasons. The Bulldogs recently kicked linebacker Montez Robinson off the team following his arrest for battery, and then suspended freshman quarterback Zach Mettenberger, one of four contenders for their starting quarterback job, from the opening game of the season after his arrest on DUI and other related charges...Former Idaho State offensive coordinator Bruce Barnum, one of the really good guys in coaching, is back in the Big Sky Conference as coordinator at Portland State. Word is "Barney" is introducing the "pistol offense" to the Vikings, which his new head man, Nigel Burton, is bringing with him from Nevada...As expected the State Board of Education approved increases in fees for the three state universities this week, thereby raising the cost of athletic scholarships to athletic departments. The board approved a nine percent increase in Idaho State fees for next year. According to figures ISU submitted to the State Board of Education in February, the athletic department anticipates spending almost $1.7 million on student aid in this fiscal year....Gus Johnson, one of my favorite NBA players to watch as a kid and a former Boise Junior College Bronco and University of Idaho Vandal, was elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame, it was announced this week. Johnson was one of the first great leapers in the game, and he made his name shattering backboards with thunder dunks. Before his pro days, he played three years for the Vandals after a season with then-Boise JC in the early 1960s. While in Moscow, he displayed his great jumping ability at the Corner Club, a local night spot, where he leapt from a standing start and touched a spot on the rafters 11 feet 6 inches off the floor. The owner of the Corner Club put a nail in the rafter where Johnson reached the appex of his leap, and for years athletes and wanna-be's came from miles around to try to touch the nail. Reportedly, even 6-11 UCLA All-American Bill Walton failed in an attempt to hit the nail from a standing start. The nail remained untouched until, ironically, a junior college basketball star named Joey Johnson, who also happened to be a world class high jumper, hit it on his third try while visiting the bar on a trip to a game at North Idaho College in the mid-1980s. Here's the great irony in that: Joey Johnson's father, former Celtics guard Dennis Johnson, was also inducted into this year's Hall of Fame class. Sadly, both Johnsons, Dennis and Gus, have died, Gus of brain cancer at 48, and Dennis at just 52 years of age.

--Brad B.

From Unknown Bengal to SI's Best

Last year at this time, Evan Dietrich-Smith was recovering from the end of Idaho State's 1-11 football season, and plotting how he was going to make a roster in the National Football League. It was a long-shot at best for the Bengal offensive linemen who couldn't even crack the top two all-Big Sky Conference teams his senior season. He wasn't drafted, but the Green Bay Packers took a flier on him as a free agent.

The chances of making an NFL team as an undrafted free agent are astronomical, but Dietrich-Smith beat the odds. The same versatility that allowed him to play all three line positions at Idaho State helped Dietrich-Smith to latch onto a roster spot with Packers. He's played in ten games so far, mostly on special teams. It was on the kicking team that a Sports Illustrated photographer captured the photo above of Dietrich-Smith (62) sending Tampa Bay linebacker Gene Hayes (54) rear end-over-tea kettle. It was selected as one of SI's best photos of the year. It also served as a fitting tribute to the determination of Dietrich-Smith, who is living the dream for one of the NFL's most storied franchises.

(Note to ISU's marketing department: what would make a better Christmas present for ISU fans than an autographed copy of this photo? It would also be a terrific item for the Bengal auction next spring -- I'd bid on it.)

What's Happened to Idaho High School Basketball?

As I was preparing for the ISU-Boise State basketball broadcast last week, I noticed that neither the Broncos nor the Bengals had a single scholarship player on their roster from Idaho. I did a quick check of the University of Idaho's roster and noted they do not have an Idahoan on scholarship, either. I'm sure there's no official stat on that, but I wonder if there's been a time when none of the state's three Division I schools had an Idahoan on scholarship at the same time.

When I first started covering prep sports in Idaho in the 1980s, the state produced more than its share of Division I basketball talent. Players like Donn Holston of Highland (an eventual ISU Hall of Famer), Tom Gneiting of Rigby (BYU), Richie Webb of Bonneville (BYU), Meridian's Scott Johnson (SMU), Danny Conway of Madison (Utah State), Teton's Gary Furniss (Utah State and BYU), Andy Toolson of Twin Falls (BYU and the Utah Jazz), Borah's Tommy Connor (Utah), Skyline's Cleve Lewis (Fresno State) and Pocatello's Wade Wyatt (Utah and Southern Utah) all made their marks in the 1980s. Just a few years before them, two of Idaho's all-time greats, Capital's Brian Welch (Stanford), and Aberdeen's Steve Hayes (my personal choice for the next member of ISU's Ring of Honor) came on the scene.

Today, there are a few Idaho-bred D-1 players (Pocatello's Nick Hansen at Weber State, for example), but not many. Idaho State's string of excellent in-state talent that included Logan Kinghorn, David Schroeder and Matt Stucki came to an end at the conclusion of last season. The Bengals looked at Hansen when he was at College of Southern Idaho, but had already filled their guard quota when ISU got a commitment from Kal Bay. (Given ISU's struggles hitting three-pointers this year, wouldn't Hansen look awful good in a Bengal uniform right now, particularly since Bay and his College of Eastern Utah compadre, Felix Caspari, have both left the program already?)

Bengal assistant coach Geoff Alexander was on our coach's show last night, and he said it's simply been a down period for Division I prospects in the state the last couple of years. He noted that the Bengals hope to refill the Idaho pipeline soon, and are currently recruiting a junior college player with local roots.

From the "Grass Isn't Always Greener" Dept.

Ardie McInelly and Jon Newlee were terrific women's basketball coaches at Idaho State who left for other options. You can't judge happiness solely by Ws and Ls, but you have to wonder if both ever second-guess their decisions to move on. Probably not, but this has been a difficult year for both.

McInelly, who entered this, her ninth season at Air Force Academy with a 54-174 mark is off to a 2-7 season this year. The Falcons have averaged only 237 fans for their home games.

Newlee, meanwhile, got off to a strong start at Idaho last year, lifting a moribund Vandal program to a 13-15 record overall, 10-6 in the Western Athletic Conference, one of the best turnarounds in the nation. The Vandals have slipped backwards this year, however, starting 1-10 and 0-6 at home, where they are averaging only 370 fans per game. They're 0-3 against Big Sky Conference teams, and Jon has had to suspend a couple of players for disciplinary reasons.

Both McInelly and Newlee are excellent coaches. Ardie is in a situation at Air Force, frankly, where victory is not expected. She's had two four-win seasons there and nobody is anticipating the Falcons to contend for an NCAA berth anytime soon. Newlee has a more manageable situation at Idaho, and I fully expect him to bounce back from this year's setback. But the experiences of both McInelly and Newlee after they left Idaho State speaks volumes about how good the situation is at ISU for women's basketball. Current coach Seton Sobolewski has already used those advantages to bring in seven freshmen this year, six of whom are making significant contributions. (The seventh, 6-3 C Ashlee Rigter, hasn't been cleared from a summer knee injury and may require surgery.)

I fully expect Sobolewski to be the next highly successful women's coach at ISU. And when he does, I wonder if he'll look at the experiences of McInelly and Newlee when other programs come calling?

A True National Champion? What a Concept

While all the BCS apologists continue to explain why it's not feasible to have a playoff, the FCS will quietly crown a true national champion in Chattanooga on Friday, when Montana and Villanova square off. I said it last year, and I'll say it again: I'm truly conflicted about who to root for in the national title game. As a Big Sky Conference fan, sure I want Montana to win another national championship. But again, it will only reinforce the notion that the Big Sky is a one-trick pony. No Big Sky school other than Montana has played in a national championship game since Boise State in 1994.

The Wildcats are an interesting team. Like Appalachian State, the team the Griz beat in the semifinals last week, they are led by a dual-threat quarterback named Chris Whitney. The 6-2, 230-pounder is Villanova's leading rusher with 885 yards and six TDS; he's also completed 64 percent of his passes for 17 touchdowns against only 4 picks.

One of Whitney's leading targets is all-American receiver/kick returner Matt Szczur who lines up in the "Wildcat" and averages 7 yards a carry, as well as making 47 catches for 4 TDs. Szczur also averages 28 yards a return on kickoffs and 140 total yards per game.

'Nova really shines on defense, where they hold opponents to just 67 yards and 2.3 yards per carry on the ground. They are led by linebacker Terence Thomas (9 tackles for a loss, 7.5 sacks), and safety John Dempsey (11.5 TFLS, six sacks and two picks). And remember all those names, because everyone of Villanova's key players are juniors. No matter what happens Friday, Villanova will likely be a pre-season top five pick next year.

--Brad B.

And thanks for being a Bengal fan -- it ain't always easy, but it's always fun.