Don't Look Now, but It's Hoops Time!

I consider the arrival of the Big Sky men's basketball prospectus as the official opening of the basketball season, even though teams can't start practicing for a week and a half. Since I received the prospectus from the Big Sky office last week, I'm already running late in putting together my early, early Big Sky preview. So let's get to it already.

I've sneaked a peak at a couple of college basketball preview magazines on the newsstands, and I'm going to preview the BSC teams in the approximate order the magazines have placed them. I'll give you my predictions as we get closer to the start of the season:

Weber State

Performance Over Last Five Years: The Wildcats have posted a 47-29 record in league play over that time period, including last year's 15-1, regular-season title effort. The Wildcats were shocked by Montana State in the Big Sky semifinals on their own floor just one week after punishing the Bobcats by 20 in Bozeman.

Outlook: With four starters back from a 21-10 team, WSU will very likely be a heavy favorite to win the league again this year. The one missing piece is a big one, however: league MVP Kellen McCoy, an amazing competitor for his size who led WSU in scoring and steals, finished second in assists and was the unchallenged leader of the Wildcats. Guard Damien Lillard, the first true freshman in league history to earn first-team all-league honors, is expected to inherit that leadership mantle. He averaged 11.5 points and 2.87 assists last year, and those numbers should increase significantly this year. Forwards Steve Panos, Kyle Bullinger, Trevor Morris and Darin Mahoney return a combined 33 points and 20 rebounds per game, and Pocatello's Nick Hansen is back after hitting 38 percent of his 3s.

Intriguing Newcomer: Guard/forward Franklin Sessions averaged a double/double at Saddleback JC last year (14.6 points and 10.5 rebounds).

How They Did Against Idaho State: The Wildcats came from behind to win in overtime in Pocatello, then enjoyed a 14-point win in Ogden.

Montana

Performance Over the Last Five Years: The Griz have been 48-28 over that time, including an 11-5 mark last season. They were upset in the first round of the Big Sky tournament by a Montana State team they beat handily twice during the regular season.

Outlook: With Anthony Johnson, the overwhelming pre-season Player of the Year, and three-point specialist Ryan Staudacher (45 percent from 3) both back on the wing, and big men Brian Qvale, Jack McGillis and Derek Selvig upfront, the Griz have a lot of depth and experience. Johnson single-handedly wills the Griz to a lot of wins (although there has been some concern raised on the Montana message board recently about a potential knee injury with Johnson.)

Intriguing Newcomer: The Griz hope 6-6 F Raason Young, a summer pick-up out of traditional JUCO power Hagerston CC, will finally provide a consistent back-to-the-basket presence on the offensive end. Freshman PG Will Cherry out of Oakland is equally intriguing, offering the Griz a true PG they lacked in recent years.

How They Did Against the Bengals: The two teams split, each defending home court by a comfortable margin.

Portland State

Performance Over the Last Five Years: PSU has posted the best record in the league over that period, 50-26. The Vikings took advantage of MSU's two stunning upsets in the league tournament to get back to the Big Dance after finishing 11-5 in the regular season. They lost to Xavier 77-59 in the tourney.

Outlook: The Vikings are the only team in the league with a new coach after Ken Bone took over at Washington State and was replaced by assistant Tyler Geving. PSU lost former Big Sky MVP Jeremiah Dominguez, but they still return plenty of talent, including guard Andre Waters (41 points against NAU), forward Phil Nelson (scored in double figures 17 times), and inside players Jamie Jones and Julius Thomas, who combined for 13 points and 8.5 rebounds a game.

Most Intriguing Newcomer: Melvin Jones, a 5-10 PG, shot 48 percent from three last year at North Idaho Junior College.

How They Did Against the Bengals: After the two teams split home-court blowouts in the regular season, the Vikings won the rubber game, 61-53, in the Big Sky tournament on their way to the league championship.

Montana State

Performance Over the Last Five Years: The Bobcats have been 37-39 in league play over that time, including 6-10 last year, but then they rose from the dead to shock Montana and Weber State in the league tournament before falling to Portland State in the championship game.

Outlook: Who was the real Montana State: the team that barely squeezed into the post-season tournament, or the one that pulled two huge upsets once they got there? The pre-season magazines seem to be saying the later, as they have ranked MSU ahead of an Idaho State team that was three games better during the regular season. Guard Will Bynum and wing men Bobby Howard and Erik Rush combine to return over 30 points per game. MSU will have to find an inside presence to replace leading rebounder Divaldo Mbunga.

Most Intriguing Newcomer: DiMarco Bourgaudt, a 6-5 F from France, got a lot of experience on European club teams.

How They Did Against the Bengals: Idaho State dominated the Bobcats last year, sweeping both games and holding MSU to a Holt Arena record for fewest points in a half.

Idaho State

Performance Over the Last Five Years: The Bengals were 32-44 in Big Sky play, but 25-23 under Joe O'Brien. ISU was 9-7 last year, losing in the semifinals of the league tournament to Portland State.

Outlook: All-league wing man Amorrow Morgan (sixth in the league in scoring, third in assists) leads a group of eight seniors who have played a ton of basketball at Idaho State. The question is: who among those other seven will step up to replace the scoring and leadership of the departed all-league Matt Stucki?

Most Intriguing Newcomer: There aren't many, but long-time Bengal fans are hoping JUCO PG Broderick Gilchrest is the equivalent of Terrence Fleming, who arrived as a one-year transfer in 1994 to lead a veteran Bengal team to a tie for the league regular season title. High-flying F Rolando Little would bring some much-welcomed athleticism if eligible.

Northern Colorado

Performance Over the Last Five Years: The Bears have only been in the league for three years, and they've been 16-32 during that time. Last year was their best at 8-8, and they lost to Idaho State in the first round of the league tournament.

Outlook: Diminutive PG Will Figures (12.1 PPG), outstanding wing shooter Devon Beitzel (49 percent from 3) and a number of role players return. The Bears will have to find a power player to replace the departed Jabril Banks.

Most Intriguing Newcomer: Emmanuel Addo, a 6-7, 230-pound F out of Minnesota, will get the first shot at taking Banks' minutes.

How They Did Against the Bengals: The Bears gave the Bengals matchup fits, but ISU eventually won the season series, including an OT win in the regular season and seven-point post-season victory, both in Holt.

Northern Arizona

Performance Over the Last Five Seasons: The Lumberjacks have been 43-33, including a nice 34-12 run sandwiched in between 4-10 and 5-11 seasons, the later coming last season when the Axers missed the post-season.

Outlook: Cameron Jones (who averaged 15.6 points in league play) and Shane Johannsen (shot 82 percent in the Big Sky) both emerged nicely as sophomores last year. Shane Lepley, 6-10, showed a lot of potential as a freshman. The Axers could be the surprise team in the league if those three continue to develop.

Intriguing Newcomer: Eric Platt, a 6-5 guard, saw a lot of playing time during two seasons at Wyoming. He averaged 6.5 PPG as a freshman for the Cowboys, and will likely line up at the wing opposite Jones.

How They Did Against the Bengals: In one of the key games of the season, NAU blew a big second-half lead against ISU to lose in Flagstaff, then the Bengals punished an injury-depleted Axer team in Reed Gym, 71-49, at the end of the regular season.

Eastern Washington

Performance Over the Last Five Seasons: Eastern has been 34-42 in league play during that time, including back-to-back 6-10 seasons under Kirk Earlywine.

Outlook: The Eagles return leading scorer Benny Valentine, a 5-7 PG, and leading rebounder Brandon Moore, 6-9 C, but that's about all the experienced talent.

Intriguing Newcomer: Would have been Treymayne Johnson, a 6-7 F who was recruited by some heavyweights early on, but I was told over the weekend that he is ineligible. The Eagles are bringing in three freshmen guards and two JUCO forwards, but none of them catch your eye immediately.

How They Did Against the Bengals: The two teams split, each winning on their home courts.

Sacramento State

Peformance the Last Five Seasons: The Hornets have clearly been the worst program in the conference over that time with a 21-55 mark. Their last non-losing season, and the last time they've been in the post-season, was 2004-05, when they went 8-8.

Outlook: Justin Eller, a 6-8 C who averaged 10 points and 6.7 rebounds, and fourth-leading scorer Antonio Flaggs, a 6-3 G who averaged 7.7 points, return. Six junior college transfers and two freshmen lend an air of mystery to the roster.

Intriguing Newcomer: Sultan Toles-Bey, a 5-10 G, averaged 17 points and 5 assists a game at Fresno City College last year.

How They Did Against the Bengals: Sac State earned its only conference victory against the Bengals at home, then ISU blew out the Hornets 74-39 on the last weekend of the regular season.

--Brad B.

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

Thoughts on the New Basketball Schedule

As noted earlier, there are very few gimmes on Idaho State's non-conference basketball schedule again this season, but... a quick glance at the slate that was officially released yesterday shows it's not quite as brutal as last year's. Here's a very rough rundown:

Last year's non-conference, Division I opponents finished with an average RPI of 88, a mean RPI between 80 and 89, and a winning percentage of 62.5 percent. The highest ratest team at the end of the season was Utah at No. 14, and there were a total of five teams (the Utes, Arizona State at 24, Utah State at 28, BYU at 37 and Wisconsin at 42) ranked in the top 50.

By contrast, if you look at last year's numbers and project to this year (which is sheer folly, I admit, but it's the only basis of comparison we have right now), the number for this year's opponents are: average RPI: 122; mean RPI: 94; winning percentage: 55 percent. Only four teams -- Utah, BYU, Utah State and USC (at 39) -- finished in the top 50 last year.

Here are a few other factors that will likely make next year's schedule not quite so tough: USC lost its coach and two NBA draft picks in the off-season, and didn't have a great recruiting year; Missouri-Kansas City (RPI of 309) and Cal-Bakersfield (RPI of 300) replace Hawaii -- at Hawaii (No. 246) and Long Beach State (155) as the lowest rated teams on the ISU schedule. And Utah, the highest-rated team from last year's slate (and one of the two D-I non-conference teams the Bengals beat) lost 7-foot center Luke Neville to graduation.

Frankly, I don't worry a lot about Ws-Ls in the non-conference. ISU is over-scheduled on the road for money (they're playing $380,000 in guarantee games this year), and very few teams in the West can get decent home-and-homes with other comparable D-1 teams. (Boise State fans complain all the time about the lack of marque home games at Taco Bell Arena -- the Broncos would have given a left saddle horn to have Utah, Utah State and BYU all play at their place last year, like the Bengals did.)

Where the Bengals need to get more serious, however, is on the road in Big Sky play. There has been a lot of complaining about the league's decision to go to Friday-Saturday road trips this year (and, for the record, I think it's a dumb idea), and ISU gets two of those: the Montana-Montana State trip (Feb. 5 and 6); and the Portland State-Eastern Washington excursion on the last weekend of the season (Feb. 26-27). Those will be extra challenges, but the truth of the matter is that Idaho State hasn't been a good road team for a long time, even with normal travel time. Over the last three seasons, ISU has won back-to-back road games exactly once--on Jan. 4 and 6 of 2007, when they beat Weber State and Sacramento State. If the Bengals really want to contend for their first regular season conference championship since 1994, they need to ignore any excuses about travel challenges and compete consistently away from home.

Opponent Check

It looks like Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson has settled in on senior Danny Sullivan as his starting quarterback when the Sun Devils host Idaho State in the season opener Sept. 5. Sullivan has put up rather pedestrian numbers in his three years as a backup, and there has been some clamoring for his two young backups, but it appears he's going to get first shot at running the offense against the Bengals.

Meanwhile, over in Norman, Okla., the Sooners continue to roll in the pre-season honors. OU All-American defensive tackle Gerald McCoy and defensive end Jeremy Beal were both named to the Nagurski Award watch list. The award honors the nation's best defensive player. The Sooners held a 50-play scrimmage Tuesday night and, despite the presence of such rugged defensive linemen, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops was very pleased with the play of his offensive line. That's not good news for Sooner opponents, because the O-line was supposed to be one of the few pre-season question marks for OU.

--Brad B.

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

Look Ahead No. 7: Northern Colorado

Here's the thing that's so confounding about Northern Colorado: sure, the Bears
won only one game last season, and that was over a 1-11 Idaho State team. But, Northern Colorado lost five games by seven points or less; gave up only 3.7 yards per rush; was plus-1 in turnovers; and lost by only seven to eventual co-champion Weber State -- in Ogden. With 17 starters coming back from that team, wouldn't you think the Bears would have a decent shot at a .500 or better team?

Ah, but here's the rub: I'm a firm believer that to be a successful football team, you need playmakers -- and Northern Colorado lost its only big-time playmaker from last season when linebacker Cristian Sarmento (above) ran out of eligibility. The numbers show just what a dominating force the 6-1, 220-pound senior was last year: he had 142 tackles, 63 more than the second highest player on the team; he recorded 10 of Northern Colorado's 22 sacks -- nobody else had more than two; and he was significantly involved in his team's positive turnover ratio, forcing five fumbles and recovering two.

Sans Sarmento, Northern Colorado has only one other returning player who remotely approaches the definition of "playmaker": safety Max Hewitt, their leading returning tackler who was honorable mention All-Big Sky as a sophomore last year.

Offensively, the Bears list no one who jumps out at you as a potential star. Quarterback Bryan Waggener, who threw for 14 touchdowns and 15 picks in his first year in Greeley after transferring from Florida, is probably the closest. Even assuming Waggener shows the kind of second-year improvement that is common among quarterbacks, he's still lacking big-time targets and running mates, at least with experience. In a conference where all-American candidates at wide receiver are everywhere, Northern Colorado offers up only Alex Thompson and Brandon Smith, whose production was serviceable with 37 and 36 catches, respectively, but certainly not in the same universe as guys like Tim Toone, Marc Mariani and Aaron Boyce of the conference's more elite programs.

The Bears do return second-leading rusher Tyrone Wilson, who put up 138 yards in the win over Idaho State last year, but 72 of those came on one run and that was Wilson's only 100-plus yard performance of the season.

That Idaho State loss in Greeley was one of the truly down moments in what was a l-o-n-g season. Playing in the sleet and wind, the Bengals averaged a whopping 1.1 yards per rush, even though quarterback Russell Hill was sacked only once. Hill greatly contributed to his own demise, tossing up four interceptions and no touchdowns, and that performance was really the turning point in the way Idaho State coaches began looking at their quarterback situation. From that point forward, Kyle Blum became a serious option for the Bengals.

The Bears will travel to Pocatello this year in what will be game No. 7 for both teams. Northern Colorado opens the season at Kansas, the pre-season pick to finish second in the Big 12 North, then hosts the University of San Diego. The Bears will play four Big Sky games before meeting ISU: at Eastern Washington and Northern Arizona, and against Montana State and Portland State in Greeley.

If a few of those 17 returning starters mature from being JAGs ("just a guy"), or if some of Northern Colorado's newcomers step in to be immediate playmakers, the Bears may be looking at the Idaho State game as more than just an opportunity for their annual Big Sky win (Northern Colorado has won only one conference game a year since officially joining the league four years ago.)

ISU, meanwhile, could be looking at the Bears as a chance to continue some momentum gained from the softest spot in their schedule: home games with Central and Eastern Washington, and a road trip to Sacramento State. Of course, nothing is going to come easy for either one of these programs, at least not this season. One thing is for certain: whoever loses this game is going to feel like a great opportunity was fumbled.

Basketball Scheduling Notes

Both BYU and Utah have released their non-conference schedules, and, as expected, Idaho State is on both slates. The Bengals will play in Provo Nov. 17, and at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City Dec. 5 -- three days after the Utes host defending Big Sky regular season champion Weber State. USC has also announced the Bengals will visit their glistening new basketball arena in Los Angeles on Dec. 11.

ISU hasn't finalized its schedule yet, but I'm told among the other non-conference teams the Bengals will visit are Oregon, Iowa State and, as noted earlier, Notre Dame. Joe O'Brien's team will bring in $380,000 in guarantee money this year. That's not going to be easy money, but it appears the level of competition will be down a notch from last year's killer slate. USC has a new coach and lost several players to the NBA; both Oregon and Iowa State are coming off down seasons.

On the Topic of Guarantees

Boise State announced this week that it will play Virginia Tech at FEDEX Field in Washington DC in 2010 for a $1.25 million payday -- what is believed to be one of the biggest paychecks for a visiting team in NCAA history. The Broncos had said earlier that they were reluctantly abandoning their aversion to big money, one-and-done road games in light of the current economic tough times. They hit a home run with this one -- a big name opponent in the nation's capital and I'm sure it will draw national television coverage.

-Brad B.

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

Critical Period for ISU Basketball Begins

Idaho State will turn over more than half its men's basketball roster next year, and the grunt work for finding new players kicked into high gear this week, with the beginning of the first July "evaluation period. " That's NCAA speak for the period of July 6-15, when coaches can watch potential recruits at the various AAU tournaments scattered across the country.

Idaho State head coach Joe O'Brien (above) and his two assistants, Tim Walsh and Geoff Alexander, are heading off to places like Tulsa and Memphis to watch loose-knit collections of high school kids playing for AAU clubs under volunteer coaches with teammates they may have just met. It's a very difficult environment in which to evaluate how a 17-year-old's talents and temperment will translate to a much more structured and competitive team environment at the collegiate level. Nonetheless, the summer AAU tournaments have become much more important in the recruiting process over the years, and college coaches have no choice but to dive in and take part.

ISU coaches will also evalute players at events set up to showcase junior college players. Then, after a "dead period" from July 16-21, the three Bengal coaches will gather in Las Vegas and Southern California for more AAU action. Throughout the period, they will be comparing notes on players each has seen at their various stops, and making decisions about which potential recruits to focus on.

The Bengals have to be particularly precise in their evaluations this year, because they are looking to bring in as many as eight players and they are limited by NCAA regulations to just 13 on-campus visits. That means the coaches have to really hone in early on players they believe will fit ISU's needs -- and who are really serious about possibly committing to the Idaho State program. The critical on-campus visits can begin Sept. 5, with the early signing period running from Nov. 11 to Nov. 18.

O'Brien has said he hopes to fill about half of those open scholarships during the early signing period, and the other half in the spring. There also remains the possibility he will add another player for the upcoming season. He's still evaluating a couple of potential late recruits, but says he won't take another player just to add a body.

Rolando Little Update

Little, an athletic 6-9 forward who sat out last season as a walk-on at Idaho State, is still progressing toward getting eligible for next season. The Memphis native needs to complete two correspondence courses this summer in order to be eligible for next season, after passing an incredible academic load this past year. Because he walked on without scholarship aid, his family has had to pay a lot of money in out-of-state tuition during that time period.

Little, who has just one year of eligibility left, offers a skill set somewhat reminiscient of former Bengal Slim Millien: he is a big time leaper who can rebound and block shots. He probably doesn't offer the same offensive capabilities as Slim, who was a consistent double-figure scorer. In his last year in junior college, Little averaged about 18 minutes a game, made 65 percent of his field goals, 48 percent of his free throws and attempted only one three-pointer, which he missed. He grabbed five rebounds a game, blocked 36 shots and averaged 7.3 points per game. His assist-to-turnover ratio was a none-too-shiny 12 to 36.

So Little would be a decidely mixed bag if he succeeds in getting eligible, but he definitely offers an athleticism that will be exciting for Bengal fans. What remains to be seen is if he's more disciplined defensively than Slim was. ISU fans will recall the pained look on former Bengal coach Doug Oliver's face brought about by Millien's occasional "matador" approach on the defensive end of the floor.

Speaking of Recruiting

Eastern Washington recently announced the addition of five new men's basketball recruits -- which is noteworthy only because they had already announced the signing of four new players earlier -- but only one of those four managed to get academically eligible. Most Big Sky programs have to take occasional chances on players with risky academic profiles, but losing three-fourths of your commitments indicates EWU's Kirk Earlywine may be in desperation mode.

Congrats to Former Bengal Wrestler

Four-time Big Sky champion John Berry recently earned a spot in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame after receiving the Lifetime Service Award from the Idaho Chapter. Berry coached Idaho high school wrestling for 33 years, including 30 at Sugar-Salem, where he won 10 state championships. Berry, who grew up in Driggs, wrestled at Idaho State from 1969 to 1973, and was elected to the Idaho State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984.

If I ever win the Powerball drawing, I'm going to give Idaho State a million bucks to restart its wrestling program. You could easily fill a roster with outstanding Idaho high school wrestlers and be immediately competitive with the few western schools that are still sponsoring the sport. I understand and appreciate what Title IX has done for the growth of women's athletics at Idaho State and around the country, but one of the true tragedies has been its impact on collegiate wrestling programs.

--Brad B.

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

Farewell to a Coaching Icon

I was shooting the breeze with Idaho State Basketball Coach Joe O'Brien a couple of weeks ago, when he introduced me to his new assistant, Tim Walsh. O'Brien noted that I was from Collinsville, Ill. -- that was instant cred with the two coaches, Walsh and O'Brien, who had spent a lot of time in Illinois High School basketball circles. As I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, Collinsville High School was known around the country for its outstanding high school basketball teams.

Yesterday, I found out the man who coached those teams for 32 years, Vergil Fletcher (above), died one day short of his 94th birthday. Fletcher won over 700 games at Collinsville, including two state championships (1961 and 1965) back in the days when there was only one class in Illinois. One of his best teams -- and his last -- didn't win state. The 1977-78 Kahoks (named for a mythical Indian tribe) featured three future Division I players in Kevin Stallings (Purdue), Steve Ray (Tennessee) and John Belobraydic (Arizona). Despite all that talent, Collinsville lost a close game in the semi-finals to a tough-minded Lockport Central team, and wound up third in the state tournament. Coach Fletcher, then 64, took the opportunity to retire.

Collinsville continued to trade back and forth with Centralia, another Illinois high school (and alma mater of former ISU coach Herb Williams) for the most wins by any high school program in the nation over the next couple of decades, but Kahok basketball would never be the same. Things finally deteriorated so much that in recent years, the team has struggled to win at all, student aparthy is rampant and hardly anyone goes to the "Purple Palace" -- the nickname for Fletcher Gym -- on Friday nights anymore. Coach Fletcher's death really closes the final chapter from those glory days, when the high school gym was jammed on game night, the students turned out in droves and towns people passed down season ticket locations to their children and grandchildren.

I was a student manager for Coach Fletcher one year, and covered the team for the school newspaper another. By the time I was going to school, in the mid-1970s, Coach Fletcher was a calm, no-nonsense guy who had his system ingrained at every junior high school and parochial school in town. Everybody played his 1-2-2 zone press on defense, and every grade school kid in town knew what was coming when the high school point guard called out a play. Although he turned out a lot of excellent guards who would go on to play in college (Rich Knarr at Mississippi State, Stallings at Purdue, his own son Marc at Kansas and Tulane), Fletcher lived and died with his big men. It seemed he could take any high school kid who was 6-6 or taller and turn him into a high percentage shooting, double-figure scorer.

I got to play a role in his system first-hand, when I was a team manager as a sophomore. A new kid, Terry Clark, move into the school district that year. He was a 6-foot-7 bean pole with average athletic ability, but I spent the better part of lunch hour all that sophomore year passing the ball into Clark so he could practice his turn-around jump shot. Two years later, he averaged 20 points a game as a senior.

Catch the ball up high. Fake, turn and square up, shoot with the ball high over your head. Every former Collinsville big man, from eventual college stars like Tom Parker (Kentucky) and Roger Bohnenstiehl (Kansas) to the guys that never made it to the next level but were significant contributors at the high school level, must still wake up in a cold sweat, practicing that catch, fake, turn and shoot in their sleep. My exposure to those sound fundamentals are why I get so irritated to this day when I see 7 footers at the Big Sky level who come into college with no post-up game and clearly a poor coaching foundation.

I had heard that Fletcher used to display a nasty temper in his earlier coaching days, but I never saw it. By that time in his career, he would sit quietly on the bench throughout the game, a rolled up program in his hand in a Woodenesque type of gesture. He spoke mostly during timeouts, and his instructions were clear, to the point and usually without a great deal of elaboration. The players, most of whom had been playing in his "system" since fifth grade, didn't need a great deal of instruction on strategy. And Coach Fletcher had adopted the notion that if you wanted your players to compete with poise under pressure, it was probably a good thing if the coach displayed similar restraint.

Coach V wasn't without his critics. Some folks said he wasn't a great coach because he didn't adapt his system to his opponent, or to the times. Some people criticized the hold he had over the school district, where some concluded he was really running things. He was accused of nepotism for letting his two sons run the point during their playing days at Collinsville, and he certainly gave Marc, a 6-5 all-stater who averaged 28 points a game his senior year, a lot more freedom to shoot than most of his point guards.

So his death earlier this week only confirmed that Coach V was, indeed, human. But for a young man whose earliest memories included going down to the street corner and staking out a spot on a cold, blustery March day in 1965 to wait for the state champions to parade by, it was the rarest form of humanity: success with dignity.

--Brad B.

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