Big Sky seniors shining

  It isn’t hard to see why everybody in the Big Sky believes that Northern Arizona senior Cameron Jones and Northern Colorado senior Devon Beitzel are two of the best players in the conference.

    It’s because both are tough players, no matter which coach’s definition is being used.

    The coaches differed on what makes a player tough, but every coach named Beitzel and Jones as one of the toughest players in the league, whether using the definition of a hard-nosed player who won’t let his team down or simply a player who is difficult to play against.

    “Beitzel, Jones and (Montana guard) Will Cherry are really a handful for us,” Sacramento State coach Brian Katz said. “They give us the most trouble.”

    Northern Arizona coach Mike Adras, who has the fortune to coach Jones, said that part of what makes both players so tough is that they are seniors who have been through the league multiple times and know how to handle the pressure.

    Besides that, they are well aware of how little time is left before they exhaust their eligibility.

    “They know this is it with their careers,” he said. “With each minute that ticks off the clock, it’s ticking off their careers. I think those guys have the mentality that they’re not going down without doing something about it.”

    For the season, Beitzel is averaging 20.3 points a game, with Jones a step behind at 19.7 points.

    “I think about the guys who are consistent,” Montana State coach Brad Huse said. “Certainly, Beitzel comes to mind because he doesn’t get rattled. He’s been very consistent in terms of his production.”

    Several coaches also said they were impressed with Montana center Brian Qvale, who is fourth in the conference in points per game and leads the league in rebounding.

    “Qvale is just tough to guard,” Portland State coach Tyler Geving said. “You can double or triple team him, but he’s still going to score. Defensively, he makes up for a lot of their mistakes. You can be more aggressive on the perimeter knowing you have a 6-foot-11 guy back there.”

    Other players the league’s coaches considered tough were Cherry, Weber State forward Kyle Bullinger, Montana State forward Bobby Howard, Portland State forward Chehales Tapscott and Idaho State forward Chase Grabau.

ONE-TRACK MIND

    Eastern Washington plays both Montana State and Montana this week in its push to make the conference tournament, but don’t try to tell coach Kirk Earlywine that.

    As far as he’s concerned, the Eagles need to be thinking only about facing Montana State tonight, rather than worry about Saturday’s game against Montana at the same time. With so little time left in the season, Earlywine said every game is critical.

    “We can’t look at it as two games at home and three games left,” Earlywine said. “We’re taking the approach that it’s a one-game deal. We’ve got 100 percent of our focus on Montana State tonight.”

    The Eagles and the Bobcats are tied at 5-8, but Montana State currently holds the tiebreaker because it has beaten Eastern Washington once before. If the Eagles win, they could gain the tiebreaker and clinch a bid by beating Weber State next week.

RPI TIEBREAK

    With a week left in the Big Sky season, there is nothing to separate Montana and Northern Colorado in the loss column. Both schools have three conference losses, which came against the same teams.

    The Big Sky announced today that because the first two tiebreakers would not break the tie if the Grizzlies and Bears each win their remaining games, the RPI on March 3 would be used in that scenario, with the higher-rated team receiving the top seed and the right to host the tournament.

    Currently, Montana leads Northern Colorado in that race at 109, while the Bears sit at 121. A loss by either team would enable the second tiebreaker of record against each league foe to break the tie, eliminating the need to use the RPI.

TOO MUCH EMPHASIS

    If Weber State coach Randy Rahe had his way, the cliche that the upcoming game is the biggest game of the year would be eliminated.

    To him, every game is big because it’s a chance to improve his team’s record. Besides that, he thinks that the saying puts an inaccurate emphasis on one night.

    “They’re all important,” Rahe said. “It’s funny, because I listen to guys say that, but what are you going to do if you happen to lose that game? Are you done, because that was the biggest game of the year? ‘No, the next game is (now) the biggest game of the year.’”

Coaches despise BracketBusters

This will be all for one night. I ran this on Saturday before Idaho State played Cal State-Fullerton.

By Dan Angell
dangell@journalnet.com
    If it were up to Idaho State men's basketball coach Joe O'Brien, the Bengals would not be playing Cal State-Fullerton at 7 p.m. tonight at Reed Gym.
    He has no problem with playing the Titans, but he'd rather be playing them early in the season, not as he's trying to lead the Bengals on a late charge to the Big Sky tournament. However, he doesn't see much point in complaining about what he can't control.
    “At least we're home and everybody's doing it,” he said. “That's the way I'm looking at it, because there's nothing I can do about it.”
    O'Brien admitted he opposed the conference's decision to require the league to play in BracketBusters, and he was hardly alone. All nine coaches opposed the decision, with their reactions ranging from acceptance to fury.
    “The schedule's ridiculous,” said one coach, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “What does this (game) have to do with anything? At some point, you go, 'Who are you trying to kid?' This is such a joke.”
    Big Sky commissioner Doug Fullerton heard the complaints from the league's coaches, but decided to put the league in the event anyway because he thought it would improve the league's image.        
    He said the league's teams should be playing at least four Division I home games outside of the Big Sky and saw this as a way to improve that number.
    “Everybody in basketball is connected to everybody else,” Fullerton said. “If someone like Idaho State plays on the road and has losses, they bring those losses back into the league and destroy everyone's RPI. We have got to get a more balanced schedule or we are going to continually not be able to raise the RPI of even our best ball clubs.”
    Several coaches said that was nonsense. One said that despite the coaches being united in opposing the event and the league's athletic directors being split evenly on the issue, the commissioner forced it down their throats without a vote for reasons he can't understand.
    “He believes he's smarter than us and he knows what's best for us better than we do,” a league coach said. “But we do this all day, every day. This is our life. I know what is better for (my) basketball program than Doug Fullerton does.
    “At one point, he said 'All you guys are trying to do is win 20 games and keep your job'. Well, yeah, we're all trying to win 20 games. How is that bad for the conference?”
    Playing in BracketBusters was part of a three-part plan by a committee formed two years ago to find ways for the Big Sky to raise its profile. However, the Big Sky's action there annoyed coaches because the league has not followed the other recommendations.
    One of the recommendations that has not come to fruition was the scheduling of a home-and-home challenge with one or more of the Western Athletic, West Coast or Big West conferences.
    Unanimously, the coaches said they would be in favor of such an event if it was played in November or December, with one asking what had happened to that idea.
    Montana State coach Brad Huse, who coached his team in the event last year when it was not required, was subdued on the issue. He didn't like having to play a non-conference game late in the season any more than the other coaches, but since the league is locked into the event unless it asks out, he wasn't going to waste time arguing.
    Fullerton said that the event's benefits to the league's teams were twofold. Montana earned an appearance on ESPN2 against Long Beach State, which Fullerton said helps the league's exposure. His second point was that the rules of BracketBusters require the teams matched up to meet again the next season at the other team's home court outside of the event, guaranteeing a home-and-home series for teams that have had trouble getting games.
    Montana coach Wayne Tinkle understood that, but although his team benefited the most from BracketBusters, even he had reservations.
    “The thing the coaches don't like is that it disrupts the league schedule,” Tinkle said. “Hopefully we can represent well, but we'll be happy to get it behind us and return to league play.”
    The return game was little consolation to the league's coaches. Before matchups were announced, one coach feared that his team would draw Hawaii, which would force him to play a very costly return game in the next two years. Another was unhappy about throwing additional travel onto an already difficult week and trying to pay for a flight with just 18 days notice, and a third said that their matchup could actually cost his team a home game because it had an agreement in place with the team it was assigned to play for next season.
    Northern Arizona coach Mike Adras said that last example was why the guaranteed return game isn't much incentive for the coaches to participate because they're usually facing teams they could easily schedule. His other issue was that BracketBusters is no longer what it used to be because too many teams play in the event, which waters it down.
    “Five years ago, BracketBusters was a really good event that had great matchups,” Adras said. “There's over 100 teams now, the most teams to participate, and who cares about Sac State and Southeast Missouri State? What does that have to do with BracketBusters?”
    Both Eastern Washington coach Kirk Earlywine and Portland State coach Tyler Geving said they don't mind that BracketBusters exists. They would just rather their teams spend that time playing conference games because the chances that their team — or even their league — might benefit from BracketBusters is very slim.
    “I'm a big fan of the BracketBuster for the Missouri Valley or the Colonial,” Earlywine said. “It can really help Utah State or St. Mary's. For leagues trying to get a second or third team in the NCAA tournament, I think there's tremendous value. I don't think there is for us in the Big Sky.”

Malad's Smith won't be stopped

Here's a story I really liked from last week.

By Dan Angell

dangell@journalnet.com

MALAD — Malad girls' basketball coach Bob Sorensen didn’t hesitate when asked about his senior point guard Shancee Smith. He calls her one of the best point guards in the state.

Smith has run the Dragons' offense for the last three years, two of which have resulted in trips to the 2A state tournament. She tends to think on the same wavelength as Sorensen, having played for him for four years.

On the court, she is the Dragons' best ball handler and her decision making and relationship with her teammates is such that she can set up forwards Jessica Sorensen and Hope Murray for a basket without saying a word.

“Shancee is really the heart and soul of it,” Bob Sorensen said. “She has a drive and desire that doesn't quit and is very aggressive defensively. She doesn't have a slow gear. She's all out or nothing, and I think the world of her.”

She does it all despite being born without a left hand.

“I think having that has been a drive to me,” Smith said. “It's given me the attitude of 'Tell me I can't, and I will.' I have that drive to do the best I can at what I can. If I can't do something, I work on it until I can do it or I find a different way to do it.”

Smith doesn't see having only one hand as a handicap, mostly because it's all she's ever known. While in her mother's womb, the umbilical cord wrapped around Smith's neck, catching her left arm in the process. The cord cut off the circulation to her hand and prevented the hand from ever forming.

However, Smith had no intention of letting that stop her from doing the things she loves. At an early age, she discovered that she enjoyed playing basketball and began playing in the Junior Jazz league in second grade. Even then, she saw nothing odd about her situation. All it meant was that she had to work a little harder than other girls to succeed.

Hard work never has been a problem.

“I was given talent, but I've had lots of hours in the gym since I was little,” she said. “It is something that I've had to work for, which is why I'm so intense in my game. It was never a struggle for me, but because I was playing against the best when I was little, I had to be better and push myself to be better.”

The results of her work even surprised Sorensen. When he started coaching her on the Dragons' junior varsity team in the 2007-08 season, he knew she was good enough to play at that level, but he wondered if Smith's lack of a left hand would hurt her when she moved up to the varsity level.

It never did. During Smith's four years at Malad, neither Sorensen nor her teammates ever have heard her use the excuse of having just one hand. Instead, she uses it as a challenge to prove that she can do what other people think she can't — if they even notice that she has just one good hand, which isn't often.

At a summer camp, the Dragons were playing their third game of the day when an official came over to Sorensen. After working Malad's first two games, the referee finally noticed that the Dragons' point guard had just one working hand.

“Everybody has a dominant hand,” Smith said. “My right is definitely my dominant hand, but it's funny because I like when coaches say 'Push her left!' and then I drive left and dish to a post player for a score. I just smile, 'Yeah, push me left.' When people tell me I can't, I'll prove them wrong, which is the mindset I was born with.” 

That confidence makes her valuable to the Dragons. Even when the opposing team is able to force a turnover after pushing Smith left, she shrugs it off and moves on to the next play.

“There's times I go left and get the ball stolen, but what good point guard doesn't?” she said. “I make mistakes, but when that happens, I regroup and do something to try to redeem myself.”

Those mistakes don't happen often. Murray said she loves playing with Smith because of how well the point guard sees the floor and directs the offense, making her job in the post easier. Besides that, she loves that Smith doesn't let what could have been a major setback bother her.

“She's amazing,” Murray said. “I think it's so funny when other teams try to push her left, because if you see her spin move, then obviously, you probably shouldn't (push her left).

“She's an inspiration to a lot of people. Everyone knows her ... because she's so good.”

Cardinals win first district title since 1990

By Dan Angell

dangell@journalnet.com

SODA SPRINGS — As the buzzer to end overtime in Soda Springs’ 60-57 win over West Side, nobody was more relieved than Soda Springs senior forward James Frankos.

With 1:30 left in regulation and Soda Springs (18-3) ahead 47-44, Frankos had a chance to ice the game when he broke free for a lay-up. Instead, he missed, and West Side’s Jordan Beutler drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game.

After the Cardinals missed a shot, the Pirates (16-6) had a chance to win the game.

However, West Side could not convert on its final possession. That gave Frankos a shot at redemption, and he made the most of it.

In the extra period on Monday at Soda Springs High School, he broke free on a lay-up to give the Cardinals a 55-51 edge, then found fellow senior Seth Stoor for another lay-up that put the game out of West Side’s reach. When Dallas Turnbow’s final shot didn’t go down, Soda Springs had won its first 2A Fifth District championship since 1990.

“We knew the pressure was on us, because they had the ball and we had to get the stop,” Frankos said. “Once that was over with, we felt good going into overtime. The pressure was off and we could make our push again.”

Soda Springs coach Greg Bergholm was pleased to see Frankos and Stoor take over the game. Frankos finished with 13 points, while Stoor added nine, all in the second half.

“That’s what you want your senior leaders and captains to do,” Bergholm said. “They did it. In the overtime, we got some good looks early and got ahead of them. We held our composure and made some good baskets.”

West Side coach Tyler Brown and the Pirates were left frustrated.

In the first minute of the overtime, Soda Springs center Kaden Smith, who led the Cardinals with 14 points, missed the back end of a one-and-one. While Turnbow and Beutler waited for the rebound, Frankos jumped between them, grabbed the ball and quickly put it back up to earn a shooting foul.

“They made plays and we didn’t,” Brown said. “That’s the difference right there. Soda’s gotten us three times in a row, and that’s not lucky. Right now, they’re just better than we are.”

Turnbow had 18 points to lead the Pirates, who will face the loser of tonight’s game between Valley and Wendell at 7 p.m. on Thursday night at American Falls in a 2A state play-in game. West Side would have to win twice more to advance to the state tournament.

Soda Springs advanced to its fifth state tournament in the last seven years, but will go as the district champion for the first time in 21 years. The Cardinals will open the tournament at 1:15 p.m. on March 3 at Capital High School in Boise against an undetermined opponent.

The win was extra special for the Cardinals because of what their coach has been through this season. Bergholm’s wife Angela died a month before the season began, and the team dedicated their year to her memory with patches bearing her initials on their jerseys.

“We’ve been working on (being district champions) all year long,” Stoor said. “That was our goal. We did this season for her, and I’m glad we got this district championship.”

Soda Springs 60, West Side 57

West Side 12 11 12 12 10 — 57

Soda Springs 13 13 7 14 13 — 60

West Side (16-6)

Turnbow 8 0-0 18, Austin 3 0-0 7, Beutler 1 5-6 8, T. Smart 3 3-4 9, J. Smart 3 2-4 8, Cook 1 5-6 7, Totals 19 15-20 57

Soda Springs (18-3)

Smith 6 2-4 14, Frankos 4 5-10 13, Stoor 3 1-4 9, Young 4 2-2 10, Spain 3 1-1 7, McMurray 3 1-2 7, Totals 23 12-23 60

Welcome

I call my blog Angell Town on the Journal's website, now I've got the real Angell Town up. I'll post my stories on here, giving people a place to find what I write. Enjoy.

In case you were wondering, this blog is called Angell Town because I really love Amanda Marshall's music, and it's taken from a line from her song "Fall from Grace", with my name's spelling.