Player of the week awards to two coaches? I’m joking of course.
Perhaps Portland State men’s basketball coach Ken Bone and Mike Adras of Northern Arizona should get some recognition for simply surviving the four-overtime donnybrook between the Lumberjacks and the Vikings Sunday.
The added emotional, nervous and physiological strain of an EXTRA 20 minutes in the 92-91 four-overtime win by the Vikings in Flagstaff most likely took a few volts out of each coach’s battery.
I know, I know. It’s the players who make the plays and decide the game. But any contest waged on such evenly combative terms through four extra periods is most likely the result of two coaches with a plan... who refused to let their players quit either the plan or the game.
I had never watched a four-overtime game. But the overriding final impression I took from this classic game – which I viewed on Big Sky TV – was that no one gave in or gave up for an instant. Not the players. Not their coaches.
Overtime games will often end with a dramatic momentum swing to one team. A deadlocked score after one, or possibly two extra periods frequently pivots on a key play or two. And one team flinches. Suddenly the floodgates open, and one team breaks away, often surging to a final margin near 10 points.
Not Sunday.
This marquee game was a prize fight to the finish.
But to me, the way the Lumberjacks and Vikings battled – on even but fiercely competitive terms – points to the two coaches who got that kind of effort from their players for a full 60 minutes.
More could be pointed out:
For instance, how Adras got guards Josh Wilson and Cameron Jones to directly and successfully attack, on offense, two of the quickest guards in the Big Sky in Dominic Waters and Jeremiah Dominguez. How about the remarkable balance in scoring of NAU’s starting quintet: 18, 11, 13, 21, and 25.
Bone turned a masterful lineup juggling act, adeptly resting his key players at critical junctures, particularly Waters and Phil Nelson for short stretches in the game’s final stages in a venue known for its “altitude.”
Whatever combination of coaching skill and player prowess, this game was nothing short of electric for the final 40 minutes of play. Because no one capitulated.
Afterward, in games of this nature, the loss is etched deeply onto the faces and bodies of players who fell just seconds or points short. Exhaustion takes an immediate toll.
After this one, every coach and player was exhausted.
In my nearly 30 years’ as a sportswriter, I’ve often heard other basketball observers say that a whopping 70 percent of the credit for winning should go to the winning coach. I don’t completely agree.
But for one truly extraordinary Big Sky Conference game my “player of the week” award is going jointly to Northern Arizona’s Mike Adras and Portland State’s Ken Bone.
BIG SKY POWER RANKING
As long as I’ve followed basketball, I’ve always made comparative evaluations. It’s a futile exercise for me because, with each game played I have to revise my comparisons.
Nonetheless, I still considered posting a Big Sky Power Ranking this season.
But there’s no need for one. That’s because Kellis Robinett on his blog, “Kellis Robinett,” is publishing his own Big Sky Men’s Basketball power ranking.
It’s a good one. His ranking rationale is solid. And – beyond the slightest in two spots – I agree completely with Robinett’s ranking.
Check it out here.
I can say this much: the fact that Northern Colorado and Montana State are ranked down in the 8th and 9th spots means little. Each team is good enough in this conference to finish in the top four.
There are some indications that conference play may take on a decided “defensive” look. I’m going to examine this in more detail as conference play proceeds. But there are some surprising statistics already.
• Four teams (ISU, UM, WSU, PSU) are holding opponents to a sub-45 percent shooting average.
• Three teams (ISU, UM, WSU) are averaging 3-plus blocked shots per game.
• Four teams (led by NAU’s 8.29 per game) are averaging well over six steals per game.
Lastly, if statistics are reliable predictors, then the Portland State Vikings will easily win the Big Sky Conference title this season.
