Building a winner — Reshaping the last-place Bengals one recruiting class at a time

Doug Lindley/Idaho State Journal

 The cellar of the Big Sky standings is a miserable, ugly and lonely place.

That’s where ISU men’s basketball sits. The Bengals have company — that would be the companionship of the Portland State Vikings, who also finished with a 5-15 conference record in 2012-13 — but, really, that’s not the kind of buddy anyone at Idaho State wants to associate with.

Clearly the best place to reside is at the top of the Big Sky, a place taken over by Weber State and Montana. Those two programs have won 71 and 67 Big Sky contests the previous five seasons, respectively. In contrast, ISU has 29 conference victories to its credit in that time span.

It’s not like the Bengal players have to ask for advice from anyone at Weber or Montana about how much better playing in front of packed gyms during the Big Sky conference tournament is.

No one on the Bengals’ roster even has to leave campus to find Big Sky champions. ISU’s soccer, women’s basketball, volleyball and softball teams all have some experience in that realm.

And their head coach, Bill Evans, an assistant at Montana for four seasons before coming to Idaho State, was part of two Big Sky title teams (2009-10 and 2011-12).

Evans arrived in Missoula after spending 15 years as the head coach at Southern Utah, accumulating 209 wins, the most in school history.   

“I loved my time at Southern Utah, but I think I learned a lot at Montana,” Evans said. “(Montana head coach Wayne) Tinkle gave me an opportunity to step away a little bit from some things, so I got more involved in others.”

At Montana, Evans saw the game from a different perspective. Now, in Pocatello, he’s been handed a rehabilitation project. But that’s a good thing, because Evans says he loves recruiting and developing players.

Evans wakes up in the morning with a smile on his face.

“If you don’t enjoy the process, you oughta do something else,” he said.

Part of the process has been formulating a 2013 recruiting class that can continue remaking the Bengals in Evans’ own vision.

Nnamdi Ezenwa, a senior who played in all 30 games a year ago, will redshirt this year, and Ayibakuro Preh broke his foot working out early in the summer. Preh is expected back by the start of camp, but his foot has been in a boot, limiting his off-season workouts.

Camp does not start until Sept. 27, but even now Evans projects at least two new starters. Either one of those could come from the group of five junior college transfers and three incoming freshmen.

In Evans’ eyes, ISU addressed three areas with the class. The first was depth. And with players like 6-foot-7 Marcus Bradley and 6-foot-11 Ajak Magot, the Bengals have boosted their size and athleticism.

In the backcourt, junior Chris Hansen and senior Tomas Sanchez — ISU’s two top returning scorers — seem like sure locks to start in 2013. And Evans says 6-foot-4 senior Andre Hatchett will move from the four position where he played a year ago to the two this season.

Offensively, the move is minimal for Hatchett as Evans’ system is predicated on spacing the perimeter, but on defense Hatchett’s days of guarding powerful, tall forwards is largely behind him.

Evans could start a lineup that’s 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 and 6-11.

More than anything, the size and the roster depth should help what was Idaho State’s greatest weakness — rebounding.

The Bengals were dead last in rebounding margin in the Big Sky a year ago. Evans’ plan to fix the issue was pretty simple.

“Somebody told me a long time ago, if you want somebody who rebounds, recruit somebody who rebounds,” Evans said.

But it is early, and no plan is concrete. In year two, Evans, his players, Idaho State and Bengal fans want to bury the past and make a move for the postseason tournament. That means a wide-open competition as summer begins to fade.

“They all have a chance to start for us,” Evans said. “I’m going to start the team that’s best for us, not necessarily the best players.”