On paper, assessing the 2006-07 Vikings season can be a bit confusing. In coach Ken Bone’s second year at the helm, the men’s basketball team posted records of 9-7 in the Big Sky and 19-13 overall–seven games better than the year before. They made the tournament’s semifinals, and lost only by a thread.
Despite those successes, this season may be remembered more for what could have been.
“We were two games away from the NCAA tournament,” Bone said. “To me, that’s the bottom line.”
Getting to that level, something Viking players talked about all season long, was not an outlandish dream. With all cylinders firing, Portland State was a downright scary team.
“We weren’t just perimeter-oriented,” Bone said. “We could score a lot of ways and we could stop people a lot of ways.”
The Vikings began non-conference play with a record of 9-4. Their only losses came at the hands of elite basketball schools (Oregon, Gonzaga, etc.). They even knocked off the PAC-10 Arizona State Sun Devils in Tempe. Dreams of making the NCAA tournament looked like they might be within reach.
But the team didn’t always play to potential. In their Big Sky Conference home opener, the Vikings fell to Montana, a loss that took that early wind out of their sails.
“Looking back, the game that really hurt us was losing here to Montana,” Bone said. “We were playing good ball. We were undefeated at home. “
Bone thought that perhaps winning that game would’ve helped home attendance. The Vikings averaged some 700-odd fans per home game, which meant a lot of seats were left empty.
“In my mind we never got the support that the guys deserved,” he said. “I’m not pointing a finger at anybody, but our attendance is a sad situation. I think the guys deserve better–they’re good basketball players.”
Indeed, there were many exciting and impressive individual performances on the Stott Center floor this season.
Against Idaho State, junior forward Deonte Huff grabbed a school record 18 rebounds to go along with 18 points. A few days later he wrapped his hands around a Big Sky player of the week award as well as being the only Viking to make the all-tournament team.
“Deonte Huff had a really good finish of the season,” Bone said. “He was multi-dimensional offensively, scoring in a variety of ways-driving it, dunking on people, hitting three’s.”
Huff wasn’t the only player to receive player of the week honors. Junior guard Dupree Lucas, senior forward Paul Hafford and junior center Scott Morrison all took home the award. Lucas, a transfer from Xavier, was also named Big Sky newcomer of the year.
The team also blew up a number of old school records. Scott Morrison set new ones for blocked shots, both in a single season (with 70) and overall (134). Thanks to his efforts, the team recorded a new record for blocks (153). Juma Kamara broke another, shooting 44.7 percent from the three-point line.
Lucas led the team in scoring with 13.2 points per game, though Kamara was right on his heels with 12.6. Scott Morrison pulled in the most rebounds, with 6.5 per game.
Even though Bone posted the school’s second-highest win total since joining the Big Sky, he initially felt like the team could’ve accomplished more. And then to Bone, it clicked. The Vikings’ accomplishments were substantial in that they did so with a lack of fan base, a number of road games that schools with bigger athletic programs don’t have to deal with, and a less-than-impressive financial support foundation.
“So when I look back, and in the Big Sky you win 19 games, it probably is pretty good,” Bone said.