Coach Killingsworth’s Bengals are a program that is based in a town basically in the middle of nowhere.   As these kids got used to White Bread Idaho stuck in the middle of an old railroad town they had nothing better to do on those cold Eastern Idaho winter nights than to play basketball.  Knowing this is not the number one place for kids to want to come to the Bengals have recruited uniquely over their history.  Kids born in the Gem State and anywhere near Pocatello are the ones they go after for long term commitments.  But that is not enough, at least not in today’s world, and so Killingsworth and his staff beat the bushes of JC’s and Community Colleges trying to find kids that have slipped through the cracks.  They have not fully leaped into the transfer portal but that is almost assuredly coming.  The problem with this philosophy is continuity and consistency.  The Bengals have long been a roller coaster program with huge up years and then extreme down years to follow.  Last year was a down year so the hope is Pocatello is that this is an up year and they can once again sit atop the Big Sky.  Let’s look at the long-term players first for this program. 

When you talk of the Bengals you must begin with junior big man Steve Hayes.  Hayes is quite arguably the best player ever born in the Potato State (American Falls) and is fast becoming one of the best players in the Big Sky conference.  Hayes uses his seven foot frame to his utmost advantage.  A good shot blocker, Hayes made other teams think about coming into the paint against the Bengals.  He is an Aircraft Carrier who knows how to thwart oncoming vessels who wander into his Seas.  Hayes is also solid on the offensive end.  He is not one of those projects that teams wait forever on because they are seven footers.  This small town kid has arrived.  Armed with a solid array of low post moves including a solid turnaround and the best sky hook North of Westwood, Hayes was the number one option at all times for the Bengals.  Hayes has shown he also has the ability to step up against bigger and better (IDK if they were that much better after all) competition.  He had a classic showdown with Bob Kurland which he held his own and had a monster game against behemoth James Edwards and Bob Houbregs.  This kid can play and if Killingworth can find a few JC kids to surround him and his sidekick up front the Bengals should be just fine in the Big Sky. 

If Hayes was the big man in the middle than the Top Cat of the Bengals backcourt has got to be senior guard Ron Boone.  Boone is the unequivocal leader of the team and also the team mother.  At 6’2 and a solid 200 lbs Boone does whatever Killingsworth asks him to do on the court and plays wherever he is needed.  He plays point to start games and then switches to the two in certain lineups.  He led the team in both scoring and assists.    He does anything it takes to win.  But what he really is best at is just playing an all-around great game of basketball.  To show how important this Senior stud was he missed four games all year and the Striped Cats lost them all.  He got the nickname the ‘Legend’ around the ISU campus which carried out to the Big Sky Conference for the way he was always ready to play and his cool demeanor.  Though it feels like Boone has been in this area forever Oklahoma is his birthplace and the ‘Chief’ has Indian Blood.  He grew up in North Omaha where he loved Baseball much more than basketball (can you imagine Boone as a shortstop?-Wow) and hung out with a great group of up and comers including the brothers of Johnnie Rodgers and Bob Gibson.   Boone is a terrific athlete who is always in shape and does not seem have a weakness. He is also one of the most cerebral players playing the game.  His ability to communicate with his teammates and make sure they are in the right place makes this team so much better especially when you consider there is always new guys on the roster due to their constant turnover with JC players.  He might not be on highlight reels but he is as well respected as any player in this league and maybe in the West. 

Seniors Les Roh and Art Crump will start the season next to Boone and Hayes for Killingworth.  These two have been good players in Pokey for the last three years and will be counted on once again if this team is to beat out nemesis Weber State for the title.  Roh is a 6’0 170 pound wing from Hardin Montana who uses his quickness to his advantage and is a true team player.   He was the star back in the day when ISU was winning regularly but also went through the down years.  He is a solid all-around player who can score from anywhere but is not as athletic as some of the wings Killingsworth has brought in from the JC ranks.  The good thing about that is that there are more coming and Roh knows this and if he wants to continue to row the boat as a started he will need to be more selective in his shooting.  This kid loves the new three point line but shooting 34% with high volume is not going to keep you on the court.  Crump is a solid all-around player who is a bit undersized for the post he was playing until this year but is tough and productive when he is on the court.  This Gary Indiana product (no he does not know Michael or his brothers but has been asked that about 1000 times in Pokey)  has the athleticism to play the wing and can really score but does not have a complete skill set for guarding quicker players.  The skill he does have is rebounding but at six five 200 pound was not going to play post anymore and this is a hard transition.  How much he plays really depends on this adapting to defending better athletes and how good the JC class is this year.  Some say that Killingsworth might have brought the best group of transfers to Pocatello of any program in the country.  I don’t know how much quality but he definitely has quantity with 7 Juco transfers and 1 more portal kid coming in from rival Wyoming.  These kids will define how good this winter is going to be in this railroad town.       Coach Killingsworth should be blessed to have a plethora of talented scorers at the wings coming off the bench.  Seniors Sam Beckham, Jim Rodgers, Lloyd Harris and Frank Swopes can all score and sophomore hometown stud Donn Holston is the complete package.  All of these guys go 6’1 or 6’2 and have produced some big games for the Bengals.  They learned last year that Killingworth would indeed bring in some new talent to give this program some juic and have accepted limited roles moving forward.  Beckham came all the way from Lynch Kentucky and was the first star here for the Bengals.  He can score from anywhere but like the other three seniors lacks the athleticism of the new guys.  Swopes and Rogers both started here once but are well down the benchat this time.  Harris is a local kid , Rexburg, who is popular with the fans but having Holston come aboard has given the Pocatelloians their own guy to root for.  Holston is a 6’5 stud who is can do it all.  He is a good defensive player who has range, can run the court and helps on the boards.  He needs to play as Killingsworth can play all JC kids.  Or can he? 

As we have stated, Killingsworth loves (had to) going the route of the JC transfer and a few of these cats are coming back for their second (and last year) in Pocatello.  Seniors Dave Wagnon, O’Neill Simmons and Charley Parks are a trio that were productive in their first season in this rural community one they got their feet wet in D-1 basketball.  Wagnon is a tough local kid (Weiser Idaho, home of a world renowned fiddle festival-Really, I can’t make that up) who can score but is not a modern style wing.  He adapted quicker than his peers as he went to Boise Junior College (now the Boise State Broncos and one of the Bengals biggest rivals) as he understands small town Idaho and what that entails.  This 6’2 190 physical beast spent most of last season as the main option off the bench and almost averaged double figures in points.  Wagnon can score but can he defend and he will he be able to keep his role when the Juco studs come into town on the railway?   Speaking of kids coming this way on the railway, Simmons fell in love with Idaho so much he recruited his sidekick from his days playing at Vincennes Junior College and he is on the train as we speak.  Simmons not only has a wonderful name that sounds like he should be writing novels but he is also a terrific player.  A six foot point guard Simmons has brought a style of play to the Bengals they have not had in the past.  He flat pushed the ball up the court and gave this offense the type of energy and pizazz it needs.  It took a while for Simmons to get his feet wet but once he did he was off to the races with his teammates in tow.  He did not start many games last year but his instant energy off the bench catapulted this team to prominence not only in the Big Sky but on the West Coast.  Simmons is a terrific passer who can run a break with the best of them and is adept at the alley oop that seems to have come out of a comic strip, it is such a cool play.  Now, as you can see, other kids want a second chance here as the Bengals led their conference in scoring as they might not quite be UNLV but with O’Neill running the show this team plays a fun type of basketball.  Parks might be the best of the three and that is saying something.  A 6’5 wing from San Francisco Community College this kid is a terrific one on one player.  He played too much out of position last year at the 4 when he is really a perimeter guy that can hit open 15 footers all day.  He is athletic and helps on the boards but he is best taking guys off the dribble and running the court and finishing with gusto on an alley oop from Simmons.  This trio is terrific but they might pale in comparison to the kids coming to Idaho this year including arguably the best player ever to head this way and Simmons’s besty buddy, Willie Humes. 

Humes is from a big time Indiana hoops family and can beat anyone off the dribble.  He may have been the best offensive player on the team and once he became eligible he immediately became arguably the best bench player in the league.  Humes is not a great long range shooter but he was instant offense as he can flat get to the hole.  Butler on the other hand can flat throw it in from the parking lot and can play a little point as well.  He is adept at posting up other guards so Killingsworth likes to get him the ball and let him do his thing.  He started next to Boone once he got into the lineup (and that means the next game after his showdown with Freeman Williams) and the rest is history.  Killingsworth brought these kids in to be able to compete athletically with the new brand of modern basketball and he got what he wanted.  These kids could score in bunches inside and out and the Bengals were ready to roll.  The problem was none of these guys were especially defense conscious and you could not put all Butler and Humes on the court together for long periods of time.  Still, the Bengal fans loved to watch these two score.  And score they did as the duo averaged more than 25 points a game between them after they came up from the Juco ranks.   

Another Junior JC transfer might have been even more important than the scoring machines off the wing.  ‘Easy’ Ed Thompson was the little engine who made the machine go off the bench.  He is a true point guard and allows Boone to play the two.  Killingsworth used this lineup often down the stretch and it worked because Thompson is a gamer.  Thompson is a ‘cat’ quick penetrator who loves to dish to teammates. And when he gets hot watch out.    He can also harass the other teams mighty mites all day with his six five frame and allowed the less defensive duo of Humes and Butler to guard the lesser of the two guards.  Thompson brought leadership and stability to a team filled with scorers.  After all someone has to get them the ball. 

The player who improved the most for the Bengals is junior power forward Jeff Cook. Cook stepped in when Crump missed a few games with pneumonia.   Cook was a green recruit from West Covina California who barely played his freshman year. A 6’10 215 pounder he needed to ‘grow into his body’ as they say and get some strength on that thin frame.  He has done this with two years spending as much time in the weight room as on the court and really came on as a perfect complement to Hayes down low.   A terrific rebounder, Cook can defend big guys and will mix it up.  He does not worry about scoring but can hit the open shot if left open too long. Cook also plays center when Hayes was resting.  He is the kind of role player all teams need to succeed as he is a terrific passer from the high post.  The ‘Captain’, much like his namesake, really gets around the court for a big man.  The trip to Hawaii last year to play the Rainbows was his coming out party as Cook blocked 3 shots, grabbed 10 boards and scored 11 points including a game winning 15 footer at the buzzer.  He might not ever be a big time scorer but this blonde bomber can play and does more of the little things it takes to win than anyone on this roster.  

 High flying junior Greg Griffin became the crowd favorite in Pocatello.  A gifted athlete, Griffin transformed his game from being a dunker into being a solid all around player.  He plays both the 3 and 4 spots and can rebound and really is becoming a solid defensive stopper when he wants to.  The smooth lefty can hit an open shot and fills the void this team had for an athlete who can match up with the other team great athletes on the wings.  His transformation was fun to watch but he still raised the roof on the Kibbie Dome with some tremendous throwdowns.  Athletic six seven wings like Griffin do not usually end up in Pocatello Idaho and this kid from Pasadena like most of his Juco friends had a hard time transitioning to the slow lifestyle and the primarily white rural town.  Some like Thompson and Griffin were ready to leave midway through the season when things were not looking so good and it took the intervention of some of the hometown subs like Scott Goold and Steve Hayes to make their new teammates ‘fit in.’   These teambuilding nights included sharing their disdain for the taskmaster of a coach (hence the nickname Killer) and some good old fashioned Urban Cowboy nights at the old Green Tea including trips on the Mechanical Bull.  Whatever happened it worked and by the end of the year this bunch of hodge podge players from across the spectrum of race, class and geography bonded together into one heck of a team. 

 The one thing that happens when a coach brings in all of this JC talent is that it is hard for a program to stay relevant and to develop their young talent.  Most of the Upperclassmen got pushed to either the deep bench or the JV last year and probably will this year if they can’t fight off the JC kids coming to town.  The future could be bad in Pokey with not a bunch of young talent developing but Killingsworth knows where his bread is buttered and is taking the team on an extended road trip in the middle of the year.  Most Western teams stay close to home as even then in the wide open spaces of the Big Sky and beyond travel can be brutal.  Killingsworth will take his kids to the Midwest, East Coast and even Texas to show off the brand and so some recruiting.  If sure worked last year as all these kids coming to Pocatello can attest but out of 14 in coming recruits 9 are either JUCO or portal players.  Of course there are a few four year guys the Bengals are trying to develop though many did not get off the JV last year.  A few did get the chance and ran with it.  Junior Brand Robinson and Sophomore Jim Rhode on the wing and fellow sophomore Dale Wilkinson on the post gave Killingsworth depth and another couple of studs to rotate in.  Rhode is a tenacious lefty who is tough as nails and clutch as they come.  This 6’3 kid propelled the JV to the finals of the Big Sky tourney last year (Holston stepped down for this one as well) with his shot making and desire and leadership.  Wilkinson will give the Bengals some size off the bench and the depth up front any good team has got to have.  He is not Hayes and is even more physical than Cook.  Robinson  can play on both ends and is solid and best of all consistent.   These guys might not get many minutes this year especially when some of the Juco kids get acclimated to this small town but they are gamers.  And every program needs gamers! 

Coach Jim Killingsworth has the talent in Pocatello Idaho to compete for the Big Sky conference title.  He just has to put the pieces together and that meant bringing in a train load of Juco transfers to make it work.  This railroad town has some long, cold winters but basketball keeps the people warm.  Or at least out of the weather in Old Reed Gym!   With the attitude of the future is now the Bengals want to compete with Big Sky powerhouse Weber State.  Ogden, where the Wildcats roam, is less than two hours straight south down 1-5 and is a suburb of Salt Lake City. There is some good basketball played in these parts as WAC powers Utah and BYU and Big West studs Utah State are all located in this same region.  The Bengals from just over the border in Idaho but like all of Eastern Idaho having a huge Mormon population have not had the success they have had in the past and have fallen behind their brethren on the court.  Killingsworth has promised to return this program to glory and though he might be sacrificing the future, the Bengals might just be the team to beat in the Big Sky this year.