When Going Got Tough, UI Showed Grit Cravens Likes What He Sees In Future; Nic’s Turner Says He’ll Join Vandals

There were a considerable number of folks - Idaho boosters included - who thought the Vandals’ men’s basketball team might mail in the remainder of the season after a 0-2 Big Sky Conference start in January.

The same sentiment prevailed when the Vandals lost a pair of road heartbreakers to Idaho State and Boise State in mid-February, dropping to 3-6 and in danger of missing the conference tournament for the first time in 16 years.

Each time, Idaho responded by winning three of its next five.

“There were two or three points where we could have said, ‘Let’s just show up and play out the string,”’ UI coach Joe Cravens said. “But we never allowed that to happen and that’s a tribute to our seniors (Ben Johnson, Mark Leslie and Todd Spike).”

To their credit, the Vandals rarely lacked effort this season. They just weren’t credited with a lot of wins. Idaho finished 12-15 and lost to Montana State in the first round of the Big Sky Tournament.

“It’s hard to look at this team and say we could have been a lot better,” Cravens said. “It’s easier to say we could have been a lot worse.”

Idaho finished sixth, exactly where it was picked before the season. If UI had Idaho State’s preconference schedule, Cravens said, “We’d have been 15-12 instead of 12-15 and probably feeling a little better about ourselves.”

Cravens believes Idaho could challenge next season, its last in the Big Sky Conference before jumping to the Big West.

The Vandals return starters Shawn Dirden, Harry Harrison and Nate Gardner. Forwards James Jones, who started earlier this year, and Chad Coates saw considerable time. Coates must bulk up to be effective next year and Jones needs to regain lost confidence. Guard Jared Mercer returns after missing the season with a hamstring injury and center Bjorn Magnussen comes off a redshirt year. Freshman Kris Baumann saw limited playing time.

Immediate help should come from Marvin Thomas, a 6-foot-4 point guard, who played with Dirden at Otero Junior College (La Junta, Colo.), and Eddie Turner, a 6-3 guard from North Idaho College. Turner said Monday he has orally committed to UI, but needs summer school credits to earn his A.A. degree.

Lake Washington High (Kirkland, Wash.) 7-footer David Sturing is likely to redshirt.

UI will probably sign two more players.

“We have the nucleus to be very competitive, if we add some people to this club,” said Cravens, who will take his team on a twoweek tour of Hungary in two months. “The Big West figures into everything we’re doing. We’ve got to look at a player and say, ‘Is he a good Big Sky player or is he somebody who can contribute in the Big West?”’

Idaho’s depth was severely taxed at midseason when Kelly Walker (conduct detrimental to team) and Jevon Green (legal troubles) were dismissed. Idaho often was reduced to eight players and bench production was sparse.

Like a tire with a slow leak, Idaho’s starters wore down by the end of the year. For example, at various points in a recent game, the fatigued fivesome all asked for rest. And Harrison’s scoring average dipped during the final month, perhaps because he wasn’t scoring the fastbreak layins he had been making earlier in the year.

Cravens said Idaho is at a similar point of development as Montana last year, when the Grizzlies finished sixth in the league. This year with four starters returning, Montana tied for first place.