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Owls look back on a year for the record book
March 18, 2007
Their faces were etched in pain, their eyes blank, devoid of emotion.
A season-ending loss to Indiana Wesleyan at the NAIA Division II men's national basketball tournament hurt worse than other losses during the season.
Some players wished not to talk about it.
Others did, but in muted tones.
Despite the loss, the Hustlin' Owls and their five seniors, will have more than a few memories to look back upon after they finished the year with a 28-5 record.
Their .848 win-loss percentage is the third highest in school history, eclipsed only by the 1986-87 team that went 33-5 (.868), and the 1996-97 team that was 30-5 (.857).
“The fact, maybe for the seniors, that this year's tournament is so wide open, it's disappointing,” Danny Mills said of the 95-82 loss to Wesleyan.
“But,” he said, “we can look back and be proud that we made the top 16 teams in the country.”
Mills, Level Hesia, Alan Johnson, Souleymane Traore and Joshua Garrett saw their collegiate basketball careers end at College of the Ozarks' Keeter Gymnasium.
“I wouldn't know how to sum it all up, it's gone by so fast,” Hesia, the 5-foot-5 dynamo who became a fan favorite, said. “It will take awhile to take it all in.
“But, some teams never get to play (at a national tournament) and I've been able to win games there. How fortunate is that?”
Veteran coach Danny Miles, who became the 10th men's college basketball coach to reach 800 career wins, said there are plenty of ways to measure a season.
One is to make the Final Four at nationals.
OIT came up two wins short of that accomplishment this year, and would have had to beat the eventual tournament champion, MidAmerica Nazarene of Kansas, in the quarterfinals to do so.
Another is by percentage.
OIT picked to win
“This was a very good basketball team,” Miles said of the Hustlin' Owls, who had been picked to win the Cascade Collegiate Conference championship for an unprecedented seventh straight year.
OIT, which trailed Warner Pacific by three games at the halfway point of the season, won its final nine games, including a win at Warner Pacific, to tie the Knights for the league title.
“What I'm happiest about this season is that we went from worst to first defensively in the conference,” Miles said. “We made great strides in our defense this year.”
Miles said it gets more difficult each year, especially playing in the national tournament, something Hesia and Johnson did for a record fourth time.
“The parity at our level, like it is at the NCAA Division I level, is getting better every year,” Miles said. “It's incredible to see what happened, and it will continue.
“The years of 30-win season are almost over.”
OIT, in Miles' 36 years, has had five 30-win seasons, the last coming in 2003-04 when the Hustlin' Owls won the NAIA Division II national championship.
Owls expected to win
“Once I got here, got into the winning culture, I felt, every day, that we could go out and beat anybody we played,” Mills said.
“This is an experience I will never forget. The good times, the chemistry we have here is special. From friends for life to winning two conference championships, a Final Four and two Sweet Sixteens, it's a special accomplishment.”
Hesia, one of three local players on this year's team, said playing for the Owls was an honor.
“I grew up watching OIT basketball,” Hesia said. “In my career, I proved a lot of people wrong, and am grateful for all of those people who supported me.”
Hesia top scorer
Hesia became OIT's career scoring leader (2,109 points), finished second in three-point field goals made (241) and passed his uncle, Willie Hall, to move into third place on the career assist chart (588).
“But the three things I'm most proud of is winning the most games (he played in 112 OIT wins), winning 10 games at the national tournament and being a three-time All-American,” he said.
All five seniors will graduate, and Johnson said leaving Branson, Mo., after his final national tournament was strange.
“It's weird to be in a transition stage in your life, but, in the last five years, I've had so much fun with five different teams. Now I'm going to work and starting a job.
“Basketball was a bonus. I knew I wanted a good education, which is why I came to OIT.”
When finals are done this week, Johnson will have about a month before he reports to work, using his civil engineering degree in Anchorage, Alaska.
Johnson's brother played
“I was really happy I could play with my younger brother (Brent), which is the main reason I stayed this season,” Johnson said.
“This year is the one time I was playing basketball rather than going to school, and it was fun, too, for my parents because they could watch us play. That was special.”
Now, Miles begins the search for players to fill the gaps left by the graduation of the five seniors, and the coach has a line of several players.
“We lose five seniors, and lose 5,000 points,” Miles said. “Every year you lose four or five guys, but this will be a major recruiting year and we have four quality guys on line.”
Two starters will return next season, along with several other players who saw action this year.
“It will be curious to watch these guys play next year,” Hesia said. “You've to know your history and we're all just adding on to what other people built here.”
OWL HOOTS
Miles finished the season with a career record of 816-351 (.6992). OIT's win over Northwood of Florida in the first round of the national tournament moved Miles into ninth place on the career win chart. He passed Jerry Johnson of Lemoyne-Owen College.
Fiegi moved past Dave Carrigan, LaMont Swinson and Mel Farris on OIT's career scoring chart into 14th place with 1,177 points.
Johnson leaves having played in the second most wins of any player in his OIT career with 109.
At the hotel where OIT stayed in Branson, the manager wrote on an easel: “Thank's guys. Better luck next year. We're still PROUD of you.”
Throughout the week, gasoline prices in Branson were stable between 2.29 and 2.41 cents a gallon.
- By Steve Matthies
Their faces were etched in pain, their eyes blank, devoid of emotion.
A season-ending loss to Indiana Wesleyan at the NAIA Division II men's national basketball tournament hurt worse than other losses during the season.
Some players wished not to talk about it.
Others did, but in muted tones.
Despite the loss, the Hustlin' Owls and their five seniors, will have more than a few memories to look back upon after they finished the year with a 28-5 record.
Their .848 win-loss percentage is the third highest in school history, eclipsed only by the 1986-87 team that went 33-5 (.868), and the 1996-97 team that was 30-5 (.857).
“The fact, maybe for the seniors, that this year's tournament is so wide open, it's disappointing,” Danny Mills said of the 95-82 loss to Wesleyan.
“But,” he said, “we can look back and be proud that we made the top 16 teams in the country.”
Mills, Level Hesia, Alan Johnson, Souleymane Traore and Joshua Garrett saw their collegiate basketball careers end at College of the Ozarks' Keeter Gymnasium.
“I wouldn't know how to sum it all up, it's gone by so fast,” Hesia, the 5-foot-5 dynamo who became a fan favorite, said. “It will take awhile to take it all in.
“But, some teams never get to play (at a national tournament) and I've been able to win games there. How fortunate is that?”
Veteran coach Danny Miles, who became the 10th men's college basketball coach to reach 800 career wins, said there are plenty of ways to measure a season.
One is to make the Final Four at nationals.
OIT came up two wins short of that accomplishment this year, and would have had to beat the eventual tournament champion, MidAmerica Nazarene of Kansas, in the quarterfinals to do so.
Another is by percentage.
OIT picked to win
“This was a very good basketball team,” Miles said of the Hustlin' Owls, who had been picked to win the Cascade Collegiate Conference championship for an unprecedented seventh straight year.
OIT, which trailed Warner Pacific by three games at the halfway point of the season, won its final nine games, including a win at Warner Pacific, to tie the Knights for the league title.
“What I'm happiest about this season is that we went from worst to first defensively in the conference,” Miles said. “We made great strides in our defense this year.”
Miles said it gets more difficult each year, especially playing in the national tournament, something Hesia and Johnson did for a record fourth time.
“The parity at our level, like it is at the NCAA Division I level, is getting better every year,” Miles said. “It's incredible to see what happened, and it will continue.
“The years of 30-win season are almost over.”
OIT, in Miles' 36 years, has had five 30-win seasons, the last coming in 2003-04 when the Hustlin' Owls won the NAIA Division II national championship.
Owls expected to win
“Once I got here, got into the winning culture, I felt, every day, that we could go out and beat anybody we played,” Mills said.
“This is an experience I will never forget. The good times, the chemistry we have here is special. From friends for life to winning two conference championships, a Final Four and two Sweet Sixteens, it's a special accomplishment.”
Hesia, one of three local players on this year's team, said playing for the Owls was an honor.
“I grew up watching OIT basketball,” Hesia said. “In my career, I proved a lot of people wrong, and am grateful for all of those people who supported me.”
Hesia top scorer
Hesia became OIT's career scoring leader (2,109 points), finished second in three-point field goals made (241) and passed his uncle, Willie Hall, to move into third place on the career assist chart (588).
“But the three things I'm most proud of is winning the most games (he played in 112 OIT wins), winning 10 games at the national tournament and being a three-time All-American,” he said.
All five seniors will graduate, and Johnson said leaving Branson, Mo., after his final national tournament was strange.
“It's weird to be in a transition stage in your life, but, in the last five years, I've had so much fun with five different teams. Now I'm going to work and starting a job.
“Basketball was a bonus. I knew I wanted a good education, which is why I came to OIT.”
When finals are done this week, Johnson will have about a month before he reports to work, using his civil engineering degree in Anchorage, Alaska.
Johnson's brother played
“I was really happy I could play with my younger brother (Brent), which is the main reason I stayed this season,” Johnson said.
“This year is the one time I was playing basketball rather than going to school, and it was fun, too, for my parents because they could watch us play. That was special.”
Now, Miles begins the search for players to fill the gaps left by the graduation of the five seniors, and the coach has a line of several players.
“We lose five seniors, and lose 5,000 points,” Miles said. “Every year you lose four or five guys, but this will be a major recruiting year and we have four quality guys on line.”
Two starters will return next season, along with several other players who saw action this year.
“It will be curious to watch these guys play next year,” Hesia said. “You've to know your history and we're all just adding on to what other people built here.”
OWL HOOTS
- By Steve Matthies
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