Augustana College Athletics

One of the more unique success stories in the storied history of Augustana athletics was authored by the 1992-93 men’s basketball team. A core nucleus of six seniors (Josh Thompson, Aben Cooper, Kirk Anderson, Eric Rowell, Cardenal Collins and Brian Moe) helped lead third year head coach Steve Yount’s Vikings to the NCAA Division III Final Four in Buffalo, New York and a second-place finish in the nation. That same group had suffered through a 7-19 campaign during their freshmen season of 1989-90.

The script got flipped in their sophomore season as Yount took over and the Blue & Gold went 19-7 in 1990-91. In 1991- 92 they were 18-8 and Yount knew the signs were there for a “pretty good” 1992-93 season.

“We thought we were going to be pretty good,” said Yount as he reflected on that magical campaign. “We had those six seniors and they provided great leadership. Then we added some pretty good pieces to the starting lineup in Rick Kelley and Tom Wise and things clicked.”

That elusive magic called “chemistry”, which all athletic teams try to capture but few can bottle it, was one of the big keys to this group’s success.

“It was one of those rare occasions where everyone understood his role,” said Yount, who was named the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin and NCAA Division III Midwest Region “Coach of the Year” after his team went 24-7 overall. “We had a unique group that didn’t really care who got the points or the accolades. They just wanted to win, and they genuinely cared for one another. Those seniors came a long way and they set the tone. We also had guys who came from winning programs in high school and that helped a lot.”

It also helped that the team had a pair of All-Americans in Anderson, a sharp-shooting guard, and Cooper, a smooth-as- silk post player who was an extremely tough matchup. Anderson finished the year setting a school record for points in a single season with 734 and he wound up fourth on the school’s all-time career list with 1,528 points. Cooper scored 529 points to end up sixth on the single season list.

“We were tough to guard,” reflected Yount. “Kirk was just a phenomenal shooter, and we certainly didn’t put any limits on him and Aben made himself into a tremendous post player. The rest of those guys like Josh, Rick, Tommy and those bench guys were all great contributors.”

Thompson was the center and he had great passing skills which led to 81 assists, second on the team while he averaged 13.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Kelley ran the team from the point guard position and led the Vikings with 131 assists. Wise usually drew the top defensive assignment. The Vikings played 31 games that year with Cooper, Thompson and Kelley starting every contest with Anderson and Wise getting the nod in 30 games, so the lineup was extremely consistent.

Yount could also count on a deep bench with junior Layne Pitzer and freshmen Brent Shreeves and Mike Radue creating havoc on the defensive end and Collins, Moe and Rowell providing senior leadership when needed.

“We played a great schedule that year and the mentality in our locker room was that we didn’t fear anyone,” he remembered. “We were really battle tested so when we got into the NCAA Tournament, I think our guys were just looking for the opportunity to show people what we could do. We certainly never played scared.”

Things got off to an auspicious start with a 71-68 home loss to Beloit in the season opener. The defeat “sort of woke us up” according to Yount and the Vikings ripped off six wins in a row, including a narrow 84-82 win at Quad City rival St. Ambrose when Thompson hit a basket to put his team ahead after the Vikings had squandered a big lead in the final minutes.

With a 6-1 record, Augustana headed to California and dropped two games to NCAA Division II opponents. The first game was a 94-83 defeat at the hands of Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo and the next night the Vikings fell to Cal-Bakersfield 82-70. The Roadrunners would go on to win the NCAA Division II national title that year with an undefeated record.

Four straight wins followed the trip to California before a mid-January road trip resulted in a loss at CCIW opponent Millikin and an 86-73 defeat at the hands of NCAA Division I St. Louis. The Vikings were 10-5 overall and 3-1 in the CCIW heading into a road game at North Central on January 23. In a game which sparked an eight-game winning streak, Augustana prevailed 71-69. The Vikings were clinging to a 68-66 lead when Radue was fouled with seven seconds left. He made the first and missed the second, but Thompson grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He drained both charity shots for a 71-66 lead and a three-point field goal by the Cardinals at the buzzer was meaningless.

That win really started things rolling and Augustana rolled up six double digit victories in a row, including an 82-65 win at Carthage on February 13. That win clinched at least a tie for the CCIW title, but Anderson hurt his ankle and he was sidelined for the February 17 game in Bloomington against Illinois Wesleyan.

Facing the defending CCIW champion Titans, the game, for all practical purposes, was over as Wesleyan led 68-62 with 1:38 left in the game and Cooper and Wise had fouled out. To make matters worse, IWU had the ball and had made 22 straight free throws up to that point in the second half. But this Viking group showed its grit as they forced a turnover, and Kelley made a basket at the 1:35 mark to cut the lead to 68-64. The pesky Vikings stole the inbounds pass, and Kelley nailed a three-point field goal at 1:27 with defenders draped all over him. That trimmed the margin to 68-67. After an IWU free throw put the lead at 69-67, Radue banked in a three pointer from the top of the key to give Augustana a 70-69 lead with :53 left. The Titans hit one free throw at :38 to tie the game and the Vikings were unable to score on their possession to force overtime. In the extra period Thompson, who picked up the scoring slack with 29 points on this night, scored four points and the Vikings held on for a hard-fought 79-78 win to clinch the CCIW title outright.

After a road loss at North Park and a home win over Elmhurst to end the season, the Vikings were chosen to host DePauw in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament on March 4. Anderson scored 27 points and Augustana shredded a Tiger defense that was allowing less than 60 points per game to the tune of a 79-66 victory. That set up a rematch with Beloit, who defeated the Vikings back in November in the season opener. This game, played on the Buccaneers home court, was no contest as Augustana cruised to a 92-66 win.

With the win the Vikings moved into the sectional round at Wisconsin-Platteville, and they beat LaVerne 87-84 in the opening round to set up a battle with the defending national champion Pioneers. Playing what Yount says was “the best team effort I ever saw in over 30 years of coaching”, Augustana shocked Platteville 100-86 as Anderson went off for 41 points, including an NCAA record 12 three-pointers. Cooper added 31 points and 12 rebounds as the Vikings secured their first Final Four berth since 1981.

In the opening round of the Final Four in Buffalo, New York, Rowan twice held 11 point leads in the first half, but the resilient Vikings never faltered and eventually led by two points (74-72) with the clock heading toward the final minute. The shot clock was winding down when Yount called “Iowa State three” and Thompson buried a three-point field goal from the top of the key to push the margin to 77-72. Kelley nailed four straight free throws in the final 40 seconds, and Cooper sealed the win with a slam dunk off a baseball pass from Thompson and Augustana won 83-81 over a Rowan team that was 28-1 coming into the game.

In the championship game the Vikings fell behind Ohio Northern 41-31 at halftime and could never generate enough to get back into the lead. The result was a 71-68 defeat, but it didn’t diminish the success of this team.

“Those were some great memories,” Yount reflected. “That was a great bunch of guys who were very tight and they knew how to be loose enough to have fun, but those seniors were mature enough to keep everyone in line. It was a fun year, and this team is certainly worthy of Hall of Fame induction."