It might not have the significance of finding evidence of water on Mars, but the discovery of college basketball being played at a top-25 level within the confines of the Air Force Academy has the most astute researchers of the game buzzing with excitement.
In the case of water on Mars, the verdict still is out. But in terms of college basketball, coach Jeff Bzdelik and his Falcons are leaving no doubt. The Falcons, at 11-1 and ranked No. 19 in the ESPN/USA Today poll and No. 24 in The Associated Press poll, are getting more than casual mention in the early-season gossip about teams to watch for clues to March Madness.
For such perennial college basketball powers as Duke, UCLA, Kentucky, Michigan and a number of others, such attention is commonplace. But for Air Force, a program that had not had a winning season in 25 years and an NCAA Tournament berth in 42 years until three seasons ago, such attention could be considered somebody’s idea of a prank.
But there’s nothing prankish about this Air Force team. It already has victories of 69-68 over Long Beach State, 79-45 over Stanford, 84-46 over Colorado, 67-53 over Texas Tech and 94-58 over Wake Forest. The only loss was a 71-56 setback to Duke on Nov. 20.
Bzdelik has let his coaching and his players do the talking. His record in a season and a half is 36-8, including a school-record 24 wins last season.
While statistics explain why the Falcons are winning, Bzdelik has a more important reason to explain how they win. He quickly learned what his players’ everyday life is like at Air Force, and he used it as an advantage on the basketball floor. His Falcons play as a team.
“Unselfishness is a way of life for them,” Bzdelik said. “They have a serve-before-self attitude. They learn to sacrifice for a greater cause. That’s a huge asset for a coach in a team sport. If you lined up our basketball team one-on-one with most of our opponents and played a one- on-one game, our record would be 1-11. Five guys working together pack a pretty powerful punch.”
In that, Bzdelik knows his system is effective, and recruiting players who fit that is the goal.
“We need players who can pass, dribble and shoot 3-point field goals,” he said.
The Falcons rank second in the nation in field-goal shooting at 54.3 percent, fifth in 3-point shooting at 44.2 percent and fifth in fewest turnovers per game at 10.8.
All five of Air Force’s starters – senior center Nick Welch, senior forward Dan Nwaelele, senior forward Jacob Burtschi, senior guard Matt McCraw and junior guard Tim Anderson – are scoring in double figures. And they drive defenses crazy because any one of them, bench players included, will fire away from beyond the arc.
“This offense is unique,” Nwaelele said. “People are going to be open, and when they’re open, it’s our job to get the ball to them and hopefully they can knock down the shots.”
While Nwaelele leads the team in scoring at 14.3 points per game and in 3-point shooting at 74.4 percent, Burtschi is the workhorse. The 6-foot-6 forward leads the team in rebounding with 70, is tied for the lead in assists with 34 and steals with 15 and is second in scoring at 13.7 points.
Air Force’s bench also features big contributors. Sophomore guard Andrew Henke is 19-for-31 in 3-point shooting. Senior John Frye started last season when Welch was out with an injury. Senior Ryan Teets is at home in the offense when called on to spell anyone in foul trouble or in need of a rest. Junior Adam Hood – a younger brother of Antoine Hood, an Air Force mainstay the past three years – shadows McCraw.
And there’s Anwar Johnson, a 6-5 sophomore from St. Gabriel, La., who Bzdelik calls potentially the best defensive player in the conference. Johnson credits the coaching staff with teaching him the tenacity needed in the college game.
“Coming out of high school, I didn’t have the determination needed to play here,” Johnson said. “My parents always had stressed the books. Playing basketball was just enjoyment for me.”
Johnson’s LSU Lab School team won state championships his last two years in high school. His teammates were Glen Davis and Garrett Temple, who play for LSU.
Bzdelik doesn’t claim to have a finished product. He insists his team has to get better defensively for the upcoming conference race as well as two games in the Cable Car Classic this week.
“To get to the next level, our defense has to be right every time,” Bzdelik said. “Our last two losses were to Illinois (in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 13) and Duke, which is no crime, anyway, but we shot the ball well enough against two great defensive teams to win. Our defense has to be better consistently throughout.”
Air Force’s program is flourishing. It started to achieve in 2003-04 when coach Joe Scott made good on his promise of making Air Force the Princeton of the West. The Falcons finished 22-7, won the Mountain West Conference and made it to the NCAA Tournament.
A.J. Kuhl, a starter on the 2003-04 team and an assistant on the Air Force staff since, has an educated opinion.
“It took a lot of hard work,” Kuhl said. “We all had goals and expectations. It obviously started with (then-AFA athletic director) Col. Randy Spetman hiring Joe Scott. Before it seemed there were no expectations. The attitude was that we weren’t expected to win. Now, it’s give your best and expect to win. Coach Bzdelik demands that you give your personal best and your best as a team.”
Welch, who was the conference’s co-player of the year as a sophomore in 2003-04, said: “We didn’t plan to be one-year wonders.”
Bzdelik doesn’t look past this season except to say that the “cupboard isn’t bare” in terms of underclassmen on his team. There are reports he might someday want to return to the NBA, and his name has been mentioned in the coaching search at Colorado.
But for now, he’s generating the signal that top-25 basketball is being played at Air Force.
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
