GREELEY — Chris Kaba was looking for adventure when he left Gary, Ind., after high school to attend Northern Colorado. His ticket out in late summer 2006 was basketball.
This week, he has an opportunity to fulfill dreams even he might not have imagined when he set foot on the UNC campus for a team making the transition to Division I. UNC, the regular-season Big Sky Conference champion, hosts the final four of the league tournament with the winner advancing to the NCAA Tournament.
UNC plays Northern Arizona in the Big Sky Tournament semifinals tonight. The championship game is Wednesday night.
“We’re already conference champs and now having a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament, it doesn’t get any better than that,” said Kaba, a 6-foot-8 senior forward.
Kaba has played a big role in the Bears’ long climb from a 4-24 record in the 2006-07 season.
“We have to handle our business Tuesday and Wednesday before we can talk about going to the dance,” Kaba said. “We have to be confident playing at home, but you can lay an egg no matter where you’re playing. You just have to believe.”
Kaba has done his part. Last season, the Bears set a school record with 25 victories. This season, UNC is 19-10 and Kaba leads the Bears in 3-point percentage (.441). He ranks third on the team in scoring (9.4 average) and third in rebounding (4.8).
“He has gone from a player when he got here who really couldn’t shoot, to a player that ranks high in the conference in 3-point shooting,” said first-year Bears head coach B.J. Hill, who was an assistant on the UNC staff when Kaba arrived.
Kaba started six games as a freshman, then redshirted in the 2007-08 season. It was that redshirt season that ended up being a blessing in disguise, giving him the practice time to improve his overall game, particularly his shooting.
“It was a great experience for me. You can learn to do anything if you put the time into it,” Kaba said. “Good shooting comes from repetition. You learn the basket doesn’t move.”
Kaba began focusing on basketball when he entered high school at age 15. He had been attending a music-and-art school, but it didn’t have a sports program.
“I played the piano before I played basketball,” Kaba said. “But I got to be taller, and we had to make a change. I transferred to a school that had basketball.”
Kaba has grown to love being in Colorado.
“It was a big jump for me to leave Indiana,” he said. “I was recruited by some schools that were 15 minutes away from home. Coming to Colorado was an adventure that opened my eyes. I’m not looking to run into bears and mountain lions. I did go to the Greeley Stampede (though). The rodeo was fun, but I wouldn’t want to do it.”
He hasn’t gone so far as buying cowboy boots, however.
“But I’m supposed to get a five-gallon cowboy hat,” Kaba said. “I think it’s going to be a straw one and tan in color.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
Big Sky Tournament
Tonight’s semifinals in Greeley
No. 2 Montana (20-9, 12-4 Big Sky) vs. No. 3 Weber State (18-11, 11-5), 5:30 p.m.; TV: ALT
No. 4 Northern Arizona (19-11, 9-7) vs. No. 1 UNC (19-10, 13-3), 8 p.m.; TV: ALT
Wednesday’s championship game: Semifinal winners, 7 p.m.; TV: ESPN2
