In The Nest: Brent Klassen Remembers 1999-00 Before 20-Year Recognition Saturday

On Saturday, the BGSU Athletics Department will recognize the 1999-00 men's basketball Mid-American Conference regular season champions during the BGSU men's basketball game against Ohio. Brent Klassen '02, a sophomore on that 1999-00 team, recalls that season and his career at BGSU and beyond. Klassen also serves as an analyst for numerous BGSU men's basketball broadcasts ESPN3/+ broadcasts. We'd also be remiss to not include his tremendous remix to Old Town Road.

Mowing season is in full effect so we wanted to celebrate what might be the last year that the boys will be able to help (unless someone knows a good custom mower shop) Our parody of Old Town Road remix, Yard & Mow. Full video here - https://t.co/BbgwSZ7Af1 #yardandmow pic.twitter.com/wBHFazXg6R
— Brent Klassen (@bklassen52) June 4, 2019

When the season's final stat sheet is turned in for a team, the team itself instantly becomes a memory. It's easy to reflect on those teams by glancing at the record books, box scores or highlights. However, the most intriguing parts of those teams are not summed up by pure numbers, but rather by how each unique gear fit within the machine, and how it all came together.  I'd like to share with you some memories of a unique team. I'd like to tell you about Our Squad. The 1999-2000 BGSU Falcons.

Anniversaries can sneak up on you. Guys in general get a bad rap for forgetting them. Mainly because we do. We forget anniversaries, birthdays, and names of people five seconds after meeting them. But throw out a question about an obscure game from decades ago and a guy will immediately transform into Ralph Waldo Emerson. With no hesitation, they will break into a monologue, "...it was a brisk winter morning, the air was still and frigid like the stare of a scorned ice queen...," and reel off 20 minutes of stories. So when an anniversary of a sports season or sports moment creeps into fruition, forget about it.

Almost two years ago there was a reunion for the last Falcon team to make the NCAA tourney. The 50th anniversary actually. I made it to the game, but had my hands full with my kids so I was unable to visit with any of the guys that made it back. It killed me. I wouldn't have even had to talk to them truthfully. Being within an ear shot would have been good enough for me. As I stood up on the east mezzanine, trying to coral my son who has an obsession with the close by elevator,  I caught myself sporting the biggest cheese smile as they went down the list of the 67-68 team members.

It took me back to the times that the 67-68 NCAA Tourney banner crossed my line of sight while I scoured the rafters of Anderson Arena hunting for any last scrap of energy to push me through one of our three-hour marathon practices. When I wasn't a loose-ball drill away from blacking out, I'd wonder what those guys were doing to compete back then. What Coach Fitch was like? What kind of team they were? Who was the leader, the glue guy, lockdown guy, or energy guy? So I'm sure you could imagine my wonder years later as I watched these gentlemen in their late sixties and early seventies walk out to center court that day at the Stroh, 50 years after they competed together.

When I realized that this year was a milestone year for our 2000 MAC Championship squad, my memory started sprinting. I replayed key moments on the court, classic quotes by Coach Dakich, things I wish I'd done better, my now-wife pinching my butt as I ran by her in warm-ups and those Anderson Arena crowds. What stands out in the front of the pack unsurprisingly are my guys. My dudes, my dawgs, my homies, my fellas, my cats, my brothers, the guys that gelled together, that cracked on each other, and that leaned on each other.

You see, I wasn't "The Guy" on that team. Not really close. This team actually had its share of "The Guys". This team had BG's top two all-time leading scorers, six career 1,000-point scorers, 10 future professional players, and an all-time NCAA down screen stat stuffer (sorry, a man must toot his own horn, or that horn can get rusty.)  However the success from that team didn't come from everyone thinking they were THE GUY. A quote I literally just heard Bill Simmons talk about while discussing The Secret to Basketball, came from Bill Bradley talking about his Championship Knicks team.

"A team championship exposes the limits of self-reliance, selfishness and irresponsibility. One man alone can't make it happen. In fact the contrary is true. A single man can prevent it from happening. The success of the group assures the success of the individual, but not the other way around. The human closeness of a basketball team cannot be reconstructed on a larger scale."

That held true about this team. Each guy, no matter what their role, brought a little something to help in the equation. We had the seniors, Stacey and Esterkamp, the heart of the team. They were two tough dudes that set the tone for us. Anthony and Dave were expected to do a lot on the court and, off the court, they had to meet with coach endlessly. If the team wasn't focused for a game or even a small stretch of practice, they were asked the familiar question, "What's wrong with our team"? The answer was never cut and dry, and was more of a test to see if they'd crack and give coach more fuel for "motivation". Those dudes were everything you'd want to have in seniors if you were an underclassman.

In the group of juniors, you had Trent Jackson and Dubrey Black. Both wings who could slash like an 80s horror flick. Trent would hit you with his long (carry) crossover and be expected to guard the best wings on the other squads. Dube's shooting ability gave you a reason to guard him too close, but would trigger him to rip by with a quick lull. Both guys were high flyers, second only to a guy wearing number 52 in terms of high-flying heroics.

The sophomores were a deep group. Big Len Matela had now grown into a man from his quality freshman experience and was starting to mix it up on the block with anyone. Keith McLeod started becoming extremely dangerous. He probably added 75 percent more strength than he had as a freshman, was just a force going to the bucket and relentless cutting off the ball. BP, Brandon Pardon, was eligible starting in the spring semester and he started becoming a catalyst at making our motion work. Guys started getting used to having their hands up when he had the ball because he'd find you through a keyhole if he had a lane.

Myself, well, I don't like talking much about myself so I'll tell you this ... at 40 I've still got one dunk left. That's about all I'll say. Graham Bunn was as fundamental as they came, but he had some sauce that he held back that I wish we would have seen more of. He could stroke it, was instant from the stripe and the ribs he would throw out in the locker room about Stace, Trent's hairline and Jeremy's hands would kill like Bernie Mac on Def Jam! Speaking of Jeremy King, JK was a junkyard dog. Had the strongest hands you'd ever shook. Good luck slapping a rebound out of them or keeping a rebound in your hands around them. He was a mash-up of a post, was all slash, and could pressure the heck out of anyone on the court.

The young freshmen took their licks in practice all year long. But they started returning them after a while, not backing down to veteran guys. Horseplay, aka Seth Doliboa quite honestly was a prototype of future hoopers. At 6-feet-9 he had a handle, crazy hops and a stroke. The guy could play day and night if he had a gym that kept its light on. He got a start against a senior-led Ohio squad and dropped 10 on them, including one of my favorite highlights of the year when he dunked on OU's Senior Shaun Stonerook on a break. Cory Ryan or "French Lick" as coined by assistant coach Jamal Meeks, would give us the looks we needed in practice when we were about to play against a deadeye shooter. He had the green light on the White Lightning scout squad and would scorch the net.

The last two guys that people might forgot or not realize were on the team were the redshirts. Although they didn't technically get one minute of burn, they contributed in practice for sure. Kevin Netter came in at about 6-10, 175 and raw was as they came. But when he started growing into that body and those feet, you'd see he had the physical means to be a different kind of player. Kelly Hunt was 6-4 , 225 and was strong as a bull. He and Stace bumped into each other a few times and car alarms went off in the Anderson Arena parking lot. He was strong but he definitely had a nice jumper too. When I hear the names Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders my mind automatically goes to Kelly Hunt because he made a decision to stop running 20/20s and run bases for the baseball team after the season. (I use the term run loosely!)

Twenty seasons have passed, 20 sets of preseason workouts, 20 media days, 20 senior nights and 20 new sets of stories have been written ever since that season came to a close. I hope this gives some insight as to who the characters were in the story that we wrote.  Maybe when they have us back together hobbling and limping across center court at the Stroh Center, those in attendance will see more than a bunch of washed up guys with no gas in the tank. They'll see a group of guys that loved the game of basketball. They'll see a group of men that came together to compete every chance they had. They'll see Our Squad.

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