ST. GEORGE — For the first time in half a decade, the Dixie State men's basketball team did not go to the junior college national tournament, and yet it was a banner year in many ways.
Coach Jeff Kidder, the Region XVIII coach of the year, guided his team to yet another regular-season Scenic West Athletic Conference. The Rebels won 22 games and produced another All-American in Vincent Grier. They did all this despite having to finish the year with just nine players — and two of those were walk-ons.
"Obviously we're disappointed," Kidder said. "I'm not going to make any excuses for not going to the National Tournament. We won the league for the fourth straight time. We're hanging another banner in Burns Arena."
Playing the season without a true point guard was the first hurdle Dixie State had to clear. The Rebels faced that problem when potential All-American Jamal Brown left campus before the season even started.
"We had to make some adjustments," Kidder said. "We tried Vincent at the point and obviously that didn't work. Then we moved Jason (Petrimoulx) over and he just got better and better."
Petrimoulx, a freshman from Las Vegas, moved from the wing and started Dixie State on a run of eight wins in nine games. During that stretch, the Rebels beat Snow twice in Ephraim and knocked off Southern Idaho.
While Kidder said he'd love to have Petrimoulx back, the academic qualifier is free to pursue a Division I school if he desires.
Other huge factors during the season include the ankle injury of Gonzaga transfer Dustin Villepigue (9.3 points, 5.3 rebounds per game) and the dismissal of Spencer Ford (8.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg). Villepigue eventually returned to play late in the season, but was a shadow of his former self. Ford, Dixie State's only returning starter, was kicked off the team after threatening a referee.
That left the Rebels with no inside presence. Grier, the versatile 6-foot-5 athlete from North Carolina who had started the season as the point guard, ended up the year playing power forward and center.
"Dustin never did get back to 100 percent," Kidder said. "I'm just thankful we had Vincent or who knows where we would have ended up."
Grier, who is being courted by BYU (among others), finished the year averaging 17.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and nearly three assists and steals a game.
"I know Vincent is considering BYU," Kidder said. "Can you imagine him and Mike Hall on the same team?"
Tyler Amaya, Dixie State's other Gonzaga transfer, will also be looking for somewhere to play next year. Amaya, from Mount Vernon, Wash., averaged 9.7 points and 7.2 rebounds a game.
Coric Riggs, the Rebels outside threat, will probably be looking for a school closer to his Louisville, Kent., home. He averaged 10.8 points a game and made a team-high 65 3-pointers.
The bizarre schedule, which had the Rebels playing every team in the league four times, has already been changed for next year. Teams will now play each other three times during the course of the regular season. Next year's postseason tournament will be held at the site of the men's winner.