PROVO — If BYU advances in the Mountain West tourney in Denver, chances are, it will come because of the team's lone senior Brock Reichner.
Why? Because Reichner makes plays.
Reichner is also a rare team captain in Division I playing without a scholarship.
Why no scholarship? It's because Reichner is the son-in-law of a rookie coach and both are trying to play it cool. So far in BYU's 20-7 season, the plan has run like a Kenmore side-by-side.
Reichner, friends say, is up to the challenge. He's used to it. People line up to explain what makes Brock tick.
The list includes everything from determination, his unselfishness to simple faith. In these matters, Reichner set the tone for BYU's basketball team this year — a squad that seemingly put team first.
When he played for Timpview High School's 1999 state championship team, he played in the shadows of some teammates with names: Marc Roberts, son of former Cougar forward Glen Roberts; Cameron Chow, son of BYU assistant football coach Norm Chow, Skylar Cleveland, son of BYU basketball coach Steve Cleveland, and Ryan Farnsworth, son of a BYU vice president Brad Farnsworth.
Still, Reichner delivered.
"He was very coachable and always played with a lot of confidence," said Timpview coach Perry Wildeboer.
"I think Brock believed in himself more than any other player I've ever seen. As a freshman, he was one of the last guys cut. He had big feet, was a little clumsy, but obviously, he grew into them and always plays with his feet, has great instincts for the ball — he anticipates things, the kind of things you don't coach."
Reichner is so confident, his mother Irene remembers, that right after the family moved to Provo from California, a call went out to find a lost hiker near Rock Canyon. A nearby church parking lot loaded up with police and searchers. Brock told his mom he could find the hiker and ran into the foothills as a one-boy rescue team until intercepted by police. "I can find him," he told the men in uniform.
Confidence. Maybe faith is another word to use.
"I'll say this," Wildeboer said. "Brock has earned everything — nothing's been given to him."
The son of a basketball coach, he is the youngest with four brothers and two sisters who all played the game. His brother David played at Utah under Rick Majerus before coaching at San Jose State and is now the head coach at Lake Havasu High in Arizona.
Brock Reichner is half Greek, half German. On his mother's side, the family got a foundation in the Greek way of facing adversity head on — even face to face in arguments and closing it all with a pinch of the face, a hug or a kiss. There is no hidden agenda with the Reichners and the former Irene Camigos, whose Greek blood is only one generation removed from the old country and the Isle of Psara. His father Mark says all Brock's siblings are close and like to joke about their own influence over their younger brother's game.
David said growing up in California, the whole family became big Laker fans and Brock paid special attention to Magic Johnson. "He saw how he loved the game and passed the ball. He noticed Magic accept the role of not having to be the scorer or "the man," that his job was to get the ball to Kareem. I think Brock fashioned his game after Magic — to be unselfish."
Irene explained all her children had jobs growing up. "Brock cut grass. He had a soft spot for the seniors in the neighborhood. He'd cut their grass and when they'd go to pay him, he refused the money and did it for free."
Ask Brock's father why his son succeeds and he spits out one word faster than you can cock your pen and paper: "Dedicaton."
Mark Reichner remembers coaching all of his children on how to play hoops. But only Brock came to him when he was a ninth grader, woke him up at 5:30 a.m. and wanted to go practice. From that day on, the dad took the son to the gym and worked him. Irene got involved too, doing her broom drill, holding up a barrier for Brock to shoot over.
Today, Brock remains the MWC's No. 2 three-point shooter (conference games) with a .478 shooting average beyond the arc.
Teammate Austin Ainge says Brock's leadership has been evident all season including three games in which Reichner was the only Cougar scoring points to start road games. At Washington State he scored 18, 10 in the first half. At CSU he scored BYU's first 10 points. Same at Utah.
"Brock has been steady and he competes," Ainge said. "He just works hard and steps up."
Trent Plaisted, BYU's go-to guy has been a recipient of Reichner's Magic Johnson attitude about teamwork.
"Brock plays with high energy every night," Plaisted said. "He's there at big times in big situations with big shots. He's really a calming force on the court, the one who brings everyone together and tells us we have two minutes to go and to play hard. Not only on the court but off the court he is a great person, a great dad, husband and friend."
His mother Irene had tears in her eyes last weekend when BYU's athletic department honored her youngest child. "All I ever wanted, it was my dream in basketball, was for Brock to play at BYU and have a chance to attend the school and compete, and I'm proud of him for his courage."
That came true when Steve Cleveland invited him to walk on two years ago when Irene and Mark were serving an LDS mission to Greece. When they returned Nov. 2, 2005, Brock came off the bench and played 7 minutes in a home loss to Loyala Marymount in the Marriott Center Nov. 18.
Since then, BYU's never lost at home. Brock has started 26 straight games as the Cougars made a charge to grab third place in the conference and third seed in this week's tournament in Denver's Pepsi Center.
Dave Rose said, "Our team will really miss Brock because he's been such a great leader for us. He's made really big plays. Anytime you lose a senior as a starter, someone who has made such big contributions to a team, it is sad. But when he is the only senior, it really is focused on losing that one guy, like we did with Travis Hansen.
"We'll look forward to having a lot of players coming back, but it will be different without Brock on this team."
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com