It wasn't a perfect season.
In fact, it was so flawed that sometimes the players who earned that 5A state title for Hunter are still a little awed by what the Wolverines did in the winter of 2004.
Five years ago no one expected Hunter to win a state championship in basketball. Especially after the school, and many of the same players, earned a 5A state title in football. At that time, no 5A school had won both the football championship and the boys basketball title.
"Our goal was to win in the first round of the playoffs," said Otis Nelson, 22, a starter for both teams that season.
Consider this: In Nelson's freshman season, the team was 1-19. As a sophomore, the team went 2-20. In his junior year, the Wolverines improved to 12-10. It was his senior season, when against the odds and common sense, the team went 21-4 and won a 5A state title.
The fact that it was unexpected, even a little baffling, may be what makes it so special.
"That state championship meant more to me than our football title," said Landon Jensen, now 23. "In football, it was expected. Everyone knew we were good. In basketball, it was like, 'Whoa, who is this team?'"
Nelson, Jensen and 6-8 center Carl Swanigan had played basketball together since second grade. In their senior season, they all started, along with junior Matt Asiata, who was playing his first season of basketball for the Wolverines that year, and Cole Evans, the football team's quarterback. In one week the team that no one believed could do anything but talk trash, defeated Bingham, West Jordan, Brighton and Cottonwood.
Even though Jensen and Nelson said they knew they were talented, they did not feel like a team of destiny, even in the middle of that historic season. Asiata, Jensen and Nelson got together recently to talk about that title run and just how improbable it all was.
"It was crazy," said Jensen, recalling how one practice Swanigan showed up for practice in pink slippers. "Coach (Dave) Filimoehala said, 'You can't practice in those.' And Karl took a trash can and threw trash all over the court."
The three friends laugh, and then Asiata, the quietest of the three, adds, "It was fun crazy."
Then there was the Tooele game. Swanigan missed the bus and the team lost.
"Our coach just didn't come to practice for a few days," said Jensen. "We didn't see him. Me and Otis just ran practice for the next three or four days."
The coach returned and the players found their roles alongside the flamboyant but extremely talented Swanigan.
Swanigan, who hit the game-winning free throws against Cottonwood and became the 5A MVP after the team won the championship, was a lighting rod for controversy. He was so out-spoken many coaches left him off their all-state ballots in protest. He did a lot of trash talking, but as his teammates conceded, he could usually back it up on the court.
Asiata almost didn't finish the season they started.
"He quit the second or third game," said Jensen. "He was a great athlete, but he'd never played basketball. We lost the next two or three games."
At the time, Asiata said only that he'd been mad. Today he can't remember any reason for his absence.
"I don't know why I quit," said Asiata with a shrug. Nelson adds, "Just one day, Matt wasn't there."
The team lost a couple of games, including their region opener against Skyline, before Asiata re-joined the team. With him on the floor, the Wolverines went 14-0.
"Matt was the human press breaker," said Jensen. Asiata said in the end, he just wanted to be a part of what that team was trying to accomplish.
"I mostly just passed the ball to Otis or Carl," he said with a smile.
Brighton was the preseason favorite, and of course, pre-game publicity had only increased the animosity between the two sides.
"Carl said, 'They hate us and we hate them'," recalled Jensen. With that on the table, the Wolverines had no choice but to win.
"I rolled my ankle in the Brighton game," said Nelson. "Matt came over to me and said, 'Don't show them that you're hurt'."
They laugh now, but Nelson said he got up and finished the game, a game Hunter won.
"Basketball at Hunter was never expected to win anything," Jensen said. "We beat every hard team there was."
The Wolverines didn't just exceed expectations, they defied the odds. They found something inside themselves and each other, that no one else outside that community believed even existed.
In gymnasiums all around the state this week coaches and players are conspiring to be this year's Cinderella. They hope to have that something special that takes a team from a successful season to a historic moment.
Nelson, Jensen and Asiata will tell you that their success that season didn't change their lives. But how could it not change them just a little? How could it not convince them that being a long shot means you actually have a chance? How could it not convince you that you are not defined by what others see — or fail to see — in you?
Nelson played football for Utah State and now plans to play in the NFL. He's hired an agent and he's working out for teams. The son of an NFL-player, he knows a career in professional athletics is a long shot, but he's convinced he'll make it.
Asiata, who was the starting running back for the University of Utah's 13-0 Sugar Bowl Championship team, also knows about defying the odds. Even Nelson, a loyal friend, admits he bet against the Utes.
"I did not think you guys would beat Alabama," Nelson said shaking his head. Asiata responds with a smile. He's heard that before. Now married with three children, he's majoring in sociology.
Jensen is attending Salt Lake Community College after serving a mission to Mexico. He continues to travel back to Mexico on humanitarian trips and plans to attend the U. next year. He hopes to be a principal and a coach someday.
Swanigan had planned to go to a prep school as he had colleges lined up to offer him a scholarship if he was ever able to handle the academic requirements. He was never able to capitalize on those opportunities. Three years ago he was shot in the eye and was lucky to be alive. Swanigian's former teammates paid him a visit after the shooting and they still hope he'll find a better life for himself.
Jensen, Asiata and Nelson still spend a lot of time together, but they said they don't often talk about that title run.
"It was cool, but we're on to new chapters in our lives," said Nelson.
New chapters that are not defined by the championship but definitely enhanced by what they learned. You don't have to be perfect, or toil under perfect circumstances, to be part of a perfect moment.
E-MAIL: adonaldson@desnews.com