3 Rarely Known Historical Facts About The Idaho State Bengals Mens Basketball Team

Idaho State Beats National Powerhouse UCLA

On Mar 17^th 1977 The National Powerhouse UCLA Bruins faced a lowly Idaho State basketball squad led by Steve Hayes. UCLA was ranked second in the nation at the time. The two teams met in Provo Utah for a western regional second round game. UCLA was expected to dominate.

UCLA had been dominating college basket ball for years. Their would be no way the little old farm boys from Idaho State who played in the Big Sky conference could beat UCLA. UCLA was predicted to win the NCAA tournament again that year. After all, the UCLA Bruins had appeared in 10 straight NCAA final fours.

The stats of UCLA were simply amazing. This dynasty had UCLA win 10 NCAA championships between 1964 and 1975. Idaho state ended that dynasty on March 17^th 1977. Idaho State had beat the big dogs of UCLA 77-76. UCLA did not win another NCAA championship until 2006.

The Idaho State team beat national powerhouse UCLA and it took them many years to get a new streak going for UCLA.

Bones Millien

Former Idaho State Player Bones Millien played basketball for Idaho State University in Pocatello. After graduation many players would love to play professional basketball. Bones Millien is playing pro ball with the funnest team out there to watch. Bones Millien is a Harlem Globetrotter. Part of the reason Bones Millien may of got the roster spot with the Harlem Globetrotters is because he can “palm” a basketball with only 2 fingers.

Lawrence Butler

Lawrence Butler was an outstanding shooter. In fact he was so damn good that on Feb 16^th 1979 the Associated Press ran an article worldwide about how Lawrence Butler passed Indian States Larry Bird as major college basketballs leading scorer. Lawrence Butler was better than Larry Bird and if Lawrence Butler could have played on a college team as good as Indiana then Lawrence Butler would have been in the record books as one of the best college players ever.

Ask any Idaho State Basketball fans who Lawrence Butler is. The vast majority of them do not have a clue even though he was inducted into ISU's sports hall of fame in 1991.

Lawrence Butler finished off the 1979 season averaging 30.1 points per game. He beat out Larry Bird and “Magic” Johnson as top scorer that year. Butler was picked 11^th in the second round of the NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls. Lawrence Butler never got a chance to play in the NBA. Butler had been drafted, tried out, and told he made the team. Right before the Bulls left Butler was notified that he was no longer a part of the basketball team. He never got to play in the NBA.