If coach Jason McMahan wants to reflect on Bentonville's boys basketball team and the type of season it had, one game shows him everything he wants to know.
It happens to be the last game -- a 77-64 loss to eventual state champion North Little Rock during the Class 7A State Tournament. It allows him to see the Tigers' success leading to that game, as well as a chance to look ahead and see where he wants the team to go from here.
BENTONVILLE TIGERS SCHEDULE
Date^Opponent^Result
Nov. 26^Clarksville^W, 81-75
Citizens Bank Classic, Van Buren
Dec. 3^Greenwood^W, 58-33
(rest of tournament cancelled)
Dec. 14^Christian Brothers (M0.)#^L, 62-53
Dec. 20^Greenwood^W, 77-50
Dec. 21^Little Rock Hall&^L, 71-65
Neosho (Mo.) Holiday Classic
Dec. 26^Springfield (Mo.) Parkview^W, 57-38
Dec. 27^Weston (Fla.) Sagemont^L, 73-61
Dec. 28^Fort Bend (Texas) Bush^W, 63-59
Dec. 30^Pea Ridge^W, 70-33
Jan. 10^at Van Buren*^W, 51-46
Jan. 14^Springdale Har-Ber*^W, 29-28
Jan. 17^Rogers Heritage*^W, 58-55
Jan. 21^at Rogers High*^W, 71-46
Jan. 24^Siloam Springs*^W 73-51
Jan. 28^at Springdale High*^W, 57-56
Jan. 31^Fayetteville*^W, 52-49
Feb. 7^Van Buren*^W, 56-43
Feb. 11^at Springdale Har-Ber*^W, 70-62
Feb. 14^at Rogers Heritage*^W, 68-63
Feb. 18^Rogers High*^W, 67-43
Feb. 21^at Siloam Springs*^W, 72-51
Feb. 25^Springdale High*^L, 68-53
Feb. 28^at Fayetteville*^L, 54-50
Class 7A State Tournament
March 6^Cabot^W, 67-36
March 10^North Little Rock^L, 77-64
—* 7A/6A-West Conference game
—# MidWest Showdown Shootout, St. Louis
—& Arkansas Hoops Challenge, Maumelle
"North Little Rock is such a great shooting team and hit 11 3-pointers in that game," McMahan said. "That was the difference. It was a great shooting night for them.
"In that game, I liked the way we played, the mindset we had, and I liked it in the Cabot game. That gave us such great promise if we can find a way to replace Ryan Bachman and Jake Caudle."
While most of the attention focused on Malik Monk and his arrival before school started, the 6-foot-3 guard/forward was still one of many sophomores on a young team. The Tigers (19-6) started most of the season with three sophomores -- Monk, Tyrik Dixon and Tyler Robinson -- in its starting lineup.
Despite the youth and inexperience, Bentonville won its first 12 7A/6A-West Conference games and captured a share of the league title -- the first since joining the state's largest classification. The Tigers also reached the state semifinal for the second consecutive season.
"There was a lot of growth and good things," McMahan said. "We brought this younger group on to win a conference title, which we had not done, and make it to the same point of the state tournament -- the final four. When you sit back, that is a tremendous accomplishment for this season, I think. There's really a lot of good things in that.
"But immediately, because we were such a young team, there are things that come to mind where we can get better and take that other step we need to take. Those last two games were probably our best games of the year, and that gave so much hope and promise for the future."
With so many young players seeing action, any of them could have provided McMahan with plenty of surprises. The most pleasant surprise he saw, however, came from one of the seniors.
Caudle began to emerge with a 17-point performance in the 7A/6A-West opener against Van Buren and eventually became Bentonville's third-leading scorer.
"I think if you go back to first few games, his minutes were inconsistent," McMahan said. "He just never stopped growing as a player and continued to absorb the things and adapt quicker than everybody else to become one of the top players in the 7A-West."
The losses to North Little Rock, Springdale High and Fayetteville provide McMahan with something his team can work on during the offseason. He also plans to play a tougher nonconference schedule, in addition to next year's conference schedule.
"We have to get to where everybody in the rotation is a well-rounded basketball player and have multiple things that they do well," McMahan said. "We know our conference is tough, and I thought our schedule was pretty good last year. I want to get and to play the very best teams in the very best atmospheres so when we get to the end we've seen it all."
Sports on 03/18/2014