CEU won the game and the right to go to the NJCAA National Championship Tournament in Kansas. The final was CEU 65 MCC 64 in overtime.
CEU has a spectacular player in Michael Glover (#2 in gray), but he is only a freshman and most likely will need an Associate degree before he can move on to the next level. MCC has a player that is being recruited heavily in Stephen Rogers. He is #21 in red. He is a redshirt freshman but can move on to Division I next season.
He had 27 points for the Thunderbirds in the loss.
Coaches from BYU, Utah State, SUU and UVU were there from Utah colleges. Coaches from TCU, Iowa State and CSU were also there, plus others that we probably missed.
The fact that Dave Rose and Dave Rice were there says that BYU is interested in Rogers. Here's the deal.
BYU looked at Rogers hard coming out of Mountain View HS in Mesa, Arizona where he played for the Toros.. They passed and Rogers signed with the University of San Diego and the Toreros. He then left on an LDS mission, but before he returned, USD fired their basketball staff and the new coaches didn't have a scholarship for Rogers.
He played with ASU last season and redshirted as a Sun Devil. He then switched to MCC where he was the ACCAC Player of the Year. He is listed at 6-8, 195 pounds on the MCC roster.
We saw him when he played AAU ball with the Arizona Magic. We thought he was soft and strictly a jump shooter. He didn't get much of a chance to show his wares because that team had Jerryd Bayless, who played one year at Arizona and is now with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Rogers is now a different player and we can see him as a replacement for Tyler Haws. Rogers had more range than Haws with his jumper and also has a nice mid-range game. He will have to toughen up at the next level defensively, but he could definitely contribute with BYU next year. His uncle, Brent Stephenson, played basketball at BYU several years ago when Roger Reid was the coach.
We will see how the recruitment goes. All other Utah schools, with the exception of Utah, are also pursuing Rogers. Fresno State and Boise State are also reportedly trying.
