Olympus basketball: Jake Bengtzen profile

In mid May, I interviewed Olympus guard Jake Bengtzen, who played guard for the Titans' basketball team. He told me about how the season progressed for him and I found it interesting that, if not for a few small decisions, this year could have resulted in something totally different. Here's the article that will appear in the Olympus 2011-12 basketball yearbook.

Jake Bengtzen:

Small decisions made a big difference
in his season - and for the team, too

By Bruce Smith

Matchup
 
            Jake Bengtzen came in hobbling to the first day of basketball practice.
            He left a free man. In between, he said, was basketball season. It released him.
            “It was awesome,” said Bengtzen, a 6-foot senior guard. “At the (postseason) banquet, that was the last hurrah about what we had done. We accomplished a lot. If we don’t realize it, we need to step back.”
            The Titans, of course, finished with an 18-7 record, won the Region 7 title and advanced all the way to the 4A state title game. Bengtzen averaged 5.2 points per game led the team in assists. His best game was a 15-point effort at Westlake when he nailed three treys to start the game.
            Still, it was his consistency that was most appreciated.
            At the start of the year, few expected all of that to happen, and it probably wouldn’t have if a few key events hadn’t occurred.
            Bengtzen came into the year with an ankle injury that he had suffered the previous spring when Olympus competed at  a basketball tournament in Santa Cruz, Calif. A few weeks later, he aggravated it. Doctors gave him a choice – surgery or no surgery?
            “I tore two ligaments completely,” Bengtzen said. “I didn’t know if I was going to play. I chose no surgery, but I had to rehab it a lot. I was in a little bit of pain all season, but it was worth it.”
            The second event occurred after the fourth game of the year. Oly had just come off a 41-38 loss at Highland and had a 1-3 record at the time. Bengtzen had spent much of it on the bench.
            Early the next morning, Bengtzen was in the gym. At such a frustrating time, he felt it was the only place he should be.
            “We all had Barnes’ basketball class first period, and he had told us to just sleep in,” Bengtzen recalled. “I couldn’t do that.”
            It turned out Barnes couldn’t sleep either. That afternoon, the coach changed the starting lineup, inserting Bengtzen and Nick Barney. Barnes knew all the Oly players were talented, but he needed something to provide a spark. The next five games were against top-level teams and, if the Titans were going to make a move, it had to be then.
            “When coach told me, it wasn’t really a personal moment, but I really remember it,” Bengtzen said. “I thought we totally turned it around in that day or two after the Highland game.”
            “We played a really tough preseason and I thought we needed some more energy,” said Barnes. “After making Jake a starter, we really started to mesh and we started to work hard to get Will (Cannon) the ball.”
            The Titans defeated 5A power Bingham and won nine of their next 10 games. Bengtzen became the team’s top three-point shooter and assist man. Perhaps more importantly, the change also got Cannon more involved. After three games where he scored 6, 6 and 2 points, Cannon took advantage of the extra attention paid to Oly’s outside shooters and went on to be the Region 7 MVP and make the all-state team.
            “The best part of my game was passing,” said Bengtzen. “I always joke with Will that if he would have made more layups, I would have had more assists. I would kid him that he would miss the layup and then get the rebound and score. I liked to bug him about that.”
            The two helped each other – and everyone else on the team. The Titans drew attention after beating the likes of Bingham, Fremont, Bountiful and Davis, and it led to one of the most memorable seasons in school history. Here are a couple of Bengtzen’s favorites:
            * - “I remember the night before we played (at) Skyline. I got sick and threw up multiple times and didn’t go to school that day. I woke up at 5 p.m. and was told I had missed the bus. Mom gave me some medicine and we ended up dominating them on their ‘Senior Night.’ That was a great time.”
            * - “In the state tournament, I remember walking out on the court in that first game and feeling like ‘wow, we are actually here.’  Being introduced in the state championship with all those fans there was cool. I don’t remember that as well as I wished I did because it was such a crazy moment.”
            When the season ended, there was lots of time for reflection. Bengtzen said his sports career was probably over and the ankle wasn’t a factor. He said he earned an academic/alumni scholarship to the University of Utah and planned to major in business and minor in communication.
            “I’m still up in the air about what I want to do.”