Best NCAA basketball players ever from every state

Idaho: Steve Hayes

It becomes obvious how good Luke Ridnour was over his three years at Oregon when you look at his list of achievements. Between 2001 and 2003, Ridnour won the PAC-10 Rookie of the Year, was named an All-Freshman, made the PAC 12 All-Tournament team, and was a conference tournament MVP.

All well deserved when you take into account his stats, especially his final season where he averaged nearly 20 points, two steals, seven assists, and a fantastic 88 percent from the free-throw line. Ridnour’s field goal percentage was low at 43 percent, but still good enough to be Conference Player of the Year. When comparing players from different decades it is important to take into account how they are situated among the players they played against, and Ridnour was placed high.

Unfortunately, that same opportunity is not available for Steve Hayes while playing four seasons at Idaho State between 1973 and 1977. Throughout his career with the Bengals, the 7-foot center averaged over 17 points, with more than 10 rebounds per game. His field goal percentage ended at 54 percent while his 71 percent from the free-throw line is very respectable.

So, how many awards did Hayes rack up in the Big Sky? Short answer: none, long answer, the Big Sky only began running a tournament two years into Hayes’ tenure, in addition, the Big Sky did not hand out Rookie and Player of Year awards until a couple of years after Hayes graduated. Even without an opportunity to win those awards, Hayes proved his worth as Idaho’s best college player by upping his scoring average by four points come tournament time.