GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — It took longer than any of them anticipated, but five years in, the Colorado Mesa men's basketball recruiting class of 2019 was finally on the court together in a game.
For a three-minute stretch in the second half of the Mavericks' 82-43 victory at Colorado Christian on Jan. 13, the first class Mike DeGeorge recruited completely out of high school — Ethan Menzies, Mac Riniker, Michael McCurry, Levi Dombro and Sam Goulet — played together in a game for the first time.
It's one of the memories those players will take with them when their careers end.
"There's plenty of memories on and off the court with all the guys," Riniker said. "I remember all of them and have made so many lifelong friends throughout this, but I know for sure one of the top memories was the five of us that have been together for five-plus years and this year we all got to play together on the court for the first time against CCU. Just being out there with them, and I'm looking around and seeing all these basically brothers that I've grown up with. Playing with them was definitely a top moment for me."
When their careers end isn't yet known. They all have one more year of eligibility because of COVID and redshirt seasons, as do the three players in the 2020-21 recruiting class, and two transfers. Only Dombro and Reece Johnson have decided to forego their final year — Johnson is preparing to apply to medical school, and Dombro is considering grad school and possibly a career in environmental law, which would pair his two fields of study, environmental studies and political science.
Riniker, Menzies, Goulet and Trevor Baskin have yet to declare their intentions, but McCurry is returning. To that end, even though none are listed as seniors, DeGeorge decided to honor those who are getting their degrees this spring with a Senior Night, in case any opt out of their final year of eligibility.
DeGeorge would welcome them all back for an encore season, especially considering what the group has accomplished in Maverick uniforms.
Individually, they're talented basketball players. Collectively, they've taken CMU's historically strong men's basketball program to a level unmatched since moving from the NAIA to the NCAA Division II level. This group wants to be the first to win a Division II regional title to reach the Elite Eight, roughly matching the 1984-85 team that won the district title to reach the NAIA national tournament.
Because only Menzies played in the 2019-20 season, with the other four redshirting, DeGeorge considers the beginning of this run as the 2020-21 "COVID" season, a strange, conference-only season played in empty gyms. Those circumstances, though, formed a bond among the players unlike anything their coach has ever seen. They went 21-2 and were ranked No. 1 in the nation for the first time in program history before losing in the regional quarterfinals.
"The COVID thing of isolation maybe helped them a little bit. It was more like a scrimmage and not a lot was going on socially, so they just focused on basketball and school and I think that probably helped them get off to a great start," DeGeorge said.
The next season, a year older, but still redshirt freshmen and sophomores, they reached the Sweet 16 of the national tournament, defeating the No. 1 seed in the regionals, Lubbock Christian, in Lubbock, Texas.
A run into the postseason this year would result in 100 or more wins since the 2020-21 season, an unheard-of average of 25 wins a season. Only two teams prior to the 2021-22 squad, which went 26-10, had won 23 games.
Entering the 2024 RMAC Tournament, the Mavericks are 97-21 the past four seasons with three regular-season RMAC championship and one RMAC Tournament title. The 2019-20 team also won the conference tournament.
When looking back, the players start to realize what they've done as a group. The incoming class meshed so well with the returning players, and they committed to one another — only one scholarship player, Blaise Threatt, has entered the transfer portal in the past four years. In return, DeGeorge stayed with recruiting primarily high school players, adding only four transfers in the past three years, who left their past programs after only one year.
"That's very special that all of us feel like we want to do something as a group and stay here," Riniker said. "It kind of shows the true test of the program that Coach has built here, that everybody feels welcome and doesn't feel like they need to move schools. This is where they want to be and it ends up that we're a great team while doing it."
In thinking back to how it all started, the players agree that the chemistry was there from the very start, probably because they were all 18- and 19-year-olds who were just playing ball.
"I think we were young and naive a bit, just kind of walked in, wanted to have fun, play basketball and quickly found a family of guys, it seemed like, and we just had fun," Johnson said. "I think it was even before we stepped on the court. Meeting the guys on the visit … it just seemed like this is a really special group of guys as young men. And Coach instilled confidence in us by being really transparent about all our conversations as a team. From that point, that gave us a really solid foundation that helped us going forward."
Successful in high school, the players came in expecting to win. And yes, they were just young enough not to know any better. Now, it's the standard.
"We started off so well our freshman year, I don't think any of us really realized like what we were actually doing," Baskin said. "We were just winning games at an unprecedented level with a bunch of underclassmen, and I guess we didn't really understand. I don't think we really understood how impressive what happened that freshman year was until, I would say probably our sophomore year when we lost a bunch more games. (We) learned a lot more from playing in front of people and getting teams at their full strength and capability. So I would say sophomore year is definitely when I thought that we could do something special. Obviously making it to the Sweet 16 that year (let us know) that we that we have the guys to compete at the national level."
Like all teams, the Mavericks have their so-called star players — Menzies was an All-America selection his sophomore year before two devastating knee injuries cost him 2½ seasons. Baskin has received national accolades the past two years and is one of the best players in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and the South Central Region. Riniker is the two-time RMAC Defensive Player of the Year, and had a breakout offensive season in 2023-24. But there's no separation when it comes to how the players feel about one another.
The depth of 16 returning players allows DeGeorge to substitute in waves, and he truly feels for the guys at the end of the bench because there simply aren't enough minutes for all of them.
Dombro has played in 48 games the past four years, with limited minutes. He was rewarded with a start on Senior Night, getting a rousing ovation when introduced. A straight-A student, Dombro has won the Summit Award for men's basketball the past two seasons, the top academic award given by the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, and is nominated again this year.
"I did realize pretty early on that man, this program is really loaded, and it's going to be a tall task to be on the floor," Dombro said. "But it's one of those cultures we've created that these guys aren't going to give up on me, I'm not gonna give up on them. … There's a lot more important things than how many minutes I play each night. I've got a great support system that loves me and supports me, that shows up to Las Vegas, New Mexico, regardless of how much I'm going to play, and a group of teammates that treats me like I was the star of the show. Everybody treats each other equally; you'd never know just talking to us and hanging out who's starting, who's playing, who's redshirting."
Sam Goulet came in highly touted, but, like Menzies, has dealt with all kinds of injuries. He's healthy just in time to enjoy this season and has earned more and more playing time.
"It definitely is frustrating and I've gone through it all injury-wise," Goulet said. "But kind of a role I took on during those times is to be supportive and be a leader because I have been around so long. I almost felt like an extension of Coach and Levi is too, to where we can help these guys out even if we aren't on the floor.
"I would want people to remember my positive attitude and just being there for the guys. I want that to live on in this culture to where even if you're not getting the biggest role, you can have an impact on this team and I felt like I did that."
Johnson has been in and out of the starting lineup throughout his career, something DeGeorge has done with many players to find the best match-ups each night. As he looks back, Johnson recalls just how hard the Mavericks pushed each other, from off-season workouts to during games. It's culminated in their success.
"As a group, I think you work for what you want. And I think collectively, we worked really hard and we had great success and that's something I look back on and feel accomplished about," Johnson said when asked what he wanted people to remember about this group, and about him personally. "And as myself, hopefully someone that made a positive impact and led by example and worked hard."
That doesn't mean this group didn't have plenty of laughs along the way. Their "European basketball vacation" last summer sticks out. Yes, playing against European teams and touring Paris, Berlin and Prague was great, but just ask them about karaoke night.
"The thing that encapsulates all of that was one day in Prague when we had a basketball game and all of us ended up singing karaoke at some karaoke place in Prague," Baskin said with a grin. "Being in a foreign country with some of my closest, best friends that are going to be in my life past my four or five years here ... definitely singing karaoke.
"Mac and Eric (Pollert) did a great rendition of I think 'Chicken Fried' by Zac Brown Band, but Ethan and Reece sang 'It Wasn't Me' by Shaggy and they only knew 'it wasn't me'" Any other words that came up they were just mumbling into the microphone. To be fair, it was a tough song, but it was pretty funny."
Dombro mentioned that trip, but what really sticks out in his mind was the regional in Lubbock, Texas, when the Mavericks upset the Chaparrals and all the families bonded, just as their sons had done.
"That's when I realized just how special this whole thing was," he said. "My brother texted me like, 'Man, Jared's and Sam's dads are hilarious,' and they're hanging out after the game and I'm sitting there with Sam and Jared (Small). It's just funny to see the layers of it, just how tight-knit the whole thing is."
The bond is so tight that when he was rehabbing from three knee surgeries in two years, Menzies never felt left out. He said earlier this season that his teammates were there after each operation, making sure he had whatever he needed, supported him throughout rehab and made sure he was at every team dinner or video game night.
And what he felt when he stepped onto the court for the first time since his first knee injury, just before the start of the 2021-22 season, will stay with him forever.
"My first game back, everyone standing up and giving me that ovation when I first got back on the court, that really meant a lot to me. To see my teammates, my coaches, everyone in the stands, it showed how much they were pushing for me and how much they supported me and cared for me throughout these past two years," he said.
Baskin knows the history of Mesa basketball through his father, Jon, the Mavs' all-time scoring leader. He's carved out his own legacy, but in his own way, is honoring the past.
"I want to be remembered as a person who was well-respected in the community and well-liked," he said. "I always tried to give it my all every game and reflect on the university in a positive manner. Every time I meet someone, they say, I met your dad in college, or, I've only heard good things about him, so I kind of want to follow in my dad's footsteps of trying to have a positive impact on the community around me."
Having a group stay together for four or five years has not only allowed the Mavericks to enjoy the success that comes with a veteran group, but it's allowed the players and DeGeorge to build a unique relationship. The players feel comfortable joking with the coaches while still maintaining the player-coach respect. The players instill the culture in the next generation, so the coaches aren't the only ones teaching.
"They're able to take that voice and re-communicate the things that they've learned and that we all believe in," DeGeorge said. "That's really special as a coach, when it's not your voice that's saying things you want, it's their voice. We have that with this group.
"Another thing that (assistant coach) Kyle Bossier and I joke all the time about, we've got to be careful of what we tell the guys, because they take it so to heart. We're constantly saying, this is an 80-20 principle, we don't want this 100 percent, but in general, let's move in this direction. If we tell them something, they're trying so hard to do it that sometimes it becomes too much. That's just how special they are."
Menzies hopes people remember him not only for his basketball ability, or his injuries, and how the Mavericks have truly been a team.
"For me, I hope people remember me as a person who worked hard and had fun and brought joy, either to the court or outside the court, wherever it is. I hope I brought happiness to people," Menzies said.
"As a team, no matter what we do in the postseason, I hope people will remember how well we played together and how much team basketball we played, always making the extra pass, always hoping that your teammate is doing well, really playing as a team."
