Fair 46° F

Home > Archive > Apr 10, 2008

Winters Finishes Career With Post-season Awards
By Mike Olson
The Pacific West Athletic Conference has named Former Virgin Valley star Kasey Winters as Newcomer of the Year.
Winters was also voted on the All-Conference First Team by league coaches, in an announcement released March 14 from Queen Creek, Ariz.
The post-season accolades capped a productive year by the 6-foot-8-inch senior captain playing his final season for the Dixie State Rebels.
Kasey learned the good news during a phone call from Rebel head coach Jon Judkins.
“I was excited and grateful to have won the award,” said Winters. “I had great teammates that helped me all season.”
Winters proved to be a powerful force in the Pacific West Conference, finishing the season with a top-five ranking in six categories. Those categories included points (17.9), rebounds (9.6), field goal percentage (54 percent), offensive rebounds (3), defensive rebounds (6), and blocked shots (2). 
As a two-time Pacific West Player of the Week, Winters shot 10-21 from the 3-point line and 77 percent from the foul line, connecting on 158 of his 205 free throws.
His two biggest free throws came in Dixie’s 72-65 upset of conference champion Chaminade University. The senior knocked down three foul shots in the game’s final 30 seconds to seal the upset on senior night.
Not bad for a guy that received no pre-season recognition.
When the pre-season All-Conference nominations were released in October, neither Winters nor his teammates were mentioned, while his team was picked to finish fifth.
Everything had to be earned.
“We knew we had a good team,” Winters said. “We were going to be successful, regardless of what the pre-season polls said.”
Joining Winters were teammates Ryan Sanchez, who made All-Conference second team, and Landon Clegg, who received Freshman of the Year.
"We did well to get four awards," said Judkins. "It felt pretty good for our first year in conference play, especially considering we had no pre-season mentions.
Much of the team’s success can be attributed to the play of their senior leader, who recorded a team high 12 double-doubles, and led the team in scoring 13 times. In the Rebels’ first game of the season, Winters scored a season high 26 points while controlling the glass with 15 rebounds – all with pre-season All-American candidate Jesse Wagstaff guarding him. 
 “We are going to miss Kasey,” said Judkins. “He competes every time he walks on the floor – whether it is in practice or in games, Kasey never takes a play off.”
With Winters graduating from Dixie with a degree in business, Judkins has the difficult task of replacing him; a task the coach knows will be daunting.
This will be the second time Judkins will watch Winters leave his program with a degree. Judkins coached Winters at Snow College in 2002 prior to his LDS mission in Argentina and again in 2005. After a quick stop at Idaho State, Winters and Judkins teamed up as player and coach one last time.
 “Kasey will be a tough guy to replace,” Judkins said. “I really don’t think you can replace a guy like Kasey.” 
Freshman Kevin Lindquist, who backed up Winters most of the season, didn’t take playing with Winters for granted.
“I couldn’t ask for a better guy to learn from as I start my college career,” Lindquist said. “His desire every day taught me how to win.”
“ Off the court, he would do anything for you; he was a great teammate,” said Lindquist.
With the 2007-08 season now in the books, and his playing eligibility exhausted, Winters can now focus on the future – a future that will include the birth of his son in May.
Coach Judkins may have to wait 18 years to find a suitable replacement.  

---