Rogers State Basketball Soars To National Spotlight

By Kyle Dierking, NewsOn6.com

The tradition isn't rich, their history book is more like a history pamphlet but Rogers State basketball has quickly had big success.

"We go out and practice hard every day," said RSU guard Matt Kellogg. "We're mentally and physically prepared for the game. We just go out there and get work done really."

It's only the second season for Hillcat basketball. They added six Division-I transfers to this year's team and now RSU is nationally ranked number two in the NAIA.

"We haven't done anything yet," said RSU coach Lloyd Williams. "I think if we finally do something then we'll maybe get a little more attention."

That's the attitude the team's taking: not feeding into the fruits of early success and focusing on winning the big one.

"We could be out of the rankings or number one for the rest of the year and if we don't win the national championship - which is our main goal - then we haven't really accomplished anything," Kellogg said.

"We don't let the hype get to us," said RSU guard Aldric Reynolds. "We're going to go out there and be ourselves. If we get ranked number one, number two or whatever the ranking may be, we'll take it as a blessing and try to keep going."