The Thunderbirds began this season unknown to not only outsiders, but to one another as well.

And even though Southern Utah was surprisingly knocked out of the Summit League tournament in the first round, this team could be a major player in the conference come next year.

Only four players remained from the previous year's campaign, one that also saw the end of the Bill Evans era after 16 years as the coach of the Thunderbirds.

Roger Reid was selected to return to Division I coaching after a stint with Division II Snow College. Reid's highlights came when he was with BYU, where he made five NCAA Tournament appearances.

But he hadn't coached Division I basketball in a decade, so there were certainly questions about whether he still had the talent.

And it didn't get any easier when Southern Utah lost 10 of its 12 first games and later stood at 3-8 in the Summit League.

However, Reid and his players made the best late-season surge by any team in the conference, winning six of their final seven regular-season contests to gain the tournament's fourth overall seed.

One reason for the turnaround was forward Geoff Payne, who was voted the Summit League's Newcomer of the Year. Payne followed Reid from Snow College (as did four other players) and quickly established himself as one of the league's best.

Only George Hill of IUPUI (who was selected the league's top player) had a better scoring average than Payne's 21.9 points. The 6-7 junior also had six double-doubles and led the team in rebounds and field-goal percentage.

Newcomers Tyler Quinney and Davis Baker also helped Southern Utah back up to a 9-9 conference record, after the team had been struggling early.

The return of Payne alone will boost Southern Utah next season, along with the team having its other three leading scorers back.

Although it took a while for things to develop, it looks like Reid was the right hire for this program and that he still has some solid coaching left.

Now, he must get his players to take the next step in challenging for a conference crown.

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