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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend January 27, 2006 Southern Oregon University point guard Steve Farley has helped guide the Raiders to a No. 3 ranking. To the limit He may not be the fastest or most skilled, but Steve Farley may be the key for No. 3 SOU By DON HUNT Mail Tribune ASHLAND — Whenever Steve Farley makes an impressive play in practice, his Southern Oregon University basketball teammates like to say, "There goes Farley, being an athlete." The insinuation, of course, is that Farley is looked on as a non-athlete. Asked where Farley would finish in a baseline-to-baseline dash against the other starting point guards in the 10-team Cascade Conference, Raiders coach Brian McDermott chuckles and says, "probably somewhere between eighth and 10th." Farley is the Cascade Conference’s version of Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash. Advertisement Short. Not that quick. Can’t jump. Farley doesn’t profess to be Nash — his hair isn’t stringy enough, for one thing. But the attributes Nash uses to star in the NBA — exceptional skills, smarts and a big heart — are similar to the ones Farley uses to excel in the Cascade Conference. A good sport, Farley takes the teasing in stride. "I can’t really argue with what they (his teammates) say, and so I’ll try to dunk once in a while just to give them a good laugh," Farley says. "It’s one of those things I’ve got to live with." Farley’s teammates know, however, that without their spark-plug point guard, the Raiders, 20-3 overall, wouldn’t be ranked third in the NAIA Division II poll or be sitting atop the conference standings with a 9-2 record. Shea Washington is SOU’s marquee player, a first-team, All-American center who averages 19.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.7 blocked shots per game. But it’s Farley who often feeds Washington the ball, it’s Farley who orchestrates the offense and the defense and it’s Farley who isn’t afraid to launch the big shot at crunch time when Washington is blanketed by two or three defenders. Farley is among the top 3-point shooters in the Cascade Conference (he’s made 37 of 84) while averaging 9.0 points, 4.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game. And despite his lack of quickness, he’s a tenacious defender. "He’s one of the better defensive point guards in the league, and not just on his guy," McDermott says. "Steve knows how to be involved on double teams and he’s really critical to us on how we defend the pick and roll, which is one of the most used weapons in college basketball." McDermott says coaches from other teams virtually never talked about Farley until SOU advanced to the NAIA national tournament last season, where Farley ratcheted up his play another few notches as the Raiders advanced to the quarterfinals. "He guarded like crazy and made big shot after big shot," McDermott says. "There was never a word about Farley until that tournament, and then everybody was talking about him." Farley, who played high school basketball with Washington at Thurston High in Springfield, took up this season where he left off last March. "Being able to hold my own against some of the best players in the country really helped my confidence," he says. "What I was able to do at the end of last season offensively was a big key to where I’m at now. "I’m just a lot more confident shooter than I’ve ever been." That includes the free-throw line, where Farley has drained 80 percent of his attempts (43 of 54). "We make sure we get the ball in his hands at the end of games," McDermott says. "In the late stretches of a game, he’s almost automatic." Farley will graduate in the spring of 2007 and plans to go into teaching and coaching. Truth be known, the coaching has already started. "He has a feel for what we want to do (in a game), and he offers good suggestions," McDermott says. "He’s always talking to the other guys and making sure they’re going to the right spots." Farley’s experience as a player and his overall knowledge of the game give him insight, but there’s more to it than that. Each Monday, the players meet with the coaches to go over scouting reports for the following week’s games. The reports are often 15 or 16 pages long. Farley arrives early to wade through the information and has nearly everything memorized by the time practice begins. "You can’t believe how many sets (offenses) get run at the college level," Farley says. "It’s tough for guys to take on a whole team’s offense in just a few days. I try to learn it quickly so I can help direct our guys in practice. "I love knowing what’s coming at us on game nights. It’s such an advantage. "The last two years, we’ve been in the top 10 (nationally) in scoring defense, and I think knowing the other team’s sets like we do is a huge advantage." As for the scouting reports on Southern Oregon, you can bet Farley’s name doesn’t appear next to words like "dunk," "dominate" or "daunting." But when you’re the starting point guard on a team that has reached the heights SOU has, you’re doing something right. "He takes a lot of heat," Washington says, "but at the end of a game Steve’s the one we want with the ball in his hands running the offense." Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail To the limit ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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