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Senior captain brings senior leadership
Forward Michael Bahl leads Metro with a hot shot
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

Illustration by Joe Nguyen • nguyejos@mscd.edu

The men’s basketball team is No. 8 in Division II. They look to be the favorite to come out of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, and after making quick work out of a very good Nebraska-Kearney team on Feb. 2, the Roadrunners also have the framework to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. At the nucleus of that framework is senior forward Michael Bahl, who has led his team to a 19-2 record and a 12-game winning streak that dates back to Dec. 19, 2006.

Bahl was brought to the Metro campus by previous head coach Mike Dunlap four years ago. Dunlap recruited Bahl from a highly successful career at Broomfield High School, where he was a three-year basketball letter winner, an All-State selection in 2002 and 2003, and led his team to a 69-10 record, finishing second in the state tournament in his junior season.

Statistically, Bahl has progressively improved through his years at Metro, averaging 2.6 points per game in his freshmen season, 3.9 ppg in his sophomore season, 11.5 ppg last season, and now is averaging 15.9 ppg, putting him as 12th in the RMAC for scoring. But the growth from being the third or fourth option last season – behind seniors Drew Williamson, Greg Muth and Dustin Ballard – to quickly becoming the captain of this year’s ’Runners was the most difficult adjustment for Bahl.

“It’s been an OK transition,” Bahl said about being thrust into the captain’s role for the 2006-2007 season. “There’s been guys ahead of me that have done an outstanding job leading. I’m just trying to do what they did. I also try to put my own mix into it.”

Not only does Bahl bring leadership and experience with him onto the court, he brings a deadly 3-point shot that he can hit from anywhere. Bahl shoots an astonishing 53 percent from the perimeter, which is second in the RMAC. Bahl says he likes shooting the long-range shot because he is not as versatile as he used to be, and it allows him to be on the floor for more minutes. Bahl leads the conference in 3-pointers (73) and in 3-point shots made per game (3.43).

One of Bahl’s favorite moments in his Roadrunners career was during last season when Nebraska-Kearney came strolling into the Auraria Events Center on Jan. 27, 2006. Bahl contributed 23 points, nine rebounds and three assists in an RMAC battle that allowed Metro to jump the Lopers in the standings.

“I had a pretty solid game statistically,” Bahl said. “But I thought that was our coming out. I think it was our breaking-out party for last year.”

Bahl has come a long way from playing sparingly in his freshman season to being the captain of one of the top teams in the nation. He remembers the time he took his first steps onto a college basketball court.

“It was my freshman year, my first game,” Bahl reflected. “I got to play for four minutes and I fouled out. So that was my wake-up call to Division II basketball.”

During the summers, when the previous season becomes only a memory, Bahl works with Start Smart Basketball, in which Dunlap and Metro players help kids get involved in basketball.

Bahl hopes to continue to help children after college by obtaining his teacher’s license and becoming a history teacher and basketball coach. With his four years of eligibility for college athletics nearly finished, the senior forward plans to stay on with the Metro basketball team as an assistant until he graduates, which will give him needed experience in coaching.

“It’s fun. We were there too at their age,” Bahl said with a smile. “I think you sometimes forget that (becoming a college basketball player) is a long, arduous process. It’s good to hang out with little kids as they lighten up the game. That’s what this game is all about, having fun.”