BEMIDJI -- Whether you notice him or not, you’ll sure notice once Logan Bader is gone for good.
There’s rarely been a fixture like Bader on the Bemidji State men’s basketball team. The 6-foot-7 senior is poised to become the 18th member of the program’s 1,000 Point Club and the sixth to reach 600 rebounds -- just the fifth player to ever hit both. Even more, Bader has already made more 3-pointers (172) than anyone else in program history and is on pace to at least tie the program records for games played (111) and games started (107).
But contrary to how the narrative should go from here, Bader has done it all without warranting the attention that usually always accompanies accomplishments like his.
“He’s a steady Eddie. He’s been solid his whole career,” BSU head coach Mike Boschee said. “He’s not flashy by any means, but he just makes the plays that need to be made, on both ends of the court. He’s made a lot of big shots for us.”
Whatever Bader lacks in flash or finesse, he makes up for in consistency. The Milltown, Wis., native has made a reliable rise through the record book ranks, has started in 100 of 104 career games, and has never missed a night as a Beaver.
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“The biggest key is getting to play every game, trying to stay healthy,” Bader said. “It’s all thanks to my teammates, too, and coaches and everything. I’m just trying to be consistent every night and doing whatever I can for the team.”
Bader’s game doesn’t demand your undivided attention, and you might even miss him if you’re not paying attention to the behind-the-scenes work. But Bader is often the one you see soaring up for another rebound, the one making a fundamentally sound post move for the 1,000th time and the one stepping out to the perimeter for a shot that just feels like it’s going in.
“Right now, in his position, he’s very valuable,” Boschee said. “We don’t have another guy that can necessarily be inside-outside on both ends of the court. He can guard guards. We don’t really have another big guy that can guard the guards as well as he can on the switches. He’s certainly very valuable on both ends.”
Going into this weekend’s games, Bader has 992 career points and 596 career rebounds. Only four players -- Steve Vogel (1,251 points and 694 rebounds), Mac Smith (1,462 and 654), Scott Kramer (1,361 and 639) and Charles Hanks (1,613 and 600) -- have ever reached those numbers at Bemidji State.
But Bader still has a whole lot more he wants to accomplish.
“I think everyone’s main goal is obviously getting to the (conference) tournament and winning as many games as we can down there. Hopefully get all the way to the end,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff we’ve got to do to get there. We’ve got to continue to work hard every day. If the team puts together a good stretch here, hopefully we can get hot at the end of the season.”
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With the finish line quickly approaching, Boschee is hoping to squeeze as much as he can out of No. 24.
“You rely on your leaders,” Boschee said. “He’s someone that’s had a lot of experiences over the years. We’re going to need him to step up in the big moments down the stretch of the season and into the playoffs.”
The Beavers (9-11, 6-10 NSIC) are at Concordia-St. Paul at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, and Minnesota State at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, giving Bader two chances to crack a pair of exclusive milestones.
Then comes one more road weekend. And then he’s back home for the final two games of the regular season. And after that? Well, that largely depends on Bader -- whether you notice him or not.
“It’s getting there,” he said of the home stretch. “It’s creeping up on me faster than I’d like, but I’m pretty excited for the end of the season to see how it turns out.”
