Perhaps more than any other team, Raymond Central was the best judge of the “Wahoo mystique.” In the six years previous to the ’93-’94 season, the Mustangs had played Wahoo twelve times, more than any other team. That was understandable. As a member of the Capitol Conference, Raymond always played Wahoo in the regular season and was a potential opponent every year in both the holiday tournament (3 times) and the conference tournament (3 times). Wahoo had been victorious all twelve times. The average margin of victory was 30 points. The last time Raymond Central had been close was in 1989 when the Mustangs came within five (58 – 53) of the Warriors in a regular season game. There were also several opportunities for Raymond Central to have faced Wahoo in a district tournament, but that contest never materialized. When Coach Rasmussen made his judgment, he was familiar with the Wahoo team, perhaps more than any other coach.
So the question becomes, was the 1994 team’s continued success over the Mustangs significantly aided by the domination of previous Wahoo teams? There is reason to believe this to be the case. While the Mustang players of 1994 probably didn’t relate much to the earlier games, some would have been on the court, or at least on the bench during the previous two seasons. And those experiences hadn’t been pleasant. 1992 had produced three losses (regular season, holiday tournament championship, and conference tournament championship). All three had been double digit losses. And then came the nightmare of 1993. Again, the Mustangs played Wahoo three times, and those losses were big. Wahoo had won by 64, 51, and 38 points. And the nature of those wins had the potential to inflict psychological damage as Wahoo not only won big, but they won big early. In each game the Warriors sprinted to huge first quarter leads: ahead 35 – 6 in the holiday tournament, leading 27 – 2 in the regular season game, and outscoring Raymond 26 – 7 in the conference tournament. Add to that the style of Wahoo’s play and it does produce a picture of intimidation. Game footage shows frequent steals followed by dazzling passing and finishes at the rim – the only thing missing from the Wahoo arsenal was the dunk. And when that wasn’t happening, three pointers were falling with ease and the lead increased at an even faster pace. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the Mustangs scored little themselves. It would be difficult for any high school players to put such an experience out of their minds and when they took the court against Wahoo the next December, there were three very familiar faces at the other end: Mike Hancock, Greg Hain, and Travis Toline, three players who had been instrumental in the dismantling of the 1993 Mustangs. And the 1993 Raymond Central team had been a winning team, a top ten contender. The 1994 team was not as successful, owning a 2 – 2 record coming into the holiday tournament.
Had somehow, in the first round of the holiday tournament, the Mustangs been able to get off to a good start, either due to their own efforts, or perhaps poor play by the Warriors, the intimidation factor might have been put to rest, there might not have been any “mystique.” But, unbelievably, it was actually worse. Of Raymond Central’s first seven possessions, six resulted in turnovers – Coach Rasmussen called timeout before two minutes were gone in the game. Three minutes later there was another timeout as the points mounted. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the first quarter the score read Wahoo 45, Raymond Central 8. Wahoo went on to win 117 – 45, with six players scoring in double figures: Hancock (23), Toline (21), Hain (14), Mike Simons (13), Sean Forbes (12), and Josh Anderson (11). Forbes, a senior, had come off the bench to score four three’s. Coach Anderson had benched the starters by midpoint of the third quarter and the reserves took advantage of a discouraged Raymond Central squad – Josh Anderson netted 9 of his points in the fourth period. Maybe that was where the “mystique” came into play, but Coach Rasmussen thought it might have been there from the beginning as the coach indicated he thought his team entered the game with the attitude “we’re going to get beat.” The Mustang coach knew his team would face the Warriors at least one more time and was perhaps looking for a ray of hope when he commented that “I don’t think Wahoo’s press is as good as it’s been in the past.” Perhaps Coach Anderson was in agreement: “We’re not even close (to our potential).” If a 72 point beat down was the product of an implied sub-par performance, things did not bode well for the Mustangs in a repeat matchup.
The second contest of the season between Wahoo and Raymond Central came a month later on January 21st at Raymond Central. It could have been expected that with such a short time since the holiday tournament domination that the “mystique” would come into play. But the Mustangs did better; in fact it could be interpreted as twice as good. But by most standards, it was still a blowout. Wahoo jumped to a 12 – 2 lead, scoring all twelve points on layups. The Warriors forced 13 Mustang turnovers in the first half and led by 25 at half time. In the end it was a 94 – 54 win, again with reserves seeing most of the fourth quarter playing time. Seniors Chris Anderson connected on a fourth quarter three to score five points, while fellow senior Sean Forbes netted five and the insurmountable Wahoo lead stretched another three points in the final period. Coach Rasmussen acknowledged that his team “played better.” Coach Anderson felt his team “could have gotten more.”
It was Raymond Central’s misfortune that the Mustangs had to face the Warriors for a third time in 1994; this time in the first round of the Capitol Conference Tournament. With the #8 seed going against the #1 seed, and with two blowout wins already in Wahoo’s column, there were few that doubted the probable outcome. There was no surprise. It was the same tune, third verse as Wahoo was up 13 – 2 before the first Raymond timeout. It was 30 – 9 when the second timeout was called with six minutes gone in the game. The Warriors rolled to a 127 – 60 victory as Mike Hancock scored 37 and set a new state high school record for three point baskets, finishing the game with 210. With the starters sitting out the final quarter, Chris Anderson scored three treys as did sophomore, Dan Brown. Six Wahoo players finished in double figures with Hancock followed by Greg Hain (21), Mike Simons (14), Travis Toline (14), Josh Anderson (11) and Brown (11). The good news for the Mustangs was that they were done with Wahoo for the season. After three such games, Coach Rasmussen admitted, “I’m glad we don’t have them in our district.”
After three monster victories it is hard to assign the Wahoo success to something as esoteric as a psychological advantage. Still, the magnitude of the winning scores might have some psychological component. When the Warriors would jump out to such big leads, so quickly, it would be natural for the opponent to panic, thinking “oh no, here we go again.” Also, the success of Wahoo’s second string players might be attributed to the lack of pressure to perform – three point shots can be made a lot easier when the game is far from being in doubt. Whatever slight edge Wahoo had from its menacing image, the bottom line was that it probably would have won without it. Perhaps the most amazing thing about Wahoo’s performance against Raymond Central in 1994 was that it clearly could have won with a half effort, but instead played at its highest level. Even when the press was backed off, even when the starters were pulled, Wahoo always kept pushing. Also, it might have been expected that Raymond Central would be a team that Wahoo would “take lightly” and at the very least, play poorly at the start of the game. That obviously didn’t happen. Coach Anderson summed up the Warrior attitude: “One of our main goals this year is to play hard all four quarters, whether it is the first team, the second team, or whatever. It is a little hard to keep the intensity when you’re ahead by that margin, though.” And maybe that was the “Wahoo mystique.”
