Following 1977-78, the final remnants for Manitoba's iconic national championship team from two years prior had largely moved on, and a new era was set to begin for the Bisons.
 
In 1977-78, the Herd won the GPAC title, going undefeated in league play, paced by proven winners including Greg Daniels, Martin Riley, Grant Watson and Cliff Bell (Miles Mac grad, played down south prior, not on the '76 championship team).

The following year, the only athlete left from a decade of dominance was Kevin Kelleher, who played out his last of four years.
 
Beginning in 1978, over the next six seasons, Manitoba had just one year with a winning record – 1980-81 under Don Hunter – falling in the GPAC semi-final. Following the 1981 season, Hunter, the only head coach to win a national title at Manitoba, moved on, making way for Riley.
 
The national team member, national championship MVP and one of the best to ever play for the Bisons, served as bench boss for three seasons. And while his record wasn't jaw-dropping, his name carried weight, as did his understanding of the game.
 
Prior to the 1983-84 season, Riley successfully recruited Ontario native Tony House, and the point guard became a key driving force for what goes down as one of the best turnarounds in Bisons history.
 
He, along with long-time teammate Terry Garrow both packed up and drove from Ontario to Manitoba, and their additions, along with a few other key names, resulted in back-to-back Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) championships in 1984-85 and 1985-86.
 
The Bisons went a combined 24-8 in league play at the time, and their run to the CIAU regional championship in 1986 would mark the last time a Manitoba team would make it out of their conference to the big dance for over 30 years. It was an incredible change for a program that had been 2-14 in league play in 1983-84.
 
And while Riley wasn't the bench boss during the Herd's two classic seasons in the mid 80's (all-time winningest head coach Rick Suffield instead led the charge), his fingerprints were all over the run.
 
"Martin Riley, that's my guy. He was the coach, and back in those days I was getting recruited by quite a few CIAU schools. I kind of had it down to St. FX, Guelph and Manitoba. My late father knew Martin very well. The national team would train here in Ottawa. I met Martin through my father and the national team, and I was fortunate enough to have some tryouts for the national team," recalled House.
 
"I got to know Martin a little bit prior to him recruiting me. At the end of the day he was back then one of the best point guards in the country. You can take an Arts program anywhere, but you can't learn the point guard position from anyone better. That was one of the reasons, the other reason was I wanted to get out of town. Back then Ottawa and Carleton weren't that strong. I was looking to go to a school with a stronger basketball program."
 
Garrow, a fellow St. Pius X grad and House's back court mate since the age of 12, wasn't originally in Manitoba's plans, but it's safe to say things paid off for all involved.
 
"I wasn't recruited by Manitoba. I kind of hopped in at the last minute," he chuckled. "Martin Riley was able to get me into the Arts program for second semester after Christmas break. I was sort of a thrown in to all of this."
 
Garrow's recruitment paid off big time, as the 6'3" guard was a pillar for the program, earning conference all-star honours in three different seasons, along with an All-Canadian nod in 1987-88. He was inducted into the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.

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Manitoba had been GPAC champs four times in the first 12 years of the conference's existence, but the early to mid 80s had been dominated by Brandon.
 
The Bobcats – loaded with older Americans – had won four in a row to start the 80s, and they won again in House and Garrow's first year.
 
"[Brandon] was part of that benchmark. You had to go through Brandon and Winnipeg to win GPAC and get to the finals. We wanted to beat those guys. Brandon's not a big city and there's not a lot of locals, so you're going to have to recruit, and Jerry Hemmings, boy did he recruit," said House.
 
"He would end up landing and securing three Americans, and then he'd have to go to Toronto and all through the country to get a really good basketball team. They were experienced, they were talented. You had to go through Brandon."
 
Competing in the five team GPAC against significantly older players on numerous teams was an immediate eye opener to the two Ontario natives. Right away they saw and had to prepare for big, physical opponents on a weekly basis.
 
But it was also an experience the two appreciated. Both got the chance to play immediately, which helped their confidence leading into the successful period that was to come.
 
"It's an older conference, so I was thrown into the fire, and it was great because I had to learn a lot. Martin was great. I think his patience was with me, he knew what I was all about. Terry and I were these hot shots from Ontario, coming to help get the program to another level," said House.

"Against Lakehead I was playing against [all-stars] Dave Zanatta, Cheddie Warner, Harry Van Laar, these guys are 24, 25 year olds. I think that one year we were able to learn quite a bit. For me personally, [Riley] spent a lot of time on and off the court to just groom me and teach me, not only life lessons but how to play the point guard position and his preparation and how hard he worked on the court and away from the game."
 
In 1984-85, House and Garrow were two of just five players that returned from the year prior, as Rick Suffield, the program's all-time wins leader at 286, entered the picture.
 
Their experience from the year before, along with the massive addition of high school Player of the Year Joe Ogoms, and the return of 6'8" centre Brian Light instantly made Manitoba better.
 

The Bisons were boosted further by two program-altering players just prior to the second half of the season.
 
"We played [Brandon] after Christmas before the new year in a tournament in Brandon and that was the turning point for our team," reflected Garrow.
 
"Tony Kaufmann came into the fold and John Himanen came into the fold. They were both eligible to play and they ended up being two of the starters and I ended up being the sixth man. We beat Brandon in the final and I think Kaufmann had close to 20 points in the first half. Tony went on to have a great year. He was All-GPAC that year with Joe."
 
Kaufmann, a Vincent Massey product, transferred back home after back-to-back 11-win seasons with Winnipeg, while Himanen had spent the prior two seasons ay Lakehead, making a difference in 1984-85 in his lone year with the Bisons.
 
"We just clicked. It was amazing. We were very small, Joe was our centre. He was like 6'5", Kaufmann was 6'4", John Himanen was 6'4" or 6'5". We had Brian Light who played centre, he was our 6'8" centre and we would rotate through our centres, and then Tony and I came off the bench," noted Garrow.
 
"Getting down to crunch time it was Ogoms at centre, Himanen at forward, me at guard and Tony at guard. We ran a 1-3-1 matchup zone, which just messed with teams. We were very hard to press, teams didn't press us. If they did they failed. We just started gaining more momentum and we just clicked as a team. Our 1-3-1 zone defence was hard to infiltrate."
 
House, in particular, was a nuisance to match up against. An active, intelligent and athletic defender, he created countless turnovers that led to transition buckets.
 
"Tony was a pest as a point guard. If the ball went to the baseline and they tried to it into the post at the high elbow, he would often get a piece of it because he's low to the ground, he's 5'10"and had strong hands," said Garrow.
 
"There were just a lot of variables and our height really messed with teams because we were small but we were all very quick to the ball. It forced guys to be indecisive."

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Manitoba defeated Lakehead and Winnipeg on their way to the program's first GPAC title since 1978.
 
In what would become a common theme, Garrow hit the game-winning shot in the final, draining a 25-footer with 30 seconds to play in a 76-74 win over cross-town rival Winnipeg. Kaufmann led all Bisons with 25 points.
 
"I'd be lying through my teeth if I said I wanted Garrow to throw up a 25-footer," said Suffield, who had immense trust in his players, at the time.
 
"But he can hit that shot."
 
In the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (CIAU) Midwest regional semi, Manitoba knocked off Calgary 57-51 thanks to 21 points from Kaufmann. It was House, however, that iced the game late.
 
With the score 52-51 Manitoba with two minutes to go, the Dinos fouled Manitoba's point guard, hoping that he'd miss both, as he had shot just .490 from the line that year.
 
House didn't miss. His two critical free throws helped ice the game for the Herd.
 
"What the book on House didn't show is that he's the kind of player who responds brilliantly under pressure," said Suffield post-game. "Or that his father had flown in from Ottawa to watch him. He could hardly miss."
 
Next up was UPEI in the regional final, where Manitoba topped the Panthers 75-63. A tie game after three was broken open by the Bisons in the final five minutes of play, as the Panthers forced turnovers but were unable to score late.
 
Kaufmann was named Midwest tournament MVP after scoring 25 points, while Ogoms had 21 and House "ran the whole thing both ways," according to Suffield.
 
In the national semi, Manitoba went to-to-toe with powerhouse Victoria, who at the time were five-time defending national champs.

The Bisons led by 18 at the half, but legendary Vikes head coach Ken Shields opened up the second half with a full-court press, and seven-footer Cord Clemens slowly took over from there.
 
He scored 22 of his 27 points in the second half, and also had 11 rebounds, as the Vikes took the lead with 2:14 to go. Ogoms took the game to overtime following a layup, but the extra session belonged to UVic, who outscored Manitoba 15-6 and came away with the 79-70 win, en route to their sixth straight title.
 
Despite the result, Manitoba's improvement from two wins to one game away from the national championship goes down as one of the best turnarounds in university basketball history.
 
The team's core was first and second year players, including Ogoms, the GPAC Rookie of the Year and Second Team All-Canadian. Ogoms was the first, and one of just two players in program history to win a Rookie of the Year award and also be named an All-Canadian.
 
"We knew our roles. We needed to get the ball to Joe and [Kaufmann], they were our scorers. Tony was our floor general. He was a great point guard and played great defence," said Garrow.
 
"That 1-3-1 matchup just messed with teams, because back then I was fast and I was able to run sideline to sideline on the baseline. I had a little bit of length so it was difficult for guys to get the shots off. The following season, Suffield earned national Coach of the Year honours, while five players, including Ogoms, Kaufmann and Garrow earned GPAC all-star nods as the team's core made a statement.
 
But it was more than just the starters who laid the groundwork for another 12-4 season and GPAC title.
 
"The practices were fierce, they were intense and they were short. That's the one thing that Suff did, he didn't ride us too hard. He was always about the games," recalled Garrow.
 
"We were always very prepared. We have Trevor Hoilett [in 1984-85] who played football, hockey and basketball, Scott Martin [1984-87], he was a dawg. We had a lot of guys pushing us to make us better."
 
Manitoba was ranked No. 1 "all the way through" in 1984-85 and '85-86. And while they lost in the CIAU regional championship to Saskatchewan, no one will ever forget "the shot" in the GPAC championship against Brandon.
 
With ten seconds to play, Garrow hit a baseline jumper, while falling out of bounds near the water fountain inside Bison East gym, for the game winner in a 78-77 result.
 
The shot went over the corner of the backboard, bounced on the outside of the rim and then took a Manitoba bounce to send the Herd to the CIAU regional semi.


 
"I probably should have dumped the ball into Joe [Ogoms] but he threw it back out into the corner and I knew the shot clock was winding down," reminisced Garrow.
 
"We all put in time in that Bison East gym, and that was my favourite end to shoot was the end where the water fountain was. It wasn't like I practiced that shot, but when you practice so much in a gym you kind of know every little nuance and every angle. As much as the ball went in I wasn't surprised. I had a tremendous amount of confidence."
 
Another one-point win sent the Bisons to the CIAU regional championship for a second year in a row.
 
The Bisons were up 46-35 at the half, but Garrow went down with an ankle injury which helped close the gap. Trailing late, Ogoms stepped up, banking in his own rebound following a baseline jumper for the game winner in an 84-83 win over Toronto.
 
Ogoms finished with 30 points, while Kaufmann had 23.
 
In the regional championship, the 12^th-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies upset the Bisons, who were affected by the loss of Garrow. Ogoms paced Manitoba with 20 points. Garrow and Ogoms returned the following season, but Kaufmann had moved on to become a doctor and House returned home. Manitoba lost in the GPAC semis, and a year later Ogoms moved on to pro ball as Brandon won the conference title with an undefeated record.
 
Garrow earned GPAC all-star recognition in 1987, and in 1988 he was an All-Canadian as a senior.
 
"As my era ended in 1988 and Joe Ogoms didn't come back for the final year, I knew I was sort of the man," said Garrow.
 
"That was such a fun, enjoyable year, it's just too bad there were some injuries and guys quit the team. That was a very good team my final year, but as soon as Maurice Simpson went down with an achilles injury, we were struggling from there."
 
The legacy of the mid 80s Bisons will never be forgotten.

Until the 2017 season they were the last team to reach the national tournament. The experience was not lost on Garrow or House, who look back in their university days as some of their fondest in basketball.
 
"Those five years at Manitoba inspired me to play at a higher level every time. After that there was so much confidence that came out of that situation in playing for so long," said Garrow, who played pro ball for the Winnipeg Thunder in 1992.
 
"I just loved playing, and I still do to this day. Everyone thinks I'm nuts, but that's part of the Garrow legacy. My father was a great, great player. He represented Canada a couple times. It's in my blood."
 
"If you look at records and comparables, the 1976 team that won, that's the benchmark. Those guys go down as living legends. If you look at the next best, for me I don't think it's even a question," added House.
 
"Those two seasons and what we were able to do as a bunch of guys who came from a not so successful year to playing two of those years together, I have a lot of pride. I still talk to quite a few of those guys that I played with 30-plus years ago. I came back last spring and hung out with Martin, Suff, a lot of my former teammates. I have nothing but really good, fond memories of what we did on and off the court."
 
Stay tuned next week for chapter four, looking at the late 80s and early 90s, where numerous leaders were developed through the program, including Eric Bridgeland, Gregg Filmon and Marc Virgo.