Joel Gunderson is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on the Cauldron at Sports Illustrated, The Athletic, NBC Sports Northwest, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Pac-12 Network. He is a former finalist for the ONPA Sports Feature of the Year Award. The author of Boise State of MindJoel currently lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and three kids. Tyler Smith was a three-year starter on the men's basketball team at Penn State and was an Academic All-American. Following his graduation from Penn State, Smith played professional basketball in seven different countries and on four continents during his eleven-year career.