4B - The Michigan Daily - Tipoff '98 - Thursday, November 12, 1998
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Thursday, November 12, 191
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WISCONSIN
Coach: Dick Bennett
1997-98 Record:313 Big
Ten (T-9th), 12-19 overall
Player to watch: senior
guard Sean Mason - not a brick-
layer
Returning starters: Mason
(&2, 182/Jr.), guard Hennssy
Auriantal (6-1, 185/Sr.), sopho-
roore guard Mike Kelsey (6-3,
190/So.)
Look out for: Fcor leader Ty
Calderwood after losing a season
to injury
Sound familiar? Badgers full of guards
In a conference chock full o' guards,
Wisconsin fills the bill just fine.
With a core of four guards returning
from last year's squad, including senior
Ty Calderwood, who missed all of last
season due to injury, the Badgers look to
improve on their ninth-place conference
finish.
"We return experience with our veter-
an point guards," Wisconsin coach Dick
Bennett said. "We have three senior
guards who will play a lot."
Those three seniors are Calderwood,
Sean Mason and Hennssy Auriantal.
Mason and Auriantal both started the
bulk of the Badgers' games last year,
combining for 26.3 points per game.
But Calderwood is a question mark.
After averaging 8.8 points and a team-
high 3.7 assists in the 1996-97 season,
he sat out all of last season with a knee
injury.
"Ty has had a good offseason and
appears to be healthy," Bennett said.
"He demonstrated the year before that
he is a leader on the floor. His absence
hurt us."
But Bennett also points out some
advantages of Calderwood's injury -
namely, the devlopment of sophomore
guard Mike Kelley. Kelley, who proba-
bly would have been riding the pine for
most of his freshman year had
Calderwood been healthy, found him-
self thrown into the starting lineup for
26 games. He averaged just 4.2 points
per game, but had 55 assists and just 39
turnovers.
But the biggest question mark on the
team is the frontcourt - or lack thereof.
The Badgers, like many Big Ten teams,
have no true big man.
Mark Vershaw is the forward who
logged the most minutes last season, but
the sophomore started just three games
and averaged just 5.3 points. Vershaw is
joined in the frontcourt by sophomores
Andy Kowske and Maurice Linton, who
combined fcr 7.6 points per game last
season, and freshman Maurice Sessoms.
"You have got to move people around
and get people the ball who can score in
the post," Bennett said. "If you do not
have a dominating center, you are better
off with mobility."
But the Badgers do have a secret
weapon in a senior guard. He played just
14.5 minutes per game last season, he
averaged just 4.5 points, but he is as
much a leader to this team as Boutros
Boutros-Ghali was to the United
Nations. Why? The name. Duany
Duany boasts the best name in the Big
Ten.
"We want to play eight or nine play-
ers consistently," Bennett said, "and he
is in a battle for one of those spots."
- Josh Kleinbaun
eet
the
Wvolveri
JOSHASSELIN
Height: 6' 11"
Weight: 230 lbs.
Class: sophomore
-_Position: C/F
Hometown:
CaroMich.
S "B 2
LOW BULLOCK
~2~L~/REID
.44 -s aR
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 190 lbs.
Class: senior
Position: G
Hometown:Span-
ish Fork, Utah
Height: 6'7"
Weight: 200 lbs.
Class: sophomore
Position: F
Hometown:
Amarillo, Texas
RANELLERBI
HEAD COACH
Hometown: Bowie, Md.
Previous coaching
experience: Loyola (Md.)
SNEEL
Settles settles in after NCAA
settles 6th-year eligibility issue
It's been Settled. Jess Settles, a distant
memory to most Big Ten basketball
players, is back.
In late November, 1996, playing in a
Thanksgiving tournament in Hawaii, the
Iowa forward suffered an injury to his
back, which has plagued him through-
out his career. He hasn't stepped oni the
practice floor since. But he wanted
back.
And the NCAA has said OK.
But doubts remain as to whether or
not the consensus 1996-97 preseason
Big Ten player of the year can be of any
help to the Hawkeyes. Now a graduate
student at Iowa, his back is still ailing
him. His coach says he has almost as
many doctors as friends.
But boy, could the Hawkeyes use him.
They lost five players from last season's
squad, including three starters. Six new
players join the fray, four freshmen and
two junior college transfers, and a veter-
an like Settles - and he's about as
much of a veteran as anyone - could be
a great influence around the youngins.
The guards are the Hawkeyes'
strength, with Kent McCausland and
Dean Oliver both returning.
McCausland averaged 9.6 points per
game last year, and Oliver added 8.8
points and more than four assists per
game. Iowa coach Tom Davis is also
very excited about freshman Joey
Range, a 6-foot-5 guard.
"Range has instincts for the game,
where to go and when to go," Davis
AP PHOTO
Sophomore guard Dean Oliver Joins
senior guard Kent McCausland as
Iowa's only returning starters.
said. "If he can just contribute, that'll be
a positive."
Guy Rucker and J.R. Koch will be the
go-to players in the frontcourt. Both saw
significant playing time last season.
Rucker, a 6-10 center from Inkster, aver-
aged 6.6 points and 3.3 rebounds and
blocked 20 shots. Koch added 6.9 points
and 3.3 boards and blocked 28 shots.
But their production in the paint, both
in scoring and rebounding, will have to
improve. Someone has to fill the void
left by Ryan Bowen's graduation.
Bowen's 14.4 points per game were sec-
ond on the team, and his 8.7 rebounds
were first, as were his 41 blocks.
The Hawkeyes could recieve a mid-
season lift from Sam Okey. The former
Wisconsin guard transferred to Iowa
during the second semester last year,
and will be eligible to play when classes
begin after winter break.
"He's competing really hard," Davis
said. "He's got a lot of spirit."
In nine games with the Badgers last
year, Okey averaged 9.8 points and 4.9
rebounds.
- Josh Kleinbaumn
IOWA
Coach: Tom Davis
1997-98 Record: 9-7 (T-5th)
Big Ten, 20-11 overall
Player to watch: Sophmore
guard Dean Oliver, who can score
and dish the ball
Returning starters: G Oliver
(5-11, 175/So.), G Kent
McCausland (6-3, 190/Sr.)
Look out for: The end of an era
for a venerable coach in Iowa City
- Hayden Fry is still around, but
Dr. Tom Davis is making his final
rounds of the Big Ten hardwood;
also, graduate student Jess Settles
will make his return
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 180 lbs.
Class: senior
Position: G
Hometown:
Temple Hills, Md.
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 180lbs.
Class: sophomore
Position: G
Hometown:
Canton
V O JONES
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 200 lbs.
Class: freshman
Position: GIF
Hometown:
Battle Creek
4- -YNLA
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 220 lbs.
Class: senior
Position: F
Hometown:
Belleville
Height: 6'9"
Weight: 220 lbs.
Class: freshman
Position: C/F
Hometown:
Plymouth
ASSISTANT COACI
f? 0 OLIVER
. 'TAYLOR
Height: 6'U"
Weight: 175 lbs.
Class: senior
Position: G
Hometown:
Little Rock, Ark.
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 190 lbs.
Class: senior
Position: G/F
Hometown:
Chicago
The Walk-Ons
E ] G Ramal Hunter
6-3, 160 lb. freshman
G/F Henry Gibson Iii
6-4, 189 lb. freshman
Q G Blaine Denning
5-10, 170 lb. freshman
P.TER VIGNIER
- ,Height: 6'11'
'.Weight: 260 lbs.
y Class: junior
.aA Position: C/F
Hometown:
Teaneck, NJ.
Y ISYOLNG
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