2008 Woodie Awards
Men's basketball works to overcome early obstacles
Erin Rice, Staff Writer
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The men's basketball team has already faced a few challenges.
"We're going to be different, but we hope to be just as good," says Head Coach Robert Gillespie.
The Red Hawks started out the season by taking on Division One school UW-Green Bay in a scrimmage. The Red Hawks led the Phoenix 39-38 at half time, but ended up losing 97-81."We played very hard throughout the game, we just got tired in the second half," says Gillespie.
"We really need to concentrate on defense, I'm a lot more worried when they have the ball," Gillespie adds. The team plays predominantly man-to-man defense The team is still searching for its groove after losing three players from last year including Midwest Conference Player of the Year Tom Becker and team leader Jered Massen. "They will be hard to replace," says senior forward Josh Fischer.
Despite the loss of players the team recruited two new first years Venantre Brown and Rich Clotcer and return three all conference players from last year.
Players to watch this season include senior post Brian Schmitting who scored 21 points for the Red Hawks against Green Bay and had 8 rebounds. "He was hard to guard even for the D-1 players," says Gillespie.
Junior forward Bo Johnson scored 24 points, 15 of which were three pointers. "He's even better than last year, and probably is the best shooter in our conference," comments Gillespie.
Also making a good showing at Green Bay was sophomore forward Paul Wise and junior guard David McMullen. Wise who is the 6th man on the team, had 19 points. "[Wise] will play a significant role in our team, and [McMullen] made a lot of good plays defensively that turned into baskets," notes Gillespie.
The season continued with a tournament hosted by Beloit College. "Going into the games we wanted to come out with intensity for the first games of the season and get off to a good solid start," says Fischer.
The Red Hawks split games, losing to Marian 70-78 and beating Maranatha 79-61.
The team had problems with their defense, below average shooting from top players and turnovers. "Our defense really needs to improve and we must take better care of the ball if we want to be successful at all this season," Fischer adds.
Players to note include Schmitting who scored 23 points in the first game with 15 rebounds, and 19 points in the second game with 7 rebounds. Wise scored 19 points in the first game with four steals and 13 in second, with another four steals in the second game.
"Everyone is still getting used to how each other plays," Schmitting noted after the tournament. "It will come around; it's still early in the season."
The Red Hawks hope to be contenders in the conference championship, but Gillespie focuses on the importance of competing during each game, saying, "They are going to be close games and you have to win those."
Fisher concludes, "I think we are getting better each day in practice and if we can improve each day, by the end of the year we will be a tough team."