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Posted Nov. 20, 2003

Falcons could make marks fall

Chances are good that you weren’t even alive the last time the UW-River Falls men won the WIAC championship.

This might be the season that a 54-year run without a title comes to an end, though. UWRF was voted a narrow favorite to win the league title in the WIAC preseason poll. That doesn’t mean too much in a league in which the standings can turn upside down from midseason to March, but it does have some significance. For the first time that anyone can remember, the Falcons, who went 16-10, 10-6 in the WIAC last season, are considered the team to beat.

“We’ve said for the last two years that we were a year away,” said UWRF head coach Rick Bowen, now in his 18th season and who doubles as interim athletic director. “Well, this is that year.”

One of Bowen’s early themes has been trying not to get caught up in all the hype and that applies doubly to returning senior All-American forward Rich Melzer. Last spring NBA scouting chief and draft guru Marty Blake told us to keep an eye on “that kid from Wisconsin” — he was talking about Melzer. The comparisons have already started to Lakers forward Devean George, who played 45 minutes away at Augsburg and was a first-round draft pick in 1999. Bowen doesn’t know whether that’s realistic thinking yet, and for now, Melzer is just looking forward to playing again.

“What kid playing basketball wouldn’t want to play in the NBA?” said Melzer, who was second in Division III in scoring at 28.1 ppg last season.

“I have high expectations for this season. I’m more excited for this season then any of the others since I’ve been here. We brought in a lot of good recruits, so I think we’ll have more balanced scoring. Our coaching staff has been more aggressive in conditioning and in pushing us, without being too critical. Every practice has been tough and I think it’s really working.”

Melzer’s story is an inspiring one for those who struggled through high school, which he did to the point of losing his eligibility at Minneapolis Washburn. Suddenly it didn’t mean much that he played ball as a kid with Adam Boone (now at Minnesota) and Troy Bell (now with the Memphis Grizzlies and a former star at Boston College) Melzer’s aunt and uncle, Susan and Ron Phielen, helped turn his academics and his life around, got him back in school and eventually to River Falls.

“Basketball was a tool to keep me going,” Melzer said. “I didn’t ever think basketball would take me as far as it has.”

In order for it to take him to a league championship, Melzer may have to sacrifice some of his scoring and increase his productivity on defense. Bowen has gotten in his ear regarding that.

“You can always improve defensively,” Melzer said. “I’d like to think that what I do best is create. I always want to be around the ball, both offensively and defensively.”

Melzer should get plenty of support from his teammates. The recruiting class he talked about includes junior college transfers 6-foot-5 Mark James and point guard Tyler Pivec, Moorhead State transfer Billy Halter, who checks in at 6-7, 225 pounds, and freshman guard Hans Hoeg. The backcourt of Matt Kukla (11.6 ppg last season) and Micah Helfry (led the WIAC in assists in 2003) returns as well.

They should find out quickly how good they are, or can be, with a road trip to Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound this weekend, a Nov. 29 meeting with Division II St. Cloud State, and a Dec. 3 showdown in the league opener at UW-Stevens Point, which got four preseason No. 1 votes in that WIAC poll, one fewer than River Falls, and two preseason No. 1 votes in our Top 25.

“A 5-to-4 vote isn’t a real ringing endorsement,” Bowen said with a laugh, pointing out that his team wasn’t even in the D3hoops.com preseason Top 25 (they got 24 total votes). “This league is incredibly competitive. For this program, which has been a bridesmaid for the last four to five years, to receive that kind of respect is very rewarding. But there’s a lot of work to do.”

REMEMBER WHEN? Harry Truman was president, a television was a luxury, a computer was a distant vision, and the Falcons were the best out west in 1950, a long time ago.

Coincidentally, that 1949-50 River Falls team, which won the WIAC and finished 26-5, also featured a pro prospect who was one of the nation’s leading scorers. Nate DeLong made it to the NBA, getting in 17 games with the 1951-52 Milwaukee Hawks, averaging 3.8 ppg. Teammate Newman Benson, was also drafted, twice — first by the Minneapolis Lakers, and then by Uncle Sam to serve in the Korean War. He gave a lot of the credit for the success to his then-head coach, George Schlaugenhauf.

“A lot of the players back then were returning veterans from World War II,” said the 75-year-old Benson, who came back from Korea, eventually coached for River Falls and now is retired, living in Chandler, Ariz. “We were a team that was very unselfish. (George) did a great job of bringing us all together. Our starting lineup featured three leftys. I played forward, and was usually on the right side of the court. As a result, the ball came to me often. That gave me the chance to get the ball to Nate in the low post and for me to lead the team in assists.”

SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT: Key questions to mull over for last year’s Final Four teams as they head into the 2003-2004 season.

Men
Williams: After cutting the nets down, will beating Amherst carry the same meaning? They'll probably face their archrivals four times between now and Salem, if they return, twice in the regular season, once in the conference tournament, once in the NCAA tournament.

Gustavus Adolphus: A late-season lineup shakeup propelled the Gusties on a long win streak and within seconds of the title. How will that philosophy hold up from Day 1? That question may actually be answered on Day 2, when the Gusties get a nice non-conference test at IIAC power Buena Vista.

Wooster: With All-American Bryan Nelson gone, can the Scots' tight rotation go deeper? For that matter, who provides the inspirational leadership that Nelson did, not only playing but dominating in the Final Four on a badly sprained ankle?

Hampden-Sydney: Will there be any sort of drop off, with new head coach Bubba Smith replacing William & Mary-bound Tony Shaver? Probably not this season, considering that four starters return. The thing to watch is whether Smith can maintain the same level of success for a prolonged period of time.

Women
Trinity (Texas): As balanced as that championship team was (and it was as balanced as any we’ve seen in the last several years), graduated senior Megan Selmon was definitely their best all-around player. The Tigers were a little more beatable earlier in the season, before Selmon returned from overseas studies. How will they fare without her for a whole season?

Eastern Connecticut: We all know what Allison Coleman and fellow seniors Kathleen Burdelski and Deanne Prior can do. Can Sandy Mosley, an all-state center in high school, return from a knee injury to effectively replace Morgan Perry, who played excellently in the improbable NCAA Tournament run? Mosley averaged 11 points in six games last season, but will be a freshman with four years of eligibility thanks to a medical redshirt.

UW-Eau Claire: How do the Blugolds respond to being so close, but yet so far, to a national championship last season? This is a tough one to answer, considering how valuable seniors Kristi Channing and Janel Soppeland were to that team, and considering how good their rival WIAC schools (especially UW-Stevens Point) figure to be this season. Our guess is that UWEC didn’t spend too much time dwelling on last season’s devastating semifinals loss to ECSU, but we wonder if the stars are aligned right for a run to Virginia Beach.

Rochester: Is this the year the Yellowjackets can breathe a little easier on Selection Sunday, by ending Washington U.’s run of UAA titles? We like this team a lot, considering it returns eight of its top 10, and it stood tough against UWEC in an intense consolation game. Jim Scheible’s team also adds a transfer from Division I Washington State, 5-11 forward Jessie Graham.

FACING THE BIG BOYS: Two Division III/Division I matchups caught our eye. Defending national champion Williams will take its best crack at Patriot League champ Holy Cross on December 3 and Southern Vermont heads to the Ivy League to face Princeton on Jan. 26. The latter intrigues us, because, unless Grinnell wanted to make its way out to New Jersey, we couldn’t think of two teams more opposite in styles of play. It figures to be a battle of street-style basketball vs. the slowdown. We think we know who will win, but it should be interesting to watch.

PART OF A MORE IMPORTANT TEAM: Here’s an amazing note from the previews section that caught our attention. Johnson and Wales junior forward Wascar Viscaino, the team’s top reserve scorer two seasons ago, returned to the team after missing last season. He was in the Marine Corps’ Camp X-Ray in Cuba guarding captured terrorists.

“He would call us every week to check in, sometimes from very poor phone lines,” said Wildcats head coach Todd Finn. “He couldn’t really tell us what he was doing, but we’re glad he’s back. He’s taking a double course load now to make up the time he misses.”

HEAR THEM ROAR: Our nominee for toughest non-conference schedule goes to The College of New Jersey women.

Should the Lions win their opening game against Misericordia (which lost in last year’s PAC title game), they would almost certainly face No. 1 Eastern Connecticut State in the finals of the Nancy Sulinski Memorial Tournament. They are also slated to face No. 8 Scranton, No. 14 Marymount, No. 18 DeSales, and No. 23 Mount St. Mary, as well as Salisbury (also-receiving votes), Springfield (also receiving votes, but only if they beat DeSales in Springfield’s tournament), and CUNYAC champ Hunter.

TCNJ has had the NJAC final on its home floor each of the last two seasons and has not won either time. The Lions’ seniors know how to win big games though — they were key freshmen contributors on the Elite 8 squad of three seasons ago. Maybe this is the year that their non-conference schedule toughens them up again in time for March.

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST: Each column, we’ll use this space to make a prediction, give an opinion, or provide analysis of a situation.

First up: Let’s be bold and try to peg a team for the Final Four that you wouldn’t think would end up there. It’s hard to have a feeling at this point, so we’ll go with two teams we chatted with last season.

On the men’s side, Wheaton didn’t even make the NCAA Tournament in 2003, but the Thunder should make plenty of noise this season. Senior center Joel Kolmodin is the type of inspirational leader we were talking about when we previously mentioned Wooster’s Bryan Nelson, playing through pain to get the job done. Wheaton returns nearly 80% of its scoring from last season including 6-5 swingman Jonathan Steven, who averaged 10 points per game in six games before losing his eligibility (since regained) for the second semester.

On the women’s side, we got a real good vibe from talking to Pacific Lutheran head coach Gil Rigell after his team lost by two points to UW-Eau Claire in the Sweet 16. Though they don’t even play a Division III team until the Northwest Conference opener on Jan. 9, we like any team that returns a 6-3 center, like All-American Courtney Johnson, who alters shots every moment she is on the floor. Admittedly, we’re not the only ones. PLU ranked 11th in our preseason Top 25 but will probably have to get through the WIAC and/or Washington U. to get to Virginia Beach.

Notes for Around the Nation are compiled with the help of sports information directors across the country. If you have suggestions or information for this column, please send it to mark@d3hoops.com.

Previous columns
2007-08 columns
March 6: Faith restored
Feb. 27: John Jay, Cinderella
Feb. 21: No safety net
Feb. 14: Ursinus better enough
Feb. 8: Hope-TMC on collision course
Jan. 31: Plattsburgh's big shot
Jan. 24: UMD answers call
Jan. 18: Like Bosko, like son
Jan. 11: Keystone stakes
Dec. 13: Unstoppable
Dec. 7: UWW aiming deeper
Nov. 30: Coach's shadow lingers
Nov. 15: Strong duo
2006-07 columns
2005-06 columns
2004-05 columns
2003-04 columns
2002-03 columns
2001-02 columns

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