Ellerbe to coach Big Ten tour de Europe

As the dog days of summer approach, many students plan to get away from school or work and go on vacation. A common destination for these refugees of real life is Europe.

At first glance, Michigan basketball players Josh Asselin and Brandon Smith seem to be following the European route of fun, as they will join coach Brian Ellerbe in traveling to Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

Smith

While Asselin, a 6-foot-11 center, and Smith, a 6-7 forward, might get a chance to see the tourist hotspots of Western Europe and even have an opportunity to eat a genuine Belgian waffle, their European vacation won't be all play. As part of getting a free trip to Europe, the sophomore duo will play on a squad of Big Ten all-stars against European teams

Asselin and Smith get to check out the Dutch canals thanks to their performances off the bench as freshmen. The duo saw action in 31 of Michigan's 34 games and combined for 5.9 points and four rebounds per game.

MARGARET MYERS/Daily Michigan basketball coach Brian Ellerbe might have to learn a few new languages to argue with referees on his next road trip. Ellerbe is coaching a Big Ten all-star team on a European tour.

Both are expected to play key roles for the Wolverines this upcoming season - they will be counted on to help Michigan recover from the loss of four starters from last season's Big Ten Tournament champion team.

Ellerbe won't have much time to sample steins of beer, due to the responsibilities that will come with coaching the all-star team.

Ellerbe put in many hours picking the team in the past couple weeks, making sure he had at least one representative from each school in the conference.

Besides selecting Smith and Asselin, Ellerbe chose 10 others to tour Europe. Headlining the all-star team are Penn State point guard Joe Crispin, Northwestern guard Sean Wink, Ohio State forward Jason Singleton and Indiana forward William Gladness.

Each player started for his respective team last season. Wink, a sophomore, was the Big Ten leader in three-point field goals. Crispin averaged 9.6 points and 3.3 assists per game as a freshman, while seniors Singleton and Gladness compiled 10.7 and 8.6 points per game, respectively.

Other players selected were forwards A.J. Granger (Michigan State), Maurice Linton (Wisconsin), Dusty Rychart (Minnesota) and Michael Rebholz (Iowa).

Ellerbe also added guards Corey Bradford (Illinois) and Carson Cunningham (Purdue) to fill out the roster.

Granger, a junior, averaged 12 minutes off the bench for the Spartans, while Linton was a key reserve for the Badgers as a freshman last season. Cunningham didn't play after transferring from Oregon State, where he started at point guard as a freshman in 1996-97.

07-06-98