Sound familiar? Badgers full of guards

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 veteran 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.

AP PHOTO Sophomore guard Dean Oliver joins senior guard Kent McCausland as Iowa's only returning starters.

"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 probably would have been riding the pine for most of his freshman year had Calderwood been healthy, found himself 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 for 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 players consistently," Bennett said, "and he is in a battle for one of those spots."

- Josh Kleinbaum

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 throughout his career. He hasn't stepped on 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 veteran 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 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, averaged 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 second 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 Kleinbaum

11-12-98