Elderly Eschmeyer to lead Northwestern's charge

AP PHOTO Northwestern center Evan Eschmeyer (42), one of the elder statesmen of the Big Ten, is poised for another strong season.

You could tell he hated it. It was written all over his face - a cross between anguish and boredom that just screamed, 'Get me out of here!' But there was no escape.

Evan Eschmeyer was surrounded by reporters. A whole table-full of them. Tape recorders, notepads, and television cameras were everywhere. They all wanted a piece of one of the few big men left in the Big Ten.

Northwestern's center had better get used to the spotlight.

Last season, Eschmeyer established himself as the premier center in the conference. Averaging 21.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and just under a block a game, he was a force in the paint.

The scary part? According to his coach, he's gotten bigger and better.

His weight is up 20 pounds, from 245 to 265. And it's not fat. In fact, his body fat is down six percent from a year ago.

He's developed a jump shot from the 15-foot range. He went to Pete Newell's Big Man Camp, playing against the best big guys in the country - not college players, but NBA ones.

"He worked out three to four times a day on his own," Northwestern coach Kevin O'Neill said of his 6-foot-11 center. "Skill-wise, he's better. He's bigger, stronger, better."

And as the elder statesman in the conference - he's been on Northwestern's roster since just about the Mesozoic era - he knows the Big Ten as well as anyone.

"I'm an old man," Eschmeyer said. "I've seen three coaches, two AD's, four secretaries, three weight coaches, a couple university presidents. I've been around."

When you throw in sophomore shooting guard Sean Wink, who shot 46 percent from long range last season, the Wildcats have a potent inside-outside threat.

Wink's overall field goal percentage, 44, was actually lower than his percentage from beyond the arc, helping him average 12.1 points per game.

But past the shine of Eschmeyer and Wink, things look dim for the Wildcats. No one else averaged double-digit scoring, and only Julian Bonner put up more than five points per game.

The Wildcats lost just one player from last season's squad - Joe Branch, a guard who started just more than half of the Wildcats' games - and add four freshmen to the roster, all of whom should see considerable playing time.

But that doesn't mean they'll be successful.

O'Neill himself said he doesn't know if returning four starters is a good or bad thing. The near-identical team could only put together a 10-17 record a year ago, including a 3-13 mark in Big Ten games and 0-11 away from Welsh-Ryan Arena, despite having one of the best centers in the country.

O'Neill expects big things from his freshmen. One of them, David Newman, will be thrown right into the fire as the team's starting point guard.

"There will be days when I feel like killing him or he'll feel like killing me," O'Neill said. "But he's the best guy on the team to play the point."

-Josh Kleinbaum

11-12-98