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| SportsSunday, October 14, 2007 9:36 PM CDT |
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Rose forms a fist priming for Titans basketball
BLOOMINGTON — Ron Rose can count the number of sure things about his second Illinois Wesleyan basketball team on one hand. While making a fist, that is. Yet while the questions overwhelm the answers as the Titans open practice Wednesday at Shirk Center, Rose has considerably more options with which to undertake the search at his disposal. “It’s a unique year in the fact we’re not 100 percent sure about what to expect out of anybody,” Rose said. “The guys who played last year had the opportunity to get some great experience. But the returning players needed to get better from last season. We don’t know what to expect in terms of their improvement. With the newcomers, we’re anxious to see how they adjust to college basketball.” Rose’s 24-player preseason roster features 14 freshmen, three sophomores, three juniors and four seniors. The lone returning starters from an 11-14 team are senior forward Darius Gant and junior guard Andrew Gilmore. Gone is All-American Zach Freeman, who is playing professionally in Germany after averaging 21.6 points and 9.1 rebounds last season. “We have tried to communicate it very clearly that every spot has to be earned,” said Rose. “There is no Zach Freeman this year. Everything has to be earned.” Gilmore is still recuperating from offseason surgery to relieve tendinitis in both knees, a painful condition that hampered his play last season. “Early in practice he will only be a partial practice player and we’ll see how his knees respond to that,” Rose said. “It’s going to be a process this entire semester and potentially the entire year to get him back to 100 percent.” Senior forward Brian Nussbaum is ready to go after missing most of the past two seasons with shoulder problems. Or at least he was. Nussbaum recently suffered a broken nose and will miss the first two weeks of practice. Sophomore guard Sean Dwyer is working his way back from a second broken foot in the last year and hopes to start practicing in December, according to Rose. A group of returning reserves that includes forwards Jason Bloom, Brett Chamernik and Elias Washington and guards Kevin Bryant and Jordan Morris will be joined by a highly touted freshman class in a multi pronged battle for playing time. “It will be tremendously competitive to earn a varsity uniform and even more competitive to get on the floor. Players will determine that by competing for positions,” said Rose. “Because of the number of bodies and injuries we had last year, we didn’t feel like we were able to hold guys as accountable as we would have liked. That will be something emphasized from day one.” A nine-player recruiting class (there are five freshman walk-ons) includes several who could see action as freshmen. That group includes guards Travis Rosenkranz and Sean Johnson. “We certainly expect these guys to compete and help us be better,” Rose said. “But it’s unfair to put a lot of pressure on them from day one. Mixing newcomers with returning players will be critical.” Titan tidbits -- Rose refers to freshman guard Michael Kempf as a “recruited walk-on.” Kempf and Dwyer were teammates at Arlington Heights Hersey. “Michael tore his ACL the second half of last season. He’s rehabbed it and he’s going through workouts,” said Rose. “He another one we’re anxious to see get on the floor.” -- Junior guard Robert Beauchamp has told Rose he will join the Titans after the IWU football season is over. Beauchamp is a defensive back and kick returner for Coach Norm Eash’s team who played basketball at Parkland the past two years. “He’s a tremendous athlete. He can play either the one or two (guard),” Rose said. “He comes to Wesleyan with a reputation as a defensive stopper.” -- Freshman forward Dan Schouten is out until January with a shoulder injury. -- IWU will play a junior varsity schedule in the coming season after not having enough players to do so in 2006-07. “That was something we really missed last year,” said Rose. “For those guys not playing varsity, it’s a great opportunity to develop.” -- Junior Anthony Gunnell and sophomore Matt Wittig have decided not to return to the team. Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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Yo Chuckie wrote on Oct 16, 2007 2:58 PM:
Jeffer wrote on Oct 16, 2007 10:31 AM:
Scheuer wrote on Oct 15, 2007 8:20 PM:
give me a break.... wrote on Oct 15, 2007 5:34 PM:
Titan Fan wrote on Oct 15, 2007 4:44 PM:
Re: I bet wrote on Oct 15, 2007 4:25 PM:
I bet- wrote on Oct 15, 2007 12:16 PM:
Jeffer wrote on Oct 15, 2007 11:29 AM:
re: huh? wrote on Oct 15, 2007 11:04 AM:
IWU Fan wrote on Oct 15, 2007 8:55 AM:
oh wrote on Oct 15, 2007 1:05 AM:
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