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Thursday, January 4, 2001
Seniors provide smooth transition for Soderberg
By Jeff Potrykus
Special to ESPN.com
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You would think that Wisconsin acting head coach Brad Soderberg would be a bit envious of his counterpart at Indiana, Mike Davis.
Davis, 40, would be run out of Bloomington for admitting this, but he probably wouldn't mind switching places with the 38-year-old Soderberg.
When Indiana officials fired coach Bob Knight in September and promoted Davis to interim head coach, Davis had a reasonable amount of time to prepare for the 2000-2001 season, the expected growing pains and the obvious comparisons to his former boss.
When Dick Bennett stunned Wisconsin fans by stepping down after the third game of the season, retiring after 25 seasons of college coaching, Soderberg had one day to overcome his own disappointment and prepare the Badgers for a home game against Xavier.
|  | | Mike Kelley is part of a senior leadership coach Brad Soderberg has relied on at Wisconsin. |
As the teams prepared for their Big Ten opener Thursday night in Madison -- Wisconsin won 49-46 -- the Badgers were 9-1 and ranked No. 12 in the nation. Soderberg was 7-0 and speculation is beginning to grow that if the Badgers continue winning, UW officials will have a difficult time not retaining Soderberg.
By contrast, the Hoosiers were 9-5 and Davis has appeared at times to be overwhelmed by the challenge of replacing Knight. After a recent 14-point loss to Kentucky, Davis said he didn't think he was the best man for the job.
What was that?
Davis later retracted the comments, essentially saying he was attempting to motivate his players to work harder. Still, Indiana boosters might be wondering what it will take to convince Iowa coach Steve Alford to return home.
"I want to put my stamp on them," Davis said. "I want them to play the way I want them to play, which is intense, all-wild and fight for everything, every possession.
"They're young and they're not used to that. It's not bad, but it's not where it should be. I think we're a lot better now than we were earlier."
Soderberg, who was a head coach at Loras College and South Dakota State before joining Bennett's staff in 1995, clearly has had the smoother transition of the two coaches. Stress-lite, if you will. Yet that doesn't mean he has enjoyed taking over the program Bennett built into a Final Four participant last season.
"I always hoped I would have a chance at this job," said Soderberg, a native of Wausau, Wis., who played for Bennett at UW-Stevens Point (1982-84). "But these are not the circumstances under which I wanted to get the job.
"I tried to talk Coach out of it. I wanted him to finish the year at least, and in the best-case scenario coach many years after this."
When Bennett decided to step down, even Soderberg could not have envisioned a scenario in which his team would reel off seven consecutive victories. But Soderberg, unlike Davis, has a team laden of tournament-tested veterans who should be able to endure and even flourish in the face of adversity.
Senior guard Mike Kelley, senior forward Andy Kowske and senior forward Mark Vershaw, members of Bennett's first full recruiting class, entered the season with a combined 215 starts. Each had played in 99 games during the past three seasons.
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“ |
The thing that is really nice is I know I've
got a good group of guys. They are very competitive people and they will lift me up if I
can't lift me up all the time. ” |
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— Brad Soderberg,
Wisconsin interim head coach |
Soderberg has smartly relied on that the leadership of this trio. He has also been able to deftly work senior forward Maurice Linton and junior guard Travon Davis back into the rotation after both players missed the first eight games of the season because of NCAA suspensions.
Perhaps most important, he has not tinkered with the Badgers' style of play -- tenacious half-court defense, coupled with a methodical half-court offense. Some have ripped the Badgers' offense and labeled it boring. But it was that style that Bennett grew up with and it was that style which he parlayed into a Final Four appearance last season.
The Badgers became the first team in NCAA history to reach the Final Four without a single player receiving any all-conference recognition (not even honorable mention), and Soderberg knew this team had comparable talent.
"If I had my way," Soderberg said, "I would like to play the way Duke plays. But you have to have the personnel to play the way Duke plays or you're committing basketball suicide.
"To win games at this University, you have to do it the Dick Bennett way. I'm a living fool if I try to do it any other way."
Soderberg is no fool.
In fact, the most visible difference between Soderberg and Bennett is an intangible one. Just as Davis is less volatile on the Indiana bench than was Knight, Soderberg seems to have a longer fuse when his players make mistakes -- turnovers, poor shots -- that routinely drove Bennett wild on the sideline.
"The thing that is really nice," Soderberg said, "is I know I've got a good group of guys. They are very competitive people and they will lift me up if I can't lift me up all the time."
Wisconsin's last game, at home against South Florida, was a perfect example of the Badgers giving Soderberg a lift.
The Badgers scored the final seven points in regulation to force overtime, and then held South Florida scoreless over the final 3:54 of OT to escape with a 63-61 victory.
"I'm very pleased with the way that the guys responded, not just on the court but the way they handled the last 10 minutes of the game and the overtime," he said. "As they came to huddles, I didn't sense any panic. They were very attentive to the instruction they were given. They executed what I asked them to do."
South Florida entered the game unranked but riding a six-game winning streak. The Bulls, who earlier this season beat Texas by 18 points, should be a force in Conference USA.
Wisconsin, which finished only 8-8 in the Big Ten during the regular season, hopes to be a more potent force in the league this season. That will be Soderberg's next test.
Assistant coach Tony Bennett, the son of Dick Bennett, believes Soderberg will not falter in the face of growing expectations.
"The guys really respect him and that's huge," Tony Bennett said. "When you listen to him talk to the kids before the game he gives you goosebumps. He knows how to motivate and is very sharp, very bright."
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Games of the Week
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Ohio State at Illinois
Saturday
Both teams opened Big Ten play with impressive victories. The Buckeyes manhandled Northwestern, 73-56, to improve to 10-3. Eighth-ranked Illinois (11-3) put away its 3-point launching pad for a game and pounded the ball inside en route to an 80-64 victory over upstart Minnesota. Ohio State can't match Illinois' depth, but center Ken Johnson could compensate if he is able to dominate the action inside. Johnson played only 20 minutes against Northwestern because of foul trouble but still had 12 points, six rebounds and six blocks. Johnson will have his hands full against the Illini, though. Center Marcus Griffin had 27 points and center-forward Brian Cook added 11 rebounds and six blocks against the Gophers.
Oklahoma at Iowa State
Saturday
The Cyclones (12-1) are off to the best start in school history. The 16th-ranked Sooners (11-1) continue to find ways to rally late for victories. Kelvin Sampson's team can't afford to get off to a slow start against the Cyclones, though, because winning on the road in the Big 12, much less coming from behind to do so, isn't easy. Iowa State could move into the Top 25 with a victory against the Sooners.
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Iowa no wreck without Recker
With leading scorer Luke Recker sidelined because of a sore right knee, 23rd-ranked Iowa needed some help from its bench in the consolation game of the Rainbow Classic. Junior forward Rod Thompson provided the most notable contribution.
Thompson, who had played just 27 minutes in the Hawkeyes (11-2) previous 12 games this season, came off the bench to score 11 points in 10 minutes to lead Iowa to a 68-56 victory over St. Louis.
Junior forward Reggie Evans was held to seven points and five rebounds. It was the first time this season he had failed to reach double figures in at least one of those categories.
"I thought our bench was terrific," Iowa coach Steve Alford said. "You lose your leading scorer -- you've got to have some (guys) step up."
Recker expects to be ready to play Saturday when the Hawkeyes open Big Ten play at Penn State.
Around the Midwest
Oklahoma senior guard Tim Heskett has impeccable timing. Heskett scored only nine points, but they came on a trio of 3-pointers late in the game to help No. 16 Oklahoma overcame a 10-point deficit in regulation and edge SMU, 79-78 in overtime, in the championship of the Touchstone Energy All-College tournament in Oklahoma City.
"Heskett may not be the most talented player on this team," Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said, "but he probably has the most heart."
Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy wasn't particularly pleased with his team's play early in a 95-44 victory over Illinois-Chicago. With the game tied at 2-2, Eustachy called a timeout with 16:11 left in the half and blasted his players for their sloppy play. To that point, they had made just 1 of 4 shots and turned the ball over four times. Iowa State responded with a 20-2 run and won easily.
Speaking of unhappy coaches, Missouri's Quin Snyder understands his young team will be prone to mental lapses. The Tigers (9-3) raced to a 27-8 lead in the first 10 minutes against Coastal Carolina, but then put their game on cruise-control. As a result, their lead was just five points by halftime and they had to battle in the second half to pull away for a 75-61 victory.
"I got mad," Snyder said of his halftime chat with the players. "I think that's something our team has to watch out for, especially with the young guys. It is easy to say, 'I'm happy with the way things are going.'
"That's where we need the older guys to step up."
Just not to the free-throw line. The Tigers made only 17 of 32 free-throw attempts against Coastal Carolina (56.3 percent).
Top-ranked Michigan State (12-0) extended the nation's longest winning streak to 23 games and to 37 at home with a 98-73 victory over Penn State on Wednesday. The Spartans weren't particularly impressed, since they trailed by 48-37 at halftime.
"That was definitely one of our weirdest wins," senior forward Andre Hutson said. "We probably played one of our worst halves in the first half and one of our best in the second. If we want to win a Big Ten championship, we can't play the way we started out."
Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
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