USD Men's Basketball 1997-1998

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TORERO OUTLOOK

counting on for so lid seasons include forward Ryan Wil– liams, senior forward Nosa Obasohan, and junior guard Lamont Smith . Williams is back after a year off following knee surgery. The 6-6 forward led the Torero scorers in nonconference games his sophomore season and finished as the team's #2 scorer overall with 9.8 ppg while shoot– ing a team-best 56% (#5 in WCC) from the field. Obasohan appeared in 27 contests off the bench, averag– ing 3.8 ppg and making 30.8 percent of his three-point attempts. Smith, the team's Defensive Player of the Year, started 8 of 28 games and gave the team a lift with his tenacious defense and hustl e. Other returners include 7-0 sophomore center Jeff Knoll, who played well at the end of last season; 6-6 se– nior forward Mike Courtney, who started 8 games in '95 - 96; and 6-3 redshirt freshman guard Jim Brewer, who should see action in '97-98 after gaining valuable experi– ence this past season with team workouts. Newcomers to the program include transfer Cameron Rigby, a 6-8 sophomore forward from Bradley who will sit out the year due to the transfer rule; senior forward Sam Luke, a walk-on from Poulsbo, Washington; and the five incoming freshmen -- 6-6 forward Michael Blackmon (Hayward, CNMt. Eden HS), 6-4 guard Deidre Carr (Las Vegas, NV/Durango HS), 6-6 swingman Tom Lippold (Huntington Beach, CNMater Dei HS), 6-9 for–

The upcoming 1997-98 season will be head coach Brad Holland's fourth at the helm of the USO basketball program. The 40-year-old Holland returns three starters and seven lettermen from last year's team that finished 17-11; the 17 wins was a personal-best for Holland in his five years as a Division I head coach. In add ition, junior -----,forward Ryan Will–

iams returns after sitting out due to a knee injury, and redshirt freshman guard Jim Brewer will see his first collegiate action. Holland wel– comes seven new players to the ros– ter, including five incoming fresh– men. Last sea–

son the Toreros finished strong, winning seven of their final nine games to comp lete the 1996-97 cam– paign with an overall record of 17-11 . USO knocked off

ward Jason Powell (San Diego, CA/ Torrey Pines HS), and 6-0 guard Dana White (Phoe– nix, AliWestview HS). The USO Toreros schedule during their nonconference slate matches them with road contests at Stanford, North– ern Arizona, Cal Pol y SLO, CS Ful– lerton, Southern Utah, and at the Montana State Tournament (Monmouth, Mississippi Val–

Gonzaga in the first round of the WCC Tournament be– fore dropping a hard-fought and close decision to USF in the WCC semifinals. Coach Holland and his staff will be looking for the returners to step their games up to fill some of the void left by graduated seniors Brian Bruso (First Team AII-WCC; 12.6 ppg and 5.6 rpg) and Sean Flannery (12 .6 ppg and 3.4 rpg). Look for senior forward Brian Miles to have a big year after he led the squad last season in scoring (14.6 ppg) and finished second to Bruso in rebounding (5.4 rpg). One of the better outside shooters in the league, the 6-8 Miles converted 47.6 percent of three-pointers (# 1 in WCC) and 54.6 percent of his field goals (#5 in WCC). He led the team in scoring and rebounding twelve times, netting a career-best 26 points against LMU, and twice grabbing a season-best 9 boards. Other starters back include senior guard Alex Parker and junior guard Brock Jacobsen. Both Parker and Jacobsen saw action at both guard positions a year ago. Parker, who went by Alex Davis in '96-97, changed his last name over the off– season . He averaged 8.3 points per game and led the WCC in steals with 62 (2.2 spg), the first Torero to ever top that list. Jacobsen, the 1996 WCC Freshman of the Year, is back for his junior year and is the only returner to start all 28 games. Last season he averaged 7.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg and 3.5 apg, and finished out the year as the Toreros point-guard (his assist to turnover ratio was 2.4 to 1). Three players the Torero coaching staff will be

ley State, and Montana State). Nonconference home dates include San Jose State, CS Northridge, Concordia, St. Francis (N.Y.), and CS Dominguez Hills. USO wi ll open up league play with USF Uan. 8th) and Santa Clara Uan. 10th), and will finish outWCC play wi th three road games in the bay area. The WCC Tournament will be Feb. 28th through March 2nd at Santa Clara.