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Show Southern Utah basketball 198182 SUSC outlook bright uimmwstmmiWMsmvmt' i'fwijw - v minus mw wtqmwwmm f I V I" t it v Gary (i lover Hill Rohnkohl Willie Kicks CEDAR CITY An optimistic and hopeful Southern Utah State College Thunderbird basketball team opens its season Saturday against an alumni team, and then steps right into a buzzsaw Monday by hosting Grand Canyon College. Game time both nights at War Memorial Fieldhouse will be 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices for general admission seats are $3 for adults ($2.50 if wearing SUSC school colors Columbia blue and white) and $2 for students with activity cards ($1.50 if wearing SUSC colors). SUSC students will be admitted with activity cards. Strange as it may sound, the Grand Canyon may be the easiest game on the Thunderbird schedule until after Christmas. And that isn't saying a word about Grand Canyon not being it's usual tough self. "Grand Canyon was an exceptionally good shooting team last year," Tom McCracken, SUSC coach, points out. "They had a poor shooting night at our place last year, and we came away with a 10-point win (78-68). We are expecting them to have a better night this year and be tougher to beat." The Antelopes will bring two of the area's better shooting guards into the game. Jim Pyers (6-1) and Wayne Gilchrist (6-3) are both proven veterans. The 'Lopes are also expecting better things this season out of Mike Boatright, a 6-8 sophomore center who got his seasoning last year. SUSC Athletic Director Steve Lunt and others have been beating the bushes hard to come up with an alumni team to challenge . the current Thunderbirds Saturday. It appears that the alumni team will be better than most such aggregations. Players scheduled in to teststhe T-Birds T-Birds are Monte Widdison ,(6-9), Paul; Pratt (6-0), Randy "Fire" Johnson (6-3), (6-3), Quinton Davis (6-7), Sam Sampson (5-10), Stuart Bailey (6-8), Russ Hafen (6-6), Jeff Skaggs (6-5), and Steve Hodson (5-10). Ranging between "possibly" and "probably" coming are Robert "Dunn" Lee (6-5), Robin Haight (6-9), and Steve Laing (6-6). "It's tough for an alumni team to compete with current college players," Lunt explains, "but if we can get enough people that we can run them in and out, the alumni can give them a real battle." McCracken is generally pleased with the outlook of his team. "We showed a lot of offense in our two scrimmages last week. I would think that we will be a good offensive team." "It's difficult to judge our defense. I have felt through most of the practice season that we would be a capable defensive team." About the only things that really concerned McCracken, who will be starting his second year at the T-Bird helm, was the defensive rebounding and an injury to Todd Christensen, a 6-6 forward. "We were not checking off on the boards as well as we should have," McCracken says. "There were too many second and third shots being put up. Of course that also means that we were going hard to the offensive boards. We'll have a much better idea of where we stand after these first two games." Grand Canyon has traditionally been a very strong offensive rebounding .team. "They will be a good test of where we sit in defensive rebounding," McCracken explains. SUSC shot 58 and 56 percent from the Yield in the two game-condition scrimmages. Shooting guards Willie Hicks and Hal Welch both looked strong. Hicks averaged 30 points in the two games, while Welch hit an average of 24 points. McCracken still isn't firm on his probable , starting five, but right now, it looks like Hicks (6-2, junior, Las Vegas, NV) and veteran Steve Hoagland (5-11, senior, Jackson, WY) will start on the guard line. There is a chance that Welch (6-1, senior, Las Vegas, NV) might start opposite Hicks. Starting forwards will most likely be Dean O'Driscoll (6-6, senior, Morgan), and Scott Brown (6-7, junior, Richfield). Norman Adams (6-8, senior, Las Vegas, NV) will probably be the starting center. "We have an awfully lot of depth this year, so we will try to keep our people fresh. That means that several players will see significant playing time," McCracken points out. After the two home openers, the T-Birds T-Birds face tough road games at Montana . State (which hasn't lost at home in three seasons), San Francisco (an NCAA division I team ranked high nationally), Weber State, and Idaho State. S - ) ; . i jr ' : f" itv. Ml' ' N x Karl Anderson Gene IMaver Dean O'Driscoll in.iuimin.i.iiiiiiiuiaiiLii.iii. ipjmi iiiinimii urn ii Steve lloatiland Kellv llitks Seott Brown fr A s v A H ' 1- . I V1 J i . : i f I, m : Dwain Cearly Brad Steinke Norman Adams niiiiiii.mil i , ,, iiinwiim,..,,!,,,.,,, ! mmm'm& inrwi iiiiiniii-iiiiii mi mm mum w i ' ifm I . ; : '. k ; A v, . . . ... i I- j (I 4 : 1 . -- VK m . f t. . Hal Welch Todd Christensen |