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Show Openings 1988, Sports - Page Four BASKETBALL IRunnnin' , i i r" Utes Itave the right siyffff Singletary and Smith lead a powerhouse, ball club ml By Kent Condon last year and worked on improving his grades. Chronicle sports editor During the summer he pitched in the farm system for the Minnesota Twins. Watts is, an exceptional athlete and which is capable of being the best, will add muscle to the Utes front court line. He'll be Hie right stuff-th- at to excelling great heights, surpassing all expectations-cou- ld joined by Josh Grant. Archibald and his staff were able to these qualities be found in the 1988-198- 9 center to join the Utes and beat persuade the out BYU and UCLA in the recruiting battles. University of Utah basketball team? Why not? With the Utes top two guns returning in the form of Not only will these new faces on the hardwoods at the Watkins Mitch Smith and Singletary, and a supporting Huntsman Center help Utah get the "RiuinuT back into cast of newcomers chipping in, this could be the season the U. offensive scheme, the new recruits should help U. faithful have been waiting for. the Utes maintain their reputation as one of the toughest Gale of Gone will be the services guards Gondrezick, defensive teams in the West. Fulton. and Chris In Conner their "The last two years we've led the conference in place will be Tommy three of the hottest junior college guards in the country. defense, but next year our defense should be even I Mark Lenoir and Michael Bullock brought respectaoil-it- y tougher," Archibald said. V With the young players coming in somebody must be to Salt Lake Community College, and a player named Van Gray lit it up for Butler Community College in called on to show the new kids in town the rope. That's Kansas. where Smith and Singletary will lead the way. Both had stellar years for the. Utes last season and will Now, U. basketball coach Lynn Archibald is hoping they can stay warm this year at the Jon M. Huntsman be instrumental in guiding this young and talented lot to Center. a WAC championship and a trip to the NCAAs. "I don't think you can ask more from a junior college Bullock paced the Bruins last year averaging 29 points a game. His sidekick Lenoir, not to be outdone, chipped transfer than what Singletary did for us last year," in 23 points and eight assits per outing. For his efforts, Archibald praised. "He adjusted to our system and was Lenoir was named Most Valuable Player in the region our second leading rebounder and scorer." last year. Last season the Utes surprised everyone as they posted "Lenoir is a great ball handler and passer," Archibald a 19-- 9 regular season mark and finished in a three-wa- y said. "Bullock is a good rebounder. He's a scorer, too. He tie for second place in the WAC. This year the Utes will can shoot a little bit outside, he can drive to the basket, he get things rolling early as they participate in the Great of Alaska Shootout, Nov. can score underneath and he can score off the rebound." They will join the likes " The third player from this trio, Gray, will help the Kansas, Kentucky and Seton Hall. Utes from outside. That's where he connected on 48 per-- , From there it doesn't get much easier for the Utes as of his attempts from three-poicent (130-13range last they travel to Purdue on Dec. 17 to test the Boilermakers' Butler. brand of basketball. at year "Van can play point or Archibald said. Michigan will visit the Huntsman Center for the Utah Classic at the end of December before the Utes open their "He's quick and is a good passer. "Van Gray is gym rat," Archibald continued. "He can play WAC campaign at.UTEP Jan. 5. 40 hours in the gym and still find time to shoot around." A tough schedule is in order for this U. team, howThe Utes will have one more newcomer in their back ever. And if all the pieces fall in place for Archibald's court this year in Bill Perkins. After playing one year at troops, U. fans may see something fantastic take place Boise State University, where he averaged 12 points per this year-t- he right stuff. game as a freshman, Perkins went on an LDS mission. Upon returning, much to Archibald's delight, Perkins Runnin' Ute Watkins "Boo" Singletary stuns the opposdecided the U. was the school he wanted to play for. ing team with an inside jumper. Singletary is expected Walter Watts will add depth down low. Watts sat out to lead a successful basketball team this year. " . 11 ,.-- 7 I I 25-2- 8. . nt 8) - off-guard- ," JliW I) If I j I-- r V . o4.-:- r , Coach seeks to improve on Lady Ute finish second-plac- e 5 By Loren Jorgensen Chronicle sports writer or manpollege basketball coaches, finishing secjpa place in your conference with a 19-- 9 record would be a dream come true. But not for the Lady Ute's Elaine Elliott. "Second place just isn't good enough for us," Elliot said. "We're not displeased with our year last year. We won 19 games and competed until the end for the conference title. But at the same time we're not satisfied with that, and we'll do what-eve- r it takes to bring the championship o back," she explained. Before Utah can attain Elliott's, lofty goals; four of last year's starters will need to be replacepl. Fortunately, the Utes will return three starters from the 1988:89 campaign. That may sound strange, because everyone knows that only five players can start per side in a basketball game. But as Elliott explains, "We had seven players who started at least six games last year, and not just because of injuries, but because they were good enough to start." The four players who will need to be replaced include Utah's leading scorer a . i nt - j rf who year ago, Tiffany averaged 14.8 points and 5.6 rebounds a game. She was also an selection. The Utes top rebounder a year ago was three-yea- r starting center Donna Holzwarth, who pulled down six boards and scored nearly nine points per outing. Also finishing their Ute careers last season were forward Lesjie Neebling and point guard Michelle Hennessey. v Rogers-Krame- r, ce ; 'We have good experience returning, even though we lost four starters. They've played a The Lady Utes will seek to better last finish. year's towering second-plac- e major role in the success of the program, but not too many people realize it. I The most experienced Ute returning is guard Gina Butters. As an selection last season, Butters scored an aver-- 1 age of over 11 points a game and led the team with 118 assists and 54 steals. She was Utah's primary outside threat, hitting a shots. Lady Ute record 39 thrpe-poiSenior Cindy Lindsay started nine games : a year ago, and has been an integral part of.;.; the team since her freshman year. "Cindy has been just as important to our success the past three years as any- - .:; ' body who's ever started Elliott said. Also back is center Stephie Watrin who started 12 games a year ago. Freshman Karen Alcorn will most like- ly. move over from the shooting guard spot to play some point guard to play some point guard along with Melanee.f Brooks. Both are fine outside shooters,; and, along with Butters, should make the t-3 Utes strong from the perimeter. p Sophomore Kristi Smith, a much on power forward will be counted t-l ' more this year, as will forwards Brenda Alcorn and Leslie Carpenter. Alcorn and Carpenter are the top candidates to fill 4 the small forward starting slot. Elliott is also pleased to have two new post players in freshmen Cathy Nelson, a forward center, and ' Tanya Zachary 26 Utah's season starts Nov. against jj California at the Huntsman Center. The rnnffirfinrfi oamfis hfioin Tan. 27. For the $ first time this year, the HCAC will have a n tournament to decide the automatic qualifier to the NCAA's. Only the top four teams will be invited. This ; j season's tourney will be in Las Griices, ? t Npw Mvirn Marrh 10-- 1 1 v post-seaso- . |
