Show L Bruins ins Set et To 0 Tip i Off 4 Paul Childs Staff Writer As winter approaches every sports fan begins to drool with excitement over the coming few months Starting in September the world of pro and college athletics athletics athletics ath ath- ath- ath enters into a realm of near unconsciousness NFL College football Pro and college Basketball all start at about the same time of year giving every sports junkie a thirst for stats and scores Everyone wants to know how the Jazz start the year off with a 3 1 record when they have virtually no talent Many wonder if the Chiefs will tie the 72 Dolphins and become only the second team in NFL history to finish the year undefeated Will this be the year that your team comes out of their playoff drought Will the Utes and Cougars ever make it past the second round of March Madness As these and many other questions flood the mind of a Salt Lake Community College sports fan it is easy to forget that we have our own brand of excite excite- ment Our athletics program is consistently one of the best ones in the national Junior College rankings Many have missed a great Bruin volleyball season as they played highly ranked teams such as the College of Southern Idaho and Southwest Missouri State West College-West Plains Ranked 3 and 5 respectively With volleyball now winding winding winding wind wind- ing to a close we have the unique opportunity to see both mens men's and women's basketball teams take action Both the mens men's and women's team are loaded with talent this year and are looking for a fruitful harvest to a busy off Many players graduated while several others took up their then roots and moved on to the ranks Former team leaders such as Tim Henry and Ali AH Aird moved on to The University of Wyoming and Utah State University Respectively On the mens men's side of things they were faced with a major rebuilding project when all but two players left the team Josh Neeley and Sinan Guler are a returning foundation for an otherwise young and new team Coach Norm Parish traveled quite a bit in the off season to grab players from England Brazil Senegal and Greece Newcomers to watch on the team include Sims out of Vallejo California Clyde Hooks from Chicago Brock from Provo Utah and Marc Pratt from London England These new comers along with others not mentioned provide a lot of depth to the team Allison Ferreira a first year freshman from Salvador Brazil provides a solid foundation as the starting center and looks to be beable beable beable able to play with the rest of the big boys Shooting does not look to be bea a problem for the Bruins this year as they have played in hi a few exhibition games and have some very talented shooters Coach Parrish has hinted to the fact however that the team is not quite there yet but it is almost to tobe tobe tobe be expected for a team who just met two or three months ago As for the women's team the biggest loss of the season was also their then biggest player Ali AH Aird the only true center that Coach Betsy had left this off off- season left a gapping hole in the middle Stepping up however are newcomers Carolyn Manning and sophomore Rachel Millet The Bruin women's basketball basketball basketball basket basket- ball has many other players looking looking looking look look- ing to make a difference this year and Coach is looking to avenge a last second loss to Dixie State College last year in the Conference Championship game Both teams have the ability to score high and low if they can find a way to match up with their then opponents Struggles will continue contin contin- ue for the mens men's squad as they continue to find ways to gel into a single team and find a rhythm that suits all players The women are a good all around team who will need to find a way to shut shutdown shutdown shutdown down the inside game after night Both teams open conference play on Friday at home against the College of eastern Utah The women tip off at pm p.m. and 1 the men follow them with a I pm p.m. The Bruins will play CEU again on Saturday at the same time in Bruin Arena A AAll II All home and away games can be heard on Globe Radio on the web at http Globe Radio is your exclusive home for Bruin Athletics C |