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basketball season preview nov. 8, 2011 duclarion.com Men’s hoops defines ‘roles,’ returns motivated for season by STeVe coulTer Managing editor e 2010-2011 season was full of ups and downs for the DU men’s basketball team as they won nine of 10 games from mid-December to January and ascended to 1st place in their division only to lose 53-49 to No. 6-seeded Florida Interna- tional in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. While injuries and inexperience took their toll on the team down the stretch, head coach Joe Scott was able to hone in on what really went wrong this offseason and make the appropriate changes head- ing into the 2011-2012 campaign, which has the Pioneers returning 83 percent of their scoring along with five seniors. “What happened last year is that we had to replace a two-time first team all- league player in Nate Rohnert, and we underestimated how long it was going to take to replace him. At the same time, we overestimated the manner in which we were going to replace him,” said Scott. “We had a few key injuries that threw another monkey wrench in there, but I learned from all of that you never know how you’re going to replace somebody [like Nate] until you go out there with your team and see how they gel together and make sure what you’re doing as a coach is good for those guys. “We’ve made some changes off of what we’ve learned from last season; we’re going to be playing a little differ- ently, playing faster, and that means we’ve tweaked the offense to extenuate the play- ers that we have.” e most notable change comes at the point guard position, where Scott will start freshman Brett Olson in hopes that the newcomer will take the ball-handling pressure off the team’s leading scorers from last season: senior captain Brian Stafford and junior Chase Hallam. Stafford averaged a team-high 12.9 points per game last season and brings 93 career starts in 93 games played. Hallam av- eraged 12.5 points per game last season and brings 62 career starts in 62 games played. “Chase and I had to handle a lot of pressure last season,” said Stafford, a Pre- season All-SBC ird Team selection. “Brett is going to handle a lot of that pres- sure and hopefully take over that posi- tion. Chase and I have the ability to score a lot and will be able to score more this season without that additional pressure.” Last season, Stafford, along with Chase and his older brother Travis, took over running the team’s offense at point guard, which is not his natural position. In addition, neither Hallam broth- er is a natural point guard, which cre- ated a stagnant offensive play and led to the Pioneers averaging only 60 points a game, ranking them 331st in the nation in points per game. “We didn’t have a true point guard last season, which meant we had to rely on true scorers like Brian and my brother to run the offense, and that made us play slow,” said Travis Hallam, a senior and the team’s sixth man heading into the season. “Brett is an excellent true point guard, a guy who can handle the ball and pass the ball effectively. Once he gets ahold of the entire offense, we’ll be able to move the ball faster and that will really help us out this year. “Knowing your role is the biggest thing we are hearing this offseason. If you’re a scorer, then go score; if you’re an inside player, then go inside and crash the boards. We are seeing a lot more defined roles this season.” If Olson can handle the point guard position well enough, the Pioneers will be able to transform from playing in a set offense to moving faster and playing with more freedom, according to Hallam. However, the back court is only half the battle for a Pioneer team that finished 13-17 last year following a 2009-2010 campaign that saw them go 19-13 and advance to the SBC semifinals. “Rebounding on both ends of the court will be crucial,” said Travis. “If we can control the boards, then our record will show it. We’ve never been able to do it here, but if we are able to do it, good things are going to happen.” e Pioneers’ biggest break of the off- season came when fiſth-year senior Rob Lewis was cleared to play aſter missing the 2010-2011 season with a back injury. Lewis brings 89 games of experi- ence and 48 career starts with him into the season as well as a career average of 9.9 points per game and two plus-100 re- bounding seasons. “Rob is going to play an important role on the glass for us,” said Travis. “He is such a big guy, I’d be surprised if he doesn’t average more than eight rebounds a game.” Playing alongside Lewis in the front court will be sophomore forward Chris Udofia, who played in all 30 games last season as a freshman, averaging 8.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Similar to Stafford, Lewis and Chase Hallam, Udofia started games as a fresh- man, a trend that has happened in each season Scott has been head coach. “We’re going to start five guys that all started as freshmen, one of which is go- ing to be a freshman. I think that says a lot,” said Scott. “We want to continue that trend every year, because if guys who start as freshmen are starting still when they’re seniors, then that means they’re pretty good players.” In addition to bringing back Lewis and Udofia, the Pioneers will have senior Justin Coughlin as a reserve forward. Coughlin brings 87 games and 74 starts worth of experience. “Lack of respect” equates to motivation While the experience and the offen- sive identity change are important to the Pioneers’ success this season, the team needs to stay motivated from the hum- bling loss last season to FIU in which they shot 34 percent from the field. “e way last season ended was frustrating for us, because we were in position to win the Sun Belt and we were playing well, but fell off,” said Stafford. “I think the way we went about our off- season preparations speaks a lot to what that loss meant to us. “We are definitely motivated having finished that way. We’ve put ourselves in a position to win it in previous seasons, and now, we hope to put ourselves in a position to win it again and then finish this season out the right way.” If the loss wasn’t motivational enough for the Pioneers, the team’s pre- season ranking in the SBC should serve as an additional inspiration. DU was slot- ted to finish fourth in the SBC’s West Di- vision, a spot lower than where they fin- ished last season, despite the overhaul of talent returning this season. DU is the only team in the confer- ence with two Preseason All-SBC play- ers that is predicted to finish worse than third in their respective division. Chase Hallam was a Preseason All-SBC Second Team selection. “It’s an honor to get those accolades, but it doesn’t mean anything until you prove it on the court,” said Chase. “It doesn’t mean anything to me right now, because I haven’t played that way yet. I have to play that way for my team to be successful and I know that.” Scott agrees that the preseason rank- ings don’t mean anything at this point of the season, but he believes that they do serve a subtle purpose for the team. “I do feel that [our ranking] is motiva- tion for us,” said Scott. “At some level, for our players, they have to take it as a lack of respect toward them as players and for us as a program. I just want to make sure we are ready to play the conference season when it rolls around and we are playing our best basketball at that point.” While the conference season is cru- cial in determining the Pioneers’ seeding in the postseason tournament, the team cannot afford to sleep on its toughest non-conference schedule to date, which features a trio of NCAA tournament teams — St. Mary’s (Calif.), Utah State and Northern Colorado — in addition to three 20-game winners from last season, including in-state foe Colorado State, Iona and Southern Mississippi. SEE Schedule, PAGE 2

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SEE Schedule, PAGE 2 by STeVe coulTer “Lack of respect” equates to motivation Managing editor

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basketball season preview

nov. 8, 2011

duclarion.com

Men’s hoops defi nes ‘roles,’ returns motivated for seasonby STeVe coulTer

Managing editor

Th e 2010-2011 season was full of ups and downs for the DU men’s basketball team as they won nine of 10 games from mid-December to January and ascended to 1st place in their division only to lose 53-49 to No. 6-seeded Florida Interna-tional in the fi rst round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

While injuries and inexperience took their toll on the team down the stretch, head coach Joe Scott was able to hone in on what really went wrong this off season and make the appropriate changes head-ing into the 2011-2012 campaign, which has the Pioneers returning 83 percent of their scoring along with fi ve seniors.

“What happened last year is that we had to replace a two-time fi rst team all-league player in Nate Rohnert, and we underestimated how long it was going to take to replace him. At the same time, we overestimated the manner in which we were going to replace him,” said Scott. “We had a few key injuries that threw another monkey wrench in there, but I learned from all of that you never know how you’re going to replace somebody [like Nate] until you go out there with your team and see how they gel together and make sure what you’re doing as a coach is good for those guys.

“We’ve made some changes off of what we’ve learned from last season; we’re going to be playing a little diff er-ently, playing faster, and that means we’ve tweaked the off ense to extenuate the play-ers that we have.”

Th e most notable change comes at the point guard position, where Scott will start freshman Brett Olson in hopes that the newcomer will take the ball-handling pressure off the team’s leading scorers from last season: senior captain Brian Staff ord and junior Chase Hallam.

Staff ord averaged a team-high 12.9 points per game last season and brings 93 career starts in 93 games played. Hallam av-eraged 12.5 points per game last season and brings 62 career starts in 62 games played.

“Chase and I had to handle a lot of pressure last season,” said Staff ord, a Pre-season All-SBC Th ird Team selection. “Brett is going to handle a lot of that pres-sure and hopefully take over that posi-tion. Chase and I have the ability to score a lot and will be able to score more this season without that additional pressure.”

Last season, Staff ord, along with Chase and his older brother Travis, took over running the team’s off ense at point guard, which is not his natural position.

In addition, neither Hallam broth-er is a natural point guard, which cre-ated a stagnant off ensive play and led to the Pioneers averaging only 60 points a game, ranking them 331st in the nation in points per game.

“We didn’t have a true point guard last season, which meant we had to rely on true scorers like Brian and my brother to run the off ense, and that made us play slow,” said Travis Hallam, a senior and the team’s sixth man heading into the season. “Brett is an excellent true point guard, a guy who can handle the ball and pass the ball eff ectively. Once he gets ahold of the entire off ense, we’ll be able to move the ball faster and that will really help us out this year.

“Knowing your role is the biggest thing we are hearing this off season. If you’re a scorer, then go score; if you’re an inside player, then go inside and crash the boards. We are seeing a lot more defi ned roles this season.”

If Olson can handle the point guard position well enough, the Pioneers will be able to transform from playing in a set off ense to moving faster and playing with more freedom, according to Hallam. However, the back court is only half the battle for a Pioneer team that fi nished 13-17 last year following a 2009-2010 campaign that saw them go 19-13 and advance to the SBC semifi nals.

“Rebounding on both ends of the court will be crucial,” said Travis. “If we can control the boards, then our record will show it. We’ve never been able to do it here, but if we are able to do it, good things are going to happen.”

Th e Pioneers’ biggest break of the off -season came when fi ft h-year senior Rob Lewis was cleared to play aft er missing the 2010-2011 season with a back injury.

Lewis brings 89 games of experi-ence and 48 career starts with him into the season as well as a career average of 9.9 points per game and two plus-100 re-bounding seasons.

“Rob is going to play an important role on the glass for us,” said Travis. “He is such a big guy, I’d be surprised if he doesn’t average more than eight rebounds a game.”

Playing alongside Lewis in the front court will be sophomore forward Chris Udofi a, who played in all 30 games last season as a freshman, averaging 8.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.

Similar to Staff ord, Lewis and Chase Hallam, Udofi a started games as a fresh-man, a trend that has happened in each season Scott has been head coach.

“We’re going to start fi ve guys that all started as freshmen, one of which is go-ing to be a freshman. I think that says a lot,” said Scott. “We want to continue that trend every year, because if guys who start as freshmen are starting still when they’re seniors, then that means they’re pretty good players.”

In addition to bringing back Lewis and Udofi a, the Pioneers will have senior Justin Coughlin as a reserve forward. Coughlin brings 87 games and 74 starts worth of experience.

“Lack of respect” equates to motivation

While the experience and the off en-sive identity change are important to the Pioneers’ success this season, the team needs to stay motivated from the hum-bling loss last season to FIU in which they shot 34 percent from the fi eld.

“Th e way last season ended was frustrating for us, because we were in position to win the Sun Belt and we were playing well, but fell off ,” said Staff ord. “I think the way we went about our off -season preparations speaks a lot to what that loss meant to us.

“We are defi nitely motivated having fi nished that way. We’ve put ourselves in a position to win it in previous seasons, and now, we hope to put ourselves in a position to win it again and then fi nish this season out the right way.”

If the loss wasn’t motivational enough for the Pioneers, the team’s pre-season ranking in the SBC should serve as an additional inspiration. DU was slot-ted to fi nish fourth in the SBC’s West Di-vision, a spot lower than where they fi n-ished last season, despite the overhaul of talent returning this season.

DU is the only team in the confer-ence with two Preseason All-SBC play-ers that is predicted to fi nish worse than third in their respective division. Chase Hallam was a Preseason All-SBC Second Team selection.

“It’s an honor to get those accolades, but it doesn’t mean anything until you prove it on the court,” said Chase. “It doesn’t mean anything to me right now, because I haven’t played that way yet. I have to play that way for my team to be successful and I know that.”

Scott agrees that the preseason rank-ings don’t mean anything at this point of the season, but he believes that they do serve a subtle purpose for the team.

“I do feel that [our ranking] is motiva-tion for us,” said Scott. “At some level, for our players, they have to take it as a lack of respect toward them as players and for us as a program. I just want to make sure we are ready to play the conference season when it rolls around and we are playing our best basketball at that point.”

While the conference season is cru-cial in determining the Pioneers’ seeding in the postseason tournament, the team cannot aff ord to sleep on its toughest non-conference schedule to date, which features a trio of NCAA tournament teams — St. Mary’s (Calif.), Utah State and Northern Colorado — in addition to three 20-game winners from last season, including in-state foe Colorado State, Iona and Southern Mississippi.

SEE Schedule, PAGE 2

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2 www.duclarion.com

Nov. 8, 2011

Schedule looks to challenge Pioneers early and often

“This season, we have the team that can be the best in the SBC and we know that, so it’s not about exceeding expectations.”

Chase Hallam

Continued from page 1

Last season, DU went 4-10 outside of conference play, which had an impact on the team de-spite its great mid-season run, according to Scott.

“The 4-10 record came back to get us at the end of the year because of the fight we had to fight early on to right the ship,” said Scott. “We wore out because of that start as well as our inju-ries, and that’s why it’s impor-tant to get off to a good start. This year, we need to show that we are a better team in the non-conference schedule.”

This season the team’s ex-pectations are similar to where they were last season at this time; however, the difference is

the team is more comfortable with its identity than it has been in the past.

Last year, nine different players started for the Pioneers as the team tried various combi-nations of start-ers to find the right mix.

“Last year we put too much pressure on ourselves with certain ex-pectations with-out knowing who we really were,” said Chase. “This sea-son, we have the team that can

be the best in the Sun Belt and we know that, so it’s not about

exceeding expec-tations.”

As for his last season with his brother, Chase says winning the SBC tournament and advancing to the NCAA tourna-ment would be a dream come true.

“Every year I want to win; I want to make it to the NCAA tournament,” said Chase. “If we [Travis and I] could go out there and live

that childhood dream of ours, then that would be awesome.”

Five freshmen to hit the court this season

by anna gauldinAssistant sports editor

Five freshmen are joining the men’s basketball team for the 2011-2012 season: guards Brett Olson and Cam Griffin, for-wards Marcus Byrd and Royce O’Neal and center Jake Logan.

“I think we have a good freshman class,” said head coach Joe Scott. “They’re the right kind of kids.”

Freshmen add depth to men’s roster

Olson, a 6-foot-5 guard, played for Highlands Ranch High School before coming to DU and was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Colorado his senior year. He began play-ing basketball at a very young age and grew up surrounded by the sport.

“My dad was a really big basketball player,” said Olson. “He played for the University of South Dakota. My brother and sister also played. It just runs in the family.”

After being recruited early on by DU, Olson chose Denver

both because of its proximity to his home and because of its status as “a team on the rise,” he said. So far, he has transitioned smoothly from high school to collegiate athletics.

“[The biggest difference is] the pace and the hard work you have to put in,” said Olson. “It’s a whole new level of speed and in-tensity, and it just makes a world of difference.”

Olson will begin the 2011-2012 season as the starting point guard for the Pioneers.

Olson is joined at DU by one of his high school team-mates, Marcus Byrd, who was voted the team’s Most Outstand-ing Player his junior and senior years. Unlike Olson, Byrd is the only member of his family to play basketball.

“It’s a great sport,” said Byrd, a forward for the Pioneers. “It’s a fast-paced, reaction-based game that I just fell in love with.”

Byrd, 6-foot-7, began play-ing basketball in third grade, when a friend’s father noticed his height and convinced him to join the team. Byrd said he chose DU because of its academ-ics and its basketball program.

Also joining the roster are two Texas natives, guard Cam Griffin (San Antonio) and for-ward Royce O’Neal (Killeen).

“I started playing when I was 8 at the local YMCA,” said

Griffin. “At first I didn’t really want to play, but my parents forced me to try and I started to love the game. It’s something to get my mind off a lot of things. It’s a competitive sport, and I’m a competitor.”

During his senior year at Judson High School, Griffin av-eraged 16.2 points per game and led his team to a run in the Texas 5A State Tournament. Griffin is the youngest player on the team; he celebrated his 18th birthday late last month.

Griffin chose DU because he wanted to get out of Texas, he said.

“Why not play basketball and get a good education?” said Griffin.

O’Neal, like Olson, grew up around basketball, as his moth-er, father, sister and cousins all played the sport.

Before coming to DU, O’Neal helped lead Harker Heights High School to a 28-6 record and the Texas 5A region-al quarterfinals in 2010-2011. He set school records for rebounds in a season (364) and single-game marks in scoring (39) and rebounding (21).

In transitioning to collegiate athletics, O’Neal has found team requirements to be helpful in man-aging both academics and athletics.

“We have mandatory study hall Monday through Thursday,

and we have time after workouts to do homework,” said O’Neal.

The final addition to the roster is 6-foot-8 center Jake Lo-gan, who graduated from Nor-walk High School in Iowa. He was named All-State First Team his senior year, as well as All-Conference his junior and senior years. In high school, he scored 898 career points.

Logan began playing basket-ball in fifth grade and enjoys the challenge of collegiate athletics.

“It’s a lot more running, a lot more conditioning, a lot more weight training,” said Lo-gan. “It’s just a higher level of basketball. I just love the sport. It’s a great game to play, and it feels good when you’re able to go out there and play and when you’re able to win.”

All five players are leaning toward business majors, though Griffin is also considering jour-nalism.

Looking toward the upcom-ing season, Scott hopes to find the best role for each player on the court.

“A lot of it is just getting ev-eryone in the right roles,” said Scott. “This year is all about nat-ural roles, and we’ll be working on it all preseason. That’s when guys get better; that’s when they get stronger. Once you get go-ing six days a week, you go from thinking to knowing.”

by michael ferreroStaff writer

Chase Hallam has started all 62 games during his career as a guard for the Pioneers; his 63rd start will be one like he has never experienced.

Hallam, a junior out of Mesquite, Texas, was voted to the Sun Belt Conference’s Pre-season First Team by College-SportsMadness.com on Oct. 2. This honor, however, has not instilled a sense of superiority in Hallam. Rather, he has re-mained humble, stating that the early award will be significant to the way he will conduct himself throughout the season.

“It’s definitely a nice honor, but in reality it doesn’t really mean

anything until the end of the sea-son. I still have a lot to prove,” Hallam said. “I know I still have to come out and work as hard as I can everyday at practice. If I don’t do that and coast, the award means absolutely nothing.”

Hallam is coming off a sea-son in which head coach Joe Scott relied on him heavily to help de-termine the outcome of games. Hallam ranked 5th in three-point percentage (.425), 6th in steals (1.6 per game) and 15th in free throw percentage (.741) in the SBC dur-ing the 2010-2011 season.

Additionally, he ranked 4th in the Sun Belt Conference in minutes played per game (34.4). The player that finished 1st in the conference was his older brother, Travis.

“Travis and I have played together for as long as I can remember,” Hallam said. “We were on the same AAU (Ama-teur Athletic Union) team and the same high school team. It’s a bit weird to look at it from an outside perspective to see two brothers playing on the same college team, but, for us, it’s easy.”

Travis’ commitment to play basketball at DU in the fall of 2008 may have been the biggest contributing factor in convinc-ing Chase to become a Pioneer.

“During the summer after Travis’ freshman year, I came out for a visit. I was already being recruited by DU, so I de-cided to take a visit,” said Hal-lam. “I really liked what Travis told me about the team, and I

Chase Hallam set for breakout season

andrew fielding|clarion Chase Hallam looks to build off his first two seasons at DU, where he started in all 62 games. He was 2nd on the team in scoring last season.

could see why when I came out here. I really liked the guys and the facilities, so it made it an easy decision to come here.”

In just two seasons, Chase has already started 33 more games than Travis and averages seven more points per game than his brother. Despite a sub-.500 season just a year ago, Chase is confident about the upcoming season.

“Honestly, I believe that we are capable of doing any-thing, but it all depends upon our play,” said Hallam about he and his brother. “We have the talent and ability, but we have to come out and perform night in and night out. Having said that, my expectations are that we will finish first.”

The recipe for Hallam to have a successful season and live up to his preseason award is sim-ple, according to Scott.

“Chase needs to be Chase. He needs to be in his natural aggressive role. Rather than try to play a certain role, he needs to just play the way we know he can,” Scott said. “This will allow him to become the natural lead-er we are looking for. When he plays naturally, he is one of the best players in our conference.

“He can shoot the ball well. He plays tough defense and gets a lot of steals. He rebounds well both on the offensive and defen-sive glass. Playing naturally will free him up to do more things and step into that dependable, leadership type role.”

andrew fielding|clarion Freshman Brett Olson drives during a practice in Hamilton Gymnasium.

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3 www.duclarion.com

Nov. 8, 2011

Basketball Preview Staff

STeVe COUlTer TYler PerlMUTTer Managing editor Sports editor anna gaUldin rYan lUMPKin Assistant sports editor Photo editor andrew fielding Contributing photographer

by anna gauldinAssistant sports editor

The DU women’s basketball team is projected to finish first in the Sun Belt Conference’s West Division after it received six 1st place votes in a preseason poll by the league’s coaches.

The Pioneers begin this sea-son after a 2010-2011 campaign where the team advanced to the 2011 Women’s National Invita-tional Tournament with a 19-12 season record, losing 60-75 to Brigham Young University in the first round.

“I think it’s a high honor just to be recog-nized with this title,” said senior forward Kaetlyn Murdoch, a native of Temple, Texas. “But it’s just a title. We still have to work hard and put in as many hours. Some of the talent we go up against is incredible. It’s great to be hon-ored, but it also brings a lot of re-sponsibility.”

The Pioneers also collected two individual pre-season honors. Murdoch was selected as the Sun Belt Con-ference Preseason Co-Player of the Year. In the all-conference selections, Murdoch was named to the preseason first team and junior point guard Emiko Smith was named to the preseason third team.

Murdoch averaged 16.3 points and 6.97 rebounds per game last season, establishing herself as one of the best for-wards in the nation. She ranked 4th in the country in field goal percentage while leading the conference. She led the team in

both points and rebounds and became the 20th Pioneer to break 1,000 career points.

As for Smith, the third-year starting point guard is highly experienced after finishing last season ranked 1st on the team and 17th in the nation in assists as well as leading the Pioneers in minutes played.

In addition to Murdoch and Smith, sophomore guard Quincey Noonan is a returning starter from last season’s squad. Noonan ranked second on the team and 15th in the Sun Belt Conference in both assists (73) and steals (46).

“Emiko is the best point guard in our conference and absolutely makes the team go,” said head coach Erik Johnson. “She’s on track to break the career assists record [at DU] before she even reaches her se-nior year. Quinc-ey started every game as a fresh-man last year. She’s an extremely athletic and phys-ical guard. And Kaetlyn was very deservedly pro-

jected to be the best player in the conference.”

The Pioneers are joined this season by three freshmen, including guards Morgan Van Riper-Rose and Jordan Johnston and forward Theresa Wirth.

Van Riper-Rose adds an-other deep shooting threat to the Pioneer offense, replacing the graduated guard Britteni Rice, the fourth-best three-point shooter in the program’s history.

“Morgan is one of the best three-point shooters in the country,” said Johnson. “She’s a

very poised, controlled fresh-man who can learn quickly and just play. Jordan Johnston is ex-tremely athletic and quick and has a very nice skill set. Those two will be very important be-cause our guard depth is very thin right now. Theresa has a nice inside-outside game, and she can do all the things we need her to do.”

Murdoch said she also sees promise in the team’s new mem-bers and is optimistic about their contributions.

“They are three unbelievably talented freshmen,” said Mur-doch. “They are understanding everything so quickly and are real-ly latching on to the new concepts. We are so lucky to have them.”

Wirth joins a front court that includes the team’s captain, Mur-doch, along with a trio of sopho-mores: Desiree Hunter, Alison Janecek and Maiya Michel.

Besides Murdoch, Michel is the group’s veteran and will be relied upon to replace the gradu-ated Brianna Culberson, who was 2nd on the team in scoring last season with 14.3 points per game.

Tough road ahead

Despite the preseason ac-colades, the team is focused on a challenging schedule that will test the Pioneers from the non-conference schedule into con-ference play, where the Pioneers look to battle with East Division foes Middle Tennessee and Ar-kansas-Little Rock.

Murdoch and Johnson both stressed the importance of treating the preseason rankings as an honor rather than an indication of how the upcoming season will unfold.

“Any preseason ranking is a great compliment to what we did last year,” said Johnson. “But it has nothing to do with what’s going to happen this year. That’s what we keep telling our players.”

The Pioneers begin their season Friday with a home game against Loyola Marymount at 5 p.m. in Magness Arena. Johnson said he intentionally scheduled a challenging non-conference season in an effort to establish the Pioneers’ presence in the na-tional scene.

“We have to play Vanderbilt on the road this year,” said John-son. “After beating them here last year, they’ll be reeling to get us. We’ve also made a point of scheduling all of the in-state ri-vals plus Wyoming, with a goal

Women’s basketball prepared to meet high expectationsof being the undisputed champi-ons of the Front Range.”

Johnson, who is in his fourth year as head coach for the Pioneers, said he has focused each year on taking small steps to improve the team. In his first year, the team went 16-15, im-proving to 18-13 the following year and ranking 2nd in the na-tion in field goal percentage.

“Last year, we really im-proved defensively,” said John-son, who coached the team to a 19-12 record. “We definitely proved we belong in the national scene. So now the question is, how do you go from being a conference contender to a con-ference winner? It really comes down to little details.”

This year, Johnson hopes to continue that tradition of prog-ress and live up to the team’s preseason rankings. Murdoch predicts that this will require coming out strong from the very first game.

“As a team, our goal is just to perform as well as possible,” said Murdoch. “We are already gelling so well. We need to be able to come out with intensity and own up to the title of being number one in the [SBC] West.”

With the season nearly here, Johnson said he needs every play-er on the team to be prepared.

“All of our young players need to step up and be ready to play,” said Johnson. “We lost two 1,000-point scorers and a huge leader, but we have a lot of po-tential on our team and plenty of talent in the gym.”

Johnson said he admires his team for their dedication both on and off the court, where they excel both as athletes and as students.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is that for the last two years we have been ranked in the top 25 in the nation in GPA,” said Johnson. “Our athletes are proud to represent DU as both students and basketball players.”

rYan lUMPKin|clarion Sophomore guard Quincy Noonan drives down the court during Sunday’s preseason exhibition game against Colorado Mesa University in Magness Arena.

“Any preseason ranking is a great compliment to what we did last year. But it has nothing to do with what is going to happen this year.”

Erik Johnson-Head Coach

rYan lUMPKin|clarion Senior captain Kaetlyn Murdoch drives to the hoop during Sunday’s exhibition contest.

Page 4: 11.8.11 Basketball pullout insert between p.10 and p.11--FINAL

4 www.duclarion.com

Nov. 8, 2011

SBC Men’s Preseason Poll

Friday, Nov. 11Portland StateMagness Arena

Monday, Nov. 14Texas A&MCorpus Christi, Texas

Thursday, Nov. 17Southern Miss.Magness Arena

Wed., Nov. 23St. Mary’sMagness Arena

Saturday, Nov. 26CaliforniaBerkeley, Calif.

Wed., Nov. 30Utah StateLogan, Utah

Saturday, Dec. 3Texas SouthernMagness Arena

Wed., Dec. 7Iona CollegeMagness Arena

Wed., Dec. 14Northern ColoradoGreely, Colo.

Saturday, Dec. 17Boise StateMagness Arena

Monday, Dec. 19WyomingMagness Arena

Thursday, Dec. 22CitadelMagness Arena

Thursday, Dec. 29TroyMagness Arena

Saturday, Dec. 31Arkansas-Little RockMagness Arena

Thursday, Jan. 5Arkansas StateJonesboro, Ark.

Saturday, Jan. 7South AlabamaMobile, Alab.

Wed., Jan. 11Colorado StateFort Collins, Colo.

Sunday, Jan. 15Western KentuckyMagness Arena

Thursday, Jan. 19Louisiana-MonroeMonroe, La.

Saturday, Jan. 21North TexasDenton, Texas

Thursday, Jan. 26Arkansas StateMagness Arena

Saturday, Jan. 28Arkansas-Little RockLittle Rock, Ark.

Thursday, Feb. 2Louisiana-LafayetteLafayette, La.

Saturday, Feb. 4Middle TennesseeMagness Arena

Thursday, Feb. 9Florida AtlanticBoca Raton, Fla.

Saturday, Feb. 11Florida InternationalMiami, Fla.

Thursday, Feb. 16Louisiana-LafayetteMagness Arena

Saturday, Feb. 18Louisiana-MonroeMagness Arena

Sunday, Feb. 26North TexasMagness Arena

March 3-6Sun Belt Conf.Championship

Friday, Nov. 11Loyola MarymountMagness Arena

Monday, Nov. 14WyomingMagness Arena

Thursday, Nov. 17Air ForceUSAFA, Colo.

Wed., Nov. 23Colorado StateMagness Arena

Saturday, Nov. 26UTEPEl Paso, Texas

Wed., Nov. 30Northern ColoradoGreely, Colo.

Friday, Dec. 2VanderbiltNashville, Tenn.

Monday, Dec. 5MontanaMagness Arena

Thursday, Dec. 8ColoradoBoulder, Colo.

Sunday, Dec. 11OregonMagness Arena

Wed., Dec. 14MinnesotaMagness Arena

Monday, Dec. 19HawaiiHonolulu, Hawaii

Tuesday, Dec. 20Portland StateHonolulu, Hawaii

Wed., Dec. 28TroyMagness Arena

Saturday, Dec. 31Arkansas-Little RockMagness Arena

Wed., Jan 4Arkansas StateJonesboro, Ark.

Saturday, Jan. 7South AlabamaMobile, Ala.

Sunday, Jan. 15Western KentuckyMagness Arena

Thursday, Jan. 19Louisiana-MonroeMonroe, La.

Saturday, Jan. 21North TexasDenton, Texas

Wed., Jan. 25Arkansas StateMagness Arena

Saturday, Jan. 28Arkansas-Little RockLittle Rock, Ark.

Wed., Feb. 1Louisiana-LafayetteLafayette, La.

Saturday, Feb. 4Middle TennesseeMagness Arena

Wed., Feb. 8Florida AtlanticBoca Raton, Fla.

Saturday, Feb. 11Florida InternationalMiami, Fla.

Wed., Feb. 15Louisiana-LafayetteMagness Arena

Saturday, Feb. 18Louisiana-MonroeMagness Arena

Sunday, Feb. 26North TexasMagness Arena

March 3-6Sun Belt Conf.Championship

West1. Arkansas State2. Louisiana- Lafayette3. North Texas4. Denver5. UALR6. Louisiana- Monroe

East1. Florida Atlantic2. Middle Tennessee3. Western Kentucky4. South Alabama5. FIU6. Troy

SBC Women’s Preseason PollWest1. Denver2. Arkansas State3. UALR4. Louisiana- Monroe5. North Texas6. Louisiana- Lafayette

East1. Middle Tennessee2. FIU3. Western Kentucky4. South Alabama5. Florida Atlantic6. Troy

2011-2012 Women’s Season Schedule

2011-2012 Men’s Season Schedule