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MEDIA DAY: Starting lineup still undecided GUARDS FIGHTING IT OUT (11/1/06)
Collins had entertained the notion of starting incoming transfer Scott VanderMeer at center along with returning starters Josh Mayo, Othyus Jeffers, Jovan Stefanov and Danijel Zoric. After a few weeks of practice, Collins said that the last spot will likely come down to a guard or a wing player. Juniors Kevin Bond, Karl White and Robert Bush and transfer T.J. Gray are all in the mix for the nod, and it’s not because Collins is down on VanderMeer. “Scott’s not quite sure of himself yet,” Collins said. “And I don’t want two of our post guys getting in foul trouble at the same time. I think I’d like a little more athleticism in the lineup.” Collins said that once VanderMeer finds a little more confidence that he will be a dominant player in the Horizon League. For now, VanderMeer will back up Zoric. The talk is that the final starter will be either Bond or Bush. “Bond is probably in the lead, because he’s been rebounding the best,” Collins said. “He’s picked up his defense and he’s 6-[foot]-5, so he could fill the void because of his size. Robert Bush has also been playing well in practice the last two weeks.” With so many versatile pieces and the possibility of the team going 11 deep, Collins said that he wants to run some pro-style offense – spreading the floor, putting one big man inside with four players on the wings, hoping to open things up. The Flames had a closed scrimmage against Northwestern on Sunday and Collins saw some good things and some things that needed improvement. “We got a good test,” Collins said. “They run that Princeton offense. They showed us some things we’ve got to work on defensively. I thought we did well offensively.” RECRUITING UPDATE: A source close to the UIC program said that the Flames are pushing hard to get Simeon’s Tim Flowers to commit. The source also confirmed that Flowers visited the UIC campus last weekend. Flowers, a 6-foot-5-inch, 230-pound forward, helped Simeon to the Class AA championship last season. He averaged 18.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per game and shot 55 percent from the field as a junior. The tenacious Flowers had nine points and nine rebounds in the Wolverines’ 31-29 win over Peoria Richwoods in the title game. Flowers is scheduled to announce his college choice with teammates Derrick Rose and Kevin Johnson at a press conference on Saturday. Flowers was being pursued by Loyola, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Bradley, among others in recent months.
Noonoo stayed with the team for a few minutes with an ice pack on his left wrist before being taken to the emergency room by Bryant Lowe, the Flames’ director of basketball operations. The extent of the injury was not immediately known. BLUE RIBBON PROPS: The publication often called “The Bible of College Basketball,” the Blue Ribbon Yearbook was recently released. Its preview on the Horizon League selected UIC for a third-place finish behind Loyola and Wisconsin-Green Bay. The publication ranked UIC’s frontcourt second in the conference behind Wisconsin-Green Bay. It also gave the Flames an ‘A’ for bench/depth, the only team in the league to receive that mark. The UIC preview also stated “getting back to 20 wins is a realistic goal.” FLAMES FLICKERS: All Flames’ games will be audio streamed live on ESPN Radio 1000, while most of them will also air live on the station. … Comcast SportsNet is also slated to broadcast the Flames’ road game at Detroit on Feb. 10. … The print edition of Whoosh!, with an in-depth season preview, will be in the Nov. 13 edition of the Chicago Flame. |
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