THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran gets its 2009-10
men's basketball season underway on Saturday night when it plays
the Concordia University Cavaliers in Portland, Ore. Tipoff is
scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS: While Pacific Lutheran
will be playing its official season opener, NAIA Division II member
Concordia will take the floor for the fifth time in counting games
and eighth time overall. The Cavaliers have lost exhibition games
to a trio of Division I opponents - University of Portland,
University of Oregon and Boise State University. In counting games,
Concordia has defeated Multnomah University 130-90, William Jessup
86-80, Point Loma Nazarene 68-66 and San Diego Christian 87-85. The
win over Point Loma, a NAIA Division I national playoff team, is
ample evidence of the Cavaliers' ability. The team's leader through
the first four games is 6-9 senior center Alex Tiefenthaler, a
Tacoma native who played his prep ball at Bethel High School.
Tiefenthaler averages 23.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.
Jourdan Sweeney, a 6-5 sophomore forward, chips in with 14.5 points
per game and four other Concordia players are averaging between 8.0
and 9.3 points per game.
SEASON OUTLOOK: The 2009-10 Pacific
Lutheran men's basketball team will have one only one senior -
guard Gabe Smith - to complement a roster with four juniors.
"We're still a young squad," head coach Steve Dickerson said of
this year's Lutes. In spite of the youth, this team will boast
experience beyond its years after several players saw significant
time on the court last year as freshmen and sophomores. "They need
to be thrown in the fire," Dickerson said. "That's the quickest way
to learn." In preparation for this year, Dickerson emphasized the
need to gain strength and athleticism. His team responded, with
about half of the players staying near campus over the summer to
work with PLU strength and conditioning director Chris Wood.
Dickerson believes that the team will be a nice mix of youth and
experience, emphasizing the physical growth of the returning
players through fitness training as well as the size and
athleticism of the incoming class. After the graduation of career
1,000-point scorer Josh Dressler, the Lutes have to find a way to
replace the points that he brought to the team. Dickerson believes
that the points will not come from just one player, but rather from
better team balance and consistency throughout. "Scoring is not
going to be an issue," Dickerson said. "We've got a lot of people
who can score. Which player scores will depend on the matchups of
each game." Juniors Victor Bull and Kyle MacTaggart would appear to
be the first two players in line for higher scoring totals. Bull, a
6-7 post player, averaged 11.4 points per game and was the
Northwest Conference's third-leading rebounder with 7.1 per game.
The 6-4 MacTaggart scored 11.9 points per contest from the wing
position. Senior Gabe Smith will lead a group of talented guards
that includes sophomores Tommy Begalka, Marcus Reaves and Zachary
Klein, and freshmen Andrew Earnest, Cameron Reister and Nicholas
Forsythe. Dickerson said that the two biggest questions coming into
the season are rebounding and leadership. In terms of rebounding,
he mentioned Bull as one of the top post players in the conference
and pointed to sophomore Tarjei Bryn and freshman Dylan
O'Neil as players who need to help solidify PLU's presence on the
boards. "The potential to rebound is there," Dickerson said of his
post players. "They're warriors." Leadership will come from
everyone on the team, Dickerson said. "We just need leadership on
the court. We've got to have someone step up and lead." Junior
Curtis Trondsen, one of the team's top long-range shooters, returns
after scoring eight points per game last season. He will pair with
MacTaggart on the wings, along with incoming freshman Cameron
Schilling. Junior Tony Polis and sophomore James Conti both return
to split time at point guard, with a year of growth and experience
in the system to help them take the next step. The pair combined to
average six assists and 13 points per game from the point guard
position. As the season begins with fall practices, Dickerson sees
the improvement of a year spent gaining size, strength and
experience.
LUTES LEARN IN SEATTLE U.
EXHIBITION: Pacific Lutheran has one preseason
scrimmage and one exhibition game under its belt as it heads into
the opening week of the season. Charles Garcia scored 27 points and
grabbed nine rebounds on Saturday, Nov. 7, to lead Seattle
University to a 96-68 exhibition victory over PLU at Connolly
Center. Gibson, a 6-10 center, helped the Redhawks to a dominance
near the basket as 50 of their points came inside the key, in
addition to having a 49-33 rebounding edge. Tommy Begalka made a
triumphant return for Pacific Lutheran, leading the Lutes with nine
points in just five minutes of action. Begalka, who missed all of
last season after rupturing an achilles tendon, was 3-for-4 from
three-point range. Kyle MacTaggart led the Lutes with four rebounds
and added six points in 12 minutes, Victor Bull scored eight points
in a team-high 25 minutes, and James Conti scored seven points and
dished out four assists in 21 minutes. Marcus Reaves came off the
bench to score eight points in 10 minutes. All 16 players on the
Lutes roster saw action in the game.
APPLY NOW: Lessons learned from that exhibition
contest will need to be applied quickly as the young Lutes start
their season against a Concordia team that has already been tested
seven times this year.
LUTES ONLINE: You can listen to Pacific
Lutheran's season opener against Concordia University by clicking
on the following link - http://www.golutes.com/information/listenlive.
A trio of PLU students - Drew Griffin, Paul DiPietro and Bret Handy
- will call the action this season.
- PLU -
