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Red Hawks Look for Major Improvements in '06-07
Last season was a tough one for the Ripon men's basketball team,
as they experienced some unchartered waters throughout the season.
For the first time in 23 years, the Red Hawks finished the season
with a losing record, with a 7-15 overall mark, finishing sixth
in the Midwest Conference. After going through last year, Coach
Gillespie's team is optimistic about this year, and are focused
on not letting another season like that happen again.
"The first thing we need to look at is why we weren't successful
last season after going 18-7 in 2004-05," Gillespie said. "Probably
the biggest thing we have to improve on this season is defense.
If we do that, we will take a giant step in the right direction."
Ripon averaged 78 points a game last year, but they also allowed
opponents to score 80 ppg, which is about 10 points higher than
they usually allow. In order to cut that number down this year,
the Red Hawks will be counting on their veteran lineup, which returns
every starter from last year's team.
The biggest part of the Red Hawk lineup that is returning includes
the trio of junior Bo Johnson (18.5 ppg, 6.3
rpg, 1.8 apg) and
seniors Brian Schmitting (14.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg,
1.0 bpg) and David
McMullen (11.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 6.5 apg).
Schmitting is coming off a season that saw him lead the entire
nation in field goal percentage (.737), and will be looked upon
to step up even more in the middle, after the loss of 6'7" post
player Wally DeVries to graduation.
McMullen has also been a key component in the program during the
past three years, as he already has a place in the record books.
McMullen currently ranks second in school history in steals (149)
and fourth in assists (342).
Bo Johnson is also in the career record books already, after just
two full seasons. Johnson currently is fourth in school history
in three-pointers made, nailing 133 thus far in his career. He
is just 21 behind second place.
"Those three players will be huge to our success this season," Gillespie said. "
Schmitting is as good a big man as we've had in a very long time,
and McMullen is very athletic and has great quickness. Johnson has averaged 18 points a game the past two
years and is a great perimeter player who has improved his mid-range
game during the off-season. Those are the three building blocks
that we will try to get the ball to as much as possible."
In addition to those three, Ripon also returns junior Paul
Wise (11.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.7 apg) and senior Jonathan
Murphy (4.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.4 apg), making their lineup one of the most experienced
in the Midwest Conference.
"Wise is a real good athlete that has really matured as a
player the past couple years and will be looked at to guard the
other team's best player," Gillespie said. "Then we have
Murphy, who is in the midst of battling hard for the fifth starting
spot."
If there's one area in which the Red Hawks are lacking this season, it
would be size. At 6'7", Schmitting is their tallest player,
after losing DeVries.
"We don't have four guys that are 6'7", but we do have
a lot of athletic players that are between 6'3" and 6'5," Gillespie said. "We're going to have to rebound better as a team and our post defense
will have to improve as well in order to be successful."
One player who will be able to help wherever he is needed, including
in the post, will be junior Chris Kellett
(4.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 0.9 spg).
"Kellett is a sixth-man type player," Gillespie said. "He'll get minutes in
the post when Schmitting needs a rest and could also see some
minutes on the peremiter for Johnson. Kellett's
a very versatile player and is a good defender. He will be an important
piece to the puzzle for us this year."
The Red Hawks have a young bench, but they seem to be improving
more and more all the time. Two players who will be important
to the success of the team this season are sophomores Rich
Cloeter (1.6 ppg, 0.8 rpg) and Vehantre
Brown (4.6 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 0.6 apg).
"Those are two guys that played a role last year but will
be expected to play an even bigger role this season," Gillespie said. "Cloeter is
a very good shooter that scored a lot of points in high school.
He's gotten stronger physically, which should help him a lot. Brown is a very explosive athlete, and we're hoping
he'll give us some added depth."
Another player who may see a lot of minutes off the bench is
Tyler Fischer (0.5 ppg, 0.6 rpg), who, after missing the entire
season two years ago, is steadily improving every day.
"Fischer missed his whole freshman year with a back injury,
but got some minutes last year," Gillespie said. "He's
been pretty impressive so far this year. Right now, he has been
the surprise of our preseason practice."
The bench also will be strengthened by the return of sophomore Matt Nowak (1.6 ppg) and junior Eric Wright (1.4 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.7 apg).
"Eric played at the point in several games last season, while Matt is an athletic perimeter player," Gillespie said. "Both players are competing for playing time on the perimeter."
One reason the Red Hawks struggled last year was the inconsistency
from their guard play. Gillespie tried to fix that over the offseason,
recruiting several players who can handle the ball. Freshmen Bakary
Dao (Milwaukee, Wis./Whitefish Bay) and Andy
Perrine (Appleton, Wis./East) are two players who will give the Red Hawks a couple
new options at point guard.
"Dao has a lot of the same attributes as McMullen and is
a very quick player, while Perrine is a natural point guard that
handles the ball pretty well and is a good three-point shooter,
while also being an above-average defender," Gillespie said.
Another highly touted freshman is Josh Bailen
(Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./Nease). Bailen was a great scorer in high school while also
being able to handle the ball and distribute it to his teammates.
"Bailen is a very good athlete that has a chance to be a
real good defender and can pass the ball very well," Gillespie said. "He averaged
16 points a game as a senior in high school, and he's not afraid
to shoot the ball."
Those three freshmen will take some of the pressure off McMullen,
who was expected to do a lot as a point guard last season. This
year, McMullen will see a lot more time at the shooting guard position,
which will allow him to show off some of his other talents.
"David will not have all the responsibility of handling the
ball this season," Gillespie said. "We're expecting some
other people to bring the ball up the court and run the offense.
That will allow David to concentrate more on his one-on-one game
and do what he does best."
The Red Hawks are picked to finish third in the Midwest Conference
preseason poll, behind Lawrence and Carroll. Even though it
appears as though they are still respected around the league, they
feel like they need to show that they are still one of the
league's elite, despite last season's record.
"Last year was an abberation and is something that hopefully
won't happen again," Gillespie said. "I really think
we have a lot to prove this year and show everyone that last year
was a fluke."
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