23. Miami (Ohio)
Last year the RedHawks waited for the other shoe to drop (it did); this year they're ready for Cinderella's slipper
Posted: Wednesday November 18, 1998 02:15 PM
It got
to the point last season that Miami of Ohio players and
coaches had to be wondering what else could go wrong. Four
games in, the RedHawks lost starting point guard Rob Mestas
for the year with a knee injury. Leading scorer Wally
Szczerbiak missed eight
games in January with a broken right wrist. Then coach
Charlie Coles suffered a heart attack during Miami's
first-round MAC tournament game on Feb.
28.
"You kind of take a step back and realize what's
really important," says Coles, who's been given
clearance by his doctors to return to coaching. "We
learned a lot of things basketballwise, but more than
anything we learned about life. When you've been
through as much as this team has, I know one thing: At least
we'll all be
friends."
The RedHawks' unity and experience will be apparent on the
court as they try to do some damage in the
NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. (The
program has produced just four NCAA tournament victories in
its 93 seasons and only one in
the last 20 years.) This season the weapons are there:
Szczerbiak and Mestas have fully recovered from their
injuries, and the RedHawks bring back five starters and 97%
of their scoring from last year's 17-12 team. The return of
Mestas gives Miami an
added dose of speed and defensive tenacity and allows senior
Damon Frierson to go back to shooting guard, where he can
concentrate on what he does best—scoring. "I've
got the easiest job on the team," says Mestas.
"All I have to do is get the ball to Wally
and
Damon and I have an
assist."
| |
| STARTING LINEUP |
| POS. | HT. | CLASS | KEY STAT |
| SF Wally Szczerbiak* | 6'8" | Sr. | 24.4 ppg |
| PF John Estick* | 6'7" | Sr. | 7.9 rpg |
| C Refiloe Lethunya* | 6'8" | Jr. | 5.3 ppg |
| SG Damon Frierson* | 6'4" | Sr. | 18.8 ppg |
| PG Rob Mestas* | 5'11" | Jr. | 4.6 apg** |
'97-98 record: 17-12
Final rank (coaches' poll): unranked
*Returning starter
**1996-97 apg
|
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While it may not always be that simple, Szczerbiak and
Frierson will certainly provide a potent one-two punch. The
sharp-shooting Szczerbiak, a chiseled
6'8", 243-pound senior forward who was the best player
on the U.S. Goodwill Games team, is sure to draw extra
attention. That'll open up things for Frierson, a former
Indiana Mr. Basketball who's as adept at shooting a
three-pointer as he is at driving to
the
hoop.
"With Rob healthy, it allows us to be quicker and more
aggressive on offense and
defense," says Coles. "We'll have two guys who can handle the
ball and a lot of people who can score. Last year we were
young, and it was a growing process on and off the
court. Now it's time to see what we've really
learned."
—B.J.Schecter Top 25 | Rest of the Best
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