Power of Caring
  presented by CIGNA

INSIDE COLLEGE BASKETBALL

How the Mighty Have Fallen

by Kelli Anderson

Posted: Wed January 27, 1998

Charles Thomas, a 6'4" junior guard who figured to be a featured performer this season, transferred to Eastern Kentucky in July. Two months later 6'8", 270-pound power forward Courtney James was suspended for the season after he had been found guilty of one count of misdemeanor domestic assault for an incident involving a girlfriend. (He then accepted an offer from a pro team in Greece.) Kevin Loge, a 6'10" redshirt freshman center and former top 100 recruit from Morris, Minn., transferred to North Dakota State to get out of the big city. Also, point guard Khalid El-Amin, a two-time Minnesota Mr. Basketball who had given Haskins a verbal commitment as a high school sophomore, changed his mind as a senior and is now having a Big East rookie-of-the-year season at Connecticut.

The remaining players are limited in talent and have been plagued by maladies, which has made finding a go-to Gopher a challenge. Senior swingman Sam Jacobson began the season in a horrid shooting slump, making only 17 of 58 shots (29.3%) in the first three games before righting himself with a 24.2-point average over a five-game stretch. But then he sprained his back while getting out of a chair two days after a loss to Purdue on Jan. 2 and missed three games. Small forward Quincy Lewis sprained his left thumb on Dec. 28 and has been shooting tentatively ever since. Guard Kevin Clark, a junior college transfer who Haskins had hoped would replace some of Jackson's scoring, is taking medication to prevent seizures caused by a heart condition and has struggled at times to adjust to Division I play. Also on medication is starting center Kyle Sanden, who has been plagued by fainting spells. That has left the paint to 6'8" power forward Miles Tarver, who has at least made up for his offensive shortcomings—he was 0 for 4 from close range in an eight-point loss to Michigan on Jan. 20—with candid observations. Said Tarver, after he was razzed mercilessly by Wolverines fans, "I don't know who is sinking faster, us or the Titanic."

Issue date: February 2, 1998