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Posted Jan. 18, 2008

In some ways, playing basketball can be a way to relieve the stress of academics or a nice outlet to work oneself into shape. Watching the game with family members may help open the lines of communication or form a bond as many people come together to cheer on a favorite team.

When students move away from home to go to college, families spend less time watching or playing those games. However, that mostly applies to people who do not play basketball at Carthage. Like freshman Scott Gillespie, who averages 21.8 points per game for his father, Ron, at Ripon, freshman guard Steve Djurickovic recognized the rare opportunity facing him and accepted the challenge to play for his father, Bosko, at Carthage.

“I remember watching when they went to the Final Four in 2002,” Steve said. “That was really when I wanted to play for Carthage. This is the first time he’s coached me probably since middle school and that was like summer league basketball.

“The atmosphere’s way different. It’s harder playing for him now than it was then, but it’s a lot of fun,” added Steve. “I can’t exactly talk back to him. I might say a few things at home that I can get away with, but I can’t do that during practice or during a game.”

Steve’s decision to attend Carthage not only gave the Red Men a prolific scorer, it afforded Bosko the chance to see his son become a college basketball player. If Steve had chosen a different path out of high school, the elder Djurickovic would not have seen him, unless they met as opponents on the court.

“It’s really been terrific,” Djurickovic said. “I’ve got three kids. Of the three, I think that Steve is the only one that we could have done this with.

“My daughter’s (Amanda) very sensitive,” he added. “My younger son (Pete) is too much like me and we would have fought. Steve is such a laid back guy that it’s worked out very well to this point. I talked to some people before he came about what they thought about it. Had he not come to Carthage, I never would have seen him play, so we couldn’t be happier.”

Bosko's wife, Becky Djurickovic, coached women's basketball at North Park for six years and coached girls' basketball at a local high school in Kenosha for three seasons. Before coming to Carthage, Djurickovic coached at North Park as well, his alma mater. During the time he led his alma mater, he took the Vikings to a pair of NCAA championships after the program won three when he was an assistant.

“Sometimes, you’ve been some place long enough that everybody’s happy when you make that decision,” Coach said. “I was coaching there for 20 years.

“I needed a new challenge and Carthage was nice enough to provide that,” he added. “We’ve been here 12 years now. I coached ten years as a head coach at North Park and we were fortunate enough to win two national championships and now, I’ve coached more games here at Carthage than I did at North Park.”

Since the move, Carthage has seen its program win three CCIW championships, make three NCAA Tournaments and advance to the 2002 Final Four, where the Red Men placed third in the country.

All of the accolades on Djurickovic’s resume have laid the groundwork for recruiting in and around the Kenosha area.

“He knows what to do and I think that his experience should help,” Steve said. “He’s been through all the ups and downs.”

As a freshman, Steve is averaging 22.3 points per game, while shooting at 50 percent from the floor. In 13 games, he has 13 starts and plays over 35 minutes each night. He has been the leading scorer in eight contests and twice topped the charts in rebounding.

“I’ve always thought that his greatest asset as a basketball player is the fact that he’s a really exceptional ball-handler,” Djurickovic said of his son. “He’s a 6-3 kid, so he causes some mismatches with smaller players. His ball-handling ability lets him to get to wherever he wants with the basketball.

“I’m a little bit surprised that he’s scoring so many points,” Djurickovic added. “I’m not surprised that he came in and was an effective player. He’s a very mature basketball player who can play at all three levels. He’s a good-enough shooter that he has to be guarded. He’s a wonderful player off the dribble and he has a very strong post-up game.”

Steve, a former high school quarterback, would be the prototype for Gene Hackman’s character in Hoosiers. He likes to “Keep the strength in the dribble.”

“My first mentality is to get to the basket and try to draw contact and get to the free throw line,” Steve said. “That’s what I think I do best at this point and it helps out a lot when you have shooters on your team. When those guys can shoot it, the defenders can’t leave them or else, they’re going to stand there and shoot threes.”

With the correct pieces to the puzzle, Djurickovic knows he could take Carthage back to the NCAA Tournament.

“Those were special teams,” Djurickovic said of his national championship years at North Park. “We had a great run at Carthage from 1999 through 2004. We won, I think it was 116 games in five years.

“If we can surround him with good players, it can help us get to that level,” he added about Steve. “Our problem right now is we’re so darn small.  I’m 6-1 and I’ve got too many 6-1 guys running around. I need some more 6-6s and 6-7s. We have to upgrade our inside game.”

WORTH WATCHING AGAIN: It was three years ago when we last checked in on William Smith, the women's team that got to the Sweet 16 under one-year coach (and WNBA standout) Olympia Scott-Richardson before falling to Bowdoin, and given that the Herons have several quality victories this season, it’s about time we paid them some attention again. Hence the D3hoops.com “media tour” with appearances on Hoopsville and in this space, within the last week, and for good reason.

“I think this is a stronger team than one that went to the Sweet 16,” said coach Lindsay Drury. “We still have a lot of work to do, but we’ve played about as tough a regional schedule as we could. It will be interesting to see if we can take it to the next level.”

The No. 23 Herons were unranked until this past week, with voters perhaps playing a wait-and-see game, but no longer.

It’s rare to find a team with three non-home wins against Top 25 foes (at Medaille and Cortland State, and vs. George Fox at the Cal Lutheran Tournament), so that puts William Smith in pretty good company. It helps to start four seniors, three of whom (Stephanie Czajkowski, Marisa Vespa and Paula Foote) were key contributors, first as freshman on a team that went to the Sweet 16, then as sophomores on a squad that lost to Baldwin-Wallace in the second round. It helped to have them hungry too, which happened when the Herons didn’t make NCAA’s last season, settling for an ECAC Upstate New York title.

“Our upperclassmen were disappointed that we only made ECACs,” Drury said. “They understood it could help us down the road. It was a motivator in the offseason. They worked hard, and came back in far better shape than anticipated.”

They also asked for the challenge of a tougher schedule, which would ready them for the Liberty League, which sent Hamilton and St. Lawrence to NCAAs last season in William Smith’s place. Scheduling the locals wasn’t hard, since William Smith had played most of them before, but facing George Fox was an added bonus to a trip to California.

They’ve risen to the challenge so far. Vespa, a crafty ballhandler, has 63 points and 26 assists in the four games against ranked teams. Czajkowski, a 1,000-point scorer, had a rough game against Rochester (1-for-8 from the field) but has bounced back since, and had 17 in the win against Cortland State. Foote has battled back from injuries in each of her three seasons and is presently averaging 8.6 points and 4.2 rebounds.

“It wasn’t a situation where I thought I would regret it,” Drury said of the scheduling. “Last year, we talked about having higher expectations for the program, and about pushing each other. The Liberty League is tough. The only way to get prepared is to play tough teams. We could play lots of non top-25s and be fine, but it’s important to us to challenge our kids and show them what it takes to get to that level.”

WORTH WATCHING: Here's a look at the games of the weekend, and there are many worth watching, or listening to.

Jan. 18
Men’s

No. 2 Brandeis at No. 24 Carnegie Mellon: It’s far from a cinch that Brandeis will enter Sunday’s matchup at Rochester unbeaten, because it first has to get through the 24th-ranked Tartans, who have already scored an upset win at Capital this season. CMU is winning again, trying to match the efforts of its NCAA Tournament team from 2005-06, after finishing below .500 last season. The Tartans are playing at a slower pace than that squad, averaging 72.1 points (the 2005-06 team, which averaged 83.7), paced by the 16.1 effort from 6-5 junior forward Ryan Einwag.

Oglethorpe at No. 23 Millsaps: The fourth of five consecutive road games for the Petrels, who passed a significant road test by beating DePauw, than edging Sewanee in their travels last weekend to get to 3-1 in the SCAC and within striking distance of the top teams.

Women’s
No. 22 Amherst at No. 14 Tufts: Someone here has to fall from the unbeaten ranks as the NESCAC season-opener has an unexpected bit of pizzazz, with Amherst’s school-record 14-0 start under first-year coach G.P. Gromacki. The winner becomes the first team in a long time other than Bowdoin to call itself NESCAC favorites, though Bates may muddle that picture, as it hosts Amherst on Saturday.

Jan. 19
Men’s
Wooster at Wittenberg: Wasn’t sure a few weeks ago if this game had legs, with Wittenberg struggling at 1-5, but now both these teams are 5-0 in the NCAC. It’s the start of a stretch in which the opponents get a little tougher for the Tigers. Gregg Hill, the lone returning starter from Wittenberg’s 22-win team of a season ago, has shone recently, averaging better than 22 points in his last four games.

DeSales at Elizabethtown: Despite the lack of national rankings, this is a big one for both teams, who enter a combined 25-2.  With a win someone will bolster an already impressive regional record and a resume that could land the top seed in the first regional rankings come February.  The Bulldogs are led by point guard Eddie Ohlson whose 113 assists ranked third in Division III coming into this week. D3hoops.com will broadcast this one.

Whitworth at No. 7 Puget Sound: The key for Whitworth in trying to pick up a rare win at Puget Sound will be its defense against the crazy pace. Whitworth has only allowed 77 points in its last two games, but may yield that by pretty early in the second half if its not careful against a Loggers team that has topped 120 points on three occasions this season.

Women’s
No. 11 Kean at No. 7 Messiah: D3hoops will be on hand to check this one out as well. Keys for Messiah in trying to win at home, something it couldn’t do against Kean in last year’s NCAA Tournament: Prevent Kean center Chari’ Cooper from crashing the offensive glass (110 offensive rebounds in 15 games), defend Kean’s transition game, and stop sharpshooter Melissa Beyruti from getting open looks from three-point range. Easier said than done.

Jan. 20
Men’s

If you have a tip or note, send it to atn@d3hoops.com.

2008-09 columns
Feb. 20: York (Pa.), no cliche
Feb. 13: St. Thomas writing history
Feb. 6: George Fox on hunt
Jan. 30: Brother, brother
Jan. 23: Growing a program
Jan. 16: Dudek's rare feat
Jan. 9: Ravin' about Anderson
Dec. 18: Chicago marooned at 0-9
Dec. 12: De Luca back on track
Dec. 4: Ithaca surprises
Nov. 21: Augie gets some delp
Nov. 13: Is repeat possible?

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