Men's Basketball Preview, Part 4: UIC
Oct. 26, 2007
Based in a city passionate about its sports teams and embracing of character, the UIC men's basketball team features plenty of Chicago-style flavor heading into the 2007-08 campaign.
Led by a cast of hungry, hard-working veterans and a trio of newcomers accustomed to winning, this year's Flames squad will settle for nothing less than success.
One won't find a massive ego in this group. Selfishness? Not in the vocabulary of this UIC squad, a gathering of 13 student-athletes mature and ready to do what is asked of them for the good of the team.
Making such team-first requests will be 12th-year head coach Jimmy Collins, who returns to the sidelines for the Flames after missing the final 19 games of last season due to an abdominal aortic aneurysm that required surgery and months of recuperation.
The return of Collins, who has guided UIC to three NCAA Tournaments (1998, 2002, 2004), an NIT berth (2003) and a pair of Horizon League Tournament titles (2002, 2004), has given the Flames a jolt in confidence, focus and energy as they seek to add another championship chapter to the great tradition of UIC basketball.
Despite losing three of the team's top four scorers and the top two rebounders from last season, UIC has the weapons to make up for such losses in seasoned vets Josh Mayo, Robert Bush and Scott VanderMeer.
Mayo, a 5-foot-11 junior guard, serves as the Flames' top returning scorer after posting 12.2 points per game in his sophomore season. The Merrillville, Ind., native is expected to expand his role from facilitator to go-to scorer after providing some clutch offensive moments throughout the first two years of his collegiate career, including a career-high 26-point outburst against NCAA Tournament qualifier Davidson, a 19-point effort in an upset of No. 12 Butler and a game-winning shot at Loyola last season.
League coaches, SIDs and media members think Mayo can make a smooth transition from role player to The Man after voting him to the Preseason All-Horizon League Second Team.
Bush, a 6-foot-4 senior wing, started the final nine games of 2006-07 and averaged 9.8 points and 3.8 rebounds down the stretch. He highlighted his late-season surge with a career-high effort of 21 points to propel UIC past bitter rival Milwaukee in the first round of last year's Horizon League Tournament.
VanderMeer is the hardest to miss, bringing his seven-foot, 260-pound frame to the floor for the Flames following a record-breaking defensive season. The junior center shattered the UIC and Horizon League single-season blocks records with 111 swatted shots, ranking fourth nationally, en route to All-Horizon League Defensive Team honors.
That trio of core players will be complemented by a cast of returnees ready to take the next step in their on-court production.
Senior Karl White Jr. has shown increased maturity this preseason to go along with his well-known combination of quickness, defense and gravity-defying leaps. Collins has praised the growth of White as a student, basketball player and person over the last few months. White even added "Jr." to his name in honor of his father and the strengthened bond formed between the two over the summer, a display of the fourth-year guard's humility as he enters his final go-around in a UIC uniform.
Sophomore guard Spencer Stewart has also worked on taking his game to another level. After a rookie season that showed glimpses of solid shooting (.355 from behind the arc, .941 from the free throw line) and crisp passing (2.7 assists per game) but was hindered by leg and ankle injuries, the 6-foot-4 point guard will be counted on to help run the show in the backcourt alongside Mayo.
Aiding VanderMeer in the frontcourt will be senior Jermaine Dailey and redshirt sophomore Jovan Ignjatovic. Dailey is a 6-foot-7 jumping jack who wowed the Pavilion crowd with his leaping ability last season and will add more of the rebounding and defensive load to his broad shoulders, while Ignjatovic is a 6-foot-9 forward who showed plenty of promise in limited action last year but should see his number called even more this season, especially as he continues to improve on his offense and defense in the post.
Boosting the Flames' talent level and depth are three newcomers with stellar credentials.
Freshman Robert Kreps, a 6-foot guard, joins the Flames after a decorated prep career in which he was the runner-up behind Simeon's Derrick Rose for Mr. Basketball honors in Illinois last season. Nicknamed "Robo," Kreps led his Maroa-Forsyth squad to the state title last year, averaging 23.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game while adding to his legend in Illinois prep hoops lore by guiding the Trojans to the Class A crown less than a week after undergoing an appendectomy.
Fellow freshman Tori Boyd is another Illinois All-State honoree. The 6-foot-5 high-flying wing was a standout at Boylan Catholic High School in Rockford, averaging 17.0 points and 7.1 rebounds per game while leading his team to the Elite Eight of the Illinois High School Association Class AA State Tournament. So far Boyd has not been shy to show his explosive moves to the basket or his nice touch from outside.
The last of UIC's newcomer crop is 6-foot-7 forward Jeremy Buttell. The Texas native played a season at Texas Tech under Bobby Knight before transferring to UIC. With the Red Raiders he played in 19 games as a rookie in 2005-06. Buttell was a two-time all-state honoree in Texas as a prep, garnering 2005 Texas 5A Offensive Player of the Year honors. After sitting out last season due to NCAA transfer guidelines, Buttell has added strength to go with his nifty mid-range game.
Collins has the tools to implement a variety of new twists in the Flames' offensive system, but the success of the 2007-08 UIC men's basketball team will hinge on the Flames' defensive effort.
Chicagoans know that defense wins championships. The 46 defense of the 1985 Bears, the Doberman Defense of the Bulls dynasty in the 1990s and the recent success of the Lovie Smith Cover 2 defense at Halas Hall has entrenched such thinking in the minds of the natives in the Windy City. Such thinking has not been lost on Collins or his players.
With teams shooting at will from the outside last year due to the intimidating presence of VanderMeer on the inside, UIC is intent on shoring up its perimeter defense. Collins has even teased his players in the early stages of practice that he is looking for a defensive effort similar to that of the Golden State Warriors, who shut down shooting-happy Dirk Nowitzki and the high-powered Dallas Maverick offense in the first round of the 2007 NBA Playoffs.
The Flames have plenty in their arsenal in terms of coaching. UIC returns to full strength with the school's all-time winningest coach back on the bench and armed with renewed vigor. Joining Collins on the bench for the 12th straight season is longtime friend and colleague Mark Coomes, the Flames' associate head coach who took the reigns of the program admirably in Collins' absence and led the Flames to a bevy of big wins.
Also pacing the UIC sidelines as assistant coaches are former Flames standouts Tracy Dildy and Bryant Lowe. Dildy returns to the place where his coaching career started after making a name for himself as one of the nation's best assistants and recruiters at five successful stops, while Lowe moves from his director of basketball operations position to become a full-time assistant coach.
UIC will be tested right away. The Flames open the season at home in a huge intrastate contest against Bradley at the Pavilion on Nov. 10. UIC will head to the Virgin Islands to take part in the 2007 Paradise Jam, with 2007 NCAA Tournament darling Winthrop on the docket first. Possible matchups against Georgia Tech and Notre Dame, among many other tough opponents, face the Flames later in the venture to the V.I.
Non-conference contests against DePaul, Illinois State, and Akron are just a few of the tests facing the Flames before they head into Horizon League play, where the usual slate of tough League contests await. UIC will also take on League newcomer Valparaiso for the first time in 10 years.
No egos. No complacency. No excuses. No looking back. Those are the beliefs that every member of the UIC men's basketball program has, and those are the beliefs that make the 2007-08 edition of the Flames Chicago's kind of team.
Story provided by UIC Office of Sports Information
