12-16-2007, 04:30 PM
http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2007/12...389192.txt
By PAUL JOHNSON
Sunday, December 16, 2007
By PAUL JOHNSON
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Quote:DeKALB – First-year Northern Illinois University men’s basketball coach Ricardo Patton has only one complaint since getting to DeKalb.
“Other than the weather, it’s been nice,” Patton joked.
That might be the case so far, but taking over a program that has struggled as much as NIU has through the years figures to be no easy task.
Patton was hired by the Huskies in March after 11 seasons as the head coach at Colorado, where he advanced the Buffaloes to two NCAA tournament appearances and four NIT berths. What he walked into is a program that has reached the NCAA tournament only three times in school history, none since 1996.
Patton is off to a tough 2-8 start to the season, including a 108-62 pounding at Notre Dame last weekend. But he feels that the pieces are in place for NIU to become a powerful program.
“I think the biggest drawing card is the fact that they have so many positives in place,” Patton said. “Anytime you’re in close proximity to players [to recruit] and play in a place like the Convocation Center, that’s the main ingredient for building a successful program. Now it’s just a matter of continuing to recruit well and get the program going.”
When the 9,100-seat Convocation Center opened in 2002, expectations for a program that consistently hovered around the .500 mark were immediately ratcheted up.
But the results have failed to live up to those expectations. Former Illinois assistant Rob Judson was fired by NIU last March after compiling a 74-101 record in six seasons, including 7-23 last season.
During that dismal season, the Huskies averaged only 1,449 fans a game at the Convocation Center, including a low of 475 on a snowy Feb. 13 night against Ball State, a 57-55 NIU loss.
Taking advantage of that resource, one of the newest arenas in the state, is one of the main drawing cards to coming to play at NIU.
“I think the biggest thing is being in a place like this where you seem to have everything you need to get it done,” said NIU director of basketball operations Will Smith, Patton’s first-ever recruit as a player at Colorado. “When you’re put in a place where you have everything you need to get it done, it’s up to you to get it done.”
The other main drawing card is the fact the school is 60 miles from Chicago, one of the biggest hotbeds of basketball talent in the country. But getting those players to come to DeKalb can be a challenge.
Only three players on this season’s roster, all freshmen, are from Chicago. Bryan Hall of Whitney Young and Mike Dinunno of Von Steuben, both of the Chicago Public League, are among next season’s recruiting class of four players.
“I think one of the things that I’ve found to be true is there is enough talent in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois to go around,” Patton said. “There are a number of programs across the country that are winning with Chicago talent on their roster [with Simeon’s Derrick Rose at Memphis as the main example].”
Smith is familiar with Patton’s style after playing for four years with him and being on Patton’s staff for four years after his brief professional playing career ended in Mexico. He knows the message Patton is conveying in the living room.
“I think the biggest thing I think of is coach Patton shooting straight,” Smith said. “They have the opportunity to earn playing time, so that’s one big thing.”
Patton’s hiring was met by excitement by the returning players, especially former Naperville Central star Ryan Paradise.
“We were excited for a big-name coach to come in here and turn this program around,” said Paradise, a senior who is recovering from a broken nose. “I think expectations have to be raised, first of all. Coach Patton definitely brings in high expectations, and I think that transfers to the players wanting to do it for him. I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
Patton met with the five current seniors – Michael Hart, Shaun Logan, Schaumburg graduate Zach Pancratz, Paradise and former Rochelle star Ben Rand – right after he was hired to get the returnees on the same page as the coaching staff.
“The first thing I wanted to do was put the guys at ease, particularly the seniors,” Patton said. “I understand how important this final year for the seniors is. A lot of emotions go with that change and the coach. I wanted to let them know that we were on their, side and we wanted them to have great senior years.”
He also brought a much more up-tempo style to the Huskies, something the team did not have under Judson. That is evidenced by the immediate contributions of athletic freshmen Darion Anderson, Jeremy Landers and Patton’s son, Michael.
It was also evident in the team’s off-season workouts.
“I would say the off-season conditioning was a lot harder,” Paradise said. “The last few years, we’ve been slower, more of a walk-it-up type of offense. Coach Patton has really tried to get some athletes in here that can go full-court, press, let our defense be our offense. You have to get into shape to play that type of ball.”
The goal of Patton’s methodology is to get NIU on par with other prominent mid-major programs. In Illinois alone, Bradley and Southern Illinois have had breakout decades on the court. With a school like George Mason reaching the Final Four two years ago, and Gonzaga rising from obscurity in the 1990s, it gives hope to a school such as NIU that hopes to reach those heights.
“There’s no question we want to elevate our program to being one of the premier programs in the country,” Patton said. “Certainly that’s the type of company we’d like to keep.”