Deane clarifies his point: The ball is Hutchins' now

0 Comments | Milwaukee Journal, The, Mar 30, 1995 | by DARRYL O. LEDBETTER

The Journal staff

New York, N.Y. Marquette coach Mike Deane is set to turn control of his basketball team over to Aaron Hutchins, the fine freshman guard who came on strong during the National Invitation Tournament.

"I think we'll have a very competitive team next year," Deane said Wednesday night. "I think the best thing that happened in this tournament was the emergence of Aaron Hutchins. The baton is going to be passed from Tony {Miller} to Aaron."

Hutchins averaged 17 points in the five games and made 29 of 50 shots (58%) and 15 of 28 three-pointers (53.6%). But he had only 10 assists.

"He's more of a scorer and less of an assists man," Deane said. "Other guys are going to have to pick up in that area. But we return the other four starters on this team and all of the subs."

Deane is expecting Richard Shaw and Zack McCall, both of whom were used sparingly this season as freshmen, to play more next season.

"I think a guy like Richard Shaw and Zack McCall may benefit from what they have learned this year," Deane said. "Players improve a great deal after their freshman year and before their sophomore year. That seems to be the time of the most improvement in college players. I'm expecting both of those guys to come back very strong next year."

Deane also will be counting on three freshmen John Polonowski (6-foot-9- inch forward), Mike Bargen (6-7 swing player) and Jarrod Lovette (6-11 center) to contribute a bit next season.

"The three freshmen are all going to be capable of coming in to help," Deane said. "I hope that the freshmen can come in and help us. They all had good senior years."

Tony Miller and Will Gates were the only seniors on the team this season.

"They are going to be a lot better next year," Miller said of his returning players. "They have a year under the belt with Coach Deane."

Throughout the season there was some talk that some players were considering transferring and some may become academically ineligible. Shane Littles played three games before missing the rest of this season because of academic difficulties.

"It's a matter now of us going back and getting things in order academically and going to work," Deane said. "This will be something that we can build on, I hope."

A happy Cheesehead: Dave Jackson, who transferred from North Carolina-Asheville to Virginia Tech to be with his twin brother, Jim, was celebrating after the Hokies' victory.

"It felt good, I can't even describe it," said Jackson, Virginia Tech's sixth man from Janesville, Wis. "Beating them two times is great. Winning the NIT with what we had this year, we had a lot of injuries, it was a heck of a year. It was awesome."

Jackson played 16 minutes, but did not score. Jim Jackson, the Hokies' leading scorer last season, sat out this year with a back injury.

Still a big boy: If Marquette's inside players thought Shawn Smith was a load inside, they should have seen him last season.

"Last year I was weighing around 285 and there was no way that I could have played 43 minutes like I did tonight," Smith said. "I have to take my hat off to Coach Foster because he really pushed me in the off- season."

Weak attendance: NIT officials announced a two-day crowd total of 16,572, the smallest ever for the 58-year-old tournament.

The previous low was 17,021 in 1991.

All-tournament team: Hutchins and Miller were selected to the all-tournament team.

Smith, who scored 36 points and 26 rebounds in the two games here for Virginia Tech, was selected as the most valuable player of the tournament.

Penn State's Dan Earl, Canisius' Craig Wise and Virginia Tech's Shawn Good rounded out the all-tournament team.

Overtime record: The overtime defeat dropped Marquette to 2-2 in overtime games this season. The Golden Eagles defeated Nevada-Las Vegas and South Florida, while dropping games to Memphis and Virginia Tech.

Penn State wins: Earl scored 17 points, including two free throws with 6.4 seconds left, as Penn State survived a late rally by Canisius for a 66-62 victory in the NIT consolation game.

Penn State led by 58-46 with 7:55 left, but Canisius fought back to tie it at 62-62 on a steal and dunk by Craig Wise with 1:56 remaining.

John Amaechi hit two free throws with 46 seconds left to give Penn State a 64-62 lead. Canisius missed three shots on one possession in the closing seconds and then fouled Earl, who made both free throws to clinch the victory.

In addition to his points, Earl had four assists to break Penn State's single-season record with 181.

"We've been kind of riding Danny's shoulders all season," Penn State coach Bruce Parkhill said. "I bet he sleeps for about three weeks now."