Tigers Face The Year After

It is the year after for the Warsaw Tigers.

The year after - a trip to the Final Four, Mr. Basketball Kevin Ault, and the six seniors who returned some pride and dignity to the Tiger basketball program. Warsaw is indeed starting out fresh this season.

"It has been a very interesting preseason," Warsaw coach Al Rhodes said. "Kevin Ault has been in our practice for four years and to have him gone along with his senior classmates, who have been there for three years, was tough. It just seemed like we had a whole lot of new faces as we started off."

With his 31 points a game, Ault led the Tigers to the IHSAA Final Four in the RCA Dome before getting knocked off by a talented New Albany squad. It was a good ride for Warsaw, who along the way overcame a lot, including a black eye put on the program the year before.

But that is in the past. Ault has taken his talents and his Mr. Basketball award to Southwest Missouri State, and the Tigers are left with some good, but untested, talent for the 1996-97 season.

Warsaw will return seniors P.J. Wiley (3.4 points, 3.1 assists per game), Tom Krizmanich (5.4 ppg, 4.1 rebounds per game) and Tyler Charlton (2.0 ppg). All three saw considerable playing time off the bench last season, but none faced what they will be required to do this year. Their playing time, along with a ton of responsibility, will now be on their shoulders. Unlike last year, the fate of this team is squarely led by this trio.

"All three have improved their games, and they face the challenge of stepping up into major roles where the minutes they play will probably decide the contest," Rhodes said.

Wiley split time at point guard last year with Jeremy Walters, while Krizmanich was usually the first player off the bench in the front court. Charlton spent the early season with the junior varsity squad before being called on to play more and more varsity minutes as the year went along.

Warsaw's varsity experience pretty much starts and ends with those three. The other players vying for playing time this year won't be short on talent or success, having gone 38-2 at the junior varsity the past two seasons, but getting varsity experience will be the key.

"We are not going to rush," Rhodes said. "We are going to go through a sorting out process and try to build us a solid block of eight or nine varsity players. We are a brand new team that will have to find its own indentity. We have to deal with that, and it is a slow process.

"What we fight with an inexperienced team is patience," he said. "If we can develop patience and confidence along the way, then eventually I think we can become a very good basketball team."

Joining Wiley and Charlton in the Tigers' backcourt will be seniors Kevin Masur and Nate O'Connell and juniors Jason Alspaugh and Lucas Schroeder.

Krizmanich will be counted on to get a lot of Warsaw's points and rebounds inside, but should get help from juniors Andy Plank, Jonathon Lawlor, Luke Reed and Chris Hill.

"We will need to use Charlton, Krizmanich and Plank inside and outside because you must have inside offense, they are best three inside offensive players," Rhodes said. "They also offer some flexibility to play outside as well."

With the loss of Ault, the Tigers will take on a different look this season offensively with a variety of looks and a chance for several players to shine when their time comes. One guy will not be counted on to carry the load this year.

"We have the makings of a very unselfish team," Rhodes said. "It will be a team that we will have to be well-rounded. We won't be built around one player. We will need good ball movement. We will look to be a very different kind of a team that we have been the past couple of years.

"Our team speed and team quickness are very good," he said. "We are much faster than what we have been in four or five years."

The Tigers have been battling some nagging injuries in the early season, with Wiley missing both quarters of the jamboree Saturday with a pinched nerve and Krizmanich and Charlton missing one quarter of action as well. And even with the season starting a little earlier this year, with Elkhart Central being moved to the first game on Nov. 23, Rhodes expects his Tigers to be at full strength and ready to start the season.

"We have some nagging injuries on the team right now," Rhodes said. "We have probably done as much sorting out as we can do with practice. The sooner the games the better because one of things we are lacking is game experience."

The expectations are obviously going to be considerably less for this team compared to last year. Anything less than a Final Four appearance for last year's squad would not do. With so many question marks for this year's squad, the pressure is off these guys.

"We plan to give it the very best run that we can," Rhodes said. "We don't have an experienced, dominant team that truthfully has a legitimate right to talk about the state championship. But by the same token, we are very proud of the work the young men have put in. Now if they can go into games and get tested and improve all year long, I think a tournament run is not out of the question for this group. We are going to have some tough times. We are going to have some games that we will have to learn from."

Warsaw Tigers

Coach - Al Rhodes (17th season)

Last year - 25-3 (5-1 NLC); Final Four

Key returners - P.J. Wiley, Tom Krizmanich, Tyler Charlton

Key losses - Kevin Ault, Caleb Gilmer, Ben Elliott, Matt Taylor, Jake Townsend, Jeremy Walters

1996-97 Warsaw Roster

Name Pos. Ht. Yr.

P.J. Wiley G 6-0 12

Kevin Masur G 5-11 12

Nate O'Connell G 6-2 12

Tyler Charlton G 5-10 12

Tom Krizmanich F 6-4 12

Jason Alspaugh G 6-0 11

Lucas Schroeder G 5-11 11

Andy Plank F 6-2 11

Jonathon Lawlor F 6-2 11

Luke Reed C 6-6 11

Chris Hill F 6-2 11

1996-97 Warsaw Schedule

Nov. 23 at Elkhart Central

Nov. 27 TIPPY VALLEY

Nov. 30 COL. CITY

Dec. 6 at Huntington N.

Dec. 7 at Goshen

Dec. 13 at Wawasee

Dec. 14 FW NORTH

Dec. 20 NORTHRIDGE

Dec. 21 at Valparaiso

Dec. 27 HOLIDAY TOURNEY

Dec. 28 HOLIDAY TOURNEY

Jan. 10 GARY WALLACE

Jan. 17 NORTHWOOD

Jan. 24 CONCORD

Jan. 25 SB ADAMS

Jan. 31 SOUTHWOOD

Feb. 1 ELK. MEMORIAL

Feb. 7 at Plymouth

Feb. 14 GARY WIRT

Feb. 20 at North Central