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Men's Basketball: Badgers' Anderson Practicing Patience
But it doesn't work like that for most big men at the college level, as Anderson is finding out during the early stages of his career with the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team. The 6-foot-10, 260-pound redshirt freshman center from the Eau Claire area has played a total of 14 minutes in his first four games for the 11th-ranked Badgers (4-0), who play Bradley (3-1) in a semifinal of the Chicago Invitational Challenge tonight at the Sears Centre. That Anderson hasn't earned more playing time despite the fact UW has won its first four games by an average of 40.8 points may surprise those who expected big things from the highly regarded prospect. The UW coaching staff is convinced Anderson is going to be a contributor for the Badgers. It's just going to take some time. "Bigs probably have the biggest transition — no pun intended there. It's just how it is," UW associate head coach Greg Gard said. "Because you very rarely in high school competition get paired night in and night out with somebody your size. … You get to this level and you almost have to relearn it in terms of how you function and how you operate." Anderson has yet to score his first points at UW and probably never will be a big scorer, though he has a nice touch from the outside and is working on developing his post moves. But in time, Anderson could give the Badgers a defensive presence in the paint. Besides his gigantic feet, the thing that stands out most about Anderson is his wingspan — at 7-4, Gard believes it's the biggest in program history. One sign of Anderson's growing pains is his high foul total. He already has 14, an average of one every 2.3 minutes. Counting UW's exhibition victory over UW-Stevens Point and the annual Red-White Scrimmage, Anderson has 10 fouls in 31 minutes of play. Gard says he's not concerned by those numbers. "He's young; it's early," Gard said of Anderson, who worked with UW strength and conditioning coach Scott Hettenbach during the offseason on improving his agility. "It's going to happen. Young, big guys are usually always susceptible to a few more fouls adjusting to this level of play, adjusting to the speed and pace of the game. "For every big guy, the biggest shock is how much you have to use your feet at this level. In high school, they can stand behind guys and swat it and pin stuff against the backboard. Now, they're matched against guys their same size, so it's more positioning and footwork and anticipation." Anderson said he's had to remind himself to be patient. Rome wasn't built in a day, and the same goes for post players at this level. "I know it's going to be rough starting out," Anderson said. "I've seen other guys do the same thing. I've got to look at it and say, 'You've got to take it day by day and try to figure it out. You're not going to have a good day every day. You've got to do your best to stay positive.'" Anderson is convinced he has a bright future at UW. So are his coaches. "He's got a long road in front of him yet in terms of what he can still accomplish," Gard said. "He's not near scratching the ceiling of in terms of where he can be down the road." Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com |
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