Keyplay.com, NDToday.com top Bookstore rankings
By KERRY SMITH
Sports Editor
With the arrival of spring comes a time honored tradition on the basketball courts at Notre Dame: Bookstore Basketball.
The annual competition, billed as the largest five-on-five tournament in the country, is slated to begin on April 10 with 538 registered teams.
After much deliberation, the Bookstore Basketball Commission released its ranking of the top 32 entrants Monday.
"All of the commissioners sit down and talk about the teams - who's on them, how good they are," said head commissioner Brian Borger. "We get a lot of our information from watching teams play over in Rolfs or at the Rock. We make sure that the commissioners are well informed to make choices. We don't have a specific formula for picking the teams, but we usually come to a consensus within one or two spots."
Headlining the list of talented teams is last year's second-ranked squad, Keyplay.com. Keyplay.com is a veteran team, returning Cas Schneller, Tom Dietrich, Paul Moore and John Teasdale. Dan O'Leary replaces graduated 1999 All-Bookstore first team player Alex Gese.
The quintet, which fell just short of a chance to play in the finals last year, is banking on its size to help carry them through the tournament.
"We thought we'd be in the top three," said Schneller about the rankings. "We're a lot bigger than we were last year which helps - that was our big weakness last year. We've all been working out to get ready to play."
As formidable as the squad will be on the court, Keyplay.com has a tough group of competitors waiting to take down the top seed.
At the No. 2 spot, NDToday.com boasts a roster of talented players. B.J. Kloska, a walk-on to the varsity basketball squad last year, will join Todd Titus, Tim Muething, Mark Godosh and Dave Mikolyzk, all who played on ranked Bookstore teams last year.
"We felt pretty good about [the No. 2 ranking] - we were happy with it," said Mikolyzk. "We've been playing well together and we're looking forward to start the tournament."
NDToday.com finds its strength in its defense - a skill the team will need as it works its way into deeper rounds of the tournament.
"There are a lot of good teams out there," said Mikolyzk. "We've played against them before but who knows when you start playing outside - anything can happen in Bookstore."
Versatility, the surprise of the 1999 tournament finds itself at the No. 3 spot, after making a Cinderella-like run to the finals last year. Four out of five players are returning to the team: captain Chris Dillon, Joe Lillis, James Cochran and Jason Childress. They lost a valuable player in John Hiltz, who walked on to the Notre Dame varsity basketball team and is ineligible for the tournament, but gains some sharp shooting in newcomer Ross Hanson.
"John had a great tournament last year, but Ross is a good player," said Dillon. "We lose some size but gain a little bit of shooting touch."
The addition of Hanson allows for a restructured game plan that Versatility thinks will help them in the tournament.
"Hiltz took over scoring for us last year - he was the guy taking most of our shots," said Dillon. "This year, we're not as one-dimensional. It opens up a lot of opportunity for us to spread our offense around."
Versatility knows what to expect from the top seeds if they meet in the tournament. Dillon's squad lost to the members of Keyplay.com in this year's interhall tournament and also fell to NDToday.com during Midnight Madness.
"That's probably why we're ranked three, but when you get to the top teams you can really throw the rankings out the window," said Dillon. "We're just going to go in and play hard."
Bookstore Basketball's 1999 Championship team, Malicious Prosecution dropped from its No. 3 ranking last year to the 16th spot in this year's tournament.
Captain JC Coury is the lone returner for the skilled team, but with four new talented players in Justin Crawford, Jason Schauer, Mike Oesterle and Steve Orloski, Malicious Prosecution is ready to defend its title.
"We expected the ranking to come as it did," said Coury. "When you lose four guys you expect to see a drop. But our strength is shooting - anyone can shoot very well from anywhere on the court and we're comfortable playing together."
In addition to the thousands of registered players in this year's tournaments, several varsity athletes will be playing for ranked teams.
Sophomore football player Tony Fisher is making a repeat appearance on sixth-ranked Cocoa Butter, while teammates Bobby Brown and Arnaz Battle will test their basketball skills on No. 10 Rampage.
Eleventh-ranked Hit Squad will benefit from the ball handling skills of Raki Nelson and Eric Chappel, while Tom Lopienski will suit up for No. 14 The Individuals.
Varsity soccer standout Reggie McKnight's team, Like Whoa, comes in at No. 15 in the tournament seedings.
Sophomore Tony Weaver is on the roster for No. 21 Manual Steering and Brad Williams and Jason Ching will step on the court for Scottie Who?, the twenty-seventh seeded team, while Mike Gandy will add size to No. 31 Campusmonster.com.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, March 29, 2000
