BOOKSTORE XXX:"Five Reasons" looks to tame concrete jungle
By KATHLEEN O'BRIEN
Senior Staff Writer
This year's top-ranked Bookstore Basketball team not only has "Five Reasons Your Girl Left You" on its roster; it's got five reasons you don't want to play this squad.
"Five Reasons Your Girl Left You." also one of the top 10 names of the 2001 tournament, brings in four guys from teams that advanced to the final eight of last year's tourney.
"It's all about the name," joked team captain Dan Reidy. "We can't play at all."
Reidy, Irish Guardsman Dan Lustig and Kevin Muempfer, who provided the women's basketball team with practice competition this season, all came from a Franchise squad that lost in the quarterfinals to Majestics a year ago. They add four-time Bengal Bouts champion Pete Ryan, who played for Majestics last year, to their squad, along with Irish Guard member Paul Raih, who spent last year abroad.
"We've just got to move well and get good looks," said Reidy, the smallest guy on the squad at 6-foot-1. "We've got a lot of guys who can score."
This year's highest-ranked squad will play its first game Saturday against "/~jvantiem," but it's not taking its No. 1 ranking for granted, since this year's field looks wide open.
The second-ranked "Versatility" team is anxious to prove its worth.
"There are a lot of good teams in the top 10 in the brackets," said Versatility's John Hiltz, a former Notre Dame basketball walk-on. "I really think it's wide open within those top 10 teams. I really think the play on the court will be more important than the ratings."
Joining Hiltz on Versatility, whose first game Saturday is against "The Nuggets," are Tim Greene, Joe Lillis, Jason Childress and Chris Dillon, who also practiced against the Notre Dame national champion women's basketball team.
The third-ranked team, "NDToday.com," returns three players from its runner-up team last year, and is looking to move up, beginning with its opening round game on Saturday.
B.J. Kloska, Mike Oesterle and Todd Titus all competed for NDToday.com a year ago, when it lost in the championships to Keyplay.com, four of whose players graduated. Kloska's younger brother, Joey, joined the team this year, along with 2000 Bengal Bouts champion Rob Joyce.
"Todd Titus is a pretty hard worker inside," Joyce said. "If he and B.J. can work the inside-outside game, that's going to be a pretty good team."
Majestics, a team that made it to the semifinals in 2000, is ranked fourth after losing Ryan to "Five Reasons Your Girl Left You." The 2001 Majestics squad features Corey Hartmann, Justin Heberle, Derek Gautier, Matt Wolbeck and newcomer Sean McCarthy.
Starting with a fifth seed is "Please call us Bosephus," a team that surprised many by making it to the final 16 a year ago with an all-freshman roster.
Brian Ostick, Jason Sullivan, Andy Bozzelli, Pat O'Brien and Evan Maher are all back this year, but with a year of Bookstore experience behind them. All but O'Brien live in Alumni and played interhall basketball together.
"I think that's where a lot of our chemistry comes from," Ostick said. "We're all best friends, too. The fact that we've played together so much over the past two years translates into how we play on the court."
Taking the sixth seed into the tourney are the "Nylon strokers," which features football player Courtney Watson.
No. 7 "Mourning Wood" returns three players — Brett Gansen, Chris Bosco and Matt Panzer — from a squad that advanced to the top 16 a year ago. New to the team this year is extra athleticism, with football player Arnaz Battle and former Notre Dame basketball walk-on Tom Krizmanich joining "Mourning Wood." Gansen was also a Division III basketball prospect in high school.
"Picking up Arnaz and Tom really helped out," Gansen said. "Probably our strengths are we've got some real good shooters on the team."
The eighth-ranked team, "Free Ballers," is a group of Keenan guys Steve Byrnes, Grant Gholson, D.J. Lipke, Jon Gentine and former Notre Dame basketball walk-on Tony Kearney.
Five freshmen highlight the No. 9 "Diaper Dandies," but their youth is balanced out by athleticism. Abe Elam, Carlyle Holiday and Jerome Collins all hail from the football team, and are joined by Joe Bollini and Patrick Nally.
"Basketball shape and football shape are two different things," Elam said.
Outside the top 10 are a few well-known basketball names. Senior Irish point guard Martin Ingelsby will play for No. 19 "If we only had Warren", along with Mike Kane, Mike Hogan, Trace Hendrix and Dahx Marrs; while senior center Hans Rasmussen will play for No. 17 "Check Your Head."
Play begins Friday in the 2001 Bookstore Basketball tourney, which features 580 teams and will run through April 29.
All Sports Stories for Thursday, April 5, 2001
