With a raw 6-foot-10 freshman and a rusty 6-foot-9 sophomore new to the team, UAA men's basketball coach Rusty Osborne can't resist thinking ahead a season or two.
"I feel good about the future," he said.
But it's Shootout week now and the Seawolves play Washington State at Sullivan Arena on Tuesday, ready or not. No time to let 6-10 Liam Gibcus get more comfortable and confident at the college level. No time to let 6-9 Malcolm Campbell get his groove completely back.
Gibcus and Campbell are among a slew of newcomers for the Seawolves, who return just three players from last year's 15-14 team. The Great Alaska Shootout is always meet-the-Seawolves time for the city's casual college basketball fans, but this year even fervent fans will need a program to know who's who.
Brandon Walker, Kevin White and Steven White -- all guards, two of them starters last season -- are the guys who are back. Casey Robinson is the guy with an asterisk -- the 6-foot-6 forward played three games last season before going down with an injury. He averaged 15 points in those three games and shot 9 of 25 from 3-point range, making his return an eagerly anticipated one.
As for everyone else? All new.
Between guys who used up their eligibility (most notably, Kenny Barker and Jeremiah Trueman) and others who transferred or otherwise left the team (Lonnie Ridgeway, Darren Nye), Osborne faced one of the biggest restocking challenges in his six seasons as head coach -- although he viewed it as business as usual for a team that often restocks because of its reliance on junior college transfers who only bring two years of eligibility to UAA.
"It seems like it's always like this," Osborne said. "I remember when people were asking, 'How you gonna replace Jason Kaiser or Andre Boudreaux?' And the next year we brought in Ryan Williams and Rick Stafford."
The architects of this season's team include former assistant coaches Shane Ritter and Bryan Weakley, the initial recruiters for several newcomers. (Both have since moved on, with former Montana State assistant Ryan Orton and former Seattle Pacific player Casey Reed replacing them.)
The prize catch -- at least based on last week's road victory over Hawaii Pacific plus a pair of games in California -- could be Campbell. He quickly established himself as an offensive force in the paint, a big man whose long legs make him difficult to guard.
"His hips are way up there," Osborne said. "Our guys say he's hard to guard because his hips keep hitting them high up. It's hard to get leverage on him."
Campbell came to UAA weighing 270 and is down to about 250, Osborne said. He graduated from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles in 2007 after winning a state title, enrolled at the University of Hartford midway through the 2007-08 season and redshirted the rest of the season, and played just 25 minutes in seven games last season.
"He hasn't played a lot in the last two years," Osborne said. "He's developing into a force offensively, but defensively he's got a way to go."
While Campbell is slimming down, Gibcus will be trying to bulk up. A true freshman from Australia, Gibcus weighs 225 and his frame could easily handle another 20 pounds, Osborne said.
"He's very raw," he said. "I think by the end of the year he will be very, very valuable for us. His potential is unlimited."
A couple of newcomers are on the team as a result of UAA's long-standing relationships with Utah schools -- Drew Robinson, a 6-1 guard, won a national junior college championship last season at Salt Lake Community College and Donnie Lao, a 6-3 guard, was a double-figure scorer and point guard for Snow College.
And a couple of others are here because they contacted the school themselves and then Ritter sealed the deals -- Nick Pacitti, a 6-6 junior forward who never played organized basketball until he made the junior college team at L.A. Trade Tech College, and Bryce Arnott, a 6-1 freshman guard from Australia who knew Steven White and whose brother came to UAA on a road trip with Texas-Permian Basin in 2007. "His brother said good things about us," Osborne said.
Rounding out the team are three Alaskans. Aaron Stevens, a South High grad, is a 6-8 sophomore who is expected to contribute this season. Point Hope's Ryan Rock and Nome's Jesse Blandford will redshirt.
The new-look roster is heavy with guards, especially point guards. Lao, Arnott, Drew Robinson and Steven White all play the point, and all play it better than anyone did last season for the Seawolves, according to Osborne.
"We have four point guards who are better than anyone we had last year, and that includes Steven White," he said.
Depth at point guard is always a good thing, but for the Seawolves it's especially nice, because it will allow 6-4 junior Kevin White -- pressed into playing the point on many occasions last season, when UAA was basically an eight-man squad -- to play his natural position, shooting guard.
Meanwhile, the addition of Campbell, Gibcus and Pacitti plus the return of Casey Robinson, gives UAA more depth in the paint than last season. And that means Walker, a 6-3 junior who is the team's leading returning scorer and rebounder, won't have to fill in at power forward like he did last season.
Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4335.
Shootout schedule
The following games will be played at Sullivan Arena for the Carrs-Safeway Great Alaska Shootout:
TUESDAY Women 6 p.m. -- UAA vs. Coastal Carolina 8 p.m. -- Western Carolina vs. Cincinnati
WEDNESDAY Women 2:30 p.m. -- Consolation game 5 p.m. -- Championship game Men 7:30 p.m. -- UAA vs. Washington State 9:45 p.m. -- Oklahoma vs. San Diego
By BETH BRAGG
bbragg@adn.com