Tonight marks another in a series of openings of the Steve Cleveland era for the BYU men's basketball team.
Hired to guide the Cougars following their school-worst 1-25 record last year, the first-year coach already made his Marriott Center debut during last month's Midnight Madness, a late-night tipoff to preseason practices.Tonight's event, the annual Varsity Preview, is the first formal team function listed on the Cougars' schedule. The combination introduction/scrimmage is set for 7 p.m. in the Marriott Center.
And player introductions are in order, since very few members of Cleveland's inaugural Cougar team are holdovers from last year's squad.
Headlining the returnees are two-year starter Justin Weidauer, a 6-foot-7 senior forward. Also back are lettermen Lance Archibald, a 6-3 junior guard; Robbie Yates, a 6-1 sophomore guard; and Jarkko Ahlbom, a 6-10 junior center from Finland who suffered a season-ending knee injury in BYU's opener last year.
A familiar face who perhaps needs a reintroduction is 6-foot-11 sophomore center Bret Jepsen, who played a reserve role as a freshman before serving a two-year LDS Church mission. Jepsen is an inch taller and 20 pounds heavier than when he last played in Provo.
Junior-college transfers new to the Cougars include a pair of California guards in Brian Digman, a 6-3 junior from Cuesta JC, and Brian Hamilton, a 6-0 junior from Columbia CC. Two others come from Ricks College in Idaho - Danny Bowers, a 6-4 junior guard, and Jared Peterson, a 6-6 junior swingman.
A trio of Utah natives are among the incoming freshman class, comprising Chris Handy, a 6-8 forward from Alta High; Mekeli Wesley, a 6-9 forward from Provo High; Talmadge Eyre, a 6-8 forward from East High; Sean Kelly, a 6-5 swingman from Grand Junction, Colo.; and Bart Jepsen, a 6-8 forward from Roswell, N.M. (Bret Jepsen's younger brother, with a four-year difference).
Besides the player introductions and speeches given by coaches and players, the BYU team will play a scrimmage. According to Cleveland, half of the scrimmage will have the two teams evenly balanced in skill and talent, while the other half will allow the top seven or eight players to play on the same squad.
Other firsts awaiting Cleveland and the Cougars:
- The first exhibition game is 7 p.m. Friday against Worldwide, with a follow-up exhibition against another touring amateur team set for Wednesday, Nov. 12, against the California All-Stars.
- The first regular-season game is the Nov. 14 opener at San Diego State. The Aztecs are opening a new arena, with the Cougars the first official guests. While both teams are members of the Western Athletic Conference, it is a non-counting contest in the league standings.
- The first home game is Nov. 19 against Washington State.
- Any victory will be the Cougars' first win of the 1997 calendar year.
- The first Mountain Division WAC game will be Jan. 10 as the Cougars host defending WAC champion Utah.
With the WAC rotating its quadrants every season, the new-look Mountain Division includes the foursome of BYU, Utah, New Mexico and Texas-El Paso and the quartet of Air Force, Wyoming, Colorado State and Nevada-Las Vegas. Tulsa is BYU's crossover opponent this season, but the two games in the home-and-home series will not count in the WAC standings.
Gone from last year's team are graduated senior Jeff Campbell, last year's leading scorer; and part-time starter Grant Berges, a Phi Kappa Phi member who opted for early graduation. Another half-dozen players are serving LDS missions.
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Additional Information
Y.'s '97-98 schedule
Nov. 4 Varsity Preview
Nov. 7 Worldwide (exhibition)
Nov. 12 Calif. All-Stars
Nov. 14 at San Diego State
Nov. 19 Washington State
Nov. 21 Oregon
Nov. 29 at Utah State
Dec. 2 Penn State
Dec. 6 at Boise State
Dec. 9 Washington
Dec. 12-13 Cougar Classic
(Pepperdine vs. Auburn;
BYU vs. Weber State)
Dec. 22 Pete Newell Challenge
(BYU vs. California)
Dec. 27-30 Rainbow Classic
(opener: BYU vs. Hawaii)
Jan. 5 at Tulsa
Jan. 10 Utah*
Jan. 15 Wyoming*
Jan. 17 Colorado State*
Jan. 22 at UNLV*
Jan. 24 at Air Force*
Jan. 29 New Mexico*
Jan. 31 UTEP*
Feb. 5 at Utah*
Feb. 7 Tulsa
Feb. 12 at Colorado State*
Feb. 14 at Wyoming*
Feb. 19 Air Force*
Feb. 21 UNLV*
Feb. 26 at New Mexico*
Feb. 28 at UTEP*
March 3-7 WAC Tournament
at Las Vegas
* - denotes WAC game
all home games begin at 7 p.m. (except Cougar Classic)
BYU Basketball
No. Name Position Height Class Hometown (High School/Other)
4 Chris Handy F 6-8 Fr. Salt Lake City (Alta)
5 Lance Archibald G 6-3 Jr. Potomac, Md. (Landon)
12 Brian Dignan G 6-3 Jr. San Luis Obispo, Calif
(Cuesta JC)
14 Danny Bower G 6-4 Jr. Nampa, Idaho (Ricks JC)
15 Mekeli Wesley F 6-9 Fr. Orem (Provo)
20 Robbie Yates G 6-1 So. Salt Lake City (Brighton)
22 Jared Peterson F/G 6-6 Jr. Bountiful (Ricks JC)
23 Brian Hamilton G 6-0 Jr. Sacramento, Calif.
(Columbia CC)
24 Sean Kelly G 6-5 Fr. Grand Junction, Colo.
(Grand Junction)
33 Bart Jepsen F 6-9 Fr. Roswell, N.M. (Roswell)
41 Jarkko Ahlbom C 6-10 Jr. Rauma, Finland
(Raumanmeren Lukio)
42 Talmadge Eyre F 6-8 Fr. Salt Lake City (East)
50 Justin Weidauer F 6-7 Sr. Taylorsville (Cottonwood)
55 Bret Jepsen C 6-11 So. Roswell, N.M. (Roswell)
Head coach: Steve Cleveland (Cal Irvine '76)
Assistant coach: David Rose (Houston '83)
Assistant coach: Nate Call (BYU '93)
Assistant coach: Heath Schroyer (Armstrong State '94)