Dick Hunsaker graduated from Weber State 23 years ago and served as a Wildcat assistant coach to Neil McCarthy for eight years. Two years ago, he actively pursued the open coaching position at Weber State.
Last month Hunsaker was thrust into the acting head coach position at the University of Utah. So logically you'd think that tonight's game against Weber State (7 p.m. Huntsman Center) would be something special to Hunsaker.
But with his team riding only its first two-game non-conference losing streak in six years and struggling to find any kind of consistency, he's only worried about his own club finding a win, period. As far as Hunsaker is concerned, Weber State may as well be Cardinal Stritch or Concordia, two other Ute opponents this season.
"It's my alma mater and it is dear to me, but this is just the next game on our schedule," he said. "We've just got to play and do our best."
Hunsaker says he and the Ute players are in a tough position with their coach, Rick Majerus, being away from the team until at least early January. And if anyone can relate to Hunsaker's difficult spot, it's Weber State coach Joe Cravens, who had to take over the Utes 11 years ago when Majerus had open heart surgery and missed most of the season.
Cravens said he hadn't even thought about the Hunsaker/Majerus situation until a reporter reminded him of it Friday. And while he can see some similarities, he said Hunsaker has an advantage because of his extensive head coaching experience.
"It's a tough situation for him to be in," said Cravens. "We took that position at different times in our careers. He's been a head coach before, but it was my first head coaching experience. I had no idea how that short scoot across the bench changes things because of the stress involved. As an assistant you don't have the same stress level."
Cravens says he has enough of his own worries that he can't be concerned about Hunsaker's problems filling in for Majerus. His Wildcats are 3-3 and coming off a 21-point road loss to Cal-Riverside a team it beat earlier in the season by 23 points.
"With the exception of last game, we're about where I expected we'd be," said Cravens. "Last game was kind of a bomb. But we're a new and young team and trying to put things together."
The Wildcats are led by sophomore Stephan Bachmann, who leads the team with a 15.0-point average. He'll likely be joined in the starting lineup by Damon King (8.8 ppg) and Jake Shoff (7.7 ppg) at forwards and Quynn Tebbs (7.8 ppg) and Stevie Morrison (9.3 ppg) at guards. Junior forward Chris Woods, who averages 10 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game, has been the team's most consistent player this year according to Cravens.
Two players recently joined the Wildcats, and sophomore forward Pat Danley and sophomore guard Jermaine Boyette will help the team down the road, according to Cravens, but their recent addition has just complicated the rotation the Wildcats had established.
Cravens said he is most concerned with the Utes' superior height and said "If you don't rebound with them, you have no chance."
The Utes are expected to start Nate Althoff (9.6 ppg) at center, Chris Burgess (7.4 ppg) and Britton Johnsen (4.9 ppg) at forwards and Kevin Bradley (11.1 ppg) and Jeff Johnsen (9.7 ppg) at guards with Phil Cullen (10.0 ppg) and Travis Spivey (4.3 ppg) being the first guys off the bench.
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