GREELEY, Colo. -- Northern Colorado coach Craig Rasmuson is
honest when it comes to assessing the upcoming season, his
program's first in Division I-A
"It is brutal," he said Monday. "But we knew we had to bite
the bullet."
The most troublesome part of the transition from 25 years in
Division II is the scheduling. UNC has only nine home games and
must play the remainder of their 28-game schedule at places like
Colorado, Iowa State, Loyola Marymount and Rutgers.
Rasmuson has also decided to redshirt last year's leading
scorer, Sean Nolen (18.1 points and five assists a game), and James
Randle, an athletic 6-foot-7 forward.
"Nolen is in line to have five or six school records when he
finishes here and Randle made great strides last year," Rasmuson
said. "We need Nolen's toughness and Randle's athleticism for
Division I, but I didn't want to send them out with nine home games
either."
The loss of Nolen leaves Rasmuson without his best point guard.
He will turn to senior Heath Orvis, sophomore Chris Gebhardt or
freshman Matt Kline to fill the void.
"Those three guys are really going to have to step it up for a
three-year starter and our quarterback," Rasmuson said. "Playing
all those road game without much experience at point guard will be
tough."
Orvis, who played one year at St. Johns, will see most of the
minutes at shooting guard. The rest of the minutes will be divided
between Kendrick Irby and junior college transfer Michael Frazier.
Sophomore Erik Olson will be the starting small forward with
Parish Brockman and football player Vincent Jackson in reserve.
Jackson (10.6 points, 3.8 rebounds a game) could also see time at
power forward.
The starting power forward job is wide open between Jackson,
Trei Steward, Ari Zandman Zeman and Bryson Gholston. At 6-9, Kirk
Archibeque will share time at center with Zeman and Gholston.
"I feel we can still have a winning program this year,"
Rasmuson said. "Even with all of those Division I games and the
fact we have to beat some people on the road which we haven't done
since I've been here."
Northern Colorado opens its season with an exhibition game at
Colorado State on Nov. 17 before playing host Western State on Nov.
21.