Pack in for learning experience

By: Juan López

Monday, November 29, 2010 - 8:53 PM

Freshman guard Deonte Burton is one of 10 freshmen or sophmores on the Wolf Pack’s roster this season. Tony Contini /Nevada Sagebrush

In 1999, the Nevada men’s basketball team started 1-6. That year, the Wolf Pack put up a horrid 9-20 record and went 6-10 in the Big West Conference. The nine-win season marked just the third time in the last 37 seasons the school failed to win more than 10 games.

Fast forward to 2010 and the team is 1-4 and facing a similar start.

With nine of the 10 players on the team who average more than 10 minutes per game being first-year players, head coach David Carter has a tall task ahead of him — surviving the growing pains of having a young team while trying to continue the rich tradition of Nevada basketball.

The biggest issue with the team is something that can’t be worked on in practice or through watching film — experience. In the four games the Wolf Pack has lost this season, it has held second-half leads in three of them. But the team has failed to close out.

This season, during the last five minutes of each half, Nevada has been outscored 97-67. The team is faltering where it counts most — in the clutch. The problem is, these young players see adversity and don’t know how to respond yet.

What’s adding to the team’s futility is the scoring droughts it experiences. Through the team’s last four games, it has gone through nine scoring droughts of more than three minutes. When a young team has to fight through periods like this, the effects are devastating.

Not seeing the ball go through the hoop has snowball effects because then players start to hang their heads and sometimes it leads to them slacking on the defensive end, or not boxing out properly, or not fighting through screens — the little things that can be the deciding factor in a close game.

Despite the early season troubles, Carter doesn’t seem worried. I don’t think he should be, either.

Expectations for this season weren’t high. What can you expect after your team loses two of its best players in school history in Armon Johnson and Luke Babbitt? Realistically, this season is a warmup for the next.

Expect the Wolf Pack to take the rest of its 25 regular-season games this year to gain experience rather than wins.

But fans can be hopeful. The team has loads of talent.

Point guard Deonte Burton is learning slowly but count on him providing some big highlights this season.

Forward Dario Hunt leads the team in scoring (14.6) and rebounding (8.0) and has progressed since last season.

Guard Malik Story has one of the sweetest shooting strokes in the conference.

But there is also bound to be tons of “Are you kidding me?” moments this season when watching the team.

With the youngest team in the WAC, eight more out-of-conference games left and fans’ patience running short, Nevada shouldn’t be worried about trying to hit the 20-win plateau for the eighth-straight season. It shouldn’t be worried about making a postseason appearance for the ninth-straight.

Consider this season a learning experience because there’s a good chance fans will see a similar season to that of ’99.

Yep, that same one where Nevada failed to pick up 10 W’s.

Juan López can be reached at jlopez@nevadasagebrush.com

Pack in for learning experience