Big adjustment

In seven years as Whitworth men’s basketball coach Jim Hayford has had teams that featured balanced scoring, teams that relied on one or two players for points, teams that played 90 percent man-to-man and teams that played 90 percent zone defense.

No matter the makeup, Hayford has successfully adjusted his system to fit his personnel. Whitworth has finished first or second in the Northwest Conference six of his seven years.

But Hayford has never had a team like this year’s. The Pirates are big, bigger than most NCAA Division III teams, and they’d probably see eye-to-eye with a few D-Is.

It remains to be seen if the Pirates can continue the program’s run of success, but Hayford expects nothing less – and nothing more, if that makes sense.

“There’s a part of me that’s proud of our program and expects us to always be picked up there. And the other part of me sees all the holes we have to fill – and that’s why you see so many split-personality coaches out there,” cracked Hayford, whose club was picked to finish second in the NWC preseason poll.

The Pirates have won the last two conference titles, despite having to replace the NWC player of the year from the previous season (Lance Pecht in 2006, Brian Williams in 2007). Whitworth faces the same task this season with the graduation of 2008 player of the year Ryan Symes and All-NWC forward Colin Willemsen, a tandem Hayford called “the best two players in the league.”

Senior point guard Ross Nakamura easily had the best assist-to-turnover ratio in D-III last year. He committed just 30 turnovers in 27 games.

“That gives me confidence because we have a capable point guard,” Hayford said.

David Riley made 43.1 percent of his 3-point attempts and averaged 11.9 points as a starting wing last season. Bo Gregg, a Lewiston High graduate who led a 30-2 Community Colleges of Spokane team in scoring last year, is a likely starter at the other wing.

Riley and Gregg each stand 6-foot-5, which could present matchup problems for NWC opponents.

Interior options include 6-8 Nate Montgomery, who started last year before injuring his ankle; 6-6 Calvin Jurich, a University High product who had 17 points and 10 boards in the NWC tournament championship victory; and 6-8 Felix Friedt, a German native who will make an immediate impact. Montgomery and Friedt will “probably be the two biggest players in the conference,” Hayford said. Jurich can also play the “4” (power forward).

Tim Sellereit, who averaged 8.1 points in 16.3 minutes per game as a junior, leads a deep bench that Hayford said might permit him to go 10-deep.

“We’re going to have some mismatches and hopefully we’ll be a good rebounding team at our level,” said Hayford, whose team doesn’t play a home game that counts until Jan. 2. “In the past we’ve had big men that were a little more versatile. These guys are down in the trenches. We’ll play a little smash-mouth basketball.”

Whitworth and Puget Sound received votes in the preseason D-III Top 25. The Loggers edged out Whitworth for the top spot in the NWC coaches’ poll.