Heading into the 2008-'09 season, Bo Ryan and the men's basketball team had some big shoes to fill. Left with the difficult task of replacing Brian Butch's low post scoring and Greg Stiemsma's defensive tenacity on the frontline, Ryan and the Badger coaching staff had a talented but largely unproven crop of young, big men to choose from.
Luckily sophomores Jon Leuer and Keaton Nankivil both wear big shoes, and both have stepped up in a big way to help the Badgers turn a supposed rebuilding year into what now looks like their 11th straight NCAA tournament birth. The 6-10 Leuer is averaging just over nine points and four rebounds a game while Nankivil is shooting 50 percent from the field and 60 percent 3-pointers.
""I feel like we've progressed a lot since we came in as freshmen. Keaton, I can't even tell you how much better I think he has gotten,"" Leuer said. ""Mentally and physically he's just a lot stronger.""
Strength and experience, according to associate head coach Greg Gard, are two key areas of improvement that have allowed Leuer to increase his minutes to 20 minutes a game this year. Leuer gained over 15 pounds last off-season, and the extra weight has allowed him to bang around down low with the Big Ten's scruffy frontlines.
""Jon, I think, has made strides from last year,"" Gard said. ""You look at film from last year how skinny he looked, and he's not Hercules by any stretch, but he's made strides.""
Meanwhile, the 6-8 Nankivil bulked up to 240 pounds this off-season to add more strength to his already impressive leaping abilities. But Gard said Nankivil's most important improvement has come through getting the consistent game action he rarely saw last year. Nankivil has started 20 games this season and is averaging just over 14 minutes a game.
""Once they have that experience, they are able to get a taste of what it's really like and how physical it is and how strong you have to be,"" Gard said.
After 26 games this year, both Leuer and Nankivil know quite well how strong you have to be to match up against Big Ten big men. But Leuer cites spending their freshman year practicing against Butch and Stiemsma, two of the conference's best big men last year, as some of the most beneficial experience of his college career.
The two seniors were a driving force in Wisconsin's back-to-back 30-win seasons, whose aggressive post play earned them the nicknames ""The Big Water Buffalo"" from ESPN announcer Steve Lavin. Leuer and Nankivil draw more than a few comparisons to Butch and Stiemsma, the most common being their size and soft shooting touch for big men. According to Leuer, this is no coincidence.
""I think we both definitely learned a lot from those two guys,"" Leuer said. ""They were two of the best. I can remember several times in practice having one of those two guys pull me aside and show me if I wasn't doing something right.""
Although Leuer and Nankivil have shown vast improvement from last year, they are still far from reaching their potential as game-changing players. That's why Gard said this upcoming off-season will be crucial for both players to add even more strength and stamina to play physical Big Ten basketball. Gard pointed to Leuer in particular, saying he could gain ten more pounds of muscle to help maintain his balance when being pushed and shoved around the rim and finish more on lay-ups and offensive rebounds.
""Any way they can improve their body to help their stamina and to help their conditioning,"" Gard said. ""Especially with guys on the front line having to play as physical as we play.""
Although Leuer and Nankivil see continued improvement in the future, their immediate sights are on helping the Badgers continue to improve down the stretch and make a run in the post-season tournaments.
""Being a young team, we've definitely progressed over the season and we've learned a lot,"" Leuer said. ""I feel like everyone on the team just knows that if we want to do some of the things we wanted to do this season, we all have to get better.""
