Change of Scenery
January 13, 2006 11:46 AM | General
January 13, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Today Jamie Smalligan is Marquette’s Steve Novak. Next week he’ll be UCLA’s Michael Fey. And a few weeks from now he will become Pitt’s Aaron Gray. So goes the life of Smalligan, West Virginia’s 7-foot transfer from Butler who is sitting out this year.
 |
||
| 7-foot Butler transfer Jamie Smalligan is using this year to work on his game and help the team as a member of the scout team.
All-Pro Photography |
Smalligan came to West Virginia looking for a better way. In the meantime, he’s simply happy helping his teammates get better.
“After practice I’m focusing on myself and for the team next year, but during practice I want to get this team ready to win games,” he said.
“He’s doing well,” added West Virginia coach John Beilein. “It’s tough for him not to be in the mix. Everyday in practice is another learning experience for him. Not traveling with the team and not being involved as much in the game plan and being on the side basket a lot I think it’s tough for anybody, but he seems to be getting better at it.”
Smalligan possesses an interesting blend of size, shooting ability and perimeter skills that Beilein looks for in his big guys. He played two years at Butler before deciding at the end of last season that he needed a change of scenery.
“I did OK but I just didn’t see a lot of upside as far as the coaches turning me into the best player I could be,” Smalligan said. “I just didn’t feel that I fit in well in their system so I decided to see if there were any better opportunities out there for me.”
Smalligan performed well at times, making the all-tournament team last year at Arizona and averaging about 11 points and six rebounds per game at one point before injuring his ankle in practice. He finished his sophomore season averaging 5.2 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.
“We were doing OK and then we came back and lost our first two games in conference. I didn’t play very well and coach wasn’t happy with a lot of the players on the team and then the next practice I hurt my ankle,” Smalligan explained. “Until the end of the season I never really played at 100 percent. After you sit out for so long a coach kind of finds five guys that work well and at the end of the season they’re not going to mix it up much.”
According to Smalligan, Butler’s offensive style was to milk the clock and look for the best available shot. Many times the decision on who shot the ball came directly from the bench.
“Every time I’d run down for a set it seemed like the coach would decide who would shoot,” Smalligan said. “You see how we play Kevin (Pittsnogle) now and (defenses) are not going to let him catch the ball and Coach Beilein still finds was to get him open. At Butler I was more of a decoy so the guards could either shoot or drive to the basket.”
Decoy or not, when Smalligan decided to transfer there were a lot of interested suitors. Michigan coach Tommy Amaker called and set up a visit. His former assistant at Butler Jeff Meyer, now on Quinn Snyder’s staff at Missouri, also tried to get Smalligan to visit. Smalligan was in contact with Georgetown, Richmond and St. Bonaventure.
But in the back of his mind the center had always liked what he saw from West Virginia having watched how Beilein used his big men in the NCAA tournament. The East Grand Rapids, Mich., native understood that he had to find the perfect fit because he only had two years of eligibility remaining. And because he decided to transfer so late in the summer, he had to make up his mind quickly.
“I think coming out of high school a lot of players are naïve as to what they’re looking for and I pretty much knew exactly what I was looking for,” Smalligan said. “I watched West Virginia play and I saw how they used Kevin. Their big guys not only play inside but also outside and I like the way they play as a team.”
So when Beilein finally got in touch with Smalligan in August, the center dropped his plans and made a hasty trip to Morgantown.
“I only had about a month to decide before the dead period to take any visits,” said Smalligan. “I had scheduled visits to take to other schools and Coach Beilein called me and they had to squeeze me in the day before and fly me in for just 24 hours. I said why not? I’m happy I did because I fell in love with it here right away.”
Smalligan was fully prepared to sit out, improve his game and refocus.
“People always ask me, is it hard to sit out? I’m happy sitting out because Kevin is such a tremendous player I wouldn’t get a large amount of minutes anyway,” Smalligan said. “That’s not a big deal because the number one thing, of course, is for the team to win. But at the same point coach always talks about when you’ve got a player as good as Kevin, he’s going to play 35 minutes per game.”
Having spent all of his time on the scout team or off to the side developing his own game, Smalligan admits right now he couldn’t run a single play of West Virginia’s offense.
“I’m using this year not to get used to the system but more to turn into the type of player Coach Beilein wants me to be,” Smalligan said. “Right away I dropped 20 pounds and I’m more athletic. He wants me to get into better shape because we run more than I’m used to.”
Beilein says he will have plenty of time to learn West Virginia’s system this spring.
“Now that we can practice with five at a time we’ll do more with him in the spring to get him to know the system which we did not do with (former transfers) Mike (Gansey) and Rob (Summers),” Beilein said.
Smalligan is also paying close attention to what Pittsnogle does. Having a player like that to go up against everyday in practice will only help him down the road.
“When I was in high school I only played on the inside and then I got to college and I was taught how to shoot the 3s,” said Smalligan. “I was pretty good at it and then after a while I turned into an outside player. I turned into a 7-foot wing and I really didn’t like it.
“Kevin was like, well, I came here and I didn’t have a post game at all,” Smalligan said. “Now, it’s refreshing to see him do so well in the post now because he’s a good post player. He can score in there and he will continue to score in there.”
In the four months he’s been at West Virginia, Smalligan can already detect improvements in his overall game.
“I feel like I’m a much better player,” he said. “I still have a ways to go to be as good as I want to be and help the team out as much as I can, but I’m better all-around and I think coach is happy that I came here – at least as much as I am.”
As for now, Smalligan becomes Marquette center Steve Novak in practice today.
“I want to make sure these seniors have the best year of their life,” he said. “I want to make sure they win and I can help them on the scout team by being competitive in practice.”
Briefly: West Virginia’s game Saturday against Marquette has been announced a sell out. A big student turnout similar to Wednesday night’s game against Georgetown could push Saturday’s capacity toward 15,000. Marquette is making its first appearance at the WVU Coliseum since the 1994-95 season (78-76 West Virginia win). The Golden Eagles are 12-4 overall and 2-1 in Big East play, having defeated Connecticut and Seton Hall and losing at home to Cincinnati. Steve Novak is Marquette’s top player averaging 16.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Five-eleven point guard Dominic James is averaging 13.8 points and 5.7 assists per game.
