Thursday, August 16, 2001
[ BASKETBALL ]
Things are ANYONE who followed college basketball and Duke University in the mid-1990s remembers Steve Wojciechowski as the little big man.
looking up
for Wojo
Wojciechowski went from
floor general with Duke
to coach at Big Man CampBy Brandon Lee
blee@starbulletin.com"Wojo," as he's more commonly known, was the scrappy, tenacious, big-hearted, sprawling-all-over-the-floor point guard, who at 5-foot-11, gave the Blue Devils' opponents fits.
Wojciechowski was Duke's tri-captain and earned National Defensive Player of the Year honors in his final year as a collegian (1998), as well as Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America honors.
A common scene during his rare moments on the sidelines that year had Wojciechowski and head coach Mike Krzyzewski sitting side by side, the commander-in-chief mapping out strategy for his floor general to implement.
"We've always had a strong bond, ever since he recruited me," said Wojciechowski, now 25, of Krzyzewski. "It's no different today from when I was a player, even though my responsibilities may be different."
These days, the two guys with names almost as hard to pronounce as to spell, still sit on the Duke bench together, except Wojciechowski is now an assistant coach rather than a player. In his second season, he helped "Coach K" guide the program to its third national championship last season.
With Midnight Madness and the official start of the 2001-02 college hoop season still two months away, Wojciechowski is in town for the Prince Resorts Hawaii 24th Annual Pete Newell Big Man Camp. The camp for vertically gifted professionals and collegians started on Monday and finishes up tomorrow at Kamehameha Schools' Kekuhaupi'o Gymnasium.
Though none of the other Blue Devil coaches or players are attending the camp (some were playing with the National Team), Wojciechowski is a camp coach for both professional and collegiate attendees for the first time. But just how does a short, former point guard come to coach the post position?
"Even though I didn't play the post in college, Coach K asked me to coach the post players at Duke and I accepted," Wojciechowski said. "I was here last year to observe and this year Coach K spoke to Coach Newell and let him know I was willing to do anything I could do to help.
"I wanted to learn as much as I could from the other coaches here. (Newell is) one of the founding fathers of the game, and a lot of the techniques used by many coaches today, he thought them up. It's an honor to be here, and hopefully, I'm improving as a coach and can help my players when I return."
With perhaps the best player in the country in point guard Jason Williams, as well as a handful of other talented returnees including post player Carlos Boozer (Big Man Camp attendee last year), Duke is a strong favorite to repeat as national champion. The Blue Devils return to Hawaii for their first official games of the season at the Maui Invitational, Nov. 19-21, at the Lahaina Civic Center.
From now until then, Wojciechowski will focus on how he can improve himself as a big man's coach and then translate that to improvement in his players. And if his players can not only pick up techniques, but also tap into his desire, Duke should be even tougher to beat.
"Every coach has a basis from which he builds from," Wojciechowski said. "Every player gets better instantly when they play with passion, energy and enthusiasm. That's a foundation that all players need to have to be successful, no matter where (on the court) they play."