USIU’s Basketball Program Starts to Grow Up : After Filling a Tall Order, Zarecky Hopes Gulls Show Improvement This Season

New doesn’t always mean improved, but it eventually did for the United States International University basketball team last season.

Now Coach Gary Zarecky, who is in his third season with the team, is hoping bigger will translate into better.

But if this season is anything like last season, it may take some patience.

Last season, Zarecky had 11 new recruits and a new place, Golden Hall in San Diego, in which to play most of USIU’s home games.

But last year’s new-look USIU team, an NCAA Division I program, lost its season opener in its new home gym, 106-95, to UC San Diego, a Division III team.

“That was the lowest point of my coaching career,” Zarecky said. “I underestimated chemistry. I had to learn a lesson there. It was embarrassing. It was humiliating.”

Then the team improved.

USIU finished the season with an 11-17 record, only the second time the Gulls have had at least 10 victories since they became a Division I team in 1978.

This season, Zarecky has added bigger players.

“Obviously, talent was the big disadvantage we had to overcome,” Zarecky said. “They were great kids, but sometimes great kids can’t win games. And we definitely had to beef up the front line. We got killed on the boards. We got big kids who can hold their own in the middle.”

USIU’s top freshman recruit is Mike Sterner, a 6-foot 11-inch, 245-pound center from Mitchell, S.D. Joining Sterner will be Kelly Wesley (6-6, 270), a junior from De Anza Community College; John Arabia (6-9, 235), a freshman from Servite High School in Anaheim; Matt Judd (6-6, 225), a junior from Orange Coast College, and Mahlon Williams (6-4, 225), a freshman from Sweetwater High School. Senior center Dexter McGee (6-7, 210) returns.

The big question for USIU is finding a floor leader to replace Joe Yezbak, a guard who is the Gulls’ all-time leading scorer.

Charles Redding, a senior who played at Point Loma High School, will get a shot at point guard, as will Rade Milutinovic (6-7, 225), a sophomore from Yugoslavia who returns after playing at USIU during the 1985-86 season. Milutinovic returned home after a disappointing freshman season. Last year, he started for a Yugoslav club team.

Goran Petrovic, a 6-5 junior from Yugoslavia, and senior Russ Heicke will vie for the off-guard starting job. Heicke, who averaged 15.6 points per game, is the top returning scorer. Steve Smith, from Serra, played in 24 games, averaging 3.5 points a game as a freshman last season.

Zarecky has upgraded the USIU schedule this season. His team will play Oregon State, Iowa State and Rice on the road. The Gulls open the regular season at home against Wright State of Dayton, Ohio, on Nov. 28.

Zarecky said he will get an early reading of his team’s ability when USIU plays host to an Australian national team in an exhibition game Nov. 14 at Grossmont College.

“You can’t go by how you look in practice,” Zarecky said. “You have to remember the UCSD game--the pain of a game like that.”