Varsity is the free Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics, covering Badgers football, basketball, hockey and more each week.
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W LUCAS AT LARGE BY MIKE LUCAS // UWBADGERS.COM Dearring dives into chance for improvement 14 isconsin freshman Riley Dearring was witness to his first court-storming as a college basketball player Tuesday night at Indiana. He's hoping to avoid seeing any repeat performances on the road. The Assembly Hall celebration came at the expense of the previously unbeaten Badgers, who had won 16 straight games to start the season and 12 in a row over the Hoosiers dating to 2007. Dearring had a good seat for the game ― on the UW bench, which is where he has been anchored as a redshirt. As it turned out, he was the only tendered player in his recruiting class to take this path. Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig have both been key contributors to the eight-man rotation, while Vitto Brown and Jordan Hill have seen only limited playing time in seven games overall. Freshman walk-on Aaron Moesch is also redshirting. On the Indiana trip, Dearring roomed with a team manager and Moesch doesn't travel. But they're roommates on campus during the school year. Dearring is a 6-foot-5, 180-pound off-guard/wing from Minnetonka, Minn.; Moesch is a 6-8, 200-pound forward from Green Bay Southwest. As redshirts, they have found they have much in common. "We're kind of in the same boat," Dearring said. "As roommates, it allows us to talk to about it and we can kind of confide in each other about some of the same problems // VARSITY January 16, 2014 that we're having." Dearring, 19, had no problem in using this year to shape his body ― he's already gained 10 pounds ― and develop his game. It was something that he discussed with his dad, Darren Dearring, who was a finalist for Mr. Basketball in the state of Minnesota in 1992 at Minneapolis DeLaSalle. "I talked it over with him and we kind of went over all the scenarios," Riley Dearring said, "and we just came to the conclusion that it would be a good idea just to get that extra year to get stronger, to get more acquainted with the system and the coaches and to prepare for the years to come." Wisconsin associate head coach Greg Gard, who recruited Dearring, a finalist for Mr. Basketball in Minnesota last year, has already seen the physical changes. "And as he gets better physically," Gard said, "he'll get more confident and as he gets more confident, he'll become more aggressive." Dearring has enjoyed working with first-year UW strength coach Erik Helland, who spent 25 years in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls. "He has been helping all of us get more explosive and stronger," Dearring said. "He knows what he's talking about. I'm going to learn everything I can from him." To this end, Helland can see Dearring's upside. "Positional size and length is such a dominant quality in this sport," he said, "that when you have that to start with it's an awfully nice building block. He works very hard. He's a very bright guy. And it's just a matter of going through the process." What potentially could an additional 10 pounds mean to Dearring next season? "If he could play at 190, it would be outstanding," said Helland, who's conscious of how physical the Big Ten has always been. "My biggest thing is that as they put that weight on, it contributes to their athleticism." At a young age, Dearring drew raves for his prowess as an athlete. "He's a kid who had a lot of hype in the eighth grade," Gard said. "There were articles in the Minneapolis area on how he was going to be the next 'chosen one.' That was hard for someone who was 13 or 14 years old to deal with." Gard felt the expectations did him a disservice because "they were putting a spotlight on him when he wasn't ready for the spotlight." But it was all somewhat understandable since his dad had been such a good player. "There were the genetics and the blood line and everyone equated that," Gard said. Darren Dearring, who has family roots in Racine, Wis. (Caron Butler is a cousin), was his son's AAU coach and trains young, aspiring basketball players today. "We play all the time," Riley said. "He's still in pretty good shape. He's only 6-2, but he's got the weight on me, so he just puts me in the post." After being on a state championship team at Hopkins as a freshman, Riley Dearring followed in his father's sneakers by playing his sophomore year at DeLaSalle. But Continued on Page 16