New Zealand invades DeKalb in two weeks. Are Jim Rosborough’s troops ready?

“To this point we’ve put in about 98 percent of what we need to play,” Rosborough said. Notice he said “play.” The New Zealand Nationals are coming here the 19th to play basketball, not wage war. “Now it gets down to repetition—repetition, repetition, repetition.

“You’ve heard me say it before—repetition leads to habit, habit leads to reflex.”

Continuity is what the Huskie boss is looking for as his squad goes through its third week of practice. Whipping a team into good physical shape is easy compared to the effort expended keeping it fundamentally sharp and playbook perfect. Rosborough said, so far, the Huskies are living up to his standards.

“The overall picture has been very good. The kids have worked hard, and there’s a much more unified feeling with this group,” Rosborough said.

owever, he said he was “not satisfied” with Tuesday’s practice, a rare nighttime workout—scheduled to accommodate other field house activities—that Rosborough said was disruptive to his team’s progress.

“But then, you’re never satisfied, probably, until you win a national championship,” Rosborough said.

Following the New Zealand exhibition, the regular season opener with Beloit College arrives Nov. 27. As to which Huskies will be on the floor for the opening tipoff, Rosborough declined to name names but did say his staff will “start making hard decisions as to who will play very soon. At this point, I’d say we’ll be able to play 10 or 11 people.”

In running down the personnel list, Rosborough said as of Tuesday “it appears four freshmen are really vying for a lot of playing time. We also have one freshman—and, again, I’m not going to name names—who’s having a hard time making the adjustment. But the freshman who’s struggling is also the most talented.”

osborough said the returning players have shown “the benefits of having been here last year. I can see the advantages of having had kids in your system.” The coach chose senior guard Randy Norman as the one player who has stood out the most.

“You want to know the one kid who really knows his spots, it’s Randy Norman,” Rosborough said. “It’s becoming more and more apparent every day that he has really responded to the challenges I’ve given them.”

The Huskies will hold a full dress rehearsal today at 5 p.m. in Chick Evans Field House.