Missouri Western basketball coach Tom Smith is convinced Mike DeWalt is one of the more valuable tools available to him if he is to construct a winner this season.

And Western's season-opener at home tonight against Quincy is just the type of game that could hone DeWalt into form.

"The quicker we can get experience for Mike DeWalt, the better off we'll be," Smith said of the junior guard from Carbondale, Ill. "He's going to need to step up and be good enough to play in the MIAA."

DeWalt is expected to be a big factor in the backcourt, where senior point guard Martin Nolan and senior shooting guard Marcus Rhodes roam. But DeWalt hasn't played the past two seasons and remains a bit of a mystery.

The Griffons have a tough early season schedule, beginning with Quincy at 7 tonight. Quincy is the preseason favorite in its conference.

The Griffons then host the Hillyard Tipoff Classic on Friday and Saturday, playing Lincoln at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and No. 16 Central Oklahoma on Saturday in the same time slot.

After that, the early portion of the schedule also includes formidable nonconference opponents Drury and Rollins in the High Desert Classic.

"I'm glad about our early season schedule," Smith said. "You look around Division II basketball, and nobody plays that kind of schedule - they try to avoid playing tough schedules. But I think that will help Mike, and I think that will help some of our younger guys get acclimated to playing at that level."

Big challenges

If only Lynn Plett knew back then what he knows now, he might never have signed his Western women's basketball team up to play this weekend in the Drury Tournament.

The Griffons, coming off a 6-21 season and picked to finish 10th in the MIAA, open their season Friday afternoon against the nation's preseason No. 1 team.

"It's not my choice to schedule Michigan Tech, obviously, but when I committed to the Drury Tournament they didn't know who the other teams were," Plett said. "We'll see how we open up this weekend."

When coaches talk about "challenges," seldom do they talk about ones this substantial. Not only does Michigan Tech return five of its top six players from last season's Elite Eight team that won the Great Lakes Region, but it will face a somewhat depleted Western squad.

"It's more than a little bit of a challenge because we've got a little bit of an injury situation," Plett said.

Kathryn Clouser, a promising junior-college transfer at guard, was scheduled to have an MRI this week to determine the extent of a knee injury she sustained in preseason workouts. She is definitely of action for the tournament.

In addition, Kristin Bush has been out since the Nov. 7 exhibition at Missouri-Kansas City with a concussion and likely won't play.

If that isn't bad enough, MIAA freshman of the year Jessica Koch is questionable for the Griffons this weekend. Koch sprained her ankle in practice Sunday evening.

"It could be a real challenge to see how we respond," Plett said.

Going with CC

Charlonda "CC" Bozeman didn't even play in the first two exhibition games for Plett's Griffons, but a change of heart put the freshman guard on her coach's radar on Thursday night when Western defeated Living the Dream in its final exhibition contest of the preseason.

Bozeman had seriously considered redshirting this season, but a day before the Living the Dream game she told Plett she decided she wanted to play.

"Personally, I was fine with that," said Plett, who added that she was a pleasant surprise late in the contest.

Bozeman played just 10 minutes, but in that stint she scored nine points, grabbed seven rebounds, and recorded two assists and a steal.

"Although she doesn't know exactly where she's supposed to be on the court all the time yet, she did some really good things," Plett said.

Vacation over

Short and sweet.

That's the philosophy Western football coach Jerry Partridge is adopting with his team this week as it begins preparations for Augustana, the team the Griffons will face on Dec. 5 in the Mineral Water Bowl in Excelsior Springs, Mo.

After a week off from practice following a grueling MIAA schedule, the Griffons were scheduled for practices Monday through Friday of this week, weather permitting. But Partridge is giving a lot of consideration as to how those practices will be conducted so the Griffons can remain interested and on a good pace for their postseason rematch with the Vikings.

"It's got to be high-paced, and it's got to be something that's interesting to them," Partridge said. "I think if we went out there and did the scout team thing like we've been doing, it might bore them to tears."

Partridge said he will introduce bits of Augustana's offense and defense as they progress through the week's practice. He also hopes to work a lot with younger players, keeping his regulars a bit fresher than they would be after a regular week.

"It's like having some extra spring ball with (the younger players)," Partridge said. "We've got to keep our guys playing fresh, but you just hope you stay in just enough shape."

That is a different philosophy than Partridge utilized last season, when the Vikings clubbed the Griffons 37-16.

"Last year we conditioned the heck out of them during this week, and they got whipped," Partridge said. "It was the worst performance we've had in this thing. I don't know that we'll do that again."