PENNEY'S GAME COMES A LONG WAY
Madison Capital Times

 Oct 24, 2000

 Rob Schultz

Kirk Penney got a surprising reception from Allan Houston when he was assigned to guard the New York Knicks' guard during the Summer Olympics in Sydney.

"Allan Houston was really polite," said Penney, a member of the New Zealand basketball team that was crushed by Houston and the United States team. "He said, `How you doing? Are you doing OK?' "

It's easy to be polite when your team is winning by more points than Wisconsin scored against Michigan State during the Final Four semifinals last April. Penney knows he'll get a much different welcome when he meets opponents in the Big Ten Conference as a member of the Badgers' basketball team this winter.

But those foes will discover that the 6-foot-5 sophomore guard from Auckland is a much different player than he was as a freshman.

UW coach Dick Bennett is hoping Penney will carry a major portion of the scoring load, particularly during the early part of the season when the Badgers will be undermanned because of the eight-game suspensions handed out to forward Maurice Linton and guard Travon Davis for accepting extra benefits at the Shoe Box.

That seems like a tall order considering that Penney showed just flashes of brilliance last year. He wasn't in Bennett's player rotation at the beginning of last season, but got a chance by mid- season and made the most of it with a career-high 17-point performance in a loss at Purdue. But by the end of the season, he was out of the rotation as Jon Bryant and Duany Duany got the major minutes at off-guard and helped the Badgers to the Final Four.

Penney finished the season averaging 3.9 points per game. He averaged 2.2 during the NCAA Tournament, including a six-point effort in the Badgers' 53-41 Final Four semifinal loss to Michigan State.

"Coming in my freshman year, I honestly thought I knew what I had to do and what had to be done," Penney said. "But it was so much more than I thought. You can't just come in and play the way you used to. It's a whole other deal. Now that I've had a year of it and playing in Italy, Taiwan, Sydney, all at a top level (this summer), I'm better prepared."

Penney proved how much he can help the Badgers when the Badgers made a 10-day trip to Italy in August. UW assistant coach Tony Bennett said his protege was "offensively tremendous" in four games against pro and amateur teams from Europe. Penney averaged 21.5 points per game on the tour.

After he got back to Madison, Penney hopped on a plane and joined his New Zealand Olympic team and traveled to Taiwan for a tournament. After that, it wasSydney and the Olympics and the most memorable experience of the summer for him.

He even grabbed some headlines. First, Penney got some attention because he was just one of 35 players in the history of the Games to play in a Final Four and the Olympics in the same year. Second, he scored 17 points to lead his team to its only Olympic victory in an 11th-place game against Angola.

Equally as exciting was the 102-56 loss to the United States when Penney scored four points and guarded Milwaukee Bucks guard Ray Allen, Toronto superstar Vince Carter and Houston.

"The basketball, for sure, was an honor to be playing in," said Penney, who averaged 6.5 points and shot 35.9 percent overall and 23.5 percent from 3-point range in six Olympics games. "But all of Sydney was just fantastic, like the opening and closing ceremonies. There were so many highlights."

But it was his performance in Italy that has Penney bursting with confidence.

"Consistency is what I'm trying to get at - always playing hard, always being aware and being focused so I can be consistent," Penney said.

Tony Bennett concurred. In fact, Penney was echoing what the younger Bennett has been drilling into his head since he returned to Madison from Sydney.

"He's an important person for us this year," Tony Bennett said. "He knows that. Not that he has to feel any pressure that he has to be perfect out there. That will only hurt you. But he has to maintain an aggressive, alert attitude.

"If he can stay that way and keep working on the physical end, that's the key for him to reach where he wants to be and help the team be good."

Bennett discovered Penney when he was coaching and playing in New Zealand. The game Penney played there is vastly different than how it's played in the Big Ten. In New Zealand, players can lose their intensity when they don't have the ball or when they're not defending the player with the ball. Penney has fought that at Wisconsin.

Offensively, Penney is close to being where the Badgers want him. He has an outstanding outside shot, is fearless driving the lane and has shown great instincts as a passer and reader of what defenses are giving him and the team.

"He has to keep working on the defensive end," Tony Bennett said.

The Badgers' first-year assistant coach smiled when he was asked how good he thinks Penney can be for the Badgers.

"I think you'll see a bigger jump from him than from a typical freshman (going into their sophomore year)," he said. "The obvious thing you have to worry about is the burnout factor. But I think he'll be OK. He didn't play a lot of minutes at the Olympics. But we'll keep an eye on him."

Tony Bennett knows how close Penney is to becoming a star.

"So far, at the start of practice, he's been OK. I don't think he is where he was this summer, but I think he has that in him," Bennett said. "My standards for that kid are very high. I expect him to always push himself and be better than he thinks he can be.

"If you truly want to reach potential and get to the highest level, then it's not going to be comfortable, it's not going to be easy. We can't let him relax."

Penney hasn't had a chance to relax because of his whirlwind summer. But he's happy to be back at his home away from home. That's one final change that Penney can point to as a sign that he'll improve this season. Last year, he not only had to adjust to playing a completely different style of basketball, he had to adjust to living in a new country, too.

"Everything was so different; personalities, different humor, there was so much for me to take in," he said. "That is all part of basketball, being off the court with the guys. It's good to come in with the same bunch of guys, getting another shot together. I'm comfortable with it."