Player and coach face big choices
Sunday Star - Times; Wellington, NZ

Apr 11, 1999

HINTON, Marc

IT'S not just young New Zealand basketball hotshot Kirk Penney who has some big decisions to make. His North Harbour Kings coach and former NBA player Tony Bennett is also set to be tempted away by an offer he can't refuse.

Penney, the 18-year-old 1.93m guard for the Kings, was being watched in Hamilton at the weekend by the assistant-coach of the University of Wisconsin side, Brad Soderberg.

He scouted the national under-20 player during a pre-season NBL tournament in Hamilton with a view to offering him a scholarship for next year.

It is also understood there are offers brewing across the Tasman, where Penney turned heads with a standout performance for the Kiwis at last year's Australian age-group championships. He averaged 33 points a game and was one of the top individuals on show.

He also must weigh up the wisdom of heading to the United States or Australia (which is less likely) against staying on in New Zealand, where it would be easier for him to impress national coach Keith Mair and win a place in the Tall Blacks for the Sydney Olympics.

But, if he accepts a Wisconsin offer he could find himself under some familiar coaching. The university, which is in the city of Madison and plays in the powerful Big Ten conference, is coached by Dick Bennett, father of former Charlotte Hornet Tony, who is now coaching the North Harbour Kings.

And Tony revealed to the Sunday Star-Times he could also be going to the University of Wisconsin, as an assistant coach to his father. Tony, who played three seasons in the NBA before coming to New Zealand to play for North Harbour.

"I'd really like to go. The chance to coach with my dad would be too great to turn down. It may be that I go after the season, but it was one of the reasons I was hesitant about trying to play this season."

Dick Bennett has over 35 years of coaching experience at the collegiate level and he showed this season with Wisconsin, which he took to 11th in the national rankings at one point, that he has lost none of his touch.

Tony played under his father at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and would love to coach with him now at the more powerful Big Ten school.

"I want at least to see if I'd like to coach some day at that level, get a feel for it and there would be no better opportunity than this."

Tony admits he never had any ambition to launch a coaching career but that with maturity -- and injury -- he has re-evaluated his goals.

"I always thought I'd play forever. You feel like Superman when you're playing, but as I've had injuries and got into coaching there's been a spark.

"I feel like at least I should give it a shot."

And Tony called for people to place realistic expectations on his hot young prospect Penney, whom he believes has the game to make it at collegiate level.

"I've heard mention he might be good enough to play in the NBA. The kid's 18, give him a break. He's a good player with a lot of talent but it's unfair to tag him an NBA prospect."

With New Zealander Sean Marks having made the NBA breakthrough with the Toronto Raptors, Tony feels there is unreasonable expectation Penney could join him. He is a long way from getting anywhere near that.

But Tony did say he hoped, if Penney opted to play at collegiate level in the US, that it would not rule him out of contention for the Olympics.

"If he's good enough and gets the chance to play in the US, the I definitely think he should be able to come back in the summer for the Olympics. They'd be crazy not to consider him."

Tony believes the move to NCAA basketball would be a good one at this stage in Penney's career and he is sure the shooting guard is mature enough to handle all the pressures that would go with it.

"I'm really curious to see over the next year or two how much he improves. It's going to be fun to see him play in the NBL because he's going to be a marked man now.

"Everyone's gonna want a piece of him."