Lucas: Crowl trying to be ‘Center’ of attention

BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer

MADISON, Wis. – During the half-court drill, center Steven Crowl was matched against 35-year-old Joe Krabbenhoft who’s entering his seventh season as a Badger assistant coach, his first as associate head coach. A one-time UW power forward, the 6-7 Krabbenhoft still knows his way around the post.

“Just an old man trying to hammer home a point in a certain drill,” he reasoned afterwards.

In this case, it was a fundamental teaching exercise: Crowl and the defense getting the ball out of Krabbenhoft’s hands, out of the post, thereby preventing an action to the rim, while still not giving up an open 3-pointer on a Krabbenhoft kick-out to the wing. “It’s a fine line,” Krabbenhoft acknowledged.

But it was quickly evident that Crowl was better equipped physically to handle the contact in the paint than he was last season. It was something that Krabbenhoft later confirmed, “You can feel him – his upper body. His base has always been good. But he’s finally got a little more to him.”

Crowl looks thicker on top. More importantly, he feels stronger. Through better nutrition and diligent weight training, he has added 10 pounds to his 7-foot frame during the offseason. His weight has steadily increased from a listed 217 as a frosh to 235 last year to the 245 that he’s carrying now.

“He’s heavier in a good way,” Krabbenhoft said. “He’s stronger, he’s more explosive. He has really focused on his eating habits and his time with Coach (Jim) Snider in the weight room. It’s the normal evolution. You get a little older, you get a little more in-tune with your body and what it takes.

“He had some success. He did some good things. But he got knocked around a little bit, too. So now he knows how important that time in the weight room is and you can tell that he took it seriously. He has improved in just about every aspect of the game with his body.”

Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard amplified on that theme, Crowl’s development.

“It’s not just the weight – strength is important – but it’s the confidence that comes with being bigger,” he said. “He feels good about himself physically. He can impose himself in the post. He has been hard to handle in terms of when he gets position (on the block).

“He’s so skilled. Rewinding even to two years ago, when he didn’t play very much during the cardboard cutout year…