Blizzard realizes niche
By Ron Chimelis, The Springfield Union-News, 2/13/2001

AMHERST — The story is still told of how John Calipari told Carmelo Travieso that unless Travieso learned to play defense, he might as well transfer because he'd never get serious minutes for the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team.

Ronell Blizzard never reached the brink of transferring, but he understands how Travieso, who became a defensive expert, must have felt.

"I used to watch Mike Babul struggle to score from the perimeter, and I thought my way to contribute to this team would be on offense," said Blizzard, a junior who has finally defined his role on a team that always preaches defense first. "It definitely involved a change of approach for me."

Blizzard's role off the bench involves rebounding and scoring, but the 6-foot-8, 205-pound forward's major contribution has been as a defender on the perimeter — especially against players able to shoot over 6-5 starting small forward Winston Smith or the guards, but not him.

"He's playing the way we always thought he could," said UMass coach Bruiser Flint, whose Minutemen (10-11, 8-2 Atlantic 10 Conference) face Xavier (18-4, 9-2) tomorrow night at the Mullins Center. "The question was never about his ability."

Until this season, Blizzard often seemed like an untapped natural talent who either hadn't grasped the complexities of Division I basketball, or had landed in the wrong program. When he played only 24 minutes in this season's first seven games, it looked like this year might be no different.

But Blizzard scored nine points with 14 rebounds and seven blocked shots in a 68-52 victory Dec. 14 at Boston University. The blocked shot total was the ninth-highest single-game total in UMass history, and the game was a turning point.

"Earlier in his career, he'd looked at his game a certain way, and we looked at it a different way," said Flint, who builds his lineups around defensive matchups . "The thing with Blizz was being consistent. He never had been with us."

His contributions since that BU game have reflected the change.

In a 75-64 win at Xavier, Blizzard had seven points and four blocked shots in 14 minutes. It was one of the first times in his career that he played vital minutes down the stretch in a close game.

Against La Salle, he successfully defended 6-8 Rasual Butler on a crucial possession in the final seconds of UMass 62-58 victory. Butler had scored 30 points, largely by shooting over Smith and UMass guard Shannon Crooks.

But with Blizzard able to match Butler's size, the La Salle guard missed two contested 3-point shots with UMass leading 61-58.

That highlighted the unique matchup advantage Blizzard offers UMass, which has five players 6-8 or taller. Blizzard usually isn't needed in the low post, which frees him up to guard the perimeter against players 6-5 to 6-8.

He can also still score. Blizzard hit two key 3-point shots in a 65-64 overtime win at Temple.

"Honestly, it's more fun playing defense," Blizzard said. "Teams feel they might have an edge with me guarding on the perimeter. They'll try to take advantage, and get frustrated when they can't."

Blizzard played in one preseason game as a freshman in 1997-98, then redshirted the season due to chronic foot problems. In 1998-99, he played only 66 minutes.

Last year, Blizzard played more and even started four games, but was prone to fouling and sometimes tried to earn more minutes with reckless offense — the opposite of what Flint was seeking.

Blizzard, who turns 23 next week, says he'd dreamed of playing for UMass since he was 14. He claims he never seriously thought of transferring, which turned out to be a wise decision.

"It was always a thought, I guess, but the grass isn't always greener somewhere else," Blizzard said. "I realize now, more than then, that I'd have had the same difficulties anywhere.

"The maturity level was a huge factor. And in high school, we had such great talent that we always emphasized offense."

Blizzard scored 16.1 points per game as a senior for Sacred Heart High of Waterbury, which won the Connecticut state Class M title in 1997. Flint said that like many freshmen, Blizzard first thought the UMass coaches were holding him down.

But one thing Blizzard never became, Flint said, was a disruptive influence. That's why his transformation from sporadic scorer to reliable defender — in the best UMass tradition — seems so satisfying.

"He's always rooted for his teammates," Flint said, "and he's always wanted to win. He just needed a better understanding of what we needed. Now he does."


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