Peral primed for breakthrough

Assistant Sports Editor

Old Gold & Black photo

Peral's perimeter shooting touch is unique for a big-man.

Somewhere in between the two seasoned sophomores manning the perimeter of the Deacon basketball team and the all-everything junior under the basket, the fortunes of the 1995-96 Demon Deacons begin to grow decidedly hazy.

Sophomores Tony Rutland and Jerry Braswell seem more than ready to assume backcourt leadership responsibilities for the Demon Deacons -- indeed, they seemed more than ready around the midway point of last season.

Also last year, junior Tim Duncan developed into the premier center in the country. Thus, both inside and on the perimeter, the Deacons seemed staffed to repeat as ACC Champions.

Make no mistake, though, the graduation of Scooter Banks will present the Deacons with one of the toughest obstacles they will have to face this year. The squad will sorely miss Banks' defensive prowess and upperclass savvy.

The team's most intriguing questions are thus directed to the territory not covered by Duncan, Rutland and Braswell. Specifically, will junior forward Ricky Peral be able to generate the offensive and defensive performances necessary to deflect some of the attention that opponents are likely to heap on Duncan?

After missing his freshman year because of recruiting violations, the 6-10, 230 Peral debuted last year for the Deacons and started all of the team's 32 games.

Although Peral did manage to notch 6.7 points per game and 3.6 rebounds per game for the Deacons, his greatest contribution was probably the matchup problems he created for opposing teams. Demon Deacon fans were often treated to the sight of Peral using his ample height and quickness to neutralize potentially dangerous opposing players.

As one of only a few players who possess such size and speed, Peral will again be looked to as a means of generating strategical problems for the opposition.

Offensively, Peral has the height necessary to be a low-post threat but has also demonstrated a deft touch from outside. Last season Peral hit at a rate of 60.5 percent from the floor, and was 12-of-35 (34.3 percent) from behind the three-point line.

On the defensive side of the ball, the junior also seemed to come into his own under the basket as the season progressed, as he tallied nine of his 17 blocked shots in the final 12 games of the season.

Thus, the Deacons this season will look for the junior to continue to evince the defensive attributes that made Peral a valuable asset last year, as well as improve his scoring and rebounding production.

Clearly, Peral's season last year was an exercise in steady improvement. The Deacons hope and expect that he will continue to develop in his encore season in the ACC.

Should Peral indeed develop into a consistently important offensive threat, the sanity of opposing coaches will be strenuously tested, as the dilemma of how to contain both Duncan and Peral in the frontcourt tests the boundaries of defensive strategy.