The Badger Herald: Sports: ‘Big Smooth’ enjoying final year of Wisconsin basketball

Sports

‘Big Smooth’ enjoying final year of Wisconsin basketball

DEREK MONTGOMERY/Herald Photo

Looking for a print version?
Simply use your browser’s ‘Print’ command and a printer-friendly document will be generated automatically.

Also by Michael Poppy:

Stocco awaits Packers' call (May 8, 2007)
UW has room for progress (May 10, 2007)
UW not ready for baseball (May 3, 2007)

Tuesday, February 15, 2005 12:00 a.m.

2 Vote 0 Votes

For Klagenfurt, Austria-native Andreas Helmigk, adjusting to the unique culture of the United States has been a perpetual struggle ever since the senior forward first set foot on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. While Helmigk will be the first to say he is starting to fit in — noting his fondness of rap and hip-hop music and barbeque — his adjustment to America has become much easier by simply playing basketball.

Helmigk has gradually worked his way into becoming a strong contributor for the Wisconsin men’s basketball squad. After sitting out his freshman season with a painful knee injury, Helmigk has proven himself to head coach Bo Ryan and found his niche on the team.

While often hopping in and out of the starting lineup, Helmigk says he is simply looking to contribute to the squad in any way he can.

“(My role is) just helping out the team,” Helmigk said. “Whatever the team needs in different games. Some games it’s some scoring, some games it’s rebounds, some games it’s just playing good ‘D’ — just whatever the team needs. I consider myself a team player.”

Helmigk has started in seven games this year, but has recently seen a decrease in his playing time. Ryan argues that the drop-off in playing time is due to specific matchups and remains nothing but appreciative of what the hard-working Helmigk brings to his team.

“Andreas has that spirit in him where he’s like, ‘OK, whatever you say coach,’” Ryan said. “He’s matched up well against some teams and not as well against some other teams. He has had some injuries that he’s had to deal with and he just keeps practicing and working hard. You always have to like that about people. There are some people that can’t go through a routine everyday and perform hard. I have said this before. To do what they do everyday with some guys getting more minutes than others … they are pretty special, especially with Andreas.”

Helmigk understands the reasoning behind whether he starts or not and respects Ryan for helping him be as productive as possible.

“I don’t think it matters a lot (whether I start or not),” Helmigk said. “Coach (Ryan) is just trying to get good matchups and it depends from team to team. I match up good against some teams and not as good against others so it just depends from team to team.”

Helmigk has always maintained a strong devotion to basketball, as he has been a part of the Austrian National Team since his high school days. Helmigk is grateful for the experience, as it has improved his basketball skills and given him the opportunity to represent his home country and travel across the world.

“(Being a part of Austria’s National Team was) definitely a good experience,” Helmigk said. “I’ve been a team member for a couple years and I’ve already played a couple games for the national team. We come around Europe a lot, you just travel the world pretty much, get to see a lot of places and it’s just a great honor playing on it.”

As Helmigk has progressively stepped up as a team contributor, he has become much closer with many of his teammates on a personal level. Some members of the UW roster joke with him about his clothing styles — junior forward Ray Nixon labeled Helmigk with the nickname of “Smooth” when the senior showed up to practice wearing a particularly snazzy suit over the summer.

Even though his teammates may teasingly call him “Smooth,” Helmigk embraces the nickname and feels as though it describes his easy-going personality.

“Yeah, I would say (I’m smooth),” Helmigk said. “I’m pretty laid back and I don’t think a lot of things reach me too deep, you know. I would say, overall, I have a pretty laid back personality.”

With Helmigk’s collegiate eligibility coming to an end at the end of this season, he has begun to narrow down his career opportunities. An International Studies major, he is hoping to work in the business world somewhere, although if that opportunity fails to arise, he would be more than content with playing professional basketball in Europe.

“My plans depend on my options,” Helmigk said.” I’m trying to get into the business world somewhere; it depends on my options. Or maybe I’ll go and play in Europe somewhere. Those are my two options, the two main things that I’m looking at it, but nothing for sure so far.”

Whatever Helmigk decides to do in his future endeavors, his attitude towards life will always remain to be just as “smooth” as it was for the Badger basketball team.

2 Comments | Leave a comment

Anonymous | February 16, 2005 1:26 PM | Reply

“Big Smooth”? More like Big Bumpy.

Anonymous | March 27, 2005 9:14 PM | Reply

you have contributed to the team where they needed you, and a team is only a winner if it has a good bench that can give their main men a break. Also since you are from another country it has also been a challenge for you, so thank you for you time, and what you have given to the U.W. basketball program