Prep school bulks up Roberts

At about 10:30 every night last year, someone came around to Mike Roberts' room to see that he was there. He wasn't being punished. He wasn't in jail. He was just at New Hampton Prep School in New Hampshire.\n "Prep school was 300 people under strict supervision in the middle of the woods in New Hampshire," Roberts said. "It was a little school out in the woods in the middle of nowhere. There weren't too many distractions."\nFormer assistant coach Pat Knight suggested Roberts attend prep school, which allows a player a fifth year of high school competition without losing NCAA eligibility. Roberts' team included nine future Division I players, and it played against other teams stacked with talent. So with a scholarship to IU on the line, Roberts gladly packed his bags. \nBut he wasn't really prepared for the rigidness of the school.\n"Let's just say it was a shock to my system," Roberts said. "I wasn't a wild guy or anything, but I was used to going out and doing things."\nRoberts' schedule didn't allow him much free time. His days were mapped out starting at 6:30 a.m. and ending with bed check at 10:30 p.m., "just like a little kid." He couldn't get in his car and travel. There wasn't enough time in the day, and he had classes Saturdays. Not to mention there wasn't really anywhere to go. Concord was the closest town of any size and it was 32 miles away.\nSo Roberts concentrated on basketball and his studies, despite scoring 1220 on the SAT and carrying a 3.7 GPA through high school.\n"I went there to get bigger, stronger and better," Roberts said. "I got stronger and gained about 15 pounds."\nAt IU, Roberts is expected to contribute to the depth of IU's front line and push around guys such as junior forward Kirk Haston and sophomore forward Jeffrey Newton in practice.\n"He's playing his butt off and giving everything he has," interim coach Mike Davis said. "Mike is really pushing the other guys and making them better. He's a tough, hard-nosed guy."\nRoberts said he realizes he will not see much playing time this year, but that doesn't bother him, and it sometimes has its advantages because he's not as well known as Haston, Fife or freshman Jared Jeffries.\n"It will be difficult to get playing time next year too," Roberts said. "I'm not like the other guys, I can pretty much blend in with everyone else on campus."\nAt 6-foot-9 and 210 pounds, it's more like he only blends in the with trees around campus. \n"Mike is a blue-collar worker," sophomore Kyle Hornsby said. "He works very hard and will do a real good job for us by the end of this year"