Being looked up to is nothing new to Brandon Altmann. At 6-foot-9, the University of Mary Washington's senior center has always stood above the crowd.

Being a leader is another story.

Altmann was the third option at Vienna's James Madison High School behind future Division I players Jon Ogolo (Elon) and Warren Edney (Fairfield).

He was a role player as a freshman at Division II Gannon (Pa.) University, then transferred to UMW, where he deferred for the last two seasons to guard Matt Hale, who's a year older.

Now, though, Hale has graduated, and the 2009-10 Eagles' destiny is pretty clear.

"We have to ride him," coach Rod Wood said yesterday. "If Brandon is not getting double-doubles and scoring 20 points per game, we're not going to win."

That means Altmann will need to improve on a pretty impressive junior season, when he averaged 17.1 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. He scored in double figures in 22 of 26 games and posted 16 double-doubles, including his final six games.

To read the complete story, courtesy of Fredericsburg.com, click here.