Folks, it's the end of the regular season!  I am pleased to inform you (if you do not already know) that the 2008-2009 Pointers are WIAC Conference Champions!  I'm proud to say that I was a part of the squad that brought home the 25^th conference championship for Pointer Basketball.  We sealed up the championship with a win over UW-LaCrosse on the 18^th of February.  Rounding out the regular season was a heart-breaking home loss to UW-Platteville 55-52.  We didn't execute well and caught some bad breaks down the stretch.

We didn't like ending the regular season on such a sour note with that loss.  The conference championship is a marvelous achievement but the loss is still a thorn in my side.  We had a chance to prove ourselves once again as we started the WIAC tournament.  We got the #1 seed going into the tournament and ended up facing UW-Oshkosh for the third time this year.  The Titans were coming to town looking to upend us, but we took their best shots and finished the game victorious by a score of 81-69.  Congrats to Ted Van Dellen and his Titans for a wonderful season.

Back to the WIAC Championship!  It's my second championship game in as many years.  Last year we ran out of time against UW-Whitewater, losing 75-71 at Kachel Gymnasium.  This year is a whole different story.  We will be playing at home on Bennett Court against the Platteville Pioneers, who I had said earlier beat us during the regular season finale.  We hope for a different outcome tomorrow afternoon!

I'll let you know how the big game comes out!  Special shout-out this time goes to Deb Beamish, Bryan's mother.  She came up and thanked me for writing this blog after our Oshkosh win.  It's a great pleasure Mrs. B! We'll go get that WIAC Tourney Championship!

Good Evening Basketball Fans,

Once again it is time to blog.  I just got done doing some homework, so here we go.

We have been riding the wave for a couple weeks here.  The last time I checked in we had just beaten UW-Eau Claire at their gym.  Since then we have secured conference wins against Oshkosh, River Falls, Stout, and Superior.  All four of those games were sweeps of those teams.  We ended up having a non-conference match up against Viterbo University during that stretch, dismantling the V-Hawks with a score 92-40.  We have not lost a game since that dreaded home defeat against Carroll University back in December.  Knock on wood everybody!

It was a big day in the realm of Pointer Basketball last Saturday as we honored former UWSP coaches Dick and Jack Bennett by naming the court in Quandt Gym as "Bennett Court."  For those of you who do not know, Dick and Jack are brothers who amassed 373 wins in their combined 18 years at the helm of Pointer Men's Basketball.  Many were in attendance on Saturday:  fans, alumni, families, and friends of the two men who helped put Pointer Hoops on the national stage.  I was truly humbled to be a part of that historic day and will remember it for the rest of my days.

While everyone was having a grandiose time, our team told each other that we had the most important job-winning the game!  I knew everyone wanted to win so badly.  We went into the half only up ten but then came on in the second and finished off the Yellow Jackets by a score of 69-50.  Mission accomplished!

The halftime speech by Jack Bennett really caught me.  He reiterated Lou Gehrig's words during his retirement speech held at Yankee Stadium.  "Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth."  I have listened to Jack speak on a few different occasions and he always has a way with words.  He couldn't have said it any better than that.  He and his brother Dick really were the luckiest guys that day.  I thank them for all their hard work and dedication to the game of basketball and to Pointer Basketball.  My teammates and I are reaping many benefits because of those two men and they deserve every accolade they get and more.  It is now and forever will be "Bennett Court."

It's game night tomorrow against Eau-Claire.  We're looking for that next conference sweep.  Hopefully we can get the job done.

And a quick thank you to Adam Spoehr, our student assistant coach, who noticed some cobwebs lurking on my blog page.  I will try not to be tardy with my future posts!

God Bless and Go Pointers!