3/21/24 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Thursday
21 March 2024 Sports
The Green Bay men’s basketball team saw a resurgence this season, and now coach Sundance Wicks in reaping the rewards, being named a finalist for two national coaching awards.
Wicks is one of 20 finalists for the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year Awards, given to the top mid-major coach in college basketball. He is also one of 16 finalists for the Joe. B Hall National Coach of the Year Award for the nation’s top first-year head coach.
Green Bay suffered through a 3-29 season before Wicks’ arrival. The Phoenix then earned 18 wins this year in Wicks’ first year as head coach here and if not for a late-season ankle injury to star Noah Reynolds, Green Bay could have easily reached 20 wins.
The Green Bay Packers Foundation honored its annual grant recipients at a luncheon on Wednesday.
In 2023, the program focused on charities for the elderly, homelessness, human services, and the fight against hunger. The foundation raised over $1.5 million and was awarded to more than 300 organizations around the state. The foundation is not limited to just grants and uses funds in a variety of other ways to support the community.
“It includes alumni visits, Make-A-Wish visits, it also includes a lot of work we do for veterans and members of the military,” said Mark Murphy, the Packers president and CEO. “Our numerous in-kind donations, football outreach activities, and community events so it’s a very broad base of support.”
This year, the organization will focus on charities relating to arts and culture, athletics, and education. Organizations who would like to apply for a grant can learn more about the application process on the Packers website.
This week, the Green Bay women’s basketball squad makes their return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018.
Awaiting the Phoenix is one of the most iconic programs in women’s basketball, Tennessee, who has been to the tournament all 42 years of its existence. Meaning the Volunteers are not lacking in terms of tournament experience.
The Phoenix have their own experience on the floor together as a unit, especially the starting unit, which has been on the floor together for all but one game this season.
“I think we’ve done a good job of just the five on the court play together, play smart and just focus on you five. Really, there’s nothing outside the court that can really mess with that at that moment. Just us having the mindset that whoever is on the floor get the job done, however it comes to you,” said Kondrakiewicz.
Green Bay as a program has plenty of NCAA experience which is something Borseth tapped into during the layoff by bringing in alumni to talk about their past tournament runs.
“They said some of their biggest regrets were, like, not being able to advance further in the tournament when they had the talent too. I think just keeping that in the back of our minds and going in with that mindset that we are a good team, we’ve been battle tested,” said Kondrakiewicz.
Green Bay has not won a first round game since 2012. A run that included a 2016 loss to the Volunteers, but much has changed since then. Tennessee earned their way into the tournament after going through the toughest schedule in the country.
Rickea Jackson, a potential top five WNBA Draft pick, leads the Volunteers with 19.4 points a game, and can do pretty much anything on the court.
“She’s going to score regardless, everyone’s going to score. I think just limiting her touches and making other people score is going to be important in this game,” said Kondrakiewicz.
“We’ll look at personnel and dive deeper into film in the next couple of days. I looked into it a little bit, but it’s more focused on us and what we have to do. They have to worry about us as much as we have to worry about them,” said Schreiber.
Marquette coach Shaka Smart says star guard Tyler Kolek has been practicing in 5-on-5 drills this week as the 2023 Big East player of the year gets ready to return from an oblique injury.
Kolek has missed Marquette’s last six games, but Smart has expressed confidence the Associated Press All-America second-team selection would be back for the NCAA Tournament. Marquette, the No. 2 seed in the South Region, faces Western Kentucky on Friday in Indianapolis.
Kolek has 7.6 assists per game to rank second among all Division I players and is averaging 15 points and 4.7 rebounds.
Smart noted there would be an adjustment process for Kolek after missing three weeks, but the coach was encouraged by what he saw in practice.
Jayson Tatum scored 31 points for Boston, which took advantage of the absence of two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo to win its seventh straight game. The Celtics have not lost to an Eastern Conference team at home all season.
Derrick White had 23 points and eight assists, while Jaylen Brown finished with 21 points and eight boards for Boston.
Damian Lillard scored 32, including a 3-pointer in the final second and Bobby Portis had 24 points for the Bucks, who had won two in a row.
Although the game featured two East division leaders, the Celtics hold an 11-game edge over the second-seeded Bucks in the race for home-court advantage.
It was 10-all when the Celtics scored 13 of the next 15 points to open an 11-point lead. The Bucks cut it to two before the end of the first quarter, but Boston used a 21-8 run, with 10 points coming from Payton Pritchard, to make it 56-38.
Pritchard also had the most rebounds and assists in the quarter.
Boston led by as many as 21 points and the Bucks didn’t get within single digits until the final minutes, when they scored 10 straight points with eight of them, including back-to-back long 3-pointers from Portis, to turn a 13-point lead into a one-possession game.
Then Portis missed a 3, Tatum hit a pair of free throws and then the Celtics star drove for a layup to make it 114-107 with 1:38 to play.
Antetokounmpo also missed the Bucks’ 140-129 home victory over Phoenix on Sunday. He has missed five games this season; Milwaukee is 3-2 without him.
Up Next, The Bucks host the Brooklyn Nets tonight.
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