“Let’s play two” is a phrase that is typically more applicable to the world of baseball and softball, but tonight those famous words will be on the mind of Green Bay Phoenix fans as they head to the Kress Center. Both the Green Bay women and men secured a top 4 seed in the Horizon League tournament, earning a home game, which will both be played at the Kress Center with the women hosting Youngstown State and the men hosting Milwaukee (aka MNS among some of us here at Horizone Roundtable).
While the Phoenix women may have fallen short of one of its goals this year, winning a share of the regular season title, the team still has plenty to hang their hat on as they head towards a postseason run. Natalie McNeal was tabbed as First team All-League, joined by Maddy Schreiber as Second team All-League, Bailey Butler getting the nod as Third team All-League and the All-Defensive Team as well, and Callie Genke being a Co-Sixth Player of the Year as well.
In the non-conference portion of the season, the Phoenix knocked off two ranked opponents, Creighton and Washington State, with Creighton being a true road game and Wazzu being played on a neutral site. This, coupled with 17-3 conference record, has the Phoenix projected as an At Large bid into the NCAA Tournament, with league winner Cleveland State being predicted to take the league’s automatic bid. A trip to “The Big Dance” would be the schools first since 2018, a sizeable drought by Green Bay standards. To do so, the Phoenix will need to start by getting past Youngstown State at the Kress Center tonight with tipoff scheduled for 5:30 PM CT.
On the men’s side, expectations may have been different to start the year but Green Bay quickly rose from the ashes and soared above led by Horizon League Coach of the Year, Sundance Wicks. By now most people know the story of Green Bay and Wicks, but in case you don’t, coming off a disappointing 3-29 season where the program moved on from head coach Will Ryan during last season. The school was ranked at 362 by the NCAA NET Rankings and KenPom rankings which would now be dead last across all of Division I. Wicks was selected to be the next head coach and embraced the challenge of rising up and making Green Bay a destination for men’s basketball once again.
Through the first regular season, attendance is up. Wyoming transfer Noah Reynolds was named First team All-League and Newcomer of the Year, DJ Douglas selected as Freshman of the Year and joined Marcus Hall on the All-Freshman team. All season long, the Phoenix have “brought their own juice” (a famous Sundance Wicks-ism) and shocked the League en route to a 3rd place regular season finish. That said, the team is no resting on laurels.
Wicks preaches “Club Dub is open until midnight” and then the prep for the next challenge begins. A ticket to Indy can be punched tonight if Green Bay can take the rubber match against I-43 Rival, Milwaukee (aka MNS or The Team Down South). If the Phoenix can run the gauntlet, it would be the program’s first NCAA Tournament since the 2015-2016 season under Lincoln Darner. Tipoff for this one is tentatively scheduled for 8pm CT also at the Kress Center due to the Wisconsin Girls High School Basketball State Tournament being held at the Resch Center this weekend.
