Happy New Year, basketball fans. Today marks the third week of the HoriZone PC series, which is a tribute to every current Horizon League coach in the style of video games. Moving forward, we are gonna show game ratings for each player that we feature in this series.
Last week, we did Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers first-year Associate Head Coach Ben Walker, who starred at Creighton. This week, we’re gonna kick off 2025 by staying in PantherLand and feature their Associate Coach, Jose Winston — who also happens to be a Milwaukee native.
Some things to note:
1. Unlike the entire NCAA Final Four series, teams in the Horizon League were not featured in the NCAA March Madness installments until the 2004 edition.
2. Winston is not featured as a playable character with Colorado in NCAA Final Four 99.
3. Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the rest of the Horizon League teams during the 2000s are playable squads in NCAA Final Four 2003 and NCAA College Basketball 2K3, but Winston is not featured as a playable character in either one of these games.
Background: Winston won three state championships as a player at Milwaukee Vincent High School, earning Wisconsin’s Mr. Basketball for the 1997-98 season. Winston was ranked as the fourth-best point guard and 42nd-best player in the country ahead of some future NBA stars such as Matt Barnes, Luke Walton and Udonis Haslem just to name a few.
For those of you that know about Winston in his playing days, he spent his first 3 seasons at the University of Colorado under head coach Ricardo Patton. That’s where we kick things off, starting with NCAA March Madness 99 on the PlayStation. As a freshman in the 1998-99 season, Winston played in all 33 games (8 starts), averaging 2.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. He also recorded 110 steals, which ranked 10th in the Big 12. However, his shooting wasn’t the best as he shot 25.7 percent from the field (19-of-74), 19 percent on 3-pointers (4-of-21), and 62.5 percent on free throws (35-of-56). Colorado finished 18-15 overall and finished tied with Kansas State for 7th place in the Big 12 standings since both teams went 7-9 in conference play. The Buffaloes’ season ended in a loss to in-state rival Colorado State in the 2nd Round of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).
Winston’s ratings in NCAA March Madness 99 (all abbreviations are from the game)
• FG% (field goal percentage): 40
• FT% (free throw percentage): 64
• 3PT% (3-point percentage): 32
• SPD (speed): 80
• AGIL (agility): 84
• STAM (stamina): 62
• AGR (aggressiveness): 58
• DUNK: 32
• JUMP: 60
• PASS: 62
• HNDL (handles): 62
• STL (steal): 54
• BLK (block): 20
• OREB (offensive rebounds): 42
• DREB (defensive rebounds): 38
• OIQ (offensive IQ): 90
• DIQ (defensive IQ): 70
NCAA March Madness 99
Now to Winston’s sophomore campaign, which features him in NCAA March Madness 2000 and NCAA Final Four 2000 both on PlayStation. One thing to note here is that while Winston switched from #12 to #3 for the rest of his time with Colorado, he is #12 in both of these games. As a sophomore in the 1999-2000 season, Winston became the Buffaloes’ starting point guard as he played in all 33 games (25 games), averaging 3.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists (9th in the Big 12) and 2.6 steals per game (tied for 2nd in the Big 12). Winston also finished in the Big 12’s top 10 with 127 total assists (7th) and 82 steals (2nd). His shooting slightly improved as well as he shot 36.3 percent from the field (37-of-103), 28.6 percent from beyond the arc (12-of-42), and 46.2 percent from the foul line (18-of-39). Winston’s best game of his sophomore year was the Buffaloes’ last game of the season in which he had 8 points and 11 assists in the team’s 94-92 loss to Southern Illinois in the 1st Round of the National Invitational Tournament.
Colorado ended up finishing with an overall record of 18-14 overall and finished 7-9 in conference play again, which was good for 7th place in the Big 12 standings by themselves.
Winston’s ratings in NCAA March Madness 2000
• FG% (field goal percentage): 30
• FT% (free throw percentage): 66
• 3P% (3-point percentage): 22
• SPD (speed): 66
• AGL (agility): 64
• STM (stamina): 58
• AGR (aggressiveness): 64
• DNK (dunk): 56
• JMP (jump): 56
• PAS (pass): 66
• HDL (handles): 68
• STL (steal): 66
• BLK (block): 22
• OREB (offensive rebounds): 58
• DREB (defensive rebounds): 58
• OIQ (offensive IQ): 58
• DIQ (defensive IQ): 56
NCAA March Madness 2000
Winston’s ratings in NCAA Final Four 2000
• Shoot: 59
• Over: 78
• Leap: 64
• Steal: 76
• FT (free throw): 55
• Quick: 62
• Strength: 55
• Block: 68
• Pass: 71
• Speed: 71
• Ball handle: 58
• Range: 76
• Clutch: 79
• Stam (stamina): 64
• Off Reb (offensive rebounds): 70
• Def Reb (defensive rebounds): 57
NCAA Final Four 2000
In Winston’s junior season, he is in NCAA March Madness 2001 (PlayStation) and NCAA Final Four 2001 (PlayStation and PlayStation 2). In the 2000-2001 season, Winston started all 30 games, averaging not just a career-high of 3.5 points per game, but he also finished 2nd in the Big 12 with a pair of Colorado program records: a 6.5 assists per game average and 194 total assists. In addition to his career high assists numbers, Winston not only averaged 3 rebounds a night, but he also finished tied for 10th in the conference with both 44 steals and a 1.5 steals per game average. Winston also set another school record with a single-game total of 15 assists, which came on January 2, 2001 against Coppin State. But in terms of his overall shooting for that same season, it was a different story as he was 32.4 percent from the field (33-of-102), 22.2 percent from downtown (22-of-45), and 46.7 percent on free throws (28-of-60).
Colorado finished the 2000-2001 season with an overall 15-15 record and 9th place in the Big 12 standings since they lost 11 of their 16 matchups against division opponents. Their campaign ended following an 86-84 overtime loss to Baylor in the 1st Round of the Big 12 Tournament.
Winston’s ratings in NCAA March Madness 2001
• FG% (field goal percentage): 40
• FT% (free throw percentage): 50
• 3P% (3-point percentage): 32
• SPD (speed): 80
• AGL (agility): 80
• STM (stamina): 78
• AGR (aggressiveness): 76
• DNK (dunk): 54
• JMP (jump): 70
• PAS (pass): 70
• HDL (handles): 78
• STL (steal): 66
• BLK (block): 14
• OREB (offensive rebounds): 28
• DREB (defensive rebounds): 28
• OIQ (offensive IQ): 76
• DIQ (defensive IQ): 80
NCAA March Madness 2001
Winston’s ratings in NCAA Final Four 2001
• Shoot: 56
• Over: 54
• Leap: 50
• Steal: 76
• FT (free throw): 71
• Quick: 75
• Strength: 60
• Block: 50
• Pass: 68
• Speed: 55
• Ball handle: 56
• Range: 84
• Clutch: 66
• Stam (stamina): 67
• Off Reb (offensive rebounds): 63
• Def Reb (defensive rebounds): 60
NCAA Final Four 2001, PlayStation
NCAA Final Four 2001, PlayStation 2
In Winston’s 95 games (65 starts) in 3 seasons in a Buffaloes uniform, Winston scored 285 points, pulled down 296 rebounds, finished 3rd all-time in school history with 440 total assists, and finished tied for 3rd with Stevie Wise with 179 total steals. But due to a family situation back home at the time, he transferred to Wisconsin-Milwaukee where his hometown is. However, Winston was still made as a playable character in NCAA Final Four 2002 on PlayStation 2 where his ratings completely skyrocketed.
Winston’s ratings in NCAA Final Four 2002
• Over: 79
• Shoot: 95
• Leap: 92
• Steal: 80
• FT (free throw): 80
• Quick: 83
• Strength: 60
• Block: 67
• Pass: 65
• Speed: 91
• Ball handle: 76
• Range: 84
• Clutch: 88
• Stam (stamina): 91
• OReb (offensive rebounds): 70
• DReb (defensive rebounds): 68
NCAA Final Four 2002
In his senior year of college at his hometown school of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Winston wore #22, played for head coach Bruce Pearl in the 2002-03 season, and helped lead the Panthers program to their first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament after beating Butler 69-52 in the Horizon League Championship Game. Their season came to an end after losing 70-69 to Notre Dame in the 1st Round of March Madness.
Appearing in all 32 games (2 starts) that season, Winston averaged 1.8 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and one steal per game for Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He also scored in double-digits for the first and only time in his entire NCAA career against Wisconsin-Parkside, which he had 11 points off the bench on December 17, 2002.
Coaching career: Winston is currently in his 3rd season on the Panthers’ coaching staff and was an assistant for his first pair of seasons before his promotion to Associate Coach in July 2024.
Winston started his coaching career at Kenosha St. Joseph High School in Kenosha, WI, where they won only 12 games in 3 seasons beforehand. But Winston led the Lancers for 8 seasons (2010-18), helped them win 95 contests, and guided them to five top-4 finishes in the Metro Classic. During Winston’s time there, the Lancers are known for 2012-13 squad that went 18-7 and won a Division 4 regional championship. Winston then became the boys basketball head coach at Brown Deer High School for 3 seasons before moving up to the college level.
Winston also serves as a player development coach with Nike Phenom University, a position he’s held since March 2018.
