The Prairie School looks to bring home the gold ball
For Kody Krekling, it is the wait that is tough.
Saturday, The Prairie School senior helped the Hawks boys basketball team earn its first Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament berth. Since then he has been enduring the six-day break between games that, discounting a two-week stoppage due to COVID-19 protocols, equals the team's longest period without a game this season.
Friday can't come soon enough. “It's a little hard coming to school knowing we've got all week until our game to sit through all the classes and think about basketball the whole time,” Krekling said earlier this week. “It's hard, but it's fun because all our friends, we talk about it.”
Consider the break a chance to reflect on what is shaping up to be the best run in program history.
The top-seeded Hawks (23-3) will face Onalaska Luther (19-1) in a Division 4 semifinal at 9:05 a.m. Friday at the La Crosse Center in La Crosse. The winner advances to the championship game at 6:35 p.m. against the winner of the Oshkosh Lourdes-Edgar semifinal.
The prospects are great for the Hawks. Here are three reasons why:
Nesbitt is at the top of his game
Teams don't usually get this far unless their top players are producing and that has been the case for The Prairie School.
This marks the third straight season senior Antuan Nesbitt, a 6-foot-4 guard/ wing, has led the team in scoring, rebounding and assists. The Northern Michigan recruit's season averages this year are 19.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists. In the playoffs he is averaging 21.5 points, 10.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists while hitting 74% (37 of 50) of his shots, including 33.3% (3 for 9) from three-point range.
Playing in a region that has produced numerous Division I players in his class, Nesbitt has been somewhat overshadowed. His statistics, however, speak to his impact.
“He's a really good passer, a really good defender and willing to go in the post and mix it up when the matchups call for it,” Hawks coach Jason Atanosoff said. “Just an ultimate glue guy for our team. He kind of does it all for us.”
Nesbitt and Krekling lead a senior class that fills other valuable roles such as three-point shooting (Krekling and Jacob Fallico) and on-the-ball defense (KJ Williams). Those four players have been varsity since sophomore year.
Metro Classic magic
We challenge you to come up with another mid-sized conference that prepares teams better for the postseason than the Metro Classic. In its nine years of existence, the league has won five state championships and, counting this season, has sent five of its nine teams to the state tournament. Racine St. Catherine's would have probably added a sixth title to that résumé if the end of last season wasn't canceled due to COVID-19.
All that prevented the Hawks from winning the league this year is the juggernaut that is St. Catherine's. The Hawks went 12-3 in conference play with one game (Dominican) that was unable to be rescheduled. The Hawks lost to St. Catherine's by an average of 26 points. Their other loss was a two-point setback to Shoreland Lutheran on Feb. 8 that has actually paid dividends throughout the team's postseason run.
Tightened defense
No one wants to lose, but those moments can provide teaching moments that propel a team. That was the case with the Hawks' 61-59 loss to Shoreland Lutheran.
“The positive effect of that loss is us playing hard every possession,” Nesbitt said. “Going into the game one thing the coaches were yelling at us about is that if we don't play hard, we can easily be beaten.
“Ever since that game we all realized that and in general how hard every player on the court plays has gone up.”
That has especially shown on the defense end. If you look at The Prairie School's production from last season to this one, you'll find similar offensive numbers. Where it has shown great improvement is defensively where the team is allowing 54.8 points per game compared to 66.5 last season.
Credit some of that improvement to a change in philosophy this season. Atanasoff has handed the reigns of the defense to assistants Jersey Eickhort and Ryan Thompson, a couple of Bob Letsch disciples who have brought the former St. Catherine's coach's principles to The Prairie School.
Combine it and you've got a team that earned the No. 1 seed of a field that featured three other teams that won conference championships and two other teams that won all their postseason games by double digits.
Two more wins and the Hawks will finish the job.