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Key pieces return for conference-winning Green Knights

By Rich Palzewic
CORRESPONDENT

DE PERE – With an exhibition game under its belt, the St. Norbert College men’s basketball team will dive into its regular-season schedule on Veterans Day at Ripon College.

The Green Knights will then open Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play Nov. 22 at Concordia University Wisconsin.

St. Norbert finished the 2021-22 season with a 16-10 overall record and an 11-6 mark in the NACC.
The Green Knights finished in a three-way tie for the top spot in their first season in the new conference but fell to Concordia University Wisconsin in the semifinals of the postseason tournament.

“I’ll go back to the COVID-19 season (in 2020),” St. Norbert coach Gary Grzesk said. “We were members of the Midwest Conference at the time, and we didn’t play, while the NACC had a short season. We had six seniors during that year, and all of them graduated and moved on.Several kids in the NACC came back for their fifth year, so we were scrambling and shorthanded being in a new conference. I don’t want to make excuses, but every team we played was a new experience.”

Grzesk said he expects those unfamiliarities with the conference last season not to be an issue going forward.

“Having a year of experience in the conference and having several returning players should help us this year,” he said. “Also, traveling less (to opponents) was nice. If I want to go recruiting on a Friday or watch my daughter play, we’re not on a bus for 12 hours (round trip) going to
Grinnell. I feel from top to bottom, the NACC was more athletic and competitive. Last season, there were eight teams within first place with two games left to play in conference.”

Grzesk said Marian University returns a lot of firepower and should be a challenge this year.

He noted the athleticism of the NACC forced him and his staff to change a few things on offense.

“We’ll tweak a few things offensively, but defensively, we’ll rely on our typical man-to-man defense,” Grzesk said.

St. Norbert gets the benefit of one of its seniors from last season — Michael Payant — who is returning because of the extra year of eligibility granted to players due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Payant averaged 11.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals per game last season.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do after last season,” Payant said. “I was a biology major for three of my four years in college but last year switched to economics. My mom and coach Grzesk put the bug in my ear about an MBA (master of business administration) program here. I’m loving my classes, and the guys (on the team) have welcomed me back.”

Payant expects good things from the Green Knights this season.

“We’ve got a good group of guys and have quite a few players returning from last season,” he said. “We have good chemistry off the court.”

In addition, NACC Freshman of the Year Parker Lawrence (9.7 points per game), Evan Glaser (7.3) and Garrett Grzesk (5.4) return as some of the top scorers from last season.

The start of Lawrence’s basketball season is delayed because he’s currently playing football for the Green Knights.

“When Parker suits up and if we’re all healthy, we’ll have 20 on our roster — which is not uncommon in Division III,” Grzesk said.

Grzesk said it was a challenge to coach his son Garrett as a freshman.

“It was challenging for both of us,” Gary Grzesk said. “Garrett has always had good people coaching him, but in college, there’s a whole different level of accountability. He was getting that for the first time and had his dad coaching him. I thought he deserved to play, but I relied on my staff a lot. I didn’t want to have the parent blinders on but also didn’t want to hold him to too high of a standard. If he deserves to play, I want him out there. But if he doesn’t deserve it, I don’t want him on the court.”

Grzesk said his son isn’t the best player on the team, but he’s in the rotation.

“When Dick Bennett coached his son Tony (at Green Bay), everyone knew Tony was the best player and deserved to play the most,” he said. “Garrett was in that middle ground, which made it difficult. Going forward, it should be better for both of us.”

In the exhibition game against Green Bay Oct. 25, Payant had 11 points, while Grzesk added nine.
“The game against Green Bay should give us some confidence,” Gary Grzesk said. “It was good to face high-level competition before our regular season starts.”

In that 50-45 loss to the Phoenix at the Resch Center, the Green Knights held a 22-20 lead at halftime before Grzesk said his team tired in the second half.

St. Norbert men’s basketball 2022-23 schedule
11/11 – @ Ripon College
11/17 – @ Lawrence University
11/22 – @ Concordia University Wisconsin *
11/26 – UW-Superior – 1 p.m.
11/29 – @ Lakeland University *
12/3 – Aurora University – 2 p.m. *
12/6 – Marian University *
12/10 – @ Rockford University – 2 p.m. *
12/17 – UW-Eau Claire – 3 p.m.
12/20 – UW-Oshkosh
12/29 – University of Northwestern (Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament)
12/30 – Consolation game (Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament) – 5 p.m.
12/30 – Championship game (Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament)
1/3 – Wisconsin Lutheran College *
1/7 – @ Benedictine University – 2 p.m. *
1/10 – Edgewood College *
1/14 – Rockford University – 2 p.m. *
1/17 – @ Milwaukee School of Engineering *
1/21 – @ Dominican University – 2 p.m. *
1/28 – Benedictine University – 2 p.m. *
1/31 – Concordia University Wisconsin *
2/4 – @ Illinois Institute of Technology – 2 p.m. *
2/7 – @ Wisconsin Lutheran College *
2/11 – Concordia University Chicago – 2 p.m. *
2/14 – Milwaukee School of Engineering *
2/18 – @ Edgewood College – 2 p.m. *

  • Indicates a NACC game
    Note: All games begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
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