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| Sarah Stacker provides an
offensive and defensive presence, as well as the only senior
leadership this season for UW-Oshkosh. Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com |
By Josh Smith
D3sports.com
When Brad Fischer took over the UW-Oshkosh women’s basketball program, he hoped to change the attitude of the program – and as a result, cultivate more success.
But even he is surprised at how quickly the Titans have responded.
In just two years, Fischer has led Oshkosh to back-to-back 20 win seasons. This year the youthful Titans added a WIAC conference tournament title to their resume and have fought their way to the Sweet 16.
“The biggest thing when I came in was just trying to change the culture and the expectations of what it was going to take to get to the level we’re at right now and trying to get further,” Fischer said.
The coach, who is 46-9 in two seasons at UW-Oshkosh, said he drew from his experience as an assistant coach at UW-Parkside where he helped the Division II program make a couple of tournament runs. He felt that the school’s previous accolades in women’s basketball were good sign as well.
“This program has had a ton of success in the past. There is a national championship trophy in our trophy case. So I knew when I got here, something like that was possible. It was just about trying to change the mentality of our players,” Fischer said. “Obviously, it’s probably happened a lot quicker than any of us anticipated.”
“It’s kind of been the perfect storm here the last two years. I think we’ve made some good decisions. We’ve had things go our way. We’ve stayed healthy,” he continued. “Really, our kids have just worked really hard.”
According to Sarah Stecker, the only senior on this year’s team, the attitude Fischer brought to the program inspired the players mirror him.
“I think he brought a spark back to Oshkosh that made everyone want to play and want to work hard. His dedication to the game definitely made us want to get better and work our hardest in practice,” said Stecker, who has led the Titans to a 26-3 overall record this season.
Fischer credited last year’s team for buying into his system and helping bring the program success. However after graduating key players a year ago, this year’s roster has a significantly different look.
“We only had one player returning that had started a game before – and really only about three or four that had any significant minutes. We really tried to put this year’s team together with the returners that most fit what we were trying to do and we have a really talented freshmen class,” Fischer said. “To the returners’ credit, they’ve really accepted these freshmen in.”
Although Stecker leads the team with an average of 11.9 points per game and junior Katelyn Kuehl adds 10.2 per contest, underclassmen such as sophomore Ashley Neustifter and freshman Taylor Schmidt have helped the Titans improve on last season’s benchmark and move up to 12th in the Top 25 poll.
“The freshmen haven’t played like freshmen this year. We’ve thrown them into the fire right away. And regardless of our results, that was the plan. We were going to get them experience and we were going to learn on the fly,” Fischer said. “They’ve rewarded us and made us look smart by playing really well.”
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| Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com |
“I think they’ve handled themselves well,” Stecker agreed. “They’ve really stepped up and did a lot of big things for us this year.”
Stecker was a sophomore when UW-Oshkosh finished 7-18 overall in 2012, including a 1-15 mark in WIAC play.
“She was here for the lean years,” Fischer said. “I’m so happy for her that she’s got to experience these moments the last two years.”
The coach said Stecker has been forced into a leadership role, but has taken on the extra responsibility admirably.
“It’s kind of outside of her personality to be a vocal leader. She’s quiet. She’s a little bit reserved,” Fischer said. “But I’ve seen her grow up these last two years and take on that role. And really as the only senior, you don’t have a choice.
“The all really respect her. She’s worked extremely hard.”
Fischer said many of his young players came to Oshkosh with valuable experience. Many played in big games during their high school careers, including State championships. Still, he hoped those players would get an opportunity to gain experience in big games this season at the collegiate level.
He got his wish when the Titans finished second in the WIAC, won the conference tournament and knocked out 19th-ranked St. Mary’s and No. 5 Washington U. in the NCAA tourney.
“I feel like we’ve hardened ourselves a little bit early, and that experience going forward is going to be huge,” Fischer said.
“We just want to keep raising the ball,” Stecker said. “All this experience this year is just going to fuel them for years to come.”
The Titans have an opportunity to continue setting a standard for the program when they face conference rival UW-Whitewater in a Sweet 16 matchup at DePauw on Friday night.
The Warhawks swept the season series with the Titans.
“We know them and we know how they play,” Stecker said. “But the other thing is we get another chance at them.
“We talked about how we wanted to be our best by the end of the season,” she added. “I feel like we really are so much better than we were the first day of practice.”
The winner of Friday’s game will take on either host DePauw – the defending national champion that is ranked No. 3 nationally – or No. 9 Carthage in an Elite Eight matchup Saturday.
“Win or lose, it’s good for us – both as a coaching staff and as a program – to see what those teams do, how they carry themselves, and what kind of things you need to do to get to that level,” Fischer said. “Hopefully, we can get ourselves to that point. But right now, we’re trying to do in two years what a lot of these programs have been working eight, 10, 15 years to build. We’ve got a lot of lessons left to learn as a young group.”
Fischer acknowledged there are many programs competing for national championships each year. He hopes that his Titans are on the verge of joining those teams.
“To break into that group takes a ton of hard work and persistence,” Fischer said. “From a coaching staff standpoint, we’re obviously going to try to keep recruiting and build off of this. But a lot of time it comes down to your players.
“I’m hoping our players – regardless of how this turns out – use this as motivation to try and become one of those teams,” he continued. “I think they’re finding out how much fun the NCAA Tournament is.”