Mike Shaw is a senior guard from Madison (Edgewood High School), who will blog his thoughts each week throughout the season.

Posted November 4, 2009

On October 30th, our team participated in our annual Blue and Orange Scrimmage where spectators are allowed to watch us play a full fledged 5 on 5 scrimmage. We haven't worked on much 5 on 5 stuff yet, so it was a good indicator of where we are at as a team. Coach Gard splits up the teams evenly so that the games stay competitive and each of us get to work with several different groups of players while we are on the floor. It was nice to see the new bleachers pulled out and to see a pretty good contigency of people. Hopefully we can get more at our home games this year and really pack the place. After 3 hard fought scrimmages, we were able to meet with our fans and families and sign autographs. I like to talk a lot so I am usually one of the last one's to head to the locker room and shower. Everyone on our team showered and headed towards the Ullsvik center where we have our Annual "Meet the Pioneers" night. It's a time for our Pioneer faithful to gather, eat food, and meet new players. We also announced the winner of our raffle prize of an expense free trip to Arizona with our team. That was a thrill. For me, it was my last "Meet the Pioneers" night and it may have been the best one.

The next morning, our gym was booked and Coach Gard gave us the opportunity to practice in Madison at the Nicholas Johnson Pavilion where the Badgers practice. We took full advantage of that opportunity and drove up to Madison and had one of the best practices of the year so far. We really got after it. Unfortunately Bo Ryan wasn't around, but it was a great opportunity to practice there. I saw a couple of Badger players too so that was exciting. Once practice ended, the team was tired and exhausted from the Blue Orange scrimmage and practice, but we are all excited because it was the first Halloween the team could go out and have a good time. The last three years, our coach strategically planned that we couldn't go out for Halloween and dress up. Finally, we were given the opportunity and our team had some ridiculous costumes. I was a banana, Eric Wall was the Joker from the Movie the Dark Knight, all my roommates were construction workers, and Brett Stangel and BJ Litz were a spoon and a fork. We had a great time and saw other ridiculous costumes other UWP students thought of. I saw two other bananas so I was not embarrassed to be one.

October 21, 2009

Hi, my name is Mike Shaw and I am a senior at UWP from Madison,WI. I am a business administration major with an emphasis in Human Resources. This year I will be doing another on-line blog, but it will be conducted through the University athletics website and not Inside Wisconsin Sports magazine, so tune in here if you ever want to read it.

We found out a few weeks into April of 2009 that Coach Combs would be leaving UWP for a Division II head coaching job at Wayne State in Wayne, NE after a 23-6 season and a second round NCAA tournament loss to Wheaton College. Everyone kept asking me, "who do you think is going to get the coaching job?" I would always have the same answer of saying "I don't know." After hearing the coaching candidates for the head coaching job here, I was impressed at the list of the top 5 candidates. Every single candidate had one hell of a resume'. After a long and interesting process to select the coach, the University chose Jeff Gard, someone who the University is already familiar with. After a long talk with my Dad that night we found out, I was very eager and excited to play for Coach Gard. After watching Coach Gard mainly coach our scout team my first three years here, I always wondered what he would be like as the man in charge. Now I get my chance to play for one more season. Also, once Coach Gard got the job, he hired two assistant coaches who have huge ties with this University and Bo Ryan. Brad Stangel was a member of two national championship teams here and Sharif Chambliss was part of Bo Ryan's 2004-05 Wisconsin team that played North Carolina in the Elite Eight. We have a young staff and our team is eager to learn as we prepare for the 2009-10 season.

Once September rolled around, I was ready to get back to school and get back into shape for the season. After our beginning of the year meeting at the student center on campus, I had a feeling that the preseason was not going to be a cake walk. Coach Gard had a strict schedule for us working out at 5:45 am twice a week, running the hill on mondays, lifting, swimming workouts twice a week, and several circuit training workouts throughout the first six weeks of the school year. It was amazing feeling when I ran my list hill of my life on October 12th! After going through tough workouts for four years now, this preseason flew by and practices just started on Sunday October 18th. I was excited to finally start practicing and get ready for our upcoming scrimmages and season.

Coach Gard really focuses on fundamentals and doing the little things right so that was our main focus the first week of practice. We worked on passing and catching and other simple drills like ball handling and 3 man weave. It's been a long time since I and my teammates have worked on simple drills like these. I think it is a great idea to stick to the basics at first because we have a lot of newcomers and young players. We also have 5 seniors, which is the most of any senior class in a long time here, so we get to learn from Coach Gard and teach as well.

Hopefully we can have a good contingency of people at our Blue and Orange Scrimmage on Friday October 30th at Williams Fieldhouse. Also, with the new gym renovations, my teammates and I hope that our fellow Pioneer Family and Friends make it to as many games as possible this season. I think we have a talented roster and a great cast of young players with a new coaching staff, which means hopefully we can have a successful season and continue our success at Williams Fieldhouse.

Also, our basketball team is selling raffle tickets for a expense paid trip to Arizona with our team over Christmas Break from Dec 27-Jan 3rd. Prices are $50 for one, $85 for two, and $125 for three. We are also selling long sleeve t-shirts for $15. Let any Pioneer basketball player know if your interested in buying a raffle ticket or a t-shirt.

Thanks,

Go Pioneers