Fischer, Tigers moving on from state title game defeat

MARSHFIELD – Nine months after suffering a two-point loss to Wisconsin Lutheran in the WIAA Div. 1 state championship game at the Kohl Center in Madison, the Marshfield Tigers boys’ basketball team has moved on.

“There’s been closure to that,” Head Coach Chris Fischer told Hub City Times on Dec. 10. “It was certainly a fantastic season of memories and we played really good basketball, and I think we showed people around the state what our program is capable of. It confirms what I thought was possible back in… I think probably our first conference championship in 2022. From that point on, it was our belief that our best, the best of Marshfield basketball, was good enough to win a state championship, and it confirmed those beliefs.

“In terms of a hangover from that defeat, this is a brand new team with new identities and new players,” Fischer added. “We’ve got a lot of guys on our team and on our roster this year that don’t have the experience of playing on that Kohl Center floor, so I don’t think there’s any hangover whatsoever.”

Any hangover from last season’s title game loss lies solely with Coach Fischer.

“It’s a game that I’ve thought about every day since it happened and I will think about it every day for the rest of my life,” Fischer told us. “And I’ve tried to talk myself into… the disappointment of that game will carry with me for as long as I live, and maybe beyond that. But I also tell myself about all of the good things that took place prior to that. There are so many things that have to go your way on top of playing really well. So, in terms of getting over that, we’re going to remember it for the rest of our lives, but we’ve got new challenges to tackle and a new team to build here.”

Building that new team starts with the three returning players who gave the Tigers considerable minutes during their run to the state championship game a season ago — Chris Pohl, Valin Ramberg and Cam Kolstad.

“In terms of our players, they’re really excited to kind of create their own story and their own path this year,” Fischer said. “We’ve got three guys, our three captains this year in Chris, Valin and Cam, that played major minutes in the state championship game and had major contributions. But at the same time, if they’re the same people and the same players that they were a year ago, they’re not going to be our captains. So, there’s a lot of growth that we’ve seen from those guys, and they’re going to continue to grow. We’re working on their leadership skills.”

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the Tigers is replacing a group of eight seniors that Fischer says “probably go down as the most successful group of graduating seniors that we’ve ever had in Marshfield basketball.

“I don’t want to use the term ‘replace’ because you’re not going to replace the skills of those guys,” Fischer continued. “You’re not going to duplicate the skills that Brooks (Hinson) had, that Landon (Lee) had. We’re now trying to usher in a new group of guys and fit them into their specific roles.

“In addition to the three guys I’ve already mentioned, we’ve got Ben Jordan, Vedder MacTaggart and Nick Hansen, three other seniors on our squad last year [who] didn’t get a lot of minutes, but now they’re stepping into new roles for them.

“Vedder MacTaggart’s a really good three-point shooter. Ben Jordan’s had really nice production off the bench with his athleticism, offensive rebounding skills, good athlete, he can defend. Nick Hansen brings toughness, [and] some ball-handling skills.

“We’ve got juniors in Will Ketterer and Trevyn Freis stepping into new roles. And then we’ve got three sophomores in Gavin Larsen, Levi Janssen and Derek Ongna. All of those guys bring something different to the table.

“Will’s got some size and the ability to knock down some shots. Trevyn’s got some toughness to him. He can defend. Levi Janssen — really good shooter and ball handler. Derek Ongna, Gavin Larsen — two guys who as freshmen last year made the state track tournament in Division 1. There’s great athleticism with both of those guys, but there’s also good basketball skill.  

“For me, I’m not excited about who we are right now. I’m really excited about what we could become,” Fischer said. “You’ve got to figure out who your players are and where they work best. Ideally we’d like to work through the post a lot more this year than we have in years past. With the team that we had last year, we had to space out some things so Brooks and Landon could operate. This year, we’re going to have to use each other a little bit more. We’re going to have to screen a little bit harder for each other to get open. We’re going to have to use Valin and Chris and Vetter and Ben, whoever, on the low block. So, we do have to adjust some things that we do offensively. And we’re going to have to guard a little bit differently. Maybe our foot quickness isn’t as high as it was last year.   

“Unique this year is we’re down to only six teams left in the Wisconsin Valley Conference, so we’ve only got ten conference games, so that means we’ve got to find fourteen non-conference games, so we’ve tried to challenge ourselves in our non-conference scheduling. We love playing quality programs that will challenge us at every level and we don’t mind traveling to do so.”

Marshfield’s non-conference schedule has already taken the Tigers to Appleton East, Hudson and Eau Claire North, with a home game versus La Crosse Central as well.

Still to come are trips to Waunakee (Waunakee Holiday Tournament), Eau Claire Memorial and Kaukauna, along with home games against River Falls, Neenah, Holmen, Brookfield Central and Chippewa Falls.