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Posted Jan. 16, 2009

Dudek in rare company

Stevens athletics Dani Dudek has six double-doubles to her credit this season and four career triple-doubles.

One of the best women’s basketball players in Division III stands only 5-foot-4, but has made a huge impact both on and off the basketball court.

“I don’t think it’s about height,” said Stevens senior point guard Dani Dudek. “It’s about heart. That’s what I pride myself on.“

Dudek enters the weekend averaging 16.3 points on 51 percent shooting. She’s also tallying 8.2 rebounds, 7.6 assists, and 2.7 steals per game, with a 2-to-1 assist/turnover ratio. Stevens is 10-2, 2-1 in Empire 8 play heading into a Friday night game at Alfred.

Dudek should be a candidate for the Jostens Award, one of the biggest honors in Division III, combining basketball, academic work and community service. Among other projects, this past summer, Dudek and her sorority sisters drove on their own to Pittsburgh to volunteer at the National Transplant Olympics. She has been selfless in her volunteer efforts and dynamic in her basketball endeavors.

“She’s our Jason Kidd, our Magic Johnson,” said Ducks head coach Jon Hochberg. He also noted that he’d begun calling her “Psycho D.” Hochberg said that reference came from watching how the look in her eyes was similar to that of the star of her favorite Division I team, Tyler Hansbrough at North Carolina, with respect to on-court intensity.

Hochberg noticed recently that Dudek was closing in on 600 career assists. He checked the 2009 NCAA Record Book and found that once Dudek notches 20 more assists, she’ll become the fourth female player in NCAA history with 1,000-plus points, 700-plus rebounds, and 600-plus assists. The other three are Division I legends Nancy Lieberman, Dawn Staley, and more recently, Georgia’s Kelly Miller. If Dudek can get to 700 assists, the list shortens to just her and Lieberman. Dudek already shares the NCAA Division III record for triple-doubles in a season (three, her junior year) and career (four).

Dudek had 17 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, and five steals in a win against Utica earlier this week, but Hochberg pointed out that kind of performance has become routine.

“I actually don’t pay any attention to my stats, at all,” Dudek said. “I actually had no clue the night that I scored my 1,000th point that I was close to 1,000. It would be an unbelievable accomplishment to be paired with those three players, but my teammates are the ones who helped me reach that goal. If it happens, that’s great, but we have other things to look forward to, and I’m not satisfied until I achieve them.”

The purpose this season is to get to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the 13-year history of the program. Stevens has gone 20-9, 21-7 and 25-6 the past three seasons, but has consistently been one of the last teams eliminated for a Pool C bid. Last season, Stevens was 15-1 in league play, but lost in the E8 finals to Utica, and was not invited to the NCAA postseason. The Ducks took an ECAC bid and won the Metro NY-NJ title.

Dudek has evolved from being a pass-first guard, who averaged eight points as a freshman, into one who can both pass and score. The post-up has been a recent addition to her game and one that has been a major offensive asset.

“She’s really unselfish, but she knows how to take over a game,” Hochberg said. “The tougher the challenge the more she stepped up. The eight rebounds per game, that‘s a tribute to her toughness.”

Dudek has been fortunate to be fully healthy throughout her collegiate career, perhaps payback for what she had to endure to get to this point. While in fifth grade, Dudek was diagnosed with post-strep juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, a rare illness that left her with significant pain in her joints. Gary Walco, the director of the David Center for Children’s Pain and Palliative Care at Hackensack Medical Center, taught Dudek self-hypnosis techniques to help her block out the pain, which had been prevalent even after the illness left her system.

“It’s not like the hypnosis you’d see on a stage, where the people are out of it,” Dudek said. “It’s a state of mind that you have to be in. I can be hypnotized now and no one would know it. It’s like a light switch. Mine was on. He taught me how to turn the switch off.”

Dudek also suffered a torn ACL as a high school junior. During rehab, she broke three knee braces and an insurance company wouldn’t pay for a fourth brace, since they’d never heard of an athlete having such difficulty. That inspired Dudek to become a biomedical engineering major at Stevens. She intends to work with prosthetics, but also to develop a design for a lighter, more efficient knee brace.

“I think there’s a better way,” Dudek said, “an easier design with the same purpose.”

As far as hobbies go, one of Dudek’s is watching basketball,  particularly NBA point guards in action to pick up certain skills for her game. Last season, that meant focusing on Suns guard Steve Nash, and noticing how he always maintained his dribble. This year, she’s focused more on the do-everything game of Hornets guard Chris Paul. The thing she’s learned most from them is how much energy they give every moment they’re on the court.

“This is my last year, and I never want to regret the time I’m on the floor,” Dudek said. We set goals before the season, and have a lot of team goals left to achieve. In the past, we’ve used youth as an excuse. This year, we’re kind of young, but we’re not going to use that as an excuse.”

RIVALRY RETURNS: It is a basketball game so big, no fancy name is needed to describe the contest. When the Knights and Flying Dutchmen meet, it is referred to as "The Rivalry."

The two teams have met 169 times with Hope leading the all-time series 86-83. They are only separated by 91 points, less than a point per game, on the series' all-time scoreboard.

However, for the first time in a while, the Flying Dutch are the less-experienced team. Hope has only three seniors on the roster this year, while Calvin has six players of senior status.

"It's something pretty special," said Calvin coach Kevin Vande Streek. "When I first came out here to Michigan, I got interviewed by somebody from the Detroit Free Press and he said, 'Do you know what this Calvin-Hope rivalry is all about?' I said, 'I've been a part of some pretty big rivalries in high school and college as a player. I'm sure it's pretty similar.'

"The fact of the matter is, it's not," he added. "We'd sell out wherever. A few years ago, we played at Van Andel Arena and sold 12,000 seats out of our box office before they went on sale at a Ticketmaster. It's year-round. I've had students that were in my Sunday school class that are over at Hope. This summer, I was at a wedding and one of our players had a Hope player stand up in his wedding. That kind of thing makes it 365 days a year."

"You never get away from it," said Glenn Van Wieren, Hope coach. "Those kind of rivalries you never get away from. There is great respect for people from both institutions and the people of Western Michigan. When the game is played, let the battle begin. When it's done, I move on with life and we're talking to each other."

In the first month of the season, the Flying Dutchmen lost four games. They are 10-4 overall and 3-0 against Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association competition and in the midst of a five-game winning streak.

Calvin, on a four-game winning streak of its own, is coming off a 26-point home victory against Alma. The Knights (7-5, 2-0 MIAA)  broke a four-game losing streak with a 91-65 win against Geneva on Dec. 29.

"It's taken a long time to figure out our personality, our rotation," Van Wieren said. "Our goal was to be better in December than we were in November and better in January. That very curve has held true. We now for the first time this year have started the same lineup for our last four games. We feel really good about our rotation."

"It was a little slower start recordwise than we were hoping for, maybe expecting with the number of upperclassmen that we have," Vande Streek said. "We tinkered with moving our all-conference point guard to play the two and that didn't work out as well as we were hoping. We've tried to solidify our rotation and moved Caleb [Veldhouse] back to the point. We've played some pretty good basketball, as Hope has. Hope really wasn't quite where they used to be, but it's because of all their graduation losses and new players."

Veldhouse leads the team with 13.8 points per game and has 25 assists. He averages 4.1 rebounds per game and has nine steals, third-most on the team. Calvin will be looking to Veldhouse not only for points and rebounds, but for leadership in a critical road game.

"The intensity, everybody gets really hyped up for this game," Veldhouse said. "At Division III, you don't get a lot of people always to come out and watch your games. We usually have 4,000-5,000 people come out and watch. It's just a lot of fun. When it comes down to it, when you get on the court, it's about playing hard and playing well. You can throw all that stuff out the window when you play Hope because they're going to be ready to play us and we're going to be ready to play them."

"Anytime you play in a big game, a big rivalry game, it only makes it better in things that could draw on, even if you don't play as well as you'd like," said Vande Streek. "You can draw on it the next time. We have a couple younger guys that are going to play supportive roles, so they can get a taste of it without having to be the go-to guy."

The Flying Dutchmen have a leader of their own, senior forward Jesse Reimink. He has led Hope in scoring in each of its 14 games and rebounds in ten others.

"Jesse is a great player," Veldhouse said. "One of his biggest attributes is his strength. He's a great rebounder. He's great around the hoop, but his game has all facets. He can step out and shoot it, he can go by you, he can post it up. It's going to take a consistent defensive effort. We can't focus on Jesse alone."

In addition to a victory, the players and coaches will battle for an edge in gaining attention from current prospects.

"Our guys know one of the reasons they come to Hope is to play in that rivalry," Van Wieren said. "When we play on Saturday, you're going to see every kid we're recruiting in the country at that basketball game. They soak that up and say, 'I want to be a part of this.' "

OHIO RIVALS TIP IT UP, TOO: While respect may be the buzzword surrounding Calvin and Hope, another Division III rivalry is predicated on competition.

Wittenberg (7-6, 4-1 North Coast Athletic Conference) and Wooster (9-5, 4-1) will break a three-way tie with Hiram atop the conference when they meet Saturday night in the Timken Gymnasium.

Since 1989, either Wittenberg or Wooster has won at least a share of the conference regular season championship. The last time the NCAC title went to another program came in 1993 when Allegheny split the crown with Wittenberg.

"The fact that the conference race most years has come down to Wittenberg and Wooster, when there's great competition like that, that's why there's a rivalry," said Wooster coach Steve Moore. "It's a battle between two schools like Ohio State and Michigan."

While more than 3,000 fans pack the Timken Gymnasium in Wooster for big games, nothing brings out the fans more than Wittenberg's annual trip to Wayne County. Even with most of the crowd against them, the Tigers have had their fair share of success, winning five of the last seven games at Wooster.

"I don't know that we can make it a difficult place for them to play because they play well home and away," Moore said. "All we can do is play well ourselves. We can't control them psychologically. All we can do is try and take away their effectiveness by playing well."

"I can't guarantee that it'll be any different," Brown said of the contest. "Our approach to it's no different. I don't think any of our coaches or players will be any less enthused by it. There's a chance, particularly this early in the conference race that fewer people will go from Springfield than if it was a tournament game."

The marquee names of Dan Russ and Dane Borchers from Wittenberg, as well as Wooster's James Cooper and Tom Port have come and gone, which gives an opportunity for younger players to step in and carve out their own place in the rivalry.

Both Wittenberg and Wooster bring one senior into the game, Kevin Murray for the Tigers and Marty Bidwell for the Fighting Scots.

Murray leads the Tigers with 14.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. He shoots the ball well from the field (67 of 147) and foul line (31 of 35). He has been Wittenberg's top scorer and rebounder in six games.

"There's no substitute for experience," said Brown. "We've found ourselves using a lot of clichés this year, but those clichés carry some real truth and meaning for sure. Playing Capital at Capital the first game of the year and some of these other games, Pacific Lutheran on their home court and Cedarville University on their home court, we do those kind of things so when you do get to conference play a little bit later in the year, maybe they've had the edge taken off through those other experiences.

"Kevin does a couple things very well," Brown added. "If we can find a way to get him free to do those things and he's got the jump shot working, he can really widen the defense out from our big guys. A place where he gets very little credit for is rebounding. Over the last seven or eight games, he's been averaging six rebounds a game."

Wooster's Bidwell averages 8.3 points and 4.1 rebounds a game, while having a 1.60 assist-to-turnover ratio.

"Both teams have a lot of new guys, but I think there are a couple players on each team that have been involved in the rivalry," Moore said. "Those guys will make sure the young players will know that it's very competitive. It'll still be a very competitive game."

"It'll be interesting to see which team has their younger guys step up and play," said Bidwell. "In the past, there's been established players who you knew were going to show up. You knew that was the guy you were going to have to stop. This year, we have a lot of young guys and not really one all-star player on the team. It's going to depend on which team shows up and is ready to play at the time. It'll be real interesting to see how that turns out."

With the match-up occurring early in the regular season, both teams want to walk away from the game with positives. Whether it is a victory or having an inexperienced player shine under the bright lights, Wittenberg and Wooster will use this game as a gauge for development.

"Every year, we're interested in improving," Brown said. "What in the Hades is practice for if you're not going to commit to it every day and work to get better individually and collectively. In our top eight players, we have four freshmen and two of those didn't get to us until after the football season and a little bit of time off. We've seen some improvement for sure, but we have a long way to go."

"Going into the Wittenberg game, they're probably the most intense practices that we have as a team, more on the players' side than the coaches," Bidwell said. "We know it's going to be a sold-out game. We know all of our buddies are coming. That's why you come to Wooster, to play Wittenberg.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity every time you get to play them," concluded Bidwell. "You only have four years of this and to be honest, this is the best atmosphere any of us have been a part of. When you step on the court and you're going up against Wittenberg and there's 3,500 fans in the stands, it's one of the most fun things anyone can do. To have a couple more opportunities to play them, I'm really looking forward to it and it really is a special thing."

DON'T CALL THEM ST. NORBERT'S: Who is St. Norbert?

To be exact, he was a man who was born in Cologne, Germany in the 11th century and in the 12th century established a religious order in France known as the Norbertine Order.

But this is a basketball website, so I am sure you already know that wasn't the answer I was going to answer. The St. Norbert men's basketball team is probably one of the surprises in the D3hoops.com Top 25.

So to actually answer the question, St. Norbert is located in De Pere, Wis., practically in the shadows of Lambeau Field, home of the NFL's Green Bay Packers. The athletics program participates in the Midwest Conference (except hockey, which is in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association) which has programs like Grinnell, Carroll, and Lawrence that usually grab the headlines and rankings in Division III. But things are changing, thanks to the work of coach Gary Grzesk.

So far this season, St. Norbert is 10-1 including a dramatic win over then-No. 1 UW-Platteville and a loss to Loras in the second game of the season. The team has already won more games than each of the last three seasons and just a couple wins away from having more wins in a season than in at least the past seven.

What is the reason for the turn around? Last Sunday on Hoopsville, coach Gary Grezsk explained it is all about goals and taking steps forward.

Grezsk is only in his third season at St. Norbert, but he says the players he already had on the roster his first season are a big reason for their success right now. Tom Katzfey, Mike Dowden, Ryan Finneke, and Brian Fleischmann have been an integral part of the turnaround for the Green Knights. Grezsk talked about how their sophomore year they went 9-14 and vowed to improve. Last season the goal was to qualify for the MWC Tournament and improving to 14-10 allowed the team to accomplish that goal. So this season the team wanted to take another step forward with the goal of winning the conference tournament. So far, they are on the right track.

What has helped is St. Norbert is a team that seems to be the definition of unselfish Don't believe me? Ask Grezsk. He describes his team as not having a "go-to-guy" and maybe not even an "all-conference type of player", but he has a number of different guys who can step up and have good games. No player is averaging more than 12.5 points a game and there are seven players averaging seven or more points this season. The key in Coach Grezsk's mind is that his players "don't take very many bad shots, they find the open man, and make the extra pass." Sounds unselfish to me.

The other reason for the early success, the Green Knights, who are 4-0 in the MWC so far, are winning the games they should be –at home. Three of the first four conference games have been at the Schuldes Sports Center and winning at home appears to be building confidence with this team. And that confidence certainly helped the Green Knights beat UW-Platteville when the Pioneers came to De Pere for a holiday tournament.

But things will get tougher as the season moves forward. After seven of the last eight games being played at home, this weekend starts a second half that will feature plenty of travel. Seven of the last 12 games are on the road starting with a trip to Knox on Friday, followed by a game on Saturday against The System at Grinnell.

Can St. Norbert keep up the early-season success that sees them ranked 17th in the latest poll? It will require the team to take another step forward: win some tough games on the road; not let any losses derail their success; and continue winning at home. Get that combination right and St. Norbert could become the next and maybe surprising Midwest Conference Champion and see them dance right into March.

That's who St. Norbert is.

Tune in to Hoopsville on Sundays during the basketball season, as Dave is joined by players, coaches, and regional reporters from around the nation.

If you have a tip or note, send it to atn@d3hoops.com.

2008-09 columns
Feb. 20: York (Pa.), no cliche
Feb. 13: St. Thomas writing history
Feb. 6: George Fox on hunt
Jan. 30: Brother, brother
Jan. 23: Growing a program
Jan. 16: Dudek's rare feat
Jan. 9: Ravin' about Anderson
Dec. 18: Chicago marooned at 0-9
Dec. 12: De Luca back on track
Dec. 4: Ithaca surprises
Nov. 21: Augie gets some delp
Nov. 13: Is repeat possible?

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