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Salem

About the 2004 Division III
men's basketball tournament

Father-son Pointers

By Mark Simon
D3hoops.com

“He didn’t think I was hustling back on defense enough,” Nick said, remembering the moment with a laugh. “We all got a kick out of this 52-year-old, out of shape man running downcourt, showing us how it should be done.”

The Bennetts can give it and take it, and they love doing it. That’s basketball to them, a sport with which the family name has been synonymous in Wisconsin for nearly 30 years. Nick, a 6-5 junior forward is doing his part to carry on the family name, with the precedent set by his uncles, aunt, father and brother. He scored a combined 62 points in the sectional wins over Puget Sound and Lawrence, became the sixth Pointers player (men’s and women’s combined) to clear 1,000 career points this season, hit the tying 3-point shot near the end of regulation to send the sectional championship into overtime, and got the assist on Eric Maus’ winning basket in the final seconds of the extra session that sent the Pointers to the Final Four this weekend.

“Those just happened to be my nights,” said Nick Bennett, who ranks second on the team in scoring behind Jason Kalsow at 13.5 points per game. “I’m so happy just to be able to do what can help us win. If I have to pass, get a rebound or make a defensive stop, I don’t mind.”

That’s the philosophy of Bennett-ball. The family’s way of playing is well known throughout the state, both at the collegiate and high school level. The systems taught by Dick Bennett, now the head coach at Washington State after a very successful tenure at Wisconsin, his son Tony (an assistant at Washington State), sister Kathi (a former head coach at UW-Oshkosh and now the head women’s coach at Indiana), and brother Jack are heavily reliant on fundamentals (team’s practice passing and catching every day), motion offense, and help defense.

Sometimes the phrase is used in a negative manner to speak of what some perceive as a boring style. Those that buy into the primary principles of Bennett ball, like the current Pointers team are true believers. The Pointers turn the ball over fewer than 10 times per game (seven of the top eight scorers have a positive assist/turnover ratio) and allow only 58.8 ppg. It’s a style that that the team has been able to follow in the toughest environments, like in front of 3,200 Cameron-Crazy-like fans at Gustavus Adolphus in the second round of the NCAAs.

The Bennett philosophy is also built around the following mantras. Cherish every possession. Play under control. The thing of which Jack Bennett is most proud is that it has stood the test of time.

“We don’t control our own destiny,” said Jack Bennett, whose team has made the NCAA Tournament four times in his eight seasons. “We control our effort, execution, toughness and unselfishness. We control the things that affect our destiny.”

Nick has probably heard that phrase a million times. He’ll hear it a million more before his career is done. Jack Bennett is very good at getting his point across. The message resonates with the two sons that played for him — Nick and his older brother Jay.

“He’s extremely intense,” Nick Bennett said. “Basketball is always on his mind. It rubs off on you. You want to win for someone like that.”

Nick and Jack have a unique relationship. The fans at Puget Sound might have noticed the two going almost nose-to-nose after an official warned Nick not to egg on those in the home crowd that were taunting him. The shouting looked more heated then it actually was, as each knows how far they can go with the other. Nick can poke fun at his dad’s intensity. Jack (and even his wife, Nick’s mom Sue) can tweak Nick about his rope-skipping running style. Jack also likes to make sure Nick plays with a little bit of an edge. Nick will let Jack know if he thinks he’s going too far.

“That just shows how intense they both are,” said Pointers junior reserve Kyle Gruscyzynski, who also played for Dick Bennett at Wisconsin before transferring to UWSP.

“Intensity can be both a blessing and a curse,” Jack Bennett said, acknowledging his brother Dick’s need to take a few years off from coaching due to burnout. “I wish I could sit there on the bench and cross my legs, but that’s not me. The coaches I admire elicit great intensity from their players. They do it the way it comes natural.”

Jack says that outside of his wife, no one has a better understanding of his emotional ups and downs then Nick does. He’s proud his son was able to come through in a big spot and Nick is glad that he’s able to do so for his father’s team.

“Playing for my dad is a lot of fun,” Nick Bennett said. “Like with every coach and dad, you have your up times, and your down times, but you know that you’re doing something that you both love.”

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