DE PERE (NBC 26) — Two years removed from an undefeated state championship, the De Pere boys basketball team is eyeing another run this March.
Another basketball season, another dominant De Pere team. Head Coach Brian Winchester truly believes this year's group is special.
"They're a group of highly competitive players," Winchester said. "They've all had very good basketball experiences. They love to play. They love practices. They love games. They also get competitive with each other."
Senior Pryce Gregoire said this team's chemistry is unlike anything he's experienced before.
"We are like a family," Gregoire said. "These are all my brothers. We've grown up together and played together. Since we were young, we've been going at it."
Their chemistry has translated to the court. De Pere has lost only three games in the last three years.
"When teams come to play us, it's their Super Bowl, and they're trying to take us down," senior Zach Kinziger said. "I think that speaks to our recent success and our success this year. It's the biggest compliment that you can get when teams always want to beat you."
No. 1 ranked Wisconsin Lutheran is the only team that has found a way to beat De Pere this season. That loss brought a sense of urgency to the No. 2 ranked Redbirds about what needed to be corrected.
"Once in a while, we need that just to let us know and keep us in check," Gregoire said. "So we know we're not going to let that happen again. We're just going to keep going."
Since that loss, De Pere has won six straight games, including a thrilling one-point victory over Ashwaubenon last Friday which garnered quite a bit of attention locally.
"We've had a few games in the past year where there's been a lot of people there, but there was nothing like that," Gregoire said. "I mean, there was more media there than I've ever seen."
While most scouting reports focus on Wisconsin basketball commit Zach Kinziger, the No. 3-ranked player in the state, the Redbirds have three players averaging double figures. They say any player can have a big night.
"It's not just me," Kinziger said. "We have five guys on the court at all times that can score, shoot it, pass it. So we have a lot of depth, and I think that can help us propel in the playoffs for sure."
Winchester knows he has talented players, but it's the work his team puts in and their love of basketball that separates them from every other team.
"Some people look at Zach, who is going to Wisconsin, and Pryce, who is going to Northern Michigan, and Roan (Demovsky), who is going to UW-Eau Claire, and we've got other college players on our team," Winchester said.
"But it's not just the talent," he added. "It's all the time that's been put in during the summer. It's what's going on in practice every day. It's how hard they work. It's how they approach every single minute of basketball to get the most out of it. That's what makes them good, on top of the fact that they're very talented players."
De Pere's next game is Friday at Pulaski.
