Platteville, Wis.- The 1990-91 University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team accomplished something no other athletic team ever did before at UW-Platteville.  Thirty years ago, the Pioneers defeated Franklin & Marshall in the national championship game to claim the first of four national titles in the 1990s.

The 1990-91 team was a high scoring team that would pressure the opposing team from the time they got off the bus to the time the final horn blew.  Bo Ryan was in his seventh year as the head coach and steadily built the Pioneers into one of the top teams in the country and the Wisconsin State University Conference, now known as the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The 1990-91 Pioneer team still holds five WIAC team season records and is second in three others.   The Pioneers scored the most points in a season (3,020), average point total (97.4), made field goals (1,150), free throws attempted (879) and steals (489).  They are second in field goals attempted (2,236), free throws made (607) and assists (638).

The 1990-91 team was coming in with high expectations after winning the conference the year before and returning a majority of the team.  Then Athletic Director and Head Football Coach George Chryst made the decision to leave the NAIA as a national organization and join the NCAA exclusively.

Head Coach Bo Ryan, players Sean Poole, Shawn Frison, Rob Jeter, T.J. Van Wie, Delano Brazil, Tim Decorah, Brian Gilmore, and managers Tim Dennim and Bruce Bidwell joined letsgopioneers.com on Zoom for a 30-year reunion. They shared their thoughts on their experience and run to history.

Expectations coming into season:

Shawn Poole:  Coach Ryan always gave us a questionnaire at the beginning of the year, and I had put down as a goal "win the national title." I remember sitting in Coach Ryan's office and he said "that is some big thinking; how about we just win conference first?"  I know we had high expectations and great expectations of ourselves throughout the whole year.

T.J. Van Wie: After the success we had the previous year winning the conference, and having a majority of the team coming back, my expectations were similar to Poole – to win a national championship.  Our first goal is always to win the conference, but I think we knew we were going to be pretty good and have a good chance to go a long way in the tournament.

Delano Brazil: We always had end of the year meetings with Coach Ryan, and that was our goal – to win the national title. We had lost to UW-Eau Claire in the NAIA district championship to go to Kansas City the previous year and it left a bitter taste in our mouth.  Shawn wouldn't leave the gym.  I think from day one when we came back, that was the whole goal, and we knew we had something special.

Rob Jeter: More than anything, we wanted to win.  Everything we did was all about trying to be the best and trying to be competitive and successful. It really was that simple; whoever was fist on the schedule, we tried to beat them and then the next one, and the next one, so that was our approach.

Shawn Frison: The pick-up games when we arrived as freshmen set the tone as well.  We wanted playing time. We wanted to get on the court. We didn't give respect to the older guys. We were trying to take their position.  They were so competitive, and we realized that we could play with them. It lit the fire that we could do some things.

Coach Bo Ryan:  Shawn Frison and I have talked about some other things over the years. Shawn coming back when he had the opportunity to go to a Division II or an NAIA scholarship school, made a big difference with the team.  Once he made the decision and came in and looked me in the eye and told me, "I am going to prove that you are wrong about me."  I said, "Shawn you are welcomed back, let's go get it done."  Shawn coming back and having T.J., the most confident point guard I have coached in my 40 years of coaching.  T.J. was one of the most competent people I have ever been around.  Our first recruiting class here, Steve Showalter, Deandre Woods, Rock Ripley and Joe Theisen laid the groundwork here and won our first conference title in 1988.  Most of this team were freshmen that year.  The leadership the guys learned from that team laid the groundwork for what was to come.

Recruiting the members of the 1990-91 team:

Ryan: Todd Kuckkahn did a heck of a job recruiting and presenting UW-Platteville to our recruits.  I told Todd to get down to Chicago and find me smart guys who competed.  Todd did a heck of a job of laying the groundwork and allowing me to put the final nail in.

Jeter: I came up for a visit and I ran into somebody, and I asked him where can I find Coach Ryan.  The guy replied, "Did he do something bad to you or owe you money?"  I am looking at this guy, like "who is this man?"  I didn't know it was Coach Ryan.

Frison: For me it was a little different, coming from the inner city, there weren't a lot of opportunities.  As I reflect on my life, I am 51 about to be 52.  Coach Ryan and his staff coming down to Chicago to give me a chance to come to UW-Platteville.  It was probably the only time anybody has ever given me anything in my life. If it wasn't UW-Platteville I don't know what I was going to do; opportunities were limited.  I was just coming off knee surgery and remember coach coming down and wanting me, wanting me to represent UW-Platteville.

Brian Gilmore: I remember being up at North Dakota State as a freshman. I took the train home over break and went to watch UW-Platteville play UW-Whitewater.  After the game, I was talking to a friend. I said, "These guys are pretty tough."  He said, "They are and Bo has a good thing going on down here. You should come back."  So, I did.

Brazil: I would have never come to UW-Platteville if it weren't for my mom.  We went on a visit and she fall in love with Coach Ryan. She said you need to go to school there, Coach Ryan is going to take care of you and look after you.

Memories and thoughts on regular season:

Ryan: We go out to Hawaii over the holiday break and we have a team activity on a day off to go snorkeling in the ocean.  We have a player that refuses to go, tells me he doesn't like water.  It is a team activity, so I told him, he has to go.  So, we go down to the beach and guys are out there in the water and Frison is sitting on a bench and won't go near the water. A little later, I see Shawn walking a little closer, gets a foot in the water and goes a little deeper.  Short time later he picks up a pair of goggles and looks into the water. Five minutes later he is completely in the water.  The time comes to leave, we get on the bus, we count the guys, wait a minute, where's Frison?  Frison is still in the water and didn't want to leave.  I had to go down and drag Frison out of the water.  He falls in love with the water, didn't you Shawn?

Frison: I did.  A lot of people don't talk about it, but you came down to Chicago and gave me and others an opportunity to continue to get an education and play basketball.  I am from a single parent family in the inner city, we didn't get exposed to a lot.  We didn't get to travel a lot, so to get the opportunity in college to go to Hawaii and see water that wasn't filled with dead fish; it was a life-changing moment for me to see more out of life.  You exposed us to that and it is much appreciated.  I think about that trip all the time.

Jeter: There were eight seniors on the 1988 team. They were just tough; some of the stuff they would do, we didn't see some of that stuff in Chicago.  I can remember looking back at my notebook with the words "jump to the ball."  What the heck was that?  In Chicago, it was guard your man and don't let your guy score, not the other guys too. They showed us the way. I wouldn't say humbled us, but they made sure we knew the order and how things were done in Platteville.

Gilmore: We would come in the gym on Saturday morning and Coach Ryan would say, "There is nothing better than the smell of leather on a Saturday morning."

Jeter: And get on the line. There was a time out with two minutes left in the first half of the Mount Saint Claire game, Coach Ryan looks at us with that look of "I know what you guys are thinking, we are not going to score 100 points in the first half."  We were looking at him with the look, that is exactly what we are trying to do.

(The Pioneers scored 92 points in the first half vs. Mt. St. Clare)

Brazil: At halftime of that game, (Steve) Showalter came in, and was like "If coach asks what the score is, it's 0-0!" 

Ryan: I would always ask the team what the score was at halftime and they were to say 0-0. Poole failed that test a few times.  I got the coaching staff outside the locker room, they asked me, "What are you going to tell the team?"  All I did was bust in the locker room and said "don't anybody get hurt," and walked out.  I was still asking that question when I was at Wisconsin.

Frison: We had a team that was so focused. We wanted to annihilate teams.  People don't realize the competition we had in practice every day; it was intense.  Most of the games I played in were not as intense as the practices. The intensity and focus to detail – coach demanded it every practice. The games were a breeze after that.  Teams weren't ready for our pressure, for that constant pressure the whole game.  You could see the light dim in people's eyes over the course of the game, where you could see them just give up.  They would take a deep sigh and look at the scoreboard and they would just give up.

Brazil: I remember after playing UW-River Falls our senior year and their head coach telling us, "I am glad you guys are leaving."

Frison: Hey coach, where did you come up with the hill?

Ryan: I went to the track coach at Wisconsin when I was an assistant and asked him what the Russians were doing.  Our guys got a lot of shin splints from the track and I had to find a hill.  A natural upgrade and soft surface was what I was looking for.  It was what the Russians were doing.  When I found it, I thought it was perfect, and I did run it.  The hills that followed at UW-Milwaukee and Wisconsin can't touch what the UW-Platteville teams ran.  The elevation was much tougher.  You all did a heck of a job on the hill and we knew you were ready for anything after finishing that.

On community support:

Frison: I remember my junior year; it was standing room only at games.  I mean it was an electric environment.  It wasn't like that when we got there, it was cultivated.   By the time it ended, people were coming from all over.  I went to the Shoe Box (in Black Earth, Wisconsin) after college, and the owner had photos and news clipping of our team.  It surprised me to see that. 

Poole: I think the tradition of throwing confetti on the first basket started when we were there. We used to pack that place. I believe we led the whole nation in attendance for Division III; it was unbelievable.

The NCAA Tournament Run

Jeter: This was our first year as an NCAA member and first time in the NCAA playoffs, so we didn't know anything about it.

Brazil: I just remember that Illinois Benedictine rented out our student center because they thought they were going to beat us and have a party after.

(Pioneers won 101-65)

Ryan: The irony of the whole thing, we get to the championship team to face Franklin & Marshall.  Their head coach was Glen Robinson and we grew up eight miles from each other.  We told some fun stories about Chester, Pennsylvania.  Franklin & Marshall could play, they didn't turn the ball over a lot, we didn't turn them over like we did a lot of teams.

Tom Demmin: What I recall from the championship game, just before the game, was "this was it."  For the seniors, this is what four years was coming down to and after we won being with massive humanity on the court. I am not sure it was a sense of relief or a sense of accomplishment.  For most of us, that was going to be it for college athletics or competitive athletics. It just felt like a huge weight off our shoulders in a good way.

Bruce Birdsell: It was just a great team with players that fit together.  I took my kids and wife to the gym and showed them the photo telling them I was there.  Telling them it was the first championship won, reflecting back and saying man, that's just something that you can be really proud of and say that was a great moment.

Demmin: When I think back now with 30 years passed, I think of the fun moments. The experiences that we had not just winning a national title, but the day-to-day practices, the road trips, going to Hawaii and the stories to tell about it. 

Ryan: I still run into people and they talk about the way this team played. I can't tell you how many times I heard, man those guys from UW-Platteville played together, they played as one, they shared the ball, team defense and all those things.  That is what impressed people.

Tim Decorah: These guys are like family to me.  In the beginning we were probably at each other throats trying to get playing time, but the last couple years, these guys were family.  Wherever Rob has coached, I call him up and get the royal tour of the school.  Everyone on that team from coaches, players and managers, we were family. Basketball was a small portion.

Van Wie: I felt like the younger sibling with this group as an underclassman.  These guys were brothers I looked up to.  I would get out of line at times and they would put me back in my place, and let me know I have a few more years of watching and learning the tricks of the trade.

Brazil: So many great people and the experience I had.  I tell my AAU team, there is nothing like a college basketball experience, no matter the level.  You are going to travel and do this, and  get a good education.

Gilmore: I am super proud of being a part of the whole UW-Platteville system and seeing all that has gone on after graduation. 

Brazil: It is timeless. I was at Adidas championships with my AAU team, and I hear from behind me, "That is that UW-Platteville stuff." I turn around and it is Coach Greg Gard.  I run the same offense, the same defensive principles, everything.

Frison: I had a chip on my shoulder and may have been a bit of a jerk and rebel against coach. Reflecting on it, I am so happy for the opportunity coach gave us; the opportunity to meet these guys and build a brotherhood.  It was the best time of my life. I got the chance to live out the dream of playing college basketball and win a national championship.  Being able to play with these guys and do some things that people really don't understand.  The way I look at basketball and just life – my life was adjusted by going to UW-Platteville, it put me on the positive path. It gave me an opportunity to break the cycle.  Nobody in my family went to college. I was the first to go and then to finish.  It was because of the tone and expectations set by Coach Ryan.  I saw Robbie going to class, saw Del going to class, I saw guys going on the honor roll and it made me want to compete and stay close to them.  It was a great experience. It changed my life, it made me a better person, a better father, a better businessman and better person just by going to UW-Platteville.

Ryan: I know a lot of you are giving back, and when you do you will always represent UW-Platteville, your teammates and your family.

Jeter: Coach always said, "You are only as good as your last game."  Guess what, we won that last game.

Ryan: Always remember the experience of 1991. I know I will never forget it.

 

1990-91 Roster:

Final Record 28-3

 

No.	Name	Pos	Year	Hometown (HS/Transfer)
10	T.J. Van Wie	G	So.	Wisconsin Dells, Wis.
12	Carlton Jeter	G	Jr.	Chicago, Ill. (Quigley South)
20	Tim Decorah	G	Sr.	Wisconsin Dells, Wis.
22	Robby Jeter	F	Sr.	Chicago, Ill. (Quigley South)
24	Pat Murphy	G/F	So.	Mineral Point, Wis.
30	Shawn Frison	G/F	Sr.	Chicago, Ill. (Leo)
32	Mike Jones	G	Sr.	Evanston, Ill.
34	Brian Zetting	F	So.	Milwaukee, Wis. (W.B. Dominican)
40	Bill Morgan	C	So.	Hazel Green, Wis. (Southwestern)
42	Delano Brazil	F	Sr.	Chicago, Ill. (Brother Rice)
44	Sean Poole	F/C	Sr.	Hartford, Wis.
50	Pete Lupori	F/C	So.	Round Lake, Ill. (Grayslake)
52	Brian Gilmore	C	Jr.	Hartland, Wis. (Arrowhead)
54	Mark Macomber	C	Jr.	Pearl City, Ill. (Western Illinois U.)

 

Head Coach: Bo Ryan

Assistants: Todd Landrum, Jon Nedelcoff, Greg Quam, Dan Burreson, Bob Petrowitz

Managers: Tom Demmin, Bruce Birdsell

Student Trainer: Dennis Fry