For any team to make a deep run in the postseason, the squad relies on talent, coaching and luck. In Monroe's case, team chemistry and heart were added to that list.
"This group of guys are just amazing," senior forward Cullen Sampson said.
That sentiment was heard throughout the boys basketball team's roster.
"We're a special team. We don't have a bunch of superstars - just a bunch of guys that know their roles and play Monroe basketball," fellow senior Zach Rast said of the Cheesemakers, who finished an improbable postseason run Saturday with a second-place finish in the Division 2 state tournament.
Many comparisons can be made from this year's state runner-up squad to that of the 2007 state championship team.
The 2007 squad had lost most of its starters and players from the year before. However, the team came together as a group of friends and played for each other - eventually leading to a state championship.
Then, in 2008, the Cheesemakers returned plenty of talent and players. Yet as luck would have it, Monroe lost in the semifinal game to eventual champion New Berlin Eisenhower.
Exit seniors.
On the 2008-09 squad, only a few players returned with experience. Mitch Tordoff had been a varsity performer since his freshman year. Mitch McArdle saw the floor throughout his junior year and Bryan Tordoff came off the bench as a freshman in 2008.
"We came in losing five of our top six guys," head coach Pat Murphy said. "Our guys came together and gelled. We were one of the best defensive teams we've had, regardless of size."
The team rallied around its togetherness, possibly reflecting the huddle chant Murphy has had his players say for years when breaking a huddle.
"Together!"
"No one expected us to be here," senior Jake Grinnell said of the state berth. "To have this (experience) my senior year ... I'm just so proud of how we came together as a team and got here."
The friendships have been well documented. Assistant coach Brian Bassett said he believed this year's team was the closest of any.
And when teams have great chemistry, it allows for other aspects of the game to come easier - like hard work.
"These six seniors mean so much," Murphy said. "I hope (this experience) teaches some of the younger kids what it takes to get here. Sometimes in Monroe we kind of take it for granted getting here so often, they don't realize what it takes."
Murphy said this year's squad worked as hard as any he's coached.
"The character of this team is to never quit. Even when you're down, you can always come back. All the guys are trying. That's how the program runs with all the hard work and simple stuff," said McArdle, one of those hard workers.
He knows all too well about hard work. As a child, he beat a cancerous tumor. As a senior leading the Cheesemakers, he played lockdown defense on the opponents' best player every game. That's a tall task for someone generously listed as 5-feet, 9-inches tall. Many of the players he guarded dwarfed him on the court - Derek Braucht, Bryan Gregory and Flavien Davis all were around nine inches taller than Monroe's Mighty Mouse.
Only Wisconsin Lutheran's Davis got the best of McArdle. Then again, Davis probably was the best player the Cheesemakers saw all season.
"Flavien's the real deal," Murphy said. "Davis is one of the best we've seen. To do what he do on McArdle...There's a reason he's going to play Division 1 somewhere in college."
The Cheesemakers, meanwhile, knew that in any game they could rely on Mitch Tordoff. Throughout the season, Tordoff put in 20, even 30 points, to lift the Cheesemakers to wins. Tordoff set five records and tied two others last weekend in one of the greatest individual performances in state tournament history.
Grinnell, too, saved his best game for his last after working his way through the ranks to start and contribute for his senior season - something Murphy likes to call "the Monroe way."
"He just busts his butt. He's always going against guys that are bigger, that can always jump a little higher, are always a little quicker than him. But that's what Monroe basketball is all about. Guys have to play with a great amount of heart, and Jake does that," Murphy said.
All in all, the work ethic, camaraderie, teamwork, determination and team chemistry allowed Monroe to earn its third straight trip to the Kohl Center.
Now that the experience is over, players will have memories, as well as a sense of pride. And for those coming back next season, possibly a sense of awareness of what can happen to a team that works together will push the leaders on the court to bring MHS back for a fourth straight trip.
If not, there always will be the memories.
"It was amazing going through all the fun times and the bad, and hard practices and learning lessons about life," Rast said.
"It's all you can ask for," Grinnell said.
"I will look back on this and say that this is one of the greatest things I will ever accomplish. I really appreciate what coach Murphy has done for our team and what the young guys and seniors have accomplished," Mitch Tordoff said.
"It's kind of sinking in already, but this whole tournament went by so fast. It's a lot of fun, but I'm so proud of what we accomplished this year," Sampson added.
- Adam Krebs is sports editor of The Monroe Times. He can be reached at sportseditor@
themonroetimes.com.
"This group of guys are just amazing," senior forward Cullen Sampson said.
That sentiment was heard throughout the boys basketball team's roster.
"We're a special team. We don't have a bunch of superstars - just a bunch of guys that know their roles and play Monroe basketball," fellow senior Zach Rast said of the Cheesemakers, who finished an improbable postseason run Saturday with a second-place finish in the Division 2 state tournament.
Many comparisons can be made from this year's state runner-up squad to that of the 2007 state championship team.
The 2007 squad had lost most of its starters and players from the year before. However, the team came together as a group of friends and played for each other - eventually leading to a state championship.
Then, in 2008, the Cheesemakers returned plenty of talent and players. Yet as luck would have it, Monroe lost in the semifinal game to eventual champion New Berlin Eisenhower.
Exit seniors.
On the 2008-09 squad, only a few players returned with experience. Mitch Tordoff had been a varsity performer since his freshman year. Mitch McArdle saw the floor throughout his junior year and Bryan Tordoff came off the bench as a freshman in 2008.
"We came in losing five of our top six guys," head coach Pat Murphy said. "Our guys came together and gelled. We were one of the best defensive teams we've had, regardless of size."
The team rallied around its togetherness, possibly reflecting the huddle chant Murphy has had his players say for years when breaking a huddle.
"Together!"
"No one expected us to be here," senior Jake Grinnell said of the state berth. "To have this (experience) my senior year ... I'm just so proud of how we came together as a team and got here."
The friendships have been well documented. Assistant coach Brian Bassett said he believed this year's team was the closest of any.
And when teams have great chemistry, it allows for other aspects of the game to come easier - like hard work.
"These six seniors mean so much," Murphy said. "I hope (this experience) teaches some of the younger kids what it takes to get here. Sometimes in Monroe we kind of take it for granted getting here so often, they don't realize what it takes."
Murphy said this year's squad worked as hard as any he's coached.
"The character of this team is to never quit. Even when you're down, you can always come back. All the guys are trying. That's how the program runs with all the hard work and simple stuff," said McArdle, one of those hard workers.
He knows all too well about hard work. As a child, he beat a cancerous tumor. As a senior leading the Cheesemakers, he played lockdown defense on the opponents' best player every game. That's a tall task for someone generously listed as 5-feet, 9-inches tall. Many of the players he guarded dwarfed him on the court - Derek Braucht, Bryan Gregory and Flavien Davis all were around nine inches taller than Monroe's Mighty Mouse.
Only Wisconsin Lutheran's Davis got the best of McArdle. Then again, Davis probably was the best player the Cheesemakers saw all season.
"Flavien's the real deal," Murphy said. "Davis is one of the best we've seen. To do what he do on McArdle...There's a reason he's going to play Division 1 somewhere in college."
The Cheesemakers, meanwhile, knew that in any game they could rely on Mitch Tordoff. Throughout the season, Tordoff put in 20, even 30 points, to lift the Cheesemakers to wins. Tordoff set five records and tied two others last weekend in one of the greatest individual performances in state tournament history.
Grinnell, too, saved his best game for his last after working his way through the ranks to start and contribute for his senior season - something Murphy likes to call "the Monroe way."
"He just busts his butt. He's always going against guys that are bigger, that can always jump a little higher, are always a little quicker than him. But that's what Monroe basketball is all about. Guys have to play with a great amount of heart, and Jake does that," Murphy said.
All in all, the work ethic, camaraderie, teamwork, determination and team chemistry allowed Monroe to earn its third straight trip to the Kohl Center.
Now that the experience is over, players will have memories, as well as a sense of pride. And for those coming back next season, possibly a sense of awareness of what can happen to a team that works together will push the leaders on the court to bring MHS back for a fourth straight trip.
If not, there always will be the memories.
"It was amazing going through all the fun times and the bad, and hard practices and learning lessons about life," Rast said.
"It's all you can ask for," Grinnell said.
"I will look back on this and say that this is one of the greatest things I will ever accomplish. I really appreciate what coach Murphy has done for our team and what the young guys and seniors have accomplished," Mitch Tordoff said.
"It's kind of sinking in already, but this whole tournament went by so fast. It's a lot of fun, but I'm so proud of what we accomplished this year," Sampson added.
- Adam Krebs is sports editor of The Monroe Times. He can be reached at sportseditor@
themonroetimes.com.
