I had a chance to take a look at the Stevens Point High School basketball team on Friday night as they took apart the Wausau East Lumberjacks 66-46. SPASH is led by two freshman, Trevor Anderson and Sam Hauser. And when I say led that's exactly what I mean. It isnt often when you see a high school freshman who is both talented and confident enough to control the action on the court. Anderson is one of those special players who don't come along very often. East coach Jason Teske compared him to Ben Fischer who starred for the Lumberjacks back in the mid 2000's. Fischer was one of the best high school hoops players ever to come out of this area and I can see the comparision. But even Fischer needed time to develop the confidence to take over a game. He deferred to his elders early in his career much to the chagrin of Coach Teske who wanted him to shoot more. Anderson scored 23 in the Panther win the other night on 6-7 shooting and 9-9 from the line and controlled the tempo of the game. You could just tell he knew where everybody was supposed to be in that offense...which as the coaches son he has probably soaked up for years. Hauser is the other frosh and is already 6'4 and will probably grow some more. The thing is unlike many young players who's coordination hasnt caught up to their growth...Hauser is pretty smooth out there and has a nice outside touch on his shot as well. Valley coaches are probably gnashing their teeth that they will have to face these guys the next four years. I don't know if Stevens Point is a state tournament team at this point but they are 6-0 to start the season and looked really solid on Friday night. You should check them out when they play up here in the coming months.

The Packers control their own destiny now as they beat the Lions last night while the Bears were losing to the Vikings. The mercurial Jay Cutler had another one of those maddening games even as he was taking another beating out there. It's not outside the realm of possibility that we could see another Packer-NYG NFC championship game...which would be a doozy. There is no reason why Green Bay cant win their remaining three games...especially as they get guys like Matthews back from injury.

The Bucks got a nice road win last night...beating Brooklyn 97-88. Brandon Jennings stuffed the stat sheet with 26 points, 7 assists, six rebounds and five steals. Monta Ellis also warmed up with 24...and veteran Marquis Daniels, who has been starting, added 13 points and seven rebounds. He has been an excellent low cost pickup who has stepped in and played well. The Bucks are back above .500 at 10-9 and host the lowly Sacramento Kings on Wednesday.

Songs Of The Day  (from my I-pod)

Let's Give This Love A Try-John Hiatt (2008) From the LP Same Old Man. Hiatt is a master of making his lyrics sound conversational and deep at the same time.

Let's Go-The Cars (1979) Benjamin Orr takes lead vocals on this big hit for the Boston based band. They were as hot as anyone during the so-called "power pop" years of the late 70's & early 80's