It’s safe to say Marcus Hall has earned the trust of Green Bay head coach Sundance Wicks.

The 6’6” freshman from Schofield has started each of the Phoenix two games this season and is a good bet to be in the starting lineup Tuesday night when Green Bay gets reacquainted with former Horizon League foe Valparaiso.

In addition to chipping in 7 points in the exhibition win over St. Norbert, 7 points in the loss to Iowa State in the season opener, and 5 points in the team’s latest game, a victory over non-Division I foe St. Francis Illinois, he has faced some tough defensive assignments due to Green Bay’s relative lack of size and is the team’s leading rebounder so far after two games.

“It’s hard to say this about a freshman but he’s already an everyday accountable dude,” Wicks told Brian Kuklinski on the Phoenix Sports Network pregame show prior to the St. Francis game. “He’s the same guy every single day, he’s like clockwork.”

“Those guys are rare – to find those consistent, accountable everyday dudes, you search three years in your program for those guys sometimes.  He’s got that maturity level about him right now as a freshman.”

Hall – who starred at DC Everest High School and was a finalist for Mr. Basketball in the state of Wisconsin last year – is one of 12 newcomers on the Green Bay roster this year including 6 true freshman. He committed to the Phoenix and then-head coach Will Ryan back in September of 2022, choosing Green Bay over offers from UW-Milwaukee, Purdue Fort Wayne, Towson, and Lehigh, amongst others. 

He chose to stay committed to the program despite the coaching change and it’s safe to say his decision has paid off so far for both the player and the program.

“He picks up things so fast, his feel is so good because he can take a moment and translate that,” Wicks said. “We only have to tell Marcus something one time.  If every coach could tell each kid on their team something one time and they pick it up, we wouldn’t have jobs. We’re here because it takes guys a multitude of times what it is that we need to learn.”

“So Marcus, he’s got that race to maturity down.  He’s wise beyond his years, he’s an old soul.”

“He’s a funny kid too. You spend some time with him, he’s got a real dry sense of humor. It’s pretty cool.”

An old foe returns to the schedule

Green Bay and Valparaiso will square off tonight for the first time since February 4th, 2017 – an 86-69 Phoenix victory at the Resch Center – which was the Beacons final season in the Horizon League.

In a series that dates back to the 1981/1982 season, Green Bay’s first season as a Division I program, the Phoenix lead the all-time series 30-25. The two programs have twice shared a conference, first as members of the AMCU (which later became the Mid-Continent Conference and then the Summit League) from 1982-1994 and then again in the Horizon League from 2007-2017.

Despite not playing each other for over 6 years, the past decade or so has seen some absolute classic games between these two schools with heartbreak on each side.

• The 2013 Horizon League semifinals at the ARC in Valparaiso saw the Beacons (then known as the Crusaders) win on a buzzer beater from Ryan Broekhoff, 70-69, to send Valpo the championship game. As the #1 seed, they hosted the tournament and would go on to defeat Wright State in the championship game to advance to the NCAA Tournament.

• Green Bay would suffer just two regular season losses in conference play in 2014, en route to a 14-2 conference record and a Horizon League regular season championship that was clinched with a 67-53 victory over Valpo at the Resch Center on February 20, 2014. Of course, one of those losses came to Valpo at the ARC, who would finish 9-7 in conference play and were not a factor in the conference tournament.

• The 2015 season saw Valpo finish as the regular season champions by a game over the Phoenix, with the Beacons finishing 13-3 to Green Bay’s 12-4. The two teams split the regular season series but would play a rubber match at the ARC in the conference tournament championship game as both of the top two seeds advanced out of the semifinals. Ultimately, it was Valpo that would again come out on top in the conference tournament in a 54-44 rock fight. Green Bay led by 6 at the half but were outscored 35-19 in the second half and would go the final 4:19 of the game without a field goal.
  • The Phoenix did earn an at-large bid to the NIT that season, but it ended in a first round loss at Illinois State and marked the end of the Brian Wardle and Keifer Sykes era at Green Bay
  • The championship game was also the final one hosted by the #1 seed as the Horizon League moved to a neutral site tournament in Detroit the following season.

• In 2016, Green Bay was able to exorcise some demons and take some revenge by knocking off the #1 seed and heavily favored Valpo squad in the conference tournament semifinals. Valpo cruised through the Horizon League regular season that year finishing 16-2 and 26-5 overall entering the tournament. The #4 seed Phoenix knocked off Cleveland State in the first round and UW-Milwaukee in the second round setting the stage for Green Bay’s improbable 99-92 overtime victory in the semifinals. Valpo would be snubbed from an NCAA at-large bid and would make it all the way to the NIT championship game, losing to George Washington at Madison Square Garden. The Phoenix, meanwhile, playing their fourth game in four days, knocked off Wright State in the Horizon League Tournament championship game to clinch their first NCAA Tournament bid since 1996.

Since then, it is hard to believe how far each program has fallen since the heights of that 2012-2016 era. Both teams have been on a downward trajectory in recent years – other than an improbable run to the MVC Championship game in 2020 as the #7 seed, Valparaiso has not been able to return to its winning ways in the Missouri Valley Conference that it had been accustomed to in the Horizon League. Green Bay, meanwhile, looks to get back on track after finishing the past two seasons as one of the worst programs in all of Division I.

With both teams firing their head coaches last season, it will be interesting to see where the programs go from here. Unfortunately, Tuesday’s game against Valparaiso is not the start of a home-and-home series but rather a buy game with the Phoenix reportedly earning around $70,000 to face the Beacons at the ARC.

It will be a tough hill to climb as Green Bay has lost 8 straight games against Valpo at the ARC with the last victory coming on January 23rd, 2011.

Overall, the Phoenix have not won a non-conference road game since beating Northern Illinois on December 21, 2019 – the final season of the Linc Darner era.