October may seem a ways away yet, but you know college basketball isn’t too far away when you step up to the tee box at Green Bay mens basketball’s annual Swing and Swish golf outing.

This year’s event took place Monday at Wander Springs golf course in Greenleaf with plenty of Phoenix boosters taking advantage of the facility’s 27-holes of golf and gorgeous weather.

The outing serves as one of the program’s largest fundraisers with tens of thousands of dollars being raised to help support the program.  The event included 18-holes of golf, lunch on the course, a silent auction, and dinner which also included a live auction. 

UW-Green Bay chancellor Michael Alexander, athletic director Josh Moon, and head coach Doug Gottlieb addressed the field before groups left to tee off.  Gottlieb also hosted his Fox Sports Radio show from inside the Wander Springs clubhouse before leading the dinner program and live auction.

Here are a few takeaways from what was an incredibly fun day on the golf course:

Two of the players that would no doubt be included on the Mount Rushmore of Green Bay Phoenix mens basketball were in attendance – Jeff Nordgaard and Keifer Sykes.  And while Nordgaard’s jersey has already been retired by the program and proudly hangs in the rafters, Gottlieb announced that Sykes will have his jersey retired by the program this season too.

Sykes was a three-time First Team All-Horizon League player and a two-time Horizon League Player of the Year during his collegiate career from 2011-2015.  He helped lead Green Bay to its first regular season championship in 18 years and currently sits second on the program’s all-time scoring list with 2,096 points, trailing only the great Tony Bennett who scored 2,285 points in his illustrious collegiate career.  

Sykes also finished his Phoenix career ranked first in program history in free throws made (557), third in assists (526), fourth in field goals made (708), and seventh in steals (155).  He was one of ten players named to the Horizon League’s All-Decade team in 2020.

Sykes has had a ten year professional basketball career spanning the globe, playing in South Korea, Turkey, Italy, China, Greece, and Australia as well as the NBA G League.

His pro career has also included a memorable run in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers during the 2021-2022 season where he averaged 5.6 points and 1.9 assists in 32 regular season games, including making 11 starts. 

Sykes played for Legia Warszawa in Poland this past season, helping the team to its first Polish Championship in 56 years.  He scored a game-high 23 points in the team’s series-clinching game three of the semifinals before chipping in 4.3 points and 1.8 assists in 13.3 minutes per game during the best-of-seven championship series. 

In addition to continuing his playing career, Gottlieb announced that Sykes will serve as the program’s first general manager this season, following a trend of other high profile current players – such as Steph Curry, Trae Young, and Terance Mann – serving as GMs at their alma mater. 

Sykes mentioned in a Press Gazette article last summer that he wants to be a general manager or president of operations in the NBA once his playing days are over, even attending the Crossover Into Business program at Harvard to help prepare for life after being a professional player.

Now he’ll get the opportunity to stick his toes in the water as the GM at Green Bay.  And while what specific role he will have with the program wasn’t officially announced, he is likely to contribute on the recruiting and fundraising side, given his larger than life standing still to this day with fans and alumni.

It also wasn’t officially announced what date Sykes jersey will be retired, though it is highly likely it could occur when Brian Wardle and his Bradley Braves come to take on the Phoenix during an exhibition game at the Kress Center on October 11^th. 

It would make sense to choose that game given it was Wardle who brought Sykes to Green Bay and coached him for four seasons, helping guide the program to its best seasons in nearly two decades with a regular season championship and two NIT bids. 

It will be the first time Wardle has coached in Green Bay on the opposing sideline.  He coached the Phoenix as an assistant from 2005-2010 and took over as head coach from 2010-2015 before leaving to take over the Braves in his home state of Illinois.  He compiled a 95-65 record leading the Phoenix and is still the program’s third winningest coach by win percentage (0.594) behind only Dave Buss (0.727) and Dick Bennett (0.632). 

There will also be plenty of Wisconsin flavor on the Bradley sideline with Demarion Burch (Milwaukee), Alex Huibregtse (Grafton), and Jaquan Johnson (Milwaukee) all on the Braves roster this season. 

Other game dates “leaked” during the golf outing were the return game with UC-Santa Barba, which will take place in Green Bay on December 17^th, and conference game dates including a home date with Robert Morris on December 3, a road game at IU-Indianapolis on December 11, and the rivalry road date at Milwaukee on February 14^th.  (Apologies if these dates are slightly off, the Water Hazards were flowing on Monday). 

Andy Ground, the program’s new “Assistant to the Head Coach” per Jon Rothstein, was in attendance, as was Wauwatosa East and Louisville alum Jerry Smith, who Gottlieb announced was being promoted to a full time assistant from his previous role as Director of Player Development.  No word on if the program plans to fill the full time assistant role that opened with Jordan McCabe’s recent departure to take an assistant job at Grand Canyon or fill the Player Development role now open due to Smith’s promotion.

All fourteen players currently on the roster were in attendance.  The Phoenix currently have two open roster spots available, with Gottlieb telling Fox 11’s Doug Ritchay at the event that he is looking to add one more player for the upcoming season. 

The Phoenix will resume summer activities next month with practice officially beginning the week of September 22nd. Green Bay will host a pair of exhibition games, the Bradley game on October 11th and St. Norbert on October 30th.

The season tips off for real on November 3rd when the Phoenix travel to Phog Allen Fieldhouse to take on the Kansas Jayhawks in the season opener.