Matt Moses and the 2010 UW-Stevens Point players got a trophy of their own to match the ones brought home in 2004 and 2005. Photo by Ryan Tipps for D3sports.com

By Evans Clinchy
D3sports.com

SALEM, Va. -- A thousand miles away from the Salem Civic Center, back in Stevens Point, Wis., there's a loyal group of UW-Stevens Point basketball fans who remember vividly the Pointers' historic run that led them to back-to-back national championships in 2004 and '05.

Matt Moses was once one of those fans. Six years ago, he was just another high school kid in Fond du Lac, watching from afar as the Pointers made history in Salem.

Now, he's left his own legacy. After four years of hard work to get here, he's a national champion himself.

"I was hearing about it when I was a sophomore and a junior, about how they won national championships," Moses said. "I went to camps at Stevens Point, and I was like, 'I don't think I'll ever be able to be these guys.' This was a dream to me.

"When I came and met up with these guys at the camps, I was just a little young'un, you know? To make our own mark after those two national titles, me and all my teammates, we're just so appreciative. We put so much into this season."

Moses led the way alongside two co-captains, senior Evan Sweeney and junior Louis Hurd. He had been a key contributor to the Pointers for four years, seeing significant minutes every night for a team that won 20-plus games each season. He learned a lot from the Stevens Point captains that had come before him -- from Bryan Beamish, from Khalifa El-Amin, from a strong core group of alums who supported the program long after they'd left Stevens Point. Moses kept learning, he kept growing. He grew into the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.

"Each year, as a sophomore, junior, senior, he just kept getting better every year," coach Bob Semling said. "He kept improving, and he played his best basketball in the last month of this season. He's such a quality young man. Good things happen to good people. I know that's a cliche, but this young man -- they don't come any better. He played his best basketball in the last month of his senior year, and he took us to a national title."

Moses and Sweeney had both been with this program since Day One -- they showed up to practice as freshmen in the fall of 2006 and became fast friends. They came up together, and together they endured three three years of trying and failing to get this team over the hump in the NCAA Tournament. A third-round exit in their freshman year; gone in the second round as sophomores, another second-round loss as juniors.

This was their last chance. For Moses, it was one that he just couldn't let slip away.
"I remember a couple weeks ago, when Coach had asked me what this means to me," Moses said. "I said it means everything. It really did. I did not want to end my career. I couldn't do it. And my guys, my teammates, they knew that. They were there for us."

Moses brought the senior leadership, but he was surrounded by younger role players who contributed in a big way to the Pointers' national championship. Hurd and Jared Jenkins, both juniors, brought athleticism and scoring prowess all season long, emerging as the second and third options on a team that rebuilt on the fly this season. Scott Hoelzel, another junior forward, was a monster on the glass all year. Junior Nick Krull was an invaluable defensive stopper and a fantastic inside scorer. Sophomore Dan Tillema, perhaps the best story of the bunch, battled back from an ACL injury that threatened his season and his career at Stevens Point. He became a crunch-time scorer off the bench, hitting three huge threes in the title game to lead the Pointers past Williams.

But through it all, Moses was the centerpiece of a Stevens Point team that worked for four years to bring a program back to glory. When the Pointers started off 17-1, he was a big reason why. When they suffered a few tough losses in January and February, testing their resolve, he was a big reason they kept their heads held high. And when they started their run through this tournament two weeks ago, playing host to the first four rounds at Quandt Fieldhouse back in Stevens Point, Moses was the guy to lead them.

But it's more than that. When you look at the big picture, this is is a story many years in the making. And Moses has been a central character for a long time.

"Matt was the young man four years ago that we went after very hard," Semling said. "He was the kid that we felt we really needed at the time, and we sold him the dream. We had just come back from back-to-back titles, and we talked to Matt, and we said, 'Come to Stevens Point. Help us get back here.' "

It took him four years, but he did.

The Pointers are back here now, and they're champions. And for the next generation of high school kids back in Wisconsin, there's a new group to look up to. Matt Moses is a big part of it.