APPLETON, Wis. — Joel DePagter’s professional and personal life over the past month has been filled with as many twists, turns and loops as a good roller coaster ride.
The Lawrence University men’s basketball coach has seen his team’s postseason hopes seemingly dashed and then revived. While that was going on, DePagter’s wife went into premature labor with their third child, followed by several tense weeks before a baby girl was born.
While much has transpired since January, the Vikings find themselves needing a win Saturday at Lake Forest in the regular-season finale to earn a berth in the four-team Midwest Conference Tournament for the first time since 2009. Lawrence (9-12, 10-7 MWC) finds itself in a three-way tie with Lake Forest (12-10, 10-7) and Cornell (11-11, 10-7) and two of those teams will join St. Norbert and Ripon in the tournament.
“We knew it would come down to the game on Saturday,” said DePagter, whose Vikings lost 83-67 to Ripon on Tuesday. “I told the guys, we’re in the conference tournament, it just starts Saturday. Our postseason play starts now. If we win, we keep playing. If not, we’re done. I just tried to take the focus off the loss and move on.”
It looked like the Vikings’ chances of a tourney berth were gone when Lawrence lost at Cornell back on Jan. 31 but then came Grinnell’s announcement on Feb. 7. Grinnell announced it was forfeiting four victories after self-reporting a secondary NCAA rules violation. That moved the Vikings from fifth place in the conference to fourth.
“With my personal life, it’s been kind of a wacky month. The Grinnell thing shook up the conference and injected new hope for us,” DePagter said.
The DePagter family was on edge over the past month as they waited for Alicia to give birth. DePagter didn’t travel with the team for several games because he didn’t want to be a four- or six-hour drive from his wife should the baby call come.
“Every day was a little bit of am I going to be at practice tonight, am i going to be at the game? Of course, the baby comes on the night of a game,” said DePagter, whose daughter, Amaya, was born on Feb. 8 as the Vikings played at Ripon.
Both mother and baby are doing well, and DePagter can finally focus more fully on his team.
“The guys are proud that we are playing a game that matters this much late in the season,” DePagter said. “Hopefully they embrace that.”
Being on the road shouldn’t hamper the Vikings either. During DePagter’s tenure as head coach, Lawrence is 49-37 in Midwest Conference road games and 51-36 at home. The Vikings won at Lake Forest last season and are 4-4 in league road games this season.
“I think getting on the bus, getting off campus and getting away from school gets you focused,” DePagter said. “It’s difficult if you go to class all day and then have to try and shift gears to play a home game.”
Lake Forest has lost three straight, including two to MWC champion St. Norbert, but the Foresters are big, physical and have several stellar shooters.
“It’s the season for both teams. It should be a good atmosphere,” DePagter said.
“We need to have a good shooting night and have a little more balance, not so many threes. You can throw out all the Xs and Os. At least I know I won’t have another child on Saturday.”