Despite lacking an f in his name, Dale Hofmann with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is one of the best sports columnists in the country and has long had my respect as a wordsmith.

Dale also has some good column ideas, and unfortunately beat me to the punch on one of them with Coaches Clinic, examining UW's Bo Ryan, MU's Tom Crean and UWM's Bruce Pearl, in last Friday's MJS.

I had already started on a similar column for OMC, which either shows that great minds think alike or that Dale and I are actually clones despite the difference in number of "f"s in our similar surnames. As inaccurate as the first statement is and as frightening as the second one is, I decided to risk being called a copycat, and continue with the column.

But, I am adding coaches to my list. This columnist not only has more fs in his name, but also more coaches in his column

First, Ryan, Crean and Pearl do deserve a great deal of credit. All three have taken their basketball teams farther than expected. They have all of the programs poised for future success with good crops of underclassmen.

When you consider that Ryan and Pearl were new at their schools this season, their accomplishments are even more remarkable. But, nobody should really be that surprised, since all three of the coaches come from successful traditions.

Ryan had a great record as a small college coach at Platteville before he ever entered Division I with first UWM and then UW. Pearl had similar success in Division II at Southern Indiana. Crean did his internship as an assistant at Michigan State when that school was building a national champion. So, all three brought good credentials to their jobs.

Ryan, Crean and Pearl are not alone in having success at their respective schools. Jane Albright had the Badgers' women ranked in the nation until a late season slump and has had a fine career record at UW.

Terri Mitchell brought a 64 percent winning percentage with Marquette into the Conference USA tourney last weekend. Sandy Botham annually has UWM's women near the top of their conference.

This season, Kevin Borseth led the UW-Green Bay women to the top of the Horizon League standings. You go down to the junior college level and you find that Jack Hervert of the UW-Waukesha women's team was just picked coach of the year in the Wisconsin Junior College Athletic Association for the fifth time in his career.

On the high school level, Wisconsin also is blessed with some great coaches. Look at Milwaukee Washington's Pam Kruse, who has won more than 500 games in 28 years.

And, let's not forget the pros. George Karl is considered among the elite coaches in the NBA and has a good chance of bringing the Bucks deep into the playoffs this spring.

These coaches also are part of a tradition, which includes Larry Costello and Don Nelson at the pro level, Al McGuire at the college level and Dick Bennett, at the high school level and at two Division I universities in the state. Rick Majerus, who started his career here, has been successful at Utah. Countless small college and high school coaches have earned nearly legendary status at their schools throughout state basketball history.

Good coaches have been developed here, and have come here from elsewhere, for a variety of reasons. Some are that Wisconsin has schools and universities with strong academic and athletic programs, a Midwest work ethic, players who for the most part respond to coaching and knowledgeable fans who appreciate good basketball.

When you think of great basketball, you think first of Indiana, Carolina and a couple other states. But, you would be very hard pressed right now to find a state that has, per capita, a better set of coaches than Wisconsin.

The Bucks looked like they were on the verge of a big win over a Pacific Division team, before Damon Stoudamire sank a clutch 3-pointer at the buzzer in overtime to push the Portland Trailblazers to a win at the Bradley Center.

Sam Cassell made a big four-point play to give the Bucks the lead in the closing seconds, but then got faked out of his jock by Stoudamire before he hit his 3-pointer.

The Bucks will get another chance at a Western Conference team this Wednesday when the L.A. Clippers come to the BC. Milwaukee is 2-10 against the Pacific Division teams this season.

The Green and Gold will have plenty of new faces next season, after the Packers purged several veterans from their roster last week. Bernardo Harris, Santana Dotson and Dorsey Levens are gone, although the latter might end up back with the team.

Antonio Freeman and Frank Winters also could be goners before the season starts. Coach/GM Mike Sherman obviously isn't worried about retaining players who helped the Packers in the past. He is asking, "what can you do for me now?"

The Wave went 2-0 over the weekend, winning in Baltimore on Saturday night, 19-13 and on Sunday at the Bradley Center against Cleveland, 19-2.

Milwaukee moved to 16-0 at homeafter allowing just one goal in the first quarter of Sunday's contest.  Brian Loftin and Alen Osmanovic each had five points to lead the Wave offense.  Joe Reiniger added an assist before he left the game with a groin injury to keep his streak alive at 105 games.  

Milwaukee will return to the Bradley Center on Saturday, March 9, against Kansas City at 1 p.m.