Beyond the Game: UW-Milwaukee's Ryan Haggerty

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- It is a bittersweet time of year for senior college basketball players. They get to experience the excitement of conference tournaments, but know that their careers will be over when their teams lose their final game of the season.

The final season of Ryan Haggerty's college basketball career hasn't gone very well from a wins and losses standpoint. As a consequence, his style of play has been a bit under the radar at UW-Milwaukee.

"On the court, he does exactly what he can do. He's not a guy who tries to do what he can't, and he communicates well. I think the best way to describe him is he's a glue guy. He's that piece that every team needs," Panthers Head Coach Rob Jeter said.

The next time his team loses, Haggerty will be done for good. That's not to say that he won't take much of what he experienced during five years in the Panthers program with him.

"There's so much you learn on the basketball court that you don't realize that you're learning life skills, but you really do. It's dealing with personnel changes. It's dealing with teammates. It's dealing with adversity," Haggerty said.

As Haggerty's time in the Panthers family comes to an end, he is still a part of the Haggerty family, and his younger sisters are carrying on the athletic success.

"All three of my sisters are phenomenal volleyball players. The oldest is at Nebraska. The next one will be at Nebraska and the youngest one -- we're not sure yet, but she's also phenomenal," Haggerty said.

As you might imagine, Haggerty's teammates are more than happy to point out that his sisters are threatening his status as the premier college athlete in the family.

"My sister, who is a freshman at Nebraska this year is already piling on the Big Ten honors and all these guys are the first ones giving me a hard time about it," Haggerty said.

In fact, Haggery sometimes gets the treatment that another brother in the shadows knows well. Rob Kardashian definitely has a lower profile than his siblings, Khloe, Kim and Kourtney.

"It's kind of funny because obviously the three girls and my sisters names are Meghan, Maddie and Molly. They have got the M's, and then Ryan just kind of pops in out of nowhere. Everybody gives me a hard time about it, and I try to stay kind of light-spirited about it. But I am proud of all three of them and they are going to be exceptional athletes," Haggerty said.

Haggerty graduated from UWM in December and will be on the floor at UW-Green Bay with his teammates Tuesday night in the Horizon League tournament. If the Panthers lose, Haggerty's career will be over.