Wisconsin fans smile and call it the Port Wing Special. Opponents shake their heads and call it indefensible. Basketball purists cover their eyes and call it things unprintable. Announcers call it two points.

“It” is a floating, off balance (frequently very off balance), one-handed push shot that has taken Wisconsin’s Jolene Anderson from a barn in Port Wing WI (pop. 250) to center stage for USA Basketball. Anderson, a 5-8 guard, has built her game around that shot, and that game gives her claim to be the best woman’s basketball player produced by the state of Wisconsin, Sonja Henning and Janel McCarville notwithstanding.

But in a world of high-profile athletes, Anderson stands out for her normality. When she is not on a basketball court, she would not be recognized as a top athlete. On the street, with her glasses, her small-by-basketball stature and her rather stocky build, she can pass for countless other coeds.  In conversation, she is a quiet and somewhat shy person who would rather talk about her team than herself.

But when she laces up her sneakers and steps onto a basketball court, she becomes someone special.

Anderson’s trip to center stage began before she was born. Her mother Julie was a star basketball player in high school and college before Title IX was passed. To this day, Julie admits wondering about what it would have been like to have the advantages her daughter had. When Jolene first picked up a basketball at age 4, Julie was there to encourage her -- and it was always encouragement, never pressure. That wasn’t necessary; for Jolene, it was love at first dribble.

Throughout Jolene’s school years, Julie was there to rebound shots, teach, encourage and play countless games of one-on-one. Julie always won the games, although by Jolene’s middle school years it took threats of privileges revoked to insure a victory by the mother. As time passed, basketball became more and more important to Jolene, and her family was there to not only help her career but to teach her the lessons that would define the player.

Her parents were urged to take advantage of Wisconsin’s open enrollment policy to move her to a bigger school where she would get more exposure. But Julie and Jim felt it was important to show loyalty to the high school they had both attended, and the town that had grown to support Jolene. So she stayed in the school with 93 students and learned about loyalty. Says Wisconsin coach Lisa Stone, “There’s not a thing that Jolene wouldn’t do for her teammates. She never leaves a teammate behind. She’s always got everybody’s back.”

It became apparent early that Jolene would be special on the court. In middle school, she was always the first player chosen for games, even if she was the only girl on the court. But, even with her success, Jolene kept working. Her father clearly remembers, “It would be 20 below zero out there and she would be shooting baskets.” She would shovel out a spot near the shed and shoot. “She had that drive.”

But once she got to high school, she needed a better practice spot so Jolene went to her father for help. “Our family had a farm and I asked my dad if he could put a basketball hoop up (in the barn) for me, and he said he would as long as I helped him clean it out. It was a little chilly so I had to wear gloves and a hat but it was well worth it.” 

Jolene didn't stop working once she got the barn clean. She spent hour upon hour shooting in the barn. It was there that she developed the unorthodox shot that defines her offensive game. Shooting normal jump shot after normal jump shot would get boring, and Anderson hates to be bored, so she would practice shooting around beams and other objects in the barn. The ultimate result was the Port Wing Special.

Michigan coach Kevin Borseth, who tried to recruit her when he was at Wisconsin-Green Bay, says of the shot, “She is fun to watch because she does things in an unorthodox fashion. She’s got that running one-handed shot that a coach would never encourage, kind of a Pete Maravich shot that she takes and makes. It’s almost like you should leave her wide open. If you really make her play hard, she’s going to make shots on you and you’re going to say ‘Wow, how did she do that?’  That’s probably what really defines her.”

When she got to high school, she was already the best player her high school coach, Don Moore, had ever seen. Moore recognized not only her talent, but also her work ethic. “I would sometimes suggest that she might try something, but mostly she went off to the side and figured things out for herself,” says Moore. Moore says he could do this because Anderson was always a team player, “She always made sure to include her teammates.” Said opposing coach David Meade of Hurley, “She's so unselfish, she even gets some of their role players to be a threat for them.”

Despite playing at the tiny high school, Anderson drew the attention of colleges around the nation. She was an AAU All-American during the summer and put up huge numbers during the winter. She finished her high school career with 2,881 points and did literally everything for her team in her senior season. She alone outscored opponents nine times in her senior season and finished with averages of 37 points 15 rebounds, seven steals, and six assists a game. She shot 66.9% from the floor.

Oh, and she sang the national anthem before every game.

But all of the recruiters calls were for naught. Anderson grew up with a dream of playing for the Wisconsin Badgers and never wavered. Says Moore, “I would get calls from ACC or other schools and I'd tell her that she should look at them and she'd always be 'I'm going to Wisconsin.'” 

Anderson arrived on the Wisconsin campus not really knowing what to expect. She did not plan on the immediate success she had. In fact, she says that she was “looking forward to coming off the bench for once.”

It didn’t quite work out that way. Instead, Anderson set a freshman scoring record at Wisconsin and was named Big 10 Freshman of the Year. After the season, she made the jump to the big stage of USA Basketball when she was named to the national under-19 team that went on to win the world championship.

The year served as a precursor what was to come. Since that season, she has consistently improved her overall game. As a sophomore, the 5-8 shooting guard finished in the top ten in the Big 10 in scoring (fourth), rebounding (ninth), assists (ninth) and steals (seventh). She was rewarded with a slot on the second all-Big 10 Team and a chance to try out for the under-20 national team.

She not only made that team, but she played a greater role than she had on the under-19 squad, finishing second in scoring and assists. It was during the world championship game that all the toughness developed shooting in minus 20-degree temperatures was on display.

Felisha Legette-Jack, now head coach of Indiana, was an assistant coach for the team. She tells the story of Anderson getting pushed to the floor during a rebounding scrap, “Her mouth hit the ground and she runs over to the bench and said, ‘Coach I have these in my hand.’ And they were her two front teeth,” Legette-Jack said. “She knocked her two front teeth out and wanted to know when she could go back in. That toughness was there and I thought ‘This kid is a thoroughbred.’  Every year she has gotten better and better.”

That toughness and competitiveness, combined with her undeniable skill, have impressed coaches near and far. After Anderson had a junior season that saw her finish second in the Big 10 in scoring (19.8 ppg), tenth in rebounding (7.1 rpg), 13th in assists (2.9 apg) and third in steals (2.5 spg), she was named first team all-Big 10 and offered another chance to try out for USA Basketball.

This time there was no doubt she would make the team. She was selected for the under-21 team that competed in the World Championships. Joanne P. McCallie, who was now coaching the Under-21 team, fielded a roster without a true point guard and did not hesitate to turn to Anderson to run the team. McCallie, now at Duke after great success at Maine and Michigan State, calls Anderson “a low maintenance kid. She can do pretty much whatever's needed. She can make a great pass, she can hit a three, she can go off the dribble. She almost ice skates. She plays like a hockey player a little bit.”

After the gold medal was won, McCallie said of Anderson, “She’s a terrific player. She really rose to the occasion, was a joy to coach. She was not afraid to do anything. She was willing to take on anything. It didn’t surprise me because I’ve coached against her to know that she’s got that competitive spirit … She’s just a special kid. I appreciated her versatility on the gold-medal team, because we needed guards to be versatile -- and she was.”

Despite playing with more heralded talents such as Candice Wiggins, Crystal Langhorn, Courtney Paris and Essence Carson, Anderson played the second most minutes. Behind her solid play at point, the USA won the gold medal. Anderson joined Carson and Paris as the only players to win three gold medals with the under-19, under-20 and under-21 teams.

As she entered her senior season, Anderson had established herself as the league's best player, the best in Wisconsin history and one of the very best in the nation. She will destroy the Wisconsin career scoring mark and finish in or near the top five in rebounding, assists and steals. She was a near-unanimous choice as preseason Big 10 Player of the Year, an award, like all others, she downplays.

In fact, Anderson uses a very untypical word to describe awards, “Every individual award I get is kind of awkward because I play a team sport. It’s not like I go out for track or anything like that. So I would like to see it as a team award but it’s not.” 

On the court, her overall play continues to amaze. Northwestern coach Beth Combs says  "There's a reason she was picked preseason Player of the Year ... She's one of those players you just watch in awe. Every day, every game she's gotten better and better and better. Just when you think she's done, she moves her game to the next level. She's a fun player to watch ... You don't want to play against her. You want her on your team."

Combs is correct. Coaches want Anderson on their team because she is all about the team. She is clearly uncomfortable talking about herself, but loves to talk about her team. Her all-around play makes it clear that ‘team’ is not just a word to her.

With Anderson it has always been about loyalty and the team. Jim and Julie Anderson taught her those lessons well – of course, she learned a little in the barn too.