“I’m weak.”

NIU’s Zach Pancratz just stared at his shoes, which now projected that message.

He knew it was just part of being a freshman – the joking around – but Pancratz just couldn’t let this one slide.

Freshman or not, nobody draws all over his basketball shoes and gets away with it. Especially not a message like that.

“I knew it was Mike [McKinney] and [Johnathan] Byrd who wrote on my shoes,” Pancratz said. “Those two are always messing with me and Frank [Clair] because we are freshmen. So while they were in the shower I stole all their clothes and hid them.”

Byrd and McKinney had to borrow other teammates’ clothes in order to walk home in the cold. But they did learn a lesson about the freshman.

“That let us know that he’s a competitor,” Byrd said. “He is always gonna fight back.”

Coming into his first season at NIU, Pancratz knew being a freshman was tough. Things don’t always go the way you want, but the main thing is you have to work through it, Pancratz said.

And as this season has progressed, Pancratz has had to do just that.

An opening night starter, Pancratz started off the season just as he had planned.

But midway through the season, the freshman’s numbers have fallen off along with his minutes. Something he did not plan for.

“I had high expectations for my self,” Pancratz said. “But I envisioned better than I am playing now.”

Now with the season coming to an end, Pancratz is doing all he can to get out of his “slump.” And he’s doing it the only way he knows how.

The “gym rat” from Schaumburg High School can consistently be found practicing. Any free time Pancratz gets is time he spends in the gym.

“He is always practicing and he is really intense about it,” NIU basketball coach Rob Judson said. “He’s his hardest critique, but he is just going through the usual freshman ups and downs.”

But that’s not good enough for Pancratz. Even though his coach insists he’s had many more ups than downs, Pancratz still spends hours on the hardwood.

Shot after shot, drill after drill, Pancratz strives to make himself better every day.

As time ticks by, an hour at a time, Pancratz just keeps practicing completely oblivious to it. His intensity overwhelms him. And the thought of his goals while he’s here at NIU consume him. He has a plan, and he has to get back on track no matter how much time it takes.