Swish! Soup and Rob have basketball fever. The entire town of Learning, Vermont, is psyched up for the big game against their archrival, Pratt Falls. But there's trouble. The Learning Groundhogs' star center, Shorty Smith, has sprained his ankle.

Soup and Rob have a plan. Their new friend Piffle Shootensinker, a seven-foot-tall European basketball star from Pretzelstein, has just moved to town. Piff has a problem. He's homesick, he misses his dog, and can sink a basket only when he hears the music of his homeland on the spitzentootle. What's a spinzentootle? It doesn't take Rob and Soup long to learn. Can they locate one (and also find a dog) in time to inspire Piff to lead the Learning Groundhogs to victory?