MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[BoBo]

Yellowjackets have inched closer but still trail by 12 at 55-43 with 7:27 to play.

The stripes have been calling things closer for Point on the defensive end and allowed Macon to be extra physical.

Point back up 12, 59-47 Point, but yet another foul on Point. 

The stripes have been calling things closer for Point on the defensive end and allowed Macon to be extra physical.

I noticed un-called traveling more than excessive physical play.

From my seat, I think you both saw the same things I did. It started with about 14 minutes remaining in the game.

[nescac1]

Williams is 0-2 against WIAC in the final four.  I have also been informed that a Wisconsin native was the guy who shot the most famous Williams alum, President James Garfield.  If today makes it 0-3, I vow never to travel to Wisconsin again  (I've been a few times from when I lived in Chicago)!  Good luck, but not too MUCH luck tonight.  You guys looked nasty vs. RMC.  

[John Gleich]

I have also been informed that a Wisconsin native was the guy who shot the most famous Williams alum, President James Garfield.

LOL!

[John Gleich]

I think the two semi-final games are going to be very different.  In the Williams/Guilford game, you have two pretty potent offenses.  In Williams, you have a pretty unique situation... not only are they the best 3 point shooting team in the country (in terms of 3 point percentage), they also have the best overall shooting percentage too.  They shoot 45.8% from 3 and 56.9% from 2.  That's efficient!  And it isn't like they don't shoot a lot of 3's... they do.  Fully 1/3 of their made shots are 3's.  Of course, going back to the discussion from earlier, Williams hasn't played as difficult a schedule as the other 3 final four teams... but those numbers are still pretty darn impressive.

Interestingly, likely due to Guilford's size inside, of the last 4 teams standing, they have the highest percentage of shots against that are 3's (43.2%).  And they have held teams to 32.5% shooting from downtown... So of the three possible opponents for Williams, they very well might meet their greatest test against Guilford in terms of attacking a defense because of how teams have attacked Guilford throughout the year.

Interestingly, both Point and Randy Mac played even tougher schedules than Guilford and have higher rated defenses!  So while it's true that Guilford is used to defending a lot of 3's, both Point and Randy Mac are better at it!

I think that the Guilford/Williams game is going to be a game that is in the low 80's.  This is a bit of a change for Williams... they have only had one game in which they let up more than 70 points and didn't score more than 90, and that was against Randy Mac.  On many levels, Williams should have won that game... they were up double digits in the second half and outshot and outrebounded RMC.  But Williams turned the ball over 13 times to just 6 for RMC and they took 6 and made 5 fewer free throws... and that was all she wrote.

...

I noticed with my last post that Randy Mac had the highest possession-per-game average of the final 4 teams (it isn't as significant an increase over Williams or Guilford, but it is there).  What I found interesting about this is that they aren't converting on the offensive end (thus their offensive efficiency number is the worst of the 4).  However, they have the best defensive efficiency because, even though there are more possessions, they have the second-best points-against average. 

I don't really know anything about how RMC plays, but many teams who let up few points do so by limiting the number of possessions that their opponents have to score.  But it seems to me that RMC isn't limiting their opponents' chances... they're just preventing them from scoring in an effective manner.  Part of this may be that, of the 4 teams, RMC's opponents haven't taken as many 3's as the other 3 teams' opponents have.  If you can limit the number of 3 attempts (and, thus, makes), then you're effectively improving your defense.  Now, of course, the shooting percentage matters.  If a team shoots 90% from 2 and 10% from 3, I'm going to let them shoot 50 3's and 10 2's (15 points from 3, 18 points from 2 for a total of 33 points) as opposed to 10 3's and 50 2's (3 points from 3 and 90 points from 2 for a total of 93 points).  This, of course, is a very exaggerated example but even if the shooting percentages are equal, say, for example's sake, .333 and you shoot 9 shots inside the arc and 9 shots outside... inside, you'll score 6 points, outside you'll score 9.

Anyway... that's all to say that I wonder how the RMC/UWSP game will go.  I have a feeling that the game will likely be more of a defensive battle, probably in the 60's.  RMC has what appears to be a more efficient defense, so Point could have some dififculty scoring...

But when you look at the average turnovers for both teams, that might shed some light on what could happen.

RMC turns the ball over an average of 16.6 times and their opponents turn it over an average of 14.9 times.  That's a total of 31.7 turnovers per game.  On the other hand, Point turns it over 9.8 times per game, and their opponents turn it over 12.9 times for a total of 22.7.  So RMC games average 12.7 more possessions per game... but those games also average 9 more turnovers per game.  So really, there's just about 3 more scoring possessions per game.  Point shoots a better percentage from the field, so I think that may be the tipping point.

Now, again, I don't know RMC's style.  I guess I'm making the assumption that it's conventional and not a gimmick... Because that could throw a wrench in things either way... either in RMC's favor if that gimmick works or in Point's favor if it doesn't. 

I think I did pretty well predicting the pace of each of these games.  I actually was too low on Guilford/Williams... but who could have guessed that, not only would Williams make 16/28 3's (just under half of their total makes), they put up a 62 spot in the second half.  Yikes!

Point's going to have their hands full tomorrow, but I don't think that Williams has been defended as well as Point will defend them.  I don't foresee Williams making 16/28 3's tomorrow.

Point played a great first half and then hung on and grinded out the second half.  Not that pretty, but it was the whole "survive and advance" mantra.  Point struggled to execute in the second half when RMC turned up the pressure, though I think they got away with a lot of bumps that knocked guys off their line...  and yet Point got called for more touch fouls on the other end, to the point that SP was called for 12 second half fouls after just 4 in the first half.  Now, some of that had to do with RMC attacking more and getting it inside (after getting 6 points in the paint in the first half, they got 18 in the second half) but a few of the foul calls against Point caused them to not put as much pressure on and that exacerbated the problem (for Point) of RMC's added attacking.


Anyway, I don't want to take anything away from RMC.  I knew they would come out in the second half and battle, and they certainly did.



Another thought about Williams...  This was posted on Roanoke.com:

Story from Roanoke.com

"The smooth-stroking bombers from Williamstown, Mass., erased an eight-point halftime deficit by hanging 62 second-half points on a Guilford club that had been giving up 64.5 points per game this season."

To do this, Williams shot 70% in the second half yesterday.  Those are Grinnell numbers... but by the team that's PLAYING Grinnell, not by "Grinnell" themselves!

By shooting 16/28, Williams had their 17th game this season with 10 or more 3's.  But if you look at the games... OK, game... that they struggled, against Randolph Macon, they were held to 3/16 and they were held to just 6 assists versus 13 turnovers.  This team averages almost 16 assists a game, so RMC really prevented them from doing what they wanted.  Here's hoping Point can do the same!!

[magicman]

Pointers take their first lead of the game 16-14 on a Dan Tillema 3 pointer with 9:24 to play in the 1st half.

[magicman]

Hurd trifecta gives Point a 5 pt lead 21-16.

[magicman]

9-0 run by the Ephs as they regain the lead 27-24 with 3:50 to go. Whittington doing it at both ends of the floor for Williams.

[magicman]

Pointers down 4 with 1:11 left in the half.

[buf]

Point trails, 32-30 at the half.  Jenkins misses 2 Fts w/1sec left

[magicman]

Teams head to the break with Williams up 32-30.

Williams shot 54% in the half. Schultz and Whittington with 9 pts each to lead Williams.

Moses leads the Pointers with 12 pts. Pointers shot 44% for the period.

[buf]

Williams outrebounding Point 18-10.  That a big suprise!

[magicman]

Both teams with 3 triples and both had 3 made free throws. Williams with 9 turnovers to only 4 for Stevens Point. Williams with 9 bench points all from Whittington, Pointers with 3 bench points.

[magicman]

Teams exchanging baskets as Williams holds a 3 pt lead 41-38 with 17:02 remaining.

[magicman]

Williams up by 5 43-38 with 15:46 to go.

[magicman]

Rubin hits a 3 to give the Ephs a 46-40 lead but Pointers Tillema hits a 3 that is changed to a 2 46-42 with 13:30 to go.