MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[John Gleich]

It looks to me like the UWSP/Wisconsin exhibition is going to be available on the Big Ten network.  It's a premium game (I'm not sure if BTN.com has otherwise...) so it looks like the cheapest option would be to buy the Wisconsin monthly pass for $9.95.

The only tix that appear to be available for the game are 300 level...  sections 314, 315, and 316, and they're $24.  Almost doesn't seem worth the hastle to drive a couple of hours, pay to park and then have seats way the heck away from the court.



(Click for bigger pic)

I'm kind of torn here because I really wanted to go...

The only thing I can think of is if somebody from D3Hoops had any extra media credentials or sumpthin...     

[tomt4525]

http://athletics.uwsp.edu/roster.aspx?path=mbball&

Point's roster is up....No Kurt Kincaid as someone alluded to.  Too bad, he could have given some post depth.  I sure hope next years recruiting class for Point includes some instant impact bigs...that or Parlow, Kacala and Van Handel turn into reliable post players.

[Greek Tragedy]

In years past, that roster can change a half dozen times before the first game!  Not to say he's playing...

[thrunt01]

You think Jordan Brezinski is going to get pushed much in practice with Hoezel and Secker-Anderson as assistant coaches? Good luck bud.

[tomt4525]

You think Jordan Brezinski is going to get pushed much in practice with Hoezel and Secker-Anderson as assistant coaches? Good luck bud.

That's something I noticed as well.  This should really help Brezinski improve along with the young bigs they picked up in this last recruiting class.

[tomt4525]

http://www.wiacsports.com/index.aspx?path=mbball&tab=basketball

Point picked to win Men's WIAC BBall title with 4 first place votes.  I'm kind of surprised by this, I would have expected RF to be the pick and they were pegged for 3rd.  RF has the most returning, for Point to contend it means their new players are the real deal...that or the Tillemas, Brezinski and Giordana have ungodly years.

[frodotwo]

http://www.wiacsports.com/index.aspx?path=mbball&tab=basketball

Point picked to win Men's WIAC BBall title with 4 first place votes.  I'm kind of surprised by this, I would have expected RF to be the pick and they were pegged for 3rd.  RF has the most returning, for Point to contend it means their new players are the real deal...that or the Tillemas, Brezinski and Giordana have ungodly years.

This has to be a case of your reputation preceding you for Point. RF returns 4 starters and an all-everything transfer.....a case of no respect or their late season collapse preceding them!  I thought last year was kind of a down year for many teams, this year looks like more of the same, with only 3 teams returning 3 or more starters.

[John Gleich]

http://www.wiacsports.com/index.aspx?path=mbball&tab=basketball

Point picked to win Men's WIAC BBall title with 4 first place votes.  I'm kind of surprised by this, I would have expected RF to be the pick and they were pegged for 3rd.  RF has the most returning, for Point to contend it means their new players are the real deal...that or the Tillemas, Brezinski and Giordana have ungodly years.

... As with last year, I, too, don't know what the SID's were thinking.  At least RF picked up 3 1st place votes this year...

Much better than 8th in the league like last year!

[fredfalcon]

Other curiosities:  Point returns no All WIAC players, WW returns one. RF returns one All WIAC plus two Honorable Mentions. One of those HM's, Wade Guerin, was a starter two years ago. So, essentially, RF returns five starters. Oh well, dumb pre-season picks mean nothing.

[John Gleich]

Other curiosities:  Point returns no All WIAC players, WW returns one. RF returns one All WIAC plus two Honorable Mentions. One of those HM's, Wade Guerin, was a starter two years ago. So, essentially, RF returns five starters. Oh well, dumb pre-season picks mean nothing.

Yep, I had the same thoughts.


Point lost to Wisconsin 80-54

Box

Point came out poorly in both halves... They were down 14-2 after about 5 minutes and would cut it to 7 a couple of times in the next 5 minutes.

It was 45-33 at the half.

Point seemed to really wear down in the second half... after shooting 61.9% in the first half, they shot just 31.8% in the second half.  Now, some of that did have to do with the Badgers, to be sure... Dan Tillema led all scorers with 24 and he had 19 of those at halftime, but I think that Point's depth is not nearly as great this year as in years past.

There are so many young guys, they need to find themselves in the college game a little bit.  I think that Point will definitely get better as the year goes on.

It was an atypical night from deep... Point was 3/19 from 3, with Tillema hitting 3/8.  But, as I said above, it seemed like Point wore down... there were at least 3 air-balls.

Point is definitely a smaller team this year... and the size of the Badgers really showed.  Point was only outrebounded by 6 (31-25) but 13 of the Badgers' rebounds were offensive.

Something that was a bit troubling was the ball-handing... Point had 19 turnovers.  Now, as Bo Ryan said in the post-game, they're Wisconsin... they're built to win the turnover battle against the best of the best, they're probably going to win it in a game like this.  As Coach Sem alluded to, the team has been making a lot of slow bounce passes that they've gotten away with in practice that they didn't in this game... and that, as they learn what will and won't work, they'll fix as the year goes on.

There seemed to be a lot of dribbling with the basketball on the offense as opposed to cutting.  Of Point's 20 baskets, 8 were off of assists, which is a decent ratio... but it seemed like there were a lot of times where guys just dribbled, dribbled, dribbled to try to create instead of moving the ball quickly via the pass and making the defense adjust because the ball has just swung.  Wisconsin did a much better job with that, and I have to say, for the most part, Point's defense did a pretty good job jumping to the ball against a team that is known for moving the ball well.

Wisconsin has an All-American PG... and it showed.  Jordan Taylor didn't have a really flashy game in terms of points (just 8 points) but he did have 7 assists to 1 turnover... and even more than that, he drew the defense and passed to the guy who could get the assist.

That's a big difference between the players too... though Point actually outshot Wisconsin in the first half (in terms of percentage) it seemed like SP make some contested shots... and Wisconsin was taking open shots and hitting them.  Point definitely missed their share of both open and contested shots, especially in the second half.

[frodotwo]

Other curiosities:  Point returns no All WIAC players, WW returns one. RF returns one All WIAC plus two Honorable Mentions. One of those HM's, Wade Guerin, was a starter two years ago. So, essentially, RF returns five starters. Oh well, dumb pre-season picks mean nothing.

Yep, I had the same thoughts.


Point lost to Wisconsin 80-54

Box

Point came out poorly in both halves... They were down 14-2 after about 5 minutes and would cut it to 7 a couple of times in the next 5 minutes.

It was 45-33 at the half.

Point seemed to really wear down in the second half... after shooting 61.9% in the first half, they shot just 31.8% in the second half.  Now, some of that did have to do with the Badgers, to be sure... Dan Tillema led all scorers with 24 and he had 19 of those at halftime, but I think that Point's depth is not nearly as great this year as in years past.

There are so many young guys, they need to find themselves in the college game a little bit.  I think that Point will definitely get better as the year goes on.

It was an atypical night from deep... Point was 3/19 from 3, with Tillema hitting 3/8.  But, as I said above, it seemed like Point wore down... there were at least 3 air-balls.

Point is definitely a smaller team this year... and the size of the Badgers really showed.  Point was only outrebounded by 6 (31-25) but 13 of the Badgers' rebounds were offensive.

Something that was a bit troubling was the ball-handing... Point had 19 turnovers.  Now, as Bo Ryan said in the post-game, they're Wisconsin... they're built to win the turnover battle against the best of the best, they're probably going to win it in a game like this.  As Coach Sem alluded to, the team has been making a lot of slow bounce passes that they've gotten away with in practice that they didn't in this game... and that, as they learn what will and won't work, they'll fix as the year goes on.

There seemed to be a lot of dribbling with the basketball on the offense as opposed to cutting.  Of Point's 20 baskets, 8 were off of assists, which is a decent ratio... but it seemed like there were a lot of times where guys just dribbled, dribbled, dribbled to try to create instead of moving the ball quickly via the pass and making the defense adjust because the ball has just swung.  Wisconsin did a much better job with that, and I have to say, for the most part, Point's defense did a pretty good job jumping to the ball against a team that is known for moving the ball well.

Wisconsin has an All-American PG... and it showed.  Jordan Taylor didn't have a really flashy game in terms of points (just 8 points) but he did have 7 assists to 1 turnover... and even more than that, he drew the defense and passed to the guy who could get the assist.

That's a big difference between the players too... though Point actually outshot Wisconsin in the first half (in terms of percentage) it seemed like SP make some contested shots... and Wisconsin was taking open shots and hitting them.  Point definitely missed their share of both open and contested shots, especially in the second half.

Point's turnovers, inability to stop the offensive rebounding by the Badgers, and settling for outside jump shots is what did them in in this game. The lazy passes were killers, as Bucky out-quicked and out-muscled us on both ends. Point has no inside banger this year and that will be a killer in the WIAC. Bucky did have a lot of big bodies inside that we won't see in most games, but Point only had a handful of inside hoops that weren't drives to the basket from the outside. The Badgers have a very good team and some very good players and we really didn't expect to beat them  at the Kohl Center where Bo is 155-12 did we?   Lots of nice comments on Dan Tillema's game from the people around us. We better hope he stays healthy this year.

[tomt4525]

Other curiosities:  Point returns no All WIAC players, WW returns one. RF returns one All WIAC plus two Honorable Mentions. One of those HM's, Wade Guerin, was a starter two years ago. So, essentially, RF returns five starters. Oh well, dumb pre-season picks mean nothing.

Yep, I had the same thoughts.


Point lost to Wisconsin 80-54

Box

Point came out poorly in both halves... They were down 14-2 after about 5 minutes and would cut it to 7 a couple of times in the next 5 minutes.

It was 45-33 at the half.

Point seemed to really wear down in the second half... after shooting 61.9% in the first half, they shot just 31.8% in the second half.  Now, some of that did have to do with the Badgers, to be sure... Dan Tillema led all scorers with 24 and he had 19 of those at halftime, but I think that Point's depth is not nearly as great this year as in years past.

There are so many young guys, they need to find themselves in the college game a little bit.  I think that Point will definitely get better as the year goes on.

It was an atypical night from deep... Point was 3/19 from 3, with Tillema hitting 3/8.  But, as I said above, it seemed like Point wore down... there were at least 3 air-balls.

Point is definitely a smaller team this year... and the size of the Badgers really showed.  Point was only outrebounded by 6 (31-25) but 13 of the Badgers' rebounds were offensive.

Something that was a bit troubling was the ball-handing... Point had 19 turnovers.  Now, as Bo Ryan said in the post-game, they're Wisconsin... they're built to win the turnover battle against the best of the best, they're probably going to win it in a game like this.  As Coach Sem alluded to, the team has been making a lot of slow bounce passes that they've gotten away with in practice that they didn't in this game... and that, as they learn what will and won't work, they'll fix as the year goes on.

There seemed to be a lot of dribbling with the basketball on the offense as opposed to cutting.  Of Point's 20 baskets, 8 were off of assists, which is a decent ratio... but it seemed like there were a lot of times where guys just dribbled, dribbled, dribbled to try to create instead of moving the ball quickly via the pass and making the defense adjust because the ball has just swung.  Wisconsin did a much better job with that, and I have to say, for the most part, Point's defense did a pretty good job jumping to the ball against a team that is known for moving the ball well.

Wisconsin has an All-American PG... and it showed.  Jordan Taylor didn't have a really flashy game in terms of points (just 8 points) but he did have 7 assists to 1 turnover... and even more than that, he drew the defense and passed to the guy who could get the assist.

That's a big difference between the players too... though Point actually outshot Wisconsin in the first half (in terms of percentage) it seemed like SP make some contested shots... and Wisconsin was taking open shots and hitting them.  Point definitely missed their share of both open and contested shots, especially in the second half.

Point's turnovers, inability to stop the offensive rebounding by the Badgers, and settling for outside jump shots is what did them in in this game. The lazy passes were killers, as Bucky out-quicked and out-muscled us on both ends. Point has no inside banger this year and that will be a killer in the WIAC. Bucky did have a lot of big bodies inside that we won't see in most games, but Point only had a handful of inside hoops that weren't drives to the basket from the outside. The Badgers have a very good team and some very good players and we really didn't expect to beat them  at the Kohl Center where Bo is 155-12 did we?   Lots of nice comments on Dan Tillema's game from the people around us. We better hope he stays healthy this year.

After Brezinski's game at St Thomas last year, I have all the faith in the world that he can be our inside banger this year.  He is a lot better than people give him credit for.  The problem is, he might be our only inside guy after seeing the minutes against the Badgers for Parlow, Kacala and Van Handel.  I didn't get to see any of the exhibition, who was guarding a big for Point at the start of the game?  Was Hass or D. Tillema??

[John Gleich]

Point's turnovers, inability to stop the offensive rebounding by the Badgers, and settling for outside jump shots is what did them in in this game. The lazy passes were killers, as Bucky out-quicked and out-muscled us on both ends. Point has no inside banger this year and that will be a killer in the WIAC. Bucky did have a lot of big bodies inside that we won't see in most games, but Point only had a handful of inside hoops that weren't drives to the basket from the outside. The Badgers have a very good team and some very good players and we really didn't expect to beat them  at the Kohl Center where Bo is 155-12 did we?   Lots of nice comments on Dan Tillema's game from the people around us. We better hope he stays healthy this year.

I agree on many points but I think that Brezinski has the possibility of being a banger inside.  He did have a few turnovers while trying to do too much in terms of dribbling, but all of the Pointers were guilty of that... the Badgers just took SP out of what they were trying to do in many cases.

One thing that I saw UW doing in the first half was switching the... well... exchange (can't really call it a screen.  I haven't seen much in terms of screens since when I played.  I think a lot of those guys still have bruises from where they ran into me  ).  In playing the 4 out, 1 in offense, on the side without the big on the block (and I'm using that term loosely... Brezinski tends to float out quite a bit so it's more of a 5-out look) was neutralized because the guy guarding the "screener" simply switched.  Now, since that side is open, there's a possibility to get good, easy, open looks off of that if the ball-handler and screener are on the same page.  The screener just has to reverse pivot on his inside leg, pinning the guy he screened behind him, and dive to the basket.  A leading pass from the ball-handler will give you open layups time and time again and it will force the defender of the screener to stay with his man instead of just switching.

All of that is predicated on an actual screen, of course... if you don't make contact with the defender of your teammate who you're screening for, then the reverse-pivot, dive to the basket won't work because the defender will be between you and the basket.

I liked what I saw from Brezinski a few times on the offensive end where he made some nice inside moves.  I didn't get a chance to see too much of last year, but I think that having DSA as a grad-assistant will be a good thing for JB!

One thing I didn't like from the bigs is that they seemed to be surprised when they got the ball when the guards drove.  That will come with time and familiarity... but in the case of JB, he's been playing with D Tillema, T Tillema, and Giordana for 3 years... he should be expecting that!

Giordana didn't have a very good game last night... but I think he was just overmanned.  We'll see more from him throughout the year I'm sure.

After Brezinski's game at St Thomas last year, I have all the faith in the world that he can be our inside banger this year.  He is a lot better than people give him credit for.  The problem is, he might be our only inside guy after seeing the minutes against the Badgers for Parlow, Kacala and Van Handel.  I didn't get to see any of the exhibition, who was guarding a big for Point at the start of the game?  Was Hass or D. Tillema??

Kacala had 3 unforced turnovers where he was dribbling the ball.  He likely won't be able to do that in D-III games, let alone in a game against the #15 D-I team in the country who prides itself on defense.

All three of Kacala, Parlow, and Van Handel will be works in progress.  They just need to get used to the speed and physicality of the college game and also a new system, but I think they'll come around.

[Just Bill]

I didn't get a chance to see too much of last year, but I think that having DSA as a grad-assistant will be a good thing for JB!

I disagree. Having DSA as a grad assistant won't help me one bit unless he can pick up my dry cleaning.

[ECbadger52]

UWEC released their roster http://www.blugolds.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/roster    Looks like they played Mankato St pretty tough,
There is a lot of optimism for the future of the program hopefully coach Green can get Zorn rocking again!