MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[emerging1]

UWSP moves up to #13, Whitewater sits at #11. The approaching road trip will be a test.

[Greek Tragedy]

Whitewater is actually #10.

Point's next few are a big test.  The young team got a favorable schedule to start the conference season with three home games before the break.  Not to take anything away from Eau Claire or Stout, but River Falls looks really tough, despite losing Palmer, La Crosse has been on a roll and playing at Williams against Platteville is always tough...especially since they have Chas Cross back.

[emerging1]

Your right, Whitewater #10.  I would think the next two weeks are important.  I have watched the game with a number of UWSP alumini who are skeptical of our run deeply into the post season because of our lack of a consistent presence inside and an over-reliance on D. Tillema.  Yes, I think the three horsemen, Tillemas and Hass, can be explosive and hard to plan against.  I'm new to the scene this year but is their concern valid?  I personally believe there has to be a few players on the bench that can contribute and give JB a well-deserved breather.  I believe the added experience will help down the road.  I'm not sold on what is coming off the bench now and neither are the guys sitting with me.  But I could be wrong.  Any help here?

[Greek Tragedy]

Sure, there is concern.  But we all have to feel good that they are 10-2 or whatever.  A tough road loss at St. John's and a close loss to the #4 team (at the time) on the road as well.  Point has beaten some really good teams.  Whitewater has just one loss, to Point; beating a tough St. Thomas team is a solid win as well.  We handed Edgewood their only loss of the year (they play at Whitewater tomorrow, so we'll see how legit they are). 

I think we as Pointer fans have been spoiled with our tradition and our National Championships.  We seem to win the conference almost yearly.  I think we can excuse the program for having a "down year" once in awhile and I don't even think this is a down year thus far.

Yes, we should have concerns since we have three freshman coming off the bench.  But like PS said we have a lot of new players on the team, so there will be times when we won't get the production we think we need.  I'm not too worried about the team right now because I have all the faith in the world in Coach Semling.

This road trip is going to be a huge test.  We've had some big wins, but they've been at home.  Edgewood was a good road test, so let's see what we can do starting at River Falls.

[frodotwo]

For those of us who can't make the games, I think I've found video feeds:

UW Stout @ UW Eau Claire
http://www.blugolds.com/live/video/athletics1

UW La Crosse @ UW Platteville
http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/uwplatt.portal#

Edgewood @ UW Whitewater
http://uwwwarhawks.nmtvsports.com/

UW Superior @ UW Oshkosh
http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/uwosh.portal#

UW Stevens Point @ UW River Falls
https://sites.google.com/site/uwrftv/channel-19

[John Gleich]

Point is a 1 point favorite at RF via the D3Basketball Index and a 3 point favorite via Massey (59% confidence).

Should be a great game!



Might as well do the rest...!



WW is a 14 point favorite via d3Basketball Index and 17 point favorite (96% confidence) via Massey.

Osh/Sup is a wash via D3B Index, Osh is a 2 pt favorite (54% conf) via Massey

LaX is and 8/8(73% conf) favorite @ at Platte

EC is a 7/10(84% conf) favorite vs. Stout.

[tomt4525]

Sure, there is concern.  But we all have to feel good that they are 10-2 or whatever.  A tough road loss at St. John's and a close loss to the #4 team (at the time) on the road as well.  Point has beaten some really good teams.  Whitewater has just one loss, to Point; beating a tough St. Thomas team is a solid win as well.  We handed Edgewood their only loss of the year (they play at Whitewater tomorrow, so we'll see how legit they are). 

I think we as Pointer fans have been spoiled with our tradition and our National Championships.  We seem to win the conference almost yearly.  I think we can excuse the program for having a "down year" once in awhile and I don't even think this is a down year thus far.

Yes, we should have concerns since we have three freshman coming off the bench.  But like PS said we have a lot of new players on the team, so there will be times when we won't get the production we think we need.  I'm not too worried about the team right now because I have all the faith in the world in Coach Semling.

This road trip is going to be a huge test.  We've had some big wins, but they've been at home.  Edgewood was a good road test, so let's see what we can do starting at River Falls.

Great post, I know I've been spoiled as a Pointer Basketball fan since my first two years in college were National Championship years.  Like you say, Semling is a great coach and even he can have an off year.  When you lose as much talent as Point did off last year's team, I think it's actually remarkable how solid they are right now.  I've thought many times these last couple weeks about how good Point would be if you add Jerrell Harris.  I've kinda rambled off topic here, what I am trying to say is that this Point squad has exceeded my expectations from the start of the season.  I'm scared for them will how much they rely on 3 balls, but intrigued by this as well.

[tomt4525]

Point is a 1 point favorite at RF via the D3Basketball Index and a 3 point favorite via Massey (59% confidence).

Should be a great game!



Might as well do the rest...!



WW is a 14 point favorite via d3Basketball Index and 17 point favorite (96% confidence) via Massey.

Osh/Sup is a wash via D3B Index, Osh is a 2 pt favorite (54% conf) via Massey

LaX is and 8/8(73% conf) favorite @ at Platte

EC is a 7/10(84% conf) favorite vs. Stout.

Being honest, this is the first time since I became a Pointer fan, 2004, that I've actually thought Point is going to lose.  This is a tough road test and I'll be there to see it first hand.  I can't wait.

[John Gleich]

Point is a 1 point favorite at RF via the D3Basketball Index and a 3 point favorite via Massey (59% confidence).

Should be a great game!



Might as well do the rest...!





WW is a 14 point favorite via d3Basketball Index and 17 point favorite (96% confidence) via Massey.

Osh/Sup is a wash via D3B Index, Osh is a 2 pt favorite (54% conf) via Massey

LaX is and 8/8(73% conf) favorite @ at Platte

EC is a 7/10(84% conf) favorite vs. Stout.

Being honest, this is the first time since I became a Pointer fan, 2004, that I've actually thought Point is going to lose.  This is a tough road test and I'll be there to see it first hand.  I can't wait.

I'm actually more confident now than I was...

One thing that the computer analyses don't take into account is roster moves... They take into account previous game results only, and RF has only had one game without Palmer... last week against Sioux Falls... in a game that they lost.  Sioux Falls is a good D-II program... they've won 20+ games in 10 out of the last 11 seasons, but they're 5-7 this year and started off the year 1-6 until going 4-1 in December.  Massey ranks them as #790 in college basketball (out of 2137) and #186 out of 299 D-II schools.  Comparatively, River Falls is #633 in CBB and #33 out of 412 in D-III.  So, they're relatively close... and the game was in Sioux Falls, but it looks like RF was upset in this one.

One could make the argument that RF isn't as good as their ranking... because their current ranking is based on their past results, which included Palmer.  The current roster doesn't include him...  so the computer rankings aren't accurate.

There's a chance that RF will be better without Palmer.  It seems like RF will, at the very least, lose depth... but it will be an opportunity for other players to step up their games.  Maybe those players who need to will respond and RF will be better for it.

[John Gleich]

... Con'td....


Interestingly, USF just played Viterbo in the previous game... and beat 'em handily 83-56  (Per Massey, Viterbo is 1331 in CBB; 172/243 in NAIA, not split and 6-9 overall... that first game is looking more and more like an anomaly).




And now for something completely different...

The games tonight have strange start times:

Sup @ Osh started at 5:00
Edgewood @ WW starts at 7:00
LaX @ Platte starts at 7:30
Point @ RF starts at 8:00
Stout @ EC starts at 8:00

[Pat Coleman]

Sioux Falls is making the transition to D-II. They've been NAIA in the past, which may account for the difference in results.

Anyone on this board coming to the UWRF/UWSP game? I know, kind of late to ask.

[frodotwo]

For those of us who can't make the games, I think I've found video feeds:

UW Stout @ UW Eau Claire
http://www.blugolds.com/live/video/athletics1

UW La Crosse @ UW Platteville
http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/uwplatt.portal#

Edgewood @ UW Whitewater
http://uwwwarhawks.nmtvsports.com/

UW Superior @ UW Oshkosh
http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/uwosh.portal#

UW Stevens Point @ UW River Falls
https://sites.google.com/site/uwrftv/channel-19

UWW link is not functioning (Linked from WIAC page) but live stats is working http://www.sidearmstats.com/uww/mbball/index.htm

Oshkosh wants $8 for their webcast. 

[John Gleich]

One more...

Superior beat Oshkosh 71-64


More on Palmer's absence...  He's actually been out two games, the game before Sioux Falls, against Macalester, was sans Palmer too... but Mac was winless prior to this week, so it wasn't too much of a problem... RF won by 19.

Anyway... here's my point for the triple post.  EDIT:  Woo Hoo, Pat posted to split it up!

RF is the top WIAC team in terms of rebounding margin (everybody in the league has a positive margin currently) at +5.8 per game.  FWIW, Point is +2.7, despite playing 4 guards... and having JB have some mediocre games.  That shows the true roundness of the guards' games... specifically the Tillemas (they're the top two on the team... and Dan is 6th (6.0 rebs/gm) and Ty 11th (5.4 rebs/gm) in the conference.

Anyway... Palmer average 4.9 rebs per game, in addition to 9.4 ppg.  I wonder how much the rebounding effect will be missed.  It's fairly obvious that the 10 points will have to come from somewhere... but like I said, that's obvious.  Ollie White is #2 on the team in scoring at about 11 per game after Manor's 17... and in the two games that RF has played, has scored 18 and 16... picking up the scoring load a bit.

But White averages about 4 rebs per game himself... while his minutes will go up, he'll have to hit the boards hard to make up the difference.  He had his typical 4 against Mac (in fewer minutes) and 1 against USF.


That'll be interesting to watch!

Sioux Falls is making the transition to D-II. They've been NAIA in the past, which may account for the difference in results.

Anyone on this board coming to the UWRF/UWSP game? I know, kind of late to ask.

I was kind of confused when I went to their website and saw the NCAA logo... I had thought they were NAIA too!  Guess I was right... and wrong, all at the same time!

That, of course, would potentially explain the dropoff this year a bit... the competition is better, though NAIA I is usually pretty comparable to NCAA II.

In the multi-region section, there's a thread about how D-III did against other divisions (NCAA I and II, NAIA I and II, NCCAA, USCAA, and other) and here's the current result against those two:

NCAA-D2   6-33
NAIA-D1   8-32

Marginally better against NAIA-I... but pretty comparable!

[cubs]

Superior improves to 3-2 in WIAC play with a 71-64 victory at Oshkosh.

Flanagan leads all scorers with 22 points, while Hjelter comes off the bench to lead Superior with 16 points.

[John Gleich]

The games tonight have strange start times:

Sup @ Osh started at 5:00
Edgewood @ WW starts at 7:00
LaX @ Platte starts at 7:30
Point @ RF starts at 8:00
Stout @ EC starts at 8:00

Ah... Double Headers... Women played first.