MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[tomt4525]

You have a long wait. 

I travel all over the midwest to play fastpitch softball during the summer, atleast I have that to tide me over for awhile.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Hope you don't mind a break in the action, as it were, but I want to share a story the D3 community should know about. You actually may have seen the story on the front page of D3hoops.com, but just in case:

A Goucher basketball player has been paralyzed in a freak accident. He was wrestling around with a friend one morning in his dorm building when he landed on his neck. The entire story is here.

He was released from the hospital to the Kennedy Krieger Institute for rehab shortly after that article was posted last week. However, over the weekend he was sent back to the hospital when he apparently had trouble breathing. Now he awaits a return to the rehab facility, probably any day if he hasn't been released already.

Please keep Damone Brooks, his family, the Goucher basketball team(s), and Goucher community in your thoughts, hearts, and prayers. The family certainly needs help with medical bills as well, so if you feel inclined, please consider them as well.

To follow his progress online, click here.
And to consider a donation, click here.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

[John Gleich]

Just trying to get some conversation going, what is everyone expecting from the WIAC this year??  Like I alluded to earlier in this post, I really expect it to be a 2 horse race and next year's games between Point and Whitewater will be must sees.

I just wonder who could challenge them.

Superior, Eau Claire, and Oshkosh will all have new coaches.


Based on last year's rosters...

Superior (8-8) - Lost: Aalfs (AC) and Ritchie (AC-HM), Returning: 4 seniors (including Brendan Bauer - AC-HM), 5 juniors (including Bronson Byrne - AC-HM), made it to the conference tournament, Superior is the only team with two members of the All-Conference team coming back and they've got 9 upper-classmen. I think they'll likely have a chip on their shoulders for two of the games... against Eau Claire. Can they take the next step and compete with the top teams? They lost all 6 regular season games to Point/WW/RF last year.

Eau Claire (7-9) - Lost: Pfitzinger and Bartlet, Returning: 6 seniors (including Jordan Petersen - AC), 3 juniors. New coach has WIAC experience, signature win vs. SP to end the season (EC hadn't beaten Point since 00-01 season). With as many seniors as they have they might surprise some people, but with a new coach and likely a new system, there might be some growing pains.

Oshkosh (0-16) - Lost: Schrimpf and Flanigan (AC), Returning: 3 seniors, 3 juniors returning, Barrel appears to be empty, though they did battle to a 2OT loss vs. RF and OT losses to Point and Platte. They still don't have a head coach, though, so you have to wonder about recruits for next year... did anyone commit to TVD? Are they still committed to coming to Oshy, even though they don't know who the coach will be? Lots of questions, not too many answers.


Stout (4-12) - Lost: no seniors, Returning: 2 seniors including AC-HM Olson, 9 juniors including AC-HM Oman (though with Stout's annual roster turnover, I wouldn't expect all of these and probably would expect some transfers) Signature win at Point. Eddie always has them playing hard... but is it realistic for them to jump from 4 wins to... 10? 11? 12? More? It doesn't seem likely. Maybe +4 or 5 wins next year, then in 2 years is their year?


Platteville (8-8) - Lost: Bondar, Weik, Stangel (AC) and Litz, Returning: 1 senior, 3 juniors (including Cross - AC-HM in 10-11), signature win was probably North Central, the CCIW champ (by 20). I wonder how Cross will be this season... I don't think that he was ever 100% last season, though he was AC-HM as a freshman in 10-11. Do they have enough weapons to compete? They'll need to start an underclassman and their depth will come from underclassmen as well.


La Crosse (8-8) - Lost: Degner (AC-HM), Heiden, Chery (AC), Returning: 2 seniors, 3 juniors, signature win vs. River Falls, LaX will have a little bit more experience than Platteville, but they'll be relying on underclassmen too.

River Falls (12-4) - Lost: Manor (AC), Kimble (AC-HM), Anderson (AC-HM), Guerin (AC-HM) Returning: 3 seniors (including Ollie White - AC-HM), 3 juniors - RF was clearly stacked last year. The starting 5 all made the all-conference team(s) and they added Chris Palmer to boot last season. He didn't stick out the year and didn't have as much of an impact as some thought he might, but they still managed to sweep Point in all 3 games they played and they beat Whitewater in the WIAC tournament championship game to snag the WIAC automatic bid. The well isn't dry. River Falls still has some good big kids (just as Stevens Point... SP got outrebounded by 18 in the second half of loss #1 after Point jumped out to a 10 point halftime lead... which turned into a 3 point RF victory, helped in large part by Zach Peterson, who had 9 boards in the second half, including 5 offensive. The RF team combined for 16 offensive boards in the second half alone in that one). I expect RF to be pretty good next year, but it seems like last year was "their year" to have a great season. They had a very good one, but, like two years ago, when they bottomed out and lost 6 of their last 7, including a 1st round NCAA loss to Illinois Wesleyan, they lost in the first round again... this time at home, to a very determined (and talented) Edgewood team. RF's saving grace next year may be their size. I'm not really sure what to think of them, though... because, though they had a number of other contributors (such as the Petersons, White, and Utke) they scoring load was primarily on the starters. RF loses 46 of their 72 points per game to graduation.

Point Lost: D Tillema (AC), Brezinski (AC-HM) Return: 2 seniors (including T Tillema - AC), 2 juniors + Clayton Heuer. Point is losing two key contributors from last year in Dan Tillema and Jordan Brezinski. Both of these guys carried the team at different times during the season. I think it's clear that Clayton Heuer will need to step in and be the big guy for Point, but someone else will need to step into the scoring role left by Dan Tillema.

I think that Point and Whitewater sort of swapped MO's last year. Historically, Whitewater has had individual players who have tried to beat you and Point has played team basketball (helped by their depth). Last year, WW had more depth but they also really bought into the team concept and it brought them all the way to Salem and a national title. Point, on the other hand, felt that they had to lean heavily on the Tillema brothers and often they would just go one on one. That works against poor opponents, but it won't work against good ones. When Tyler went down late in the year, I knew that Point would be in trouble, and they certainly were, losing 4 of the last 5, including the first round of the NCAA's vs. Illinois Wesleyan. What is it against WIAC teams that are on a slide and drawing IWU in the NCAA tournament? Two years in a row...

Whitewater Lost: conference and national POY Chris Davis, Edmunds, Glenn, Returning: 3 seniors (including AC Knoble), 4 juniors (including AC-HM Bryson) What can you say about Whitewater? They lose a lot, especially in Davis, but the well isn't dry. I think that, if they can keep spreading the ball around and playing good defense, that Whitewater will be really good again next year.


So, to recap:

All-conf returners:
First team: T Tillema SP, J Peterson EC, L Knoble WW
Second Team: Oman and Olson Stout, Bryson WW, White RF, Bauer and Byrne Sup

Upperclassmen:
Stout: 11 (2 seniors 9 juniors)
EC: 9 (6 seniors 3 juniors)
Superior: 9 (4 seniors 5 juniors)
Whitewater: 7 (3 seniors 4 juniors)
River Falls: 6 (3 seniors 3 juniors)
Oshkosh: 6 (3 seniors 3 juniors)
Point: 5 (2 seniors 3 juniors)
La Crosse: 5 (2 seniors 3 juniors)
Platteville: 4 (1 senior 3 juniors)


It's not set in stone that the team with the most upperclassmen will do the best. Point had just 4 upperclassmen and would have won a share of the conference title by winning either of their last two games (extenuating circumstances due to T. Tillema's injury prevented Point from doing so).

All that being said, I think you may see more of a resurgence from Eau Claire. They have 6 seniors and had some success last year, plus their coach knows the league.  I think Point and Whitewater will still be in the mix, but Point's lack of depth is going to hurt them. I'll be interested to see how many of the freshmen last year (there were 8) stick around for next year. I know that a lot of fans were frustrated by Coach Sem's short bench and the limit of experience that several of these guys had, but I think that they very well may have just needed another year to be ready. I mean, come on, the top 3 guys off the bench were freshmen (until Ziemer was ready). Those guys got valuable experience and should be better this coming year. I just hope their confidence and scoring ability raise too!

And I think that some of this year's newcomers may be able to provide a spark right off the bat too. McGann had some pretty gaudy scoring numbers in high school, though the team wasn't very good, and Studer just won a state title. I could easily see one or both of them being in the mix this year.

[tomt4525]

Just trying to get some conversation going, what is everyone expecting from the WIAC this year??  Like I alluded to earlier in this post, I really expect it to be a 2 horse race and next year's games between Point and Whitewater will be must sees.

I just wonder who could challenge them.

Superior, Eau Claire, and Oshkosh will all have new coaches.


Based on last year's rosters...

Superior (8-8) - Lost: Aalfs (AC) and Ritchie (AC-HM), Returning: 4 seniors (including Brendan Bauer - AC-HM), 5 juniors (including Bronson Byrne - AC-HM), made it to the conference tournament, Superior is the only team with two members of the All-Conference team coming back and they've got 9 upper-classmen. I think they'll likely have a chip on their shoulders for two of the games... against Eau Claire. Can they take the next step and compete with the top teams? They lost all 6 regular season games to Point/WW/RF last year.

Eau Claire (7-9) - Lost: Pfitzinger and Bartlet, Returning: 6 seniors (including Jordan Petersen - AC), 3 juniors. New coach has WIAC experience, signature win vs. SP to end the season (EC hadn't beaten Point since 00-01 season). With as many seniors as they have they might surprise some people, but with a new coach and likely a new system, there might be some growing pains.

Oshkosh (0-16) - Lost: Schrimpf and Flanigan (AC), Returning: 3 seniors, 3 juniors returning, Barrel appears to be empty, though they did battle to a 2OT loss vs. RF and OT losses to Point and Platte. They still don't have a head coach, though, so you have to wonder about recruits for next year... did anyone commit to TVD? Are they still committed to coming to Oshy, even though they don't know who the coach will be? Lots of questions, not too many answers.


Stout (4-12) - Lost: no seniors, Returning: 2 seniors including AC-HM Olson, 9 juniors including AC-HM Oman (though with Stout's annual roster turnover, I wouldn't expect all of these and probably would expect some transfers) Signature win at Point. Eddie always has them playing hard... but is it realistic for them to jump from 4 wins to... 10? 11? 12? More? It doesn't seem likely. Maybe +4 or 5 wins next year, then in 2 years is their year?


Platteville (8-8) - Lost: Bondar, Weik, Stangel (AC) and Litz, Returning: 1 senior, 3 juniors (including Cross - AC-HM in 10-11), signature win was probably North Central, the CCIW champ (by 20). I wonder how Cross will be this season... I don't think that he was ever 100% last season, though he was AC-HM as a freshman in 10-11. Do they have enough weapons to compete? They'll need to start an underclassman and their depth will come from underclassmen as well.


La Crosse (8-8) - Lost: Degner (AC-HM), Heiden, Chery (AC), Returning: 2 seniors, 3 juniors, signature win vs. River Falls, LaX will have a little bit more experience than Platteville, but they'll be relying on underclassmen too.

River Falls (12-4) - Lost: Manor (AC), Kimble (AC-HM), Anderson (AC-HM), Guerin (AC-HM) Returning: 3 seniors (including Ollie White - AC-HM), 3 juniors - RF was clearly stacked last year. The starting 5 all made the all-conference team(s) and they added Chris Palmer to boot last season. He didn't stick out the year and didn't have as much of an impact as some thought he might, but they still managed to sweep Point in all 3 games they played and they beat Whitewater in the WIAC tournament championship game to snag the WIAC automatic bid. The well isn't dry. River Falls still has some good big kids (just as Stevens Point... SP got outrebounded by 18 in the second half of loss #1 after Point jumped out to a 10 point halftime lead... which turned into a 3 point RF victory, helped in large part by Zach Peterson, who had 9 boards in the second half, including 5 offensive. The RF team combined for 16 offensive boards in the second half alone in that one). I expect RF to be pretty good next year, but it seems like last year was "their year" to have a great season. They had a very good one, but, like two years ago, when they bottomed out and lost 6 of their last 7, including a 1st round NCAA loss to Illinois Wesleyan, they lost in the first round again... this time at home, to a very determined (and talented) Edgewood team. RF's saving grace next year may be their size. I'm not really sure what to think of them, though... because, though they had a number of other contributors (such as the Petersons, White, and Utke) they scoring load was primarily on the starters. RF loses 46 of their 72 points per game to graduation.

Point Lost: D Tillema (AC), Brezinski (AC-HM) Return: 2 seniors (including T Tillema - AC), 2 juniors + Clayton Heuer. Point is losing two key contributors from last year in Dan Tillema and Jordan Brezinski. Both of these guys carried the team at different times during the season. I think it's clear that Clayton Heuer will need to step in and be the big guy for Point, but someone else will need to step into the scoring role left by Dan Tillema.

I think that Point and Whitewater sort of swapped MO's last year. Historically, Whitewater has had individual players who have tried to beat you and Point has played team basketball (helped by their depth). Last year, WW had more depth but they also really bought into the team concept and it brought them all the way to Salem and a national title. Point, on the other hand, felt that they had to lean heavily on the Tillema brothers and often they would just go one on one. That works against poor opponents, but it won't work against good ones. When Tyler went down late in the year, I knew that Point would be in trouble, and they certainly were, losing 4 of the last 5, including the first round of the NCAA's vs. Illinois Wesleyan. What is it against WIAC teams that are on a slide and drawing IWU in the NCAA tournament? Two years in a row...

Whitewater Lost: conference and national POY Chris Davis, Edmunds, Glenn, Returning: 3 seniors (including AC Knoble), 4 juniors (including AC-HM Bryson) What can you say about Whitewater? They lose a lot, especially in Davis, but the well isn't dry. I think that, if they can keep spreading the ball around and playing good defense, that Whitewater will be really good again next year.


So, to recap:

All-conf returners:
First team: T Tillema SP, J Peterson EC, L Knoble WW
Second Team: Oman and Olson Stout, Bryson WW, White RF, Bauer and Byrne Sup

Upperclassmen:
Stout: 11 (2 seniors 9 juniors)
EC: 9 (6 seniors 3 juniors)
Superior: 9 (4 seniors 5 juniors)
Whitewater: 7 (3 seniors 4 juniors)
River Falls: 6 (3 seniors 3 juniors)
Oshkosh: 6 (3 seniors 3 juniors)
Point: 5 (2 seniors 3 juniors)
La Crosse: 5 (2 seniors 3 juniors)
Platteville: 4 (1 senior 3 juniors)


It's not set in stone that the team with the most upperclassmen will do the best. Point had just 4 upperclassmen and would have won a share of the conference title by winning either of their last two games (extenuating circumstances due to T. Tillema's injury prevented Point from doing so).

All that being said, I think you may see more of a resurgence from Eau Claire. They have 6 seniors and had some success last year, plus their coach knows the league.  I think Point and Whitewater will still be in the mix, but Point's lack of depth is going to hurt them. I'll be interested to see how many of the freshmen last year (there were 8) stick around for next year. I know that a lot of fans were frustrated by Coach Sem's short bench and the limit of experience that several of these guys had, but I think that they very well may have just needed another year to be ready. I mean, come on, the top 3 guys off the bench were freshmen (until Ziemer was ready). Those guys got valuable experience and should be better this coming year. I just hope their confidence and scoring ability raise too!

And I think that some of this year's newcomers may be able to provide a spark right off the bat too. McGann had some pretty gaudy scoring numbers in high school, though the team wasn't very good, and Studer just won a state title. I could easily see one or both of them being in the mix this year.

Good analysis, I can't really disagree with anything said.

With as many freshman becoming sophomores for Point, I have to imagine a few take a big leap forward and provide some depth.  Obviously you would expect if these guys return: T Tillema, J Giordana, A Ryf, J Ziemer, J Ritchay and T Hass to be parts of the rotation.  I look for guys like Lutz and Forsythe to take some big steps forward and get more minutes, possibly Kacala as well.  I really liked what I saw from Forsythe at the end of last year on the defensive end.  If he becomes an offensive threat, look out.

As far as newcomers go, Heuer has to be penciled in as a starter.  He is going to get huge minutes and Point needs his size.  From highlights I've seen of him, it looks like he is a solid shooter from the outside.  I hope he has a solid post up game as well, I just don't know much on that front, maybe somebody else saw him play throughout high school that can help me out in that regard.  I also expect Studer to jump right into the frontline rotation.  He has the size and he played against the best competition the state had to offer.  He is battle tested and since he played with two Division 1 players, he knows how to be a role player and do the little things that win games.  If sophomores I mentioned earlier take the steps forward I am hoping for and expecting, I don't think McGann and Thorn will get many minutes.  Like you said PS, McGann looks to have the ability to score with the numbers he put up but Point's guard/wing rotation seems to be log jammed.  What I have found out about Thorn makes me think he has some great upside but will need some fine tuning that first year on campus.

I won't comment on the rumored 2 players from Illinois going to Point as I don't follow Illinois high school basketball and wouldn't know what to say about them.  The only thing I'll say, is Curtis Parker ( I think that was his name that floated around on these boards earlier) could be valuable if he can play point guard as Point really only has one true Point in Austin Ryf.

Ok guys, rip my thinking apart.

[John Gleich]

I don't know that much about him... but I think Parker played more of a 3 in high school. I found some websites that had game film but I couldn't get it to work longer than a few minutes (that, and I have better things to do with my time in June than watch last winter's high school game film!).

That doesn't mean that he lacks the skills to play the point... from the amount of video that I watched, it seemed like his HS was pretty small, so it might have been out of necessity.

I really wonder how Point will start next year...

Here are the returners:

Starters:

1. Tyler Tilema
2. Jordan Giordana
3. Trevor Hass
4.
5.

2, 3, and 4 were pretty interchangeable last year


Subs:

1. Austin Ryf
2.
3. Lutz
4. Joe Ritchay, Matt Ziemer, Alex Richard, Kacala
5. Van Handel

Other than Ryf at the point, the other guys filled an off-post role more than anything else (maybe Ziemer at the 3?) but none of those 4 game in and scored much. and seemed to be more post/forward oriented than guard oriented.


Newcomers:

1.
2. Two Guards from IL (maybe the 1?)
3. McGann (?)
4.
5. Heuer (out of necessity... does he fit the 4 better?) Studer, Thorn (these guys could also potentially be more suited for the 4 as well... I don't know their skillsets)


I really don't know much about the new players.

In terms of next year, I just really wonder where Point's offensive output will come from. Point lost better than 28 ppg with graduation. It may be by committee, but it seems like someone (or a few someones) need to increase their offensive output compared to last year. Maybe Heuer can fill in that role, and I'm hoping so, but there may be an adjustment period moving back into a significant role. It sounds like he's a really hard worker, which is good.


I'm thinking that, perhaps even more than last year, the loss off 11 guys from the roster last off-season will take a toll on Point this coming season. I hope I'm wrong... I just know how tough things were for Point last year, especially down the stretch. They were one injury away from missing an integral piece. That injury finally came against Stout, and the end of the season (4 losses in 5 games) showed how important Tyler was to last year's team.

[Falcons04]

RF will be interesting next year.  Can they sustain their recent success and stay in the top tier of the conference or will they fall back.  They were really set up to make their run last year, but do have a few players back from last year.  Keep in mind they also had a few players who were on the bench as freshmen/sophomores and "grayshirted" last year.  I'm not too familiar with any of them, but they might be in line to get some minutes.  I doubt any will be impact players, but it would change the team make-up outlined by PS.

Also, read this a few weeks ago on wissports.net regarding RF's incoming recruiting class:

Milwaukee Lutheran senior Will Taylor, Siren senior Andrew Brown and Gilmanton senior Dustin Oesau will join the previously announced Emilio Lopez of Wisconsin Lutheran in the incoming recruiting class for River Falls.

I can't remember any RF recruits from the Milwaukee area in recent years, so maybe they are finding a way to reach out with recruiting. 
 

[wcbsas]

5. Heuer (out of necessity... does he fit the 4 better?) Studer, Thorn (these guys could also potentially be more suited for the 4 as well... I don't know their skillsets)

Heuer has the size to play post, particularly in SP's scheme.  [Will not be surprised if Semling does not do something to screw this up though!]  Nevertheless I think Heuer has a tendency to float outside which may have to be addressed.

Him playing at UWGB will be a huge benefit as the kid will have had a chance to grow into his body against some decent competition.

[John Gleich]

5. Heuer (out of necessity... does he fit the 4 better?) Studer, Thorn (these guys could also potentially be more suited for the 4 as well... I don't know their skillsets)

Heuer has the size to play post, particularly in SP's scheme.  [Will not be surprised if Semling does not do something to screw this up though!]  Nevertheless I think Heuer has a tendency to float outside which may have to be addressed.

Him playing at UWGB will be a huge benefit as the kid will have had a chance to grow into his body against some decent competition.

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying... looking at the double negative (which cancel each other out) are you saying you will be surprised if Semling does something to screw up Heuer having the size to play in the post?


I'm not trying to be critical, I'm just trying to understand what you mean!

[chmarx]

Well, I'll jump in and be critical.  Semling has one at least one national championship.  Almost everyone in the league would like a coach who screws up that way.

[frodotwo]

5. Heuer (out of necessity... does he fit the 4 better?) Studer, Thorn (these guys could also potentially be more suited for the 4 as well... I don't know their skillsets)

Heuer has the size to play post, particularly in SP's scheme.  [Will not be surprised if Semling does not do something to screw this up though!]  Nevertheless I think Heuer has a tendency to float outside which may have to be addressed.

Him playing at UWGB will be a huge benefit as the kid will have had a chance to grow into his body against some decent competition.

Video highlights shown when he was announced as transferring to Point on local TV sports showed Heuer shooting outside shots only, so I hope he's developed an inside game. Thorn is a big man 6'8" 260 lbs so I'm sure his skill set is close to the basket, but playing at a small HS leads me to believe he'll need some seasoning before he's ready. What I saw of Studer on TV for the HS tourney was a complimentary player, not a star, but he wasn't intimidated playing in big games. 

[John Gleich]

Well, I'll jump in and be critical.  Semling has one at least one national championship.  Almost everyone in the league would like a coach who screws up that way.

I just straight up didn't understand what he was saying. Hard to criticize the content of an argument whose content you don't understand!

... But, of course, chmarx, I agree with you :-)

[wcbsas]

Well, I'll jump in and be critical.  Semling has one at least one national championship.  Almost everyone in the league would like a coach who screws up that way.

I just straight up didn't understand what he was saying. Hard to criticize the content of an argument whose content you don't understand!

... But, of course, chmarx, I agree with you :-)

Apologize for the poor English gammer in my statement ... fixed it for you below
[It will not surprise me if Semling does something to screw this up though!] 

[BoBo]

Well, I'll jump in and be critical.  Semling has one at least one national championship.  Almost everyone in the league would like a coach who screws up that way.

I just straight up didn't understand what he was saying. Hard to criticize the content of an argument whose content you don't understand!

... But, of course, chmarx, I agree with you :-)

Apologize for the poor English gammar in my statement ... fixed it for you below
[It will not surprise me if Semling does something to screw this up though!] 

Not to mention the spelling, too!! 

[badgerwarhawk]

wcbsas, you're certainly entitiled to your opinion and, honestly, as a WARHAWK fan I wouldn't mind it if you were correct and Semling did somehow "screw this up."  Anything thing that helps the WARHAWKS is fine with me.  However I personally think that Semling is an outstanding coach. 

I'm just curious though what would "screw(ing) this up" look like?  What would Semling do that in your mind was that? 

[wcbsas]

wcbsas, you're certainly entitiled to your opinion and, honestly, as a WARHAWK fan I wouldn't mind it if you were correct and Semling did somehow "screw this up."  Anything thing that helps the WARHAWKS is fine with me.  However I personally think that Semling is an outstanding coach. 

I'm just curious though what would "screw(ing) this up" look like?  What would Semling do that in your mind was that?

I have my reasons that I'd prefer to keep to myself.  SP is a great program and Semling is a good coach, you don't consistently win in WIAC if you are not a good coach.  I simply do not like his methods and find him to be a contradictory individual.