MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

Thanks to Tomt4525 for posting the incoming players for each team, according to his magazine. Now onto who's returning, based on last year's rosters.

Stout
Stout loses just Ragland but returns everyone else. Thanks to injuries, eight other players started multiple games. Hopefully the Kujak brothers return from injury. Ahsenmacher, Patterson and Lahti could round out the starting rotation. Keefe, Elliot, Patrick and Ortmann also started games last year.

La Crosse
The Eagles will have to do without Zuiker, Cameron, Schmidt and De Bruin. Staege and Coenen return as regular starters while Wheeler (4), Finco (3) and Rihn (8) also have starting experience.  Ryan Kruser averaged nearly 15 minutes a game off the bench.

Platteville
Stocki and Manning are gone, but Johnson, Vaassen and Oestreich return as starters from a year ago. Sigel, Wittwer, Nemitz and River (9.9 mpg) all logged double-digit minutes.

Eau Claire
Mau and Effertz are the only casualties but Hjelter should jump back into the starting lineup. Lile Oshkosh and River Falls,  the Blugolds return nearly everyone. Kohner, Moody, Kalien and Martinek could complete the starting 5. Diekelman, Stackpool and Schneiderman add to the rotation from 2014-2015.

Whitewater
Drew Bryson is the only holdover that contributed from last year with the top 7 gone: Evans, Young, Odegaard, Egan, Patten, Moananuand Muhammad gone. Have no fear, there's a new potential starting lineup made up of just transfers coming in.

Oshkosh
Oshkosh, of course, returns everyone with Alex Olson, Jansen, Bolger, Mueller and Wallace/Schebel starting. Laihinen, Dwyer, Linzmeier, Noone and Nick Olson rounding out the roster.

River Falls
The Falcons' roster is up and no Rockett (10 starts) or Deppe (14) are on it. No worries as Christianson, Erickson,  Goodwin, Herum and Lewis have all started. Pearson and Timlin also contributed while they add three senior transfers in Lau, Eaton and Johnson.

Stevens Point
Pelkofer is the only starter back for the Dawgs, but McGann played significant minutes as the only major contributor off the bench. Gjertson was the only other player to average double digit minutes. Goedeke, Untiedt, Zuiker and Freeborn could all contribute this year while all averaging less than eight minutes a game last year. Patterson could also chip in after missing the whole of the season last year.

[Greek Tragedy]

http://athletics.uwsp.edu/news/2015/11/2/MBB_1102152145.aspx

Congrats, Stephen Pelkofer. 3rd team preseason All-American.

[BanditUWSP]

Another guess, influenced somewhat by Point's performance against Duluth in last Friday's scrimmage.

Stevens Point
Oshkosh
Whitewater
River Falls

Platteville
Eau Claire
LaCrosse
Stout

[John Gleich]

Point
WW
Osh
RF
Platte
LaX
EC
Stout

As an aside, UW Sup was picked 3rd in the UMAC, behind Northwestern and just one point behind St. Scholastica.

http://www.umacathletics.com/news/2015/10/28/MBBALL_1028150824.aspx

UW Sup is 6-1 against St. Scholastica over the last 4 years so their outlook moving forward is bright in my opinion.

Sorry for the aside... I just think these guys are SUPER.

[tomt4525]

http://www.wiacsports.com/news/2015/11/3/MBB_1103153101.aspx

Pointers get the preseason nod...followed by Whitewater, Oshkosh and River Falls

[Just Bill]

http://www.wiacsports.com/news/2015/11/3/MBB_1103153101.aspx

Pointers get the preseason nod...followed by Whitewater, Oshkosh and River Falls

Curious they don't publish the poll's point totals or number of first place votes. I'd like to see how close the voting was.

[John Gleich]

http://www.wiacsports.com/news/2015/11/3/MBB_1103153101.aspx

Pointers get the preseason nod...followed by Whitewater, Oshkosh and River Falls

Curious they don't publish the poll's point totals or number of first place votes. I'd like to see how close the voting was.

That was my first thought too.

[AppletonRocks]

Don't like the transfer propensity at Whitewater.  Hope those players get meaningful degrees. 

[Greek Tragedy]

http://www.wiacsports.com/news/2015/11/3/MBB_1103153101.aspx

Pointers get the preseason nod...followed by Whitewater, Oshkosh and River Falls

Curious they don't publish the poll's point totals or number of first place votes. I'd like to see how close the voting was.

Interesting. They've done that in the past.

[John Gleich]

Don't like the transfer propensity at Whitewater.  Hope those players get meaningful degrees.

Curious. What's your reasoning here?

As far as I know, all of the transfers to Whitewater have graduated. They've come to Whitewater in large part to get a new start, come closer to home, etc.

I think if there's one program who has taken in a significant number of transfers and done it right, it's Whitewater. Maybe that's just the outsider's perspective... but Pat Miller is running his program pretty well in my view and the players are the largest beneficiary of it.

[Greek Tragedy]

Is the Pointer Purple/Gold game on ESPN Ocho tonight?

[tomt4525]

Is the Pointer Purple/Gold game on ESPN Ocho tonight?

It's on right after the Dodgeball championships.  I'll give some thoughts on the scrimmage sometime tomorrow, going to be a long drive home and an early morning to work.

[Captain_Joe08]

In exhibition play, River Falls gets clobbered by UW-Madison 101-46. Garret Pearson led the Falcons with 11 points. Nigel Hays and Ethan Happ led the Badgers with 16 points each.

[frodotwo]

Is the Pointer Purple/Gold game on ESPN Ocho tonight?

Purple beats Gold by 20+. Purple had 4 upper classmen, Gold had 2.  Pelkofer and McGann will be handfuls for anyone in the league to deal with, McGann has a sweet mid-range jumper and Pelkofer is great inside or out. No Untiedt due to ankle sprain and Goedecke has a shoulder injury. Freeborn and Zuiker are decent players, Gjertson didn't show much, nor did Retzloff. Mark Nelson will see the floor some as will Ethan Bublitz, who were both tough as defenders and offensively. Drew Fredrickson can score and Brett Tauber showed promise Canon O'Heron and Chaz Mootz will need some seasoning.

Pelkofer, McGann Bublitz and Nelson were the best players on the floor IMO.

[tomt4525]

Cant remember the exact score but it was something like Purple 90 Gold 65

Teams were:

Purple:  Sean McGann, Brad Freeborn, Jared Gjertson, Ethan Bublitz, Drew Fredrickson, Aaron Retzlaff

Gold:  Stephen Pelkofer, Luke Zuiker, Mark Nelson, Chaz Mootz, Canon O'Heron, Brett Tauber

Bill Patterson is out for the year with a knee injury.  Caden Unteidt rolled his ankle and I'm not sure if he'll miss any time with it.  Zack Geodeke didn't play due to a shoulder injury which he will be playing with throughout the season but is waiting on a brace to arrive before that happens.

Offensively I thought that McGann was easily the best player on the court.  His mid range game was on display and was very tough posting up down low as well.  He is really impressing me and is taking on a lot of the scoring load in his final season.  Pelkofer started off slow, I think part of that reason was Bublitz did a great job defending him, but Pelkofer really picked it up in the 2nd half.  Pelkofer and McGann will be a tough duo to account for.  Brad Freeborn had a very good performance last night.  He was aggressive on offense getting to the hole.  I heard he shot 12 free throws after the game and finished at the rim on a few other occasions.  He plays like that and he's in for a great season.  Newcomers that impressed me on offense were Bublitz and Nelson.  Bublitz brings everything you could want to the table.  He hit some outside shots and wasn't afraid at all to get to the rim.  Sky is the limit for him.  Nelson is so advanced on the offensive end that I don't see how he doesn't get minutes.  He has a good stroke from 3 point land and is extremely difficult to keep out of the paint when he attacks.  I picture him being the scoring punch of the bench.

Fredrickson looked good last night too.  His handle is very impressive, he's so comfortable with the ball.  He hit shots last night too.  He's got a bright future as well.  Tauber is the more advanced of the freshman bigs.  If Goedeke is slowed at all with his shoulder injury, Tauber will be the one who takes advantage.  He still has to become more consistent but he shows glimpses of what he can become as a freshman.  Zuiker had a really good first half offensively and then struggled a little in the 2nd half.  He definitely has become more confident in his shot and showed off athleticism when driving to the hoop.  With Nelson, I think Zuiker also adds some scoring off the bench.  Retzlaff made some good plays, being an upperclassmen this is his time to show if he belongs on the court.  Still a ways to go but he could get some spot minutes depending on matchups.  Mootz is a hustle guy, he's gonna be a great teammate and do the little things, in time. 

Without Geodeke and Unteidt available I would think Semling's starting 5 is Bublitz, Pelkofer, McGann, Freeborn and Gjertson.  First players off the bench I would think would be Zuiker, Nelson and Tauber.  If both Geodeke and Unteidt are available I would assume Unteidt takes Bublitz' spot in the starting 5 and Geodeke would take Tauber's minutes.