MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Brian R. Carroll]

I attended the Platteville-Eau Claire game at the storied Zorn arena on Saturday, and still believe Zorn to be the quintessential WIAC venue. A pretty good crowd of almost 1000, a very good pep band and a good college basketball game made for an enjoyable evening. La Crosse handled Eau Claire at home, but the Blugolds looked tough to me. La Crosse will need to shoot well to counter Eau Claire's rebounding. It's good to see both La Crosse and Eau Claire resurgent. 

[AppletonRocks]

I've been so frustrated with the team that I've been tempted to quit posting wraps but I've continued with it because I don't want anyone to think that I only do them in the good times.

That's a laudable attitude, and it should go for the league as a whole, too. Are some of the regular posters here taking a sabbatical until the league improves? If so, that's a real shame.

Sager, I don't think you are assessing the league well, but that is my opinion.  I am sure I am wrong so give me 35 pages in response.   

[badgerwarhawk]

LaCrosse 8-2 @ RF, OSH, @EC, Plat  10-4 final record
River Falls 7-3 Lax, Plat, @ Stout, @ Osh 10-4 final record
Eau Claire 7-3 @osh, @ Point, Lax, WW 9-5 final record
Oshkosh 6-4 EC, @lax, @ww, RF 8-6 final record
Whitewater 4-6 @plat, stout, osh, @EC 7-7 final record
Stevens Point 4-6 @stout, EC, @ Plat, @ Lax 6-8 final record
Platteville 4-6 WW, @ RF, Point, Stout 6-8 final record
Stout 0-10 Point, @WW, RF, @plat 0-14 final record.

not sure of exact tie breakers but this is how i see things shaping up the rest of the way.

...Audible sigh of relief...

Hoops has us in the conference tournament.  I'm not at all sure.  The thing is that we're not a half bad team. We're losing these conference games literally by a few possessions.  If we could just get our act together we could make noise.  Earlier in the season I just kept thinking it would happen.  Most recently I thought the Point game might signal it but then we we're right back where we started against the Eagles.   At this point we either do it and win the automatic bid  or we empty our lockers. 

[Gregory Sager]

It's worth noting that the wide-open nature of this season's WIAC could be an opportunity for a team that hasn't made the dance in awhile (it's been a decade for UW-LaCrosse, 13 years for UW-Oshkosh, and a decade and a half for UWEC) to stop a long drought. It's also a chance for one of the programs that hasn't been there as often as has UW-Whitewater (19x), UWSP (13x), or UW-Platteville (10x) to add another appearance.

[John Gleich]

LaX crept into the bottom of the ORV category with 3 votes in the latest Top 25 poll.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Regional Rankings: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2016/02/10/first-2016-regional-rankings-released-today/

[Greek Tragedy]

Regional Rankings: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2016/02/10/first-2016-regional-rankings-released-today/

Why are you posting that here, no one in the WIAC is in it.                 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Doing my due diligence across the boards. 

[Hoops Junkie]

Goes to show you how much attention the NCAA pays to things.  UW-Superior is listed in the wrong region.  They are now in the west region. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Goes to show you how much attention the NCAA pays to things.  UW-Superior is listed in the wrong region.  They are now in the west region.

Brought that to their attention. It is correct on the women's side, so probably a slight snafu. Easily fixable.

[AppletonRocks]

Goes to show you how much attention the NCAA pays to things.  UW-Superior is listed in the wrong region.  They are now in the west region.

Brought that to their attention. It is correct on the women's side, so probably a slight snafu. Easily fixable.

Carroll ahead of all the WSUC teams--poll is worthy of disdain.   

[Brian R. Carroll]

With La Crosse leading Falls by 14 and Eau Claire being pummeled by Oshkosh, the Eagles can wrap up a share of the title by beating the Titans on Saturday. Amazing.

[badgerwarhawk]

WARHAWKS: 104
Platteville: 86

Trinson White's three pointer put the WARHAWKS on the board but that was quickly matched by a Pioneer three pointer and the two teams were tied and traded the lead a total of eight times in the first seven and half minutes.  Another three pointer from White which was followed by a three pointer from Mitchell Pfeifer put the WARHAWKS up by four, 18-14.  Over the next eleven minutes the WARHAWKS lead remained a single digit until Haki Stampley's layup stretched it to ten points 43-33.  The Pioneers were able to reduce it to eight with a basket but Cole VanSchyndel's layup pushed it back to ten and White hit a jumper with twelve seconds left in the half giving the WARHWKS their largest lead 47-35 of the half.  Led by White's 15 and Stampley's 10 points the WARHAWKS shot 59% from the floor hitting 6 of 10 three point attempts.  White added 5 assists and he, Stampley and VanSchyndel each had 3 rebounds.  Boston Johnson's 15 points paced the Pioneers who held a 20-14 scoring advantage in the paint.   Three point baskets by White, Stampley, VanSchyndel and Marquis Turner in the first two and half minutes of the second half expanded the WARHAWKS lead to twenty 65-45.  The Pioneers would reduce that to eleven twice over the next seven minutes but the WARHAWKS responded and went back up by twenty 87-67 on a pair of free throws by VanSchyndel with six and half minutes remaining.  The WARHAWKS lead reached it's high of twenty four when Jerry Ngobi hit a free throw a couple of minutes later.  Both teams shot well in the game with the WARHAWKS connecting on 56% and the Pioneers 52% of their shots.  Three point baskets and free throws were significant factors as the WARHAWKS hit 13 of 23 three point attempts and 29 of 35 free throws while the Pioneers connected on 4 of 13 three pointers and attempted just 12 free throws.  The two teams combined for just 15 turnovers.  It was the third time this year in which the WARHAWKS have eclipsed the century mark. 

WARHAWKS:
White: 27 points, 7 rebounds, 10:1 a:to, 1 steal
Stampley: 23 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist
VanSchyndel: 16 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist
Pfeifer: 10 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal
Ngobi: 8 points, 1 assists, 1 steal
TEAM: 41-31 bench points22-11 second chance

Platteville:
Johnson: 30 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
Oestriech: 14 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal
Vaassen: 7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
Duax: 7 points, 3 assists, 1 block, 1 steal
TEAM: 56-28 in the paint, 12-9 off of turnovers

[John Gleich]

Current standings:

School	WIAC	Overall
LaX	9-2	15-7
EC	7-4	14-8
Osh	7-4	14-8
RF	7-4	13-9
WW	5-6	14-8
SP	5-6	12-10
Pville	4-7	10-12
Stout	0-11	4-17

As I was looking at these, something jumped out to me.

Here are last year's final standings:

School	WIAC	Overall
WW	15-1	24-4
SP	15-1	27-5
RF	10-6	12-14
Pville	9-7	16-10
Osh	8-8	16-12
LaX	6-10	11-14
EC	6-10	11-16
Sup	3-16	10-16
Stout	0-16	3-22

Just 4/9 teams had a winning record last year.

This year (as of now), 6/8 teams have a winning record.

Perhaps this is a different metric by which the conference could be judged. There's clearly more parity this year than in the recent past.


This mirrors some of the "best years" of the WIAC back in the early Oughts, when we were collectively blowing away the non-conference competition at a better than 4/5 clip.

Maybe > .500 isn't the best metric. < 10 losses? 20 wins? Here are a few different looks back.

Year	> .500	< 10 losses	>20 wins	NCAA
99-00	6	3	2	2 bids: #2, Elite 8
00-01	8	4	0	1 bid: Rd. 2
01-02	6	5	3	1 bid: Sweet 16
02-03	6	3	3	2 bids: Rd. 2, Elite 8
03-04	6	3	3	1 bid: #1
04-05	6	4	1	1 bid: #1
05-06	5	4	3	3 bids: Rd. 1, Rd. 2 (x2)
06-07	5	4	2	1 bid: Sweet 16
07-08	4	4	2	2 bids: Rd. 1, Rd. 2
08-09	5	3	3	3 bids: Rd. 2 (x3)
09-10	7	3	2	2 bids: #1, Rd. 2
10-11	6	3	2	2 bids: Rd. 1, Sweet 16
11-12	7	3	3	3 bids: #1, Rd. 1 (x2)
12-13	5	5	3	2 bids: Rd. 2 (x2)
13-14	4	2	2	2 bids: #1, Sweet 16
14-15	4	2	2	2 bids: #1, Rd. 1
15-16	6	5	0	? bids

The number of teams > .500 could drop (Point is two games over right now... Platteville is two games under, not likely that both would achieve > .500 records based on remining schedule - including playing each other - and competing in the WIAC tournament).

Maybe these aren't the right metrics. Is 20 wins too high? Maybe 15 wins? Bids to the tournament? Success in the tournament?

Or maybe the out-of-conference win % is the key number.



Lots of information there... but not a lot of obvious conclusions. Thoughts?

[John Gleich]

Whitewater: 104
Platteville: 86

Anybody have any idea when the last time was a conference team hit 100 pts in a conference game?

Maybe it has happened more often than it seems... but it feels rare.


12/1/11 Oshkosh 105  River Falls 99 (2OT)

2/2/11 UWSP 101  Stout 50

1/17/09 UWSP 104  Superior 60

1/3/07 UWSP 101  Superior 45
1/20/07 UWSP 106  River Falls 61
2/17/07 UWSP 103  Superior 64

2/25/03 Oshkosh 103  Stout 70

2/19/00 La Crosse 108  Whitewater 84



The WIAC records go back to the early 90's... and if you go all the way back to 90-91, there are a TON of games where teams were scoring 100, 110+.

So, clearly different now than it was then...

90-91 - listed under the winning team:

Platteville

12/15 @ UWSP 100-65
1/26 @ Oshkosh 105-80
1/30 vs UWSP 112-65
2/8 vs Stout 110-65
2/9 vs Superior 115-82
2/15 @ RF 100-94

Stout

2/15 vs Oshkosh 104-97

Oshkosh

12/19 @ WW 101-85
1/5 @ RF 116-81

Point

2/5 vs. RF 100-89
3/2 vs. Stout 101-83

Whitewater

1/12 @ UWSP 104-98 (OT)
2/8 vs Superior 116-62
2/9 vs Stout 109-71