MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[diehardfan]

The Hope fans were extremely gracious.  Not that they liked us, particularly.  They just hate Calvin with a passion!     I don't think we have anything like this for a rivalry.  They are not only close and both excellent programs, they represent rival branches of the Dutch Church and have religious issues.

Such as, perhaps, ignoring the whole "Christians are supposed to love people and not hate them" thing?  

Since the WIAC is such a strong league from top to bottom, and the good teams vary so much from year to year, it seems unlikely that the same sort of rivalries would develop. Just a thought... what do you guys think?

Not to take away anything from any of the players in the WIAC this year, or Melzer, but even in a league as great as this, it seems extremely unlikely that you'd get a "Kalsow" every year. Heck, if a league gets a player whose game is that complete, who is not flashy or selfish - a true team player, every 10 years, they should consider themselves lucky. What Point did in 03-04 and 04-05 was truly incredible, and I will never stop feeling privilaged to have seen that Point Team play the six games I saw.

As a fan of division three basketball, I try never to take any great player or team for granted. Last year at the Final Four, the thought "I am never going to see this team play again," and despite being technically not a WIAC or Point person that made me feel profoundly sad.

I just want to conclude by saying congrats to Stout, Whitewater, and La Crosse for great seasons. That Stout-Carleton game was pretty close to, if not the best in the tourney so far. It was also really nice to see Whitewater, which at times in the past few years to be a little floundering, to finish the season strong, and win both league titles. Its hard to see teams play well like that, and see their season end, even if it was to a team in my league. Finally, it was great to see La Crosse have a very strong season as well, since they are not usually the first team you think of, when you think great WIAC teams. All in all, a very interesting year.

[BDB]

Fox Sports North will be showing the WIAC Tournament Championship games, obviously in tape delay as follows:

Women's Championship Game: Sat. March 11 - 1:00pm

Men's Championship Game: Sun. March 12 - 5:00pm

[79jaybird]

buf- I am glad that you were able to get the feed. I am a converted football ( strong suit) to basketball ( lesser suit)  commentator, thus I was a little worried about the broadcast.  The entire Regional was high class.  All 4 teams played hard, and each game was exciting. 
Stout guy-  Ditto, Meeting and chatting you was a pleasure and I'm sorry that only 1 of the 2 teams could advance.  Your players are a great group of guys.
All the best to the WIAC in the future.

[Greek Tragedy]

Since this year is over, here's a quick look at next year.

Starters and players lost, top reserves:  pts./reb.

Whitewater
Mlachnik:  8.4/2.7
Manchester:  12.5/3.4
Freund:  9.6/5.7
Williams:  11.3/3.9
Toellner:  8.7/2.8
-------------------
Riley:  4.9/1.8
Perry:  8.9/4.1
Anderson:  5.7/2.2

Loses WIAC POTY in Manchester, but will be a force in the middle with Freund and Toellner returning, as well as Perry

Stout
Stangl:  13.1/2.7
Nonemacher, Jacob:  12.1/7.9
Farmer:  11.5/5.9
Chandler:  10.8/1.9
Chaisson:  7.8/5.7
-------------------
Buck:  4.0/2.6
Nonemacher, John:  3.8/3.7
Heisler:  3.0/2.4

Aside from Nonemacher, huge holes to fill in the middle with the losses of Farmer and Chaisson

Stevens Point
Krull:  16.7/5.1
Bauer:  13.0/4.3
Hicklin:  12.4/3.9
Rortvedt:  12.3/4.0
Bouche:  4.0/2.4
--------------------
El-Amin:  4.4/1.0
Beamish:  4.1/2.3
Grusczynski:  4.0/1.9

Surprise (to some) 3rd place team returns yet another young group with only one senior starter (Krull).  Key could be the healthy return of Shawn Lee.

Oshkosh
Jahnke: 15.2/3.1
Capelle: 13.9/5.7
Gibson:  11.9/7.3
Doedens:  5.2/2.5
Wesener:  4.5/4.5
----------------------
Miller:  4.9/0.4
Warning:  4.2/2.0
Johnson, Kyle:  4.6/0.9

Veteran squad will return from a disappointing season with four senior starters for next year.

La Crosse
Werner:  14.4/8.4
Conigliaro:  12.4/3.0
Ask:  9.3/3.5
Fehrehbach:  8.8/2.3
Owen:  5.6/2.5
----------------------
Bemis:  5.9/3.5
Brown:  4.0/2.0
Homan:  3.7/1.5

Solid and surprise NCAA tourney team returns three starters, including stud Joe Werner.

Platteville
Crawford:  15.0/5.6
Skemp:  10.9/6.2
Gossens:  8.8/4.8
Jamerson:  8.8/2.0
Lohoff:  5.0/3.1
---------------------
Krause:  6.3/1.8
Langenfeld:  5.2/1.6
Richter:  3.3/1.1

Crawford is a big loss, but returns seven of top eight players for Paul Combs' squad.

River Falls
Hoeg:  17.3/4.5
Zylstra:  10.6/4.4
Thompson:  6.1/1.8
James:  5.1/4.2
Kelly:  4.2/2.0
----------------------
Kossoris:  6.8/2.7
Pearson:  2.8/1.4
Maas:  2.6/1.9

Four of five starters return, though Kossoris was 4th in minutes and 3rd in scoring.

Eau Claire
Bardon:  14.9/4.3
Ryan:  10.7/2.3
Beyer:  9.8/3.7
Ottney:  7.7/3.8
Riley:  6.2/4.8
-----------------------
Meier:  4.5/1.5
Vetterkind:  4.1/2.3
Birkel:  3.8/3.0

Returns top seven players

Superior
Cobb:  21.2/8.8
Hildenbrandt:  9.7/2.8
Hannula:  3.6/2.8
Ely:  8.2/4.4
Proue:  5.3/2.9
------------------------
Polowski:  1.8/1.3
Tirbys:  1.5/2.0
MacDonald:  3.6/2.4

Returns everyone and may win a conference game next year

[CVFan52]

Any one expect a transfer out of Cobb?

[bulk19]

Thanks for the roster recaps, Old School. Well done!

[chmarx]

In reference to the post of -

I'm not going to defend the Dutch people of Western Michigan.  They have their beliefs and I have mine.

OS, thanks for the informative post.

La Crosse has a lot of talent back, but we will be weak on the front line.  We are losing two of our four legitimate front court players.  I think Koebl has to recruit some big bodies that can contribute immediately.

[Greek Tragedy]

Based on the above information and your "insider" information you your team, what are your REALLY EARLY predictions for next year?  Just for fun!

[uww4ever]

Tough call OS, but for fun here are my early predictions:

1.  WW (tied w/ SP)
1.  Steven's Point (tied w/ WW)
3.  Stout (close second, maybe 1-2 games back)
4.  La Crosse (Joe Werner, nuff said)
5.  Platteville
6.  RF
7.  Oshy (struggle, struggle, struggle)
8.  Eau Claire
9.  Superior

Tough to call because even though the bottom teams are there, any of those teams can beat the top teams on any night.  Don't know how much hurt Melvin and Chester departures presents, but I think that GIO and PERRY are capable of putting together all-conference performances (but have to cut down on mistakes and step up more in big games).

Another topic coming up here is what has been written in the school paper lately about how athletes "transgressions" are front page reports. Is there any problem w/ that elsewhere?  Athletes are upset here (GIO was in the paper, along w/ Justin Beaver for football) when they were caught doing something illegal.

[cubs]

Oshkosh
Jahnke: 15.2/3.1
Capelle: 13.9/5.7
Gibson:  11.9/7.3
Doedens:  5.2/2.5
Wesener:  4.5/4.5
----------------------
Miller:  4.9/0.4
Warning:  4.2/2.0
Johnson, Kyle:  4.6/0.9

Veteran squad will return from a disappointing season with four senior starters for next year.[

Old School,
Remember that Kyle Johnson quit the team in the middle of the season, so I doubt you will see him back on the floor for the Titans next season. 

The kid that COULD have an impact is D.J. Marsh from Nicolet.  He was receiving some D1 looks out of HS until he suffered a broken foot.  He took a Medical Hardship this year after sustaining a similar injury while at UWO.

[John Gleich]

Another topic coming up here is what has been written in the school paper lately...

That's interesting UWW4ever.  Sometimes it seems like either the high profile athletes have the spotlight thrust upon them (negatively) by the media, blowing up a situation that a) didn't need to be made public or b) wasn't as major as the media made it.  The other side of the coin is that athletes can sometimes "make things go away" when they perhaps SHOULD be brought to light.  I think the latter is many times the case with professional athletes (the idea that they are above the law and won't have to deal with the consequences of their actions).  The former, many times, deals with an athlete facing the repercussions of their actions, but having the situation blown up to proportions that a normal citizen wouldn't have to deal with, in full view of the public instead of in private, with their friends and family.

It kind of begs the question if athletes are normal citizens, or if their lives (even off the playing field) are under the microscope.  I think there are people who want those in the positive spotlight on the court to recieve negative publicity to bring athletes down to the average level.  The problem I have with this is that, many times, it's out of jealousy, and it really doesn't pay homage to the work that college athletes put in, year round, to play at the level they do.

[proudofLU]

Was DJ Marsh better than frosh Ryan Kroeger (now of LU, formerly of Nicolet);  I'd find that hard to believe.  Kroeger is a prolific scorer and can also play defense beyond his years.

[cubs]

Was DJ Marsh better than frosh Ryan Kroeger (now of LU, formerly of Nicolet);  I'd find that hard to believe.  Kroeger is a prolific scorer and can also play defense beyond his years.

Their Senior Year at Nicolet, Kroeger was a 1st Team All Conference Selection (as was teammate Morris Cain who has appeared in 10 games for Wisconsin this season) while Marsh earned Honorable Mention status.  However, Marsh was a 1st Team Selection his Sophomore and Junior seasons if that tells you anything about his talent.  Anyone that is a three year starter in the typically strong Northshore Conference must have a little something to offer. 

The problem has been his health, (which was a factor in him dropping to an HM selection his senior season) as this is a reoccuring injury. 

I guess it is hard to compare the two, as Kroeger is a Guard, while Marsh is a Forward.  I think Marsh can have an impact for UWO, but his health is what worries me.

Here is a link from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that gives you a chance to look at their HS Stats.  Marsh's numbers really dropped off his senior year compared to his Sophomore and Junior campaigns, but again I think his foot had something to do with it.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/prep/statsbkb/player.asp?page=boys&id=754&vDate=2002

[Mr. Downtown]

This week, the biggest governing body on College Broadcasting, National Broadcasting Society have listed there National Nominees.

In the category of Best Sports Play-by-Play for both Radio AND TV...

is me 

You can take a gander here:
http://www.nbs-aerho.org/docs/2005-2006_Comptetion_Finalists.pdf

There's 5 pages of it, but the first one is on the bottom page.

Again, for those who don't know...I go to UW-Oshkosh (WHOA!! Major shocker there!!  )

Also, titansrus was the color man for the Audio piece.

Awards will be given out next saturday in Washington DC.

[BBGUY]

Oshkosh always looks good on paper- next year they will be rated high but will screw up as usual. If LU is on their schedule, that might make it 4 in a row..