MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[fredfalcon]

Point over EC 89-69, Lax leading Pville 72-61 w/less than a minute left.

[John Gleich]

Point kept the hot hand from Wednesday's loss to Platteville and ran Eau Claire out of the gym, 89-69. SP hit 15 3's and shot 67% for the game (19/24 in the second half).

[fredfalcon]

What's with Bryce Williams? Scores 24 on 6/7 threes and was leading in 3 accuracy in the league earlier, but does not start?

[cubs]

River Falls, Stevens Point, Platteville and Whitewater all win, and in the process the Falcons now open up a three game lead over their next closest WIAC competitor, albeit five different teams.

River Falls 6-0
Eau Claire 3-3
Oshkosh 3-3
Stevens Point 3-3
Stout 3-3
Whitewater 3-3
Platteville 2-4
La Crosse 1-5

[cubs]

If you are a WIAC fan, it's exciting times for you. It seems every game is now big, even with Platteville winless in the conference. The days of Point and Whitewater dominating the conference are long gone, even though it was just 2 years ago Point won the title (please, no stripping of the title comments).

Sure, but River Falls has just taken their place!!!! 

This week sure turned things upside down in the WIAC standings!!!!

[Greek Tragedy]

If you are a WIAC fan, it's exciting times for you. It seems every game is now big, even with Platteville winless in the conference. The days of Point and Whitewater dominating the conference are long gone, even though it was just 2 years ago Point won the title (please, no stripping of the title comments).

Sure, but River Falls has just taken their place!!!! 

This week sure turned things upside down in the WIAC standings!!!!

It has to last more than 1/2 a conference season.     

[Greek Tragedy]

What's with Bryce Williams? Scores 24 on 6/7 threes and was leading in 3 accuracy in the league earlier, but does not start?

Maybe he's better served off the bench as a possible spark. Throughout D3, I see a lot of players playing more minutes than starters and scoring better than them too. And he always doesn't get 24 a game!     

[badgerwarhawk]

WARHAWKS (14-3, 3-3); 65
Stout (12-5, 3-3): 51

Back to back three point baskets from Scotty Tyler and Chris Jones opened the scoring staking the WARHAWKS to a lead that reached double digits after about seven minutes of play when Jones hit another three pointer.  The Blue Devils would get to within four points 24-20 with just over five and half minutes remaining but the WARHAWKS would close out  the half with an 11-2 run to lead by thirteen 35-22 on Alex LeGault's offensive rebound and put back at the buzzer.  The WARHAWKS went 8-16 from beyond the arc and held the Blue Devils to 27% shooting from the floor.  Jone's 18 points led all scorers and LeGault's 4 rebounds were a team high.  The WARHAWKS were able to maintain their double digit lead through the first four and half minutes of the second half before the Blue Devils closed it to single digits eventually closing to within four points 53-49 with a little under five minutes to play. However the WARHAWKS went on an 10-0 run capped with consecutive three pointers from Tyler and Rongstad to put the game out of reach.

Jones: 22 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists
Tyler: 13 points, 4 rebounds
Rongstad: 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks
Woodley: 11 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals
Team: 12-25 three point attempts   

[Greek Tragedy]

So Badger,

Aside from the game reports, how's the feel of the team? Obviously to start the conference season, they were 0-3 and talk of lack of defense. Now, 3-0 later, things are looking up.

[AppletonRocks]

Does D3 provide any graduation stats for teams by sport?

[tomt4525]

43rd ranked Lakeside Lutheran G/F Cam Kuepers has committed to play basketball at UWEC.

[Just Bill]

Does D3 provide any graduation stats for teams by sport?

You should be able to find that here: http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/graduation-rates

[AppletonRocks]

Does D3 provide any graduation stats for teams by sport?

You should be able to find that here: http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/graduation-rates

Thanks, good global view.  Wish the specific schools were searchable but it appears on the surface that schools reporting in D3 are doing so voluntarily.

[badgerwarhawk]

So Badger,

Aside from the game reports, how's the feel of the team? Obviously to start the conference season, they were 0-3 and talk of lack of defense. Now, 3-0 later, things are looking up.

In the three losses the average score was 80-68, in the three wins it's 68-61.  Opponents shot 53.2% in the losses but only 39.2% in the wins while we shot 45.1% in the losses and 47.4% in the wins.  So we're shooting and scoring about the same in the six games but allowing an average of 19 fewer points. This isn't rocket science.  We have all the talent we need we just need to be stronger defensively.

It doesn't hurt to have Jones back at full strength either.  Plus Rongstad is more fully integrated and into his role on the team.

[Greek Tragedy]

Well, last week, River Falls was one of two teams to go 2-0 and as a result, they opened up a 3-game lead over 5 other teams. Whitewater was the other team to go undefeated (both on the road) and, after starting out 0-3, now they sit at 3-3. Stout and Oshkosh dropped both games last week. The Titans didn't like mom's cooking as both losses were at home.

Wednesday will mark the halfway point and it seems like a quick turn around. Having Superior in the league adds four game days to the schedule. La Crosse tries to make up some ground with 2 home games, the only team not having to pack their bags, while Stout is the only team to travel both days this week.

River Falls 6-0 (16-1)
The Falcons showed they are for real with two convincing road wins at La Crosse and Oshkosh. They take on Stout on Wednesday before traveling to Point on the weekend. They edged the Pointers by one last time out.

Oshkosh 3-3 (10-7)
The Titans really had a chance to make a statement and they failed miserably. They lost both games at home convincingly. Oshkosh travels to La Crosse before returning home to face Eau Claire. The Titans did beat the Blugolds at Zorn earlier in the year.

Eau Claire 3-3 (13-4)
The Blugolds took care of business at home vs Stout but then got hammered at Quandt. They host Platteville tomorrow before trying to avenge a home loss to Oshkosh this weekend at Kolf.

Stout 3-3 (12-5)
The wheels have fallen off Stout's wagon with losses at Eau Claire and at home to Whitewater. Things don't get any easier with road trips to River Falls and Platteville. They did top Platteville at home 82-73.

Whitewater 3-3 (14-3)
Apologies to River Falls, but the 2017 National Champs could be the hottest team in the league.  Convincing roads wins at Oshkosh and Stout, teams that were 3-1 at one point, shows that the Warhawks 0-3 start is forgotten. Whitewater host arch rival Stevens Point before attempting to exact some revenge for an opeing day home conference loss to La Crosse on Saturday.

Stevens Point 3-3 (9-7)
The rollercoaster ride continues for the Dawgs. After basically leading the entire game at Platteville, they were unable to close things out. In returning home, though, they pounded Eau Claire. It will be interesting what team shows up this week as they travel to hated enemies Whitewater and then try to finish the job they couldn't at River Falls when they host the Falcons this weekend.

La Crosse 2-4 (10-7)
After opening with a road win at Whitewater, La Crosse suffered their 4th loss in a row when the Falcons came to town. The Eagles finally broke their losing streak at Platteville last weekend. This week they try to get back into the conference race with two home games, Wednesday vs Oshkosh and then hoping for a season sweep of Whitewater on Saturday.

Platteville 1-5 (8-9)
The Pioneers finally broke into the win column against Point, but those good feelings went away quickly when they couldn't keep the momentum building, succumbing to La Crosse, also at home. They head north to face Eau Claire and then return home and try for the season split with the Blue Devils.