MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[John Gleich]

Looks like Stout over EC 65-42.

Can't find a RF/Sup score, but RF was leading at the half by a bit I think I saw.

[frankiet]

River Falls 90 Superior 65

Game was live on video webcast. Pretty cool. It'd be nice if all schools went to that capability along with live stats.

Cobb in foul trouble...4 in first half!!! YIKES!
RF shot 60% in first half and never looked back. Good performance for RF! The young RF team is looking to make strides.

[Greek Tragedy]

Point Story

Great game at Kolf tonight.  More later...

Wed 11/29/06
UW-La Crosse 57, UW-Whitewater 53 @ Whitewater 
UW-River Falls 90, UW-Superior 65  @ Superior 
UW-Stevens Point 89, UW-Oshkosh 76 @ Oshkosh 
UW-Stout 65, UW-Eau Claire 42 @ Menomonie

[frodotwo]

Awesome game by the Pointers tonight as they led nearly the entire game. Great defensive effort despite giving up 76 points. Gibson (1 dunk) was taken out of the game from the start and clearly outplayed by 6'4" Jon Krull (and help defense also). Had a conversation earlier today with another Pointer fan who told me that Gibson plays soft and is not the real threat of the Oshkosh team (Capelle obviously is) and that played out tonight. I've said before in my posts in prior years that Oshkosh does not appear to have fire or chemistry on their side and this looks to continue IMO. Pointers on the other hand are in a groove right now and despite being a very young team, have beaten 3 teams ranked in the top 25 in the country in their first four games...all on the road no less. AND despite having no one taller than 6'6'' logging significant minutes. Go dawgs!!

[Greek Tragedy]

Frodo,

Were you at the game?  I would've liked to have met you.  Alum night at Kolf!  Jay, Nick and Jack Bennett, Kyle Grucszynski and, of course, Jason Kalsow all in attendence.  Nice to say hi to all of them.

[chmarx]

I wasn't able to go to Whitewater.  And I couldn't listen to the game, because I went to the La Crosse/Whitewater women's game here.

An exciting and somewhat surprising victory for my Eagles.

[cubs]

Gibson (1 dunk) was taken out of the game from the start and clearly outplayed by 6'4" Jon Krull (and help defense also). Had a conversation earlier today with another Pointer fan who told me that Gibson plays soft and is not the real threat of the Oshkosh team (Capelle obviously is) and that played out tonight. I've said before in my posts in prior years that Oshkosh does not appear to have fire or chemistry on their side and this looks to continue IMO.

I'm going to have to disagree with you a little on this one......  I don't think Krull CLEARLY outplayed Gibson.  Krull was limited to I believe 4 FG attempts in the first half.  When Point was kicking the ball into him, there was nothing he could do with it.  You could clearly see him getting frustrated when getting back on defense.  It kind of surprised me considering Point was still up around 7 or 8 points at the time.  This to me says Gibson was getting it done on the defensive end.

As far as Gibson being soft, he might not be the strongest guy around, but I don't necessarily think he plays "soft."  Soft players don't go for double-doubles against one of the better teams in the WIAC no matter how tall you are. 

What Oshkosh is missing is that kid (Bryce Welch anyone??? Interestingly he was at the game last night.) that can knock down the 3 ball when teams go and double on Gibson.

As far as the fire/chemistry, you are right on.  They haven't had that leader that will put people in their place if they aren't doing their job since Andy Fernholz graduated.  He was a BIG reason why this same group of players (plus Jahnke) won 19 games as sophomores, but didn't play up to their expectations last season.  Is this year going to be more of the same??  I don't think anyone can answer that yet, but if they continue to close out late on opponents shooters, there may be a few more games where teams shoot 50% or better from the 3-pt line. 

If I was a betting man, I wouldn't be surprised to see UWO go to a little zone later on this year if they continue to struggle guarding the outside shot, especially when you can put a 7 footer in the middle.

[frodotwo]

Gibson scores 1 point in the first half with a 9" height advantage over Krull. This was basically a standoff in my mind as Krull only scored 2. Second half to Krull (15 pts to 11) 0 turnovers, 4 steals, 6 boards to 3 TO, 0 steals 10 boards. Advantage Krull. Team defense gets the credit, but there is no way a guy almost a foot taller than a defender should not dominate.

[Mr. Downtown]

We've been saying this now for 4 years...so why is it a surprise that Gibson doesn't dominate to everyone?

Oldschool, would've been nice to meet ya. I was in a suit for the game, broadcasting along with Titansrus. So...you probably know what we look like, but don't know which one is which! 

Ok, two total turnovers. and...couldn't miss from downtown. Hmm...I'm pretty sure there's not a defense in the game of basketball that can slow down any team who pulls that off.

What I think everyone is missing is how great of a support cast the Pointers have. Hicklin and Rortvedt made it pretty easy for Krull last night, and Drew Jackson and Matt Moses are terrific players coming off the bench. Not going to lie, these guys could probably start for about half of the teams in the league.

Both of these teams are very good, but we saw what happens last night when one team controls the tempo. Point had control all game long, and it showed with a 89-76 victory. If Oshkosh controlled it, it probably would have been 69-56 victory.

Great game by Point.

[Just Bill]

Ok, two total turnovers. and...couldn't miss from downtown. Hmm...I'm pretty sure there's not a defense in the game of basketball that can slow down any team who pulls that off.

How about applying a some ball pressure and hands in the face to create a few turnovers and keep the shooting percentage down.  No doubt that Point has made protecting the basketball an artform, but a defense doesn't have to just stand there and hope they throw it away and miss shots.

[cubs]

Gibson scores 1 point in the first half with a 9" height advantage over Krull. This was basically a standoff in my mind as Krull only scored 2. Second half to Krull (15 pts to 11) 0 turnovers, 4 steals, 6 boards to 3 TO, 0 steals 10 boards. Advantage Krull. Team defense gets the credit, but there is no way a guy almost a foot taller than a defender should not dominate.

Hmmm...  I guess the 3 block shots that Gibson had don't count??? 

Anyways, take a guess how many points Krull scored when Gibson was guarding him??  I believe it was two, but I am not positive.  Krull got most of his points when the Titans would switch on defense (including the 3-ponter at the end of the first half) and someone besides Gibson was guarding him.  As I said earlier, Krull was obviously frustrated when Gibson was matched up on him.  He heated up, (5 point run with about 11-12 minutes left in 2nd half right after UWO cut the deficit  to 3) once Seckar Anderson was on him.  He scored 5 more points (3 on FT once UWO was forced to foul) down the stretch (under 2:00 remaining.)

Also it's pretty hard to point the finger at Gibson when the guards aren't getting the ball inside to him.  He can only do so much without getting touches.  The guy shoots 50% from the field and 70% from the FT line for his career.  If I'm a guard I'm getting him at least 1 touch everytime down the floor, that is unless I'm too worried about my individual stats...

I think a lot of people who were at the game would agree that UWO didn't do a good job of getting the ball into Gibson enough.  Take a look and see when UWO went on their 9-0 run to cut a 12 point deficit to 3...  Guess who got some touches??  That's right, Gibson.  He had 5 of the 9 points on the run.  At the same time, following the run he went almost 4:00 without attempting a shot, and next thing you know Point was back up by 13.  It's not rocket science if you ask me... 

[Mr. Downtown]

How about applying a some ball pressure and hands in the face to create a few turnovers and keep the shooting percentage down.  No doubt that Point has made protecting the basketball an artform, but a defense doesn't have to just stand there and hope they throw it away and miss shots.

Yes, they did have some open looks. But these guys are so confident that I think it threw off the defenders for Oshkosh, because they took for granted that no way is this guy going to spot the 3 on me.

For most players in the wiac, they need a couple of steps away to shoot the three. For the Pointers, they need one.

[cubs]

How about applying a some ball pressure and hands in the face to create a few turnovers and keep the shooting percentage down.  No doubt that Point has made protecting the basketball an artform, but a defense doesn't have to just stand there and hope they throw it away and miss shots.

For most players in the wiac, they need a couple of steps away to shoot the three. For the Pointers, they need one.

What is really sad is that the players knew not to let Rortvedt or Hicklin get open looks (i.e. 1 step) yet they continually gave them open looks.  To me that is nothing more than undisciplined play by the players.....

[John Gleich]

If it's any help to either side of the arguement, when listening to the game, especially during the stretch of the game after Oshkosh cut the lead to 5, I heard Krull's name quite a bit, and hardly heard Gibson's name at all.  Now, I was listening to the Point broadcast, so that may have something to do with it, but Krull got a couple of steals toward the end of the game that really sealed it.  Also, a steal is a change of posession.  A blocked shot MAY lead to a change of posession, but not necessarily.  It doesn't do a lot of good if a ball is blocked right back into the guys' hands and he puts it up and scores.

[ItIsWhatItIs]

u gotta be kidding me.  riley again has a chance to hit a free throw to go up by one, but then he travels w/ 20 seconds left and UWW loses by tHREE at home on AUGIE day.  Not the greatest free throw performances, but nonetheless, i can hear the "overrated" chants.   

UWW potentially can be good, but they are definitely overrated right now...I dont think they are top 20 and they will continue to struggle until they change their back court.  6 turnovers from your point guard is deadly.  They have good talent on the bench but dont utilize it to its potential.  Dixon got 19 mins against LAX but wasnt  on the floor at the end when it counted.  Jason Price only got 4 mins.  UWW is going nowhere until they figure who should be on the floor and when.