MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Greek Tragedy · February 04, 2007, 01:29:27 AM

Another great game to see as Point grinds out another win, nearly throwing away a sizeable lead in the end. But, the players dug deep and got the tough road victory despite some missed shots and turnovers that resulted in a long scoring drought. Point Special summed it up good and the "game story" also puts some light on the game.

Nice to talk to Jack Bennett and Bob Semling, as well as the Point contingent of Point Special, BanditUWSP and frodotwo (I have yet to meet Just Bill). Also nice to chat with chmarx, but missed out on Brian Carroll and the nephew.

Swampgoon and I had a good discussion on the way back to Oxford (his truck was there) and I couldn't help but be amazed on how good the Pointers are this year. I don't want to gloat too much in fear of jinxing them, but we ran down the players: We both knew that Rortvedt was a solid shooter, but to be this good this soon is awesome-We had some La Crosse fans behind us and on more than one of Rortvedt's shots, you could here them say, "Oh no!" and one commented, "If we can hold them to 50% we'll be ok!"...on another sweet turn around jumper, I swear the whole crowd went, "Wow." It's cool when the opposing fans appreciate such a shooter; We also noted that Hicklin has really improved on his outside shot and we feel he's "$$$" when he shoots, and of course, I've always appreciated his mid-range jumper; Not that El-Amin was bad last year, but his assist to turnover ratio is simply incredible this year; it's funny that both Swampgoon and I said, "WHAT??!!" at the beginning of the year when finding out that Beamish was going to be starting. As you may remember, I'm a big Beamish fan and always seemed to "yell at him" for NOT shooting last year. Little did we realize that he'd become the best all-around player on the team; with the straightest face (and the most sarcasm possible), Swampgoon said, "You know, the only guy who hasn't drastically improved since last year is that Krull guy! Don't you have to earn your spot?" Funny stuff. All joking aside, I've been very impressed with not only the starters, but for Drew Jackson, who I think had a GREAT game (though the boxscore won't show everything he did) and also players like "Kraut" and Matt Moses earlier in the year (a player I always like to see come in).

Anyway, this post really had no point but to say I'm really impressed with both the players and what Semling has done this year...great job.

Pat Coleman · February 04, 2007, 03:29:06 AM

Quote from: titan2000 on February 03, 2007, 03:52:52 PM
If they want to fill the joint up they need to charge $3 and every 5th fan through gets a refund. If they advertised and had a coach who was effective in promoting the program, there could be 3,000 per game there.

Coaches are responsible for a lot of things, but not marketing and promotions.

stoutguy · February 04, 2007, 10:03:42 AM

Quote from: janesvilleflash on February 03, 2007, 08:12:24 PM
Whoa! Slow down here. Stoutguy has underwear older than Mr. Downtown. When he started out the balls were probably square.I guess if you like his broadcasts better, that's just FINE.

I don't even use underwear anymore. "Depends" are just the best. And don't get me started with that "square balls" thing.

Greek Tragedy · February 04, 2007, 02:23:40 PM

Quote from: bulk19 on February 03, 2007, 08:24:11 PM
You Point guys here, just a question to ponder.

Is there a difference between a POY and an MVP? In other sports, sometimes these award winners are two different people.

With that in mind, is Krull a POY, while Rortvedt is the MVP? Not sure what the answer is, as it may just be a matter of semantics...

Krull is a stud, a POY, but Rortvedt's success, since it's coming so soon as a soph, has really been an MVP-like caliber boost for the Pointers.

I'll bite. There is a difference between POY and MVP. WIAC hands out the POY, which, IMO, is the BEST player in the conference over the course of the season. MVP is the most valuable player to his team (how much worse is that team without him)...that's what I think.

In Point's case only (not the WIAC, because I'd probably still give it to Werner), I'd give the POY to Rortvedt and the MVP to Krull. Why? One reason, post play. Without Krull, I think our post play is nonexistent, making our team a little easier to defend. Apologies to the other big men on our team, but we need Krull in there, not only for his post play, but for his passing abilities when he's down there. He can also hit the 3. But, not only is Krull important offensively down low, there isn't anyone else on our team that can defend the opponent's big men like him. Yeah, we could use a lot of help defense if he's not in there, but I dont' think we're the same team. Rortvedt can "post" up a little and has that deadly turn-around jumper. Rortvedt was out for probably over 10 minutes of the first half. We don't have a pure shooter to replace him, but we still have scorers on our team in Krull, Hicklin and El-Amin (who all were in double-figures scoring) and Beamish, who was held (offensively) out because of his injury. So, there you have it. You can counter argue if you want! lol...

Quote from: Old School on February 04, 2007, 01:29:27 AM
Anyway, this post really had no point but to say I'm really impressed with both the players and what Semling has done this year...great job.

I'd like to apologize for not including Jason Kalsow, Scott Anderson and the rest of the staff in getting creit. I have no doubt that Coach Semling couldn't do it without them.

Oh yeah, another thing...I didn't count everyone at Mitchell Hall last night, but if that place holds 2000, there were more than 1400...I think closer to 1700 or 1800, unless a lot of those empty seats were dressed up as people.

John Gleich · February 04, 2007, 02:56:20 PM

Good points OS. Another point is just Krull's toughness, on the offensive end, for sure, but also on the defensive end. In a league of great big men, he's called upon to defend guys who routinely are at least 3-4 inches taller than he is, if not as many as 8-9.

He has some of those untangibles that don't show up on a stat sheet... and yet, at the same time, he's near the top on almost every statistical category in the conference.

#3 scoring (behind Rortvedt and Werner)
#15 in rebounding
#9 in field goal %
#10 in assists
#2 in FT% behind Capelle
#8 in steals
#6 in 3 pt %
#10 in 3's per game
#3 in assist/TO ratio behind El-Amin and Beamish

... And he's on my fantasy team!

Greek Tragedy · February 04, 2007, 02:59:31 PM

Quote from: PointSpecial on February 04, 2007, 02:56:20 PM
He has some of those untangibles that don't show up on a stat sheet... and yet, at the same time, he's near the top on almost every statistical category in the conference.

I'm pretty sure he has intangibles too.

John Gleich · February 04, 2007, 03:10:08 PM

ABSOLUTELY! Untangibles AND intangibles! That's what makes him so great!

(I hate that whoever created a keyboard put the u and i next to each other!)

titan2000 · February 04, 2007, 04:50:25 PM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on February 04, 2007, 03:29:06 AM
Quote from: titan2000 on February 03, 2007, 03:52:52 PM
If they want to fill the joint up they need to charge $3 and every 5th fan through gets a refund. If they advertised and had a coach who was effective in promoting the program, there could be 3,000 per game there.

Coaches are responsible for a lot of things, but not marketing and promotions.

I totally disagree. If they are not well liked by the community, they can be a negative in the fan turnout. There are big differences between coaches who show a positive image (e.g. Bennett, Bruce Pearl, Bo Ryan) and others who don't.

stoutguy · February 04, 2007, 05:44:31 PM

Completely true Titan2000. Pat, You are wrong on this one. Gosh, I never thought I would take Titan's side on anything.

Greek Tragedy · February 04, 2007, 06:06:19 PM

Where does being liked have to do with marketing and promotions. I thought you meant getting the word out, having actual "promotions" and things like that. Are you trying to say that a coach should go on the radio and say, "Hey, I'm a nice guy, come and watch us play"? I think marketing the program, it's winning program or winning tradition is something that doesn't get done enough.

I live in Sheboygan and I think Lakeland College could really promote the school a lot more in the area. Is there any rule where a school can't play a home game off campus? I think if Lakeland played a game or two in town, that would really help.

I see your point about the coach helping out with marketing and promoting the program, I agree with that, but to say it's one of his jobs isn't accurate in my opinion. Basically whenever I hear Semling on the post game radio show, he always encourages fans to come out, just like Jack Bennett did...saying how much they appreciate the support and so forth.

I think "not being well liked" by the community really has nothing to do with promotion or marketing.

bulk19 · February 04, 2007, 07:51:28 PM

The simple solution to putting fans in the seats, although the most difficult to achieve

, is just winning, baby... Nothing promotes your team better than winning...

That's why in the past I've encouraged fans to turn out when their teams are winning - like last year's UWL teams, and this year, too. It's a blast to be in a filled arena when your team is having success. And since winning seasons don't always happen, you need to take advantage and get your butts in the seats when it does... And when they are losing, too, since the players and coaches truly appreciate it... Great crowd at Mitchell yesterday; I was happy to see that.

Coach Bennett was always great at encouraging fans to come out to Quandt. I've posted on here, I think, about how classy he always was at the end of the season, too; he'd write a letter to the editor, thanking the fans for coming out. UWEC's womens' coach, Tonja Englund, is really good at asking for support, and thanking the fans for it...

Tickets are a steal at $6! And students get in free, unlike when I was in school, and we had to pay. So why don't more students show up???

PS and OS = thanks for your comments on POY/MVP and Krull, Rortvedt, et. al. I don't know how I'd answer my own question, but may just have been persuaded by PS's final point about Krull - and he's on my fantasy team!

Greek Tragedy · February 04, 2007, 08:07:40 PM

Quote from: bulk19 on February 04, 2007, 07:51:28 PM
The simple solution to putting fans in the seats, although the most difficult to achieve , is just winning, baby... Nothing promotes your team better than winning...

Usually that's the case. But, why isn't Oshkosh drawing more. That has always seemed to be a problem. Personally, I don't think many students show up anyway, so you can't blame it on the schedule and say, "Oh, the students were on break." Oshkosh has drawn over 1000 just twice in 11 home games. I know Kolf is their home gym, but the capacity of 5000 doesn't help the atmosphere.

La Crosse has drawn more in recent years, but even their average isn't very big. Even last year when Whitewater was so good, there were still plenty of seats available. I don't even think they sold out their NCAA regional. Maybe I'm just spoiled being a fan of Stevens Point. Our student section has improved this year and we even have a handful of "Quandt Krazies", but a student section like I've heard about Gustavus Adolphus, or even the "6th Man" I saw down at Wisconsin Lutheran College is a lot better than any WIAC school has had. It's disappointing.

chmarx · February 05, 2007, 01:03:22 AM

I agree that it was nice to see Mitchell almost full last night.

titansrus · February 05, 2007, 03:45:55 AM

I realize this is late, but I haven't had time to post lately:

The Oshkosh-La Crosse game this past Wednesday ultimately came down to 1 thing: Jim Capelle's inability to make shots. 7 points-only 2 from the field-and 0 threes. It really is as he goes this team goes, IMO. Gibson played a good game, but credit Wilcox for good D on him when Werner was on the bench and Oshkosh for not getting him the ball deeper in the post. Billy Kegler had a heck of a 2nd half as did the entire Eagles. Coach Koebl really must have had a great halftime speech to give to the team. After getting up 11 in the 1st half, the Titans really couldn't do much right at all and led by only 5 at half. That gave the Eagles momentum going into the 2nd half and they capitalized.

I had the privilege to interview Joe Werner for our TV show-not the sports broadcasts-and he was one of the nicest guys you could meet. Apologized for taking a while (talking to friends from out-of-town) and was a great quote. I will be rooting for him the rest of the year-except if they play the Titans!

Good comeback for the Titans against Stout Saturday. Capelle was back to his normal ways-DJ had another good game and Gibson played equally well. Chad Doedens had a great Senior Day and Nathan Wesener contributed valuable minutes in there in his final home game at Kolf in the regular season. Good to see the Titans turn their 20 point lead which disintegrated to under 10 to back over 20 late in the game. Big stretch coming up with their last 3 on the road-I think they should win them all-but it'll be difficult.

Side note-Ryan Thomas played more than usual in the 1st half and really impressed me. When he got into the games earlier in the year, he was hesitant to shoot. When he made a 3 you knew Stout was in for a long day. Normally known for his D, RT had a good all-around game.

Pat Coleman · February 05, 2007, 04:17:38 AM

Quote from: titan2000 on February 04, 2007, 04:50:25 PM
Quote from: Pat Coleman on February 04, 2007, 03:29:06 AM
Quote from: titan2000 on February 03, 2007, 03:52:52 PM
If they want to fill the joint up they need to charge $3 and every 5th fan through gets a refund. If they advertised and had a coach who was effective in promoting the program, there could be 3,000 per game there.

Coaches are responsible for a lot of things, but not marketing and promotions.

I totally disagree. If they are not well liked by the community, they can be a negative in the fan turnout. There are big differences between coaches who show a positive image (e.g. Bennett, Bruce Pearl, Bo Ryan) and others who don't.

Well, that's not the same as what you said. I might be able to agree with that. But "being effective in promoting the program" and "being likable" aren't exactly thought of in the same breath, at least not in my mind.

Quote from: Old School on February 04, 2007, 06:06:19 PM
Where does being liked have to do with marketing and promotions. I thought you meant getting the word out, having actual "promotions" and things like that. Are you trying to say that a coach should go on the radio and say, "Hey, I'm a nice guy, come and watch us play"? I think marketing the program, it's winning program or winning tradition is something that doesn't get done enough.

Like you said.