MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[bgbacker]

Jamestown is honestly one of the better teams I've seen this year ... very athletic and well-coached. EC @ Sup Wed night at Gates FH should be interesting!

Buf makes a good point .... EC's non-conference schedule has been tougher....we'll see if it helps.

For the record, too, Schlub played a helluva game tonight. Goodwin and Boone also looked good.

[bgbacker]

Also, a quick take on the doubleheaders (from someone who's OLDER than Stoutguy). They definitely allow more games to be covered on the radio, and I do believe they help gain fans for both mens' and womens' programs.

They do make for a long day for players, coaches, and the poor, beleaguered broadcasters. And, yes, the situation at Point is by far the worst. I don't think most of us really care about the monetary benefits, but the league does....and should!

Overall, I don't particularly like them, but I understand why they're probably here to stay ... at least until the economy turns around (2038???)

Stoutguy... don't forget to bring back a postcard!

[stoutguy]

How quickly you forget your old friends.  AT SP, these poor, old bones have to hustle (with our epuipment) from one gym to the other.

You still have a full half hour before the tipoff of the next game (though YOU don't actually have a half hour! lol)...how slow are you?  Just run down the hall! 

Finally, a question I can answer easily.  Slow, really slow.



Blugoldbacker, I've got the postcard on my things to do list---one of the few things on that list, by the way.

Note to Jake and John:  As I was grumbling about how tough things are for Eddie right now and also grumbling about doing the men's game during the Packer game Sat., Eddie sent me a copy of a note your mom sent to him.  It was really special and answered my question completely as to why all of us love this crazy WIAC business.

[cubs]

The new poll is out, and the WIAC is represented with three teams in the Top 15.....
#12 UW Oshkosh
#14 UW Stevens Point
#15 UW Whitewater

So of these three teams, who do you think will be the first one to lose?  Whitewater is at La Crosse and at Eau Claire this week, while Stevens Point hosts River Falls and Platteville.  Oshkosh hosts Platteville Wednesday before traveling to Superior on Saturday.

[Stout survivor]

I was not a fan of doubleheaders as a player.  Our guys had 15 players and the girls had 20+, the bus was very full.  My brother and I did get our own seats most of the time making it good to be tall.  Playing second was annoying cause the first game never seemed to finish without some sort of draged out foul fest taking up a lot of time.  I did enjoy watching our girls play though,  they played hard and knew how to compete. 

Stoutguy... what note?  you may know more of my family then me   It was good to hear you and Jake doing the game .

[Pioneer Hoops Fan]

The new poll is out, and the WIAC is represented with three teams in the Top 15.....
#12 UW Oshkosh
#14 UW Stevens Point
#15 UW Platteville

So of these three teams, who do you think will be the first one to lose?  Whitewater is at La Crosse and at Eau Claire this week, while Stevens Point hosts River Falls and Platteville.  Oshkosh hosts Platteville Wednesday before traveling to Superior on Saturday.

#15 should be UW Whitewater.  UW Platteville is only getting votes at this point. 

[cubs]

#15 should be UW Whitewater.  UW Platteville is only getting votes at this point. 

Ooops!!!    I had the the teams listed right in the weeks schedule, but for some reason typed it out wrong.  Thanks for the heads up.....

[Mr. Downtown]

I honestly think this week is the make or break week for Platteville. If they can knock off either Oshkosh or Point on the road, then we have a 4 team race the rest of the season.

However, losing both games will not only put them behind the pack, but they will lose some tie breakers as well.

If the Pioneers want to finish higher than 4th, they need to win one of these games. For sure, the toughest test that any WIAC has had this season.  Generally, when we see teams have their backs against the wall in these situations, we have seen them come through.

I feel sorry for River Falls, I don't think I want to be the next team going into Quandt. But if Platteville does knock off Oshkosh tomorrow at Kolf, I think they have a serious shot at winning both games.

The funny thing, then it would still be a three team race, with Platteville replacing Point, who would be looking at a 2-3 WIAC start.

[Pioneer Hoops Fan]

Couldn't agree with you more Downtown.  This is a brutal stretch overall for the Pioneers.  Add a couple things to it, that they returned on Thursday from California, left Friday for Stout, have to two upcoming games on the road, then return to play on Bo Ryan Court for the first time in over a month against a team who has had your number recently in La Crosse.

I really would like to see the Pioneers win both games, and think they are very capable of doing so.  But considering who they are playing are very capable of losing both games as well.  Losing both would be a big blow, but not a knockout punch by any means, since they have more home games towards the end of the season.

I wonder if Oshkosh is going to able to keep their pace up though.  The conference season is tough, and they have their four main players averaging 34 minutes a game or more (conference only).  Eventually those legs are going to get tired if they dont get more help from the bench.  Against Stevens Point, the bench only scored 8 points.  but if you're starters are averaging 65.5, and more than 48 of it is coming from their big three...you've got to pick who you're going to shut down and hope someone else has a bad day.

[frankiet]

WIAC BASKETBALL BLOG

I just stumbled upon a blog about WIAC Basketball on Google. It seems to be from a fan of WIAC basketball in Western Wisconsin. He watches a bunch of the WIAC games and also some MIAC games. Definitely an interesting take on D3 basketball. Check it out at:

www.wiacbasketball.com

[OshDude]

Been seeing a lot of mentions of Oshkosh's lack of bench minutes and scoring. While it's nice to have both, look around D-I and see how the top teams get it done.

UCLA, Butler, North Carolina ... the list of teams with shallow benches (in close games) is pretty long.

Granted, there are some top teams that go deeper (Memphis and Duke). But both ways have resulted in deep tourney runs and national championships.

In a WIAC reference, the '05 Point championship team went six deep, production-wise (I think. No more than seven, anyway). If I remember correctly, when the Point starters all had to play 35 minutes that season, they did.

I'm in no way saying the '08 Oshkosh starters are as good as the '05 Point starters. I simply wanted to note that a good starting five that plays a ton of minutes, like UWO's does, isn't necessarily a bad thing. It happens at all NCAA levels and can be very successful, especially when there's a blowout once every three weeks or so to get the starters some rest.

[Pioneer Hoops Fan]

OshDude:

Excellent point.  Historically those teams have been very good either having deep benches or playing with short benches.  Every team has that or I guess doesn't have the option of playing lots of guys.  I'm sure every coach could only wish to have such luxury.

We're only half way through the season, but only a quarter through the conference season.  I was only stating that thus far lots of minutes played, but with success.  At the end of the season we're all going to either say "WOW" they've done extremely well playing eight guys, with 6 being productive or we're going to blame their slow down due to fatigue.  I don't know which one it going to be, but purely looking at the numbers, I have to wonder.

By no means is UWP the deepest team in the country either.  Charlie is coming around, which helps tremendously, but we play 9-10, with my guess 6 or 7 considered, or expected, to be producers.  Everyone else, until I see otherwise, are spot minute guys to give somebody a breather.

It was said earlier (way earlier) that they believe that DSA and Oshkosh struggle with size.  I'm prediciting the match up of the night will be DSA vs. Skemp.

Any thoughts?

[cubs]

Just to follow up on OshDude's comments.......

If you want an example of Oshkosh being successful in the past with a "short" bench, look no further than the 2003 season. 

First a little background.....Oshkosh finished 10-6 in WIAC play, and then went on to win the WIAC Tournament (on the road in Whitewater.)  They reached the Elite 8 during NCAA play, before being eliminated by Hampden-Sydney University in Virginia.  They finished the season 25-7.

Starters minutes that season and this season:
N. Miller 32.8 (M. Miller 34.3)
Dworak-32.3 (DSA 29.9)
Sowinski-31.6 (Marsh 31.9)
Fernholz-30.6 (Johnson 34.6)
Scherer-29.7 (Schrimpf 24.4)

Off the bench:
Pederson-16.8 (Johnsen 18.1)
Christainsen-13.1 (L. Miller 11.9)
Heyrman-10.5 (Borgardt 9.3)

For comparison sake, the 2003 starters averaged 157.0 minutes per game, while the 2007 squad currently averages 155.1 minutes per game.  Now the 2007 numbers may change a bit, but I think history shows that even though the 2007 bench may be short, it does not mean they can't have a successful season.  (2003 was the most successful season in the history of UWO basketball.)  TVD has played with small rotations in the past, and I am sure he will do so in the future if he needs to.

[badgerwarhawk]

Buf makes a good point .... EC's non-conference schedule has been tougher....we'll see if it helps.

Auroa, Hamline, St Scholastica, Marian and Findlandia X3.   I don't intend any offense but last year's schedule must have been awfully weak if this list is tougher.

[Cody-1-Kastern]

Cubs,

Great stats, that's good stuff.  That was a very good Oshkosh team that year.  We knew they had no bench so we would always try to get Dowark into foul trouble because he was their leading scorer and center of their offense, but it never seemed to work.  But you are absolutely correct, they were one of the best teams in the WIAC and nation and had very little bench productivity.