MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[phoenix_rising]

I think I need to correct part of my description of tonight's Superior-Oshkosh game. I'm not sure Superior was out-hustled; out-positioned, maybe; certainly out-backboarded. Oshkosh makes masterful use of the backboard. Beautiful shots inside. Of course getting inside is half the battle; but once they were in there, laying that ball off the glass was textbook.

The outside shots were pretty nice, too. Aaaaarrrggghhh.

The WIAC has a rule...

I thought it seemed a little odd a person could play on two different teams in a season; it seemed particularly odd the player could move from DII to DIII in the same season.

[Pat Coleman]

You can, though. Because basketball straddles the semester it can happen.

[Mr. Downtown]

I think everyone can agree it's a bit weird for a basketball player to play for two different schools in a single season.

I don't often hear many reasons why players do transfer, mainly just rumors about not liking the school, not liking the coach, or, when they have picked their major they leave the school because they don't offer it.

UMD I think offers scholarships, so did this kid turn down a scholarship to come to Oshkosh? Is this a reverse Bryce Welch (I think that's what his name was, the kid who went to Winona?) situation?

Anyways, if he is good as the early observation is, then 08-09 will be a very good back court for Oshkosh with Miller, Marsh, Schrimpf, and Tillema.

[chmarx]

It does seem wrong to play for two different teams in the same season, but I understand that athletes sometimes regret their first choice of school, too.

[Just Bill]

It does seem wrong to play for two different teams in the same season, but I understand that athletes sometimes regret their first choice of school, too.

Tell that to the folks in the CUNYAC.  There's quite a flap going on because the star post player from Staten Island transfered to Brooklyn College over the break.  The CUNYAC has no such rule like the WIAC, so he's eligible immediately.

Any wagers on how fast the CUNYAC adds that rule for next year?

[Greek Tragedy]

Stevens Point 70, Platteville 67

Skemp "held" to 11.  Lohoff goes for 14 pts and 10 rebs, with 6 asts.  Beamish collegiate high 22, stays out of foul trouble and plays 36 minutes.  El-Amin with a quite 12 points, 5 asts and 0 TOs.

Oshkosh 87, Superior 72

Matt Miller plays "41" minutes in a regulation game! lol.  The Big 3 combine for 68 of 87 points.  Superior gets only 18 total rebounds.  Superior shoots 60% and Oshkosh 55.9%


La Crosse 69, Stout 61

Stout takes 23 more shots and has 16 offensive rebounds.  La Crosse shoots 62%.  Brandon Brown returns and plays 20 minutes in a reserve roll.

Whitewater 69, Eau Claire 63

Eau Claire takes 20 more shots while Whitewater goes to the line 21 more times.

[Greek Tragedy]

Point tops Platteville 70-67. (boxscore link included)

Wow.  What a game.  Honestly, even if you were a neutral fan, you would've been on the edge of your seat for this game that was truly a barn burner.

It was a physical game with the refs either "just letting them play" or swallowing their whistles and forgetting what fouls were.  Well, that's neither here or there.

It really was a great game for both teams with neither wanting to lose.  Point started out strong and was up 12-4, then Platteville made a big run and then Point made a run and then Platteville made a run...you get the idea! 

Platteville took a slim 34-31 lead into the locker room and it looked like Point was going to lose when, early in the 2nd half, Point was down 9 with Pete Rortvedt limping off and checking his knee.  I turned to Swampgoon and said, "It looks like Pete's done for the night."  Well, luckily that wasn't the case.  If you look at the boxscore, it looks like Rortvedt didn't do much.  He only scored 3 points, but he really worked to get other players open and also came down with 6 big rebounds.

Beamish was the story with 22 while staying out of foul trouble.  He was too quick for Tetschlag or Skemp.  He did a great job on Skemp for most of the 2nd half.  I can't forget about the job SWATachek and The Hurt did on keeping Skemp in check.  El-Amin and Hicklin also having very nice games.  I think Skemp only had two points in the first half and had a lot of "fortunate" buckets in the 2nd half (lots coming off tipped balls or loose balls falling into his hands).  And yes, he only had 3 boards. 

To make up what Skemp didn't do, Lohoff had a huge game with 14 pts, 10 rebs, and 6 asts.  The Platteville guards seemed unstoppable with Hanson, Langenfeld and Shaw hitting big shots (surprised Shaw was only 4-11). 

Not a lot of fans there because of the Packer game, but for those who were there, it was a treat and it's disappointing more couldn't see it and the students still gone. 

Point definitely needed this game.  They couldn't afford to fall even further behind.  A road game to Stout and then consecutive home games with Superior and Eau Claire coming into town will finish a stretch of 5 of 6 conference games at home.  We need to finish strong because then we have four of five on the road. 

[Greek Tragedy]

1. Whitewater (12-2, 5-1)(Last Week-2):  Two more road wins by a combined 9 points proves they can win on the road and win the close ones.  No one had picked Whitewater to win the league in the most recent poll.  Very interesting.  The Warhawks get a much needed bye before hosting Stout on Saturday (or would that a bye too?)

2. Oshkosh (11-3, 5-1) (LW-1):  The Titans finally fall and fall hard at home to Platteville (by 19).  They bounce back with a pretty easy win in Canada.  Two more road tests this week at Eau Claire and at La Crosse. 

3. Stevens Point (11-3, 3-2) (LW-4):  Point revitalized after Oshkosh loss.  They completely destroy River Falls and then knock off a very tough Platteville team with a 3 by Beamish with 3 seconds left.  After three at home, Point packs their bags to Menomonie before getting two more at home. 

4. Platteville (10-4, 4-2) (LW-3):  After shocking Oshkosh at the Kolf, the Pioneers fall just short at Quandt.  Skemp held to 11 but the guard play was pretty good led by Lohoff.  Returns home for one game this week, against La Crosse.

5. La Crosse (7-7, 2-3) (LW-8):  Nearly pulls off the upset vs. Whitewater before falling by 3.  They top Stout, but possibly more important, Brandon Brown returns.  A lot was talked about last week with Platteville going to Oshkosh and Stevens Point.  This week, La Crosse goes to Platteville and hosts Oshkosh.

6. Superior (6-7, 2-3) (LW-6):  Some may consider their win against Eau Claire an upset.  Solid youth movement in Superior with Jake Smith and Dan Culy leading the way, along with Dwight Hill.  Dominated by Oshkosh though.  Pack the passports, trips to River Falls and Stevens Point this week.

7. Eau Claire (8-6, 2-3) (LW-5):  Missed an opportunity to make some noise.  Drops Wednesday's game in Superior and nearly pulls off an upset of Whitewater.  Huge game vs league leader Oshkosh on Wednesday before short trip to River Falls.

8. River Falls (7-7, 1-4) (LW-7):  Forgot to show up at Quandt on Wednesday.  Tough to have to think about a 44-pt. loss for a full week.  Time for some home cooking with Superior and Eau Claire visiting.

9. Stout (3-11, 0-5) (LW-8):  Worse than I imagined.  After an "encouraging" loss at Ripon (losing on a buzzer beater), Stout falls to La Crosse despite taking 23 more shots (shot 35%), but doesn't play any defense (La Crosse shoots 62%).  Speaking of tough weeks, the Blue Devils host Point and then travel to Whitewater.  Ouch.

[stcroix]

UMD I think offers scholarships, so did this kid turn down a scholarship to come to Oshkosh?.

He had a full ride at UMD.  UMD has a history of recruiting Wisconsin players and were excited to have him on board.  Not sure exactly what happened, but he will be a nice addition to UWO.

[Mr. Downtown]

He had a full ride at UMD.

I hope he enjoys going to a university where they raise your tuition mid-year.

Personally, he might be making a hasty decision, even if he is going to Oshkosh.

[Mr. Downtown]

Conference Tournament Bracket (If the season ended today)

1  Oshkosh    5-1
8  River Falls  1-4

4 Stevens Point  3-2
5 Superior           2-3

3 Platteville        4-2
6 La Crosse       2-3

2 Whitewater     5-1
7 Eau Claire       2-3

Left Out: Stout 0-5 (and they lost to RF)


For Superior fan's, if you want to look for something good about a 2-3 start in the WIAC, take note that they have wins against Eau Claire, and La Crosse, big tiebreakers going the Yellowjackets way right now concerning the battle for the 5th seed.

If you're an Eau Claire fan, and want more misery to a 2-3 start, two of those losses are to La Crosse and Superior.

Wednesday doesn't have any super match-up's coming our way, but Oshkosh play's game #2 of 4 straight on the road, as they take on EC at Zorn, and Superior visits River Falls, which would really throw things out of wack if LAX, EC, and Super were to lose, and RF were to win (4-way tie @ 2-4).

Next Saturday is Mid-Season, for fun, does anyone want to do a poster's mid-season awards? ( We can revisit that Freshman of the Year topic again)

I was thinking:

1) All-WIAC Starting 5

2) All-WIAC 6th man

3) Mid-year POY

4) Mid-year ROY

5) Mid-year COY

6) Best game of the year (we'll even dip into non-conference games, since there have been great one's).

[Pioneer Hoops Fan]

Sounds like a great one at Quandt last night.  Wish I could've been there.  Really wish that Platteville could've won.  Really would've been a great statement in the conference season.  A lot of woulda coulda there    I was in Madison and I had my contact giving me updates from here in Platteville.  Was awfully bummed to hear they lost.

To be honest though, the Pioneers haven't played in Williams Fieldhouse in more than a month, and now to finish the season they play 7 of their last 11 in the friendly confines.  I'm very pleased with the Pioneers going 2-1 on their latest WIAC road trip with the wins over Stout, Oshkosh, and almost getting one in Point.

I've been real pleased with Charlie too.  He has played very well since they went out to Cali. over the break.  He was doing all the little things before the break, but his shot wasn't falling and he wasn't scoring.  Now that he is, I think that is one thing to build on for the Pioneers in the second half of the WIAC season.

[Greek Tragedy]

Here is a schedule grid to give you an idea of who's played who and how many home and away games each team has played.  I find the schedule interesting considering some teams have played a lot more home/away games than vice versa.

You can read the grid both ways, but read across as "your team" and then you read down to see the results.  If you want to read down as "your team" that gives you a quick look at home and away games as well, and also gives you the teams that have won or lost.  Confused yet?

	EC	LC	OSH	PL	RF	SP	ST	SUP	WW
EC	X	W					L	W
@ EC	X			L					W
LC		X					L	W
@ LC	L	X				W			W
OSH			X			L		L
@ OSH			X	W	L		L		L
PL	W		L	X		W	L
@ PL				X	L			L
RF			W	W	X	W	L
@RF					X				W
SP		L				X			W
@ SP			W	L	L	X
ST			W				X
@ ST	W	W		W	W		X
SUP				W				X	W
@ SUP	L	L	W					X
WW	L	L	W		L				X
@ WW						L		L	X

[Greek Tragedy]

Key games listed (HL: Home Loss, HW: Home Win etc).  I'll consider Oshkosh, Whitewater, Platteville and Stevens Point the "Big 4"

OSH (5-1): 3-1 H, 2-0 A...HL to PL, HW to WW, AW at SP (2-1 v other Big 3)
WW (5-1):  2-0 H, 3-1 A...HW to SP, AL at OSH (1-1)
PL (4-2):  2-0 H, 2-2 A...AW at OSH, AL at SP (1-1)
SP (3-2):  2-1 H, 1-1 A...AL at WW, HL to OSH, HW to PL (1-2)

SUP (2-3):  2-1 H, 0-2 A...AL at WW, AL at PL, HL to OSH (0-3 v Big 4)
LC (2-3):  1-2 H, 1-1 A...HL to SP, HL to WW (0-2)
EC (2-3): 1-1 H, 1-2 A...HW to PL, HL to WW (1-1)
RF (1-4):  0-1 H, 1-3 A...AL at OSH, AL at PL, AL at SP, HL to WW (0-4)
ST (0-5):  0-4 H, 0-1 A...HL to PL, AL at OSH (0-2)

[chmarx]

I have to admit to being a bit surprised that Platteville is playing with the big boys.  Way to go, Pioneers!