MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Pioneer Hoops Fan]

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

I am but I'm not.  Still a very young group who has some going up to do yet, but All the Juniors and Seniors have played quite a bit over the last 1-2 years.  The big key is Jeff Skemp.  The Pioneers will go as Jeff goes.  It will be tough any game, but especially on the road.  If Jeff plays on a range of mediocre to unbelieveable, the Pioneers will be very tough to beat.  If Jeff plays anything less than that, I just don't think we have enough fire power to get it done.  We have lots of guards who can score, but we can't control the boards or the inside game it will be tough.  Not saying the Pioneers can't win those games where Jeff isn't playing well (Superior, River Falls to name a couple), it just makes it that much tougher.

That all being said, I think another key thing for the Pioneers is to get Kyle Tetschlag going.  He is all about effort, but they need more out of him on the offensive end.  It's great when Jeff gets 18 and 10, but that 18 and 10 could look alot better if Kyle can even get 8 and 8.  I know right now his minutes are down a little bit now because Jeff is back.  With the long shots of the guards and everyone focusing on Jeff inside, Kyle should make a living on offensive rebounding and put backs. 

[Mr. Downtown]

Not to pick on Stout, but with games this week against Point and Whitewater, it looks like the Blue Devils will drop to 0-7 in WIAC play (depending on a miracle).

So I pose this question, when will Stout win a WIAC game?

My guess, 2/13 at home vs Superior.

[Mr. Downtown]

John Hollinger who writes for ESPN.com, has his very own personal formula to rank all of the NBA teams. A very complicated formula (you can see it
here

I thought it would be fun to try this out on the WIAC based on the current standings. I noticed that the formula has 5 steps:

1. To be fair, everyone starts with 100 points
+
2. Take in Winning %
+
3. Opponents Winning %
+
4. Score Margin (with a boost if you played more road games, a deduction if you played more home games so far)
+
5. Performace over the last 5 games. (Score Margin - # of Road games / # of games)

That's just a brief view into the formula ( a lot of of numbers to punch in, changing some seeing some seeing that the WIAC doesn't play 82 games in a season, and didn't want to configure non-conference games).

These are just stats, and of course with all stats there are some flaws. One big difference to this formula is scoring margin. If you go 5-0 but beat every team by 1 point, then a team that goes 3-2 but has outscored their opponents by 35, would end up with a higher ranking.

Again, it's just another stat, to rank the WIAC team's, with some surprising results.

Here are the modified Hollinger Rankings for the WIAC

1. Oshkosh         (5-1)                     114.81
2. Stevens Point  (3-2)                     114.67
3. Platteville       (4-2)                     112.84
4. Whitewater     (5-1)                     111.60
5. La Crosse        (2-3)                       93.23
6. Eau Claire       (2-3)                        93.10
7. Superior         (2-3)                        92.12
8. River Falls       (1-4)                        80.03
9. Stout             (0-5)                        65.50

Observations:

1. Easy to see that the most startling outcome was Whitewater at 4, when they are tied for the conference lead. They have played many road games this season, which was helpful, however, their scoring margin over the last 5 games hasn't been impressive numbers-wise. But we all know that a win on the road in the WIAC is HUGE no matter if its by a point or 19 points. Scoring Margin is keeping Whitewater down.

2. Kinda surprised that La Crosse is statistically stronger than Superior and Eau Claire, but not by much. Again, scoring margin plays a key.

3. I know everyone loves to bring this up over the course of the season, opponents winning %.

They rank in toughness
1. Stevens Point
2. Superior
3. River Falls
T-4. Oshkosh
T-4. Stout
6. Eau Claire
7. Whitewater
8. La Crosse
9. Platteville (Despite just playing Oshkosh and Stevens Point on the road)




                       
EDITED to shorten the link

[John Gleich]

Pretty impressive Mr. DT  +1!

[Mr. Downtown]

If you want to see something really wacky, take a look at the CCIW Standings.

Seriously, what are the chances that 8 teams in a conference would start the year 1-1. 

[Mr. Downtown]

While I was researching for tomorrow night's EC vs Osh game (TitansRus and I are on the call, FYI for WRST), I noticed that the Rule of 65 is coming into effect.

Three WIAC team's have scored 65 points each in every single game: Superior, Whitewater, and Platteville

The WIAC as a whole, is 71-30 when they score more than 65.

When they don't, as a whole, the WIAC is 4-22.

Finally, no team is under the spell of the Rule of 65 more than Oshkosh. The Titans this year?

11-0 when they score more than 65

0-3 when they don't.

Kind of foreshadowing what I think will be the keys to the game for Eau Claire. 

[Greek Tragedy]

Good stuff DT.  Very interesting.

I guess I wouldn't be too surprised with WW.  They are 3-1 on the road with their road wins being at Eau Claire, La Crosse and River Falls...and all by 6 (OT), 3 and 6.  But like you said, road wins in the conference are hard to come by.  My first thought would be that Platteville would be ahead of Point because Point actually lost at home, though Platteville's other loss was at EC, as opposed to Point's loss at WW.

Toughest schedule-wise, it doesn't surprise me that Superior is up there, having already played OSH, PL and WW, with the latter two on the road.  I would think OSH's would be higher having already played WW, PL and SP...though the first two were at home.

[Greek Tragedy]

Congrats to Matt Goodwin on being named this week's POTW

Also, for those of you in the Appleton area, Grinnell plays Lawrence at The Alex on Friday.  No WIAC games to worry about.  You should check it out (for entertainment purposes only).

[Greek Tragedy]

Re:  Poll

Who picked "other" and what team did you pick?  Just curious.  I'm glad to see Whitewater get some love.  Winning three on the road in a row cannot be overlooked. 

[phoenix_rising]

Lest anyone think it was me who picked "other", it wasn't. Had I voted after our (Superior's) last game, I probably would have selected Oshkosh; they're freakin' machines. But I didn't.

[uwm/uww]

Congrats to Matt Goodwin on being named this week's POTW

Matt is really coming around and deserves POTW. He is becoming a team player but taking the lead when he has to. If UWW had continued going to Matt at St. Norberts, they would have won against St. Johns. Too bad UWW has a bye this Wed. they are on a roll and I hate to see it being slowed down.

[John Gleich]

Congrats to Matt Goodwin on being named this week's POTW

Matt is really coming around and deserves POTW. He is becoming a team player but taking the lead when he has to. If UWW had continued going to Matt at St. Norberts, they would have won against St. Johns. Too bad UWW has a bye this Wed. they are on a roll and I hate to see it being slowed down.

And he's on my fantasy team!

[Pat Coleman]

Who takes the WIAC title?
UW-Oshkosh         5 (18.5%)
UW-Whitewater         7 (25.9%)
UW-Platteville         4 (14.8%)
UW-Stevens Point         10 (37%)
Other         1 (3.7%)

Total Voters: 27

[Stout survivor]

Not to pick on Stout, but with games this week against Point and Whitewater, it looks like the Blue Devils will drop to 0-7 in WIAC play (depending on a miracle).

So I pose this question, when will Stout win a WIAC game?

My guess, 2/13 at home vs Superior.

Just got to kick us while we are down huh

I think that stout might get a point in pick 'em from me on the sup game

[uwm/uww]

Congrats to Matt Goodwin on being named this week's POTW

Matt is really coming around and deserves POTW. He is becoming a team player but taking the lead when he has to. If UWW had continued going to Matt at St. Norberts, they would have won against St. Johns. Too bad UWW has a bye this Wed. they are on a roll and I hate to see it being slowed down.

And he's on my fantasy team!

Unless you get extra points for the POTW, both King and Perry got more fantasy points last game than Goodwin did. But congrates on a good pick.