MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

The Men's game is in LaCrosse.  Consider it a early warmup for the conference tourney when they finish the conference season on a Saturday and the tourney begins on Monday

If we are just talking La Crosse, they have a bye that previous Saturday.    River Falls travels to Whitewater on that Saturday and then turn back around to travel to Oshkosh, Platteville or Whitewater, potentially, on Monday...and let's not start with Superior, going to Oshkosh the same day! lol.

[uwm/uww]

Here's a nice article about the UWW men's and women's basketball programs.

http://www.uwwsports.com/News/wbball/2008/2/5/gen252008_combinedrankings.asp?path=wbball

Not sure of the genuineness of this reasoning but it looks good for UWW.

[Greek Tragedy]

So, who is "other" on the poll?  Just curious.

[John Gleich]

I think you may have gotten a vote Tom... not sure, just a hunch (NO, it wasn't from me!)

[Greek Tragedy]

Here's a nice article about the UWW men's and women's basketball programs.

http://www.uwwsports.com/News/wbball/2008/2/5/gen252008_combinedrankings.asp?path=wbball

Not sure of the genuineness of this reasoning but it looks good for UWW.

Someone was bored! lol. 

[Greek Tragedy]

Because of the snow, the UW-Platteville and UW-La Crosse game has been postponed until Thursday at 7 p.m.

I'm really surprised Eau Claire's trip to Oshkosh wasn't postponed as well.  The weather over in that area sounds pretty bad, but not nearly as bad as the Eastern part of the state.  She-Vegas is getting blitzed, preventing me from traveling to Point for the Stout game.  I heard parts of 41 (goes through Oshkosh) and 43 (interstate that connects Milwaukee up to Green Bay) have been shut down.

I think you may have gotten a vote Tom... not sure, just a hunch (NO, it wasn't from me!)

I'm not that good. 

[Greek Tragedy]

Some exciting games tonight. 

EC falls to Osh in OT 89-87, Colin Boone misses a "layup" at the buzzer (according to live stats).

RF tops Sup in OT 84-81, I think Jake Smith misses a 3-pter that just misses at the end.

Point wins 86-58 over Stout.

[buf]

EC drops a heartbreaker to UWO by 2 in OT.  EC shot 82% in the second half to fuel a comeback.  From looking at the boxscore, EC got some nice contributions from some bench players that rarely get PT.

[Mr. Downtown]

Conference Tourney Pairings (If the season ended today)

1 Platteville      9-2 (Plays Thursday)
8 River Falls      2-9

4 Stevens Point  8-3
5 La Crosse        5-6 (Plays Thursday)

3 Oshkosh          9-3
6 Superior          4-8

2 Whitewater      9-2
7 Eau Claire        4-8

Note: A win by Platteville secures home court advantage for the Pioneers in the first round.
 

[Greek Tragedy]

Quick hits from live boxscores:

Osh 89, EC 87 OT

Marsh: 20 pts, 9 reb, 4 ast
DSA: 14 and 7
Miller: 26 pts (5-8 3FG)
Schrimpf:  20 pts (5-7 3FG)

Beyer:  23 pts (10-12 FG)
Shea:  12 pts, 5 reb, 7 ast
Boone:  10 pts, 5 ast
Fofana:  14 pts
Schulb:  12 pts

EC 37-57 FGs, Osh 27-57 FGs...but, Osh 24-33 FTs, EC 8-9 FTs and...Osh 11-18 3FGs, EC 5-14 3FGs

SP 86, ST 58

J. E-M: 16 pts
Webb: 10 pts (4-16 FG)
Mason: 9 pts, 4 ast, 5 reb, 4 stls

Hicklin 18 pts (4-5 3FG)
P. Rortvedt 18 pts (4-8 3 FG)

11 players for Point logged 11 or more minutes (Drew Jackson played 9 minutes); only Beamish (4 fouls) was in foul trouble.

Point 12-28 3FGs
Stout 5-22 3 FGs

Point had 13 TOs, but Stout only scored 14 pts off those.
Stout had 17 TOs, and Point scored 27 pts off those.

[OshDude]

Weather wasn't too bad in Oshkosh today. A bit windier and colder than I would like, but it wasn't horrible.

Gibbons always impresses me. Tonight he made Miller get rid of the ball after Matty hit two straight 3s from the same spot, about 28 feet out. For the first time all year, someone made Matty look like a SG playing PG. Shea made Miller skitish in the second half, which led to more turnovers than usual. When it wasn't Shea on Miller, Gibbons brought a post player out to make sure Matty gave it up. And the bigs who were brought out were too long for Miller to hit the open man.

On the offensive end, EC was awesome after the break. The Blugolds were like another team. Jordan Johnson held Beyer down in the first half, but Gibbons seemed to run most plays for Beyer in the second. A lot of back screens sprung Beyer for good shots.

As for UWO, the free throw shooting was subpar and DJ was forced to play street (Stout) ball in the second. The Titans got what they wanted in the first 10 minutes or so. They scored just about every trip down. Then Gibbons threw the bigs at Miller, and UWO kept trying to run a pick-and-roll off of it to no avail. After that, it was up to DJ (EDIT: or Dane) to make a play.

The guy who saved UWO was Greg Schrimpf, who hit a lot of 3s and wasn't exposed defensively. Besides the 3s, he was also the guy with the ball after a busted play late in OT. He got to the line and provided the spark.

I saw some of the minutes the UWO starters have logged show a bit toward the end of the game. It probably would have been worse if not for Gibbons's 47 (give or take) timeouts in the second.

All in all a good win over an EC team that looked to be every bit UWO's equal, at least tonight. Fofana and the rest of the bench were really impressive, Beyer was great in stretches, Shea played awesome D, and Gibbons is still one of the WIAC's best. EC was just one play short.

[Pioneer Hoops Fan]

Well maybe as far as La Crosse is concerned, the game may have been played tonight, but to be honest with you, I don't think the bus could've gotten out of Grant County.  We had snow all morning, all afternoon until about 4 o'clock this afternoon.  Add it up and we come to well above 10 inches, if not more than 12.  Most of that falling today.   After watching the Iowa game where anyone that was at the game had all day to drink and just be...drunk and crazy (some times maybe the badgers were some of them  )

With the rest of the games being played today, hopefully the Pioneers don't get complacent having to wait the extra day.  Not to mention (really all of this applies to either school) the class schedule getting messed up.  I'm semi-worried about this game since the Eagles are playing pretty well since they played the Pioneers.  At this point though, I think that Platteville is just too strong to fall.  I'll be listening and following the live stats tomorrow.  I'll get done working just in time too  

Go Pioneers!

[fredfalcon]

Will wonders ever cease? RF 84-81 over Superior in OT. Jesse Elling 18 pts. in 18 minutes off the bench. Superior 1/1 from the line, RF 15/19. Maybe they've snapped out of it. All I know is i sure can't pick em.

[BoBo]

WW goes NC to Luther and comes out with a 68-55 win.

Box Score

Story

[titansrus]

EC falls to Osh in OT 89-87, Colin Boone misses a "layup" at the buzzer (according to live stats).

Well the live stats are totally false. Boone was a step or two inside the three point line when he stepped his way through and missed a runner from just inside the free throw line. It hit about every part of the rim before falling out.

As stats show, EC was absolutely dominant for most of the 2nd half. Oshkosh was in control for most of the first half, but really had the edge at halftime after Miller hit back-to-back threes that were from about 28 feet out (like OshDude said). To be honest, I think they were farther than the three he pulled up and hit against Stevens Point at Kolf this year.

Beyer did take over in the 2nd half. Shea's defense was better on Miller the 1st game actually. I was surprised Gibbons didn't have his bigs hedge more in the 1st half-when they did in the 2nd half, they pushed him almost all the way out to the half-court circle and I don't even think he made a 3 in the 2nd half.

Marsh was his usual post-up self and hit most of his shots, including an absolutely sick layup where he tossed the ball over his head while getting fouled and made the 3 point play. After missing his first 3 free throws, he made 2 huge ones to win the game (the foul on Schlub was pretty ticky-tacky, especially w/7 seconds to go).

Greg Schrimpf was the MVP tonight. He hit huge back-to-back threes in the 2nd half when EC couldn't miss from the field. It looks like he's getting his confidence back, especially at home shooting the 3.

Oshkosh's road ahead looks to shape up pretty well for them. Obviously their toughest game is at Whitewater in 2 weeks but w/o Perry, it'll be interesting to see how they decide to guard DSA. Do they double and triple him like they did Skemp and live Miller and Schrimpf open for 3, or do they play him man-up and see if they can slow him down (I have my doubts that they can).

I think the Titans have a legitimate shot to go undefeated the rest of the year and maybe make a run at a Pool B bid if they can't get the auto bid. Should be a heck of a finish.