MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

"While UW-River Falls didn't make the NCAA tournament during Melzer's tenure, that was partly a product of the smaller playoff field."

When I read that, I thought that was a real lame excuse...

Speaking of tournaments...

Not that any of you really care about the WIAC fantasy league (ironically, UWRF posting), there were some huge upsets in the quarterfinals of the fantasy league post season.

#1 Cubs lost to #8 Frodotwo...that was Frodo's FIRST win of the year.  Yes, boys and girls, my fellow Pointer fan went 0-14 on the year!  With Oshkosh on bye Wednesday, it hurt all three Oshkosh posters, Cubs, Titansrus and Mr. Downtown.  Cubs was without DJ Marsh.

#2 Mr. Downtown lost to #7 UWRF, a poster who has forgotten to update his starting roster the last three or so game days.  Luckily for him, Whitewater actually played and he has two of them in his lineup.  UWRF would've won by more had he started Pete Rortvedt, a guy he had in his starting lineup for a couple of games even though he didn't even play due to injury!  Nice win.  Mr. Downtown led the fantasy league in points on the shoulders of DSA and Matt Miller, two players he was without due to their bye yesterday.

#3 Titansrus lost to #6 Mythical Bird.  Although Schrimpf doesn't put up the numbers the other starting four do, he has put up good numbers recently.

In the last matchup, #4 Point Special topped #5 Old School.  I was missing Jordan Johnson, but I don't think it would've helped.

[chmarx]

La Crosse laid a major egg last night.  No offense to River Falls.

They had a nice little streak of good games.  Now we are struggling to hold on to fifth.

[badgerwarhawk]

I'm with OS on the Melzer thing.  It's nice to see WIAC players on the teams regardless of which one.  Like OS I've never heard of most of those guys let alone seen them play.  When you read their bio's they all look pretty good to me. 

Platteville, now you are starting to make me worry.   

[voice]

WIAC Men's Score Updates:

Superior 29, Platteville 27 (halftime)
Oshosh 59. River Falls 48 (9 minutes left second half)

[Mr. Downtown]

Superior beats Platteville...

Now that could possibly go down as the biggest upset this season.

[sac]

Stevens Pt 76 Whitewater 47

http://athletics.uwsp.edu/sports/mbball/stats/2008/mbbgm-23.htm

[Mr. Downtown]

Point Crushes Whitewater
Superior upsets Platteville
and...

Oshkosh and La Crosse win (no biggies there).

Now, with that being said, we have a new #1 seed, and can you believe it....

1 Oshkosh

Has a nice jingle to it 

Conference Tourney Pairings

1   Oshkosh            11-3
8   River Falls            3-11

4   Platteville          10-4
5   La Crosse            6-9

3   Whitewater        11-3
6   Eau Claire            5-9

2   Stevens Point     11-3
7   Superior             5-10


Huge win today for Stevens Point. Even bigger is going to be Wednesday Night in Whitewater.

This is going to be one heck of a finish.

[frodotwo]

Pointers turned their defense up a notch in the second half en route to the rout  of the Warhawks. Steve Hicklin hammered the final nails in their coffin by nailing  three straight three pointers midway thru the 2nd half. The biggest difference from the earlier game was Perry being out of the game. WW had no inside game this time around and the Point defense was able to key on Goodwin outside and limit his game. Moses and Hoelzel matched WW's athleticism and helped spark the win with a great 2nd half of play.

Oshkosh may be in the lead now, but WW may have the inside track with two home games (OSH & RF). Oshkosh has the return trip to WW and home against Superior (can anyone figure them out?) Point has LX at home and the on the road to Platteville (not a favorite place for SP).

Get ready for tie breakers to settle the crown???

[Mr. Downtown]

I guessed (instead of predicted) that this was going to end in a 4-way tie, with Platt, SP, WW, and Osh finishing 12-4.

Platteville's loss puts them in an awkward position, but I'm going against my own prediction (with a loss @ home vs EC) and still think the Pioneers have a shot.

It's back and forth right now, which makes things more interesting! Funny how a team like Oshkosh plays through a tough stretch in which they play about .500 basketball for half a season, stays in the shadows and suddenly is back in the driver's seat.

I know what some Oshkosh fans are going to say, but I'm still persistent that we have seen many Oshkosh teams be in this position before having a chance to win the WIAC and secure home court advantage, but watch it slip through their fingers.

Will it happen again? All depends on the road...at Whitewater.

By the way, I'm buying more and more into Superior being a serious contender in the near future, but for some reason, using a baseball reference, they are very much like the Tampa Bay (formerly Devil) Rays, all the talent in the world that couldn't win. This has to be a big win for this program, and perhaps it puts in the minds of the young Yellowjackets that they could pull off the upset and win a WIAC tourney game.

[chmarx]

Yes, that was an impressive win for Superior. 

Point had a nice afternoon, too!

[Drake Palmer]

7. Buena Vista 18-4 14-2 (IIAC):  Def. Simpson 103-65.
8. Loras 17-5 14-3 (IIAC):  No score for Luther game on Saturday.

Loras beat Luther 61-43

[fredfalcon]

I've seen all the former WIAC players named to the Decade team, and all were inferior to Melzer. The closest was Dworak, and he was very close, but did not get the looks/tryouts Melzer did. To try to name such a team is an exercise in futility and bound to cause equally futile disagreeements.

[Cody-1-Kastern]

I've seen all the former WIAC players named to the Decade team, and all were inferior to Melzer. The closest was Dworak, and he was very close, but did not get the looks/tryouts Melzer did. To try to name such a team is an exercise in futility and bound to cause equally futile disagreeements.

Fred Falcon,

I played with Rich, on the same team, the summer going into our Senior Season's, in the Minneapolis Pro-Am (Howard Pulley).  I my mind, Rich was one of the top players in that league.  He probably averaged 20 and 10 in that league, going up against Pro players and mostly all D1 players.  I saw him score consistently over players like Kris Humphries, Devan George, and Mike Bauer-And he made it look so easy.  So, when he dominated competition like that and came back to the WIAC; I always wondered what he was doing here.

I was @ the UW-Superior/UW-Platteville game last night.  Platteville was probably the classiest team I've seen all year.  It was senior night for 2 UWS players, and all the Platteville players clapped for them during the ceremony.  I saw a Platteville player help a Superior player off the floor.  I saw a player run after a ball that went way out of bounds and hand it to the ref.   I saw no players questioning calls (when the probably could have).  That's a first class program, but i'm glad Superior won.

[chmarx]

That's good to hear about Platteville, Cody.

[Mr. Downtown]

Oldschool, I noticed that three...THREE #1 regional teams lost this week.

This season has been a wacky one for the nation, let alone the West region and the WIAC.

I do think Platteville is going to drop out of the West Region, with Stevens Point leap frogging both Platteville and Whitewater.

Yet, if the season ended today, Oshkosh would have home court advantage.

This has been one wacky season.