MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[John Gleich]

anyone doing the pick'em this year?

Could use some help, like...could Puget Sound really beat Point? I really wish we knew the sites, cause no way if its played in Point. Really a toss up to me.

Point and UPS have played twice previously (in the two Championship years).  One of the things that UPS tries to do is to create TO's, get draw-and-kick opportunities for 3's, and just wreak overall havoc.  Point beat 'em twice handily because they were far more sound defensively than anyone UPS had played (Point held them to their lowest point totals of the season).  If Point hangs on to the ball and handles the pressure, then they should get lots of easy baskets.

I'm pretty sure that St. Thomas presses quite a bit too, though they're more conventional in their base offense... but that means that they will gamble and could lead to easy buckets for the Pointers.

The biggest difference between last year and this year, though... is Pete Rortvedt.  Pete was about a week away from playing again from what  heard last year... but Point couldn't get by Buena Vista in the second round.  BV then lost to Wash U in OT... and Wash U went on to the National Title. 

I dunno what you think, but I think the WIAC got a slap in the face.  The CCIW gets TWO host teams?  Three if you count the Illinois Weslayan women... and the WIAC gets just one hosting site with 6 member teams making the dance?  And Point gets undefeated opponents and conference champions in the second and third rounds?  Not a lot of love for two teams that won their leagues AND won their conference tournaments!

[BoBo]

In looking at the matchups, there are 3 powerful WIAC teams but none are hosting a game as far as I can see.is that correct? How much travel is involved in the D3 tournament? It appears that they set it up so that Stevens Point, Whitewater and Platteville may all end up possibly knocking each other off before the later round games. Is that by intent? The pairings are really not equal. Some of these teams would be hard pressed to win even a single game in the WIAC. Maybe the people who pair the games are tired of the history of success for Platteville, and Stevens Point in the tournament and they want to let the "little guys" get some of the limelight?

You are newish here obviously.

That's funny ... he doesn't look Newish.

LOL...

Conspiracy theorists unite...

A thought about why all the WIAC schools have been placed in the same bracket, from this article from JSOnline. The key comment(s) are highlighted in bold and made by the WIAC commissioner:

"In both the men's and women's tournaments, all state teams have been placed in the same sectional.

That means no more than two WIAC teams can reach the Elite Eight.

"I suspect they didn't want to have a repeat of the softball championship last year," Karner said, referring to the selection committee.

Last spring, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Whitewater came out of different softball regionals to reach the national championship. Eau Claire defeated Whitewater, 4-3, to win the title.

It was the first time two teams from the same league met in the title game.

"It won't happen now," Karner said of the basketball fields. "That's for sure."

[Greek Tragedy]

I asked the Hoopsters on the radio via AOL-IM why Elmhurst hosted instead of Whitewater.  The response was that they weren't getting three teams to travel to Whitewater.  I was like, "uh?"  So, they get three teams to travel to Elmhurst. What's the difference.  Elmhurst is closer to Washington U...Well, I said that Whitewater was closer to Lawrence, so what?  The response was, "So you think Lawrence should host?"  I'm still trying to figure that out.  If it's in Elmhurst, Lawrence has to drive further, if it's in Whitewater, Washington U has to drive further?  I don't know.  My thought was that Elmhurst was in the CCIW final and Whitewater wasn't in the WIAC final. 

[larry_u]

I asked the Hoopsters on the radio via AOL-IM why Elmhurst hosted instead of Whitewater.  The response was that they weren't getting three teams to travel to Whitewater.  I was like, "uh?"  So, they get three teams to travel to Elmhurst. What's the difference.  Elmhurst is closer to Washington U...Well, I said that Whitewater was closer to Lawrence, so what?  The response was, "So you think Lawrence should host?"  I'm still trying to figure that out.  If it's in Elmhurst, Lawrence has to drive further, if it's in Whitewater, Washington U has to drive further?  I don't know.  My thought was that Elmhurst was in the CCIW final and Whitewater wasn't in the WIAC final. 

Randomly throwing this out there....

Elmhurst obviously has the advantage hosting.  Why they might have gone Elmhurst over Whitewater taking their reply to you out of context is that since Wash U is technically the highest seeded team out of that pod, and probably would have hosted had their women not been hosting, they gave them the advantage by playing closer to their home at Elmhurst, thus giving the lower seeded Lawrence thie disadvantage of having to drive further.  The response of so you thinkg Lawrence should host makes me think they are trying to give Wash U as much of a home court advantage over Lawrence as they are accidently "screwing" over Whitewater in the process.

Again just throwing it out there, I could be completely off base..

*** Edited for horrible spelling.  When I type really fast I suck... ***

[The Roop]

LU gets a lot of players from the Chicagoland area so I expect them to draw well in Elmhurst. Could be Alex South.

[BoBo]

I asked the Hoopsters on the radio via AOL-IM why Elmhurst hosted instead of Whitewater.  The response was that they weren't getting three teams to travel to Whitewater.   

Whitewater = purgatory...OK, I get it!   

Just wondering out loud - do you think they polled the other three teams to see if they would consider traveling to Whitewater and came up empty?   

[Pat Coleman]

I asked the Hoopsters on the radio via AOL-IM why Elmhurst hosted instead of Whitewater.  The response was that they weren't getting three teams to travel to Whitewater.  I was like, "uh?"  So, they get three teams to travel to Elmhurst. What's the difference.  Elmhurst is closer to Washington U...Well, I said that Whitewater was closer to Lawrence, so what?  The response was, "So you think Lawrence should host?"  I'm still trying to figure that out.  If it's in Elmhurst, Lawrence has to drive further, if it's in Whitewater, Washington U has to drive further?  I don't know.  My thought was that Elmhurst was in the CCIW final and Whitewater wasn't in the WIAC final. 

Did you hear the response on the air?

[voice]

I asked the Hoopsters on the radio via AOL-IM why Elmhurst hosted instead of Whitewater.  The response was that they weren't getting three teams to travel to Whitewater.  I was like, "uh?"  So, they get three teams to travel to Elmhurst. What's the difference.  Elmhurst is closer to Washington U...Well, I said that Whitewater was closer to Lawrence, so what?  The response was, "So you think Lawrence should host?"  I'm still trying to figure that out.  If it's in Elmhurst, Lawrence has to drive further, if it's in Whitewater, Washington U has to drive further?  I don't know.  My thought was that Elmhurst was in the CCIW final and Whitewater wasn't in the WIAC final. 

Did you hear the response on the air?

Whitewater did put in a bid to host both the Men's and Women's Tournament

[Greek Tragedy]

Pat,

No...it was a response on AOL-IM.  Not a big deal...just didn't really understand the reasoning, though Larry U's sounds legit.

[Nites]

In looking at the matchups, there are 3 powerful WIAC teams but none are hosting a game as far as I can see.is that correct? How much travel is involved in the D3 tournament? It appears that they set it up so that Stevens Point, Whitewater and Platteville may all end up possibly knocking each other off before the later round games. Is that by intent? The pairings are really not equal. Some of these teams would be hard pressed to win even a single game in the WIAC. Maybe the people who pair the games are tired of the history of success for Platteville, and Stevens Point in the tournament and they want to let the "little guys" get some of the limelight?

You are newish here obviously.

That's funny ... he doesn't look Newish.

Yes, but BBGuy is a Newish name.  That's how he knew.   

[Gregory Sager]

In looking at the matchups, there are 3 powerful WIAC teams but none are hosting a game as far as I can see.is that correct? How much travel is involved in the D3 tournament? It appears that they set it up so that Stevens Point, Whitewater and Platteville may all end up possibly knocking each other off before the later round games. Is that by intent? The pairings are really not equal. Some of these teams would be hard pressed to win even a single game in the WIAC. Maybe the people who pair the games are tired of the history of success for Platteville, and Stevens Point in the tournament and they want to let the "little guys" get some of the limelight?

You are newish here obviously.

That's funny ... he doesn't look Newish.

LOL...

Conspiracy theorists unite...

A thought about why all the WIAC schools have been placed in the same bracket, from this article from JSOnline. The key comment(s) are highlighted in bold and made by the WIAC commissioner:

"In both the men's and women's tournaments, all state teams have been placed in the same sectional.

That means no more than two WIAC teams can reach the Elite Eight.

"I suspect they didn't want to have a repeat of the softball championship last year," Karner said, referring to the selection committee.

Last spring, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Whitewater came out of different softball regionals to reach the national championship. Eau Claire defeated Whitewater, 4-3, to win the title.

It was the first time two teams from the same league met in the title game.

"It won't happen now," Karner said of the basketball fields. "That's for sure."

Pick your poison. If UW-Whitewater (the only WIAC entry within a 500-mile radius of an alternative section of the bracket) had been moved by the selection committee into that alternative section, then people would've been screaming about the fact that Warhawks fans would have to travel 450-plus miles to see their team play this weekend in Cleveland or Columbus.

Every league based west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania border is a prisoner of geography when it comes to the D3 tourney, not just the WIAC. The CCIW faces a possible Sweet Sixteen showdown between its two representatives. The NWC has it even worse: Whitworth and Puget Sound face the possibility of duking it out with each other in the second round on Saturday night. The OAC is luckier; if Capital and John Carroll make it that far, they'll meet up in the Elite Eight, same as UWSP and either UWW or UWP.

Wisconsin is much too far west of D3's center of gravity for WIAC teams to ever be slotted in different sections of a geographically-based tournament bracket. That's just a fact of life, folks.

[Gregory Sager]

LU gets a lot of players from the Chicagoland area so I expect them to draw well in Elmhurst. Could be Alex South.

There's only four Chicagolanders on the Lawrence roster, so unless those four are either very popular or come from very prolific clans, I doubt that they'll provide enough friends and family to make Fagenel Hall "Alex South" all by themselves.

It will be interesting to see how each of the four teams draw in Faganel on Friday night. I'm sure that a lot of it will depend upon which schools are still in session and which schools are on spring break. Wash U has a substantial Chicagoland alumni base, and of course UWW isn't that far away.

[titan2000]

Sager:

They do come from good "clans" and will show up.  LU, LU, LU or is it El Roop, El Roop.

[John Gleich]

In looking at the matchups, there are 3 powerful WIAC teams but none are hosting a game as far as I can see.is that correct? How much travel is involved in the D3 tournament? It appears that they set it up so that Stevens Point, Whitewater and Platteville may all end up possibly knocking each other off before the later round games. Is that by intent? The pairings are really not equal. Some of these teams would be hard pressed to win even a single game in the WIAC. Maybe the people who pair the games are tired of the history of success for Platteville, and Stevens Point in the tournament and they want to let the "little guys" get some of the limelight?

You are newish here obviously.

That's funny ... he doesn't look Newish.

LOL...

Conspiracy theorists unite...

A thought about why all the WIAC schools have been placed in the same bracket, from this article from JSOnline. The key comment(s) are highlighted in bold and made by the WIAC commissioner:

"In both the men's and women's tournaments, all state teams have been placed in the same sectional.

That means no more than two WIAC teams can reach the Elite Eight.

"I suspect they didn't want to have a repeat of the softball championship last year," Karner said, referring to the selection committee.

Last spring, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Whitewater came out of different softball regionals to reach the national championship. Eau Claire defeated Whitewater, 4-3, to win the title.

It was the first time two teams from the same league met in the title game.

"It won't happen now," Karner said of the basketball fields. "That's for sure."

Pick your poison. If UW-Whitewater (the only WIAC entry within a 500-mile radius of an alternative section of the bracket) had been moved by the selection committee into that alternative section, then people would've been screaming about the fact that Warhawks fans would have to travel 450-plus miles to see their team play this weekend in Cleveland or Columbus.

Every league based west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania border is a prisoner of geography when it comes to the D3 tourney, not just the WIAC. The CCIW faces a possible Sweet Sixteen showdown between its two representatives. The NWC has it even worse: Whitworth and Puget Sound face the possibility of duking it out with each other in the second round on Saturday night. The OAC is luckier; if Capital and John Carroll make it that far, they'll meet up in the Elite Eight, same as UWSP and either UWW or UWP.

Wisconsin is much too far west of D3's center of gravity for WIAC teams to ever be slotted in different sections of a geographically-based tournament bracket. That's just a fact of life, folks.

... Except that history disagrees with you...  See 2006.  La Crosse got shipped to Michigan, on the other side of the bracket.  'Course, this year, the center of the DIII world resides somewhere on the western Illinois-Wisconsin border, not on the Michigan-Ohio border like that year, so there aren't any pods to ship a WIAC team east.

I still think it's a travesty, though, that Whitewater and Platteville both got overlooked in lieu of Elmhurst.  As I mentioned before, the CCIW has 3 teams (Wheaton and Elmhurst men and IWU women), and 3 hosts.  The WIAC has 6 teams (UWSP and UWW men and women, UW Platte men, and UWEC women) and just one hosting. 

I'm listening to the men's committee chair podcast now... perhaps I will get some insight... but I guess the committee just wanted more blowouts in Salem this year...

[larry_u]

In looking at the matchups, there are 3 powerful WIAC teams but none are hosting a game as far as I can see.is that correct? How much travel is involved in the D3 tournament? It appears that they set it up so that Stevens Point, Whitewater and Platteville may all end up possibly knocking each other off before the later round games. Is that by intent? The pairings are really not equal. Some of these teams would be hard pressed to win even a single game in the WIAC. Maybe the people who pair the games are tired of the history of success for Platteville, and Stevens Point in the tournament and they want to let the "little guys" get some of the limelight?

You are newish here obviously.

That's funny ... he doesn't look Newish.

LOL...

Conspiracy theorists unite...

A thought about why all the WIAC schools have been placed in the same bracket, from this article from JSOnline. The key comment(s) are highlighted in bold and made by the WIAC commissioner:

"In both the men's and women's tournaments, all state teams have been placed in the same sectional.

That means no more than two WIAC teams can reach the Elite Eight.

"I suspect they didn't want to have a repeat of the softball championship last year," Karner said, referring to the selection committee.

Last spring, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Whitewater came out of different softball regionals to reach the national championship. Eau Claire defeated Whitewater, 4-3, to win the title.

It was the first time two teams from the same league met in the title game.

"It won't happen now," Karner said of the basketball fields. "That's for sure."

Pick your poison. If UW-Whitewater (the only WIAC entry within a 500-mile radius of an alternative section of the bracket) had been moved by the selection committee into that alternative section, then people would've been screaming about the fact that Warhawks fans would have to travel 450-plus miles to see their team play this weekend in Cleveland or Columbus.

Every league based west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania border is a prisoner of geography when it comes to the D3 tourney, not just the WIAC. The CCIW faces a possible Sweet Sixteen showdown between its two representatives. The NWC has it even worse: Whitworth and Puget Sound face the possibility of duking it out with each other in the second round on Saturday night. The OAC is luckier; if Capital and John Carroll make it that far, they'll meet up in the Elite Eight, same as UWSP and either UWW or UWP.

Wisconsin is much too far west of D3's center of gravity for WIAC teams to ever be slotted in different sections of a geographically-based tournament bracket. That's just a fact of life, folks.

... Except that history disagrees with you...  See 2006.  La Crosse got shipped to Michigan, on the other side of the bracket.  'Course, this year, the center of the DIII world resides somewhere on the western Illinois-Wisconsin border, not on the Michigan-Ohio border like that year, so there aren't any pods to ship a WIAC team east.

I still think it's a travesty, though, that Whitewater and Platteville both got overlooked in lieu of Elmhurst.  As I mentioned before, the CCIW has 3 teams (Wheaton and Elmhurst men and IWU women), and 3 hosts.  The WIAC has 6 teams (UWSP and UWW men and women, UW Platte men, and UWEC women) and just one hosting. 

I'm listening to the men's committee chair podcast now... perhaps I will get some insight... but I guess the committee just wanted more blowouts in Salem this year...

Because the WIAC runs the D3 world....

I'm sure they had their reasons, but POint Special I hate to tell you...the sun does not revolve around the WIAC offices...

If Elmhurst is hosting because the committee thought it would give Wash U a better advantage and technically since they are the highest seed in that pod, they deserve it then good for them. 

If they did it for another reason..ok good for them

I guarentee they did not do it to spite the WIAC, though you and others on this board may feel they did...poor unfortunate souls you are in the WIAC...