MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[John Gleich]

Marsh has been named to the DIIIhoops.com preseason All-American first team.  He's the only WIAC player on any of the four teams named.

And I think that's appropriate.  He was one of only 3 juniors on the All-Conference team last year (Moses @ SP and Hanson @ Pville were the others).  Both Moses and Hanson averaged 13 points last year.  The completeness of their floor games was good enough for the AC nod... but it wasn't as dominating a performance as Marsh turned in last year to project for this year.  Each of these guys were suppliments on their teams last year (Marsh was the most go-to of the three) and will have added weight placed on their shoulders this year.  Unless there's an absolute breakout year by somebody, I don't really see anyone propelling themselves to that list for the post season either.

I may definitely be wrong... In addition to Marsh's 19 pts last year, Mane and Smith averaged 17 apiece as sophomores, Stratton was 16 ppg as a junior and Koonkaew was 15 ppg as a soph.  Any of these guys (or others not mentioned) could pull their teams along and make some noise.  Other than Marsh, though, I don't see anyone who could make that list without their team having quite a bit of TEAM success as well, if that makes sense.

[frodotwo]

Pointers win Purple-Gold game. Gold dominated the inside with Hoelzel, Hurd and Dan Tillema, purple the outside with Sweeney and Ritchay raining 3's down. The team is much more athletic than in the past few years and team speed is more noticeable. The glaring deficiency is lack of height. Only one on the roster 6'8" and he won't be starting. Hoelzel, Hurd, Krull, Sweeney and Moses will probably start and significant minutes will be seen by Ritchay, and when available, Jenkins. Dan Tillema will be a player, Giordana and Harris and Tyler Tillema will get some decent minutes as well.

[Hugenerd]

Superior falls to Wisconsin in exhibition:

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/111109aaa.html

[Greek Tragedy]

Platteville's last year of their dynasty was 98-99.  Since then, Point and/or Whitewater was won or shared the WIAC title 9 of the 10 years since.  Oshkosh shared in 01-02 with Whitewater and Point.  River Falls won outright in 03-04 and Platteville shared with Point in 04-05.

That's why I put the poll up.  Can anyone besides Point or Whitewater win it this year?  It's funny because I find myself criticizing other conferences for being "top heavy" because the same two teams seemingly win their conference every year!  Obviously I don't think the WIAC is top heavy, but an outsider may come to that conclusion.

[Just Bill]

Since one of our favorite past times on this board is staring dumbfounded at NCAA championship committee decisions, I thought I'd throw this little gem from women's soccer in there.

Plattsburgh State placed 7th in the 10-team SUNYAC, with a record of 10-5-3 (3-4-2 in conference).  They failed to qualify for the SUNYAC's six-team conference tournament.  Plattsburgh St. received an at-large bid to the tournament, while four of the five teams that finished in front of them (not counting the AQ winner) and played in the tournament didn't qualify. Three of the four teams that didn't get at-large bids had higher a winning percentage than Plattsburgh.

http://www.collegehockeystats.net/sunyac/standings/wsoccer

[John Gleich]

Platteville's last year of their dynasty was 98-99.  Since then, Point and/or Whitewater was won or shared the WIAC title 9 of the 10 years since.  Oshkosh shared in 01-02 with Whitewater and Point.  River Falls won outright in 03-04 and Platteville shared with Point in 04-05.

That's why I put the poll up.  Can anyone besides Point or Whitewater win it this year?  It's funny because I find myself criticizing other conferences for being "top heavy" because the same two teams seemingly win their conference every year!  Obviously I don't think the WIAC is top heavy, but an outsider may come to that conclusion.

The thing is, though, that Point and WW have been at the top... but Platteville was there throughout the 90's and it didn't diminish the "take" on the league in terms of being a balanced league and tough from top to bottom.  I mean, if you look at the top programs in the country, some will be from balanced conferences, some will be from top-heavy conferences.  Just because one team is good doesn't mean that they automatically have conference-mates who are doormats.  They maybe are that good BECAUSE the competition they have is great too, year in and year out.  That's the case in the WIAC.

I mean, look at the CCIW.  Before last year, Augustana had won the league three years in a row.  And Wash U is currently dominating the UAA.  The fact that Point and WW have continued their dominance speaks to the quality of these programs, not to the deficiencies of the others in the WIAC.  Look at Platteville.  They've only won a share of one title in a decade, but they were one of the top teams in the country last year and the year they DID share with Point, it was in the second national championship year.  They ran into some snags early on... but they would have done some damage in the tournament if they'd made it.  The same goes for Oshkosh early in the decade.  They shared the title one year... but they made runs to the Elite 8 and Sweet 16.  They didn't have the record to be tops in the conference, but they were better than the great majority of the teams in the country.

The WIAC has had representation in the NCAA tournament from Point, WW, Platteville, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Stout, and Eau Claire.  And there were several years when multiple teams made it, and two years where 3 teams made the dance.  And when 7/9 teams from a conference make the NCAA tournament in a 10 year period (regardless of who actually won the title) it's a great accomplishment and it's a testament to how balanced and good from top to bottom that conference realy is.

Oh, and look at the two teams that didn't make the NCAA tournament.  One was RF, who actually won the conference outright the year that the second place team Point won the National Championship and the other was Superior, who that same year swept Point in the regular season and frequently has played the spoiler roll, knocking off teams that are contending for the conference title.  

[uww4ever]

Still no roster posted on UWW website.  Tough now that I'm not on campus working out to see what's going on with the program, but will keep tabs on them, won't make it to the games though (who knows). 

GO HAWKS!

[Greek Tragedy]

Last chance to get into the WIAC Fantasy League.  I will probably start the draft this weekend. 

[John Gleich]

Not sure if it would matter too much (in other words, people already have their plans set if they're going)... but the Point/St. John's game tomorrow is at 4:00, not 6:00 like the site says.  I'm not sure if that is a change (it may be, I think I remember seeing it being an evening game when I first saw the schedule) so plan accordingly!

[John Gleich]

Point beats SJU 81-57.  They came out hot and were leading 40-19 at the half.

[John Gleich]

On the Point broadcast, they said UWEC beat St. Scholastica today too, though I don't have a score.

[Greek Tragedy]

WIAC page has EC winning by 40, 87-47. 

Point wins 81-57.

St. John's was picked 2nd in the MIAC behind St. Thomas, though they didn't get a first place vote.  Bethel (tied for 4th) got the other first place vote.

Johnnies return 4 starters from 3rd place team (though a distant 3rd). Tied with two other teams at 12-8.  St. Thomas was 20-0 and Bethel was 14-6.

Looks like a solid win. 

[John Gleich]

WIAC page has EC winning by 40, 87-47. 

Point wins 81-57.

St. John's was picked 2nd in the MIAC behind St. Thomas, though they didn't get a first place vote.  Bethel (tied for 4th) got the other first place vote.

Johnnies return 4 starters from 3rd place team (though a distant 3rd). Tied with two other teams at 12-8.  St. Thomas was 20-0 and Bethel was 14-6.

Looks like a solid win. 

By 40?  I thought I remembered hearing 87-77...

Nope, 40 is right, per the UWEC page.  Didn't people just say that things weren't going well in Eau Claire? 

[Greek Tragedy]

It was St. Scholastica.

[John Gleich]

It was St. Scholastica.

That's true, but EC only beat them by 10 last year.  And I thought it was generally accepted that EC was going to have been better last year than this.  And they weren't world beaters last year... they lost to Stout by 15 in the last game of the regular season.