MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[wcbsas]

I only ask, because WCBSAS says the road trips TO SUPERIOR are brutal. I would like to note that those road trips FROM SUPERIOR just might be every bit as brutal and, while Platteville and Whitewater and Oshkosh only come up here once each, Superior goes to ALL those places. Superior's 'backyard' game is Eau Claire. OK. Leave that be.

I agree but you will also note that UWS has more home games remaining thus a factor that weighs in their favor.

[John Gleich]

I only ask, because WCBSAS says the road trips TO SUPERIOR are brutal. I would like to note that those road trips FROM SUPERIOR just might be every bit as brutal and, while Platteville and Whitewater and Oshkosh only come up here once each, Superior goes to ALL those places. Superior's 'backyard' game is Eau Claire. OK. Leave that be.

I agree but you will also note that UWS has more home games remaining thus a factor that weighs in their favor.

That's not a factor I looked at when I was comparing the remaining schedules.  I might be able to do that today.

[phoenix_rising]

Opposing teams seem not to be bus-legged enough when they get here.

[wcbsas]

I only ask, because WCBSAS says the road trips TO SUPERIOR are brutal. I would like to note that those road trips FROM SUPERIOR just might be every bit as brutal and, while Platteville and Whitewater and Oshkosh only come up here once each, Superior goes to ALL those places. Superior's 'backyard' game is Eau Claire. OK. Leave that be.

I agree but you will also note that UWS has more home games remaining thus a factor that weighs in their favor.

That's not a factor I looked at when I was comparing the remaining schedules.  I might be able to do that today.

Agains looking at UWS's remaining schedule:

Home:
EC
SP
Platt
RF
Lax
Stout

Trips TO Superior - In terms of arduousness of travel ... EC is a relatively easy trip, Platt is a tough trip and the other 4 are medium trips.  I think UWS can go 4-2 on this home stand.  Especially since 4 of the next 5 are at home.

Road:
Stout
SP
Oshkosh
EC
WW

First I've already chalked up the trips to SP and WW as losses.  Of the remaining 3 only Oshkosh is a long trip.  The other two are reasonable.  I think UWS can go 2-3 possibly 3-2.  None are a gimmie for UWS but UWSP stands out as the only for sure likely loss game.

[phoenix_rising]

Well, I especially like the "for sure likely loss" statement. I suspect Point and WW will be losses; however, UWS beat Oshkosh not once but twice two years ago at the end of the season; once on Saturday and again the following Monday, I believe. They went from there to WW on Wednesday and took the game to overtime. I believe they had to wear the same underwear the whole time, since they did not come home between games (talk about playing offensively!). I'm not saying we can do that again--I would certainly like to.

There's a big difference between what UWS should do and what they will do. They should have done much better last season, but they didn't. I think they've tasted some success and are beginning to get a clue how to maintain it. I'd love to go to Point and shut those people up, but--you know--I'm not holding my breath. I'd like to go to WW and shut the coach up, but I'm still breathing on that, too.

[John Gleich]

There is certainly precedent for Superior to win both at home and on the road.  I don't have time to look at it now, but I might later tonight.

BTW, it was Superior (and no one else) who swept Point in 03-04, during Point's first national championship run.

I certainly don't see those games as sure wins for Point.  Sure wins don't exist in this conference, especially in a year like this year, where there really isn't a bad team.

Everybody's got weapons and if you don't come prepared, you'll lose.  Plain and simple.

[wcbsas]

Well, I especially like the "for sure likely loss" statement. I suspect Point and WW will be losses; however, UWS beat Oshkosh not once but twice two years ago at the end of the season; once on Saturday and again the following Monday, I believe. They went from there to WW on Wednesday and took the game to overtime. I believe they had to wear the same underwear the whole time, since they did not come home between games (talk about playing offensively!). I'm not saying we can do that again--I would certainly like to.

There's a big difference between what UWS should do and what they will do. They should have done much better last season, but they didn't. I think they've tasted some success and are beginning to get a clue how to maintain it. I'd love to go to Point and shut those people up, but--you know--I'm not holding my breath. I'd like to go to WW and shut the coach up, but I'm still breathing on that, too.

What would your prediction be for UWS's win/loss performance down the stretch?

Are you saying that UWW and UWSP games are not likely losess?  Do you predict a UWS victory?

I'm predicting 7-4 over the next 11 games ... your prediction is ....?

[phoenix_rising]

Why doesn't the survey give the option of rooting against Dallas? That would work especially well for people like me, who would not root for the Vikings and certainly not for Favre but want to see Dallas lose, nonetheless.

Anyway, predictions. Last year, I predicted UWS would lose to the top teams and beat the bottom ones (that's rephrasing my prediction), so I guess I figured they'd come out in fourth place. They didn't even win the games they should have won. I have a theory that no matter what I expect, my expectations will be dashed. I'm very superstitious; if MY team plays badly while I'm watching, I stop watching (I single-handedly won a Brewer game in the 12th inning by leaving the stadium). I predict UWS will play its remaining games. Wait! I can't say that; with my kind of luck and influence on it, the entire team will come down with some rare form of something that's very contagious and WIAC will cancel all UWS men's basketball games.

But if I were to make some wild guesses, I would say UWS could beat Eau Claire, River Falls and win the rematches with Oshkosh and LaCrosse (that's pretty bold, I know; but I think it's possible). We've not been able to beat Stout for the last couple of years, but I'd like to see at least one of those games be a win. I would say we could beat Platteville. I can't see beating Stevens Point in Point, and I would love to predict an upset in Whitewater...I would just love to see it. Having said all that and having seen the way UWS can go stupid at the worst possible times, I'm not making any predictions.

The key to all this is depth. Everybody has to play his best game every game; they can't just hope Jake Smith will patch all the holes.

[John Gleich]

There's an old saying that, in a balanced, good league like the WIAC, you've gotta defend your home court and "steal" games on the road. 

There are some ways to track this... I'll borrow a tool from TitanQ over at the CCIW page:

Home win = +0
Road win = +1
Home loss = -1
Road loss = +0

Whitewater	+3	(2-0 at home, 3-0 on the road)
Stevens Point	+1	(3-0 at home, 1-1 on the road)
La Crosse	+1	(2-1 at home, 2-1 on the road)
Platteville	+0	(3-0 at home, 0-2 on the road)
Superior	+0	(1-1 at home, 1-2 on the road)
Eau Claire	-1	(2-1 at home, 0-2 on the road)
Oshkosh	-1	(1-1 at home, 0-3 on the road)
Stout	-1	(1-2 at home, 1-2 on the road)
River Falls	-2	(0-3 at home, 1-2 on the road)

Schedule through 1/20 (halfway point in the conference schedule)


Wed 1/13/10
UW-Eau Claire at UW-Superior
UW-River Falls at UW-La Crosse
UW-Oshkosh at UW-Whitewater
UW-Platteville at UW-Stevens Point

Sat 1/16/10
UW-Whitewater @ UW-Eau Claire
UW-Stout @ UW-Oshkosh
UW-Platteville @ UW-River Falls
UW-Stevens Point  @ UW-Superior

Wed 1/20/10
UW-Stevens Point  @ UW-Eau Claire
UW-La Crosse  @ UW-Oshkosh
UW-Whitewater @ UW-Platteville
UW-Superior @ UW-Stout


The schedule favors Whitewater, though only a little bit.  They've got 5 home games and 3 away games in the second half of the schedule, and Eau Claire has 3 home games and 5 away.  Interesting imbalance/twist on the schedule. 

The next two closest teams, after Whitewater are Point and La Crosse and they have 4 and 4.  But Point hosts WW and LaX has to travel to WW.  LaX hosts SP as well.

These next 3 games are important... if teams get too far behind by the halfway point, they could be out of the running for meaningful positioning.

[John Gleich]

Some statistical highlights in the WIAC compared to the rest of the country...

Whitewater is the 11th highest scoring team in the country.

Point has the 11th best scoring defense in the country.

Whitewater is #1 and Point is #2 in shooting percentage.  Superior is #26.

Point is #22 in field goal % defense.

La Crosse is #20 and Whitewater is #28 in 3 point %.

Oshkosh is #1, Platteville is #2, Point is #14, La Crosse is #21, Superior is #23, and Whitewater is #35 in FT percentage (WOW!).

Whitewater is #16, Oshkosh is #29, and Stout is #41 in rebound margin.

Whitewater is #8, EC is # 42, in assists per game.

La Crosse is #2, Point is #4, and Superior is #16 in fewest TO's per game.

Point is #14, Whitewater is #20, EC is #35, LaX is #41, in assist to TO ratio.

La Crosse is 25th in blocked shots.

Superior is #16 and RF is #44 in fewest fouls/game.

And the WIAC played one of the, if not THE toughest non-conference schedule (in terms of RPI, based off of OWP and OOWP) in the country!  They also have the highest winning percentage in the country, too.

WIAC fans truly have an opportunity to see some excellent basketball teams!

[Greek Tragedy]

Nice work, PS. 

[fredfalcon]

Falcons eke one out over Eagles, 83-75. RF led all the way from a 9-0 start, shooting 61% to LaX 38%. RF makes something like 12/13 throws down the stretch, including Shelman's 8/8 in the last 2-3 minutes. Guerin has 21 rbds, 19 pts., Koonkaew has 20 pts., 8 assts.

Mane had 23, I think, but shot very poorly.

[John Gleich]

WW beats Oshkosh in OT  62-58
Superior beats EC 85-80
Point beats Platteville 74-53
RF beats LaX 83-75

[chmarx]

FredFalcon's summary of the River Falls / La Crosse game is spot on.

It was a very dispiriting loss for us.  I don't want to take anything away from RF, but we seemed sluggish and unenthused.  I think the game was less close than the score.

One of RF's big guys went down with what looked like a serious injury just before halftime.  He was using crutches and on the bench in the second half.

[wcbsas]

School ............. W-L 
Whitewater ..... 6-0
Stevens Point .. 5-1
La Crosse ........ 4-3
Superior ........... 3-3
Platteville ......... 3-3
Eau Claire ........ 2-4
Stout ................ 2-4
River Falls ......... 2-5
Oshkosh ........... 1-5