MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[John Gleich]

LINK

There are some videos of the end of the Point/Whitewater game.

As an aside... huge crowd.  It only says 263 in the stats, so they must have left off the last number inadvertently...

It's the first time I've seen Quandt with the new lighting.  It's, honestly, surprising.  It definitely will take some getting used to, but it really seemed to light up the crowd.  One of the things that I liked about Quandt was the focus on the court (in terms of the lighting).  Other places like Whitewater are the same way... but it just seemed SO bright.  I'll get to see it in person on Saturday for the Alumni game.  I was in town last Saturday and I saw the new lobby... which was pretty sweet.

What do people who have been in the new setup think?


And any in-person recaps from tonight's game?

[Buddo]

Does UW-L's Jeff Heiden intrigue anyone else? He had a career-high of 18 tonight against Stout. He's rail thin with an unorthodox shooting form that is HIGHLY effective at times.

[stcroix]

I watched the Superior/RF tilt last night on iFan.  The scoring balance and the fact that this is still a "junior" team, bodes well for the Yellow Jackets next season and may be one of the most feared teams to play in the conference tourney.  No question Jake Smith is their leader, but Helland, I think, brings some sense of maturity and leadership as well. 

It was nice to see Culy shoot better last night.  He has not shot well in the past few games. 

Dangerous team folks, dangerous team.

[phoenix_rising]

The thing that stood out for me in the RF-Superior game was the refs' non-interference. You know how one side or the other (crowd) will yell, "Let 'em play!" depending on who fouled whom? Well, I don't think you would have heard that last night. I thought the game was physical--not dirty--lots of body-to-body play. I don't necessarily like that style, but if both sides can do it, I guess I can't argue--unless the physicality becomes dangerous--which I think happened when Guerin bumped Helland as he was going up for a dunk. You bump a guy in the air, you should get called. RF came out at the start fast and strong--Guerin came out fast and strong and blew two 3s and a 2 before Superior got its mental butt off the bench. I don't think Roeder's feet left the ground in the tip-off. It looked like it was going to be a long night for Superior. Again, I tend to think it was Helland who pushed Superior into the game. Jake Smith did not score in the first half but ended up with 15, I believe. And, I believe we have video proof that Dwight Hill drove to the basket--into three defenders--then passed the ball to the perimeter. I don't think we scored, but WHAT A BREAK THROUGH for Dwight!
Another probably not a first but it's so rare it startled me: Dustin Ritchie, one of my favorite players, FOLLOWED HIS SHOT AND GOT HIS OWN REBOUND. You just won't see that every day if you watch UWSoups play.

[Pioneer Hoops Fan]

Maybe its just my mentality, but I think only poor shooters follow their shots.  A good shooter "knows" its going in everytime.   

[badgerwarhawk]

Wow, heart surgery on Monday and playing 21 minutes on Wednesday.  Is Schrimpf some sort of bionic man?  That's incredible.  Good for him.

Nice to see Negri have a good night shooting.  We were getting periodic updates at the women's game and after hearing the half time score I was worried it was going to be another Eau Claire type night.  We were pleasantly surprised to learn of the run we made to take the lead and then hold it down the stretch in what is possibly one of the most difficult gyms to do that. 

[phoenix_rising]

Maybe its just my mentality, but I think only poor shooters follow their shots.  A good shooter "knows" its going in everytime.   

That certainly seems to be their mentality; however, by now they should be getting an inkling that their assumptions are skewed and the opponents are getting too many rebounds at our expense. We aren't even in the running for second-chance, third-chance, etal, shots. We improve our offensive rebounding by ten percent and we've won at least two additional games.

[John Gleich]

Wow, heart surgery on Monday and playing 21 minutes on Wednesday.  Is Schrimpf some sort of bionic man?  That's incredible.  Good for him.

I don't at all want to downplay the fact that he came back 2 days after heart surgery and played... but I just hope it means that it wasn't all that serious of an issue (as heart surgery's go).  With what just happened to Gaines Adams of the Bears a few weeks ago (and, ironically and sadly what happened to a family friend of mine earlier this week), undiagnosed heart issues are very, very serious things.

Nice to see Negri have a good night shooting.  We were getting periodic updates at the women's game and after hearing the half time score I was worried it was going to be another Eau Claire type night.  We were pleasantly surprised to learn of the run we made to take the lead and then hold it down the stretch in what is possibly one of the most difficult gyms to do that. 

It certainly sounded like Negri was in the zone last night.  It was strange, though, to me that Whitewater shot poorly in the first half and Point shot poorly in the second half (and they were both going towards the same basket, the one down near Point's bench), or that Point shot better in the first half and Whitewater in the second half (going down towards Whitewater's bench).

It got me to thinking... I wonder how a school would realize that one of their baskets was broken.  (I'm not inferring that one of the baskets at Point is, it just got me thinking).  The other question would be which basket would be broken... the one that seemed to prevent shots from going in or the one that seemed to ... accept...? more shots.

Stay with me here... I think this is interesting.

You can't simply go by shooting percentages.  A team can be on fire one night and cold the next, so the percentages alone don't tell the full story.

A stat like rebounds might tell a different tale... If the offensive team gets a higher percentage of rebounds on one end than the other, it may be because the rebounds carom off at odd angles and the defensive team, who is going to rebound like they always do, is suddenly out of position because of the weird bounces.

Game situations can certainly dictate the number of offensive rebound opportunities that a team has, though, so maybe that isn't very meaningful either.

You can't just go by 3 point shooting... as with regular shooting percentages, sometimes teams are ON and sometimes they're not.  Also, the defense has a lot to do with how well a team shoots. 

I think it would require a first-person report, someone who can see odd caroms or an apparent dead rim or can hear the clunk of the ball against the rim that just seems unnatural.

I don't know if there necessarily is a convention to test this, though I do recall over my basketball career (not in college, years before) when the rim on one end of the floor is actually different than on the other end (and obviously, too).  One was a breakaway rim, the other was a 1970's style hunk of metal immovably soddered to a plate.  There's going to be a drastic difference on the give of each of these rims.

There are other factors too... the lighting or backdrop may be different and that might affect how the shooter sees the basket (and thus affects their ability to make one). 

I think it's typically assumed that one basketball court is the same as another... or at least is the most-similar of the sports fields/courts.  The dimensions are the same and there aren't field conditions to be worried about, but there are other things (like the lighting I mentioned, or like deadspots on the floor).  One floor may be springier than another, and there may even be features that affect the playing surface (small old gyms with balcony overhangs that extend over the playing floor).

But I go back to my original question... how would a school know that one of its rims was broken?  It isn't as obvious as it might seem to be, unless there is a visual anomaly (such as if it's only hanging on to the backboard by one bolt, etc).

[phoenix_rising]

Re: broken baskets

Was at a game where one basket wasn't dropped all the way and was at an angle not great enough to be obvious. I don't know how they figured it out, but by half time, they did. Now, would you continue to play with the basket at the odd angle so both teams have to play under identical situations or not? As I recall, the basket was lowered to proper position for second half, which means one team got a normal basket for the entire game, while the other didn't. You might think a basket angled so slightly you don't notice it from stands shouldn't affect the game, but think about the players who roll the ball in from the front of the rim; the rim is now slightly higher. The people who bank it off the backboard (not enough players do, I might add) but now not only is the basket slanted, so is the backboard. it seems to me the pure shooter is at a disadvantage because things are not where they're supposed to be. But, are all baskets 'where they're supposed to be?' Does someone go out with exact measuring devices and make sure everything is plumb?

[John Gleich]

Re: broken baskets

Was at a game where one basket wasn't dropped all the way and was at an angle not great enough to be obvious. I don't know how they figured it out, but by half time, they did. Now, would you continue to play with the basket at the odd angle so both teams have to play under identical situations or not? As I recall, the basket was lowered to proper position for second half, which means one team got a normal basket for the entire game, while the other didn't. You might think a basket angled so slightly you don't notice it from stands shouldn't affect the game, but think about the players who roll the ball in from the front of the rim; the rim is now slightly higher. The people who bank it off the backboard (not enough players do, I might add) but now not only is the basket slanted, so is the backboard. it seems to me the pure shooter is at a disadvantage because things are not where they're supposed to be. But, are all baskets 'where they're supposed to be?' Does someone go out with exact measuring devices and make sure everything is plumb?

Yeah, it's kind of the "when do you turn the lights on/off" question in baseball.  They can only be turned on or off at the beginning of an inning, so the fielding/batting views are the same... but if they need to be turned on sooner, and aren't, then the team that's batting or fielding when they SHOULD be turned on will be at a disadvantage.

Same thing for your situation.  When you realize the playing field isn't level, do you relevel it... meaning that the previous results weren't achieved from a level field?  There's probably a rule somewhere about it... and it likely states that you fix the basket as soon as you notice it isn't all the way down, but that doesn't seem fair.

[chmarx]

Interesting game in La Crosse last night.  I thought almost our entire team played listlessly.  The major exceptions were Cherry and  Andrew Hass.  The other big factor was that UWL was smoking hot from outside the arc.

Stout played well, but had no answer for the threes.

I hope the referees enjoyed whatever they were watching.  It didn't seem to be the game.  Koebl seemed to try to draw a T by slamming his hand on the scorer's table while protesting a bizarre double foul call, but the refs were too clueless (or embarrassed) to call it.  However, I don't think the incompetent officiating really influenced the outcome.

[stoutguy]

Interesting game in La Crosse last night.  I thought almost our entire team played listlessly.  The major exceptions were Cherry and  Andrew Hass.  The other big factor was that UWL was smoking hot from outside the arc.

Stout played well, but had no answer for the threes.

I hope the referees enjoyed whatever they were watching.  It didn't seem to be the game.  Koebl seemed to try to draw a T by slamming his hand on the scorer's table while protesting a bizarre double foul call, but the refs were too clueless (or embarrassed) to call it.  However, I don't think the incompetent officiating really influenced the outcome.

I watched the same game as you, (Not the same one the refs were watching).  I agree with you completely on your assessment of both teams.  We seem to bring out your best shooting game whenever we play you.  Why didn't you match that EC game shooting percentage? 

[Greek Tragedy]

Interesting set of games today.

1/30/10
UW-La Crosse at UW-Platteville
UW-Oshkosh at UW-River Falls
UW-Superior at UW-Stevens Point
UW-Stout at UW-Whitewater

The Eagles topped the Pioneers at Mitchell Hall back in mid-December.  La Crosse had a double digit lead for most of the second half even though Platteville had a one-point lead going into the break.  Stratton was the big man on campus that day with 25 as Mane was held to just 9 points.  Platteville had 4 players in double figures lead by Keiler, off the bench, with 16.  Curt Hanson had 14, but was just 5-18 shooting.  Platteville's defense will have to show up this time because La Crosse shot 12-21 (57%) in the second half.

River Falls stole one in Oshkosh on the same day with a surprising fashion.  The Falcons had a lead as big as 17 in the 2nd half.  As usual, Marsh had a big game going for 29 pts and 9 boards.  Flanigan also had a nice game chipping in with 14 and 4.  Koonkaew lead River Falls with 24 and also dished out 6 dimes.  Guerin finished with a double-double at 15 & 12.  Two keys will be the health of Jake Voeltz for River Falls and Greg Schrimpf for Oshkosh.  Defense, again, will be important with the Titans giving up 63% shooting to River Falls in the 2nd half.

The Pointers escaped Canada with win over the Yellowjackets, 56-53, last time out.  Point actually trailed in the dying seconds, but Jared Jenkins got a steal and a dunk before Evan Sweeney iced it for Stevens Point.  Speaking of ice, both teams were cold from the floor with Point shooting 36% and Superior coming in with a "hot" 37%.  Superior nearly won the game dispite leading just once in the game, 53-52 with about a minute to go.

Whitewater got by Stout, last time out, with a slim 5-point win.  The Warhawks shot just 37.5%, while the Blue Devils hit 42% of their shots.  Stout had a brief lead with just over 2 minutes to go, but couldn't hold on.  Whitewater had four players in double figures lead by Free and Dantzler with 13 apiece.  Mitchell was held to 10 pts and 5 boards while playing 27 minutes, due to foul trouble (2 fouls by the 10-minute mark in the first half).  Hostetter and Enerson-Matthews combined for 31 on 14-25 shooting for the Blue Devils.

[cubs]

Stout takes Whitewater behind the woodshed today, almost putting up a 100 points in a 95-77 victory AT Whitewater....

It appears River Falls Jontae Koonkaew sustains an injury in River Falls 71-69 loss to Oshkosh, as he only played 14 minutes.  Oshkosh nearly blows a 12 point lead with 1:59 left, as Guerin misses a 3-point shot at the buzzer.  Wittwer leads Oshkosh with 20 points, as DJ Marsh fouls out with just under 2:00 to go, and finishes with 15 points and 7 rebounds.  Guerin goes for 21 points and 12 rebounds in a losing cause.

Superior forgets to show up in Point today, scoring just 14 points in the first half, on their way to a 74-43 loss to the Pointers.

La Crosse continues their slide, as they drop a 86-64 decision to Platteville today.  Hanson has a big day with 28 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.

Those last four spots for the WIAC Tournament continue to be up for grabs, as six teams are between 6-5 and 4-7.

[uww4ever]

omfg. ww lays an egg against friggen stout. nice work