MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

Of course you could just have one of your bench players, who you never use anyway, kick him in the crotch. 

According to the Pointer faithful who post here, we got plenty of them!

[John Gleich]

I'm going to post this on the MIAC board too...

But, like I said, this should be an entertaining and interesting game.

St. Thomas is #2 in the country in field goal percentage, so I don't think they're just a one trick pony.

That being said, they lost 4 starters from last year's team the same way that SP did.


Here are the offensive and defensive efficiencies from this year and last.

2011-12
UST O	116.5
UST D	100.0
UWSP O	112.1
UWSP D	94.2
2010-11
UST O	113.8
UST D	97.1
UWSP O	116.1
UWSP D	85.4

UWSP had an edge offensively and defensively last year... but still lost twice to the Tommies (part of UWSP's stats may have been inflated though... they had a ton of blow outs last year and averaged +21.5 margin of victory, best in the land).

This year, UST has the edge offensively but Point still has the edge defensively.  Neither team is as good defensively as they were last year... and it seems that UST is even better offensively.

Massey has UWSP #6 and UST #8... with UWSP winning tonight by 6 (76-70, 74%)  Massey has Point with a #6 SOS and UST with a #23 SOS.

The D3Basketball index has Point #6 and UST #18... with UWSP having a #8 SOS and UST having a #67 SOS.  The d3Basketball Index doesn't have the games for today up yet... so not sure what that would be.


UWSP also has that 26 game home winning streak on the line... but they also have been in the thick of things in several games.  I think this game will likely be close and could come down to a single possession.  Point has been in a number of those games, so I like their chances... but I also wouldn't be surprised if UST was able to pull out the W.

[stoutfan1]

I'm going to post this on the MIAC board too...

But, like I said, this should be an entertaining and interesting game.

St. Thomas is #2 in the country in field goal percentage, so I don't think they're just a one trick pony.

That being said, they lost 4 starters from last year's team the same way that SP did.


Here are the offensive and defensive efficiencies from this year and last.

2011-12
UST O	116.5
UST D	100.0
UWSP O	112.1
UWSP D	94.2
2010-11
UST O	113.8
UST D	97.1
UWSP O	116.1
UWSP D	85.4

UWSP had an edge offensively and defensively last year... but still lost twice to the Tommies (part of UWSP's stats may have been inflated though... they had a ton of blow outs last year and averaged +21.5 margin of victory, best in the land).

This year, UST has the edge offensively but Point still has the edge defensively.  Neither team is as good defensively as they were last year... and it seems that UST is even better offensively.

Massey has UWSP #6 and UST #8... with UWSP winning tonight by 6 (76-70, 74%)  Massey has Point with a #6 SOS and UST with a #23 SOS.

The D3Basketball index has Point #6 and UST #18... with UWSP having a #8 SOS and UST having a #67 SOS.  The d3Basketball Index doesn't have the games for today up yet... so not sure what that would be.


UWSP also has that 26 game home winning streak on the line... but they also have been in the thick of things in several games.  I think this game will likely be close and could come down to a single possession.  Point has been in a number of those games, so I like their chances... but I also wouldn't be surprised if UST was able to pull out the W.

I have a thought on how this game is going to turn out but I don't want to jinx point. so I'll let you all know if I was right after the game.

[John Gleich]

I have a thought on how this game is going to turn out but I don't want to jinx point. so I'll let you all know if I was right after the game.

Point wins 72-66.  I'd love to hear what your thought is now!


SP led by as many as 10 in the first half and 15 in the second half... but the halftime lead was just 2 and UST cut the second half lead to 2 with 1:23 and then again at :39.

Pointers hit the FT's when it mattered... but about half way through the second half, they were 1/5 from the FT line. 


Possessions are at a premium when you're playing St. Thomas and other good MIAC teams... Point had just 14 turnovers vs. 11 for UST (fewer Pointer TO's than some other games earlier in the year) but they were timely... there were several fairly late in the game to keep UST close.

UST came in as the #2 team in FG% at better than 52%... they shot just 26/57 (56.6%) and 3/15 from 3.  Point was 23/45 (51.1) and 9/18 from 3.


Hannon led all scorers with 22 on 10/13 shooting... and he made his first 8.

Dan Til had 18 on 6/11 shooting and 3/5 from deep (he hit his last 3).  Giordana had 15 on 3/4 from deep and 6/6... big FT's at the end of the game.

Ty Had 13, just 5/9 from the FT line.  He was getting pretty beat up and landed hard on his left elbow... may have affected his shot.

Brezinski had 10... and had a huge offensive rebound on a Ty Tillema missed FT... and then got fouled and nailed the FT's.  He then got a big block on the other end... huge plays late in the game.


For Point's lack of size, they do rebound pretty well... they won the rebound battle 32-30.  Dan Tillema had 12 reb's, as did Hannon.



SP ends a killer week against then-#13 and undefeated Whitewater, then-undefeated Edgewood, and current #13 St. Thomas.  Great wins for the Pointers!


Home win streak is now at 27.

[bulk19]

Nice win tonight and a solid week for a Pointer team that is perhaps finding itself and its potential...

27 in a row at home is indeed impressive... Anybody know what the conference record is?

According to the WIAC site (which doesn't list the record for most wins in a row at home) the longest overall win streak, home and away, is Plattville, at 36 - 30 wins in 1997-98, the entire season, followed up by six in 1998-99...

That streak was bookended by a loss in 1997 to UWSP to end that season, and a loss to Hawaii-Pacific in 1998... The Pioneers only lost one other game in 1998-99 (UWEC), to compile a 60-2 record over those two seasons...

OK, now that I've jinxed the Pointers... 

[frodotwo]

Nice win tonight and a solid week for a Pointer team that is perhaps finding itself and its potential...

27 in a row at home is indeed impressive... Anybody know what the conference record is?

According to the WIAC site (which doesn't list the record for most wins in a row at home) the longest overall win streak, home and away, is Plattville, at 36 - 30 wins in 1997-98, the entire season, followed up by six in 1998-99...

That streak was bookended by a loss in 1997 to UWSP to end that season, and a loss to Hawaii-Pacific in 1998... The Pioneers only lost one other game in 1998-99 (UWEC), to compile a 60-2 record over those two seasons...

OK, now that I've jinxed the Pointers... 

Don't know if this is the record, but on 1/08/2000:

Pointers bounce Pioneers
Platteville's 96-game home win streak ends

The streak is over. No longer is the two-time defending NCAA Division III University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team invincible on their home floor.

Since January 1991, 96 opponents have invaded the Pioneers' home during the regular season and have been sent home losers.

Saturday night, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point put an end to Platteville's home cooking with a 77-63 victory over the No. 2 ranked Pioneers in a showdown of Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference leaders.

The victory was the first for the Pointers in their last 13 regular season meetings with the Pioneers and put an end to Platteville's 70-game WIAC home win streak. It also gives UW-SP a half-game lead in the WIAC standings.

The Pointers are 5-1 in league play, while Platteville and Eau Claire are both 4-1 in conference.

"This is a great win for us," said UW-SP coach Jack Bennett, whose team improved to 10-3. "I'm so happy for those kids. We beat a great basketball team, steeped in tradition."

"But coming in, I told the kids that it didn't matter what the numbers are, if we were prepared for this game."

The win marks the second time that Bennett has left Williams Fieldhouse as the winning coach. In 1997, the Pointers defeated the Pioneers at Platteville in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.


I don't know what their post season home record would have been in that 10 year span, but I don't think there were too many losses with Bo Ryan at the helm.

[bulk19]

frodotwo -
I knew those teams were good, really good, but I kind of forgot about that run at home...

Great stats from you and your crack research staff... 

[John Gleich]

Nice win tonight and a solid week for a Pointer team that is perhaps finding itself and its potential...

27 in a row at home is indeed impressive... Anybody know what the conference record is?

According to the WIAC site (which doesn't list the record for most wins in a row at home) the longest overall win streak, home and away, is Plattville, at 36 - 30 wins in 1997-98, the entire season, followed up by six in 1998-99...

That streak was bookended by a loss in 1997 to UWSP to end that season, and a loss to Hawaii-Pacific in 1998... The Pioneers only lost one other game in 1998-99 (UWEC), to compile a 60-2 record over those two seasons...

OK, now that I've jinxed the Pointers... 

The longest winning streak would either have to be by a team who won the championship (insert UWP, UWSP, or UWW here) or a team that was dominant during a single season.

No other team has really been dominant lately... so that list is dominated by those three programs.

There are a few instances from other programs... Eau Claire had two streaks during the early 90's during their glory years...

And River Falls from last year had a 15 game win streak... Interestingly, Stevens Point had a 14 game win streak last year as well.


Interestingly, Point has some more that should make the list... Here's the Point list:


Longest Winning Streak
22 1991-92
19 2003-04/2004-05
16 1983-84
15 1985-86
14 1984-85, 2010-11
12 1982-83, 1960-61



And here's the conference streak:

LONGEST WINNING STREAK
36--UW-Platteville (30 during the 1997-98 season and 6 to start 1998-99 season (11/20/98--12/26/98)
32--UW-Platteville (31 during the 1994-95 season and 1 to start 1995-96 season (11/17/95)
22--UW-Stevens Point (12/14/91--3/16/92)
21--UW-Platteville (12 to end 1998-99 season (2/6/99--3/20/99) and 9 to start 1999-2000 season
(11/19/99--12/28/99)
21--UW-Whitewater (11/23/96--2/15/97)
19--UW-Stevens Point (9 to end 2003-04 season (2/24/04--3/20/04) and 10 to start 2004-05 season
(11/20/04--12/30/04)
18--UW-Platteville (11/25/95--2/3/96)
17--UW-Platteville (11 to end 1990-91 season (2/8/90--3/16/90) and 6 to start 1991-92 season (11/22/91--
12/6/91)
15--UW-River Falls (12/1/10--2/2/11)
15--UW-Platteville (11/17/90--1/18/91)
14--UW-Stevens Point (1/13/11--3/5/11)
14--UW-Stevens Point (11/22/02--1/11/03)
14--UW-Eau Claire (11/16/90--1/12/91)
13--UW-Platteville (11/23/96--1/18/97)
12--UW-Stevens Point (8 to end 2009-10 season (2/25/10--3/20/10) and 4 to start 2010-11 season
(11/16/10--12/1/10)
12--UW-Whitewater (11/20/09--12/28/09)
12--UW-Stevens Point (1/3/09--2/11/09)
12--UW-Platteville (12/29/98--1/30/99)
12--UW-Eau Claire (2/5/90--3/14/90)
11--Many Times



The streaks from the 80's and before aren't on the conference list!




Concerning the home winning streak... I feel like Platteville may have the all-time D-III record, sometime during the 90's... but I don't know how long that was. 


... actually, I think I'm wrong.



Per Platteville's website:

Longest Winning Streak Season:
   31, 1994-95
Longest Winning Streak, Seasons:
   36, 1997-99
Longest Home Winning Streak:
   34, 1991-93
Longest Home Winning Streak, Regular Season:
   96, 1991-2000

I was thinking of the regular season winning streak... which is a nice feat, but it isn't quite the same as the straight-up longest winning streak.

[bulk19]

PointSpecial - I was stalking you, tracked your whereabouts on the forum on the who's online aspect, to see you were in the "longest home winning streak" topic.... So I wandered over there; wasn't aware that was a thread...

Lots of good stuff there, including your thoughts about the Pointers' chances  of extending their streak this week... 

I checked out the UWEC site to see what data is there, but they haven't listed that stat, or I couldn't find it... They are, however, seemingly adding to their stats bit by bit... They might have that sort of info in a program/yearbook, but I haven't seen one in ages...

I'd be curious what the Blugolds' longest streak at home was during the Ken Anderson era; he won 90 percent of his home games... I'm sure it was no where near Platteville's or what is listed for other schools in that D3 post on the topic, but...

[John Gleich]

PointSpecial - I was stalking you, tracked your whereabouts on the forum on the who's online aspect, to see you were in the "longest home winning streak" topic.... So I wandered over there; wasn't aware that was a thread...

Lots of good stuff there, including your thoughts about the Pointers' chances  of extending their streak this week... 

I checked out the UWEC site to see what data is there, but they haven't listed that stat, or I couldn't find it... They are, however, seemingly adding to their stats bit by bit... They might have that sort of info in a program/yearbook, but I haven't seen one in ages...

I'd be curious what the Blugolds' longest streak at home was during the Ken Anderson era; he won 90 percent of his home games... I'm sure it was no where near Platteville's or what is listed for other schools in that D3 post on the topic, but...

On the WIAC site, there's a PDF that includes all of the results since 90-91...  Sometime when I'm bored and have a free day (in other words, some time after I retire) I plan to scour that document... and look for things like what you're asking about.

In all likelihood, Eau Claire may have some records from prior to this era, specifically the 70's... as may Point or Whitewater from the 80's, though Point has surpassed the success from the 80's in the last decade, I think.

Point's overall win streak record is 22, though.. from 91-92.

[John Gleich]

I found an interesting comment from 2006... that was the last real "rebuild" year... after the back-to-back championships:

Yep... two seniors, one junior, a sophomore, and four freshmen are their top 8... Coach Semling has admitted that he perhaps has relied too heavily on these players, especially the upperclassmen (Senior Bauer, Junior Krull, and Sophomore Hicklin are all averaging 33.5+ minutes per game)... but with so many young kids, where's the depth going to come from?

Point was hurt by a few guys who decided not to come out this season... Mike Prey, who, along with Bauer spelled Kalsow and Maus throughout the season, decided not to come out for his senior year.  Brett Hirsh, who actually started 13 games as a redshirt Freshman two years ago and would have been a Junior started the year with the team but is no longer on the roster (I'm not at all sure what happened with this situation), and Brad Kalsow, younger brother of All-American Jason Kalsow decided to play football this season instead of basketball.

Many had Prey and B. Kalsow penciled in as starters for this season.  From purely a defensive point of view, these guys had been with the program for 4 years and one year, respectively... but they had experience, and they'd played in college games.  This can't be understated.

To their credit, UWSP's freshmen have played quite remarkably.  Pete Rortvedt has started all 19 games, is averaging 10.2 pts/game, and is hitting on 46% of this 3 pt. attempts, which is 4th in the conference.  UWSP also leads the country in free-throw percentage.  That's huge.  This team also doesn't beat themselves... they're leading the conference, averaging just 10.6 TO's per game.  That's just a half a TO/game more than last year's team.

The difference is the defense.  Last year's Point defense lead the country, giving up just 59.6 pts/game.  This year, they're holding teams to 65.4 pts/game.  Is that bad?  No, it's 64th in the country.  But it's 7th in conference.  And when you realize that 5 of Point's 7 losses have been by 6 points or less, then it REALLY makes a difference...!

Another major difference from the teams of the past (and not just the last two years... the rememberable past, 10-15+ years) Point has always had a credible inside presence.  Thise does not exist this year.  Point was 10th in the country in field goal percentage, and lots of that had to do with the outside/inside give and take (and that Jason Kalsow and Eric Maus and crew were great around the basket).  This year they're averaging 45%... again, not bad, but it's 5th in conference, and not even in the top 100 nationally.  If you take 50 shots per game, that's an extra 2-3 makes per game... that's between 4-9 points per game.  Suddenly, they're in 6 of the 7 games for sure, and possibly in all 7!  But Point doesn't have this credible threat... The only player that posts with any regularity is Krull, who's just a stud, at 6'4", he's quick enough that you have to guard him with a guard, but he can post and make something happen against smaller players. 

This is great against non-conference opponents, however, who's biggest guys are 6'5"... but in the WIAC, there are two teams with 7 footers, and the norm is post men in the 6'7" to 6'8" range... even Jonny Krull can't make a living against guys like that.

All told, like I said, I've been very happily surprized with how this team has done.  I just wish that they had a true inside presence... then we might be comparing this team to the Point teams of the last few years.

A lot of those comments ring true for this team too!

[emerging1]

I would agree the 2006 team apparently has some similarities to this year's team.  I had a chance to watch the game last night.  Hard fought game.  Nice game out of our guards and JB seems to be getting his feet underneath him.  Two things stood out as concerns last night.  One, the officiating was troubling and inconsistent to say the least (this coming from a former high school and college D3 official).  There seems to be very little consistency concerning contact.  Secondly, I still struggle with our lack of depth at the big man position.  Unlike the 2006 team when Krull was a scoring threat, this year's team does not have a real scoring threat in the post apart from JB.  With all due respect, I counted no less than four times when the Tommies defender would back off of Richards apparently because he did not consider him a scoring threat; he also struggled with inside passes, grabbed only one rebound and is under-sized.  Is he really the best bench big we can place on the floor?  Perhaps he and the other freshmen just need for time?!  Time will tell.

All in all it has been a great week for the program -- quality wins.  Time for the players to rest a bit!  Merry Christmas!

[Greek Tragedy]

Superior with a rare "split squad" game on Wednesday, Jan. 4 according to the WIAC page!

Wed 1/4/12  * UW-Oshkosh   UW-Superior   Oshkosh, WI 5:00 PM
  Details 
Wed 1/4/12    UW-Whitewater   Edgewood   Whitewater, WI 7:00 PM
  Details 
Wed 1/4/12  * UW-Platteville   UW-Superior   Platteville, WI 7:30 PM
  Details 
Wed 1/4/12  * UW-Eau Claire   UW-Stout   Eau Claire, WI  8:00 PM
  Details 
Wed 1/4/12  * UW-River Falls   UW-Stevens Point


La Crosse is actually at Platteville.

[Greek Tragedy]

Well, I haven't seen any games yet and I know there has been a lot of criticism on Point's lack of an inside game and more specifically JB.  From the boxscore, it looks like JB had a GREAT game.  He was 4 for 8 from the field, 10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and NO turnovers to go along with two blocks and a steal.  That's a pretty good line.

Point's lack of a bench seemed to show again as all five starters played 31 minutes or more with only three others seeing the floor.  It was a big week for Point, as mentioned above.  things don't get any easier to start the conference season with a trip to River Falls.  They could be the most veteran team with Manor there, Guerin back and former MIACer Chris Palmer, not to mention senior guards Anderson and Kimble

[frodotwo]

Well, I haven't seen any games yet and I know there has been a lot of criticism on Point's lack of an inside game and more specifically JB.  From the boxscore, it looks like JB had a GREAT game.  He was 4 for 8 from the field, 10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and NO turnovers to go along with two blocks and a steal.  That's a pretty good line.

Point's lack of a bench seemed to show again as all five starters played 31 minutes or more with only three others seeing the floor.  It was a big week for Point, as mentioned above.  things don't get any easier to start the conference season with a trip to River Falls.  They could be the most veteran team with Manor there, Guerin back and former MIACer Chris Palmer, not to mention senior guards Anderson and Kimble

It wasn't great, but it was the "Good" JB. Trouble is you don't know which one will show up from game to game. This was definitely one of his better ones. It's apparent now that Point will go the season with just an 8 man rotation, which will work out OK as long as there are no injury issues. Trouble is how much will they have in their tanks come tourney time?  Alex Richard is playing OK as JB's sub, but he has missed several passes inside from a driving TT. Seems like he turns his head away for a split second and can't make the connection (not as bad as J. Finley from A. Rodgers lately though). Ryf is proving to be a steady ball handler, but is reluctant to drive to the basket, seems to always back out after driving to the FT line. Ritchay is gaining experience and is quick despite being a big guard. Point is learning to work better with one or the other Tillemas out of the game, but with both out at the same time there isn't anyone who can create their own shot.  Have yet to see a game where TT doesn't end up on the floor at least 5 times.