MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

Austin Ryf has consistently been playing more minutes than Richard.  Tonight, all 5 starters played 30+ minutes with Ryf "only" getting 14 minutes.  But, his minutes have been 24, 31, 26, 29 and 11 the last five games.

[frodotwo]

Good road win by UWSP.  Nice game TT!  But we continue to have no inside presence beside JB.  Can any one tell me why Richards continue to play before any of the bench players?  Am I missing something?  Last game:  34 Richard, Alex.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2.  You mean to tell me there is no one else that can give you goose eggs?? We need to give JB some help!!!  Something just doesn't seem right!  I listened to the coach's post-game interview and I think it's not right for him to say there is no one who came come in off the bench.  I go to school with some of the guys.  What production are getting from the people you are currently bringing in???  I know we are guard oriented but this is getting to be questionable.  I know we are winning but where is the development of the players you currently have?

Superior's center, Bronson Byrne, is 7'0" 290 lbs and way too big for the 6'4" Richard to guard. I think the coach is not going to develop players this year other than Ryf and Ritchay. Next year will be a 5 guard rotation with no forwards or center. Maybe we'll be a "System" team? 

[badgerwarhawk]

The WARHAWKS got back on track with a convincing 67-48 win over Eau Claire.  But it didn't start out that way as Eau Claire scored the first eight points behind ex-WARHAWK Nic Craggs' three-pointer and jumper and a three-pointer by Jordan Petersen.  A jumper from Alex Edmunds got the WARHAWKS on the board and started a 10-2 run that tied the game with just over twelve and half minutes in the half.  Eau Claire took the lead back and held it for the next six mintues until an Edmunds' layup gave the WARHAWKS their first lead of the game 22-20.  The WARHAWKS held their largest lead of the half 35-28 when the half ended.  The WARHAWKS out shot Eau Claire 54% to 39% and had a 21-14 advantage on the boards.  Eau Claire cut the lead to five points twice in the second half the last time after three minutes had been played.  The WARHAWKS responded by building the lead to double figures over the next five minutes.  After that Eau Claire would get to within single digits twice 49-40 and 51-42 and the  WARHAWKS would build the lead to a high of 19 points before the game ended.

The WARHAWKS finished 52% from the floor and increased their rebound advantage to 44-27.  They had signivicant advantages in second chance points 15-5, bench points 21-11 and points in the paint 19-4.  They also had a slight advantage in points off of turnovers at 18-15.

Chris Davis finished with game highs in points, 22, rebounds 13 and blocks 3.  Eric Bryson added 13 points and Quardell Young finished with 10.  Bryson and Young had a game high 3 assists apiece.

Petersen's 18 points pace Eau Claire.   

[emerging1]

Is Chris Davis back to 100%?  Great player!

[GBMAN]

UW-Whitewater, despite the loss to Point last week.. Drops to 4

http://d3hoops.com/top25/index

[UWRF]

A team that has beaten the "#13 team" TWICE isn't even in the top-25...

[Mr. Ypsi]

A team that has beaten the "#13 team" TWICE isn't even in the top-25...

You ARE getting some support on the PP, but while those wins are impressive, you gotta stop losing to OTHER teams!

[Falcons04]

I was interested to see how the votes for RF would stack up last week after losing at Superior but winning at Point.  Gave them a bit of a bump, but the losses seem to carry more weight.  Kind of a strange situation with RF beating Point twice, Point beating WW twice, and WW beating RF by 18.  I think the loss at Superior cost RF getting in to the T25 last week, and their only chance to really jump up will be when WW comes to Karges.  More importantly is how the regional rankings will look when they are released by the NCAA.  Very interested to see how they shake out.     

[Greek Tragedy]

Though River Falls has impressive wins over Stevens Point, you have to also take into account losses to Viterbo, Puget Sound, Whitewater, Souix Falls (SD) and Superior.  Right there, those losses will outweigh the wins over Point.  As previously posted by yours truly, the good thing favoring the Falcons is that losses to Viterbo and Souix Falls don't count inthe NCAA's eyes since they aren't D3.  Unfortunately, they count in the poll!  Another positive is that the NCAA doesn't care about the polls either. 

If you wander over to the multi-regional board and go to the Pool C board, you'll find a very useful link to a blog by knightslappy.  Don't let the name fool you, he's pretty credible and his blog gives his estimation on all the bids by region.  From last week's list, he has River Falls as the top ranked Pool C contender, ahead of Point.  However, it doesnt include Point's win over Whitewater or River Falls' wins over Stout and Platteville last week.  I would guess Whitewater would take over the #1 Pool C bid in the region. 

I think the official and initial Regional Rankings come out Feb. 8th.

[Greek Tragedy]

Including WW's roadie to LC, they have a tough road to the WIAC championship.  No pun intended.  Ending the season with 4 of 5 away from home, they continue their journey to Platteville, Canada (Superior), a home a game against Oshkosh and then a trip to River Falls.  Wow!

Tough loss for the Titans as they blow a 12-pt halftime lead and lose to Eau Claire, missing out on their first win of the conference season.

Point and Superior also win.

[SilversSports]

Should my math be correct, these are the tiebreakers in the WIAC for the conference title.



RF magic number to clinch home court in opening round is 2 (Combination RF wins and losses by two of the following three teams, EC, SUP, LAX)
WW/SP magic number to clinch home court is 1

WIAC race for regular season title.
RF has tiebreaker over SP 2-0
SP has tiebreaker over WW 2-0
WW has tiebreaker over RF 1-0

Should all three finish tied but RF beats WW the Falcons win the WIAC

Should all three finish tied and WW beats RF, the tiebreaker would come down to record vs. lower teams until one of the three is eliminated at which point tiebreaker goes back to head-to-head for last two.

Should teams lower in the standings finished tied (example, EC and LAX both finish 8-8) they will be counted as one team for tiebreakers.  Currently River Falls would be the first team eliminated as they are the only team to lose at this point in the season to any of the next four teams in the standings.

Should SP lose to either EC, or LAX, WW lose to either EC or Platteville and WW beat RF with all three teams winning the remainder of their games to finish tied the next tiebreaker would be road record in WIAC games.   In this case WW would finish 6-2 on the road, SP would be 6-2 if they lose to EC, 7-1 if they lose to LAX, RF would be 6-2.

Should SP's loss comes to EC the Conference would than go to a coin flip. 

If the lose is to LAX, SP wins the conference.  Than the tiebreaker would come down to the RF, WW game to end the regular season.  If WW wins they would get the second bye with 2-0 record vs. RF, if RF wins they get the bye with 2-0 record vs. SP. 


Out of curiosity does anyone know how a three-way coin flip would go?  Would it be a round robin of coin flips until someone goes 2-0?

[frodotwo]

Point played another of those games where everything just seems to click. Dan Tilema had his best game since WW was in town, with 25 pts, 7 reb. He did miss two dunks, but one of them was a put back that could have made the ESPN top ten. He is just a different player when he does not force the game and that was the case last night. Brother Tyler got into early foul trouble and Dan had to carry the load in the first half with 13 pts. Hass had an off night shooting, but JB again had a great game. He still frustrates by missing easy uncontested layups, but has elevated his game. Since playing poorly in the game at RF he's averaging 12.6 pts and 10.2 reb per game Austin Ryf seemed very confident last night by drilling 3-3 treys, but still won't drive to the basket even though on one possession there was a 15' wide lane he could have gone straight to the bucket. Ty came back strong in the second half and spent his usual number of times getting knocked to the floor, scoring baskets and getting to the line. Point had a 5 point trip down the floor in the second half. Ryf hit a 3 pointer from the top of the key and at the same time Bondar got too aggressive with a block out attempt and fouled JB who hit two FT's.

Platteville played pretty well for the most part, but halfway through the second half they began to let down under the Point pressure and the game got away from them. I was impressed by Manning and Weik and not so by Cross. Weik was firing in 3's at every opportunity even with Dan seemingly in his jersey on one occasion. Manning is going to be a stud by the time he's a junior if not by next year if he continues to develop. Cross appeared weak compared to how he played last year, probably due to losing time to injury. He was outplayed all night by JB.

Point appears to be peaking as they enter the latter part of the season, but they still lack depth and last night basically went with only 6 players. Foul trouble and tall teams will be a problem for them going forward.

[badgerwarhawk]

The WARHAWKS defeated LaCrosse 72-62.  LaCrosse got on the board first and with the exception of three ties, 2-2, 7-7 and 9-9 led for the first five minutes of the game.  Following the final tie the Eagles built a nine point lead 18-9 with seven minutes gone in the half.  The WARHAWKS stormed back behind Chris Davis's two jumpers and a pair of three pointers over the next couple of minutes and took their first lead of the game 20-19.  LaCrosse regained the lead on their next possession and after that there were seven lead changes and five ties before the half ended with the two teams tied 33-33.  Davis finished the half with 16 points while Derek Braucht had 11 to pace the Eagles.  Behind a 14-2 run in the first eight and half minutes of the second half the WARHAWKS built their largest lead of the game 47-35.  LaCrosse would cut the lead to four points twice after that, the last time 62-58 with three minutes to play, but the WARHAWKS responed and finished the game with a Quardell Young layup and 8-8 from the free throw line. 

The WARHAWKS finished the game 49% from the floor.  LaCrosse had 15 additional shots  and made one additional basket but finished at 38%.  Points from the charity stripe made the difference as the WARHAWKS shot 89% (24-27) while the Eagles were just 53% (11-19).  The WARHAWKS outrebounded the Eagles 38-27.

Davis had a game high double-double with 27 points and 13 rebounds.  Davis was a perfect 10-10 on free throws and 3-5 from beyond the arc.  Luke Knoble also had double figure points with 10.  Alex Merg, Eric Bryson and Young all had a game high 3 assists.   Young had a team high 2 steals.

Cory Degner finished with team high 17 points and 6 rebounds and a game high 4 steals to pace the Eagles.  Braucht finished with  15 points. 

[Greek Tragedy]

Nice work, SilversSports!  Don't remember you posting in the past.  Hope you become a regular!

I think Whitewater has the toughest road and then River Falls with a rematch with Superior, a tricky away game in La Crosse and a season finale vs Whitewater. 

Point's trips to Oshkosh and Eau Claire could also be traps.

In response to Frodo, I think opponents with height have been a problem with Point since the back-to-back championships!

I think Brezinski is making a run for 1st team. All conference with all those double-doubles he's piling up. 

I think Dan Tillema reads our posts: He hasn't had much foul trouble since I posted his game by game fouls and minutes played, obviously one effecting the other.

At this time, I have a good feeling the WIAC can get three teams in the NCAAs, with Point in trouble the most with 4 in-region losses.  They would have at least five entering NCAA play.  They would be a near shoe-in with 5, but when you get to 6 or 7 in-region losses, things get dicey in the Pool C world of at-large bids. 

[OshDude]

Including WW's roadie to LC, they have a tough road to the WIAC championship.  No pun intended.  Ending the season with 4 of 5 away from home, they continue their journey to Platteville, Canada (Superior), a home a game against Oshkosh and then a trip to River Falls.  Wow!

Tough loss for the Titans as they blow a 12-pt halftime lead and lose to Eau Claire, missing out on their first win of the conference season.

Point and Superior also win.

UWO led by 19 in the first half, and UWEC hadn't won in Oshkosh since 1995. UWO had one field goal in the last 10:25. Of all the losses, this one stings the most.