MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[badgerwarhawk]

Looking at last year, they were the best defensive rebounding team in the conference, but were 2nd worst on the offensive boards.
 

Offensive rebounding is a bit of a double edged sword type of statistic.  To get a lot of offensive rebounds you have to miss a lot of shots.  I didn't look much further than last year but last year Stevens Point led the league in shooting percentage with .526 which was roughly a half percentage point better than the second place team (River Falls).  Obviously the better your shooting percentage the fewer opportunities to get offensive rebounds.  Stout led the league in offensive rebounding last year with 12.8 and Oshkosh was second with 11.5.  The two teams finished 7th and 8th with a combined 9-23 record in conference play. 

River Falls was a bit of a exception finishing second in shooting percentage and still finishing third in offensive rebounds.  But generally speaking the teams with higher offensive rebounding numbers are the same as those with lower shooting percentages.     

[John Gleich]

Looking at last year, they were the best defensive rebounding team in the conference, but were 2nd worst on the offensive boards.
 

Offensive rebounding is a bit of a double edged sword type of statistic.  To get a lot of offensive rebounds you have to miss a lot of shots.  I didn't look much further than last year but last year Stevens Point led the league in shooting percentage with .526 which was roughly a half percentage point better than the second place team (River Falls).  Obviously the better your shooting percentage the fewer opportunities to get offensive rebounds.  Stout led the league in offensive rebounding last year with 12.8 and Oshkosh was second with 11.5.  The two teams finished 7th and 8th with a combined 9-23 record in conference play. 

River Falls was a bit of a exception finishing second in shooting percentage and still finishing third in offensive rebounds.  But generally speaking the teams with higher offensive rebounding numbers are the same as those with lower shooting percentages.   

This is a really great point.

It's interesting... there's a stat called "rebounding defense..." preventing your opponents from getting rebounds. 

You can cut down on the number of rebounds your opponent gets by getting the rebounds yourself... or, as BW mentioned above, eliminating the rebounds by making a higher percentage of your shots.

You also can cut down the number of total rebounds in a game by showing down the game and eliminating possessions... fewer possessions means fewer possibilities for missed shots and fewer chances for rebounds.



While looking at stats... a few things really jump out at me.  Whitewater is leading the league in defense and assist to turn-over ratio.  They're also leading in overall assists and field goal percent defense.

Coach Miller on Hoopsville mentioned how they're doing it differently... but in some respects, they're built differently.  They don't have the super-quick and athletic offensive players, but they do have players who are playing their roles well and playing fundamentally well too.

This means that they're scoring within the system... and it's led to lots of success... even more success than they've had in recent years doing it the "Whitewater way!"


I thought it was really interesting to hear Coach Miller (correctly in my mind) note the match-up issues between the three top teams... Whitewater has a great front line and they're really big, while Point has great guard-play... and Whitewater is sort of in the middle.

Point hasn't been able to control RF's inside play and WW's struggled a bit with Point's guard play.  It will be very interesting to see how the final WW/RF matchup turns out.  I think the bye really came at a great time for WW... give Davis another few days of rest on his knee.

[frankiet]

Why did John Flanigan not make the trip with UW-Oshkosh on Saturday? Injured, sick, quit? Also saw that Chad Mathwig was injured early in the game. What is his status?

[thrunt01]

On Flanigan: Twitter suggests that he was with his significant other as she gave birth to their son.
https://twitter.com/#!/JadeRoyston You'll have to scroll down a bit to find it but Royston says something about John being a Daddy. Known for a while that he was expecting.

[SilversSports]

Tiebreakers remain the same in the WIAC after Saturday's games.  Women's side got a whole lot easier to decipher as well. I can post it if anyone wants the women's one tiebreakers. 

[John Gleich]

New Top 25 out

Whitewater stays at #4 but picks up a #1 vote again as previous #1 Middlebury lost this last week (Hope is the new #1)
Point up a spot to #12

And River Falls finally cracks the rankings again at #25

[badgerwarhawk]

Chris Davis is on this week's D3hoops.com Team of the Week. 



http://www.d3hoops.com/awards/tow/2011-12/week11

[frodotwo]

Dan Tillema is the WIAC Player Of The Week after averaging 24.5 points and 10.5 rebs in two victories this past week. http://www.wiacsports.com/awards.aspx?award_id=1&path=mbball&season=10&

This marks Dan's third time he was selected for the award this season and the sixth time (in 9 weeks) that a Point player has been named (Tyler Tillema 2X and Jordan Brezinski 1X).

[frodotwo]

WIAC Playoff musings


WIAC Tournament Seedings

Stevens Point, Whitewater and River Falls have all clinched spots in the tournament, with Point assured of at least a home game in the first round. Whitewater and River Falls will clinch with a RF victory at home over Superior on Wednesday.
There are three spots left in the tournament with four teams still in the race, Superior, Eau Claire, Platteville and La Crosse.

• Superior  7-6      Eau Claire  6-7      Platteville  6-7      La Crosse  5-7
  Vs SP       0-2      vs  SP         0-1     vs SP          0-2     vs SP         0-2
  Vs WW   0-1      vs WW       0-2      vs WW      0-1      vs WW     0-2
  Vs RF      1-0      vs RF       0-2      vs RF         0-2      vs RF        0-1
  Vs Sup    ---      vs Sup       1-1      vs Sup      1-1      vs Sup      1-0
  Vs EC      1-1      vs EC        ---      vs EC        0-1        vs EC      1-1
  Vs PL     1-1      vs PL      1-0          vs PL      ---          vs PL      0-1
  Vs LX    0-1      vs LX      1-1            vs LX      1-0        vs LX      ---   
  
  

Superior is currently leading for a home game in the first round (#4 seed). But has the toughest remaining schedule, facing RF (A) and WW and La Crosse at home. Finishing 1-2 (beating LX) will leave the Jackets at 8-8 and a spot in the playoffs if RF beats LX, but 0-3 is a distinct possibility, and at 7-9 still in the tourney hunt.

Eau Claire has two road games, Stout and Platteville and home vs SP. They currently hold the 5th seed by virtue of their earlier victory against PL. EC should beat Stout, but they have lost their last three in Menomonie and are only 3-7 in the last ten games there. EC has lost their last 7 games in Platteville and 19 of their last 21 there overall. They are also on a long losing streak vs SP, losing the last 10 at home and 21 overall.  Losing all three is a possibility, likely leaving the Blugolds out of the tourney.

Platteville has two games at home, WW and EC and one on the road at LX. P-ville has won 3 of their last 4 at home against WW and is 7-7 at home against them since Bo left.  They are 5-6 in their last eleven trips to LX. A 1-2 finish is the probable scenario, and at 7-9, a road game in the tournament.

La Crosse has four games remaining, at Stout, home for two against PL and RF and then finishing up at Sup. They are only 4-6 in the last ten trips to Stout, but they should beat the Devils up there this year. I think a win at home against PL is very possible, but RF a no go. A last game trip up to Superior will be for the final hosting spot and the Eagles under Coach Koelbl are 5-3 up north. Finishing 3-1 would give LX a home game in the first round.

So if recent trends continue, the playoff scenario could be: LX finishes 8-8 and Sup, EC and PL all finish 7-9 leaving Superior out by virtue of losing twice to LX.

What to make of seeds 1, 2 and 3?  Well, Point has the easiest road, facing the two teams with the worst records in the league.  Point has won 6 of their last ten at Oshkosh, three in a row, with Wednesday making that 4. A home game against Stout should be a win as should a season ending trip to EC where Point looks to extend their win streak to 11 years and 22 straight. Point will then have earned at least the #2 seed by virtue of 2-0 record versus Whitewater.

Whitewater has the toughest remaining schedule of the big three with three road games in their final four games. Trips to Platteville (2 hrs) and Superior (6 hrs) in the same week are not gimmes, logging nearly 1000 road miles for the week. Both games should go to the Warhawks and the following week Oshkosh invades and absorbs their 15th conference loss. Leaving the final game of the year at.......

River Falls has three home games, first hosting Superior and Oshkosh. The game against the Yellow Jackets will be to erase that sour taste of the last second loss up in Canada. You shouldn't overlook anyone in the WIAC, but I don't think the Titans have a chance. After a road win in La Crosse it's back home for all the marbles on the last day of league play to face Whitewater. Pat Miller coached teams are 8-3 in River Falls, winning 7 of the last 8 there, but they are only 3-2 against the Falcons in the last three years. Whoever wins shares the league title with Point, but the #1 Seed and home court advantage is the Falcon's to win. However, they have shown they are able to win in Point.

That leaves the biggest game of the season to talk about: Stout at Oshkosh. The Titans are currently 0-12 in league play and their next three are against SP – WW – RF, so 0-15 going into the final game of the season is assured. The 2005-06 Superior team was the last to go winless in the WIAC, so Oshkosh has a chance to match history with a loss.

Of course all the scenarios above are based on the assumption that certain teams should beat other certain teams, but this is the WIAC, and as we all know, only any given night..........................................         

[tomt4525]

Anyone know anything on the new basketball commitments for the WIAC...Janesville Parker's Andrew Somerville to Whitewater and Bay Port's Joey Calawarts to Eau Claire.  Both are point guards and that's about all I know on them.

Also, Milwaukee St. Thomas More senior Trevor Wattawa (6-5) recently took a visit to UW-Stevens Point and is being recruited by Beloit, Concordia, Edgewood, Oshkosh, River Falls, St. Norbert and Viterbo....He is ranked in the top 50 seniors at this point so he seems like he could be a very good start to any recruiting class, hopefully Point's as they need some size to step up next year.

[Greek Tragedy]

I'm always nervous when it comes to Point.  Though Point shouldn't have any problems tomorrow in Kolf, it is the Titans and it's on the road (one of their few good games was a 2OT loss to River Falls).  Eau Claire hung tough against Point at Quandt, so the return leg at Zorn won't be a gimme.  Stout is pretty bad and it's in Point, but Oman is a tough inside player and they do have streaky players, like Ragland.  Olson is back as well. 

Looking at the big picture, the 1st regional rankings come out tomorrow, so it will be interesting to gauge the Pool C contenders.  Knightslappy says Point has the toughest schedule thus far, but I still think River Falls is ahead of them in terms of Pool C because they have one less in-region loss and they've beaten the Pointers twice.  If the rest of the regular season goes chalk, the WIAC should get 3 teams in, one AQ and two Pool Cs.

Platteville played Whitewater real tough in Whitewater, so I think the Pioneers have a real shot of pulling the upset.  Unfortunately, as a Pointer fan, we don't need the Warhawks to lose, we need the Falcons to take a loss.  I don't want to have it come down to Whitewater beating the Falcons in River Falls because I think they can pull off the home victory. 

I really think it's River Falls' to lose. 

[lacrossefan]

I know that Matthew Babel is a grey shirt this year at LaCrosse. Does anyone know of any other grey shirts who may have an impact on their teams next year??

[frodotwo]

The regional ranking are out and the west looks like this:

WEST                               Region     Overall
1   Wisconsin-River Falls           16-3   16-5   
2   Wisconsin-Stevens Point     16-4   18-4   
3   Wisconsin-Whitewater         19-2   19-2   
4   Whitworth                         17-2   18-3   
5   Claremont-Mudd-Scripps      13-1   19-1   
6   St. Thomas (Minn.)             14-6   15-6   
7   Gustavus Adolphus             14-5   15-5   
8   Dubuque                           15-3   16-6   
9   Whitman                           13-6   15-6

It looks like River Falls benefited from their two victories over UWSP and one over St Thomas to vault past UWW. Knightslappy's unofficial rankings had WW #1 followed by RF #2 and SP #3.  See for yourself http://tomaroonandgold.blogspot.com/p/2010-2011-d3-mens-regional-rankings.html ]

And the official stats used to set the regional rankings: http://web1.ncaa.org/champsel_new/exec/pdf/staticpdfrank?doWhat=publicrankings&sportCode=MBB&region=40&division=3

UWSP by far has the best OWP and SOS in the region. Their OWP is #2 in the country behind Ithaca's .660 and their SOS is #1.

[John Gleich]

The regional ranking are out and the west looks like this:

WEST                               Region     Overall
1   Wisconsin-River Falls           16-3   16-5   
2   Wisconsin-Stevens Point     16-4   18-4   
3   Wisconsin-Whitewater         19-2   19-2   
4   Whitworth                         17-2   18-3   
5   Claremont-Mudd-Scripps      13-1   19-1   
6   St. Thomas (Minn.)             14-6   15-6   
7   Gustavus Adolphus             14-5   15-5   
8   Dubuque                           15-3   16-6   
9   Whitman                           13-6   15-6

It looks like River Falls benefited from their two victories over UWSP and one over St Thomas to vault past UWW. Knightslappy's unofficial rankings had WW #1 followed by RF #2 and SP #3.  See for yourself http://tomaroonandgold.blogspot.com/p/2010-2011-d3-mens-regional-rankings.html ]

It almost doesn't make sense in my book...  I honestly would have put UWW #1, UWRF #2, and UWSP #3 based largely on head to head (UWW beat RF, RF beat Point twice, UWSP did sweep UWW but has two more in-region losses).

UWW has more wins versus regionally ranked teams... now it's not in the West, but they did beat Illinois Wesleyan and Edgewood, both regionally ranked in the Midwest and administratively in-region, but even IN the West, UWW beat Whitworth, the #4 ranked team in the West.

Point also beat Edgewood and St. Thomas plus Richard Stockton who's regionally ranked (though this wasn't a regional game and doesn't matter for anything but secondary criteria)... RF beat just UST.

Whitewater has a better winning percentage and though they have a lower SOS, if you're going to penalize UWW for it, then you have to bump up UWSP for their SOS... which is #1 in the country by a sizable margin (nearly a full percentage point).


All told, though, the WIAC looks to be in very good shape for at least 3 bids.  Should somebody else get hot, there's even a chance at 4, barring a monumental collapse by at least one of the three (i.e. Point losing their next 3 and then losing in the conference tournament).  Even then, I think they might still get a bid!

[cubs]

La Crosse 63
Stout 52

Whitewater 77
Platteville 58

River Falls 58
Superior 57
-Aaron Anderson hits go-ahead three pointer with 0:07 remaining following a miss at the FT line by Superior.

Stevens Point 87
Oshkosh 83
-With an 86-83 lead, Point withstands a barrage of three point misses (three) by the Titans to escape Kolf with a victory.