MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[BoBo]

Warhawks really clamped down defensively in the second half ... looking forward to the contrasting style of play tomorrow night.

[GBMAN]

Congrats to the Warhawk coaching staff, players, and the fans that made the trek to Salem!!! Davis virtually carried this team on his back in the 2nd half pouring in a game high 30 points..........

[Greek Tragedy]

Great work, Whitewater!  Good luck tomorrow!

[tomt4525]

Congrats WW....now bring home another championship to the most talented D3 Conference in the nation!!!

[DeWayneCarter]

One more game U Dub Dub! Congrats on getting to the ship!

[Barber Greene]

A couple of observations from watching Cabrinin play in person last night.  Offensively, they have three or four guys that are very athletic.  And they seem to rely on that athleticism because oftentimes they ran no discernible offensive play but relied on one-on-one play-making abilities.  Some of those shots seemed ill advised.  I would say "undisciplined" would be how I felt about their offense.

On defense, their full court pressure was very effective against IWU and the Warhawks will have to find a way to deal with that.  But I am not sure that they have the size to handle Chris Davis on the inside. Could be a big night again for Chris tonight.

[BoBo]

A couple of observations from watching Cabrinin play in person last night.  Offensively, they have three or four guys that are very athletic.  And they seem to rely on that athleticism because oftentimes they ran no discernible offensive play but relied on one-on-one play-making abilities.  Some of those shots seemed ill advised.  I would say "undisciplined" would be how I felt about their offense.

On defense, their full court pressure was very effective against IWU and the Warhawks will have to find a way to deal with that.  But I am not sure that they have the size to handle Chris Davis on the inside. Could be a big night again for Chris tonight.

I was thinking much the same as I watched the game on the computer.

[Titan Q]

A couple of observations from watching Cabrinin play in person last night.  Offensively, they have three or four guys that are very athletic.  And they seem to rely on that athleticism because oftentimes they ran no discernible offensive play but relied on one-on-one play-making abilities.  Some of those shots seemed ill advised.  I would say "undisciplined" would be how I felt about their offense.

On defense, their full court pressure was very effective against IWU and the Warhawks will have to find a way to deal with that.  But I am not sure that they have the size to handle Chris Davis on the inside. Could be a big night again for Chris tonight.

A couple of things I posted over on the CCIW board...

As billed coming in, these were two extremely different basketball teams. Cabrini's quickness and athleticism were something IWU just had not seen this year.  As one D3 head coach said afterwards, "There isn't a single team in the Great Lakes, Midwest, or West that looks anything like that."  On both sides of the floor, Cabrini's perimeter play reminded me a preseason D1 vs D3 exhibition where the D1's quickness and athleticism just stands out like a sore thumb.  It honestly looked exactly like that to me.

The Titans had their hands full with that, but overall played extremely well until late in the 2nd half.  IWU was up 70-61 with 6:58 to play and things looked to be in good shape.  Right about that point, Cabrini employed full-court pressure and it changed the outcome of the game.  The Titans not only had some big turnovers that led to Cabrini baskets, but IWU really had trouble attacking the press and getting good offensive looks against it.  This IWU team - which started a point-guard and five 6-5+ forwards - was always susecptible to turnovers vs great pressure defense on the team, but Cabrini's freakish quickness and athleticism made that problem even worse.  Cabrini could pressure the heck out of the ball coming up the floor, yet recover in time to create more chaos once the ball was across halfcourt.  From 6:58 to 2:25 Cabrini went on a 15-3 run to take a 3-point lead.  Their run was pretty much all due to that stifling full-court pressure.  I'd like to have some magic X's and O's bullet that IWU could have employed to attack the pressure better, but at the end of the day Cabrini just had the personnel to do that extremely effectively.  And at the same time, the Titans made some bad decisions with the basketball.

In Cory Lemons and Aaron Walton-Moss, Cabrini has two legitimate Division I-caliber guards.  They have the quickness with the basketball of the guards playing on CBS this weekend.  Both were completely unlike anything IWU has faced all season long...and IWU played the 2nd toughest schedule in the country per Massey.  It honestly reminded me of IWU's game vs the Fighting Illini in 2005-06, watching Adam Dauksas, Jason Fisher, and Matt Arnold try to deal with Dee Brown & Co.  Cabrini is that quick on the perimeter with Lemons and Walton-Moss.

To try to stop dribble penetration, IWU had to collapse in the lane big time.  It was just almost impossible to prevent Cabrini perimeter players from getting decent looks.  It was a pick your poison kind of thing - you either give Lemons or Walton-Moss a layup, or you make them hit a long jumpshot.  The Boyd kid simply stepped up in a huge game and converted.  IWU started staying home more on him, and he'd shoot from further out...or then start taking it to the basket (where he was converting as well).

As far as blocked shots, Cabrini might have been shorter than IWU, but they are way more athletic overall - a guy who can jump out of the gym can make up for 2-3 inches in height difference pretty easily.

Just looking at a roster is very misleading in terms of Cabrini.  They may start 5-9, 5-10, 6-3, 6-4 at the 1-4 spots, but they are an incredibly quick, athletic, and physical team.

The UWW vs Cabrini game will be the same type of contrasting styles game that the IWU vs Cabrini game was. 

[voice]

For Warhawk fans who have made the trek to the Roanoke Valley for the Final Four, today has been a day to recover from last night's semifinal win over MIT and get focused in for tonight's national championship game vs. Cabrini (PA).

"Getting focused" has been aided today by taking in Roanoke's St. Patrick's Day Carnival,which has resulted to 30,000 people crammed into downtown Roanoke today – tonight it is expected that 50,000 will be celebrating. It is the largest tourist weekend of the year!

I have personally done some investigating a number of downtown bars and have found out that when Whitewater comes to town (this tourney marks the 8th time "Warhawk Nation" has converged on the Roanoke Valley for a Division III championship weekend) the cash register will ring for the entire weekend.

Check out more on the story
http://warhawksroadtofinalfour.blogspot.com/

[voice]

The following will give some handy links to access information, media feeds, etc for tonight's NCAA Division III men's national championship game pitting UW-Whitewater and Cabrini (PA)
http://warhawksroadtofinalfour.blogspot.com/

[stormy]

wARHAWKS WIN WARHAWKS WIN

[stormy]

WOW down 18 on the brink and back to NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.    WOW

[warhawkguard]

WOW!!!!!!

What a comeback over such a great team!!!!

Warhawks are #1!!!!!

[BoBo]

CONGRATS to the 2012 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS ... way to gut it out!!

[stormy]

NOW, research questions, how many BB coaches, any level, have won NC's as player and coach.  Also, how schools, any level, have won NC's in football and basketball in the same school year?