MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[frodotwo]

Horrible shooting, horrible interior defense, horrible rebounding and the result was the most horrible first half that I can remember in over 40 years as a fan. It took a kamikaze type press in the last part of the second half to make the final score respectable. This could be a Jekyll and Hyde team all year, one game good, next game bad. Bench was invisible with 5 pts and 3 reb.

Point's offense feeds off their defense and neither showed up in the first half. Better defense and spirit started the second half off right, but NCC always seemed to make a big shot to stop any momentum until Point started to press full court with about 8 minutes to go. Rosenberg was a tough cover for Point, he outmuscled and outquicked them on both ends of the floor all game long. Other than the awful first half shooting by Point, he was the reason NCC goes home with the first regular season win in Point by an opponent since February 2012, a span of 25 straight wins

[fredfalcon]

Great insight, A.R.!

I predict that the Whitewater vs Oshkosh game will not result in an improvement in the conference W-L record. 

Falcons, with 78-75 o.t. loss to St. Scholastica, now have 4 losses averaging 5+ pts. per margin. On plus side, CJ Lewis, freshman from Brooklyn Park, had 22 pts. to lead scoring, ten guys got double digit  minutes, and Jon Cristensen w/18 pts. continues consistent performance.

[AndOne]

Horrible shooting, horrible interior defense, horrible rebounding and the result was the most horrible first half that I can remember in over 40 years as a fan. It took a kamikaze type press in the last part of the second half to make the final score respectable. This could be a Jekyll and Hyde team all year, one game good, next game bad. Bench was invisible with 5 pts and 3 reb.

Point's offense feeds off their defense and neither showed up in the first half. Better defense and spirit started the second half off right, but NCC always seemed to make a big shot to stop any momentum until Point started to press full court with about 8 minutes to go. Rosenberg was a tough cover for Point, he outmuscled and outquicked them on both ends of the floor all game long. Other than the awful first half shooting by Point, he was the reason NCC goes home with the first regular season win in Point by an opponent since February 2012, a span of 25 straight wins

http://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2014-15/boxscores/20141129_508u.xml?view=boxscore

Point gets hammered at home. They shoot 4-27 in the first half, that's 14.8%. They were down 17 at halftime. 18 with 8 minutes to go in the 2nd half. Still down 9 with 4 minutes to go. They got it down to 56-51 with a little over a minute to go. It was back to 10 with 34 seconds to go. North Central was picked tied for 4th in the CCIW.

Frodo and Greek--

If you don't mind a couple of observations about Point from an outsider, here are a few things I saw last night. Not knocks, just observations.
1. They have very little inside game in any respect. No low post players, and little interior screening or passing.
2. Lots of just passing the ball around on the perimeter and then settling for an average look. Sometimes it looked like they would pass up an open shot, and instead pass to a guy who was more tightly covered. Also it didn't look like many of the Point shooters are able to create a shot. Very much a shoot off the pass team.
3. With the poor outside shooting they needed to get to the line more. But when they would drive the lane, they would pull up for a short j or kick it back out for a shot that usually missed. They should have tried to finish and at least drawn fouls on NCC so they could shoot more FTs.
4. NO bench.

Lots of Point's problems were due to NCC's D. The Cards pride themselves on their D and their rebounding so that was as expected. As far as their being picked tied for 4th in the CCIW, that might be an understatement of their talent. 39 on NCC's points were scored by guys who weren't on the team last year and 9 more by guys who were but didn't play much.

Last year when UWSP beat NCC by 2 in Naperville, 2 guys scored 50 of Point's points  . They are both gone, and this year they don't appear to have anyone approaching their talent level.

[fredfalcon]

RF 72, Northland 51. After a 40-19 halftime lead, RF  appeared to relax, allowing NL to get within 10. CJ Lewis came off the bench again to lead scoring with 17. Joe Deppe had 11. Freshmen contributed a total of 31 points to the Falcon cause.  RF had eighteen t.o.'s, exactly their average through 6 games, another sign of youth.

[Greek Tragedy]

The WIAC goes 5-2 last night including 3-0 against the IIAC.

North Central (IL) 63 @ Stevens Point 56
Ritchay lead Point's effort with 21 points and 5 steals despite starting out 3-12. Pelkofer was just 2 for 11 including a meaningless basket with 3 seconds to go. Pelkofer did contribute 7 rebounds but that was scant consolidation as the Dawgs were out rebounded by 18.

Central 54 @ La Crosse 70
The hosts had little problem with their IIAC opponent,  jumping oit to a 14-0 lead and taking a 12-point advantage into the break. La Crosse kept a comfortable double-digit lead the whole second half en route to the easy win. It's been the Cale Zuiker show so far as he went for 18 points and 13 rebounds. Jared Staege and Trent Schmidt also contributed double-digit points with 11 and 10. Lastly,  Clint Rihn had a solid game with 6 points, 4 rebounds,  4 steals and 3 assists. Skylar Cameron was held to 6 points.

HHamline 62 @ Eau Claire 73
The Blugolds rallied to beat Hamline for the win. Tied at 33 apiece at the break, Eau Claire quickly fell behind 47-37. Eau Claire finally realized halftime was over and then went on a 20-0 run. Tyson Kalien lead the hosts with 18 points while Kohner and Moody chipped in with 10 each. Cavan Stackpool hit three 3s for 9 points. Eau Claire shot nearly 53% and Hamline made 48% of their shots.

St. Scholastica 78 vs River Falls 75 OT at Superior
The Falcons lost an 8-point halftime lead and couldn't recover in overtime. They actually had a 65-56 lead with 5:40 to go. CJ Lewis came off the bench and led all scorers with 22 points.  John Christensen added 19 as the only other Falcon in double-digits. River Falls had eight more (20) turnovers than St. Scholastica.

Northland 63 @ Superior 71
Superior had their 7-point halftime lead standup as they held on for the win. The Yellowjackets scored their last 10 points from the charity stripe in the last minute and a half. Lindblom lead the team with 18 points and 4 rebounds.  Johnquez Brooks hit 13 of 14 free throws to score 14 points, while adding 8 rebounds,  4 assists and 2 steals. Zach Schradle had 12 points and 9 rebounds.

Buena Vista 55 @ Platteville 70
After entering the intermission with a 6-point lead, Platteville never let the visitors get any closer than 5 the rest of the way. In the end, the Pioneers cruised to a 15-point win. Boston Johnson made all 13 free throw attempts on his way to a game high 19 points. He also dished out five assists. Jake Manning made his first start of the year and contributed 11 points, as did Matt Oestreich. Stocki chipped in 12 for the winners.

Wartburg 69 @ Stout 84
Stout also won by 15 against IIAC opposition. It was tied at 25 with about 6 1/2 minutes to go in the 1st half and then the Blue Devils outscored Wartburg 18-4 to finish the 1st half leading 43-29. The 2nd half was pretty uneventful as Stout built their lead to 20 and cruised. Once again, Jarvis Ragland was the man, leading the team with 24 points. Four others scored in double-figures with Isaac Elliott notching 11 and Keefe, Ahsenmacher and Lahti all getting 10 apiece. Hank Hujak won the hussle award with 7 boards and 7 dimes. Stout shot 52% and held Wartburg to under 40%.

[Greek Tragedy]

As mentioned, River Falls topped Northland tonight, 72-51.

Not surprisingly, Stout got hammered by Cardinal Stritch, 87-68. Cardinal Stritch led 52-34 at the break. Ragland had 21 and no one else scored more than 7. No starter played more than 21 minutes either. 15 different players scored for the Blue Devils.

Superior crushed St. Scholastica 96-62. With 4 minutes and change left in the 1st half, it was 32-16 on their way to a 12-point halftime lead. The lead hit 20 at the 16:39 mark and it was 32 at the 2 minute mark. Johnquez Brooks led all scorers with 25 in 28 minutes, off the bench, none-the-less. Starters Lindblom, Schradle, Ketz and Burch all played 25 or more minutes. Even Justin Bieber got on the scoreboard, hitting a three-pointer.

[Greek Tragedy]

With River Falls' win, the WIAC heads into conference play with a 27-22 record. Ouch.

Whitewater: 4-1, their loss to Cardinal Stritch doesn't count in the NCAA's eyes come tourney time.
Oshkosh: 3-1, only loss was to MWC power and preseason favorite St. Norbert.
Platteville: 4-2, the Mount Mercy loss won't mean too much, but that Carthage loss is a surprise, at least to me.
Stevens Point: 3-2, they struggle even in their wins.
La Crosse: 3-2, nice wins vs Winona State (won't matter) and Carthage, and a "good loss" against NACC favorite Aurora isn't horrible. Viterbo loss won't matter either.
Superior: 4-3, busiest of the WIAC teams with two of those losses not counting (Minnesota-Duluth, Winona St.)
Eau Claire: 3-3, tough schedule with a close loss to St. Thomas and another loss to Washington U. Too bad their Viterbo win won't matter.
River Falls: 2-4, 0-3 against the MIAC.
Stout: 1-4, 2 losses to Viterbo and Cardinal Stritch.

UPCOMING CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Eau Claire at Stevens Point
River Falls at Superior
Whitewater at Oshkosh
Platteville at La Crosse

Stout at Bethany Lutheran

[Greek Tragedy]

Frodo and Greek--

If you don't mind a couple of observations about Point from an outsider, here are a few things I saw last night. Not knocks, just observations.
1. They have very little inside game in any respect. No low post players, and little interior screening or passing.
2. Lots of just passing the ball around on the perimeter and then settling for an average look. Sometimes it looked like they would pass up an open shot, and instead pass to a guy who was more tightly covered. Also it didn't look like many of the Point shooters are able to create a shot. Very much a shoot off the pass team.
3. With the poor outside shooting they needed to get to the line more. But when they would drive the lane, they would pull up for a short j or kick it back out for a shot that usually missed. They should have tried to finish and at least drawn fouls on NCC so they could shoot more FTs.
4. NO bench.

Lots of Point's problems were due to NCC's D. The Cards pride themselves on their D and their rebounding so that was as expected. As far as their being picked tied for 4th in the CCIW, that might be an understatement of their talent. 39 on NCC's points were scored by guys who weren't on the team last year and 9 more by guys who were but didn't play much.

Last year when UWSP beat NCC by 2 in Naperville, 2 guys scored 50 of Point's points  . They are both gone, and this year they don't appear to have anyone approaching their talent level.

Tell me something I don't know. LOL  I do appreciate your insights and shows that other can see what I feel are problems. As I said, I think it's going to be a long year for the Pointers.

[frodotwo]

Horrible shooting, horrible interior defense, horrible rebounding and the result was the most horrible first half that I can remember in over 40 years as a fan. It took a kamikaze type press in the last part of the second half to make the final score respectable. This could be a Jekyll and Hyde team all year, one game good, next game bad. Bench was invisible with 5 pts and 3 reb.

Point's offense feeds off their defense and neither showed up in the first half. Better defense and spirit started the second half off right, but NCC always seemed to make a big shot to stop any momentum until Point started to press full court with about 8 minutes to go. Rosenberg was a tough cover for Point, he outmuscled and outquicked them on both ends of the floor all game long. Other than the awful first half shooting by Point, he was the reason NCC goes home with the first regular season win in Point by an opponent since February 2012, a span of 25 straight wins

http://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2014-15/boxscores/20141129_508u.xml?view=boxscore

Point gets hammered at home. They shoot 4-27 in the first half, that's 14.8%. They were down 17 at halftime. 18 with 8 minutes to go in the 2nd half. Still down 9 with 4 minutes to go. They got it down to 56-51 with a little over a minute to go. It was back to 10 with 34 seconds to go. North Central was picked tied for 4th in the CCIW.

Frodo and Greek--

If you don't mind a couple of observations about Point from an outsider, here are a few things I saw last night. Not knocks, just observations.
1. They have very little inside game in any respect. No low post players, and little interior screening or passing.
2. Lots of just passing the ball around on the perimeter and then settling for an average look. Sometimes it looked like they would pass up an open shot, and instead pass to a guy who was more tightly covered. Also it didn't look like many of the Point shooters are able to create a shot. Very much a shoot off the pass team.
3. With the poor outside shooting they needed to get to the line more. But when they would drive the lane, they would pull up for a short j or kick it back out for a shot that usually missed. They should have tried to finish and at least drawn fouls on NCC so they could shoot more FTs.
4. NO bench.

Lots of Point's problems were due to NCC's D. The Cards pride themselves on their D and their rebounding so that was as expected. As far as their being picked tied for 4th in the CCIW, that might be an understatement of their talent. 39 on NCC's points were scored by guys who weren't on the team last year and 9 more by guys who were but didn't play much.

Last year when UWSP beat NCC by 2 in Naperville, 2 guys scored 50 of Point's points  . They are both gone, and this year they don't appear to have anyone approaching their talent level.

Knock away..........

Ritchay is about the only one who can create a shot, but you are right about the NCC defense. They packed the lane and slid into the drive/pass lanes much better than Point on the night. Honn was able to drive right to the hoop for layups a couple of times without anyone helping. I seriously think that the horrible shooting affected all parts of the Pointers game in the first half. 24-5 rebounding edge to NCC in the 1st half

The Bench 
A few years back Tyler Tillema got hurt in the second to last conference game and they ended up losing him for the rest of the season. They finished the year 1-4 and went only 6 deep during those games. That's where they are this year, they go 6 deep and there is no bench because the coach is not consistent on who he puts in the game as #7 or #8 and 5 minutes really doesn't allow a player to get into the game flow. The top six players average better than 26 minutes a game. The only other 4 players who have played - 77 minutes and ten shots total.

[Greek Tragedy]

Falcons, with 78-75 o.t. loss to St. Scholastica, now have 4 losses averaging 5+ pts. per margin. On plus side, CJ Lewis, freshman from Brooklyn Park, had 22 pts. to lead scoring, ten guys got double digit  minutes, and Jon Cristensen w/18 pts. continues consistent performance.

Is CJ the real deal? I see he's been the leading scorer the last two games. With Christensen,  Goodwin and Erickson,  I doubt it'll become a trend, but if he can do it when I have him in my starting lineup for WIAC fantasy league,  that would be great!  I even dropped a senior starter for him.   

[Gregory Sager]

Superior crushed St. Scholastica 96-62. With 4 minutes and change left in the 1st half, it was 32-16 on their way to a 12-point halftime lead. The lead hit 20 at the 16:39 mark and it was 32 at the 2 minute mark. Johnquez Brooks led all scorers with 25 in 28 minutes, off the bench, none-the-less. Starters Lindblom, Schradle, Ketz and Burch all played 25 or more minutes. Even Justin Bieber got on the scoreboard, hitting a three-pointer.

I can't remember the last time I felt so sorry for a player.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Superior crushed St. Scholastica 96-62. With 4 minutes and change left in the 1st half, it was 32-16 on their way to a 12-point halftime lead. The lead hit 20 at the 16:39 mark and it was 32 at the 2 minute mark. Johnquez Brooks led all scorers with 25 in 28 minutes, off the bench, none-the-less. Starters Lindblom, Schradle, Ketz and Burch all played 25 or more minutes. Even Justin Bieber got on the scoreboard, hitting a three-pointer.

I can't remember the last time I felt so sorry for a player.

At least no one outside of Justin Bieber's immediate family had ever heard of him when this JB was named.  Anyone naming a baby JB now should be arrested for child abuse.

[Gregory Sager]

Small consolation as far as this kid is concerned, Chuck. Every UW-Superior opponent's student section is going to have this kid for lunch once he steps into their gym.

And I oughta know, because when I was part of the North Park student section, I would've had a field day with any opposing player named Andy Gibb or Scott Baio.

(Yeah, I'm old. Sue me.)

[Mr. Ypsi]

Small consolation as far as this kid is concerned, Chuck. Every UW-Superior opponent's student section is going to have this kid for lunch once he steps into their gym.

And I oughta know, because when I was part of the North Park student section, I would've had a field day with any opposing player named Andy Gibb or Scott Baio.

(Yeah, I'm old. Sue me.)

Andy Gibb or Scott Baio??  WAY past my time!

How dare you call yourself old, you young whippersnapper?!  And get the hell off my front lawn!

[Greek Tragedy]

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/index

Whitewater stays at #3.

Point drops to #23 while the team that just smoked them jumps to #22. This should have been where Point started the season, though it could be argued they shouldn't have been ranked in the 1st place, IMO.