MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

Ouch! Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

[Greek Tragedy]

Well, there will be 7 teams pulling for La Crosse (3-4) today as they take on league leaders Stevens Point (6-1). Point topped La Crosse 66-64 at Quandt.

The loser of Oshkosh at River Falls, both 4-3, could find themselves three back if Point wins. The Falcons fell by 9 at Oshkosh.

On paper, Whitewater (4-3) and Platteville (5-2) should have some home cooking and keep pace against Eau Claire (1-6) and Stout (1-6). The Warhawks handled the Blugolds by 13 the last time out and Platteville hammered Stout by 19 previously.

Instead of just picking Point and Whitewater every game, this would have been a crazy year in the WIAC Pick Em League with 6 of the 8 teams really capable of winning at any time.

[Greek Tragedy]

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/college/marquette/2018/01/26/joey-hauser-adjusting-life-campus-marquette/1067224001/

Interesting story on Joey Hauser. I think he committed to Marquette after his sophomore season at Stevens Point Area Senior High. His brother Sam is a sophomore at Marquette. His senior year was cut due to an ankle injury that required surgery. Since he couldn't help SPASH to a possible 4th straight state title, he graduated early and immediately enrolled at Marquette. Probably better rehab there!

[AppletonRocks]

River Falls new Page Arena looks beautiful.

[Greek Tragedy]

http://athletics.uwsp.edu/boxscore.aspx?id=6612&path=mbball

Point with a real nice win on the banks of the Mississippi River, 76-62 over La Crosse. Canon O'Heron has become an absolute stud recently, going for 26 points today. Delmore and Dodge each added 18 with the latter playing just 17 minutes.

...UWSP leads by as many as eight in the 1st half, shoots 65.0% from the field...UWSP leads 55-53, goes on 12-2 run...

Oshkosh hammers River Falls to keep pace.

[John Gleich]

Whitewater leads by 10 over EC at half
Platteville leads by 15 over Stout w/ 2 mins left in the first

[fredfalcon]

Titanbs won on the scoreboard, 78-57, and in stats at RF, shooting 51% to 31%, including a 43 to 28% edge on threes. Osh had to work for most of their perimeter shots, but shot well anyway. Herink led all scorers w/27. Noone, Boots, Flynn, and Witchow all ranged from 13-15 apiece. It was a hard fought game despite the steadily increasing lead Osh had at half, 29-26.

[John Gleich]

Saturday Finals

UWSP 76 LaX 62
Oshkosh 78 River Falls 57
Whitewater 75 Eau Claire 59
Platteville 86 Stout 69


Standings:

1	Point	7-1	13-6
2	Platteville	6-2	16-3
3	Oshkosh	5-3	15-4
3	Whitewater	5-3	15-4
5	River Falls	4-4	13-5
6	La Crosse	3-5	11-8
7	Eau Claire	1-7	9-10
7	Stout	1-7	7-12

[badgerwarhawk]

I apologize if this has been answered previously. Last season WW had a very good player, Chris Jones.
At the beginning of this season, I remember that he was prominently mentioned in the WW Season Preview. However, he didn't make an appearance in any of the first few games. At that point I believe inquires were made as to the reason for his absence, but the only explanation emanating from said inquires was that the situation was "complicated," and that he was likely to return fairly soon. However, he has not ever played this season and no longer appears on the roster. This seems like a very big loss for WW as Jones was a pre-season All-American.
Does anyone know exactly what happened as far as Jones' failure to appear this season?

Jones left school the first week of the season. Scotty Tyler, another transfer last year, left school at the semester break.

This makes perfect sense.
Last year, Whitewater was Jones' fourth school (although he didn't play at the first school) in four years since graduating from high school. This pattern of "shopping" schools appears to rather strongly suggest that he approached the academic/athletic experience with a primary focus on the athletic side, looking for schools where basketball was optimum with academics playing a secondary role. Seemingly, moreso the approach of a athlete-student rather than in keeping with the D3 student-athlete philosophy.
It would be interesting to see if he left UWW for the same reason(s) he left his 3 previous schools, and whether or not his basketball sojourn eventually found him landing at yet another institution.

I won't argue your main point but just to clarify he was eligible academically.  I'm the one who described Jone's situation as complicated.  I don't recall exactly what I may have said about his possible return but I'm certain I didn't describe it as "likely" because at the time I made the comment I was aware his return was slightly less likely than the proverbial snowball's chances.

IMO the loss of Tyler was the more significant of the two.  Jones was replaced by Sachs.  While Sachs won't score like Jones he scores well enough and he's a better distributor.  Plus there's no comparing the two defensively. Sachs is a much better defender.  Tyler's absence left a big hole in the middle on both ends of the floor.  We're consistently being out rebounded in conference play.  That has been the bigger problem of the two. 

The WARHAWKS sank 7 of 10 three pointers in the first half and shot 59% overall from the floor to open a ten point lead 40-30 when the half ended.  The BluGolds narrowed the lead to a  single digit for most of the first ten minutes of the second half pulling to within four 51-44 with just under twelve minutes.  But over the next two minutes the WARHAWKS had widened the gap to double figures where it remained and reached a high of seventeen shortly before the finish.   The WARHAWKS finished 12 of 21 from beyond the arc.  Rongstad (4), Menke (4) and Pfieffier (3) led the way. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

There is a first time for everything. Right?

On Sunday's Hoopsville, Dave chats with a number of programs who have never been on the show. All of them are in conference races and yearning to position themselves well for conference tournaments. Not sure any of them were expected to be in this position.

It seems to be a theme that's pretty common of late.

At the same time, one coach has been so consistent that winning number 600 almost seemed like a forgone conclusion, but a player she has on the team now may be one of the best no one is talking about.

And what to make, again, with the men's Top 25? And who will be the last women's team(s) to stay undefeated this season? Ryan Scott joins Dave to chat in the Top 25 Double-take segment.

Hoopsville is presented by D3hoops.com and airs from the WBCA/NABC Studio. You can watch the show LIVE starting at 7:00 p.m. ET here: http://bit.ly/2GoBKlL

If you have questions, be sure to interact with the show on social media (see below) or email us your questions (hoopsville@d3hoops.com).

Guests include (in order of appearance):
- Jeff Gard, UW-Platteville men's coach
- James Mooney, Mount Saint Vincent men's coach
- Carroll LaHaye, Randolph-Macon women's coach
- Lynn Hersay, Smith women's coach
- Ryan Scott, D3hoops.com columnist (Top 25 Double-take)

If you enjoy the show via the podcasts instead, you can get access to them or subscribe one of the three following ways (click on the images when necessary):
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[Greek Tragedy]

Platteville (6-2) at Oshkosh (5-3)
La Crosse (3-5) at River Falls (4-4)
Whitewater (5-3) at Stevens Point (7-1)
Stout 1-7) at Eau Claire(1-7)

[frodotwo]

FIVE WIAC teams in the top 25. I don't recall that ever happening. I think there were 4 in at least one year, but I'm not sure. I don't know that any other conference has had five teams  in the past.

Not a whole lotta love for Oshkosh's big week though. They added only 39 points despite beating Point (#26) at home and River Falls (#20) on the road.

[Greek Tragedy]

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2017-18/week9

Point jumps in despite a double digit loss in Oshkosh.

[Greek Tragedy]

FIVE WIAC teams in the top 25. I don't recall that ever happening. I think there were 4 in at least one year, but I'm not sure. I don't know that any other conference has had five teams  in the past.

Not a whole lotta love for Oshkosh's big week though. They added only 39 points despite beating Point (#26) at home and River Falls (#20) on the road.

Off the top of my head, I'll just guess the NESCAC.

[Greek Tragedy]

Point had 45 votes and was #26 last week. Marietta was #25 with 54 votes. Platteville was #27 with 31 votes.

Platteville jumps to #20 with 198 votes. Point jumps into the Top 25 with...29 votes.