MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

Wow, as "Worm" would say dealing out the cards in the classic movie, "Rounders"...LOTS OF ACTION!

I'm excited for the upcoming weekend.  There is lots of talk from lots of posters, both WIACers and opponents.  I haven't yet seen any "trashtalking" posters yet coming in here flapping their mouths, so that's good...of course, I don't see that happening from posters from Hope/Calvin or IWU, at least!    

It's great to see THREE WIAC teams make the tourney.  I'm very surprised about that, but happy.  It's good that the tourney has finally expanded and I only hope La Crosse, Stout and Whitewater represent the WIAC well.  They are all in tough regionals.  Too bad we are out in the West side and not in the Northeast, East or maybe the South.

La Crosse is in the toughest 8 team regional that includes Hope, Calvin, Wittenberg, Carnegie Mellon and Baldin-Wallace.  I think Whitewater and Stout have the 2nd toughest 8 team regional that also includes MIAC champ St. Thomas, two CCIW teams in North Central and Ill. Wes., and the top two MWC teams; Lawrence and Carroll (who has already beaten Whitewater).

Re:  Tickets

I work 3rd shift, so I'll be home bright and early tomorrow and will be on the phone nonstop until I get through.  I just hope I can get through (you can't redial too fast on a cell phone!)...thanks for the information.

Re:  Pointers

Though Point swept La Crosse during the year, La Crosse didn't lose to Clarke, Edgewood or Lakeland...all in-region nonconference games they should've won.

[diehardfan]

If we're lucky Dave Collinge will be along to show you our condiments.

     

     What, these things?  

     That's right folks, real heinz ketchup and mustard... game on!

[Flying Dutch Fan]

I posted this in the MIAA room, but thought you might also find it usefull:

Team Stats	Calvin	UW - LaCrosse
SCORING..................	2060	1905
Points per game........	73.6	70.6
Scoring margin.........	5.6	7
FIELD GOALS-ATT..........	711-1660	721-1546
Field goal pct.........	0.428	0.466
3 POINT FG-ATT...........	190-496	173-450
3-point FG pct.........	0.383	0.384
3-pt FG made per game..	6.8	6.4
FREE THROWS-ATT..........	448-621	290-414
Free throw pct.........	0.721	0.7
REBOUNDS.................	1036	890
Rebounds per game......	37	33
Rebounding margin......	1.1	1.4
ASSISTS..................	388	407
Assists per game.......	13.9	15.1
TURNOVERS................	359	336
Turnovers per game.....	12.8	12.4
Turnover margin........	2.3	2
Assist/turnover ratio..	1.1	1.2
STEALS...................	219	218
Steals per game........	7.8	8.1
BLOCKS...................	107	63
Blocks per game........	3.8	2.3
WINNING STREAK...........	0	0
Home win streak........	0	0
ATTENDANCE...............	29252	7390
Home games-Avg/Game....	14-2089	12-616

[uww4ever]

Greetings new posters-from what it sounds like tickets will only be available for Sat night after the two games so they can weed out the losers (oops, I mean the guys who don't win).

I think the ticket office opens at 8.  There isn't anything posted around campus for tickets (and UWW students are the most unaware bunch, they probably don't know who Ward Churchill is).  It's out of ignorance, but those ones should be attending Stout instead 

[Greek Tragedy]

Great job FDF.  Thanks for the info...


The Calvin fans seemed like nice folks at the Final Four last year and shouldn't have lost to Rochester.  If La Crosse loses to Calvin in the first round, I'll put my name in Calvin's hat.  Otherwise, I'll have to hang with chmarx and Brian Carroll!  

[Champ99]

Every team that got in deserves to be there, and good luck to them all, but the NCAA might need to reevaluate their criteria that allowed UWL to leap frog over UWSP for a bid.  UWL did real well with their non-conference games in Nov and Dec, but non-conference games are always going to be an uneven playing field.  For example, with a new coach and a lot of new players, UWSP needed to focus more on building for the conference season than just winning games at the beginning of the season.  UWSP was the better team once it really mattered in Jan and Feb, finishing ahead of UWL in the standings, and beating UWL in both head to head games.  There seems to be too much weight put on non-conference games.  Here is my modest proposal, for what it is worth.  Come up with some formula for rating conferences based on their performance in recent NCAA tournaments, and their performance in the current season's non-conference games.  Then assign at large bids to the conferences base on those ratings.  Then decide which teams get the conference's bids based on conference standings.

I rarely post on this site but sometimes a post is silly enough that I need to.  I give the coaches, players a lot of credit at Point because they did a lot this year with a lot of question marks in the beginning of the season.  But Mab, if you're looking into conference, even if LaX couldn't get Point... what about LaX getting Stout once, Osh 2/3 times and losing "close" in the one loss to them and then Point playing arguably "defenseless" at Oshkosh earlier in Jan/Feb when Point was supposidly BETTER than LaX.  Your argument isn't very good with all due respect.  There always seems to be win/loss triangles in the WIAC-its the way this conference is, so you really do need to go to Old schools argument as follows to figure it out.

In terms of the formula, you are arguing for the same thing that's been "asked for" on this site for years.  Good luck getting it.

Re:  Pointers

Though Point swept La Crosse during the year, La Crosse didn't lose to Clarke, Edgewood or Lakeland...all in-region nonconference games they should've won.

[billys]

What a difference a few more bids makes.  We went from a team that tied for the conference championship with the number one team in the country not getting a bid, to a team that finished tied for fourth getting in.  Every team that got in deserves to be there, and good luck to them all, but the NCAA might need to reevaluate their criteria that allowed UWL to leap frog over UWSP for a bid.  UWL did real well with their non-conference games in Nov and Dec, but non-conference games are always going to be an uneven playing field.  For example, with a new coach and a lot of new players, UWSP needed to focus more on building for the conference season than just winning games at the beginning of the season.  UWSP was the better team once it really mattered in Jan and Feb, finishing ahead of UWL in the standings, and beating UWL in both head to head games.  There seems to be too much weight put on non-conference games.  Here is my modest proposal, for what it is worth.  Come up with some formula for rating conferences based on their performance in recent NCAA tournaments, and their performance in the current season's non-conference games.  Then assign at large bids to the conferences base on those ratings.  Then decide which teams get the conference's bids based on conference standings.

I also have to respectfully disagree. You need to reward teams that play a good non-conference schedule and win those games. Every game should matter. Obviously it would be nice right now for the WIAC to have a system that rates past performance in NCAA tournaments, but as OS said, these teams this year are in very difficult regionals, 2 of 3 on the road.

Basketball is a game of matchups. As they always say with the D1 dance, you need look at the entire resume. SP should not have lost to Clarke, Lakeland, and Edgewood. Man, La Crosse killed Edgewood and probably could have beat them by 40 at Edgewood. Beating BV and Coe in Iowa and then Carleton and St. Thomas, those have to count for something.

I think it's pretty hard to blame the system for anything this year. Point runs the non-con table, they're dancing (I think).

[mythicalbird]

Without a doubt, MAB.  The real shame however is the injury to Brian Bauer.  If Bauer is healthy, SP is looking at quite a bit more wins in my opinion.  I first found out that he was hurt at the FIRST Stout game.  I am sure the foot bothered him long before that and as a result, probably cost SP a bit.  If he plays healthy last Thursday, SP is in the championship, not Stout.  And I even had a few Stout players agree with me on that point.  Being a WIAC fan, I am glad that LAX got in because I think as of now they can do more damage than a UWSP.  I would like to see Werner and crew go nuts in Michigan.

PS- That gym in Michigan is pretty nice.  I don't know if I have seen one that nice for a D3 school.  I wish we had something like that in the WIAC!

[bulk19]

As reported on WEAU TV13 in Eau Claire tonight, and thought to be the case out there about two weeks ago -

Washington State University's Dick Bennett (long-time WSUC/WIAC fans will recognize this name) will step down as head coach at the end of the season with son Tony, an assistant for the Cougars, waiting in the wings...

Coach Bennett was the utmost class at UWSP; Tony led a UWGB team into the NCAA tournament, and later played in the NBA.

[stormy]

fyi, lamont (the  shot) weaver's son is on a full basketball scholarship completing his second season at washiington.  lamont played for the rf falcons in another era and was the assistant coach at uww for augie in the eighties and is still working in student relations for uww.

[stormy]

that should be wsu, d bennett recruited him 8)

[mythicalbird]

Yeah it isn't often that they drop UWSP and UWGB on ESPN's College Game Night.  Dick Bennett may be one of the most influential people on the game of basketball in Wisconsin Bball history.  It seemed like EVERYONE turned to his style of structured play with a hard emphasis on defense.  I know everyone in my conference turned to it during the Final Four run.

[chmarx]

Some people from Michigan asked how UWL people feel about going to Holland to play Calvin and (hopefully!) Hope.  I have been a UWL fan since moving here 26 years ago.  Before that, I was at Olivet College in the MIAA and got my undergraduate degree there.  I've been to games at Hope and Calvin, but obviously not in that beautiful new arena. 

I am familiar with MIAA basketball.  I think we'll be competitive.  Calvin and Hope have great programs.  Ours has struggled for some time, but we seem to be on the right track.  Also, I think the WIAC is tougher top to bottom than the MIAA.

I don't have delusions of UWL being able to go deep in the tournament, but if we play well, we could conceivably come back from Michigan with a couple of wins.  Or we could come back with our heads on a platter! 

[Greek Tragedy]

PS- That gym in Michigan is pretty nice.  I don't know if I have seen one that nice for a D3 school.  I wish we had something like that in the WIAC!

I'm guessing that the tax payers would be footing the bill for a facility like that.  The WIAC are public schools, obviously, while Hope's multi-million dollar facility was paid for by private funds, being they are a private school...  That's what I'm guessing!   

...we could conceivably come back from Michigan with a couple of wins. Or we could come back with our heads on a platter!

Way to go out on a limb.    Are you and Brian Carroll going out there?

[Greek Tragedy]

badgerwarhawk?  uww4ever?  I sent you emails last night.