MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[fredfalcon]

I want to say "ditto" to all the things said about RB. I first met him when he got the job and have enjoyed following his teams over the years. Loyalty is a word sometimes over-used and misused, but here is an example of his loyalty: Soon after he got the job, Stevens Point offered him its head basketball job. He listened to what they said (it was a definite offer), but never seriously considered the job even though he knew it probably would be easier to recruit there. He used the word loyalty in his explanation of why he would stay at RF. Besides, he already had Dean Cook on board, and Rick Montreal was leaning toward RF, if I remember correctly.

[BuckyC]

word spreading like wildfire around Eau Claire is that EC Regis coach Bill Uelman will be joining Terry Gibbons staff next season in some capacity. Anybody know about this?

[laxeagles1]

word spreading like wildfire around Eau Claire is that EC Regis coach Bill Uelman will be joining Terry Gibbons staff next season in some capacity. Anybody know about this?

I doubt the addition of Bo Ryan to the UWEC will help them at this point, especially if Gibbons remains the head coach.  It's obvious Coach Gibbons has no ability to utilize the players he has.  If you can't put up a fight with Archambeau, Jefferson, and Drake of two years ago you know you are in bad shape.  I don't know much about Coach Uelman but if he wants to continue being a part of a winning program he might want to look elsewhere in the WIAC

I am glad the program here in La Crosse does not have the obvious problem that EC has, and when it has in the past our Athletic Director was able to get rid of the program cancer before it's spreads to the degree that it has in Eau Claire

[buf]

laxeagles-

I totally agree with you!  I just don't see the EC program returning to the top of the conference with Gibbons there.  The problem is that nobody (EC administration) is going to do anything about it, and Gibbons knows that.  The community has gotten on him a bit the last couple years, but as long as the EC administration doesn't do anything, nothing is going to be done.

I have no problem with coaches with struggling teams who work their butts off to make the team better.  I have just not seen that with Gibbons.  All I have seen him do the last few years is yell, "Go to Work" about 100 times each game.  Heck, even the assisstant coaches came up with the zone press that they used this year.  When EC plays defense they look at the assisstant coaches, not Gibbons,  to get the defensive scheme that they will employ.

Sorry to ramble on, but the situation at EC makes me sick.  Mostly because I know that nothing is going to be done about it. 

[titan2000]

Nothing about rats:

http://www.advancetitan.com/story.asp?issue=11222&story=4804

[Greek Tragedy]

Very nice post, Coach Bowen.

Too bad about LU.  Matt Arnold had a great game (15 points), didn't see the box score but #22 who drained 6 threes against us didn't show up in the summary at DIII sports dot com.

Freeman paced the Titans w/ 21 points, but I'm surprised because it looks like the gym in LU was pretty packed to capacity, what is the capacity there?  Also looked like they had bleachers on each side.

I'm not on the IWU bandwagon yet, go PUGET

Lawrence is supposed to hold about 1400.  Most of their "capacity crowds" were listed at 1380, I think.  But, the fire marshal came in and put the smack down, lowering it to 1100 after seeing people sitting in the aisles and on the floor and just standing around.

There are full bleachers on one side of the court and movable bleachers on one of the ends.  The other side of the court has just enough room for the teams to sit and set up tables for water etc.  The other end of the court is a brick wall, a la Eau Claire's Zorn.  The first time I was at Lawrence a couple of years ago to watch them play Grinnell, I sat against that brick wall on the baseline.  Fun times.

I talked to several fans (one LU fan and one IWU fan) and the LU fan said they oversold the 2nd round game vs. St. Thomas and actually turned people away at the doors with tickets in hand...and he was one of them!  An IWU fan told me on Saturday that they also oversold Friday's game, apparently some students made use of a photo copy machine and counterfeited about 200 tickets.  The IWU fan had talked to an LU official.  That is why there were fans sitting on the floor and in the aisles on Friday night. 

Great games in Appleton this weekend.  The $10-a-game price tag was almost worth it...just kidding.  It was worth seeing Lawrence lose! lol. 

[BBGUY]

To Titan 2000 poster re: UWO newspaper article. Do you think people will be gun shy next year about picking Oshkosh high in the pre-season rankings again?

[BuckyC]

laxeagles-

I totally agree with you!  I just don't see the EC program returning to the top of the conference with Gibbons there.  The problem is that nobody (EC administration) is going to do anything about it, and Gibbons knows that.  The community has gotten on him a bit the last couple years, but as long as the EC administration doesn't do anything, nothing is going to be done.

I have no problem with coaches with struggling teams who work their butts off to make the team better.  I have just not seen that with Gibbons.  All I have seen him do the last few years is yell, "Go to Work" about 100 times each game.  Heck, even the assisstant coaches came up with the zone press that they used this year.  When EC plays defense they look at the assisstant coaches, not Gibbons,  to get the defensive scheme that they will employ.

Sorry to ramble on, but the situation at EC makes me sick.  Mostly because I know that nothing is going to be done about it. 

Well UWEC did get a new chancellor in the last couple weeks so maybe.........hopefully.........things will change.

[mab]

titan2000 – Thanks for the link to the AT.  Everybody has an opinion about the Titan's disappointing season, here is mine:

Defensively, they were as good as I have ever seen them.  They had a bunch of real solid defensive players, and they will probably never have another player who changes the game defensively like Gibson does.  All the problems were at the other end of the court.  They were an easy team to defend.  Every opponent used the same strategy.  Put the best perimeter defender on Jahnke and never leave him.  Put the best defensive forward on Capelle and never leave him.  The other three defenders would guard their men until Gibson got the ball in the post, and then they would get an immediate double or triple team on him with the intent of taking away the dribble.  Since he wasn't strong enough to power through a double or triple, he had to find an open man to pass to.  At that point the only players open were players who weren't a threat to score from the perimeter.  They usually tried to start a new offensive set, but there was normally only time for someone to just make a move to get off whatever shot they could.  It was normally Jahnke who did that, and he did good to make thirty percent of those.  The other big problem was the two players who took the most shots were players who, once they make a move, they were pretty much committed to shooting.  Since they always had the other teams best defenders guarding them, they took a lot of pretty low percentage shots.  The team two and three point shooting percentages were way off from where they were with past top teams.

TVD has a lot of pressure on him going into the off-season.  He has to find a couple new off guards who can step in and contribute right away.  That won't be easy although I hear they have a good shot at getting at least one who would definitely fit the bill.  The other thing is he has to find a way to get more shots for Gibson.  Most of their best games where when he got off the most shots.  Gibson has to work on getting shots off quicker, before the double and triple gets there.  They have to get the shooters open on the perimeter for Gibson to kick out to, and it might help to post up some of the other players some of the time.  The one game where they hit on all cylinders offensively was the home game against UWSP.  The thing that happened that game that didn't happen in any other game was they did a good job of driving, drawing and dishing for easy inside baskets.  That would for sure be something to work on for next season.

It would be a shame if this group of upcoming seniors goes through their four years without contending for a conference championship and getting a shot at the NCAA tournament.  They have to make some offensive changes before next season for that to happen, but they have the nucleus to work with.

[laxeagles1]

laxeagles-

I totally agree with you!  I just don't see the EC program returning to the top of the conference with Gibbons there.  The problem is that nobody (EC administration) is going to do anything about it, and Gibbons knows that.  The community has gotten on him a bit the last couple years, but as long as the EC administration doesn't do anything, nothing is going to be done.

I have no problem with coaches with struggling teams who work their butts off to make the team better.  I have just not seen that with Gibbons.  All I have seen him do the last few years is yell, "Go to Work" about 100 times each game.  Heck, even the assisstant coaches came up with the zone press that they used this year.  When EC plays defense they look at the assisstant coaches, not Gibbons,  to get the defensive scheme that they will employ.

Sorry to ramble on, but the situation at EC makes me sick.  Mostly because I know that nothing is going to be done about it. 

when i heard a few years back that they cut walker flannery of antigo beacuse he wasnt 'gibbons recruit' and kept a bunch for guys that quit(or was it the coach that is my guess...............walker, along with zach malvik and quincy henderson was the toughest guy i have ever played against and if he wanted to could play anywhere in the wiac

[Pat Coleman]

To Titan 2000 poster re: UWO newspaper article. Do you think people will be gun shy next year about picking Oshkosh high in the pre-season rankings again?

I'm not Titan 2000 but I feel that's a reasonable assumption.

[Greek Tragedy]

I'm not Titan 2000...

I find that hard to believe.

[cubs]

when i heard a few years back that they cut walker flannery of antigo beacuse he wasnt 'gibbons recruit' and kept a bunch for guys that quit(or was it the coach that is my guess...............walker, along with zach malvik and quincy henderson was the toughest guy i have ever played against and if he wanted to could play anywhere in the wiac

You want to try this again??   My brain is turning into oatmeal trying to decipher this. 

[Pat Coleman]

I'm not Titan 2000...

I find that hard to believe.

The 200-point swing in karma helps.

[BBGUY]

ST. Point next year in the WIAC- Oshkosh 4th