MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Ralph Turner]

What could UW-La Crosse have done in non-conference in-region games to assure themselves of Pool C bid?  

Beat Loras, (21-6 but only 4-5 in non-conference games).  Loras lost to North Park, UW-Platteville and Aurora.  This win gives 8 more QOWI points.

Beat Carleton, (11-15, 10-10 in conference and 11-11 in-region).  This win gives 6 more QOWI points.

Current QOWI = 9.792 in 24 games or 225 points.  Add 8 + 6 to get 239 points, divided by 24 games = new QOWI of 9.958.  That is currently tied with Maryville at #33.

What could UW-Oshkosh have done in non-conference in-region games to assure themselves of Pool C bid?

Beating Elmhurst would have given another 8 QOWI points to raise the QOWI to 10.250, definitely in and tied with St John's at #22.

I realize that there are lots of Championship banners hanging in the rafters, but the critic can look at where a team did not do what they needed to do with the schedule they had.

My own team (McMurry) lost our starting point guard to a broken ankle in the first 20 seconds of the first game, Rowan.  We lost to Rowan by 5, to ETBU by 1, to HSU by 1, big time to Miss College and by 11 to UMHB before our point guard came back.  We lost one game after his return.  That one point loss to ETBU probably keeps us out of Pool C.

I will look at other teams to see what had them on the bubble as the examples present themselves.  This has been instructive.

Thanks!  

[Greek Tragedy]

So, basically what is going to happen is that, with the (secret) regional rankings from tomorrow, whichever team sits atop the regional rankings from each region will be scrutinized against the top team from every other region for each of the primary categories.  I have a feeling that St. Thomas will be one of the first picks, which means that, probably, either La Crosse or Oshkosh will be next on the docket.  This bodes well for the two WIAC foes... they will be "up to bat" as it were fairly early in the discussion, so the possibility of them being chosen would be far greater than, say, a team that is 7th in line in a region with lots of other Pool C candidates.

You mean, St. John's.  St. Thomas smoked St. John's in the MIAC final. 

I had a feeling those two losses to Loras and Carleton would come back and haunt La Crosse...and of course those two brainfarts to Eau Claire and River Falls don't help. 

At a quick glance...all these teams could go ahead of Oshkosh and La Crosse
4. (34) UW-Oshkosh 21-6 18-6
8. (41) UW-La Crosse 19-8 17-7

The interesting thing about Oshkosh and La Crosse is that La Crosse swept Oshkosh in three meetings.  That could go a long way, even though Oshkosh has a better in-region record and better QOWI.  I wouldn't be surprised if La Crosse got in before Oshkosh, actually.

East Region
1. (19) Brockport State 23-5 22-5
5. (20) Rochester 18-7 18-6

Great Lakes Region
3. (31) John Carroll 19-9 18-7
4. (36) Hope 23-4 16-4

Middle Atlantic Region
2. (32) Messiah 19-6 16-4

Midwest Region
1. (12) Chicago 20-5 19-5

Northeast Region
3. (7) Trinity (Conn.) 21-4 17-4
6. (26) Keene State 23-5 20-5
7. (17) Brandeis 19-6 19-6

South Region
2. (24) Va. Wesleyan 23-4 22-4
3. (51) Guilford 21-4 20-4
4. (38) DePauw 22-5 19-4

West Region
3. (23) St. John's 20-7 20-4

That's 13 teams.  This would include THREE UAA teams getting Pool C bids!  Wow.  I guess there is an advantage of having your conference teams in different regions! lol  Nearly everyone listed has better QOWIs and betteer in-region records.

[Greek Tragedy]

Pretty raucous (sp?) at Quandt tonight.  This website lists Quandt's capacity at 2800 and the boxscore says 2326.  One of those is wrong because it was pretty packed tonight, IMO.

La Crosse came out very well, while Point was flat and sloppy.  I don't think I've seen Bryan Beamish have a worse half than he did in the first 20 minutes tonight.  To his credit, he played A LOT better after the break and had a team high 16 pts, along with 4 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals.  Krull was just 4 of 11, and only made one shot inside the arc because of Werner, but had a team high 8 rebounds.  El-Amin sliced and diced the La Crosse defense, very impressive and got a couple of defenders to fall down!

Werner, of course, was nearly unstoppable, going for 19 on 9-14 shooting.  With an inside presence like Werner, if La Crosse had any kind of consistent outside shooting, they'd be amazing.  Only Feherenbach looked to shoot from the outside, and Ask did a few times, but everyone else never even looked to shoot the long ball...come on guys, chicks dig the long ball! lol.

On the other hand, not that it hasn't been said before, Point always has at least FOUR guys who aren't afraid to launch it.  When Drew Jackson is launching 3s and hitting them (2 for 2 tonight), you know the opponent is in for a long night!  Rortvedt forced a couple of bombs, but when he and four other guys score in double-figures, it doesn't worry you too much. 

A big surprise was ROSS Rortvedt coming into a close game.  The guy must have impressed in practice this week because he came in on the "defense for offense" strategy that we've seen with Jackson coming in for Hicklin late in games.  It was Rortvedt for Rortvedt since the older brother had FOUR fouls with four minutes to play.

Oh yeah, to correct the radio announcers on the post-game show...

I believe if Point gets a bye and hosts, two teams will play on Thursday night and Point will host that winner on SATURDAY.  If Point DOES NOT get a first round bye, and they host, three teams will come in and there will be a four-team "regional" played on Friday and Saturday.

The only way Point plays on Thursday is if they don't get a first round bye and someone else does...Point would play Team X and then the winner of that game would go play a team with a first round bye...which I don't see happening.

The most likely senario is that two West Coast teams play each other on Thursday and the winner of that will come to Quandt on Saturday.  IF they win that, I think Point would host a sectional the following week.  St. Thomas is ranked right behind Point in the West Region.  They could host either of the first two weekends, IMO. 

[Pat Coleman]

I've heard more tournament misinformation given over the radio the past week or so than I have ever heard before. I hope people are coming here to find out what's what instead of relying on the local radio station.

[John Gleich]

I know you were talking non-conference Ralph, but La Crosse also had head-scratcher losses in back to back games against UWEC and UWRF in conference.  It didn't seem like it was the type of year in the WIAC where the top and bottom of the conference were on fairly even standing... Point blasted EC by 34, 29, and 34, and beat RF by 8 and 45.  Oshkosh beat EC by 35 and 23, and RF by 3 and 23.  The RF loss doesn't seem like as bad a loss as the EC one... but then again, the two teams split and played basically even in two games.

To be in the upper echelon of a conference (ANY conference, but especially the "good" conferences) you need to beat the teams you're "supposed" to beat.  Look at the results of Oshkosh, Point, and Whitewater, the other teams in the top half of the league.  Point had a close game with Stout, but pulled out the W.  Oshkosh had one with RF, as noted above.  Whitewater hung on against EC.

In conferences such as ours, the "bottom feeders" aren't really bottom feeders... look at the overall records of the WIAC teams.  Superior was the only team without double digit wins.  RF and EC both had 10 wins.  In fact, each WIAC team was over .500 in their non-conference this season...  Now, this is actually down from years past, but leagues have ebbs and flows... and in a year where the second tier teams aren't as competitive as in years past, they still are good teams with good coaches and good players.


... And you're right, I meant St. Johns OS

[John Gleich]

And thanks again for the updates yesterday OS... we actually didn't state very long at the wedding... we were back in radio range by the time they were doing the post game show, but just barely.

[Just Bill]

Bulk:

Don't feel bad--the families of the opponent were shut out of Quandt that year as well. 

T2K

I'm going to buy T2K two seats.  One for him and one for that ax he likes to grind.

[stoutguy]

Bulk:

Don't feel bad--the families of the opponent were shut out of Quandt that year as well. 

T2K

I'm going to buy T2K two seats.  One for him and one for that ax he likes to grind.

Seems to me you are grinding one of your own on the women's board.  What does "Par for the course mean?"

[Just Bill]

Not really.  That's just the way it is.  I accept it.

[BDshotblocker]

The projections on D3hoops has (3) WIAC teams in with UW-Oshkosh going to the midwest region.

We'll have to wait and see if it comes true.

[Greek Tragedy]

I've heard more tournament misinformation given over the radio the past week or so than I have ever heard before. I hope people are coming here to find out what's what instead of relying on the local radio station.

They are supposed to be experts on the team, not the NCAA process! lol    As they were saying that, I was yelling, "NO, NO, NO..." at the radio! 

I'm going to buy T2K two seats.  One for him and one for that ax he likes to grind.

Better get him two for the ax, it's pretty big.  I think there are three seats available behind the band. lol 

[frodotwo]

Two more upsets today probably means LX is outta here. Pretty bad when you can't win against teams .500 or slightly better on your home court. But, that's why they play the games as the cliche goes...gives hope to teams that overachieved at the end and makes their season a success no matter if they win in the NCAA's or not.

[diehardfan]

I've heard more tournament misinformation given over the radio the past week or so than I have ever heard before. I hope people are coming here to find out what's what instead of relying on the local radio station.

They are supposed to be experts on the team, not the NCAA process! lol    As they were saying that, I was yelling, "NO, NO, NO..." at the radio! 

I totally do that kind of thing all the time.

[Stout survivor]

This is the NCAA home of the BCS so of course we can expect the system to be flawed.  And I know that DIII is more about the student then the athlete but we are men playing  ball not grade school kids that need to bring a enough cupcakes for every body so no ones feeling are hurt. 

take stout (off the top of my head) We had a bad year but our only lose out of conference was to the same team point lost to (Northern Mich DII) plus beating BV in vegas who finished 2nd in the IIAC.

I just wish that the national tourny would showcase the best DIII has to offer and not try and keep every one happy

PUT OSHY AND LAX IN

[Greek Tragedy]

Yeah,  Amherst took a dump against Williams, a team they beat by 21 and 19 earlier in the year.  Nice job! lol.  Another reason to hate the NESCAC (the other being their stupid, "Let's just play everyone once in our conference so we can beat up on a weak nonconference schedule" theory, that actually seems to work...
And WPI tanks against Coast Guard...though their scores were much closer, 10 and 8 point wins.  Congrats to WPI, you beat MSOE by 3!  Wow.  Great job! 

Anyway, I guess I don't have to worry too much about another NCAA WIAC matchup...sorry Oshkosh and La Crosse.

It's to be noted that Pat and Co. still have La Crosse and Oshkosh making it, even after the upsets.  Ummm...