MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[y_jack_lok]

Given Wash U's finish last year, plus returning four out of five starters, plus having a former starter back from a season lost to injury last year, I think it was realistic to consider them as a pre-season #1.  Unfortunately, on Tuesday night (11/20) they lost their starting point guard to a fractured tibia and torn ACL in a game against Maryville U in St. Louis. Now Wash U needs to regroup a bit and get somone else accustomed to playing the point.

On the other hand, Augie proved itself to be a terrific team today, also deserving of it's preseason ranking, even if they were not able to sustain a full 40 minutes of top notch play.

The outcome of the Platteville/Wash U game tomorrow will say a lot about where both teams are and what they need to do to be competitive in their respective conferences.

[titansrus]

Old School, you gonna be at the Oshkosh-Elmhurst game on Wednesday?

Should be a good one considering Elmhurst is ranked in Top 25 and Oshkosh wants revenge from loss last season down in Illinois which probably knocked them out of the national tournament.

[John Gleich]

Point beats Lakeland tonight 76-38.  This was a really sloppy game.  The official stats aren't up yet, but the live stats say there were 33 TO's (11 by Point, 22 by LC).  Neither team shot very well and there were a total of 42 fouls called.  There could have been many more fouls called than that.

Lakeland came out and hustled off the bat, outhustling the Pointers in the first few minutes.  In fact, at about the 15:00 minute mark, Coach Semling subbed nearly all the starters, as Wotachek, Hicklin, Beamish, and El Amin were subbed for by Moses, Sweeney, Jackson, and Hurd.  There was immediately a change in the tone of the game.  Point had been up 16-11 at that time and the momentum changed.  Lakeland would score just 5 more points in the half, while UWSP rattled off 27.

Through the first five minutes, though, you could tell that Lakeland simply wasn't going to be able to hang with Point.  They didn't have the weapons or the players to do it, but they certainly tried making up for that with effort.  I'm kind of surprized to see that Point won the rebounding battle by 10... they certainly WEREN'T winning it in the first few minutes.  In the first minute and a half, Lakeland got seven rebounds to Point's one, including five offensive.  When the subs came in, they matched Lakeland's intensity and everything took off from there.

As I said, it was a pretty sloppy game, but it was very physical, too.  The refs were WIAC refs, but I'm shocked that they let it go as physically as they did.  As it was, Hicklin and Saiberlich knocked heads with about 15 mins to go in the second half and drew (LOTS of) blood.  Neither returned, though Hicklin did come and sit on the bench, albeit with lots of gauze on his forehead.  Thankfully Point's next game isn't until next Saturday, so he should be all set by then.  Another Lakeland player left in the second half with a knee injury, and there were quite a few fouls (and non-calls) where guys ended up on the ground after being smacked in the face, or pushed, etc.

The conference schedule starts next week... can't wait to see the boys get after it down in Whitewater!

Hey, GAME STORY and STATS are now up.

[chmarx]

La Crosse knocked off Ripon tonight.  Billy Kegler had fifteen points in the first half.  He cooled off after the break, but still had a nice game.  Apparently, he struggles against a strong center.

I think we may struggle to be in the middle of the conference this year.  We only beat Ripon by one.

The women are hosting a holiday tournament as well.  I saw two games today and there will be two tomorrow! 

[fredfalcon]

UST beats Winona, in Winona, in OT, for something like the first loss at home for W in 60 games. UST will rise in d3 poll! Or, should.

[Just Bill]

Fred, that would be first loss in 36 home games.  I understand your politician math, though.  You must think you won the last election with 95% of the votes.

[LogShow]

Well UPS has stout tonight...actually more like this afternoon.  Why does the WIAC play so early, and I also heard they don't back-to-back league games either?  Is that because of the long travel distances?

I would have thought Bemiji State would have given UPS a little more comp for a DII team.  The box score said UPS was up almost 30 at half.

Anyway, looking forward to the game tonight...I will be listening on-line.  Should be a good game!!

[Greek Tragedy]

Well UPS has stout tonight...actually more like this afternoon.  Why does the WIAC play so early, and I also heard they don't back-to-back league games either?  Is that because of the long travel distances?

I would have thought Bemiji State would have given UPS a little more comp for a DII team.  The box score said UPS was up almost 30 at half.

Middle of the pack D2 teams are usually comparable to D3 teams...of course, with St. Thomas beating #1 D2 team Winona State, maybe the gap is narrowing! lol...anyway, I think the games are early today because it is Sunday.  The did change the times of the games on the weekends to earlier, I think, because they can get the kids home earlier that night, probably trying to cut down on the costs of rooming.  I'm guessing that's also the reason why they may not have that Fri/Sat game set.  On Saturday game days, its men's and women's double headers as well.  It's a simple conference schedule with games being played every Wednesday and Saturday.  I personally like it, though in the past, it used to be one team (men) playing one night and the other team (women) playing the following night, allowing fans to see both teams.  Now, when the men play at home on Wednesday, the women play away at the same opponent the same night.  That kind of sucks.

It'll be an interesting game today up at Stout because, for most of us, the Blue Devils are still an unknown with all the new/transfers on the team.

[Drake Palmer]

I'll post more later, but I had a chance to see UPS play Bemidji State, & watched the first half of the Stout Northland game yesterday.

I came away very, very impressed with the Loggers & do not expect they'll have too difficult of a time with Stout.  UPS has excellent team speed, 2 outstanding ball handlers in Antwan Williams & Steffond Brown, are well-disciplined & are very quick around the basket. From my limited view of the D3 world, I'd say they're among the top handful of teams I've seen in the past 3-4 years - '05 UWSP national champs, UW -Whitewater, 03 Gustavus Gusties, Lawrence, & recent vintage UST Tommie teams.

If was a betting man, I'd take UPS+ 15 points.

[John Gleich]

Maybe you SHOULD be a betting man Drake... UPS won by 15, just as predicted!

Also, Wash U beat Platteville 87-76 today

[badgerwarhawk]

Not to burst any bubbles but if you were a betting man, Drake, and you had UPS +15 it would be a tie and you would lose the bet.    

Nice call though.

[Just Bill]

BW, that is blatant bubble bursting!

[fredfalcon]

Just Bill--at least I was close! I did say it "was something like 60 games." 36 IS SOMETHING LIKE: one of the numbers is the same and there are  two numbers involved!

I did get 95% of the votes cuz I was unopposed!

[chmarx]

I was shocked to see Winona losing to St. Thomas.  We have the Tommies here on Saturday, I believe.  Doubt if we have much chance.

[Greek Tragedy]

Weekly Review-rankings to follow tomorrow.

Eau Claire (2-2)-Won vs. Hamline 87-67 (in Baraboo) on Fri., Won vs. Finlandia 81-60 (in Baraboo) on Sat.
La Crosse (3-0)-Won at Viterbo 59-49 on Tues, Beat Ripon 70-69 on Sat.
Oshkosh (3-0)-  Won at St. Norbert 78-68 on Tues., Won vs. Finlandia 91-70 (in Baraboo) on Fri., Won vs. Hamline 68-54 (in Baraboo) on Sat.
Platteville (3-1)-Won at Webster 65-50 on Sat., Lost vs. Washington U. 87-76 (at Webster)on Sun.
River Falls (2-2)-  Lost to St. Thomas 79-67 on Tues., Lost to Concordia-St. Paul 75-71 on Sat.
Stevens Point (3-0)-Beat Northern Michigan 77-52 on Mon., Beat Lakeland 76-38 on Sat.
Stout (3-2)-Lost at Winona State 95-68 on Tues., Beat Northland 73-53 on Sat., Lost to Puget Sound 85-70 on Sun.
Superior (1-1)-Won at Northland 87-50 on Tues.
Whitewater (3-0)-Won at Carroll 70-51 on Tues.