MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[phoenix_rising]

if Johnson could shoot from the outside he would have had a bunch of points.  No one was near him the whole night when he had the ball near the 3-point arc

I think this is an 'I would if I could, but I can't so I won't' kind of comment. Keep a guy who can't shoot from outside behind the three point line and he guards himself.

If I were 7'2" and could play basketball, I could make all kinds of money.

[John Gleich]

P_R,

I dunno.... Superior has pulled off the upset in Point before.  In 03-04, Sup beat Point TWICE, including on the last night of the regular season, preventing Point from their 5th straight conference title.

[phoenix_rising]

Was Vince what's-his-name here then (03-04)? I sure wouldn't want Supers to go in thinking they could win the Saturday Point game; I'd like them to go in feeling they have nothing to lose by playing some creative basketball and having fun. But, thanks for giving me a break from 'self'-doubt.

[Pioneer Hoops Fan]

Was Vince what's-his-name here then (03-04)? I sure wouldn't want Supers to go in thinking they could win the Saturday Point game; I'd like them to go in feeling they have nothing to lose by playing some creative basketball and having fun. But, thanks for giving me a break from 'self'-doubt.

Just after Vince "what's-his-name" Thomas' time.  It was Cody Kastern's Senior season I believe.

[phoenix_rising]

Thomas. That's right. I knew it was an easy one. Johnson. Nelson. Thompson. Kiivaannen

Imagine me forgetting the name "Thomas"; that's outright Freudian

[Greek Tragedy]

Again, it was another pleasant trip to Zorn.

Why did Oshkosh lose to Eau Claire last night?

Ryan Shea. Genius move by Coach Gibbons to stick him on Matt Miller.

There is one thing that I'm going to throw out there concerning this Oshkosh team. At the beginning of the season, it was said that Oshkosh had 5 shooters on the floor. I'm starting to see a trend in which that's not the case anymore, and the Titans are back to their old way's only having 3 scorers. That's not going to cut it if they want to be in this race for the second half of the season.

I was going to ask why Shea was a genius move, but I guess that has been answered.  I know Miller did well agains Point in the first half, but I think I want to say a taller player like Ross Rortvedt or even Drew Jackson guarded Miller in the 2nd half and he didn't do as well...not sure if that's true or not, but I thought that was the case.

I remember saying that Oshkosh may have the best starting 5, but I don't remember anyone saying they had 5 shooters.  Whatever happened to Schrimpf, he started out slow, then went on a little run and then now he's back to not shooting...is he afraid now?  I never thought Jordan Johnson was a shooter, but a rebounder.  I think having three shooters like Marsh, who can create his own shot, Miller, who can shoot from anywhere and DSA who can take it down low, is a pretty good trio.  I think the problem is, there isn't anyone else off the bench that can come in. 

I mean, really, how many other teams actually have FOUR legit scoring threats starting?  I think the bench is a big key.  You need that spark off the bench, or at the very least, a player that can come in and give you complementary scoring when a starter sits. 

I sure wouldn't want Supers to go in thinking they could win the Saturday Point game; I'd like them to go in feeling they have nothing to lose by playing some creative basketball and having fun. But, thanks for giving me a break from 'self'-doubt.

No matter how bad you are, even Stout needed to go in to the game thinking they could knock off Point, and they almost did...as did Ripon when we went there.  To have an attitude of "keeping it close" from the beginning just means you're going to get smoked.  They need to go in there with confidence....I'm sure there is some doubt, but go in with the right frame of mind, and if the game is close at the end, anything can happen.  The trio of Jake Smith, Culy and Hill scare me, even if that is only THREE scorers! lol

The win in Zorn on Saturday just got a little better looking.   I'd rather be in first place than last place but there is a long way to go and way too many things can happen yet.   I'll be surprised if the conference champ doesn't have 3-4 losses.  

I said four at the beginning of the year, I believe.

[phoenix_rising]

Sometimes it isn't the scorers who make the difference as much as those who prevent scoring. I like good defense. Of course, it helps to couple that with good scoring.

Long bus rides are the sixth man of the opponents team, though; and it's a long bus ride from here to just about anywhere. They should equip those buses with treadmills and stationary bikes just to get some warm-up and leg-stretching time 3/4 of the way down.

I guess if the Soupmen plan to be contenders, they might as well start now.

[chmarx]

In fairness, Superior certainly has the worst travel issues of the conference.

[Pioneer Hoops Fan]

Thomas. That's right. I knew it was an easy one. Johnson. Nelson. Thompson. Kiivaannen

Imagine me forgetting the name "Thomas"; that's outright Freudian

It was one of those...
"Slippy, Slappy, Sim, Simmons, Swimmy, Swammy, Swan, Swanson..Swanson?"

"Maybe it's on the breifcase?"

"Oh yeah, here it is.  Samsonite! I was way off.  I knew it started with an S though!"

[Mr. Downtown]

03-04 was a wacky year.

The WIAC seemed to have an honest chance of having 3 teams in the tourney, but Whitewater lost in the first round, to Oshkosh, in a 3/6 match up, 52-49 with Pete Warning's 18...coming off the bench.

Then, Rich Melzer's River Falls Falcons lose at home in the second round, to Platteville, who barely escaped Stout in the first round in OT.

And Point crushed everyone in the Conference Tourney, and went on to win a very dramatic championship.


I hope this year's conference tourney is just as exciting as it was in 03-04.

[John Gleich]

Was Vince what's-his-name here then (03-04)? I sure wouldn't want Supers to go in thinking they could win the Saturday Point game; I'd like them to go in feeling they have nothing to lose by playing some creative basketball and having fun. But, thanks for giving me a break from 'self'-doubt.

Just after Vince "what's-his-name" Thomas' time.  It was Cody Kastern's Senior season I believe.

Vince Thomas (as is Isaiah... VT is IT's nephew).  His last season was 00-01, and yes, the year Sup beat us at home to prevent us from getting #5 in a row (and they actually beat us twice, both in the great white north and down in SP, not just once) was Kastern's Senior year.  For whatever reason, that team gave us fits.  The toughest thing was that, after Sup beat us, at home, keeping us from our 5th straight conference championship, we had to turn around three days later and play them AGAIN, at home, with everything fresh in our minds.  It was actually that victory that really sparked everything else... without it, Point wouldn't have gotten into the tournament at all!

The one thing that Superior did that year was to absolutely beast Point.  In the third game, Point stopped being the nail and started being a hammer... none of those three games was pretty.  Check out the shooting percentages:

1/17/04 @ Superior
2/21/04 @ Point
2/24/07 @ Point (tourney)

[phoenix_rising]

Are you serious? Isaiah Thomas' nephew? I didn't know that. No wonder he knew basketball.

I guessed he wasn't related to Mark Thomas...too tall

[titansrus]

"Man, I am bummed out to hear that Rob Perry suffered a broken foot and will most likely be done for the season."

This comes from the guy Frankiet alerted us to that writes a blog about WIAC basketball on the western half of the state.

Can anyone from Whitewater verify this? That'd be a huge blow to the Warhawks chances. Obviously you couldn't count them out, but taking away any team's best player is never a good thing.

[Greek Tragedy]

Well, made the trip up to The Alex and let me say, I WON'T HESITATE TO SAY I JUST WASTED FOUR HOURS OF MY LIFE.

Like GLADIATOR, I'm there to get entertained.  I'm definitely not saying I'm a Grinnell fan, but of the half dozen times I've seen them play, this is by far the worst I've seen.  No ball movement, no screens, horrible shots etc.  When Little A got the ball in his hands, well, he became the Black Hole...once it went in, it never came out. 

LU didn't even do anything special.  They played like they have been coached.  They played "four corners" a lot, at least it seemed, and GC just helped them by giving up too many layups and not hitting the broad side of a barn on their possessions.  Seemed like Grinnell went back to the old days of playing Hack attack.  I swear LU was in the double bonus by the 10-minute mark.

Grinnell puts up 55!

I wanted a good game, but I'll have to head to Quandt tomorrow to see that, Point v Superior and hopefully back to The Alex on Tuesday to see a barnburner of Oshkosh visiting Appleton.

Hey Jacob, I think I saw you leaving the game...not too many 7-footers around.  Sorry you had to see that after I built up Grinnell...get that bad game out of your system and head to Quandt tomorrow!  You better be there on Tuesday for Oshkosh v Lawrence...no men's league!

[Greek Tragedy]

Can anyone from Whitewater verify this? That'd be a huge blow to the Warhawks chances. Obviously you couldn't count them out, but taking away any team's best player is never a good thing.

There could be an argument that he's one of the league's best players...top 5?

Speaking of that...

After this weekend's games, we can start filling out our unofficial midseason awards!  Wahoo!