MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[uww4ever]

Wow, the one game I should have went to, but I watched it on t.v. and Vernon went off!!!  Good to see Voeltz get some minutes (11 pts in 17), haven't seen that in the 2+ years he's been there, one year of injury however.

WIAC tourney comes to us.  Let us not forget the last time Stout came to us as an 8 seed, I was working at the dining hall that night and watched us get blown away, merely a college junior, I ate so many bread sticks that night, po'd that the hawks blew the chance and didn't get a tourney bid.  DR-were you there?  I was at the Williams Center before game time (working out) but didn't see you on the way out.  You prolly would have an entourage anyway.

GO HAWKS

[Mr. Downtown]

So with the Tourney starting on Monday, anyone have any thoughts on how this will play out?

[Greek Tragedy]

Tough game to watch in Platteville has the Pioneers smoke the Pointers, 84-65.

To start, the refs were pretty horrible in the first half, against both teams.  It was back and forth for about 10 minutes and then Platteville went on a big run with Hanson hitting three or four 3-pters in a row to put them up by 15 at the break.  Point came out and hit two quick 3s and got it down to 8 less than three minutes in and down to 6 around the 13 minute mark.  Point got it to 56-50 a little later on, but a combination of Point running out of gas and Platteville hitting big shot after big shot (at times, it seemed like they couldn't miss), the Pioneers closed the game out big time.

Unlike the game in Point, Skemp had his way.  Lohoff and Hanson played very well too.  For Point, Rortvedt (Pete) had a solid game, but Beamish seemed to force everything tonight.  It's nice to see Jerome Wotacheck back on the floor after a couple of games out with an injury.  IF we end up playing Platteville again, we'll need his size as Hurd and Beamish had their problems going 1 v 1 against Skemp.  Scott Hoelzel had another solid game as well.

Congrats to Whitewater on winning the conference championship.

Monday, February 25
Quarterfinals
UW-Stout (#8) at UW-Whitewater (#1), 7 p.m.
UW-Superior (#5) at UW-Oshkosh (#4), 7 p.m.
UW-La Crosse (#6) at UW-Stevens Point (#3), 7 p.m.
UW-Eau Claire (#7) at UW-Platteville (#2), 7 p.m

Big games on Monday.  Superior just beat Oshkosh (what happened there??) and Eau Claire has beaten Platteville (though up there). 

Remember the last time Stout was the #8 seed and traveled to #1 seed Whitewater? lol...

Anyway, can't wait for Monday to get this sour loss out of my mouth!

[Greek Tragedy]

Wednesday's Regional Rankings should be interesting.

West
1. UW-Stevens Point:  Def. La Crosse 89-62; LOST at Platteville 84-65.
2. St. Thomas:  LOST at Concordia-Moorhead 67-57; Won at St. John's 82-63.
3. Occidental:  Def. Cal. Lutheran 67-63; LOST at Whittier
4. UW-Whitewater:  Def. Oshkosh 66-51; def. River Falls 80-75.
5. Cal Lutheran:  LOST at Occidental 67-63; Won at Redlands
6. Buena Vista:  LOST at Central 73-71; Def. Loras
7. UW-Platteville:  Def. Eau Claire 75-58; Def. Stevens Point 84-65.
8. UW-Oshkosh:  LOST at Whitewater 66-51; LOST to Superior 77-67.

Does Whitworth sneak in?

Will Platteville's win vs. Point put them at #2?  Could it be:

1. Whitewater
2. Platteville
3. Stevens Point (as far as I know, "margin of victory" doesn't play in?)
4. St. Thomas
5. Occidental
6. Cal. Lutheran
7. Buena Vista
8. Whitworth

[Mr. Downtown]

Oldschool, I don't know what's going on with Oshkosh. Their is no rhyme or reason to lose to Superior, when they were up by 8 at half.

Something is wrong with this team. I don't know what it is, nor do I know where to begin.

I know it's almost improbable to beat teams twice in a season, especially in twice in three day span, but I would not put it passed Superior to come back to Oshkosh and pull off another major upset.

It's hard to have confidence in a team that just simply cannot beat a team with a winning record, nor hold an eight point lead at half against a team that is mainly freshmen and sophomores.

Yes, I know, my karma will take a hit thanks to other Oshkosh fans. Hopefully sometime tomorrow and the Monday walk through, it will hit this team that this is it. Lose and stay home, and kiss good-bye the NCAA's yet again.

They have the talent to win this conference tournament. Their is no doubt about that. Perhaps with the high sense of urgency will have this team return to their early season form.

Only Titan fans can hope.

[Greek Tragedy]

Regarding the poll,

You don't have to disclose yourself, but I don't see La Crosse upsetting Point.  The Pointers handled the Eagles down there and they smoked them at Quandt last week.  I don't see any reason why the Eagles have a good shot at beating the the dawgs at home.  I realize that Point just got smoked by Platteville, but La Crosse is not Platteville and the game isn't on Bo Ryan court.  No disrespect to La Crosse because "anything can happen," and "that's why we play the games" and all that...but I think Point's pretty upset right now! lol.

I think people picking Superior over Oshkosh is interesting.  Yes, they just beat them, but as Mr. DT just said, he doesn't understand how the Titans can blow a decent halftime lead and fall by 10 to the Yellowjackets.  On the other hand, this loss is probably more damaging to Oshkosh's confidence level rather than the actual loss itself.  If they feel real bad about themselves going into Monday's game and Superior again has nothing to lose, yes, the visitors have a shot.  If Superior pulls off "the double", Oshkosh's entire season will definitely be considered a disappointment for sure.

Whitewater looks real good.  Tough to bet against them.  Eau Claire, ummm.  Lose to Stout at home doesn't give me much hope that they can go down to Platteville and upset them.

[John Gleich]

First off, congrats to Whitewater on the conference title.  Would have been nice for Point to get a share of it, but it wasn't to be.

To be honest, Point didn't lose the conference title tonight... they lost it on a snowy night in December.  Point missed 5 straight free throws that night which truly changed the game.  But we can't look to the past... got to just regroup and get ready for Coach Koelbl's boy's come Monday night.


Platteville played like a team possessed tonight.  They probably would have beaten just about any team in the country tonight.  They were unconscious, and though there were some odd things that happened throughout the game that played into their favor, even without those, they still would have won the ball game.

First off, Point was called for at least three, and maybe four carrying violations.  Platteville was called for one.  I haven't seen this called ALL SEASON LONG in any game I've been to, and it was like the ref's decided that this was the game to make a point about it.

Now, don't get me wrong... by the definition of a carry, it does happen alot.  Most times down the floor, I'd say.  But to call it primarily against one team, when the other is equally as guilty is beyond me.

This accounted for a few of Point's 15 TO's tonight, but Point did make several other uncharacteristic TO's tonight.  I saw players doing something Coach Bennett always used to yell at us about... players would make a strong move but they would be off balance, and often times they would try to make a wild wrap-around or jump pass.  If you're not passing from a solid base, then your pass will more often be off as well, though sometimes you get lucky and get it to the right person.

Platteville does have the ability for their guards to extend, which did cause Point some problems tonight.  It meant that Point didn't have as much room to operate in, which did cause problems.  They've got that liberty because of Jeff Skemp standing in the middle of the lane.

On defense, Point seemed a step slow tonight.  Guards were turning the corner on dribble drives and off of ball screens, allowing guys to go right to the hoop for a layup, for others to be open either for a dump down in the post (and an easy 3 foot basket by Skemp) or for shootings to be sliding to the open place to hit the three, which Platteville did a ton tonight.  I'll take 11/19 any night from 3.  They were 6/8 in the second half!  So much for a comeback...  And when you've got shots like Kurt Hanson's heave with two seconds to go in the shot clock off... it's just your night I guess.


There were three main turning points in this game that I saw tonight.  First off was when Louis Hurd picked up his third foul with 8:49 to go in the first half, just :14 seconds after getting his second.  This brought the game from 4 points to 7, after Skemp made the free throw after the made bucket.   Hurd had 6 points at this juncture of the game, and had been a force early on.  Right after he sat down, Hanson hit his 4 three's over the next 3 minutes and brought the game up to a 14 point lead.

The second turning point was at the 1:38 mark of the first half.  Down 15, Point is shooting a 1 and 1.  Moses missed the front end, one of 5 missed free throws in the first half.  If all five are made (plus the second) that makes the 15 point lead a 9 point lead.  And, with :41 seconds to go, Point has the ball.  They take a shot and get the offensive rebound, with about :30 on the clock.  Instead of waiting for the last shot, they take a shot early in the shot clock (and though at first it looked to be open, when Beamish finally took it, he was very off balance and missed by quite a bit).  Platteville then had about 15 seconds to get a shot.  Now, they missed the shot, but if Point had held for the last shot, they may have been able to get a better one.  This, of course, isn't a guarantee, but what IS a guarantee is that if you take the last shot, with under about 6 seconds, even if your opponent gets a rebound, they're NOT going to get a very good shot!  I have seen this Point team take an early shot when they don't have a shot clock multiple times, and it's burned them in previous games. 

The final turning point was a strange one.  I'm still scratching my head on this.  Out of the break, Point comes out on a roll.  Hicklin hits back to back threes, and suddenly, we're looking at a 9 point game instead of a 15 point game.  Then it's to 8, and to 7.... Point is looking good, hitting from outside, attacking the basket and getting to the line.  The game is now a 6 point game at 56-50 after a Rortvedt 3, and the fouls are 5-1.  Point's taking care of the ball, turning it over just once to Platteville's 4 times.  The Platteville fans start getting on the ref's due to the differing number of fouls, but Point had been the aggressor thus far in the half.  They called a foul against Hicklin at 12:20, which was a legit foul, to the applause of UWP fans... but then something very strange happened.  Over the next 4:06, they called 5 straight fouls against Point.  It wasn't that Point stopped attacking though... or that Platteville started.  It was like they actually listened to the crowd and evened up the fouls.  The lead went from 6 to 14, and Point had to try to place catchup from then on.  It just struck me as quite odd....   There were three more fouls called on Platteville the rest of the game, and two more on Point.

On another note... I got a chance to listen to the post game show for Platteville while I was driving home from the game.  It was really interesting hearing what he had to say to their radio guys and to their own fans.  He showed alot of respect for Point and had a lot of grace in winning, which was very nice to see.  You could tell he was happy to see his team come out and perform, especially after a disappointing week last week, but it was great to hear someone, who, as a student of the game knew that he'd just seen his team do something very special.

This is the second time this year I've had the opportunity to hear from a coach other than Coach Semling speaking about his team and the conference.  Both had high praise for the other programs and coaches in the league.  Hearing from these guys, and knowing Coach Koelbl and Semling like I do, I think it's safe to say that this league is blessed with a group of class coaches leading class programs in a certainly competitive, but definitely respectable way.

P.S.  The tone of a good portion of this kind of sounds like sour grapes upon a second read...  I don't try to excuse away or in any other way dismiss Platteville's effort tonight.  They played very well and were the better team who stepped out on Bo Ryan court tonight.  If both teams get to Wednesday night, it should be a heckuva game!

[OshDude]

Couldn't make it today. Those who saw the Oshkosh game, any reason why DJ had eight attempts in 36 minutes? He hasn't taken more than eight shots in the past four games.

DJ needs to start getting/taking more shots. It's time for the best player in the league to step up during the playoffs.

[Greek Tragedy]

They've got that liberty because of Jeff Skemp standing in the middle of the lane.

Skemp set up a tent in the lane.  There were a million times when he was cooking marshmallows over a fire in the lane, that's how much he was hanging out there! lol...  I think he got called about 3 times for a 3-second violation, but he could've gotten called for that about 10 more times.  No sour grapes because it definitely was Platteville's night. 

Again, congrats to Platteville on a great game, and Whitewater for winning the conference.  Very nice words by Paul Combs on both his team and Point's.

[Mr. Downtown]

DJ needs to start getting/taking more shots. It's time for the best player in the league to step up during the playoffs.

Indeed. Will TVD let him though? Only time to find out...

[uwm/uww]

First off, Point was called for at least three, and maybe four carrying violations.  Platteville was called for one.  I haven't seen this called ALL SEASON LONG in any game I've been to, and it was like the ref's decided that this was the game to make a point about it.

They've got that liberty because of Jeff Skemp standing in the middle of the lane.

The Platteville fans start getting on the ref's due to the differing number of fouls, but Point had been the aggressor thus far in the half.  They called a foul against Hicklin at 12:20, which was a legit foul, to the applause of UWP fans... but then something very strange happened.  Over the next 4:06, they called 5 straight fouls against Point.  It wasn't that Point stopped attacking though... or that Platteville started.  It was like they actually listened to the crowd and evened up the fouls.  The lead went from 6 to 14, and Point had to try to place catchup from then on.  It just struck me as quite odd....   There were three more fouls called on Platteville the rest of the game, and two more on Point.

They've got that liberty because of Jeff Skemp standing in the middle of the lane.

Skemp set up a tent in the lane.  There were a million times when he was cooking marshmallows over a fire in the lane, that's how much he was hanging out there! lol...  I think he got called about 3 times for a 3-second violation, but he could've gotten called for that about 10 more times.  No sour grapes because it definitely was Platteville's night. 

Seems like someone said some of these same words after UWW played at Platteville and the response was that the UWW players should learn how to be better basketball players to avoid the fouls  mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[voice]

What a great day for UWW basketball fans yesterday. First to watch the Warhawk women play 40 minutes of  of solid basketball in rolling to its first conference crown since 1986. Then watch the men fend off a spirited challenge by RF to capture its fourth WIAC regular season title since 2001.

Coolest scene of the day was watching the women's team at the south end of the gym, and the men's team at the north end, cut down the nets simultaniously and then both teams "breaking down" together at center court.

It has been a heck of year for Warhawk basketball but there is still more work to be accomplished!

[badgerwarhawk]

No one believed me when I said time seems to stand still when Jeff posts up two weeks ago.  You were lucky it was called three times.  We would have killed for that.


Fred, why hasn't anyone been talking about Willie Wright this year? I don't know if he had a career game last night or what but he's pretty good.  He combination of size, strength and ball handling ability made him a very difficult match up for us and made him nearly unstoppable in the first half though we managed him better in the second one.  

It was an interesting game.  RF started fast but WW managed to score enough inside to hang in there.  I think RF built an 8 point lead once but it was generally closer than that and ended tied 40-40 at the half.  The second half played out pretty much the same way.  WW led by about 8 in that one but RF kept hanging around and had leads of their own.   Finally Goodwin and McKay hit back to back three-pointers and we opened a lead we wouldn't surrender.  

RF shot the ball really well (65%/56%=60%).   We shot pretty well also finishing at 52%.    Free throws were a significant factor as WW went 20-27 and RF just 5-8.   Both teams had 29 total rebounds but WW had 12 on the offensive end to 6 for RF.  This made a difference because some of the extra attempts resulted in baskets made and/or free throw attempts.  

RF has been a tough opponent for us this year.  Seeing them play I'm puzzled that they only have 3 conference wins.  It just seems they're better than that.  


It was a great day for WARHAWK fans watching both teams win conference championships and the post game celebration.   It was a very spirited social at Rick's Eastside Pub afterward.   

[Greek Tragedy]

Skemp set up a tent in the lane.  There were a million times when he was cooking marshmallows over a fire in the lane, that's how much he was hanging out there! lol...  I think he got called about 3 times for a 3-second violation, but he could've gotten called for that about 10 more times.  No sour grapes because it definitely was Platteville's night. 

Seems like someone said some of these same words after UWW played at Platteville and the response was that the UWW players should learn how to be better basketball players to avoid the fouls  mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

In my defense, my post has nothing to do with fouls.  It has to do with the fact the refs had a hard time counting to 3. 

[Greek Tragedy]

I did have a fairly long post regarding the DJ Marsh posts, but somehow it got lost.  Anyway, my point was that maybe it's not TVD holding him back, but the defenses that play against him that are holding him to 8 shots a game or so over the last four or five games.  I would probably also give credit to Marsh himself.  Maybe he's recognizing mismatches and going with that, throwing it into DSA or JJ and they are converting, using Marsh as more of a decoy.  All because he isn't putting up 12-15 shots doesn't mean he isn't doing his job! 

Oshkosh has lost their last two, does that mean they are getting tired?  I don't think so.  Strictly going by stats, Marsh isn't showing that he's the best player in the league the last 4-6 games.  That would probably go to Goodwin or Skemp and if you take the last head to head matchup, Goodwin has the advantage.