MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[almcguirejr]

Steve Fisher took some shots at NCAA travel last week.  He had some legitimate points.

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/03/21/steve-fishers-slams-ncaa-in-postgame-presser-video/

[sac]

Steve Fisher took some shots at NCAA travel last week.  He had some legitimate points.

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/03/21/steve-fishers-slams-ncaa-in-postgame-presser-video/

Michigan State left last Tuesday for their Thursday game in Spokane.  They returned from their Saturday evening game at 5:30am Sunday morning. 

[John Gleich]

Gregory already touched on many of the advantages of the WIAC- lack of D2 and NAIA institutions. Wisconsin does send a fair amount of players to the GLIAC and NSIC schools, so when these players get home sick they almost always land in the WIAC. Point this year has Hass (Augustana SD), Heuer (UWGB) and Tillema- who had many D2 options but wanted to play with his older brother Dan who coincidently started his career at MN-Duluth. Whitewater in particular seems to be a landing spot for many of Milwaukee's wayward souls, in fact last year they had Darnell Harris- a sure fire D1 recruit out of HS who somehow decided to spend a year at UWW before heading back to a JC this year and is committed to a D1 school again, the name escapes me. This is actually the first UWW team I can remember being mostly kids recruited by them out of HS.
Wisconsin, for a smaller state not only has some very good HS basketball programs and players but also some great coaching. Many players who played for Bo Ryan at Platteville, Dick Bennett at Point/UWGB, Ken Anderson at EauClaire, and VanderMeulen at UWW are on the sidelines at many WI high schools.

Darnell Harris is headed to Middle Tennessee State

One of the keys to success in Wisconsin lies in their youth programs and the community-centeredness of the culture there. Lots of kids grow up in the same small town and never leave. There isn't nearly as much movement as you have in more urban areas.

You make a good point about the regional D-2's recruiting Wisconsin players. Michigan Tech currently has 7 Wisconsin kids on their roster that just made it to the D-2 Sweet 16. Northern Michigan also has 2 (plus Steven Pelkofer, who transferred to UWSP after 1 season at NMU).

Wisconsin kids in the NSIC:

Augustana - 3 (plus the aforementioned Hass)
Bemidji - 6
Concordia - 1
U of Mary - 2
Minnesota Duluth - 3 (including a transfer from Mich Tech)
Minnesota Moorhead - 2
Minot St - 1
Sioux Falls - 1
SW Minnesota St - 2
St. Cloud St - 5
Upper Iowa - 3
Wayne St. - 3
Winona St - 5

The remaining 3 NSIC teams didn't have anybody from WI.


What does this show? Well, it doesn't show that it's the same as having an entire conference of D-II schools in the state, like Minnesota or Michigan. But it does show that several schools are using Wisconsin as primary recruiting and nearly every school recruits it to some extent. If you look at the players above, that's 44 players from Wisconsin.

Another factor that's not much commented on but is very prevalent is the massive predominance of kids from Madison and even more so from Milwaukee who don't go to a 4-year university out of high school... they go to a Juco. KJ Evans actually went this route and came back towards home and landed a Whitewater. Pat Miller has made the decision to give kids, especially from Milwaukee, a second chance in basketball (see Chris Davis from 2012, though he was Madison READ ABOUT IT). A lot of players listen to their AAU coaches and people around them and are told they're big shots... so they take a flier at a Juco in the hopes of getting a scholarship. Some do make it (there are kids from Milwaukee, by way of Juco's, on D-I rosters all over the place), but lots don't... and they've be better served to land on a roster for 4 years of a program that's going to guide them in  their academics as well as life.



As an interesting aside, the WIAC has had some kids transfer OUT to D-II's... most notably Jerrel Harris, who followed Lance Randall to St. Leo in Florida after the 10-11 season (Harris was part of the 09-10 UWSP national championship team and led SP scoring 15+ ppg in 10-11). Think about how good UWSP would have been with Harris along side Tillema and Hass.

Marcus Ruh (WIAC all-conf HM as a sophomore, 13+ ppg) also transferred to St. Leo with Randall. That same year, Antone Byrd (13+ ppg) transferred from UW Whitewater to Central State in Ohio that same season

[almcguirejr]

Steve Fisher took some shots at NCAA travel last week.  He had some legitimate points.

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/03/21/steve-fishers-slams-ncaa-in-postgame-presser-video/

Michigan State left last Tuesday for their Thursday game in Spokane.  They returned from their Saturday evening game at 5:30am Sunday morning.

The NCAA response:  http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/-college-basketball-mens-tournament/news/20140325/ncaa-apology-new-mexico-state-travel-issues.ap/?eref=sircrc

[sac]

The full D3 Championship game is available online now

http://www.cbssports.com/video/player/collegebasketball/204566083863/0/2014-division-iii-national-championship

[oldknight]

Final D3 hoops poll is out and Calvin finishes no. 15. Massey Ratings puts Calvin at 10, Hope 27, Albion 151, Trine 162, Kalamazoo 238, Alma 254, Olivet 330, Adrian 349 (out of 413 teams).

[northb]

Getting the whole set of Basketball boards demoted below Baseball and other boards has such a finality to it.  It should be warmer when that happens.

[sac]

Getting the whole set of Basketball boards demoted below Baseball and other boards has such a finality to it.  It should be warmer when that happens.

Albion played baseball at Adrian this last weekend, sometimes you just have to man up.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Getting the whole set of Basketball boards demoted below Baseball and other boards has such a finality to it.  It should be warmer when that happens.

Albion played baseball at Adrian this last weekend, sometimes you just have to man up.

If you want to get depressed, check out the baseball scoreboard.  More games postponed or cancelled than played today.

Some may have been immediate weather issues, but I suspect the vast majority were because fields were still snow covered or otherwise unplayable.  Northern conferences are likely to have very compressed schedules this year, with many non-con games probably just jettisoned.  Meanwhile, many southern and west coast schools are already in the second half of their seasons!  It's somewhat amazing that any northern schools ever have success at the national level, yet several do.

[ziggy]

Getting the whole set of Basketball boards demoted below Baseball and other boards has such a finality to it.  It should be warmer when that happens.

Albion played baseball at Adrian this last weekend, sometimes you just have to man up.

If you want to get depressed, check out the baseball scoreboard.  More games postponed or cancelled than played today.

Some may have been immediate weather issues, but I suspect the vast majority were because fields were still snow covered or otherwise unplayable.  Northern conferences are likely to have very compressed schedules this year, with many non-con games probably just jettisoned.  Meanwhile, many southern and west coast schools are already in the second half of their seasons!  It's somewhat amazing that any northern schools ever have success at the national level, yet several do.

An especially bad year as far as baseball is concerned for the Metrodome demolition. That place was booked nearly around the clock to host early-season college and high school games. One of the requirements for the new Vikings stadium was the ability to hold baseball games even though the Twins will never be a tenant.

[Gregory Sager]

Population size is an important factor in this discussion. Both Chicagoland and Michigan's Lower Peninsula have populations that are much, much larger than Wisconsin's.

If you are talking WIAC, you also have to factor in the MN-WI instate tuition reciprocity agreement.  Minnesota residents can attend Wisconsin state schools for instate tuition rates and vice versa.  That brings the WIAC's "instate" recruiting base to a similar number to Illinois and Michigan.

That only really works for the four WIAC schools that actually recruit in Minnesota: UW-Stout, UW-River Falls, UW-Eau Claire, and UW-Superior.

[almcguirejr]

Tyler Kruis honored:

http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2014/03/calvins_tyler_kruis_named_diii.html#incart_river

[oldknight]

Chicago Trib article about future Knight, Connor VanderBrug. One comment that jumps out is that of his high school coach who is quoted as saying this about Connor: "He's going to have a great college career. He could play at a bigger place if he wanted."

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-03-26/news/ct-tl-0327-sports-elmhurst-20140326_1_timothy-christian-hoops-caps

[pointlem]

Chicago Trib article about future Knight, Connor VanderBrug. One comment that jumps out is that of his high school coach who is quoted as saying this about Connor: "He's going to have a great college career. He could play at a bigger place if he wanted."

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-03-26/news/ct-tl-0327-sports-elmhurst-20140326_1_timothy-christian-hoops-caps

He's 6' 7" . . . blocks like a center . . . shoots the 3 like a wing guard . . . and has the agility to play point?  A Calvin men's team version of Carissa Verkaik?

[arena]

Chicago Trib article about future Knight, Connor VanderBrug. One comment that jumps out is that of his high school coach who is quoted as saying this about Connor: "He's going to have a great college career. He could play at a bigger place if he wanted."

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-03-26/news/ct-tl-0327-sports-elmhurst-20140326_1_timothy-christian-hoops-caps

sounds a bit like Jeremy Veenstra.