2011 Tournament Team Profiles

[frodotwo]

UW-Stevens Point    25-2 Overall     15-1 WIAC
Won regular season conference title and conference tournament title

Beat 8 teams ranked at the time by D3 Hoops:
@ #17 Carroll College; @ #13 Lawrence U; @ #19 UW-Oshkosh; vs #25 UW-Whitewater;
vs #8 Augustana; @ #22 UW-La Crosse; vs #18 UW-La Crosse

Lost to @ DII Northern Michigan and vs #8 UW-Oshkosh

Lead NCAA DIII (and all other Divisions as well) in Free throw shooting percentage, fewest turnovers per game and Assist/Turnover ratio (2.04) Averages over 10 made 3-point shots per game.

Leading scorers Pete Rortvedt (17.3), Jon Krull (16.8) and Steve Hicklin (13.7).  All five starters are capable of scoring 20 and can all hit the three. Normally go 7-8 players deep, but can insert anyone for a few capable minutes. Can run with you, play half court, beat the press, man-to-man defense or zone (BIG mistake).

You know you're in for a long night if:  The 3 point shooting opens up the lane for cuts to the basket from the motion offense OR the cuts to the basket from the motion offense opens up the 3 point shooting.

You stand a chance if: You have a tall mobile front line with shot blocking capabilities and a velcro type defender to hound Rortvedt OR you have a mobile big man that can back their smaller interior defenders up to the basket and can step outside as well.

Pointers win if:  Krull can score inside and out and you can't cover Rortvedt.......or Hicklin.......or Beamish....well, you get the message.

Pointers lose if: You hold them to less than 41% shooting and you shoot better than 50% yourself. 

[diehardfan]

This board is super neato.... I wonder if we can get them all done before the tourney... I might even be willing to compile them into a pretty document if we get them all in time...

[TeeDub]

This board is super neato.... I wonder if we can get them all done before the tourney... I might even be willing to compile them into a pretty document if we get them all in time...

When is the DIEHARDFAN report on Oxy coming?

[diehardfan]

This board is super neato.... I wonder if we can get them all done before the tourney... I might even be willing to compile them into a pretty document if we get them all in time...

When is the DIEHARDFAN report on Oxy coming?

It would seem more appropriate if an Oxy fan did it.

[Greek Tragedy]

Nice work Frodotwo.

[diehardfan]

Alright, a little nerdy, but I want to keep track of the ones we've gotten. I'm going to go solicit from conferences we haven't gotten a team preview from now.

Team	Preview
Alvernia	N
Amherst	N
Augustana	N
Averett	N
Brockport State	N
Aurora	N
Brandeis	Y
Calvin	N
Capital	N
Carroll	N
Catholic	Y
Centre	N
Chicago	N
Coast Guard	N
DePauw	N
Elms	N
Fontbonne	N
Guilford	N
Hampden-Sydney	N
Hood	Y
Hope	N
John Carroll	N
Johns Hopkins	N
Keene State	N
King's	N
Lake Erie	N
Lincoln	N
Loras	N
Manhattanville	N
Maryville (Tenn.)	N
Mary Hardin-Baylor	Y
Messiah	N
Mississippi College	Y
Occidental	N
Plattsburgh State	N
Rhode Island College	N
Ramapo	N
Rivier	N
Rochester	N
St. John Fisher	N
St. John's	Y
St. Lawrence	N
St. Thomas	Y
Salem State	N
Stevens	N
UW-Stevens Point	Y
Transylvania	N
Trinity (Conn.)	N
Villa Julie	N
Virginia Wesleyan	N
Washington U.	N
Wentworth Tech.	N
Westminster (Pa.)	N
Whitworth	N
Widener	N
Willams	Y
Wooster	N
WPI	N
York (N.Y.)	N

[Greek Tragedy]

Alright, a little nerdy, but I want to keep track of the ones we've gotten. I'm going to go solicit from conferences we haven't gotten a team preview from now.

DHF... seriously, do you have a table making obsession?

LOL 

[TeeDub]

UW - La Crosse   19-8 Overall    12-4 WIAC
Lost in the finals of the WIAC Conference Tourney to #1 UW-Stevens Point

Significant wins: ranked UW-Oshkosh (x3)

Significant losses:  NCAA tournament selection committee

[Greek Tragedy]

Significant losses:  NCAA tournament selection committee

LOL. 

[diehardfan]

Alright, a little nerdy, but I want to keep track of the ones we've gotten. I'm going to go solicit from conferences we haven't gotten a team preview from now.

DHF... seriously, do you have a table making obsession?

LOL 

LMAO!!!!!! I actually copied one of your tables on the Tourney board and changed the order of the teams and changed the A,B,Cs to N or Y... so thanks

[TeeDub]

Alright, a little nerdy, but I want to keep track of the ones we've gotten. I'm going to go solicit from conferences we haven't gotten a team preview from now.

DHF... seriously, do you have a table making obsession?

LOL 

LMAO!!!!!! I actually copied one of your tables on the Tourney board and changed the order of the teams and changed the A,B,Cs to N or Y... so thanks

Is that 'tablism'

[Toph]

John Carroll 19-9, 13-6 OAC, Regular season OAC Co-Champs, OAC tourney runner up.  

Starters:  PG Pete Moran, G Chris Day, F Terry Walsh, F Rudy Kirbus, F Brandon Mimes

Key Reserves:  The bench...most notably Derek Smith, John Curran...but the bench goes 10 deep.

The offense starts and ends with Brandon Mimes.  He's one of the most athletic players in Division III and he is very difficult to stay with offensively.  For example, he went to line more times than the entire Capital team in the OAC championship game.  However, if defenses play off Kirbus and Walsh they can both hit it from deep (they struggled in the OAC championship game).

Defensively they can get a little lazy in the half court.  They give up a lot of points (but usually score more).  They play physical down low (par for the course in the OAC).  I've noticed from watching some of their games that their defensive rotation is a step slow at times.   Again, Brandon Mimes is a game changer.  He has great timing and is an excellent shot blocker.  They press often to force turnovers.

[The Roop]

Carroll 16-8, 12-4 MWC. Regular season runner up. MWC Tournament Champion.

Nathan Drury MWC Player of the year.

Carroll favors an up tempo game and when they are on they are on. Very athletic team and can totally stroke it from the outside. They have put up some ridiculous shooting percentages this year. Excellent guard play with good quickness.

Down side. Not as much physical presence as they had last year and can struggle in a half court game. Inability to score the "needed" basket has hurt them at times this year.

[Hoop Dreams]

University of Chicago Maroons

20-5 Overall, 11-3 UAA (t-1st)
How Earned Bid: Pool C (lost tiebreaker with Wash U)

Key Wins: Wheaton, at Illinois Wesleyan, at Rochester, at Brandeis
Key Losses: at NYU, Wash U, at Wash U

The Maroons are in the dance for the first time since 2001, when they reached the Elite Eight with Derek Reich.  Chicago had been a middle-of-the-pack UAA team for three years prior to this season.  UC's success in 2006-07 is even more surprising considering their starting center, Tim Reynolds, has been out since December with a broken foot or ankle.

The Maroons are undersized and have overachieved, but they are still a dangerous team.  To earn the W, Hope will have to come into Illinois and take this game from the Maroons -- Chicago will not beat themselves.  The Maroons consistently put points on the board (8 straight games with 74+) and take care of the basketball (only 10.5 TO per game).  They play hard, they play smart, and they play together.  This is an experienced team that is well-coached by Mike McGrath.

Brandon Woodhead (6'2" Sr.) moved to the off-guard this season and averaged a career-high 15.8 ppg.  Woodhead is creative with the basketball and can score from anywhere on the floor.  He has even been known to post up on occasion.  In my opinion, Woody's development in his senior year is the main reason Chicago is in this tournament.  He is a candidate for UAA Player of the Year.

Jesse Meyer (6'3" Sr.) is Chicago's all-time leader in three-point field goals -- and we've had some great long-distance shooters on the South Side over the years.  Jesse had been on fire from downtown before going 1-12 in UC's last two regular-season games.

Drew Adams (5'10" Sr.) stepped into a much larger role as the starting PG in his senior year.  Adams has turned the ball over only 20 times from the point all season and shoots 42% from three.

Nate Hainje (6'5" Jr.) is Mr. Do Everything for the Maroons.  Hainje fills up the stat sheet every night out with points, rebounds and assists and also is one of Chicago's better defensive players.

Jason Vismantas (6'4" Sr.) holds it down for the Maroons in the paint.  He has improved over the course of the season and has helped Chicago take down some much bigger teams, such as Rochester and NYU.

Jake Pancratz (6'1" Fr.) was so highly regarded when he stepped on campus that he was in the starting lineup for his first career game.  Since then, Pancratz has become a sixth man, often spelling Drew Adams at the point.  Jake's father played at DePaul, and he has two older brothers that went Division I.  The kid can play.

[sac]

Hope College---located Holland, Michigan

23-4 Overall, 13-1 MIAA (1st)
How Earned Bid: Pool C

Key Wins:  at Calvin, at Calvin
Key losses: at Carthage, vs Wheaton, Calvin at home, Calvin at home

Hope's makeing its second straight appearance in the the NCAA tournament and 18th overall.  This Hope team is much different from last years Sweet 16 team which graduated four Sr's, 3 of them starters.

This team also overachieved in some people's eyes, a slight underdog to win the MIAA (picked 2nd, 1 vote behind Calvin).  This Hope team came together over the Christmas break and dominated the early weeks of MIAA play, winning by an average margin of 25+ points.  As the conference season wore on, teams picked up how to play Hope better and the margins dwindled, but Hope still won by a comfortable 3 games.

Its fair to say Hope is not hitting the tournament on all cylinders, they've been  unable to overcome poor starts in their last 2 Calvin matchups, and generally have not been quite as efficient offensively as their early games.   Their last 2 first halfs were turnover riddled and lacking in energy.

Hope is primarily a perimeter team, most of its inside baskets come off broken defensive assignments.  Hope led D3 in 3point shooting most of the season, but have cooled a bit in recent weeks.  Hope has 10 guys who can shoot 3's but probably feel most comfortable with 7 carrying that load.  They average 9 made 3's per game, and I believe have set a school record in that category.

Defensively Hope will press some, and double team alot, mostly they are a man for man defensive team.  For this Hopester the success of this team has come from a bench that has at times this season been supperb, and will typically play better defense than its starting 5.


The starters:

G   Derek VanSolkema 6-0 Jr---has been an outstanding floor general replacing a 4 year pt gaurd.  Excellent 3 pt shooter,  has wide eyes from deep.

G  Stephen Cramer 6-2 Sr---Most athletic player on the team, and a big part of the offense, however most games your surprised he scored as many as he did.  A very quiet player most nights.  Smooth. Jumps center.

F  Scott Richardson 6-5 Sr--As close to a center as Hope gets, will typically pick up that position of defense.  A solid contributer on the boards.

F  Jesse Reimink  6-4 So--Very important part of Hope's offense and defense, versatile offesively with several great 3pt shooting nights, plays the point when Hope presses.  Scrappy player and seems to be involved somehow in Hope's best defensive plays.

F  Marcus Vanderheide 6-7 Jr--Despite his size, doesn't post up often and can be found most often floating on the perimeter, has moments where he can mentally lift Hope with great hustle.  Can put the ball on the floor and drive and is typically a good 3pt shooter, although has struggled from long range since Dec.

Bench
Ryan Klein 6-6 Jr--first off the bench and will play the most bench minutes, long arms, plays much taller.  Has nice offensive touch and is most noticed on the defensive end.  Will also play the  point on the press.

Tyler Wolfe 6-3 Jr--Excellent 3 point shooter, can drive when available, always hustles

Tim Partridge 6-4 Sr--Also a good 3 point shooter, can get very hot

Steven Kratz 6-5 Fr--Similar to Klein without the experience, has played many good games.  Paired with Klein they make a nice defensive combo.

Brett Jager 6-2 Sr--Steady point gaurd, not flashy at all, has hit some seriously momentum killing shots for Hope all year.

Zach Osburn 6-5 Jr--has not played much down the stretch for various reasons, a banger size wise.  Will be used if Hope gets in foul trouble down low.

You will most likely see a 5 for 5 swap of players, although they've staggered the substitutions lately.  But ultimately you'll end up with 2 groups of  5 players most nights.

Its a solid but not overwhelming team, to win in the NCAA's they'll have to win close games, something they've not been good at for the past 2 seasons.

If they can overcome the obvious fault of having a gaurd jump center.    ;)They'll be competitive with just about anyone they face.