WBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[buf]

It was looking like the WIAC (both men and women) was going to go 5-0 tonight.  They had a 3-0 lead with Point women and UWW men playing on their home courts in the late games.  Both those home teams lost.

[shootfromthearc]

Wow...speechless. Glad I didn't go. Appears they laid quite an egg. Neunfeldt appeared to be the only one who showed up but I'm betting Norbert's did something pretty special to shut them down. Looking forward to reading up on this one. First Farve, now this. What a week...

Congrats to Neuenfeldt, Kranz, Houghton, Peeler, Nicastro and Heuer on some great careers. Some great players and spectacular human beings...looking forward to their contributions off the court!

Looks like I'm rootin' for WW! Sorry, EC - never have, never will be a Bluegold...not even sure what one is!

[stoutguy]

I wonder what Carollo has to do to win the honor.  Picked to finish 7th last year she guided the team to 2nd and lost to Thomas who was picked to win the league and did.  This year picked to finish second she wins a share of the championship while Enger, picked to finish 3rd and finishing 3rd, wins the honor. 

If you want to make the award Coach of the last month of the season Enger wins it hands down but it's called Coach of the Year and Carollo got the short stick again. 

I'm not saying it's right and not saying it's fair but the women's COY award has had a strong popularity element to it in the past.  If the other coaches don't like you your chances are diminished.  Egner can attest to that in previous years as well.

Couldn't agree more, BW.  I am confused by your comment, Just Bill.  Please elaborate.

It's difficult to have a winning program without rubbing some other coaches the wrong way.  In the past, coaches in this league have held grudges against other coaches on their COY ballot for any number of perceived offenses.  I think all the coaches in this league who have had an upper division team have gotten the short end of the stick on this award at one time or another.

Makes sense.  I get it now.  Thanks.

[janesvilleflash]

FINE!

[The Champ]

Just so I am not confused, it is Coach of the Year, right?  Not Coach of the Past Couple Seasons?   

It is Coach of the Year.  But as in many of these type awards, sometimes the first time you are considered for the honor you lose out because some people wonder if it was the "one year wonder" syndrome.

Last season, Keri led her team to a very dynamic turnaround.  But when you're near the bottom, that's not always so hard to do.  But then she backed up that season by leading her squad to the WIAC regular season championship, was the highest ranked WIAC team in the nation virtually all year - including the final rankings.

As BW posted - Keri was really the COY.  Shirley was the Coach of the Three Weeks.   Her three weeks was February 9th through March 1st.

[Usuallywrong24]

Just so I am not confused, it is Coach of the Year, right?  Not Coach of the Past Couple Seasons?   

It is Coach of the Year.  But as in many of these type awards, sometimes the first time you are considered for the honor you lose out because some people wonder if it was the "one year wonder" syndrome.

Last season, Keri led her team to a very dynamic turnaround.  But when you're near the bottom, that's not always so hard to do.  But then she backed up that season by leading her squad to the WIAC regular season championship, was the highest ranked WIAC team in the nation virtually all year - including the final rankings.

As BW posted - Keri was really the COY.  Shirley was the Coach of the Three Weeks.   Her three weeks was February 9th through March 1st.

As I recall, Corollo did not even coach in every game.  I am sure she did not travel with her team to California over winter break because of her pregnancy, so can she really be coach of the year?  Her team won games without her.  She is a really good coach, but even if you are a really good coach, other can be more deserving. 

[phoenix_rising]

Her team won games without her

That implies a coach only coaches during games. I suspect the weeks prior to the first game, prior to the first conference game, days between games, days after season ends and posts-season starts, a coach also might be around to direct his or her team. I would say a very good coach probably has assistants and team ready to play any game with him or her there or not. Preparation is key.

I agree; I would pick Keri over Shirley. If nothing else, inducing labor in order to get to a basketball game has to carry some weight. What dedication!

[Usuallywrong24]

I agree with you about having to coach 24/7 during the practices and before/after games , but there are in-game adjustments that are also very critical to winning.  And I do not know if other coaches do not like her.  I only saw one of their games on tv and it was when they were at Superior.  I was amazed that she still had her team pressing when they were up by 35 in the second half!  I know a coach has to have all their players involved and ready to play, but a coach should know when enough is enough during the game.  No team deserves to be embarressed, much less on their homecourt.  I do not know if this was in isolated incident or this is how she usually coaches. 

[janesvilleflash]

AHA, now we know why she didn't get COY.

[Usuallywrong24]

 

I also do not see why no one is mentioning the Eau Claire coach for COY.  Her team had the same record as WWs coach and made it deeper in the WIAC tournament.  If you ask me, and I know no one is, she is more deserving than WWs coach. 

I would argue that the top four teams in the WIAC all had coaches capable of being named COY.  I believe that winning the WIAC tourny as a #3 seed and knocking off the #2 and #1 seeds in a couple days takes a lot.  I would have voted the same as the WIAC coaches did. 

[shootfromthearc]

Looking for info on last night's SP/STN game...anyone have a perspective? Poor shooting? Great D? Act of God?

[phoenix_rising]

Everybody humiliated Superior on its home court. Toward the end, the pattern suggested Superior was humiliating itself. (That sounds like I don't think the players can play. I suspect some of the players, maybe most of them can play quite well; however, there was seriously something missing: chemistry? organization? whatever.)

I looked at a couple of box scores. I don't think there were many players that played more than 23 minutes in a game against Superior women. That's just a touch over half the game, so it doesn't appear that coaches were piling on. I could make up a spreadsheet and examine the stats more closely, but who cares?

It seems as though COY gets passed around among a tight little group. Since about 2000, it's been pretty much T from Stout with Shirley, Tonya and Lois thrown in for variety.

[The Champ]

As I recall, Corollo did not even coach in every game.  I am sure she did not travel with her team to California over winter break because of her pregnancy, so can she really be coach of the year?  Her team won games without her.  She is a really good coach, but even if you are a really good coach, other can be more deserving. 

Who hired the assistant coaches?  I would say it almost takes a better coaching job to get her team and her assistants ready for her absense.

Her team just might have played harder to "win one for Keri" while she was not available to be with the team.

[The Champ]

I only saw one of their games on tv and it was when they were at Superior.  I was amazed that she still had her team pressing when they were up by 35 in the second half!  I know a coach has to have all their players involved and ready to play, but a coach should know when enough is enough during the game.  No team deserves to be embarressed, much less on their homecourt.  I do not know if this was in isolated incident or this is how she usually coaches. 

It wasn't:

1/5/2008 3:00 pm  UW-La Crosse Superior, Wis. L: 46-80
1/12/2008 1:00 pm  UW-Oshkosh Superior, Wis. L: 52-67
1/30/2008 7:00 pm  UW-Eau Claire Superior, Wis. L: 40-79
2/9/2008 3:00 pm  UW-Stevens Point Superior, Wis. L: 60-78
2/13/2008 7:00 pm  UW-Stout Superior, Wis. L: 45-73


UWL by 34, UWO by 15 - a team that was 5 - 12 in the WIAC, EC by 39, Point by 18, Stout by 28 all on Superior's home court.  It is what it is - Superior was not a good team either on the road or at home.

[The Champ]

I also do not see why no one is mentioning the Eau Claire coach for COY.  Her team had the same record as WWs coach and made it deeper in the WIAC tournament.  If you ask me, and I know no one is, she is more deserving than WWs coach. 

Well, just to point out a few things...

If, as you suggested above, that embarrassing a team on their home court could be a reason, look at the 39 point road victory by Tonya at Superior.  Same result by a different coach.

phoenix_rising mentioned the playing time of the starters in the WW game.  Here are the stats for that game:

04 Kelsey Hendrickson.. *  16
14 Trisha Thill........ *  14
20 Lindsey Buechner.... *  15
30 Tiffany Morton...... *  17
42 Heidi Sonntag....... *  20

Not a single starter over 20 minutes of playing time.

Now in comparison, let's look at the UWEC game:


22 Witt, Heather....... *  18
24 Zenner, Amanda...... *  11
34 Arciszewski, Heidi.. *  32
43 Mesick, Hannah...... *  21
44 Burns, Michelle..... *  29

Who was

Three players over 20 minutes - Burns with 29 and Arciszewski with 32.

Your words: "I know a coach has to have all their players involved and ready to play, but a coach should know when enough is enough during the game."  Did Tonya really need to play Burns and Arciszewski that much???


UWEC was the preseason pick to win the WIAC.

UWEC was the lowest rated WIAC team in the DIII poll virtually all season long - which tells us what the rest of the country thought.

Yes Tonya went one game further in the WIAC Tourney, but they lost to Point on her home court just like Keri did and was the first WIAC coach that was the #1 seed to not win the WIAC Tourney.