WBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

badgerwarhawk · February 17, 2011, 02:42:45 PM

Who should win this year's WIAC Player of the Year award?

Personally I think the strongest candidates are Hannah Mesick, Britta Pedersen, Dana Thompson and Danielle Frank. All of them have strong resumes and either would be a good choice.

My vote, if I had one, would go to Britta Pedersen. She has a strong statistical resume, is clearly the dominant force and leader of the conference championship team and, imo, is the player with the broadest skill set of the four. Not that you can't make strong arguments for any of the others I just like Pedersen's game better.

That said I'm also a homer and think it would be neat if Dana Thompson were selected.

Out_Of_My_Kitchen · February 17, 2011, 03:40:09 PM

Strong Candidates. I would rule out Mesick just because of her teams record. Hard to give it to a player who's team is going to finish around .500. Thompson started out really strong but has been struggling with stats recently. I am not sure if it is because she is wearing down, teams are defending her differently, or she is having her minutes cut so she is fresh for postseason. Maybe she is doing more for Whitewater, but I am just going off stats.

Frank and Petersen are both worthy and I am going to give my pretend vote to Peterson because her team won conference outright.

Darkhorse pick: Andrea Flease. Leads the conference in assists and second in steals. She is a real sparkplug for that team and I always thought PG was the most important position in basketball.

intransitionfor3 · February 17, 2011, 04:29:06 PM

warhawk - you don't even get a pretend vote until you learn how to spell her name. PETERSEN

see convo Nov 12. man.

bulk19 · February 17, 2011, 08:02:53 PM

Danielle Frank and Hannah Mesick split my vote for MVP, which is different than the POY.

Britta Petersen will probably be the POY...

PRF2009A · February 17, 2011, 08:53:30 PM

Quote from: bulk19 on February 17, 2011, 08:02:53 PM
Danielle Frank and Hannah Mesick split my vote for MVP, which is different than the POY.

Britta Petersen will probably be the POY...

I fall in line with this thought process. Mesick is the most valuable player to her team. EC would be at the bottom of the conference without her.

Frank changes the way a game is played more than anyone in the conference and is by far the defensive player of the year.

That being said I have always thought that the "most outstanding player award" should go to the best player on the best team. This year it's easy to see that is Petersen.

WithasilentK · February 18, 2011, 09:28:46 AM

I think a lot of it could depend on what happens in the last game and conference tournament. Obviously there's a whole season to look at, but this is when it becomes crunch time for some of the teams. I don't think you can go wrong over any of the 4, though I think it'd be difficult to give it to Mesick with her team around .500. Frank and Petersen have been game changers on their teams the whole year, and Thompson is no doubt a great player.

Here are the scenarios for the 2-seed and 1st round bye in the conference tourney:
UWL win over UWSP and they get the 2 seed.
UWW OR UWEC lose on Saturday and UWL gets the 2 seed.
UWL loss AND UWW win AND UWEC win and UWW gets the 2 seed.

badgerwarhawk · February 18, 2011, 09:47:55 AM

Quote from: intransitionfor3 on February 17, 2011, 04:29:06 PM
warhawk - you don't even get a pretend vote until you learn how to spell her name. PETERSEN

see convo Nov 12. man.

Were you confused about who I meant?
At least I got the two t's in Britta. Which I thought was pretty good consider I have a daughter Brita.

billys · February 18, 2011, 05:49:14 PM

Quote from: WithasilentK on February 18, 2011, 09:28:46 AM
I think a lot of it could depend on what happens in the last game and conference tournament. Obviously there's a whole season to look at, but this is when it becomes crunch time for some of the teams. I don't think you can go wrong over any of the 4, though I think it'd be difficult to give it to Mesick with her team around .500. Frank and Petersen have been game changers on their teams the whole year, and Thompson is no doubt a great player.

99.9% sure that the vote is conducted before any tournament games are played as it's a regular season award. So the resumes will be completed tomorrow.

WithasilentK · February 19, 2011, 11:38:58 AM

Quote from: billys on February 18, 2011, 05:49:14 PM
Quote from: WithasilentK on February 18, 2011, 09:28:46 AM
I think a lot of it could depend on what happens in the last game and conference tournament. Obviously there's a whole season to look at, but this is when it becomes crunch time for some of the teams. I don't think you can go wrong over any of the 4, though I think it'd be difficult to give it to Mesick with her team around .500. Frank and Petersen have been game changers on their teams the whole year, and Thompson is no doubt a great player.
99.9% sure that the vote is conducted before any tournament games are played as it's a regular season award. So the resumes will be completed tomorrow.

Thought that could be the case, thanks for the clarification.

buf · February 19, 2011, 08:31:43 PM

EC wins over Stout in a thriller, 67-64. EC played very well in the 1st half and took a 41-29 lead into the lockerroom. However, Stout came out of the gates to cut their deficit in half a couple minutes into the half by pounding the offensive glass. Stout finally took the lead with 7 minutes to go. It went back and forth from there. With 32 seconds left, Stout went to the line up 1 to shoot two. They missed both and on the rebound committed a foul sending EC to the line. EC hit both to take a 1-point lead. Stout got sent to the line again with 16 seconds. They missed both again, sent EC back to the line, and EC hit both for a 3 point lead. Stout's 3 at the buzzer was blocked. Heartbreaking loss for Stout and hopefully a momentum builder for EC heading into the conference tourney.

buf · February 19, 2011, 08:35:13 PM

Point completes the undefeated conference season, downing UWL.

UWW comfortably over Superior.

As I type, RF has a 8 point lead over UWP at the half.

buf · February 19, 2011, 10:16:41 PM

It was the Ashley Wolf show in the 2nd half

UWP over RF, 71-64

The Champ · February 20, 2011, 08:15:23 AM

Quote from: buf on February 19, 2011, 08:31:43 PM
EC wins over Stout in a thriller, 67-64. EC played very well in the 1st half and took a 41-29 lead into the lockerroom. However, Stout came out of the gates to cut their deficit in half a couple minutes into the half by pounding the offensive glass. Stout finally took the lead with 7 minutes to go. It went back and forth from there. With 32 seconds left, Stout went to the line up 1 to shoot two. They missed both and on the rebound committed a foul sending EC to the line. EC hit both to take a 1-point lead. Stout got sent to the line again with 16 seconds. They missed both again, sent EC back to the line, and EC hit both for a 3 point lead. Stout's 3 at the buzzer was blocked. Heartbreaking loss for Stout and hopefully a momentum builder for EC heading into the conference tourney.

It really was a thriller! I would have preferred a different ending - but I'm glad I was there to see it.

As Coach T has always done - all the Seniors started the game on Senior Day. No surprise that Tricia VanVreded started - that's normal. But Greta Layman, Brittany Gerber and Alisha Todd got their first and only starts of their Stout career. Alisha is a special story - she has been rehabbing a knee injury all season. Last night was the only time she put on a uniform all season - but she was out there with the team all season long. We were all hoping she'd be able to get a basket - but her lone shot - a 3 point attempt rimmed out. But with the score 0 - 6, she then got the assist for both Sami Shoeder's and Brittany Gerber's 3 pointers to tie the score.

3 minutes and 8 seconds - that was Alisha's playing time for the season.

It would have been easy for a 5 - 10 team to just lay down after the first half, trailing by 12. They weren't playing for anything.

But they wanted to win on Senior Day, and they almost pulled it off.

The team did go 3 of 4 to close out the season - almost 4 of 4. It took longer for this team to gel than I had hoped, but I think some of the youngsters learned over the course of the WIAC season. This season is over - hope Stout has a great recruiting class ....

Just Bill · February 20, 2011, 10:43:17 AM

Champ,

I've got a spot reserved right here on the UWSP bandwagon for the next month. I'll bee keeping it warm for you.

buf · February 20, 2011, 10:45:28 AM

Champ

I also have to give some props to Stout. I caught a couple webcasts of their games early in the season and to be completly honest, they looked terrible. But they really came on in the 2nd half of the season, especially down the stretch. So much improvement. With so many younger players on the team I would think that they should at least get back to having a winning season next year.