WBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[buf]

Would love any insight into the blugolds year. Agree, not very good. They had alot going in the beginning and did good over the winter break. But man, did they go in the tank. Is it chemsitry, alot of folks say they are just plain slow to move and slow to shoot. Any insights. This team as had little heart for many many games. Problem is the same folks minus Messick are back next year. I expect the same results next year, little heart, slow off the ball and as is the case all year - more turnovers. Maybe RF can keep it together for point.

I don't agree with you about "heart".  I never noticed any players sluffing off.  It looked to me like the effort level was good.

Now I will agree with you about the "slow" part.  I think Englund does need to recruit better "athletic" players like Witt, Heidi A, & Fremstad.  It was just so difficult for EC to play person-person defense due to their lack of speed.

[UWRF]

UWEC had 2 FGs in the first half. Mesick didnt have a FG the games first 30 mins.

Falcons played the best they have all season. If they play that way against Stevens Point I think they have a shot.

I thought that RF was gonna have to weather a comeback at some point in the second half, but every time it seemed the had momentum swung to EC the Falcons responded.

[The Champ]

Would love any insight into the blugolds year. Agree, not very good. They had alot going in the beginning and did good over the winter break. But man, did they go in the tank. Is it chemsitry, alot of folks say they are just plain slow to move and slow to shoot. Any insights. This team as had little heart for many many games. Problem is the same folks minus Messick are back next year. I expect the same results next year, little heart, slow off the ball and as is the case all year - more turnovers. Maybe RF can keep it together for point.

Turnovers are never a good thing - but that wasn't the biggest probelm in this game.  It was the shooting - and not just the accuracy - and the rebounding. 
 
The game was pretty much decided in the first half. 

Even with a decent shooting percentage, 15 shots from the field makes it really tough to stay in contention.  In the first half, 9 of 13 points were scored at the FT line - only 4 points from the field.  Rebounds - 11 for EC, 24 for River.  River had 30 shots and only shot 40% from the field, but held a 19 point lead as a result of shooting twice as many shots and having twice as many rebounds.  A very interesting stat on the boards - ZERO offensive rebounds for EC in the first half - no second chance shots.

[badgerwarhawk]

Oshkosh makes five more baskets than LaCrosse and makes as many three point shots at the Eagles.  But LaCrosse shoots 30 free throws making 24 and Oshkosh goes 6 of 9 from the line.  Churchill alone makes more free throws than the Titans attempted and the Eagles had made more free throws in the first half than the Titans shot for the game.  The foul count was 25 to 11. 

[PRF2009A]

Oshkosh makes five more baskets than LaCrosse and makes as many three point shots at the Eagles.  But LaCrosse shoots 30 free throws making 24 and Oshkosh goes 6 of 9 from the line.  Churchill alone makes more free throws than the Titans attempted and the Eagles had made more free throws in the first half than the Titans shot for the game.  The foul count was 25 to 11.  

The Eagles had a very simple game plan last night.  Pound the ball inside.  Whether it was Frank, Churchill, Robinson, or even Litrenta driving the message was simple.  Oshkosh was overmatched inside and UWL wanted to take advantage of that.

That being said they did a great job of that, but the game still ended up being a little closer than i think Heeren was hoping for.  Transition defense was a weak link last night for UWL as most of Oshkosh's points came during the fast break.  With how quick their guards were I was surprised they didn't push it even more to take advantage of UWL being slow getting back on defense.

Looking forward to the matchup tomorrow night.  Eagles will need to frustrate WW with tough defense early and often if they are going to have a shot at this one.  24 for 30 from the line again would help their chances too.

[Voice of the Titans]

Has Frank committed a foul all season? I didn't get to see last nights game, but saw the 2 earlier games. Congrats and thank yous to the Oshkosh seniors for a great 4 years (3 for Churchill).

[Out_Of_My_Kitchen]

That being said they did a great job of that, but the game still ended up being a little closer than i think Heeren was hoping for.  

I will second this.  Their starters averaged 32 minutes last night.  With a team with limited depth and needing 3 wins in 5 days, I am thinking that Heeren wanted to get them some rest during this game. 

[deiscanton]

Central Regional Rankings

1. Illinois Wesleyan 17-3 20-4
2. Wisconsin-Stevens Point 23-2 23-2
3. Wisconsin-Whitewater 17-5 20-5
4. Wisconsin-La Crosse 18-6 19-6
5. Chicago 21-3 21-3
6. Washington U. St. Louis 17-3 20-4

A bit surprised that both UWW and UWL are ahead of Chicago & Wash U, both from the strong UAA conference.  I guess that head to head win for UWL over Chicago is carrying a lot of weight.

UWW beating Illinois Wesleyan head-to-head is also carrying a lot of weight as well-- neither Chicago nor Wash U were able to defeat Illinois Wesleyan back in November.

[WithasilentK]

Has Frank committed a foul all season? I didn't get to see last nights game, but saw the 2 earlier games. Congrats and thank yous to the Oshkosh seniors for a great 4 years (3 for Churchill).

I don't believe she's fouled out of any games, and for the most part she's stayed out of any kind of foul trouble.

[billys]

Has Frank committed a foul all season? I didn't get to see last nights game, but saw the 2 earlier games. Congrats and thank yous to the Oshkosh seniors for a great 4 years (3 for Churchill).

I don't believe she's fouled out of any games, and for the most part she's stayed out of any kind of foul trouble.

I might be wrong but I believe the insinuation was that she has gotten the benefit of the doubt from officials and should be called for fouls. Maybe not ... but that's how I took it.

If so that seems weird cause I've always felt like kids, especially tall females, are punished by officials more often then not for being tall. Over the back calls especially where there is little to no contact but a tall girl reaches over the top and the crowd yells and the whistle blows.

[WithasilentK]

Has Frank committed a foul all season? I didn't get to see last nights game, but saw the 2 earlier games. Congrats and thank yous to the Oshkosh seniors for a great 4 years (3 for Churchill).

I don't believe she's fouled out of any games, and for the most part she's stayed out of any kind of foul trouble.

I might be wrong but I believe the insinuation was that she has gotten the benefit of the doubt from officials and should be called for fouls. Maybe not ... but that's how I took it.

If so that seems weird cause I've always felt like kids, especially tall females, are punished by officials more often then not for being tall. Over the back calls especially where there is little to no contact but a tall girl reaches over the top and the crowd yells and the whistle blows.

I thought it might be that too, but I was going to leave that be. Two things I think you see with tall players:

1) If they're wise enough to know when to go for the block or rebound and when to just adjust a shot or leave the rebound be, they're not going to have many more opportunities to foul.
2) Even if they get a no-call on a blocked shot, they pay for it inside. If you watched the UWSP game, the SP players had their elbows pushing Frank in the back the entire game. I'd say in an average physicality conference, this should be called a foul early to get the defense in line, but the WIAC is an extremely physical conference and that's just not going to get called, along with a lot of other physical play inside.

[badgerwarhawk]

Frank has not fouled out of a game this year.  She's averaged only slightly over two fouls per contest, 54 in 26 games, on the season.  That's consistant with the team though as only two players have fouled out of a game, Churchill and Litrenta, and each of them has only fouled out once.  

That's actually the fewest in the conference.

EauClaire: 9
Oshkosh: 6
Platteville: 7
River Falls: 11
Stevens Point: 3  
Stout: 6
Superior: 6
Whitewater: 10

[JMM]

Do agree that EC needs a more athletic approach. I think that is the key to SP being always in there.
I do think RF played great and showed mucho athletism. Maybe I confuse eart and athletism.

Anyhow, a little gum about EC for next year - no quickness.

Maybe will venture to point to watch RF and SP. Could be interesting.

I'm pulling for LAX.

[billys]

Has Frank committed a foul all season? I didn't get to see last nights game, but saw the 2 earlier games. Congrats and thank yous to the Oshkosh seniors for a great 4 years (3 for Churchill).

I don't believe she's fouled out of any games, and for the most part she's stayed out of any kind of foul trouble.

I might be wrong but I believe the insinuation was that she has gotten the benefit of the doubt from officials and should be called for fouls. Maybe not ... but that's how I took it.

If so that seems weird cause I've always felt like kids, especially tall females, are punished by officials more often then not for being tall. Over the back calls especially where there is little to no contact but a tall girl reaches over the top and the crowd yells and the whistle blows.

I thought it might be that too, but I was going to leave that be. Two things I think you see with tall players:

1) If they're wise enough to know when to go for the block or rebound and when to just adjust a shot or leave the rebound be, they're not going to have many more opportunities to foul.
2) Even if they get a no-call on a blocked shot, they pay for it inside. If you watched the UWSP game, the SP players had their elbows pushing Frank in the back the entire game. I'd say in an average physicality conference, this should be called a foul early to get the defense in line, but the WIAC is an extremely physical conference and that's just not going to get called, along with a lot of other physical play inside.

I forgot to mention that part. I completely agree. Big kids take a beating underneath partially because they can absorb a lot of contact without it looking like they're being hit. I always though Dana Thompson got the worst of this; Kelsey Duoss, Abby Johnson, Brittany Herrick were some others. Big strong kids who had other posts shoving them around but because they were so strong they wouldn't get moved. I know nobody feels sorry for a guy like Shaq but he's taking that pounding for years.

[badgerwarhawk]

An interesting article on the WARHAWKS Dana Thompson....http://host.madison.com/sports/college/state-and-regional/whitewater/article_84d7997c-408e-11e0-81e9-001cc4c002e0.html