The ‘Ville 87 Viterbo 56
The ‘Ville had little trouble with Viterbo and Combs was able to clear his bench. I noticed Josh Lagenfeld was not in the box score for the second straight game. He was a nice spark off the bench for them. I’m sure Combs would like to see him back before conference play starts.
Lax 88 Carroll 80
Kurt Kincaid stepped up and almost posted a double-double for the Eagles. With Kurt and Andy Merklein working the paint and Tony Mane bombing from deep, the Eagles might have a nice in-and-out combo this season.
WW 87 Wisconsin-Lutheran 78
The Goodwin and McKay show helped WW pull out a close one against a pesky Wis-Lutheran squad who liked to hit the three ball. Chris Vines gave WW 17 solid minutes off the bench.
St. Norbert 66 Osh 60
I would not be surprised if we see some Osh box scores where DJ Marsh, Dane Seckar-Anderson, and Matt Miller all have a 40 under the minutes column. Those three will have to carry the load all season. Someone else needs to step up for Osh in order for them to compete with StP, Plt, and WW for the WIAC title. Great games for both Marsh and DSA in this one, but Norbert’s hangs on for the victory.
StP 97 St. John’s 70
It was good to see that Khalifa El-Amin and Pete Rortvedt got off to good starts this season. Both had down years last season and they will need to be at the top of their game if Point is going to win the conference. This was a very nice win against a tough MIAC competitor. No Louis Hurd in the box score?
Buena Vista 68 St 61(OT)
I can honestly say that I made the trip over to Menomonie thinking that Stout had no chance to win this game. I mean, my last memories from last season were of Buena Vista beating St. Thomas and Stevens Point to advance to the sweet 16 and they didn’t graduate anyone. Needless to say, Eddie and the boys proved me wrong. They played extremely hard and they played together, for the most part. Stout could have easily won this game.
How did it happen? Well, Stout returned to the Stout of old. Eddie brought out the run and jump and it really frustrated BV. They forced the action on both ends and BV got forced out of their game plan. Stout needs to play that kind of basketball every game this season. Just an all out, go after the ball at all costs mentality. Stout’s style of play is sort of like oxygen, it keeps you alive, but kills you all at the same time. The hectic pressing style kept them in the game, but when Stout had a chance to put BV away, they made some careless errors with the basketball. They need to learn how to turn the switch on and off a bit better, but that will come with time. All in all, I was impressed by the Blue Devils tenacity.
Random notes:
Stout definitely wins the “most uniforms in the last 10 years award.” They got new uni’s again this season.
It was weird seeing the new 3-point line being used this season. I can guarantee there will be some major controversies this season over 3 pt calls. With the old and the new lines so close to each other, refs will have their hands full trying to make the correct calls.
The new 3 point line seemed to extend the distance in which shots were taken. Jared Bucholtz was throwing up some near NBA threes yesterday. That kid has never met a shot he didn’t like.
Eric Hostetter hit a 3 from half-court to tie the game at the buzzer. It was his only make of the day!
Buena Vista’s coach looks like a cross between Scott Van Pelt and Anthony Edwards.
Stout has a new Super-Heckler-Dude at the games. The dude was wearing a hockey jersey and he was loud. He made up for the lack of a student section.
7 comments:
I also noticed while at the Plt game that a lot of shooters were lofting shots from well beyond the new 3pt arc. I think it's because they're not quite sure of the new distance...on our court the lines are two different colors and a little confusing. It may take a few games for the guards to be comfortable with the new line and not be checking their feet before they shoot.
Also, The 'VILLE was loud last night! I expect this atmosphere for the rest of the season for 3 reasons: carried-over excitement from last year in our players and student section, local publicity about the expectations for this season, and also because our students are tired of watching our terrible football team. I had friends up from WW and we went to both the home football and basketball game. They mentioned how few people showed up to football but surprised at all the students at basketball.
PS: I'm not quite sold on "the 'Ville" for a nickname and I'm pretty sure most of campus isn't either except for our AD. What about "Jeff and the Skemp-ettes" instead?
pvegas,
It is interesting that you noticed the same thing about the 3-point line. It is going to take some getting used to.
Good to hear the the 'Ville was rockin. You guys have a lot to be excited about this season. It will fun to follow their progress.
What's up with Lagenfeld?
I love "The 'Ville" as a nickname. ;)
Louis Hurd is out for a bit with a stress fracture. I heard that in last Monday's monthly radio show, Coach Semling said he might play on Sat... but he neither played nor dressed.
I didn't get to see any opening weekend games... probably won't see a game until mid December, and I wondered about the extended 3 point line. I noted that in the exhibition win, Pville made about 50% of their 3's, and in another notable win this weekend, Edgewood beat #22 U of Chicago by shooting 54% from 3 (I think). And Oshkosh and St. Norb's shot a combined 19/38 from deep... that's pretty outstanding.
Now, that said, if you look at the box score for the Stout/BV game, they missed a combined 47 3's... but they combined to shoot 63. There were a TON of missed shots in that game, though, per the stat sheet... 138 shots?! with only 47 made? Wow. No consciences there...
pointspecial,
There were a lot of shots that were right at the rim, but just bounced around. Stout's rims seem really tight and the ball bounces off the iron real erratically at times. Not much of a shooter's gym.
It was nice to see you at the Stout game Stro. I was impressed at how Stout's full court press disrupted BV. The new 3 point line will definitely be a cause for controversy at least once this year. I can envision someone hitting a 3 from the corner (ala RF at Stout back in the day) and having a ref call it off.
Stro,
re: Stout being a shooters gym, I looked back at the 4 games we played there during my career:
http://www.uwsp.edu/ATHLETICS/mbb/01-02/GAME-09.HTM
http://www.uwsp.edu/ATHLETICS/mbb/02-03/MBBGM-18.HTM
http://www.uwsp.edu/ATHLETICS/mbb/03-04/mbbgm-07.htm
http://www.uwsp.edu/ATHLETICS/mbb/04-05/MBBGM-19.HTM
We lost the first won, blew 'em out in the second, and won by about 10 in the two nat championship years. Remarkably, in the three wins, we shot 50% from the field... 24/48 each year, and each year we shot at least 46% from 3. My freshman year we shot terribly... that was overall just a bad, bad game for us.
I looked at the other 4 meetings between SP and Stout over the last 3 seasons in Menomonie and you've got a Point win by one (39% field and 29% 3 pt) and loss by 3 (40% and 31%), Point win by 30 (55% and 51%), and a Point win by 6 (54% and 38%).
I was interested in seeing the percentages because I think, of all the gyms in the WIAC, Stout's is most like UWSP in the arena feel... with the most open air behind the baskets. The only other exceptions would be Superior or Oshkosh (and to a much lesser extent Whitewater), but Sup and Oshy have other factors... Superior makes you feel like you're in a cave a little bit, and Oshkosh is like a barn).
I personally like Stout's gym the most (second to Point's) in the WIAC... perhaps because it is most like SP, but maybe not... I actually like the free standing baskets instead of the ceiling hung ones and I always felt that the rims were pretty good. Now, there may have been adjustments made since I last played there... I mean, the Nonemachers may have made some adjustments themselves, if you know what I mean, but more what I was talking about was the sheer number of 3's attempted. 63 seems like a TON... and when the line has been pushed back a foot, it seems like it would make more sense to take fewer outside shots...
I wonder if the extra space inside 3 pt land will help the inside game.
Point special,
Wow, thanks for the statistical break down. That is interesting to see. I guess everyone has a different preference when it came to the best gym for shooting. I personally, always liked the smaller gyms with the walls closer to the baskets.
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