Another 3-1 day, this past Wednesday, to run the record to 14-6 for the season. I have a weird feeling that we might see some strange results on Saturday. It’s the same type of feeling you get when taking a wrong turn and instead of turning around you keep going only to find 4 flat tires and a yeti waiting for you at the end of the road. Usually when I get that weird feeling, I play it safe. I’ll probably come back on Sunday and say, “ I was going to pick them to win,” and I’ll get the proper response, “well you didn’t have the kahones to do it, so who gives a fook.”
Once again, I will be unable to make it to any WIAC games because I am heading down to watch some Big Ten basketball in Iowa City. I know, where are my priorities? In the gutter, I guess. I’ll be keeping a close eye on live stats and listening to internet broadcasts though.
If you haven't voted in the poll take a scroll down and make your voice heard. We have an early leader for the best gym in the WIAC, but there is still plenty of time to change that.
Enough of that stuff, let’s get to the predictions.
StP over Plt The game of the day. Huge game for both teams, obviously, but I think Point needs this one more than Platteville does. Point has already lost to WW and Osh and a loss here would put them on the outside looking in for the “best teams in the WIAC” category. I think Skemp should have his way down low. Wotachek is a decent player, but Skemp can be downright unstoppable when he wants to be. The guard match-ups are nice for this game. Lots of quality guards who can play the game at a high level. I expect a terrific game and I’ll give the nod to the Pointers at home. Sorry Platteville fans, I think you have a wonderful team, that loss at EC still bugs me though. I wish I could see this one.
Osh over Sup This is one of those games that I am tempted to pick the big upset. Superior is hot at home and Superior is never a fun road trip to make. We are used to cold weather here in Wisconsin, but going to Superior seems like heading up to a scary frozen abyss. That was drastic, but it’s not a fun trip to make nonetheless. Oshkosh is just too good of a team to lose this game plus they have the bitter taste of getting beat by the Pioneers still in their mouth. I would imagine that TVD will have his boys ready to roll in this one. It is a huge game for Superior to test how good they have already gotten this early in the season.
WW over EC WW is once again on the road against a bottom tier WIAC team. It took OT vs RF and a last second shot against Lax for the Warhawks, so what’s it going to take in this one? I’m guessing “the barking dog play,” with 3 seconds left will lift WW to victory. WW just has too many options for EC’s defense to handle. I like WW’s advantage at every position, so I don’t see why they should lose this one. It is WW on the road though, so who knows and Plt found out that Zorn still has a little magic left in it.
Lax over St I was really tempted to take Stout in this one. They are probably sick and tried of losing and I like how Eddie shook up the team by benching Webb to start the game on Wednesday. La Crosse needs Lil Smooth back in the worst way because they are struggling without him. I’ll take the more disciplined team to come out victorious though.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
WIAC Games 1/9/08
Another 3-1 night. Time for some box-score recaps!
Plt 72 Osh 53 I am disappointed because I picked this game incorrectly, but the result is exciting because it has blown the WIAC wide open. This game was closer than the score indicates. Platteville was up 51-50 with 7:45 to go and they went off on a 21-3 run to end the game. That’s how you send a message in a BIG way. Platteville managed to control Marsh, which doesn’t surprise me and it also wasn’t a surprise to see DSA, once again, in foul trouble. He needs to learn how to stay on the floor. Jeff Skemp put a monster 39 BARPS and dominated DSA. Mike Shaw didn’t miss a shot and helped spark the huge end of the game run for Platteville. Platteville should be 5-0, but they had a little misstep at EC. It’s going to be an awesome year.
WW 65 Lax 62 Matt Goodwin hits a game winning three at the buzzer for the Warhawks! La Crosse took a 7 point lead into the half, but could not hold on for the victory. Whitewater is showing that they are very shaky on the road so far. You have to give them credit for finding ways to win, but it is a cause for concern. La Crosse did a nice job on Perry limiting him to 12 points and only ONE rebound! Matt Goodwin led the way with 21 points and Myles McKay put in a nice all around game for the Warhawks. Tony Mane and Tap Da Kegler were the only Eagles in double digits for scoring. Tough loss for the Eagles.
Sup 68 EC 59 Superior is undefeated at home during WIAC play this season! OK, I know it is not saying a ton, but they are on the right track and they get more and more dangerous every game. It appears that this was a back and forth battle for most of the game and then Dwight Hill decided to go off for 12 points in the final 4 minutes of the game to help the Jackets bring home the victory. EC did manage to slow down Superior and hold them to a much lower total than they are accustomed to, but the young Superior team is learning how to play together at an exponential rate.
StP 87 RF 44 What an embarrassing loss for the Falcons. I know Point is a great team and I know Quandt is a hard place to play, but there is no excuse to lose by 43 points. Point decided to take out their frustrations from a slow conference start on the hopeless Falcons and I can’t blame them. No one scored in double digits for the Falcons. What do you even say after a loss like this? RF has a losing attitude right now and something needs to change.
Ripon 82 St 80 Stout loses on a last second shot! Miles Webb got demoted to the bench and, by the looks of the box score, Stout actually played as a team. Hopefully this is a sign of better things for the Blue Devils. It’s starting to get old seeing RF, St, and EC lose all the time.
Plt 72 Osh 53 I am disappointed because I picked this game incorrectly, but the result is exciting because it has blown the WIAC wide open. This game was closer than the score indicates. Platteville was up 51-50 with 7:45 to go and they went off on a 21-3 run to end the game. That’s how you send a message in a BIG way. Platteville managed to control Marsh, which doesn’t surprise me and it also wasn’t a surprise to see DSA, once again, in foul trouble. He needs to learn how to stay on the floor. Jeff Skemp put a monster 39 BARPS and dominated DSA. Mike Shaw didn’t miss a shot and helped spark the huge end of the game run for Platteville. Platteville should be 5-0, but they had a little misstep at EC. It’s going to be an awesome year.
WW 65 Lax 62 Matt Goodwin hits a game winning three at the buzzer for the Warhawks! La Crosse took a 7 point lead into the half, but could not hold on for the victory. Whitewater is showing that they are very shaky on the road so far. You have to give them credit for finding ways to win, but it is a cause for concern. La Crosse did a nice job on Perry limiting him to 12 points and only ONE rebound! Matt Goodwin led the way with 21 points and Myles McKay put in a nice all around game for the Warhawks. Tony Mane and Tap Da Kegler were the only Eagles in double digits for scoring. Tough loss for the Eagles.
Sup 68 EC 59 Superior is undefeated at home during WIAC play this season! OK, I know it is not saying a ton, but they are on the right track and they get more and more dangerous every game. It appears that this was a back and forth battle for most of the game and then Dwight Hill decided to go off for 12 points in the final 4 minutes of the game to help the Jackets bring home the victory. EC did manage to slow down Superior and hold them to a much lower total than they are accustomed to, but the young Superior team is learning how to play together at an exponential rate.
StP 87 RF 44 What an embarrassing loss for the Falcons. I know Point is a great team and I know Quandt is a hard place to play, but there is no excuse to lose by 43 points. Point decided to take out their frustrations from a slow conference start on the hopeless Falcons and I can’t blame them. No one scored in double digits for the Falcons. What do you even say after a loss like this? RF has a losing attitude right now and something needs to change.
Ripon 82 St 80 Stout loses on a last second shot! Miles Webb got demoted to the bench and, by the looks of the box score, Stout actually played as a team. Hopefully this is a sign of better things for the Blue Devils. It’s starting to get old seeing RF, St, and EC lose all the time.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Predictions for 1/9/08 Games
Thanks to "frankieT" for showing me some love on the WIAC D3Hoops message board! Welcome to any viewers coming from that message board. I have enjoyed reading your posts for many years on that site and hopefully my little blog here can help you guys in spreading the good word about how great D3 basketball is here in Wisconsin!
Also thanks to everyone who has found this blog thanks to the wissports WIAC message board. For the fans and players it's great to have so many great resources for WIAC basketball discussion.
After a sluggish start out of the gates, I have gained my stride and brought my record to a respectable 11-5. Unfortunately, there are no games within my Wednesday night radius to go watch tonight.
Osh over Plt Game of the night! Two of the premier big men of the WIAC, Dane Seckar-Anderson and Jeff Skemp, square off in this one. I hope that the refs let the two big guys do their thing and keep them both out of foul trouble. Both teams really match up well with each other. Strong guard play and excellent big men to free the guards up for open looks. I’m guessing Combs will put Lohoff on Marsh, which will be a nice match-up. Marsh doesn’t like pressure from what I have seen, so Platteville might frustrate him a bit. I’ll take Oshkosh because they are at home and they are a little more battle tested (games against StP, WW, RF, and St) than Plt (games against Sup, EC, RF, St) is so far.
StP over RF Point has started off the conference season on a rough note. It is flat out weird to see “Stevens Point 1-2” on the front page of the WIAC site. I think Point is still trying to find their identity this season after losing “Mr. Everything” Jon Krull. He made that team so much better just by being on the court. With that said, Point still has the players to be the best in the conference. Semling needs to find a way to use them properly. This should be a nice game for him to do that. I don’t see RF giving them much of a game. Point is a hard enough team to go up against and then throw in the home-court advantage of Quandt. Point rights the ship in this one.
Sup over EC The young bees made me look good on Saturday, so I must show them some love again this time around. I haven’t been impressed with EC in the two games I have watched them. Beyer is good, Shea is good, but after that they don’t have much. Superior has a nice well-rounded group of kids who play well together. Jake Smith is emerging as a quality big man and D Hill has shown he has the ability to put up great numbers every single night. Throw in Culy, Manor and a host of other young players and I think Buchanan has the recipe for a great team. This will be a homecoming of sorts for Ryan Shea, so he should bring in some hometown fans. It won’t be enough for the Golds though.
WW over Lax I liked the Lax team at the beginning of the year, but after losing Brandon Brown, I like them a lot less. Hopefully he will be coming back soon because Lax is a much better team with him in the line-up. Perry is going to create all kinds of match-up problems for everyone in the WIAC and I think this will hold true for this game. I don’t see any of Lax’s big men keeping up with Savage. I wasn’t real impressed with WW’s perimeter defense, so Mane and Fehrenbach could have nice games and make this an interesting one. WW has too many weapons though.
Also thanks to everyone who has found this blog thanks to the wissports WIAC message board. For the fans and players it's great to have so many great resources for WIAC basketball discussion.
After a sluggish start out of the gates, I have gained my stride and brought my record to a respectable 11-5. Unfortunately, there are no games within my Wednesday night radius to go watch tonight.
Osh over Plt Game of the night! Two of the premier big men of the WIAC, Dane Seckar-Anderson and Jeff Skemp, square off in this one. I hope that the refs let the two big guys do their thing and keep them both out of foul trouble. Both teams really match up well with each other. Strong guard play and excellent big men to free the guards up for open looks. I’m guessing Combs will put Lohoff on Marsh, which will be a nice match-up. Marsh doesn’t like pressure from what I have seen, so Platteville might frustrate him a bit. I’ll take Oshkosh because they are at home and they are a little more battle tested (games against StP, WW, RF, and St) than Plt (games against Sup, EC, RF, St) is so far.
StP over RF Point has started off the conference season on a rough note. It is flat out weird to see “Stevens Point 1-2” on the front page of the WIAC site. I think Point is still trying to find their identity this season after losing “Mr. Everything” Jon Krull. He made that team so much better just by being on the court. With that said, Point still has the players to be the best in the conference. Semling needs to find a way to use them properly. This should be a nice game for him to do that. I don’t see RF giving them much of a game. Point is a hard enough team to go up against and then throw in the home-court advantage of Quandt. Point rights the ship in this one.
Sup over EC The young bees made me look good on Saturday, so I must show them some love again this time around. I haven’t been impressed with EC in the two games I have watched them. Beyer is good, Shea is good, but after that they don’t have much. Superior has a nice well-rounded group of kids who play well together. Jake Smith is emerging as a quality big man and D Hill has shown he has the ability to put up great numbers every single night. Throw in Culy, Manor and a host of other young players and I think Buchanan has the recipe for a great team. This will be a homecoming of sorts for Ryan Shea, so he should bring in some hometown fans. It won’t be enough for the Golds though.
WW over Lax I liked the Lax team at the beginning of the year, but after losing Brandon Brown, I like them a lot less. Hopefully he will be coming back soon because Lax is a much better team with him in the line-up. Perry is going to create all kinds of match-up problems for everyone in the WIAC and I think this will hold true for this game. I don’t see any of Lax’s big men keeping up with Savage. I wasn’t real impressed with WW’s perimeter defense, so Mane and Fehrenbach could have nice games and make this an interesting one. WW has too many weapons though.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Poll
I set up a poll on the right side of the page asking you all what the best gym in the conference is.
Here are some criteria you can use to determine that: parking, available seating, bleacher styles, overall atmosphere, lighting, quality of food offered, student section support, announcers, scoreboards, cost of tickets, half-time entertainment, horn used for time-outs, referees that usually work there, ticket and door staff, etc.
Criteria specific for players: locker-room quality, quality of floor and baskets, overall shooting feel, shot clock set-up, etc.
I went a little little overboard with the criteria, but all of those things come into play. Feel free to leave a comment discussing why you like a particular gym. I am interested to hear what people think.
Here are some criteria you can use to determine that: parking, available seating, bleacher styles, overall atmosphere, lighting, quality of food offered, student section support, announcers, scoreboards, cost of tickets, half-time entertainment, horn used for time-outs, referees that usually work there, ticket and door staff, etc.
Criteria specific for players: locker-room quality, quality of floor and baskets, overall shooting feel, shot clock set-up, etc.
I went a little little overboard with the criteria, but all of those things come into play. Feel free to leave a comment discussing why you like a particular gym. I am interested to hear what people think.
Non-Conference Game 1/7/08 (Bethel at St. Thomas)
EC 85 WIAC 10 73 Third time should have been a charm for Finlandia, but it wasn’t. EC takes down Finlandia for the third straight time this season. Not much to talk about from this one. The big men lead the way for both teams, Tucker Thorsen had 31 and Dan Beyer had 23. I’m guessing it was a sloppy game as there were 46 totals turnovers.
St. Thomas 83 Bethel 77 (OT) I took in a MIAC game last night and I’m glad I did. I saw a great game between two teams who played extremely hard for 45 minutes. St. Thomas loves to get after it. They extend their defense and make it extremely hard for teams to get into their offense. River Falls really struggled against St. Thomas earlier in the year for that exact reason. RF’s guards didn’t handle the pressure well and never got the offense in a good rhythm.
St. Thomas goes with 4 key players: Tyler Nicolai (looks like he is 8, but he has a nice game), Joe Scott, BJ Viau and Lonnie Robinson and then swap big men between David Baker and Al “The Real” McCoy. McCoy is fun to watch. I don’t think I have ever seen a D3 player who can clear space in the lane like Al can. Tim Madson is a nice player for Bethel. Reminds me of Kent Becker. Hard nosed kid who would be just as comfortable with football pads on. Nick Otterson kept Bethel in the game with several big plays. Teddy Archer did his best Dennis Rodman impression by getting into Madson’s head with lots of little pushes and lots of Rodman-esque flops. It seemed to work.
Both teams played well and it was a back and forth type game. I think St. Thomas has a few more weapons and that’s what ultimately gave them the win.
I can see the MIAC teams giving the WIAC teams lots of problems come tourney time. They play a much more physical, grind-it out type game. It’s no surprise that WW and RF both struggled against MIAC teams since neither team is real good at getting the offense running smoothly under pressure. Both conferences are excellent and it really shows how awesome D3 basketball is in this area of the country.
I saw one of the worst injuries I have ever witnessed at a basketball game. Tyler Brown from Bethel went up to block a lay-up and instead on coming down on his feet, he came down on his head. It was scary. My stomach was turning over when he raised his head up and it was full of blood. He got up under his own power, so I think he’s going to be all right. I give my best to Tyler. Moments like that make even the most intense fans realize that it is just a game.
Speaking of intense fans, both sides had some intense fans. Wow, they were into the game. Most of them were adults too. I had a guy sitting behind me from Bethel and he just about lost his head, seriously. I thought he was going to explode. It made for a nice atmosphere though.
St. Thomas 83 Bethel 77 (OT) I took in a MIAC game last night and I’m glad I did. I saw a great game between two teams who played extremely hard for 45 minutes. St. Thomas loves to get after it. They extend their defense and make it extremely hard for teams to get into their offense. River Falls really struggled against St. Thomas earlier in the year for that exact reason. RF’s guards didn’t handle the pressure well and never got the offense in a good rhythm.
St. Thomas goes with 4 key players: Tyler Nicolai (looks like he is 8, but he has a nice game), Joe Scott, BJ Viau and Lonnie Robinson and then swap big men between David Baker and Al “The Real” McCoy. McCoy is fun to watch. I don’t think I have ever seen a D3 player who can clear space in the lane like Al can. Tim Madson is a nice player for Bethel. Reminds me of Kent Becker. Hard nosed kid who would be just as comfortable with football pads on. Nick Otterson kept Bethel in the game with several big plays. Teddy Archer did his best Dennis Rodman impression by getting into Madson’s head with lots of little pushes and lots of Rodman-esque flops. It seemed to work.
Both teams played well and it was a back and forth type game. I think St. Thomas has a few more weapons and that’s what ultimately gave them the win.
I can see the MIAC teams giving the WIAC teams lots of problems come tourney time. They play a much more physical, grind-it out type game. It’s no surprise that WW and RF both struggled against MIAC teams since neither team is real good at getting the offense running smoothly under pressure. Both conferences are excellent and it really shows how awesome D3 basketball is in this area of the country.
I saw one of the worst injuries I have ever witnessed at a basketball game. Tyler Brown from Bethel went up to block a lay-up and instead on coming down on his feet, he came down on his head. It was scary. My stomach was turning over when he raised his head up and it was full of blood. He got up under his own power, so I think he’s going to be all right. I give my best to Tyler. Moments like that make even the most intense fans realize that it is just a game.
Speaking of intense fans, both sides had some intense fans. Wow, they were into the game. Most of them were adults too. I had a guy sitting behind me from Bethel and he just about lost his head, seriously. I thought he was going to explode. It made for a nice atmosphere though.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
WIAC Games 1/5/08 (WW at RF)
I picked one upset correctly, but missed the other. 3-1 for the day!
Osh 73 StP 62 The #18 team played like the #3 team in nation today and Oshkosh comes into Point and shows the Pointers who is the early boss in the conference. Oshkosh took a 38-27 lead into the half and never looked back. By the looks of it, this game wasn’t even close in the second half. Oshkosh completely controlled the game. DJ Marsh led the Titans with 31 BARPS and Matt Miller chipped in 19 points. I have always thought that Semling was an outstanding coach, but I have to question his substitutions this season. He is giving too many guys too many minutes. When Point was dominating the conference over the past few years, they played every starter close to 30 minutes a game. Now 8 guys played close to 20 minutes in this game. Hard to get into the flow of a game when you know that your minutes are limited and your minutes with certain teammates are limited. Point is definitely not the #3 team in the nation. I would say that they are the #3 team in the conference. I would like to see Semling give his starters more minutes and see how that works because his current strategy is not working. Great win for the Titans!
Sup 71 Lax 61 Congrats to Superior on their first conference win! They made me look good by picking them to win this one. Unfortunately, I don’t have much to say because Superior has not posted the box score. This has been a problem for many years at Superior. They can never get the box score up in a timely manner. Not a good message to send to the people who support their program, but can’t make it out to the games.
Plt 83 St 64 Platteville has no trouble whatsoever against the bottom dwelling Blue Devils. Pioneers built a 32-10 lead with nine minutes to go in the first half. This game was over early. Platteville had a nice balance scoring attack from their starters, minus Kyle Tetschlag, who had a tough game. Nice to see Eric Heisler’s name in the box score. I was hoping he didn’t quit even though this must be a miserable time for the Stout players and coaches.
WW 88 RF 82 (OT) I’ve been looking forward to this one for a few weeks now and it was definitely entertaining. Whitewater looked great in the first half. They were getting up and down the court and it was almost embarrassing how much better they looked than RF in the first half. RF came out lifeless and they were not ready to play at all. DJ Reese was the sole bright spot in the first half and he single-handedly kept them in the game. Second half was a different story. WW got a little complacent and RF finally woke up and started playing hard. The one major weakness I saw for WW is that they don’t run half court sets real well. Just lots of one-on-one basketball and that will work against teams like RF, but not against tougher teams who can D up. I never really saw a good set that WW ran to get a bucket when they needed it. Nate Robertson really helped boost the Falcons in the second half. He took the team on his shoulders and opened the game up by playing a hard-nosed game down low. RF needs to get the ball to him a lot more. He was their leading scorer and rebounder last season and he doesn’t touch the ball nearly enough. To make matters worse, Berkhof had him on the bench during the last few minutes of regulation and overtime. He needs to play more than 19 minutes a game. RF made a nice comeback and Scott Kelly hit a fade away three from the corner to tie the game. I was with several friends who have watched the WIAC for many years and we all agreed that despite all the good things RF was doing, there was no chance they were going to win the game. We’ve seen RF lose far more close games than they have won. WW lost focus for awhile in the second half, but gained it quickly in overtime and cruised to a victory.
WW has what it takes to win the conference and they probably have the most talent in the conference. Their weakness is their lack of discipline on the offensive end. When RF made their second half run, WW didn’t get the ball to Perry. When you have a player like Perry, you need to get him the ball when you need a bucket. WW also needs to hit their free throws. This game would have been over in regulation, but WW missed several foul shots. I really enjoyed watching them play and hope to see them a few more times this year.
Thoughts on individual players:
Rob Perry is a manchild and he added a beautiful 3-point shot to his arsenal this year. Wow, he is a dangerous player and I now see why they call him “Savage.” He does everything and makes his teammates better. WIAC MVP so far.
Matt Goodwin has a nice all around game. He’s not afraid to play with the big boys for rebounds.
Myles McKay has some great athletic ability and can get to the hole at will. Not much of a team player though. Once the ball hit his hands, he put on the blinders and thought only about scoring.
Josh King is much improved from the past couple of seasons. He fills a nice role on the team.
I think Kori Vernon is an outstanding talent and I keep thinking he is one season away from having a breakout year. Unfortunately that breakout year has not come around yet. I like the fact that he is starting now.
I’m guessing Miller starts Koski at point because Goodwin is more of a 2, but I liked when Goodwin brought up the ball and McKay played the 2. Koski’s not a terrible player, but they are a much more dangerous team with Goodwin and McKay out there at the same time.
Kolinske has a nice game and is a great player off the bench. He would be starting for other WIAC teams.
Osh 73 StP 62 The #18 team played like the #3 team in nation today and Oshkosh comes into Point and shows the Pointers who is the early boss in the conference. Oshkosh took a 38-27 lead into the half and never looked back. By the looks of it, this game wasn’t even close in the second half. Oshkosh completely controlled the game. DJ Marsh led the Titans with 31 BARPS and Matt Miller chipped in 19 points. I have always thought that Semling was an outstanding coach, but I have to question his substitutions this season. He is giving too many guys too many minutes. When Point was dominating the conference over the past few years, they played every starter close to 30 minutes a game. Now 8 guys played close to 20 minutes in this game. Hard to get into the flow of a game when you know that your minutes are limited and your minutes with certain teammates are limited. Point is definitely not the #3 team in the nation. I would say that they are the #3 team in the conference. I would like to see Semling give his starters more minutes and see how that works because his current strategy is not working. Great win for the Titans!
Sup 71 Lax 61 Congrats to Superior on their first conference win! They made me look good by picking them to win this one. Unfortunately, I don’t have much to say because Superior has not posted the box score. This has been a problem for many years at Superior. They can never get the box score up in a timely manner. Not a good message to send to the people who support their program, but can’t make it out to the games.
Plt 83 St 64 Platteville has no trouble whatsoever against the bottom dwelling Blue Devils. Pioneers built a 32-10 lead with nine minutes to go in the first half. This game was over early. Platteville had a nice balance scoring attack from their starters, minus Kyle Tetschlag, who had a tough game. Nice to see Eric Heisler’s name in the box score. I was hoping he didn’t quit even though this must be a miserable time for the Stout players and coaches.
WW 88 RF 82 (OT) I’ve been looking forward to this one for a few weeks now and it was definitely entertaining. Whitewater looked great in the first half. They were getting up and down the court and it was almost embarrassing how much better they looked than RF in the first half. RF came out lifeless and they were not ready to play at all. DJ Reese was the sole bright spot in the first half and he single-handedly kept them in the game. Second half was a different story. WW got a little complacent and RF finally woke up and started playing hard. The one major weakness I saw for WW is that they don’t run half court sets real well. Just lots of one-on-one basketball and that will work against teams like RF, but not against tougher teams who can D up. I never really saw a good set that WW ran to get a bucket when they needed it. Nate Robertson really helped boost the Falcons in the second half. He took the team on his shoulders and opened the game up by playing a hard-nosed game down low. RF needs to get the ball to him a lot more. He was their leading scorer and rebounder last season and he doesn’t touch the ball nearly enough. To make matters worse, Berkhof had him on the bench during the last few minutes of regulation and overtime. He needs to play more than 19 minutes a game. RF made a nice comeback and Scott Kelly hit a fade away three from the corner to tie the game. I was with several friends who have watched the WIAC for many years and we all agreed that despite all the good things RF was doing, there was no chance they were going to win the game. We’ve seen RF lose far more close games than they have won. WW lost focus for awhile in the second half, but gained it quickly in overtime and cruised to a victory.
WW has what it takes to win the conference and they probably have the most talent in the conference. Their weakness is their lack of discipline on the offensive end. When RF made their second half run, WW didn’t get the ball to Perry. When you have a player like Perry, you need to get him the ball when you need a bucket. WW also needs to hit their free throws. This game would have been over in regulation, but WW missed several foul shots. I really enjoyed watching them play and hope to see them a few more times this year.
Thoughts on individual players:
Rob Perry is a manchild and he added a beautiful 3-point shot to his arsenal this year. Wow, he is a dangerous player and I now see why they call him “Savage.” He does everything and makes his teammates better. WIAC MVP so far.
Matt Goodwin has a nice all around game. He’s not afraid to play with the big boys for rebounds.
Myles McKay has some great athletic ability and can get to the hole at will. Not much of a team player though. Once the ball hit his hands, he put on the blinders and thought only about scoring.
Josh King is much improved from the past couple of seasons. He fills a nice role on the team.
I think Kori Vernon is an outstanding talent and I keep thinking he is one season away from having a breakout year. Unfortunately that breakout year has not come around yet. I like the fact that he is starting now.
I’m guessing Miller starts Koski at point because Goodwin is more of a 2, but I liked when Goodwin brought up the ball and McKay played the 2. Koski’s not a terrible player, but they are a much more dangerous team with Goodwin and McKay out there at the same time.
Kolinske has a nice game and is a great player off the bench. He would be starting for other WIAC teams.
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