Predictions for 2/9/08 Games

Last Wednesday 3-1

Overall: 39-13

StP over Sup The great thing about predicting Stevens Point games is that they never lose to teams that they shouldn’t lose too. They very rarely play to the level of their competition. With that said, the last Point loss to a bottom tier WIAC team was in the 03-04 season when they lost to Superior, twice! There might just be some magic up there on the north shore. Not this time though. Point is well rested and ready to attempt their second half march to the title.

WW over St WW is coming off a nice win against Luther college and Stout is coming off another loss to Point. With RF's win against Superior, Stout’s chances of making the conference tourney look even more dim. WW has Plt in their sights and they need to take care of business from here on out. I don’t see any reason why WW should not win this game.

Osh over Lax I think all the minutes that the Oshkosh starters have logged over the season are starting to take a toll on them. The legs are probably starting to feel like rubber and the arms are not as light as they were at the beginning of the season. There is no doubt that Osh’s starting 5 is just as good as anyone else’s, but I think they lack of depth will catch up with them down the stretch. Lax appears to be playing their best ball of the year, now that they are healthy. Based on what I said in this paragraph I should pick Lax, but I’ll go with the Titans.

RF over EC RF is looking for its first win streak (we’ll define streak as 2 in a row) in the conference and EC is looking to confuse me even more. The fact that they played Osh so well on Wednesday suggests that they will probably shoot 20% from the floor in this one. I can just see Berkhof going Lou Brown, from Major League, on the team before the game. “We won on Wednesday, if we win tonight, it’s called a winning streak, IT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE.”

WIAC Game 2/7/08

Plt 78 Lax 77 (2 OT) We had to wait an additional 24 hours for the game, but it was worth the wait. It was a double overtime thriller that featured a dominating performance by the pre-season All American. Skemp put up an impressive 29 points and 16 boards to lead the Pioneers to sole possession of the WIAC lead. The one stat I find kind of nuts is that Lax was 2-14 from three and they still found a way to almost win the game. It looks like the three-pointer is no longer their main weapon. Speaking of “Mane” weapon, Tony Mane went 9-12 on shots other than threes. Not too shabby for the frosh.

WIAC Games 2/6/08

StP 86 St 58 Stout actually led this game for the first 11 minutes of the game. Then Point’s bench decided to take over. It’s pretty sick that Point could take their top 5 bench players and probably beat half of the WIAC teams. It doesn’t seem fair. The Hicklin and Rortvedt show was back on the marquee, each dropping 18 on the Devils. Stout couldn’t buy a bucket from 3-land. The game was over five minutes into the second half.

Osh 89 EC 87 (OT) The Golds brought their “A” team for this one and gave the Titans a run for their money. Osh was up 78-71 with 1:40 to go and EC went on a 9-2 run to tie the game. The Titans scored all 9 of their OT points from the charity stripe. I guess EC isn’t straying away from their, “lets beat the snot out of them, literally,” strategy. Osh was 11-18 from three. Those boys can shoot the rock. Beyer had another tremendous game, only missing 2 shots all game. Osh breaks the W/L alternating streak with a tough victory. Stat of the game: Ryan Shea’s stat-line: 12 pts, 5 rbs, 7 asts, 6 stls and 2 blks. Wow!

RF 84 Sup 81 (OT) RF WINS! RF WINS! Nice job by the Falcons to maintain their composure and find a way to win. I am happy that they finally got another conference win. I have been hard on RF this season, mostly because I see them the most. I get see them when they are at their worst and their best, just so happens they haven’t been playing well this season. I feel for them though. Losing two point guards is devastating and then losing a couple hard fought games against top tier teams (Plt and WW) doesn’t help the confidence. Then they lose to Superior on a buzzer beater. It’s been one of the years that you put in the “DO NOT OPEN” file cabinet in the brain. Seems like they played a nice game last night and just when they thought they had it won, Dwight Hill hits a 3 at the buzzer to tie the game. If you are a RF player you have to be thinking, “here we go again.” Nice job by the Falcons not getting discouraged though and for finding a way to get the W. Hopefully they can get a couple more. Congrats to Jesse Elling for putting up a career high 18 points. He works he tail off every time he gets in the game, so that was nice to see.

Predictions for 2/6/08 Games

Last Saturday: 4-0

Overall: 36-12

Plt over Lax We have our first cancellation of the season! Actually it’s just a postponement until tomorrow thanks to the wonderful weather that is sweeping through the southern part of our state. Lax is tough at home and if Mane and Fehrenbach get a spark they can become explosive in a quick hurry. I like how Platteville is playing right now though. I think they really feel like they are the team to beat and that’s mentality you need to have. I’ll take Plt in a close one on Thursday night.

Osh over EC Osh has been as inconsistent as it gets over the past 9 games. They have alternated W/L in the past 9 games. If that pattern follows, this should be a loss for them. They can’t be real happy about losing to EC earlier this season though, so I see them taking a little frustration out on the Golds. Plus I made a promise never to pick EC to win again this season.

StP over St The ultimate team vs the ultimate 1 on 1 team. Point is the best passing team in the conference and Stout is the worst. Point is coming off the much needed bye and hopefully they got their players healthy. This will be a nice game for them to shake the rust off and get their rhythm back kind of like How Stella Got Her Groove Back. Anyone seen that movie? One of the best movie titles ever.

Sup over RF Sup has only won 1 game since these two teams’ last meeting and RF hasn’t won any games. In fact, RF hasn’t won since they were in Arizona over winter break. Something has to give. One team is going to be the other team’s slump buster. I want to pick RF in this one, but I can’t justify it until they prove they can win another game.

Favorite WIAC players: Plt

Merrill Brunson

Just like Sherm and Werner, Merrill was a cool customer who never really got rattled by pressure situations and never really felt the need to tell people how good he was. I started following the WIAC closely right as Platteville was unbeatable. They were by far and away my favorite team to watch. I’ll never forget the first time I saw them play. They came out for warm-ups wearing the most plain and cheap looking warm-ups I have ever seen. It looked like they got them from Savers or something. They all had the same type of haircut and they went through their warm-up drills with a machine-like efficiency. No missed lay-ups, no bad passes, and they had nothing but business like interactions with each other. It was almost militaristic. Then they came out and worked over their opponent. Brunson was the poster boy for that style. He didn’t do anything extremely fancy (except hit 3’s in people’s faces), but he did everything right. It was always fun watching him play because he fit perfectly in Bo’s swing offense. I don’t think Bo could have manufactured a better player for his system.

I heard a rumor, never found out if it was valid or not, that Brunson’s final decision was between Platteville and River Falls. It’s weird to think about him going to RF. He would have been a great player there, but the Platteville offense truly fit him like a glove.

I have only bought tickets days in advance for one WIAC game in my life and that was for the Plt at EC game back in the 1999-2000 season. It was the best WIAC game I have ever seen. EC came out and completely dominated the game for the first 30 minutes. The whole time I was just waiting for the inevitable Platteville run and sure enough Merrill provided the spark with several huge shots and ultimately led the Pioneers to victory in front of a sold-out Zorn Arena crowd. It was awesome.

My favorite Brunson moment came earlier in that 99-00 season though, when he single handedly outscored River Falls 24-21 at halftime. All you can you do is tip your hat after a performance like that.

WIAC Games 2/2/08 (Plt at RF & Osh at St)

Two WIAC games in one day and a 4-0 prediction day. Not too shabby. Holy cow, this is going to be a long blog. Better grab a beverage…

WW 85 EC 65 WW holds onto a share of the conference lead by taking care of business against the up and down Golds. Like a good old fashioned baseball brawl, both benches were cleared in this one. Everyone got a chance to see the floor for both teams. The game was tied at 21 with nine minutes in the first and WW went on a 19-6 run to end the half and essentially end the game. EC’s sole bright spot was Dan Beyer once again. Kori Vernon had a nice game with 29 BARPS in 28 minutes. A couple interesting stats: WW shot 43 FTs vs 15 for EC. Kevin Koski was 9-18 from the line. I guess EC tried the “hack-a-Shaq” strategy on him.

Lax 62 Sup 53 Chris Fehrenbach helped pace the Eagles attack with 15 of his 21 points in the first half as the Eagles go on to take sole possession of 5th place in the conference. Superior once again struggled from the floor going 21-57. Dan Culy didn’t step off the roller coaster after last game and he went 1-10 from the floor. Tony Mane had another tough game from the floor also. None of the freshman impressed each other in this one. Andrew Haass is stepping up as Lax’s main inside threat, dropping 11 points and 10 boards.

Plt 71 RF 60 Platteville looked good. They have a nice balanced attack and it was clear that they have 6 different players who could burn you on any given night. Jeff Skemp was an absolute monster in this one. He must have taken his rehab time last season as an opportunity to bulk up a bit because he was huge. It was crazy how much bigger he is than everyone else. I’ve been kind of hard on him, but he definitely made me shut up a bit after this game. He basically had his way out there and he even took one coast-to-coast a la Magic Johnson. The only knock I have after seeing this game is that I would like to see him attack the rim with a little more authority. He’s content to take the lay-up and while he only missed 4 shots all game I think he could have nearly perfect if he went to the rim with a Dwight Howard like ferociousness. He’s a terrific player, no doubt.

RF actually played much better than they did on Wednesday, but they just couldn’t get their shots to fall in the first half. They did a nice job matching Plt’s intensity in the first half and the game got physical early because the refs allowed it. I would say it got borderline chippy at times. Plt came out in the second half and looked like a conference champion. They ran some real efficient sets and jumped out to a 56-40 lead with 10 minutes to go. RF made a slight run towards the end, but it was too little too late.

Osh 78 St 61 I jumped in the car and put the petal to the metal down on I-94 and actually walked into Johnson Fieldhouse right as the game was tipping off, sans Oles though. I have to thank the guy who was driving in front of me, who got pulled over by the state trooper. He took one for the team and opened up the interstate for the rest of us.

Like most of their wins this season, the big three dominated the game for Oshkosh while the Defensive Specialist and Detlef Schrimpf played their roles nicely. It was a nice team win for Oshkosh. Matt Miller was outstanding. He was NBA Jam “on fire!” Running off screens, taking guys off the dribble, and just shooting in people’s faces. It didn’t matter. He was not going to be shut down. The crazy thing was that his shots were hitting nothing but twine. There was no doubt that his shots were going to fall because he had his stroke going. If he is hitting like that I don’t see anyone beating them. Unfortunately for Osh, he doesn’t always shoot like that.

DSA was a monster down low. Stout was without Eric Heisler, so any post presence Stout may have had was gone and DSA took advantage of that. There is no reason why he shouldn’t put up close to a double-double every game. He just needs to learn to keep his hands to himself. He gave that extra little reach at the end of a play and the refs called him every time.

I don’t know if there is anyone in the conference who can keep DJ Marsh from getting to the rim. He has an amazing ability to slash through the lane and he finishes just as good as anyone else in the conference. He is absolutely terrified to take a jump shot though. If he can develop a jumper in the off season, he will be an absolute force next year.

Johnson was fun to watch. He played all 40 minutes and never slowed down. I would say Ryan Shea and him win the Energizer Bunny award for their ability to keep going and going. I sat in the Oshkosh parent section during the game and it was clear why Jordan’s motor keeps running. His mom was cheering loudly and non-stop during the whole game. It was impressive.

It was fun watching TVD dropping f-bombs all game too. The TVD highlight of the game happened when Stout was making a mini-run in the second half and DJ Marsh lost the ball out of bounds. TVD turns and just starts reaming one of the guys on the bench for not being vocal in support of his teammates. Nothing like never getting in the game and still getting your butt chewed.

Stout looked like a much improved team for small stretches of the game. Hostetter looks like he is going to be a nice player for Eddie and the boys. In the end though, it’s just another loss for Stout.

On a positive note, Stout’s varsity reserve put a spanking on UW-Barron County this past week.