Sorry to all of you blog followers. I was drowning in a pool of my tears after my beloved Packers decided not to contain Colin Kaepernick and get bounced from the Divisional Round of the Playoffs once again.
Its also apparent that I missed a few good basketball games this weekend. So I will piece together my beautiful weekend analysis post as best I can through box scores and other forms analysis for this week.
WIAC
Game I watched: UW-Stevens Point 62, UW-La Crosse 57. Top scorer UWSP: Joe Ritchay (14). Top scorer UWL: Michael Barrett (12).
The Skinny: The Pointers led for the whole game and put up a solid defensive effort against the Eagles, forcing the Eagles into shooting under 35 percent for the game.
But La Crosse hung around enough to make a game of it, as Stevens Point missed free throws down the stretch and the Eagles cut the lead to one point on a Trent Schmidt bucket.
But the Eagles missed two shots to tie or take the lead on two possessions and the Pointers finally knocked down some free throws to collect the victory.
Point 1: Digging Them Out
It's what Stevens Point has been doing lately while starter and All-American Tyler Tillema has been out: grinding out wins.
It started when UW-Eau Claire gave the Pointers some trouble but Point was able to pull out the win on January 5th.
And even though they have blowout wins over River Falls and Stout in the last two weeks, you just know this team isn't the same without Tillema.
Yet they are finding ways to win. This time it was a supreme defensive effort to hold down a very good (in my book, second-best team in the WIAC) La Crosse team.
They've also got it done by being exceptionally balanced on the offensive end (they had three in double figures again on Saturday).
If Tillema is out anymore time, Point will have to keep grinding them out like this. And they've proven that they can do it.
Point 2: It's Freezing at the 3-Point Line
La Crosse is a team that very much lives and dies by the three-pointer.
They've feasted the past three games, shooting right around 40 percent. But as is always the case, that number is always bound to go the other way eventually.
And that is exactly what happened on Saturday in Stevens Point. The Eagles shot an abysmal 4-of-22 (18 percent) from the arc. That's just not going to get the job done.
They can take a lot of solace in the fact that they did hang in the game with some pretty good defense of their own and nearly stole that game right away from the Pointers despite the poor shooting.
I don't have many worries for the Eagles going forward. The numbers will balance themselves out and, as shown on Saturday, they have the defense to stay in games where they aren't shooting well.
Point 3: I'm Scared. I'm Very Scared
Stevens Point currently holds a two-game headstart on the rest of the league as they are 7-0 in conference play and then there are three teams at 5-2.
But this is without Tillema even hitting the floor the past four and a half conference games for Point. And they are still winning games without him.
The key here is that they are getting everyone else into a rhythm, especially the youngsters Austin Ryf and Joe Ritchay, who have emerged as key players now that Tillema is out.
This means that when Tillema does come back (and that should be sooner rather than later), the Pointers will have undoubtedly have the best lineup in the conference and have players that can step up and take some of the burden off of Tillema, which makes him all the more dangerous, espeically with those other weapons working at peak performance and confidence.
If I'm the rest of the conference, I'm very scared.
Game I peeked at: UW-Stout 76, UW-Oshkosh 50. Top scorers UWST: Alex Oman, Chris Hortman (18). Top scorer UWO: Cory Nickel (11).
The Skinny: The Blue Devils stepped on the pedal the last six or so minutes of the first half against the Titans, taking a 40-26 lead into halftime.
They would continue to dominate out the break, holding UW-Oshkosh to just 6-of-34 shooting in the second half (17.6 percent).
Point 1: Recovery Mode
This could have easily been a game that Stout came out and had a huge letdown and let this season go to waste.
It's a long road trip after a difficult loss to Stevens Point during the week against a team desperately looking for a victory.
But instead of coming out and looking back, the Blue Devils chose to look forward and came out and dominated from start to finish at Kolf.
This is the kind of win you have to have if you are going to compete for a conference crown. It was win against a team that they should beat. It was a win on the road. It was win to get back on track after a disappointing showing at Point.
It might be exactly what the Blue Devils needed heading into a big week with games against La Crosse and Whitewater.
MWC
Game I watched: Beloit 94, Cornell 68. Top scorer BEL: Tyler Butke (31). Top scorer COR: Reggie Greenwood (15).
The Skinny: Beloit controlled this one for almost all of the game, building up a 17-point lead at half.
The Rams would cut it to 10 early in the second half before the Buccaneers would open it back up again in the rout.
Beloit would shoot an unconscious 58 percent from the floor, including going 8-of-14 from deep (57 percent) in the victory.
Point 1: The Butke Did It
A large part of the Buccaneers victory had to do with Tyler Butke's outstanding day. The forward finished with 31 points going on 14-of-21 shooting.
Butke possess a great forwards skill set; he is comfortable knocking in the mid-range jump shot and can also play with his back to the basket as well.
Both he and counterpart James Lazarcik play off of each other very well in the post, too, which makes the combination even that much more potent.
If Beloit wants to keep winning, they will keep getting the ball to these two guys in the post and let them go to work and feed off of the kickouts.
Point 2: Size Is A Problem
If there is one thing that Cornell lacked on Saturday, it was height.
And no, not just height in the post either, height all around.
With Beloit being fairly tall at every position (only on of their starters was listed below 6'0", including three at 6'5"), and with Cornell, frankly, not being all that tall (only one starter topped 6'3", and they started a 6'1" guy in the post), there was plenty of mismatches to be had by the Buccaneers.
Just to show you how unfair that was, Beloit outscored Cornell 28-14 in points in the paint and 15-4 in second-chance points.
The killer is that Cornell couldn't make up for it on turnovers and points off of them, as Beloit outscored them there, too.
Point 3: Still Right There
Beloit is still right in the thick of the Midwest Conference race. They are 6-3 and only one game back of a three-way tie at the top with Carroll, St. Norbert and Grinnell.
Beloit has been playing solid ball as of late, nearly taking down Carroll at Carroll last week and two blowouts of Illinois College and Cornell.
For being picked well back in the preseason conference poll, the Bucs have been playing well above that expectation and have really done it by taking care of business against teams that they can and should beat.
If they can keep playing like they have been and keep beating the teams they are supposed to beat and sneak a few wins out against those top three teams, Beloit will have a very good shot at at least making the conference tournament.
Game I peeked at: Grinnell 90, Lawrence 74. Top scorer GRIN: Griffin Lentsch (15). Top scorers LAW: Ryan DePouw, Conor Klusendorf, Chris Siebert (18).
The Skinny: Grinnell held control for most of the game, despite Lawrence keeping it close throughout most of the 40 minutes of play.
The Pioneers finally got some breathing room late, going up 19 with 3:45 left to play to collect the home victory over the Vikings.
Point 1: Shifting Lines
This is a very different team without leading scorer Jack Taylor on the floor.
Taylor suffered a broken wrist and will be out the rest of the season.
This undoubtedly forced the brain trust at Grinnell to alter some of the lines on each shift. First and foremost, it looks as though Lentsch will take back the top scorer position on the top line, which was given to Taylor this season.
Secondly, it might take awhile for the chemistry of each of the new lines to take hold. I'm sure that the lines had been fairly settled in by now and now without Taylor, players are going to have to get used to playing with some of the other players on the floor.
But most important, Taylor's injury leaves the Pioneers without their best and top scorer. It's a position that someone else has to fill on the bottom end, but it won't nearly be as good as what Taylor was to the Pioneers.
That was evident by the low score (although it could've just been slow game by Grinnell's standards anyway). They just don't have the same punch as they had with Taylor.
It could be a huge blow for a team looking for an NCAA berth from the conference.
NAC
Game I watched: Aurora 89, Concordia-Wisconsin 78. Top scorer AUR: Marious Lobdell (18). Top scorer CUW: Brian Jackson (21).
The Skinny: The Spartans really took control of the game midway through the first half, even though Concordia was able to hang around.
Aurora started putting away the Falcons early in the second half, going up by as much as 18 points at one point in the second stanza.
The Spartans were also able to force 20 turnovers, which led to 21 points for Aurora.
Point 1: Balancing Act
Another thing that marked the Spartans victory is how balanced they were on the offensive end as they had five guys hit double figures.
And they have really done that all season , with five guys averaging at or over nine points a contest, including three (Marious Lobdell, Scott Laskowski and Mike Bumber) that are averaging over double figures.
This is also helped out by how well they defend on the defensive end, as evident by the 20 turnovers and 21 points off of turnovers. It's really a two-faced approach because they are quick enough at every position to force turnovers and get on the run and athletic enough to finish at the rim and grab rebounds.
These runouts lead to a lot of free points for the Spartans and allow the Spartans offense to truly be dangerous by playing to all of their strengths (shooters, drivers and rebounders).
Aurora has really done this all season, especially in conference play and it doesn't look like they will be slowed down.
Point 2: Where Are My Guards?
Concordia-Wisconsin has arguably one of the most talented frontcourts in the NAC and it does the brunt of their scoring.
The problem with the scoring lies in their guards. They don't have anybody that can go off and score you 20 a night from the guard position.
Malcolm Bowers and Bryan Donaldson are solid and can score at times, but not nearly in the numbers that can truly take the burden off of guys like Mark Pace, Steve Zielinski and Brian Jackson.
I know it's not a prerequisite for a great team to have a scoring guard. But for when the Falcons go up against teams that can handle their frontcourt talent (i.e. Lakeland) or neutralize it with something else (i.e. Aurora), it would be nice to have a guard that can fill it up from time to time.
Again, not a prerequisite. But it looks like the Falcons need to find one if they want to win conference or the tournament.
Point 3: I Need A Challenge
Aurora has been going through the NAC like the cliched warm knife through butter.
This is especially true against teams in the South, who just can't match up with their size, speed, athleticism and depth that they have. Those teams might match up with one, but can't match up with all four.
I'm going to say that Aurora doesn't face a challenging from a South opponent the rest of the year, except for maybe Benedictine, just because of the rivalry (although, with how my Eagles have been playing, I really can't see them hanging with Aurora).
This leaves one game on the schedule for the Spartans to get really, truly tested: February 2 against Lakeland. I fully expect both teams to be undefeated heading into the matchup and I really give the edge to the Spartans because they can hurt you in a lot of different ways.
Game I peeked at: MSOE 64, Rockford 53. Top scorer MSOE: Jaren Singh (20). Top scorers ROCK: Tory Minnifield, Grant Olsen (15).
The Skinny: Rockford held the lead at halftime and the game continued to go back and forth until late in the second half.
MSOE finally went on an 11-0 run late in the second half to take a 60-48 lead with just over a minute left to play and grab a key road victory.
Point 1: Another Grinder
This was another game that was exactly how MSOE wants to win games. Low scoring close games where it comes down to defense more than offense.
And in the end, it was their defense that prevailed.
They made another team slow down and play their style of ball and they got the stops late, when they needed to, and did just enough on the offensive end to grab the victory.
That is how MSOE is going to win games from here on out. And if you have a chance to put them away early, like Concordia-Wisconsin did last week, you have to do it.
Rockford had that chance in the first half, as they had a five-point lead with two minutes to go in the frame.
Instead of taking advantage and extending it to an eight or 10 point lead (which, in my opinion, is too much for the offensively challenged Raiders to overcome), the Raiders went on a big 4-0 run (four points is big for them) and made it just a one-point lead, which is one where they can still get away with hiding their offensive deficiencies.
It's a blueprint that they follow to a T and you have to take advantage of your opportunities or they will grind you out of a win.
Thanks for tuning in. As always, you can follow me on Twitter for my thoughts at all times at @turkdigg40 (My thoughts will definitely be more basketball geared now since the Packers are done).
Sorry again for it being late. Blame the stinking Packers.
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