Midweek Blog 3: Pointers Reign

Well, I'm fresh off a throughly invigorating experience of watching two, top-10 teams battle it out in UW-Stevens Point and UW-Whitewater.

And since this is one, if not THE, premier NCAA Division III matchup this December, I figured, "Why not start my midweek blog off with that."

So that's what I'm going for the midweek blog. It'll be done in the form of my three points weekend analysis.

1 Big Thing

Game I watched: UW-Stevens Point 72, UW-Whitewater 61. Top scorers UWSP: Austin Ryf, Trevor Hass (18). Top scorer UWW: Eric Bryson (15).

The Skinny: The first half was a typical top-10 dogfight. Both teams went at each other hard and physical. Both teams came out and executed on the offensive end quite well, running their attacks smoothly and crisply and that led to a tight game at the break.

The second half was a much different story. The Pointers played without leading scorer Tyler Tillema, who left the game with what appeared to be a right ankle injury.

But the Pointers never broke stride, going on a run to start the second half, keyed by Austin Ryf, jumping out to the lead.

This forced Whitewater to try and play catchup which they could never do the rest of the half and the Pointers took home a huge WIAC victory on the road.

Point 1: Hey, We're Pretty Good, Too

Leading up to the game, I thought it would take one of those monster games from Tillema for the Pointers to come out of Whitewater with a win.

Turns out, they were just fine without him.

After going down with an injury late in the first half (albeit, after scoring 10 first half points), Tillema didn't return to the game. Instead, the keys were handed over to Austin Ryf and Trevor Hass. 

And both preformed beautifully, especially Ryf, who had a breakout game for the Pointers. He scored 18 points and ran the Stevens Point offense very comfortably from the point. The Pointers have been waiting for a performance like this out of their sophomore guard. Tonight, they got it in a big spot.

Hass also stepped up in the second half to provide some of the lost scoring when Tillema went down. 

This is a great sign for the Pointers, especially if Tillema is down for any time with the injury. They know that they have plenty of firepower outside of him and that he doesn't have to carry the team on some nights when he does return.

Point 2: A Case of Poor Shot Selection

My BenU coach Keith Bunkenburg (or Bunks, yeah, lets just call him that) always told us that you never come back in a game by jacking the quick three or shot. (I mean that should be common knowledge for a basketball player, but I had never thought about that until he said it in a huddle one time)

Instead, the inverse is true. It hinders your comeback and often puts you in a deeper hole.

That is what happened to the Warhawks on Wednesday night. As soon as the Pointers got up 37-30 in the second half, Whitewater started settling for contested, deep 3-pointers to try and get back in the game, instead of working the lane and getting easier looks. 

They are much better team anyway when the ball hits the paint, whether with the drive, which Quardell Young did a lot in the first half when they were successful, or with the post touch.

They went away from their paint game and started taking poor shots from the perimeter, which allowed the Pointer lead to balloon and put the game out of reach.

This led to a second half 3-point shooting percentage of 14 percent (2-of-13). Not, and I'm quoting Seth Davis on this one, how you get Capone. 

Point 3: Do You Have My Number?

Yes, I believe the Pointers do have the Warhawks number. Stevens Point has beat Whitewater quite a few times in recent years, including twice last year during Whitewater's epic run.

Now, I have no doubt that the Warhawks are one of the best teams in the country still. But this has to be a disturbing trend for Whitewater that they would like to end.

And it looked like the Pointers were the better teams from start to finish. They executed better, especially in the second half, their length caused Whitewater problems on defense and on the glass (Whitewater got out rebounded 36-27, including 24-15 in the second half and 10-7 on the offensive glass).

Those pictures and the fact that Point now has a leg up in the conference race with the win, makes the picture a little bleak for Whitewater's hope at a repeat WIAC crown and if these teams were to meet up in the tournament at sometime, which could very well happen with how good both teams are.

Box Score

2 Small Things

-Can anyone in the NAC challenge Lakeland and Aurora?

My firm belief is that there is absolutely no other team in the NAC that can compete with either of these two teams for the championship of their respective divisions. They are head and shoulders above the rest and each dominate the games in their own specific ways.

Lakeland comes at you with a offensive onslaught for the ages. They have big men who can step outside and play like guards at times. They have guards who can stroke it from deep. You blink and they go on a 10-0 run. It's just unbelievable how offensively gifted the Muskies are.

Their only problem is that they've let teams hang around too long at times, which could come back an bite them for a loss here or there but it shouldn't be an overarching problem, as they know when to flick the switch and close out games.

As for Aurora, they do it with their length and athleticism. They might be the most athletic team in conference and they can use it in a lot of different ways. They can do it defensively, contesting shots and getting steals. They can do it on the glass both offensively and defensively. They score on penetration and kick to the shooters they do have.

I have no doubt that these teams will take losses at some point during the season, but the Division titles and who represents the NAC in the NCAA tournament really comes down to these two teams.

-Will UW-Stout continue to be the surprise team of the WIAC

The Blue Devils weren't picked to do a ton in the conference this year. 

But they have been one of the most surprising teams of all three of the conferences to this point, going 3-1 in the league. They took Whitewater to the wire in their only loss and beat a really solid Platteville team on the road, taking it to the Pioneers.

They do it with a solid, balanced attack, led by their two forwards Jarvis Ragland and Alex Oman. Oman leads the team at 14 points per game, while Ragland averages 11. Both compliment each other well. Oman can go inside and out and is a capable 3-point shooter. Ragland is a very athletic 4-man who can get to the rack and beat you with his athleticism.

They also have rock solid guards in Aaron Jenny and Erik Olson, a volume shooter/scorer off the bench in Chris Hortman, who is third on the team in points, and a capable big man in Josh Kosloske.

They have a lot of solid veteran pieces on this team and if they continue to play with confidence they could be a very dangerous team.

3 Performances of the Week

Cory Nickel, UW-Oshkosh (against UW-River Falls)

The junior guard was on fire from deep, knocking in 8-of-14 from behind the arc and totaling 27 points, as the Titans picked up their first conference win in over a year over the Falcons.

Nathan Kohler, Illinois College (against Grinnell)

The Blueboy guard helped take down the previously conference unbeaten by pouring in 28 points, including 6-of-8 from 3-point land. He also totaled five assists and six rebounds in the win.

Jake Schwarz, Lakeland (against Marian)

The Muskie became the conference's all-time leading scorer in the win over the Sabres, as he poured in 26 points and grabbed a gaudy 17 rebounds for Lakeland.

4 Power Teams in Two Words

WIAC

1. UW-Stevens Point (8-0, 3-0 WIAC) Words: Whitewater's Kryptonite

2. UW-Whitewater (7-1, 3-1 WIAC) Words: Still good

3. UW-La Crosse (8-1, 2-1 WIAC) Words: Weed laying

4. UW-Stout (9-1, 3-1 WIAC) Words: Extremely surprising

MWC

1. Carroll (7-1, 3-0 MWC) Words: Top dog

2. Beloit (5-3, 4-1 MWC) Words: Grinding away

3. Grinnell (7-2, 4-1 MWC) Words: System loss

4. Illinois College (4-4, 3-2 MWC) Words: Southern sleeper

NAC

1. Lakeland (6-0, 4-0 NAC) Words: Offensive juggernaut

2. Aurora (5-3, 4-0 NAC) Words: Athleticism wins

3. Rockford (3-4, 3-0 NAC) Words: Wild card

4. MSOE (5-4, 3-1 NAC) Words: Chugging along

5 Worth the Price of Admission

1. MWC, St. Norbert at Lawrence, 3 p.m. Price I would pay: $6

This is a matchup between two middling teams who probably though higher of themselves earlier in the season.

St. Norbert is coming off their loss last Saturday to Grinnell at home. They are trying to right their ship back to where they thought it would be at this point in the season.

As for Lawrence, they beat Cornell last weekend, but have been up and down during conference play to this point.

Both teams have had a week to prepare for this game and both are looking for a signature win to get them back on the right track toward the top of the conference standings.

2. MWC, Ripon at Carroll, 3 p.m. Price I would pay: $4

It's pretty easy to look at Carroll and see that they seem to be the class of the MWC this year. They have inside scoring. They have outside scoring. They get points off their bench.

And it has shown in the results, going 3-0 to start conference play.

Ripon has had an up-and-down start to their season, with their big win coming against Lawrence. They have the capability of getting hot and taking down a team like Carroll, especially if the Pioneers aren't careful and are looking ahead to next week's Norbert matchup.

3. Non-conference, North Central (Ill.) at Benedictine, 4:15 p.m. Price I would pay: $3

I guess the reason I put this game on here is that it holds a special place in my heart since I've played in the game once or twice. It's the old Battle of Chicago/Maple Avenue.

It's also worth it to see the No. 4 team in the nation. The Cardinals sport an unbelievable front line in Derek Raridon, Landon Gamble and Aaron Tiknis that can match up with anyone in the country.

It'll be a tall order for the boys from Benedictine, who are struggling coming into the matchup having lost their last three conference games before getting a week off. They will need their A games from Michael Woolf and Tim McGinty to pull it out.

The Eagles have won two of the last three (Yep, I was a part of the last two wins, interestingly enough against this years group of Cardinals), but it will be a tall order come Saturday to make it three of four.

4. Non-conference, Rockford at Loras, Sunday, 4 p.m. Price I would pay: $2

The only reason this one is on here is because I want to see what Rockford is about.

The Regents were picked to be third in the South Division of the NAC behind Benedictine and Aurora. But so far they have performed pretty well, with clutch 2-point wins over Dominican and BenU to slide into the second spot behind Aurora.

They also have one of the top scorers in the conference in Scott Suchy, who is averaging nearly 20 points a contest. It will be interesting to see what they can do out in Loras on Sunday.

5. Non-conference, Edgewood at UW-Stevens Point, 7 p.m. Price I would pay: $2

The only reason I'm paying to see this one is if Tyler Tillema will be playing for the Pointers in this one after his injury against Whitewater.

If he is playing, I want to see if it affects him at all. If he's not, I want to see of the Pointers can be as efficient as they were on Wednesday.

The Eagles on the other hand, have really been struggling and are in dire need of something to turn their season around. If they could even get a moral victory out of this game, it could do something to spark the rest of the season.

Stay tuned for my weekend blog and you can always follow me on Twitter for my basketball (and other) comments at @turkdigg40.

Live Blog: No. 6 UW-Stevens Point vs. No. 2 UW-Whitewater

Well, here goes nothing.

I'm going to attempt to live blog the biggest DIII December match up between the Pointers and the Warhawks in Whitewater tonight.

I will share when I can my thoughts at specific points of the game and I encourage you to follow along here and post comments as well. You can follow along with me at @turkdigg40 on Twitter.

Before game: This game should be a fun one to watch.

Both teams come in with multiple players averaging double figures. The Warhawks have five in double figures, led by Quardell Young with 12.3

The Pointers have four in double figures, led by Tyler Tillema, who has been playing out of his mind for awhile now, averaging just a shade under 20 points a contest.

A few things I'm looking at. One, can the Warhawks remain as balanced as they have throughout the season, or will they need to rely on guys like Young and Luke Knoble to take over if the game is close.

Two, who does Whitewater put on Tillema and how much can he shut him down.

Either way, we should be in for an exceptional contest of these two National Championship-caliber teams.

20:00 First Half:  Starters for Point: Tillema, Heuer, Hass, Ryf, Ritchay. Starters for Whitewater: Young, Odegaard, Bryson, Knoble, Harris...I'm guessing it's going to be Young or Bryson on Tillema to start out.

18:30 First Half: Yep, it's Young on Tillema, and Tillema already has 4 points, that has to improve if Whitewater wants to win.

15:20 First Half: Sounds like Young is getting into the Point defense and doing quite well feeding it to Knoble. Got to cut down on that penetration if you are Stevens Point.

14:22 First Half: First TV timeout. Very efficient offense going on right now for both sides. Young already with three assists on the game, two to Knoble, one to Bryson for 3.

12:30 First Half: Austin Ryf with 7 points for Pointers. Unsung hero right now. Doing a lot of different things on offense for a guy who is averaging less than 10 points a game for Stevens Point.

10:00 First Half: Ryf and Tillema with 17 of Pointers 19. Somebody else has to get it done. In a game this big, you'll need a third scorer.

8:30 First Half: Pointers with the first 4 point lead of the game this late into the game. Tells you something about the teams that are playing doesn't it?

8:00 First Half: Not only do Ryf and Tillema have 19 of Pointers 21, they also have all but two of the Pointers shots. Just a very interesting stat.

6:25 First Half: Video finally up for this game. Was doing my best with the audio and live stats until then.

5:10 First Half: Pointers looking like they like to iso Tillema a lot, especially from the just off the top of the key and wing.

3:31 First Half: Young getting to the rim at will against the Pointers guards. Have to cut down those penetration lanes if you are Stevens Point. Young is too good at creating for himself and others.

2:26 First Half: You can see just how much Tillema does for the Pointers. Not only does he score, but he creates. He is a very excellent passer and puts people in places they need to be to score.

:41 First Half: Warhawks extend their man pressure out and push the Pointers off of the 3-point line and get a turnover, but couldn't convert to make it a three-point game.

:27 First Half: Tillema down for the Pointers, and can't put any pressure on his right ankle on his way off. Could be a big factor in this game.

:00 First Half: Huge three from Darnell Harris to cut Pointer lead to 30-28 at halftime. That's what Harris gives you. That inside-outside presence. Young creating very well, five assists for the Warhawks, including on that last one off the pick and pop.

Halftime thoughts: Very smooth game. Both teams are very efficient offensively and very deliberate. They are looking for the best shot on every possession. You don't see many teams with patience like that.

For Whitewater, they need to keep getting Young to the basket. When he has done that he has really exploited the Pointer defense. When they get to the paint, the Hawks are dangerous.

For Point, if they don't get Tillema back for the second half because of his ankle injury, its going to be a rough sledding to score. Tillema creates for everyone and if he can't go, they become a little more one-dimensional. They will have to rely on their motion to get it done. Heuer and Ryf need to step up to proved the scoring punch.

20:00 Second Half: Tillema not out to start the half for the Pointers.

16:57 Second Half:  Heuer with a big tip in to give Pointers a 7 point lead. Stevens Point needs the big guy to do some more of that and score on the block with Tillema out.

15:43 Second Half: Lutz with a huge three to put Stevens Point up 12. Timeout Whitewater. Pointers really working their motion to perfection. Everyone touching the ball right now. Needs to keep happening.

14:10 Second Half: Ryf showing he is a capable scorer tonight, just knocked down a three-pointer. He is very capable, just hasn't shown it as much as maybe the Pointers would like or maybe he just doesn't need to.

12:13 Second Half: Whitewater just looks out of sync. Young has lost is focus a bit in this half and the offense has been stagnant as opposed to the Pointers right now.

9:40 Second Half: Whitewater not hitting from deep either. Can't do that when you are down. They are just jacking shots and it affects your defense too, which is what is happening right now for Warhawks.

9:01 Second Half: I'm also very impressed with how well the Point offense is running without Tillema on the floor. It might actually be running better than it was in the first half. Ryf has really took his game to another level tonight.

7:42 Second Half: Whitewater trying to cause havoc in a pressure defense. It's helping their offense but the Pointers are still scoring and keeping the lead in double digits.

6:13 Second Half: Huge and-1 for Hass for the Pointers to push lead up to 15. Going to be tough for Warhawks to come back from that lead. But if anyone can...

5:07 Second Half: Things getting chippy right now between the teams. Both are going very hard right now.

5:00 Second Half: I think the game is going to come down to the free throw line for the Pointers. Which is good because they are a very good shooting team from the line.

4:35 Second Half: Pointers have really impressed me by doing this against the Warhawks and without Tillema. Hass as also stepped up and had a huge half in his place. Looked very strong.

3:33 Second Half: Warhawks can't get anything to go. They were very cold this half. Part of that had to do with sometimes poor shot selections, especially when Point went on their run.

2:11 Second Half: Pointers have been doing yeoman's work on the offensive boards, Ritchay with one right there to move the lead back to 13 points. A lot of those second-chance points came in the second half.

End of Game:  UW-Stevens Point 72, UW-Whitewater 61 on the win.

Check out my midweek blog later tonight or early tomorrow for my input on the game in my "One Big Thing."

Thanks for tuning in for the first live blog, and hopefully I'll do it again soon.

Weekend Analysis 2: Making It Up to All of You

I first must start off this analysis with an apology. My job and my family took me away from getting any good looks at the games this weekend. 

No, I am not happy about this and I know you expect the product to be put on time and be quality.  I just couldn't get to it and for that, I give you my deepest apologies and I will make up for it. I promise.

So with that in mind, I will be doing only one point per game for the second weekend blog (trust me, this thing with the job shouldn't happen again for quite some time) and the analysis will come from box scores and not actual eyewitness accounts, so bear with me just this one time please.

With that, lets get to the games.

Side note: The 'Game I watched' and 'Game I peeked at' for each conference were the ones that I was intending to watch and peek at I just didn't get a chance to. 

WIAC

Game I watched: UW-Stevens Point 67, Augustana (Ill.) 59. Top scorer UWSP: Clayton Heuer (20). Top scorer AUGIE: Brandon Kunz (13).

The Skinny: The game between WIAC-CCIW heavyweights lived up to it's billing with no team leading by more than nine points. Most the time it was +/-4 points the whole way, just what you want in a game like this.

But in the end, the Pointers were just too much, pulling away at the end of the second half to pick up a solid non-conference road win before heading into their much anticipated match up with Whitewater on Wednesday.

Point 1: Tyler's Treehouse of Terror

UWSP's Tyler Tillema didn't have his best game. He shot 4-of-16 from the field and turned the ball over three times on the day.

But as the Pointers' best players, his impact was still felt despite his off performance from the field. 

He would grab seven rebounds to lead the team. He would also lead the team in assists with seven. And when it really counted down the stretch, Tillema made the plays that were needed on offense, whether with the shot or the pass to lead the Pointers to victory.

He has been playing spectacular to begin the season for the Pointers and if Stevens Point wishes to challenge Whitewater for the conference title and to make a run in the NCAA tournament, it's going to have a lot to do with what Tillema does.

Box Score

Game I peeked at: UW-Stout 64, UW-Platteville 55. Top scorer UWST: Alex Oman (23). Top scorer UWP: Jim Stocki (14).

The Skinny: The Blue Devils went into Platteville and took it to the Pioneers, grabbing a five point lead at halftime.

Stout wouldn't let up, going up by as much as 13 points in the second half and holding off Platteville from coming back and making a game of it, in what was one of the most impressive and surprising performances by a WIAC team on the weekend.

Point 1:  O man, O man!!

One of the big reasons the Blue Devils won was because of the play of the junior forward Alex Oman. 

Oman did it all for Stout, scoring in the post and outside (knocking down 4-of-6 from deep) and providing a much needed scoring output against the Pioneers.

He showed plenty of those types of games last year, averaging 18.4 points per contest in only 14 games, including a 20 point output in Stout's late season upset of Stevens Point last season.

If Oman can continue to do what he did against the Pioneers and get some help from others, such as Jarvis Ragland, Stout could continue to be the surprise team out of the WIAC this season.

Box Score

MWC

Game I watched: Grinnell 104, St. Norbert 95. Top scorer GRIN: Jack Taylor (36). Top scorer SNC: Andrew Schwoerer (29).

The Skinny: The Pioneers went up to Green Bay and took down the Midwest Conference favorites on their home floor, working The System to perfection against the Green Knights.

Grinnell would use a 9-0 run in the middle of the second half to break a 62-62 tie and held onto the lead from their, as the closest the Green Knights would get would be three the rest of the way.

Point 1: Peak Performance

You often hear of cars or people running at peak performance. But what about a whole offensive and defensive system?

That's exactly what the Pioneers have working for them right now and especially against the Green Knights on Saturday.

Grinnell shot a gaudy 45 percent from the 3-point line (15-of-33) and turned St. Norbert over 22 times which led directly to 30 points on the night. Pretty impressive.

This is exactly how The System is supposed to work and it worked against one of the better teams in the conference. Which means that Grinnell could be on it's way to a pretty special season.

Box Score

Game I peeked at: Carroll 71, Monmouth 63. Top scorers CAR: Caleb Zeegers, Kevin Hurd (14). Top scorer MON: Wes Dukeman (14).

The Skinny: The Pioneers needed a second-rally on the road against the Fighting Scots, finding themselves down by 10 points at one point in the second half.

But Carroll proved they're the real deal, coming back and beating the Scots, getting late threes from Caleb Zeegers and Andrew Rumler to hang on.

Point 1: Riding the Pine Riders

One thing that may separate Carroll from many of the rest of the Midwest Conference contenders is how deep their bench is and it showed against Monmouth (And no I'm not counting the guys who come off of Grinnell's bench as typical bench players. Definitely not the same thing).

Zeegers is especially dangerous off the pine, averaging 9.9 a game, which is good for second best on the team. That includes a 46.4 percent clip from deep.

Also, Rumler and Andrew Nottling have done solid things coming off of the Pioneer bench and it always seems as if someone off the bench produces something for Carroll in every game and more consistently than what I have seen out of a lot of benches so far.

It's a nice ace in the hole to have if your Carroll, knowing you have just about the same firepower off your bench as you do starting.

Box Score

NAC

Game I watched: Lakeland 88, Marian 81. Top scorer LAKE: Jake Schwarz (26). Top scorer MAR: Drew Binversie (19).

The Skinny: The Muskies held off teams late twice in one week, this time against the Sabres, who tied the game up at 74-74 with just over 2 minutes left to play.

But as Lakeland does, they turned on the afterburners, getting 3-pointers from Joey Burris and Justin Ward to retake the lead and down Marian.

Point 1: I Don't Know How They Do It!

The Muskies just seem to have an innate ability to flick their offensive domination on at any moment, which more often than not the past week comes right at the end of the games.

They did it against Benedictine two weekends ago, Concordia-Wisconsin during the week and Marian last Saturday. They just seem to find a whole other gear that other teams just can't get to and can't stop.

It's going to take a superhuman offensive and defensive effort from a team to take down Lakeland in the NAC, and that has to start in these late game situations on defense.

I just don't know if anybody (outside of Aurora, I will get to that in the midweek blog) can do it and do it especially well at the end of games when the Muskies go to a whole other level, it seems like.

Box Score

Game I peeked at: Aurora 106, Dominican 66. Top scorer AUR: Scott Laskowski (19). Top scorer DOM: Anthony Keener (15).

The Skinny: I thought this game would be a lot closer. BOY, was I WRONG.

The Spartans dominated from the outset, taking the Stars out of their game, while Aurora would go on to shoot 60 percent from the field in the win. WOW.

Point 1: Don't Turn the Ball Over!!!

During by time at BenU, Coach Bunks would only really ever get mad at one stat: turnovers.

I can just imagine what Dominican coach Mark White was feeling when his stars committed 21 turnovers in what was probably a more amazing stat than Aurora's field goal percentage.

To Aurora's credit though, they are long and athletic and probably didn't make it easy on Dominican's drivers. Aurora collected 15 steals on the night which led to a 28-2 disparity in points off of turnovers.

If Aurora can continue to do that, which maybe not to the extent of this game but fairly well, I don't see anybody in the South division hanging with them.

Box Score

That's it for the weekend analysis. I know it wasn't up to par with how last week's was and I promise that it won't be like this again.

As for making it up to all of you, I'm going to be live blogging/tweeting the premier December WIAC matchup between UW-Stevens Point and UW-Whitewater on Wednesday. You'll be able to follow me here (and I do encourage comments to the blog during the game) and on Twitter at @turkdigg40. It should be a whale of a matchup and I hope you'll be tuned in on Wednesday for that one.

Midweek Blog 2: A Disclaimer

It's Week Two of conference play and there were some doozies in the weekday portion of the schedule, we'll get to that in a minute.

But first, I must put in a blog disclaimer as an issue has already arose. When my job takes precedence, it's going to be tough for me to put out blogs on time, especially if that problem arises on Saturday's, when all three conferences are going at full tilt.

Well, one of these situations has already arisen, since I have to go to St. Thomas on Saturday to cover the UW-Oshkosh Titans football team. The game is right during all of the games so I won't be able to watch any of them (unless I can get archived footage on Sunday. Crossing my fingers on that one).

I will still put out a weekend blog, don't worry. It just might not be as in-depth as the last one was. And hopefully this will be the last time that me working on Saturday's will be an issue for awhile.

With that, lets get to the midweek blog.

One Big Thing

I think my time in DIII basketball has made me realize that most program's success is cyclical. Meaning that teams rise and fall throughout their program's history. You can go one year from conference champions to fighting just to make the conference tournament.

There are very few instances where that doesn't occur, such as the UW-Stevens Point's of the world. But even they have their down years where they don't live up to the high expectations.

With that, I want to take a look at three teams: UW-River Falls, Lake Forest and Edgewood. All three of these teams are coming off either a regular season conference title or conference tournament title from last year.

But this year has been a struggle for them to this point, as all three have lost a ton of talent from those clubs a year ago.

We'll start with River Falls, who won the WIAC tournament title last year. This season has been a struggle to this point for the Falcons, who are just 3-4 overall this season and 0-1 in the WIAC after a throttling by Platteville 74-48 at Karges.

It's one thing to lose to a solid team like that on the road. But for a team looking still to make it to the conference tournament, to lose like that a home looks really bad.

It may not be completely awful and they still should make the conference tourney. But for a team that has made the NCAA postseason two years in a row, missing out may feel like they've underachieved.

Next up is Lake Forest, who won the regular season MWC crown last year with a 16-2 record.

They were picked fourth this season in the MWC, but lost a brunt of their scoring from last year and it has showed already this season.

The Foresters have gone 1-3 to start out the MWC season and 1-5  overall. Those three MWC losses came to Carroll (A blow out loss at home to a superior team), to Illinois College (A team the Foresters should have beat, but were down big until finding some miracle way to come back and still lose on the road) and St. Norbert (On the road, trailed by ten for most of the second half against one of the conference favorites).

Jeff Beck has led an admirably charged attack but their is still something missing and they haven't looked great all season, notably against Carroll in their MWC home opener.

Lastly, we'll look at Edgewood. Edgewood won the NAC's first NCAA tournament game last season after winning the conference tournament.

However, they lost their top two scorers from last season and it has showed, as they are 0-2 in the NAC and 1-5 overall. 

Albeit their two losses have been to the top two teams in conference in Lakeland and Aurora. But things still don't look greatly promising from the Eagles, and their run near the top of the conference seems to be over, in my opinion.

Even those these teams maybe having their down years, (it's still early, we'll have a better look near the middle of the season) it's all a cycle and they will return to the top when it's their turn. They needn't worry.

Two Small Things

-Is Marian as good as they were picked?

This is a tough one to figure out. Both of their losses in the NAC came by one point -- a 59-58 loss to Concordia-Wisconsin at home (who proved how good they were by taking Lakeland to the wire) and a 65-64 loss to Dominican on the road (always a tough gym to play in and Stars look better than advertised).

They are games that teams who are looking to make a jump this year win and a game against CUW that they need to win if they want a shot in the North division this year.

The Sabres were able to grind out a tough win on the road at MSOE on Tuesday, 55-51, but again another team that the Sabres should have put away much easier than that.

But maybe that's what they needed. Maybe this MSOE win can get them on a role. 

But if not, it's fair to wonder how good they will be this year.

-Is the MWC going to be wide open all year?

It appears that the Midwest Conference may be the most competitive of the three conferences that I will cover. There have already been numerous close games and surprises coming out of the conference that have made me say, "What?"

The first is last weekend's loss by St. Norbert to Cornell, the MWC newcomer this year on the road. What makes that loss even more surprising is that Cornell turned around and lost to Knox on Tuesday. Knox was picked last in conference this year, while Cornell was picked to the bottom tier as well. 

But Norbert's was picked to be the favorite of the conference. Surprising, right? This is just the beginning.

Some other surprises were Lawrence taking Carroll to the wire on the road, after Carroll had started out the season strong, Beloit taking down Ripon, who took down Lawrence and Grinnell barely hanging on against Monmouth.

It has been a wild and wacky start to conference and if this continues, who knows who will come out on top.

3 Performances of the Week

Tyler Tillema, UW-Stevens Point (against UW-Superior)

Our first repeat winner, Tillema went off for 34 points on 11-of-16 shooting and 11-of-12 from the line in a comeback win against the Yellowjackets. 

Steve McAfee, Beloit (against Monmouth)

McAfee showed off his skill set against Monmouth, scoring 24 points and grabbing 5 rebounds in the Buccaneers 78-64 win on Saturday. He shot 7-of-11 from the field, 3-of-4 from deep and 7-of-8 from the line in the win.

Justin Ward, Lakeland (against Benedictine)

Ward went off against the Eagles, dropping in 32 points and grabbing six boards in the victory for the Muskies.

4 Power Teams in Two Words

WIAC

1. UW-Whitewater (6-0, 2-0 WIAC) Words: Number one

2. UW-Stevens Point (6-0, 2-0 WIAC) Words: As advertised

3. UW-Platteville (7-1, 2-0 WIAC) Words: Big, Bigger

4. UW-La Crosse (6-1, 1-1 WIAC) Words: Regrouping mode

MWC

1. Carroll (5-1, 2-0 MWC) Words: Most consistent

2. Grinnell (6-1, 3-0 MWC) Words: Most volatile

3. St. Norbert (3-2, 2-1 MWC) Words: Most enigmatic

4. Lawrence (3-3, 2-2 MWC) Words: Most sleepy (I mean that as in a sleeper pick)

NAC

1. Lakeland (5-0, 3-0 NAC) Words: Too good

2. Aurora (4-3, 3-0 NAC) Words: Eat glass

3. Concordia-Wisconsin (2-3, 1-1 NAC) Words: Challenged Lakeland

4. MSOE (4-3, 2-1 NAC) Words: Soft schedule

5 Worth the Price of Admission

1. MWC, Grinnell at St. Norbert, 3 p.m. Price I would pay: $8

This one should be a doozy as the undefeated Pioneers take their record into the preseason favorite's home gym.

Grinnell has looked solid in league play to this point, even coming back against Monmouth on Tuesday to steal win on the road after being down.

St. Norbert has had an up and down start to the season, with a questionable loss to Cornell on Saturday, before coming back with a strong home win against Lake Forest.

This should be a good barometer as to how good these teams actually are, and more importantly for the teams, it's a chance to get a leg up on the competition early in the season.

2. Non-conference, Augustana (Ill.) at UW-Stevens Point, 7 p.m. Price I would pay: $8

Probably one of the better non-conference match ups of the season and the toughest test of the Pointers season to this point.

Augie has been the surprise of the CCIW to this point in the season and already has a wins under their belt against blog teams St. Norbert and Aurora this season, who seem to be pretty solid teams and Augie wasn't expected to do THAT much damage in conference this year. (This is a relative statement, as Augie has always had a solid program)

So it's fitting that the No. 7 Pointers get a nice challenge from a legit foe just as they begin to enter the conference season from a team that is garnering votes in the D3hoops.com poll.

It'll be interesting to see how the Pointers play and if Tyler Tillema can keep his string of unbelievably strong play going against the Vikings.

3. NAC, Lakeland at Marian, 4:15 p.m. Price I would pay: $6

It's time for the dark horse to pay the piper. Or something like that. It's time to see how good the Sabres actually are.

They get that chance with a red-hot Lakeland team coming to town. The Muskies are just lethal on offense and lead the NAC in scoring by a lot, thanks to their inside duo of Justin Ward and Jake Schwarz, who have been just lighting up scoreboards.

The Sabres come into the contest at 1-2 but with two close losses on the resume, including one to CUW, who took Lakeland to the wire on Tuesday.

If the Sabres can ugly the game up, like they have in their first three games of conference play, and keep Lakeland close, they have a shot to pull off the upset and show people what they are capable of this season.

4. WIAC, UW-Stout at UW-Platteville, 4 p.m. Price I would pay: $5

The Pioneers have been the most consistent team outside of UW-Stevens Point to start the year in the WIAC (I say this relatively to UW-Whitewater, who in my mind is still better, but have played slightly inconsistently at times). 

They've done that by doing what they do best, feeding the ball inside. Their big man Chas Cross leads the team averaging 12.6 points per game this year.

They will take on a UW-Stout team that may surprise people this season. They nearly hung on at home to beat UW-Whitewater and have some scoring punch with Alex Oman, Chris Hortman and Jarvis Ragland all averaging double figures this year.

If the Blue Devils can go into Platteville and grab a win, we could be talking about a serious sleeper team. If Platteville wins by double digits, we can clearly call them one of the favorites in the WIAC.

5. WIAC, UW-Eau Claire at UW-Whitewater, 3 p.m. Price I would pay: $2

This could be the proverbial trap game for the Warhawks. 

The Warhawks will be coming off a solid win on the road against a very good UW-La Crosse team on Wednesday night. Coming up next Wednesday is the first showdown with Stevens Point.

Sandwiched in between is this game with a sneaky dangerous Blugolds squad, who played Platteville tough on Wednesday night.

If UW-Whitewater is not careful and UW-Eau Claire gets hot from deep, this could be an upset in the making.

Thanks for taking a look at the blog once again. You can always follow my hoop thoughts (and other thoughts) at @turkdigg40 on Twitter.

Weekend Analysis 1: A Good Start

Well, the first weekend of conference play is over for the WIAC, MWC and NAC. And it ended up being a pretty solid one with some solid basketball and tight finishes throughout.

With that finish, it's now on to my first post-weekend analysis blog. How I'm going to do it is I'm going to analyze six games -- three I watched extensively and three I took peaks at here and there to get a feel for the game.

The three I watched extensively will get a recap and three points about the game, while the ones that I peaked at will get a recap and one point about the game.

Ready? So am I.

WIAC

Game I watched: UW-La Crosse 84, UW-Eau Claire 69. Top scorer UWL: Braden Tice (24). Top scorer UWEC: Lewis Mau (23).

The Skinny: A really well-played ball game from start to finish and much closer than the final score indicated. 

The Blugolds would take a lead into halftime after coming back from being down early in the game. The Blugolds would keep that lead until there was nine minutes left to go in the game. 

La Crosse and Eau Claire would trade buckets until the Eagles would go on a 23-9 run the last 7:09 of the game to take the win on the road.

Both teams would shoot exceptional from deep, with UWL going 13-23 (including 10-13 in the second half) and UWEC going 10-23.

Point 1: Execute, Execute, Execute

This is how UW-La Crosse won the game. By executing the best down the stretch.

Both teams didn't play great in the half court leading up to the end of the game, with a lot of buckets coming off of transition or secondary breaks.

But when they needed to, the Eagles did just that, running their sets and getting Braden Tice and Jeff Heiden open looks from deep to turn the tide.

They also executed on the defensive end as well, forcing the Blugolds into contested shots and finishing plays off with rebounds.

Both teams were evenly matched. And everyone will tell you, in a game where two teams are that even, it comes down to execution.

Point 2: The Importance of Being Luke Tweed

Even though Tice was UWL's leading scorer on the afternoon, the biggest statement award would have to be given to the Eagles' Luke Tweed.

Tweed finished with 23 points on the game and none more important than a stretch early in the second half.

The Blugolds were firing on all cylinders coming out of the halftime break and were looking for an early burst to get them up double digits.

Only Tweed wouldn't allow that to happen, scoring 16 of his 23 in a six minutes span early in the second half, accounting for two-thirds of the Eagles points during that time and actually cutting the UWEC lead to one.

What was most impressive was how he did it. He's a versatile player and he put that on display. The 6'6" guard made 3s. He posted up. He took guys off the dribble. He did it all.

Being a junior this year, he needed to step up and fill more of a scoring role this season. And with his skill set, especially being able to post up smaller guards, he could be very dangerous for the Eagles once they get into the heart of conference season 

Note: I found myself rooting a bit for Tweed. After all he was representing my old high school conference (Western Cloverbelt). Good job, Luke, from all of us older Cloverbelters.

Point 3: Transitioning to something new

UWEC might want to try opening up the throttle a little bit more on offense.

The Blugolds looked exceptional in transition and especially on secondary looks off the initial outlet break.

You could just see it in how the first half went. 

UWL opened up a lead in the beginning due to Eau Claire becoming stagnant in the half court and not getting open jumpers (their bread and butter).

But when UW-Eau Claire started coming back in the first half is when they started making things happen on the break. Their 3s suddenly became wide open because UWL was late closing to shooters, which often happened after the initial break was stopped.

But this in turn made their half court sets better since it wore down UWL and slowed them down so the Blugolds could attack the basket and create.

If I'm Eau Claire in my next game, I'm running coming out of the gate.

Box Score

Game I peeked at: UW-Platteville 74, UW-River Falls 48. Top scorer UWP: Chas Cross (21). Top scorer UWRF: Ollie White (12).

The Skinny: The game was tight until late in the first half when Platteville went on a  17-5 run to close the half to open up a 33-19 lead.

That would continue in the second half when the Pioneers would extend that lead out to 21 by the 15 minute mark of the second half.

Platteville would hold the Falcons at bay the rest of the way, using a 46-23 rebounding margin, which included 17 offensive rebounds, to down UWRF.

Point 1: It's a Big, Big, BIg World

It was no secret coming into the season that the Pioneers were going to be one of the better inside teams in the WIAC.

This game showcased why all those big bodies could be dangerous for all those other WIAC teams. 

Chas Cross just looked like a man amongst boys down low against River Falls on Saturday. He wend 8-of-12 from the field and pulled down seven rebounds.

Rob Stallion looked equally impressive, going 5-of-10 from the floor and grabbing nine boards.

Sure, Platteville has outside guys who are solid. Jim Stocki and Trevor Wittwer each hit double figures for the Pioneers tonight.

But it all starts with what happens down low for Platteville. If they can continue to feed the post like they did today and rebound like they did, things could be looking the Pioneers way for the remainder of the season.

Box Score

MWC

Game I watched: Grinnell 134, Ripon 97. Top scorer GRIN: Jack Taylor (39). Top scorer RIP: Taylor Koth (31).

The Skinny: The System worked to perfection against the Redhawks, as Grinnell raced out to a double-digit lead and never looked back.

They did so by forcing 28 Ripon turnovers and getting a hot shooting night from Jack Taylor, who went 9-of-15 from deep in only 14 minutes of playing time as five Pioneers hit double figures on the night.

Ripon looked discombobulated for most of the night, befuddled by the press and tempo and couldn't get anything going early, when they needed it most.

Point 1: Fast start

I'm convinced after taking a look at my first ever Grinnell game that this system is at it's best with a lead of about five or eight early in the game.

At that point, the team that is behind is scared of falling too far behind the Pioneers that they can't catch up to them.

That's when the trap defense becomes even more effective. Passes are now being thrown to more risky areas to try and get something going. The opposing team starts to panic a little bit and suddenly that lead is now 20 in a blink of an eye.

That's exactly what happened to Ripon. They fell prey to that five or eight point lead early in the contest and before you knew it Grinnell had opened up a huge lead that became insurmountable.

If Grinnell can start that fast against every team and get them into that way of thinking, they'll be in for a good season.

Point 2: A little bit of defense?

Grinnell held Ripon to just 42 points in the first half, which is pretty solid by their standards.

And they actually did it by playing a solid half court defense that Ripon couldn't seem to figure out right away.

They prevented a lot of easy passes in the half court to the paint and made the Redhawks move the ball around quite a bit before taking a shot.

It was interesting to see how difficult Grinnell made it in the half court for Ripon and contributed to the large halftime lead. If they can somehow do that every once and awhile and still put up as many points as they did, they are going to be real tough.

Point 3: Bunnies

No, I'm not talking about the furry creatures that eat carrots. I'm referring to the baskets in basketball that are considered easy.

To beat Grinnell, you have to be able to convert those easy opportunities any chance you get.

Ripon failed to do that early in the game against the Pioneers. Ripon had plenty of chance to convert inside the paint on semi-contested post touches/layups and failed to convert on most of them.

Pair that with the turnovers and they dug themselves a pretty big hole that they couldn't recover from. 

Now, if your Ripon you need to get this game out of your mind as quickly as possible and look at the fact that they took down a very solid Lawrence team earlier in the week. They need to focus on that win and not this loss.

Box Score

Game I peeked at: Illinois College 74, Lake Forest 73. Top scorer IC: Brandon Berry (21). Top scorer LF: Jeff Beck (29).

The Skinny: Illinois College was in control for much of this game, having a 68-55 lead with 5:26 left to go in the game at home in Jacksonville.

But that's when all Hell broke loose, as the Foresters came charging back to cut the lead to 74-73 with 30 second left on a Jeff Beck 3-pointer.

Beck and Lake Forest had one more shot at it but his jumper was blocked by IC's Isaac Grapperhaus to secure the win for the Blueboys.

Point 1: Wow. What a hole!

That's what the Foresters are probably think now that they are 0-2 in the MWC with losses to Carroll (understandable) and now Illinois College (a team they should have beat).

Last year's MWC regular-season champions did lose quite a bit from last year's squad but were still picked to be in the top four of conference this season.

They've looked anything but these past two games and especially against IC, where it took a miraculous come back to almost pull of the victory. They just haven't played like that team from last year.

Things are going to have to turn around quickly for the Foresters, especially if they want to fight back into that top four come season's end in the top-heavy MWC.

Box Score

NAC

Game I watched: Aurora 87, Edgewood 73. Top scorer AU: Jordan Hester (21). Top scorer EC: Brett Meinecke (16).

The Skinny: The Spartans used a late first-half run sparked by Hester to take a 13-point lead into halftime.

Edgewood would hang around for awhile, cutting the Aurora lead to six a couple of times.

But every time Edgewood would try to make a run, Aurora would exploded back with a couple of buckets to push the lead back out.

Eventually, the Eagles would run out of time and Aurora would knock down free throws to hang on for the big cross NAC win.

Point 1: Eating glass

There is a difference between grabbing rebounds and OWNING rebounds.

The Spartans owned the Eagles on the glass on Saturday, outrebounding Edgewood 42-31 and 17-10 on the offensive glass.

And I couldn't find the exact stats, but many of those offensive rebounds for the Spartans went back up for points.

Aurora definitely will be looking to continue that margin all season and they have one of the best rebounders in the NAC in Scott Laskowski.

Trust me, I know. I played against him as a freshman and he grabbed a ton of rebounds then. He's as good as they come on the glass.

If they continue rebounding like this and converting like they did today, the Spartans will be tough to beat in the South.

Point 2: Length is a good thing

Thats what Aurora has a lot of. Length. And they put it to good use against the Eagles.

The Spartans aren't the greatest of defensive teams, but when a shot goes up anywhere on the court, they contest it and it looks harder than it is because of how long they are.

This also helps in gap control on penetrations and passing lanes as they use the length to clog both of those up. 

Against the Eagles, Aurora was able to force a lot of late shot clock situations on Edgewood because of that and often that shot was a poor shot.

If they continue to use their length the way the did, they can do good things against teams that can't match that length.

Point 3: It's just not the same without you around

Gone from Edgewood are last year's leading scoring options in Kent Faurote and Ben Wisniewski. Both were ample and volume scorers for the Eagles.

You can see just how much not having those two around hurts point guard Cashton Craig this season.

Last year, Craig was able to defer and create for those two guys and let his points come to him from within the offense.

This season, without them, he's had to become more of a scorer instead of facilitator, which is a role that his game just doesn't seem to fit into.

He put up plenty of poor shots against Aurora and failed to get kind of rhythm going within the offense.

It's a problem that's going to have to change for Edgewood if they even want to think about being as good as they were last season.

Box Score

Game I peeked at: Lakeland 87, Benedictine 80. Top scorer LAKE: Justin Ward (32). Top scorer BEN: Michael Woolf (29).

The Skinny: Benedictine hung around with Lakeland for quite some time, even cutting the Muskie lead to one in the second half.

But Lakeland's scoring punch would come back and they would go on a run in the middle of the half to take control of the game and hold the Eagles at bay the rest of the way.

Lakeland would actually only shoot a little bit better than Benedictine from the floor, but 19 Eagles turnovers hurt them in this one.

Point 1: If you can't outscore them, you're not going to beat them

It's is just unbelievable what kind of scoring punch the Muskies have this season. 

It all starts with their two big guys, Jake Schwarz and Justin Ward, who scored 21 and 32 on the day, respectively, for Lakeland.

But what's most impressive about these two is that even though they are big guys, they play anything but, which is especially true for the 6'9" Ward.

These guys were out on the perimeter half the time playing like guards, driving to the hoop or shooting the three (Schwarz went 4-of-8, Ward went 1-of-2).

This makes them a hassle for any teams to guard them when these guys are equally capable of playing outside on the wing or inside on the block.

Pair that with the shooting prowess of a Joey Burris and the rest of the Muskie crew, it's just a lethal combination.

Benedictine tried their hardest to stay with them and actually did a pretty good job. But in the end the versatility and offensive talent was just to much for the Eagles.

It's going to take an extraordinary offensive effort to take down Lakeland this year.

Box Score

That's it for this weeks look. Be sure to stay tuned to the blog for my midweek look and you can always follow me on Twitter for random bits and pieces at @turkdigg40.