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.

Midweek Blog 1: 'Tis the season...

…And no I don't mean the holidays, Christmastime or anything like that. No, I mean it's time for conference play to start up. All across the nation, teams will be facing off against their conference foes as they begin their push for a conference title.

1 Big Thing

I always found this a weird time in the college basketball schedule when I played. 

First off, we would have just come off about three or four non-conference games and then we'd get thrown right into conference play.

That isn't so bad, but then we would play only three or four conference games before being right back into non-conference games come winter break.

That sandwiching of these conference games always seemed funny to me. Firstly, they didn't seem like conference games, having just come off of the non-conference schedule and secondly, we were still figuring out who we were as a team. As in, our chemistry, our roles, our offensives and defensive systems. 

For that reason, the teams that I was a part of were never that good in those games -- combined 4-6: 1-2 in both 08-09, 09-10 and 2-2 in 10-11 (Freshman year really doesn't matter. I didn't play and I didn't pay attention too much. Sorry, Bunks.)

In two of those years -- 08-09 and 10-11 -- we would take the NAC South division title. But in both instances, those championships were threatened by those loses we took early.

Granted, every other team had to endure the same thing but still. Conference championships could be determined by what would happen during those games.

This is why, when I looked at the schedule for the conferences for the blog, I found it difficult to find intriguing match ups. One, because most of these match ups aren't that great anyway. Two, because even if the match ups are intriguing, the two teams in them won't be nearly the teams that they will be come end of January or February. (Don't worry, I still found some that will be discussed later)

But why not fix this? Why not make it more like DI, where they don't start conference play until January? Here's my solution:

Push back the beginning of the NCAA tournament one week. That gives conferences an extra week to finish up conference play, meaning that they can push those three or four games in December to after Christmas break, much like how DI teams do.

This pushing back the tournament isn't a terrible idea either, especially if the NCAA wants to host all of their men's basketball championship games at Final Four sites on occasion like this year. The DIII tournament is stretched out very badly this year because of that fact. This would compress the tournament a bit if that ever happens again.

This will also give teams a full slate of non-conference games to test themselves before ever playing a conference game, when the stakes are little bit higher.

I understand there may be some NCAA rule or something from the institutions that prohibits this from happening. 

But why not? Makes sense to me.

2 Small Things

- Can Whitewater survive without Chris Davis?

The answer seems to be a resounding yes after the No. 3-ranked Warhawks came back on the road in a hostile environment at the Shirk Center in Bloomington, Ill., to down what will probably be one of the best teams in the CCIW in No. 7-ranked Illinois Wesleyan 71-65.

Now, of course it will still be tough to replace last season's National Player of the Year, but those key returners, such as Luke Knoble, Quardell Young, Eric Bryson and Cody Odegaard, have all stepped up in his absence already this season, taking on the scoring load.

They also seemed to have found a gem in freshman forward Darnell Harris, who dropped in 32 points for the Warhawks against the Titans, including connecting on 6-of-8 from deep as well.

If they can continue the balanced scoring and playing sound defense like they did last year, they should be just fine.

- WIll Grinnell be hurt Jack Taylor's 138-point game?

There was plenty of feedback from Taylor's 138 point barrage last Tuesday night. 

And most of that wasn't of the good kind. A lot of people were upset that coach David Arsenault continued the onslaught and continued feeding Taylor well after the Pioneers were in control against Faith Baptist Bible College.

Even a week later, people are still talking and discussing the record. And now even more so that the Pioneers head into their MWC schedule, where the system is most familiar to everyone.

I feel like their may be more bad that comes out of it for Grinnell as far as teams giving them their best shot when the come up against them, wanting to prove that The System is flawed.

3 Performances of the Weekend

Cody Veleke, Marian

Veleke led the Sabres to a non-conference win over Ripon College by pouring in 21 points and grabbing five rebounds. Veleke will have to be Marian's go-to big man if they are to contend in the NAC.

Ryan DePouw, Lawrence 

DePouw scored 25 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists to lead the Vikings to a MWC-opening win over Illinois College. DePouw also went 5-of-8 from 3-point range.

Tyler Tillema, UW-Stevens Point

Tillema poured in 22 points and collected six rebounds to lead the Pointers to an 80-68 win over Buena Vista (Iowa). Tillema also dished out four assists in the win.

4 Power Teams in Two Words

WIAC

1. UW-Whitewater (4-0, 0-0 WIAC) Words: still excellent
2. UW-La Crosse (5-0, 0-0 WIAC) Words: still climbing
3. UW-Stevens Point (4-0, 0-0 WIAC) Words: still Point
4. UW-Platteville (5-1, 0-0 WIAC) Words: still working

MWC

1. Carroll (4-1, 1-0 MWC) Words: very balanced

2. Grinnell (4-1, 1-0 MWC) Words: The System

3. St. Norbert (2-1, 1-0 MWC) Words: tough, gritty

4. Ripon (2-2, 1-0 MWC) Words: surprise team?

NAC

1. Lakeland (3-0, 1-0 NAC) Words: scoring barrage
2. Aurora (2-3, 1-0 NAC) Words: experienced, deep
3. Benedictine (2-3, 1-0 NAC) Words: finding identity
4. Concordia-Wisconsin (1-2, 1-0 NAC) Words: long, versatile

5 Worth the Price of Admission

(all games Saturday, unless noted (for future reference))

1. WIAC, UW-La Crosse at UW-Eau Claire, 3 p.m.  Price I would pay: $7

This is a nice early season match up against two WIAC teams that are trying to make some noise outside of Whitewater and Point. La Crosse has gotten off to a 5-0 start behind Lucas Morrisey and Jeff Heiden, both of whom are averaging over double figures

Eau Claire has had a more of a shaky start, going 3-2 with close loses to Goshen (Ind.) and Hamline (Minn.). They did just pick up a solid win over Loras on Monday and are led by guard Jordan Petersen, who is fourth in the WIAC with 15.8 points a game.

This is a chance for both teams to get a WIAC win under their belt and a step up on each other in position.

2. NAC, Aurora at Edgewood, 4:15 p.m. Price I would pay: $6

This matchup should be a good one against cross division competitors. Aurora played a tough non-conference schedule that included Augustana (Ill.) and North Central (Ill.) from the CCIW and Whitewater that should prepare them for conference. They will be coming off a 80-54 win over Wisconsin Lutheran on Tuesday.

Edgewood meanwhile has had a rough go in the non-conference schedule, going 1-3. But they were picked second in the North division this year, even though they lost to Lakeland 79-65 on Tuesday.

This could end up being for a seed in the NAC tournament the end of February when we look back on it if both teams finish what they were picked to at the beginning of the year.

3. WIAC, UW-Platteville at UW-River Falls, 3 p.m. Price I would pay: $4

One team that is looking to be on the way up and another appears to be coming from the top back down to the middle.

Platteville is looking to be that team on the upswing and they played as such in the non-conference part of their schedule, going 5-1.

River Falls could be coming back towards the middle after two seasons at the top of the WIAC. The struggled a bit in their non-conference games, going 3-2.

Both teams are still gunning for making the WIAC tournament this year and this game could be important as to who gets home court in the first round.

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

Ah yes, my first semi-entry about the good ole Alma Mater. They should be in for a good one with Lakeland coming into town.

The Muskies appear to be the class of the NAC this season, starting out 3-0 and 1-0 in conference with a win over Edgewood on Tuesday.

The Eagles had a rough go in the non-conference, going 1-3 in two tournaments. They did, however, beat Concordia-Chicago 51-47 on the road Tuesday, a good confidence booster going into the game.

The reason this one is worth it is that the Eagles were picked second in the South this year and also knocked off Concordia-Wisconsin at home last year when they weren't expected to early in the season. The Eagles will be looking to do that once again.

5. MWC, RIpon at Grinnell, 3 p.m. Price I would play: $2

This will be each teams second Midwest game of the week. Ripon took down a solid Lawrence team behind a 27-point outburst from Taylor Koth, who eclipsed 1,000 points on his career.

The System in Grinnell dispatched another opponent in Knox on Wednesday by the tune of 113-76.

Better teams, including those in the MWC, are able to beat The System and take down the Pioneers. This could be a big step for Ripon if they are to do that in Grinnell's home gym. Could be a big statement game for the Redhawks.

The Triumphant Arrival of Terry's Preseason (in this case, early season) Pick-5

Ah yes, the true beginning of this blog. Something with some actual substance. Something with some actual kick.

It's the first (of hopefully many) preseason looks at the three conferences that I will be covering in the blog.

The three conferences of mention, if you didn't read my first post (which you really should, because it's kind of good) are the WIAC, the Midwest Conference and the NAC. 

Now, I know that at the publishing of this post, most teams have played probably two or three games, although none in conference, which is a good thing. 

This actually has given me maybe a bit more insight for these conference previews as I kind of got a feel for the team lineups, rotations and those newcomers that are making an impact.

Now I've decided that previewing all of the teams for the conference previews would be very difficult for me to accomplish and write adequately enough for this blog, being as I have a full-time job and having writing to do for that as well and my appropriation of time kind of has to be there (or otherwise I have no job at all, unless you all are willing to compensate me for my salary. In that, case I would be more than happy to).

So taking that into consideration I've decided to do a Pick-5 in each of the conferences. The Pick-5 consists of the consensus top four in each conference based on each of the conference's preseason polls. The last pick will be of my choosing. That is the team that I feel could make the most noise outside of the top four.

So with the ground rules established for this thing, here are the three conference Pick-5's

WIAC

1. UW-Whitewater (last season 29-4, 13-3 WIAC)

What do you say about a team that returns four starters that played for a National Championship team last season?

Well you'd probably say that they'd want their one starter that they lost back.

That starter was National and WIAC Player of the Year Chris Davis. Davis led the WIAC and Warhawks in scoring last season, pouring in 22.2 points per game and 7.9 rebounds per game. 

That doesn't mean that Whitewater won't pack plenty of punch again this season.

This starts with senior Luke Knoble in the middle. Knoble, a forward, averaged 9.7 points per game and 4.8 rebounds a game, while shooting at a 63 percent clip last season, tops in the conference. He will be looked to be one of the main scorers again for coach Pat Miller's bunch.

Also in the fold is starting guard Eric Bryson, who shot 40 percent from behind the arc last season to average 8.6 points per game.

Rounding out the Warhawk backcourt will be Alex Merg, Cody Odegaard and Quardell Young. Merg is the sure handed guard who dished out 129 assists last season. Odegaard was a the Warhawk' marksman, dropping in 48 3's at a 32 percent clip. Young was the teams sixth man last season and averaged 6.6 points. He's looked to do a little more on the offensive end, as showcased by his 17 point game against Beloit in the first contest of the season.

Whitewater does have a few holes to fill but have brought in some talent to fill those such as D1 transfer Pat Souter from UW-Milwaukee and freshman Darnell Harris.

If the Warhawks continue to play anything like they did last season, where they led the WIAC in scoring margin (+13.5), scoring defense (58.2), assists (14.4) and field goal percentage (50 percent) and with the talent they have, they should be primed for another WIAC title and deep NCAA tournament run.

2. UW-Stevens Point (last season 20-8, 12-4 WIAC)

For such a storied program as the Pointers are, last season could be considered a slight disappointment. 

If you consider a tie for second place in the premiere DIII conference in the country and a first round exit in the NCAA tournament a disappointment.

This season, the expectations will be the same as they've always been around Stevens Point and deservedly so.

They return one of the top players in conference in Tyler Tillema, who averaged 17.3 points a game last season.

He will lead the guard-oriented Pointer attack that features Jordan Giordana and Trevor Hass. Hass averaged 9.1 points per game last season and shot 40 percent from behind the arc, while Giordana average 8.6 points per game and a 45 percent clip from deep.

That doesn't mean the Pointers will be bad on the inside. For that they have 6'8" UW-Green Bay transfer Clayton Heuer, who has already proven his worth in the first two games of the Pointers season, with a 12 and 9 game against St. Olaf and a 14 and 4 game against Lawrence.

They will also have a solid bench with some sophomores in Austin Ryf and Joe Ritchay. Both have some experience from last years team and have proven their worth this season, combining to go 9-of-11 from deep in the first two games.

Their guard play will determine how far they go. If they can shoot 38 percent from behind the arc like they did last year and Heuer can give them a solid inside presence that they need, it will be a toss up between them and Whitewater for the title.

3. UW-La Crosse (last season 17-10, 8-8 WIAC)

La Crosse was poised last season to challenge near the top of the WIAC. But down went their leading scorer Jeff Heiden to injury just six games into the season.

Even with out him they went to the WIAC tournament semifinals and finished in a tie for fourth during the regular season.

Well Heiden returns this season, but gone are three top scorers from last season in Al Chery, Cory Degner and Jack Taylor.

But their is still plenty returning with Heiden.

Three starters in Luke Tweed, Braden Tice and Lucas Collom all return for the Eagles. 

Collom is the leading scorer returning from that bunch, having averaged 6 points per game as an inside-out option, drilling 35 percent of the threes he took when he stepped out.

Tweed and Tice will round out the backcourt with Heiden and both played solid for the Eagles last season.

One of the better developments for the Eagles comes form the pickup of DI transfer Cale Zuiker from Youngstown State.

The 6'8" Zuiker is adept at both inside and out, picking up eight points off the bench in La Crosse's opener against Edgewood College, although it remains to be seen what he can do against WIAC opposition.

The Eagles also have all-utility man Lucas Morrissey at one of the forward positions.

La Crosse hangs it's hat on it's defense, as they were second to Whitewater in scoring defense. If they can do that and get Heiden back to full strength, which he appears to be, they can take an outside shot at a title and possible NCAA berth as the third team out of the WIAC.

4. UW-Platteville (last season 14-12, 8-8 WIAC)

To say that the Pioneers will be an inside team might be an understatement.

Their top three returning scorers will be at the forward or center position for Platteville.

It will all start with center Chas Cross and Jake Manning. Both averaged 9.5 points per game last season, although Cross only played in 15 games.

Also returning is Rob Stallion, who averaged 8.4 points per game last year.

The Pioneers also have some returning depth at guard as well in Eric Gerber and Jim Stocki. Gerber is a sure handed guard who topped Platteville in assists last season with 77 and averaged 5.9 points per game.

Stocki came of the bench and averaged only 11.5 minutes a game. But he has gone off the first two games this season, averaging 13.5 points per game and starting out 6-of-12 from behind the arc.

Coming of the bench for some more guard depth will be sophomore Trevor Wittwer, who has averaged 10.5 points in the first two contests of the season and has started out 4-of-9 from deep. Freshman Cory Vaassen also comes of the bench for the Pioneers.

Where Platteville will really have to beat teams is on the boards. They had the third best rebounding margin in the WIAC last year and had the 3rd most offensive rebounds. With all of those big bodies they will hope to own teams in rebounds once again and make a push at NCAA berth.

5. Terry's Pick-5 pick UW-Eau Claire (last season 15-10, 7-9 WIAC)

My Pick-5 pick might have the best 1-2, inside-out punch in the conference in Jordan Petersen and Nick Craggs.

Petersen was one of the best guards in the conference last season, averaging 14.7 points per game and shot 40 percent from 3-point land.

Craggs was a solid inside-out forward for the Blugolds, averaging 10.9 points a contest and shooting 38 percent from deep when he decided to step out to that range.

That doesn't mean they are the only two players returning for Eau Claire. The also return guards Dustin Kalien and Lewis Mau and both are bombers from deep.

Kalien connected on 42 percent from deep and Mau shot 30 percent as a freshman, meaning he will only get better this season. That gives the Blugolds one of the more deadly-from-deep guard trios in the conference.

Also returning for the Blugolds is forward Andy Kleist. Kleist will provide a much needed inside force for the outside-minded Eau Claire. He averaged 5.2 points last season in 17 games before his season was ended by injury.

Their bench will be the weakest part of the squad. Two do return to it in senior Zac Wolmedorf and sophomore Alex Anderson. However, they will be young with everyone else who comes of the bench.

If the Blugolds can stay hot from behind the arc (they led the league in 3-pointers made, second in attempts, fourth in percentage at 35.4 percent) and own the boards like they did last season (second in defensive rebounds last season) they can make a run at an NCAA berth.

If anything, they will be a team that no one wants to see come February.

(Note: With me being only one-and-a-half years removed from college basketball, there will be players that I have played against, most of which are in the NAC. But UW-Eau Claire has the only player that I played against IN HIGH SCHOOL. Yes, I'm talking about Jordan Petersen)

MWC

1. St. Norbert (last season, 16-9, 12-6 MWC)

If you returned your top three scorers from last season, most people would say that you would be set.

If you returned your top four scorers from last season, most people would say that you would be the favorites for conference.

Well, St. Norbert has both of them beat.

The Green Knights return their top eight scorers and all five starters from last year's team that lost to Carroll in the MWC tournament championship, which, no doubt, makes them hungry.

It all starts with junior guard Brandon Gries, the top returning scorer for St. Norbert. He averaged 14.5 points per game and shot 37.5 percent from behind the arc last year. 

Joining him in the backcourt will be Paul Appleton and Andy Fox. Appleton shot nearly 40 percent from deep on his way to averaging 10.6 points a contest, while Fox averaged 5 points and was second on the team in assists with 73.

The Green Knights also return a solid inside crew in Andrew Schwoerer and Garrett Thorn. Schwoerer tallied 12.3 points per game and Thorn averaged 9.4 points per game from the forward and center positions, respectively for St. Norbert.

They also have their top three bench players back in Jack Whalen, Steven Hofacker and Trent Monckton.

Whalen was the team's first guard of the bench and was fifth on the team averaging 7.9 points a game.

Hofacker and Monckton spell Schwoerer and Thorn and provide the inside depth for the Green Knights.

I've had the benefit of seeing the Green Knights in action against UW-Oshkosh on November 15 and they were impressive. Their length on defense is their biggest asset and makes it tough for teams to shoot over them.

And their stats from last season express that as they were second in scoring defense.

They also take care of the ball. They were second in assist to turnover ration and averaged the fewest turnovers in the conference.

If they can do those things once again, the Green Knights will be tough to stop at the top of the MWC.

2. Carroll (last season, 17-9, 10-8 MWC)

If any team can challenge the Green Knights at the top, it's 2011-12 MWC tournament champion Pioneers.

The Pioneers return six of their top seven scorers from last year and all but one starter from a team that went to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

They will pack a solid inside-out punch in center Alec Molter and guards Kevin Hurd and Jake Bast.

The 6'7" Molter was the top scorer for Carroll last season at 14.3 points per game and tacked 8.3 rebounds a game and shot 58 percent from the floor.

Hurd and Bast were the top gunners from deep for the Pioneers. Hurd shot 43 percent from deep and averaged 11.8 points per game, while Bast shot 42.6 percent from deep and averaged 9.5 points per game.

Dan Kratz is the teams last returning starter. Kratz is an inside-out forward, who stepped out and made 39 percent from deep when he stepped out there and averaged 9 points a contest last season.

Off the bench the Pioneers will bring off the Andrew's -- Nottling and Rumler. Both are inside players for Carroll. Rumler averaged 8 points a game and pulled down 4 rebounds while Nottling averaged 5.9 points and pulled down 4 rebounds as well.

They will also have guard depth coming off the bench. Sophomore Caleb Zeegers saw time last year and freshman Rudy Bentley has come off the bench the first two games and performed well, scoring 13 against Carthage College.

Since Carroll returns so much of it's team last season, it should be no problem replicating the numbers from last season: first in field goal percentage (50 percent), first in 3-point field goal percentage (40 percent) and first in 3-point field goal percentage defense.

In all honesty, it will be between Carroll and St. Norbert for the MWC and both should be able to grab NCAA postseason berths this season if they live up to their expectations.

3. Grinnell (last season 18-5, 14-4 MWC)

WIth some teams, you just know what you are going to get.

WIth Grinnell you know that you are going to get one of the most interesting systems in college basketball history. Probably the most interesting.

Grinnell boasts an very up tempo system where a shot goes up as quickly as it can, and it's usually a 3-pointer. 

They then press on the ensuing inbounds, trying to get a trap. If they don't get it, they give up the easy basket (This is from first hand accounts. I have yet to see they system in action and I really can't wait to).

This leads to often gaudy numbers being put on the scoreboard on a given night. Such as last season, when the Pioneers scored over 100 points in 16 of their 23 games.

And one of their players, returning top scorer Griffin Lentsch, set the record last year for most points in a DIII college game with 89.

Lentsch averaged 26.2 points per game last year, knocking in over 100 3-pointers at a 34 percent clip last year.

Also returning are Luke Yeager (10.7 points per game, 37 percent 3-point), Patrick Maher (10.6, 37) and Jesse Ney (9.8, 38), to give the Pioneers the most offensively dynamic backcourts in DIII hoops.

The Pioneers also have a new player in Jack Taylor, who eclipsed Lentsch's 89 points from last year by scoring 138 against Faith Baptist Bible College (Check out my reaction here).

Where the success really lies is how well Grinnell can turnover teams with their defense. Last year they were the best in the conference, forcing 27 turnovers a game and they were first in steals. They will need that to continue this year and with all of the returning talent, they could have a shot to knock off Carroll and St. Norbert at the top and get back to the NCAA tournament.

4. Lake Forest (last season 20-4, 16-2 MWC)

The Foresters were the regular season conference champions this year before getting bounced by Carroll in the first round of the conference tournament.

Lake Forest comes into this season having lost it's top three scorers from last season in Travis Clark, James Stack and Nate Bateman.

The Foresters do have one starter coming back, however, in guard Jeff Beck. Beck scored 9.8 points per game this season and shot 34 percent from behind the arc.

Lake Forest also has some players that saw varsity time last year in senior forward Chris Madson and junior guard Jordan Gipson. They will be two big players who will be looked at to do more for the Foresters this season.

Rounding out the starting lineup are sophomore forward Brian Madson and freshman guard Austin Terry. Madson already made a big impact for the Foresters in their first game against Lakeland, scoring 24 points in the overtime loss. Terry played 38 minutes in that game as well.

They will be young in a lot of spots and their success will depend on how well those youngsters can pick up the game this season and mesh with the returners.

5. Terry's Pick-5 Pick Beloit (last season 10-3, 9-9 MWC)

This pick was based off of their first contest against Whitewater, who they took right down to the wire before losing.

And there is plenty to be optimistic about in Buccaneer land.

That's because they return their top two forwards from last season in James Lazarcik and Tyler Butke. Lazarcik shot nearly 64 percent from the field and averaged 11.9 points per game and 6.8 rebounds per game. Butke averaged 11.7 points a contest last season in the post as well.

What they will lack in is guard play, having graduated their top two scorers from last season in David Bremner and Michael Horton.

For that they will turn to sophomore guard Ahmad Shamsid-Dean, who came off the bench last season for the Buccaneers. He will be looked at to replace those two seniors.

Also providing some help at the guard position will be freshman Steve McAfee, who has already stepped up in their first two games against Whitewater and Lakeland and scored 14 points off the bench in both for Beloit.

Beloit was second in the conference in field goal percentage last season at 46.7 percent and they will need to keep up those stats to play with the big boys up top. The problem is the field goal percentage included a league-worst 3-point field goal percentage at under 30 percent.

The shooting will have to get better from the outside for the Buccaneers to contend in the top-heavy Midwest Conference.

NAC

1. Lakeland (last season 16-9, 12-6 NAC)

The top returning scoring team in the league last year returns all but one of it's top scorers from last year. That's scary.

It starts with Jake Schwarz, who has been an offensive tour de force every since he got into the league and was again last season, averaging 23.4 points a game while shooting 45 percent from behind the arc as a forward. He also grabbed 8.9 rebounds a game.

Their second leading scorer from last year, the 6'9" Justin Ward also returns. He averaged 16.9 points per game and shot very good for such a big man from behind the arc, dropping it in at 40 percent.

I've played against both and both are very skilled in the post.

Returning at guard for the Muskies is James Oshkeshequoam, who is the leader in the clubhouse for the best name of the three conferences. He's also pretty good at basketball, as he dropped in 9.7 points per game, good enough for fourth-best.

Also starting for them is guard Joey Burris. Burris came off the Muskie bench last season and has already shown that he's good enough to be one of the five Lakeland starters this season, as he dropped in 36 points to lead the Muskies over Lake Forest in the season opener, going 5-of-10 from long range.

It's no secret that Lakeland wants to outscore teams. They led the league last year in scoring at 88.5 and were first in scoring margin.

They also led the league in 3-pointers made with 9.8 per game and were first in assists and rebounds. Those stats mean that they are looking to do work on the offensive end and the boards to dominate teams.

This team was just a game away from the NCAA tournament last year, falling to Edgewood in the NAC tournament final. They are no doubt hungry and are looking to reach the NCAA tournament and have a dang good shot to do so.

2. Aurora (last season 13-13, 8-8 NAC)

It pains me so much to put the Spartans here, as they are Benedictine's hated rival. 

But I've promised to stay as unbiased as I can here at this blog. Which means that by pure talent that is returning, the Spartans will be the best team in the South Division of the conference.

They have their top five scorers returning from last year. It starts with Scott Laskowski in the middle. He averaged 15.3 points per game and 8.5 rebounds a game last year.

Next up is Mike Bumber (A BenU transfer and personal friend of mine, even though he went to Aurora), who averaged 10.5 points a contest from one of the guard positions last year. (Although he may be out a while for an injury that he suffered in the first game. He went to get X-rays per his Facebook wall. I know, great source right!?)

Also returning are Jordan Hester (9.1 ppg), Ryan Crow (8.5) and Esteban Vega (8.1).

But even more interesting then that is a pair of transfers who have come in and looked solid for Aurora in the first two games.

Those two are Marius and Marquis Lobdell. 

Marquis has started both games for the Spartans and has played solid, averaging 6 points per game.

Marius on the other hand as been the better scorer of the two, averaging 20.5 points in the first two contests against stout College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) teams in Augustana and North Central.

If these two transfers continue to fill it up and mesh with the returners, Aurora will give Lakeland a run for their money come the NAC tournament.

3. Edgewood (last season 23-7, 12-4 NAC)

Edgewood was the NAC representative in the NCAA tournament last season and picked up the first ever tournament win for the NAC against UW-River Falls.

But a lot of talent is gone from that team, although some do return.

It starts out top with Cashton Craig, who averaged 10.5 points per game last year and shot 3s at a 42 percent clip.

The Eagles also have returning inside players in Justin Williams and Joe Klocek, who both came off the bench last season. Williams averaged 7.7 points and grabbed 4.3 rebounds a game and Klocek averaged 4.7 points per game.

Also returning with Craig at one of the guard spots in Michael Janusek, who played in all 30 games for the Eagles.

But after that the Eagles don't return much punch. 

They do, however, have a UW-Oshkosh transfer in Brett Meinecke, who has averaged 7 points a game in his first two as an Eagle off the bench.

It will be tough for Edgewood to duplicate their stats from last year, when they were best in the league in field goal percentage at 50 percent and the second best 3-point field goal percentage at 37 percent. 

Where they will have to hang their hat if they want to be competitive once again is on defense, where they were the second best scoring defense in the NAC last year. This will be the key for the Eagles.

4. Concordia-Wisconsin (last season 21-6, 14-2 NAC)

Now, I'm not going to lie, I've switched up the last two teams' orders a bit, just to make the Pick-5 more interesting. 

The Falcons were actually picked fourth in the North just for reference but here they are in the fourth spot in the list.

CUW has lost a ton of talent from last season's regular season North Division championship team.

But they still return two key contributors from last season's team down low in Brian Jackson and Steve Zielinski.

Jackson was the team's third leading scorer last season at 9.1 points per game and shot a respectable 35 percent from 3-point land when he chose to step out. He's the squad's only returning starter.

Zielinski was a solid contributor off the bench last year, scoring 4.5 points a game for the Falcons. But he is looking to do more this year, as evidenced by his 22-point game against Carroll and 20-point game against Buena Vista to start the season.

Concordia will also be counting on some transfers to pick up some of the scoring load. Those two transfers are Mark Pace (Shamelessly, another Benedictine transfer. Played with him, too, and another personal friend) and Steven Brodie (A Moorpark College transfer and thankfully, not a personal friend). Both have shown flashes in their first two games as Falcons.

Pace has dropped in 11 and 9 in the first two contest, while Brodie scored 11 and 6 off the bench for CUW.

The Falcons will be a lengthy team once again on the defensive end and will look to continue to shut teams down, as they were third in the league in scoring defense last year. They will have to if they want to compete near the top of the conference.

5. Terry's Pick-5 Pick Marian (last season 10-16, 7-9 NAC)

If ever there was a dark horse pick in conference this season, it would be the Sabres.

They return 3 of their top 4 scorers from last years squad.

It starts down low with Cody Veleke. He averaged 15.6 points per game and grabbed 6.4 rebounds per game last year for Marian. He can also go inside out, as he hit on 45 percent of his three points shots.

He also has returning outside threat Sam Koslowski back as well. Koslowski averaged 11.7 points a contest and shot the 3-ball at an impressive 49 percent clip last year. He will be looked to shoulder the brunt of the outside scoring for the Sabres this year.

Also returning are the Keller brothers in Mike and Mark. Mike averaged 9.7 points per game out of the forward position last year and was named NAC Freshman of the Year for his efforts.

Mark put in 4.5 points a contest for the Sabres. All four were starters for Marian last season, as well.

The question then becomes how much guard depth do they have. They have depth but its not experienced.

First of all, they started freshman Alex Stecker with this group of four. Secondly, the two guards with the most returning experience are coming off the bench in Alex Gomez and Jake Coenen, although Coenen played solidly in the opener against William Penn.

Their other best prospect at the guard position is junior Elan Solvik, who put in 13 points against William Penn and was the teams leading scorer.

The Sabres know that they are going to rely heavily on their post play for much of the season. But they will have to clean up the turnovers, as they were a league worst in turnover margin last year, even with having the third most assists in conference. If they can do that, they have a shot at this thing.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed the first-ever Preseason Pick-5. I know I did. Stay tuned as the season is just getting warmed up. And so am I.

And if you want to take a look at the conference outlooks themselves, here are the links.

WIAC

Midwest

NAC