WBCA Classic

Tuesday night I went down to Madison to check out the WBCA Classic. They Classic didn't have the top teams that the WBBY Shootout did but, this gave me the opportunity to see some more teams that I haven't seen play and some of the top talent in the state.

Racine Horlick 71 Manitowoc Lincoln 56
The opening game featured two of the top teams in division one and a few of the top 25 seniors in the state including #2 ranked and nationally ranking 6'7 senior Jamil Wilson. Wilson teams with seniors 6'5 Antwon Oliver and 6'6 Nick Stark to form a very tall and athletic front line. Horlick had a very strange starting lineup as neither Oliver or Stark started and with the exception of Wilson none of the starters played again after the three minute mark with the exception of a 30 second stint in the fourth by 6'1 senior Dan Kuzia. Manitowoc Lincoln is led by sharpshooting 6'0 senior Nathan Zastrow and also has some nice height as they have seven players 6'3 or taller with four of those players starting and another two playing off the bench.

The game remained very close throughout the first half as Manitowoc was led by the three point shooting of Zastrow and company. While on defense Manitowoc played a 2-3 zone and really packed it in forcing Horlick to settle for threes. In the second half Horlick turned the defensive pressure up a notch and starting forcing some turnovers which led to easy baskets and Manitowoc stopped hitting the three point shots. The fourth quarter Horlick stretched the lead out a bit as Oliver and Wilson broke out a dunk contest. Oliver finished with five dunks while Wilson had three. Oliver and Zastrow led the game with 18 points a piece, while Wilson followed up with 17, and Stark added in 14. Other double digit scorers for Manitowoc were juniors 6'4 Eric Hoffman and 6'6 Cal Reindl who added 12 a piece and 6'4 senior Dan Kurtzwill with 10. Big differences in this game was the length and athleticisim of the Horlick big men and zero bench points from Manitowoc while Horlick had 10 different players score.

Benton 76 Williams Bay 54
In game two Benton was the far superior team but, early on it didn't look like that as Benton played to Bays level and both teams looked extremely sloppy. Williams Bay's 5'11 senior Ben Miller paced the Bulldogs with 15 first half points. The second half Benton played some locked down defense on Miller as he scored only two second half points and got their fast break going and were knocking down the threes. In the end Williams Bay was playing two on five and ended up losing by 20. The only help for Miller was 6'2 junior Jack Slovick who added 14 points for the Bulldogs. Benton on the other hand had four different players that reached double digits. 6'1 senior Jordan Hendricks led all scorers with 18, 6'2 sophomore Matt Savatski had 15, 6'1 senior Connor Hendricks 14, and 5'11 senior Kane Hoffmann had 12.

Milwaukee Custer 60 Eau Claire North 57
In a game that was suppose to have four big stars only one actually played. EC North star and Badger recruit 6'11 junior Evan Anderson has a sprained ankle and will be out a few more weeks while Milwaukee Custer was missing their top to scorers in 6'1 junior Devereaux Ingram and 6'4 senior Derek Taylor who not on the bench for whatever reason. With Anderson down 6'7 senior Tyler Brown takes over the top spot for the Huskies. Brown is a fellow division one recruit who scored 17 points in the game and only played about half of the game due to foul trouble. For Custers 6'4 junior Larentaz Daniels showed up huge tonight with 28 points. Daniels scored the majority of his points from the perimeter but was also able to get inside and score. North was in control for the majority of the game but, Custer increased the tempo in the fourth quarter and were able to grab the lead very late in the game and seal the game with a couple free throws. 6'2 senior Nate Robertson helped Anderson out with 10 points, while 6'6 senior Domonique McCullum was the number two man for Custer with 14 points.

I didn't stay for the final came because I had to get to work early the next day and there really wasn't much interest in the game between Lacrosse Central and Monona Grove. Central's big man 6'10 senior Mason Haas was out and he was the only really interest that I had in the game and with him out there was nothing keeping me there.

Well now that I've seen 24 more teams in the last couple days I'll have lots of changes to my player and team rankings. Hopefully I'll have my new rankings done tomorrow since I have the day off from work.