Wisconsin Dells over Monona Grove

Before I start my talk about this game just had a couple quick follow ups from some recent post. I had mentioned that TJ Huizenga for Randolph didn't look good in their game against Waunakee and just didn't seem right and it turns out that he has been pretty sick as of late with bronchitis. Hopefully he will be back to full strength come playoff time. The other update was a mistake on my part. I had said that Jaron Schaffner for Sun Prairie was out for eligibility reasons but, in reality he was out with an injury and actually had to have surgery earlier this month. This is good news because you hate to see a talented kid sitting for a mistake that they made off the court but, also bad news obviously because the kid was hurt. I'm really hoping that he will be back to full strength and in the rotation for the playoffs because Sun Prairie needs all their players at full strength for them to make a deep run in the playoffs.

Now on to the recent game that I went to. I finally got a chance to see my alma mater Wisconsin Dells play this year for the first time. I knew the Dells had a very young team and that they were pretty good, had just recently clinched a conference title, and didn't have a senior on the roster. Their current sophomore class had been talked up for a very long time since they were in junior high. This sophomore class truly live and breath basketball. During the summer you can always find them playing basketball at Bowman Park or at the Just a Game fieldhouse. They have been playing pickup basketball with high schoolers and grown men since they were in seventh grade so seeing their success at such young age is no surprise.

Coming into the game I knew it would hinge on the Wisconsin Dells ability to stop Monona Grove's star 6'0 senior Zach Zweifel. Surprisingly enough Wisconsin Dells came out in a 1-2-2 zone defense which the stayed in the entire game and ultimately won them the game. I don't know if they have played this all year or not but, in the past the Dells has relied on a man to man defense and occasionally gone to a 1-3-1 zone defense. Dells is a very undersized team so it makes sense that they would play a zone defense that would allow them to trap the ball out top and negate some of their size disadvantage underneath. The zone defense really frustrated MG all night long and forced them into turnovers where they simply just threw the ball away. MG rarely got the ball inside to take advantage of their height but, I do recall a couple times where they did get second and third opportunities at the hoop when they got rebound after rebound but, were still unable to put the ball in the hoop. I kept waiting for Zweifel to take over but, he never really did and didn't seem to demand the ball as much as he did when I saw Monona Grove earlier in the year.

On the other side Wisconsin Dells didn't really look to get the ball inside at all. The really just penetrated and dished throughout most of the game and took a lot of three point shots or drove to the hoop. They appeared to be running some form of the dribble drive motion offense. It seemed everyone hit a three point shot as four or their five starters hit a three point shot including 6'3 junior Trevor Hirst who hit a pair of three pointers from the corner in the first half and then hit a third in the second half. 5'10 sophomore MJ Delmore is the guy that runs the offense and he did a great job of penetrating and finding open teammates and had some very nice passes in the transition game to set up open teammates. When he does shot the ball though he has a very smooth shot that is just pretty to watch and seems to usually fall which makes his penetration game even more difficult to defense because your worried his going to knock down the outside shot. 6'3 sophomore Shane Wimann is one of the team's captions and is there go to player on the offensive end. Wimann is usually one of the more solid kids on the court as he could easily pass for a senior and uses his strength to penetrate to the hoop, grab rebounds, or post up. He really has a completely game. His only down side is his ball handling skills and he is quick for a kid his size but, could probably use some more quickness too. If Wimann can grow another two or three inches he would no doubt be a scholarship player and that is with the fact that he could be a scholarship player even if he doesn't grow. Wimann showed a very nice post game when he did post up. He has a very nice fade away shot on the baseline or can take the ball strong to the hoop. Wimann did most of his scoring driving on the taller, slower defensive players. Wisconsin Dells got the impressive 57-43 win.

Top Players
Max Gehrmann 5'8 senior Monona Grove- With Zweifel not having a big scoring night Gehrmann stepped up and was able to find openings in the Dells zone and knock down some mid range shots.
Drew Bauer 6'3 senior Monona Grove- Battled underneath all night and did a great job of getting offensive rebounds and scoring on put backs.
Shane Wimann 6'3 sophomore Wisconsin Dells- Did it all tonight. Was the high scorer and seemed that he grabbed every rebound that the Dells got.
Trevor Hirst 6'3 junior Wisconsin Dells- Was the hot guy from the outside early and gave the Chiefs some big momentum.
MJ Delmore 5'10 sophomore Wisconsin Dells- Really a solid point guard that seems to be more of a pass first lead guard that can score when he needs to which you love to see at the high school level.

Box Score
MG- Zweifel 11 Gehrman 10 Bauer 8 Matt Welsch 6 Kevin Korntved 2 Mitch Geiger 2 Ben Crawford 2 Ian Kirkpatrick 2 Aaron Cotter 0 Graham Schroeder-Gasser 0 Zachary Dolan 0 Xavier Robinson 0 Austin Klute 0 Alex Nagorsen 0
Dells- Wimann 24 Hirst 13 Delmore 12 Mike Dickman 5 Bryce Buesing 2 Colyn Buss 0 Cody Buss 0 Sean Kendall 0 Fabian Houghton 0 Logan Georgeson 0

Kind of a quick wrap up here of the game as I'm hoping to get another post later tonight on the Waunakee vs Edgewood game so I can have a day to do my rankings and then a day for some playoff predictions before the playoffs actually start on Tuesday. One final note on Wisconsin Dells is that in their eight man rotation they play five sophomores and three juniors, so the future looks bright and wouldn't be surprised to see these guys make a run at a state title in the next two years.