Thursday, December 26, 2013

Week 4 Rankings

I'm a little late on my new rankings with the Christmas season but, the coaches rankings haven't even been updated due to the Holiday break. My next rankings will not be until January 6th since both of these next two weeks are only half weeks.


Division One
Racine Case lost to a team from California but, as I've said before I don't let out of state losses hurt teams. Marquette lost to Sussex Hamilton and West Allis Central lost to Menomonee Falls dropping them both to 13 and 15.

1. Germantown
2. Brookfield Central
3. Racine Case
4. Neenah
5. De Pere
6. Stevens Point
7. Homestead
8. Oshkosh North
9. Milwaukee King
10. Madison Memorial
11. Waukesha West
12. Milwaukee Riverside
13. Milwaukee Marquette
14. Milwaukee Vincent
15. West Allis Central

Division Two
Seymour lost to Shawno in a huge upset which allowed Shawno into the top 15. Holmen lost to La Crosse Central dropping them to 11. Sauk Prairie lost to Reedsburg allowing them to jump into the 13 spot and Sauk going to 15. Kaukuna lost to Neenah and Wauwatosa West lost to Milwaukee Pius knocking both out of the top 15 with so many strong teams waiting to get into the top 15.

1. Rice Lake
2. West De Pere
3. Milwaukee Washington 
4. Wisconsin Lutheran
5. New Berlin Eisenhower
6. Mt. Horeb
7. Seymour
8. Monona Grove
9. La Crosse Central
10. Stoughton
11. Holmen
12. Whitefish Bay
13. Reedsburg
14. Shawno
15. Sauk Prairie

Division Three
Waupun lost to Plymouth allowing Plymouth to come in at 11 and Waupun right behind at 12. Aquinas lost to Milwaukee Vincent and hang on to the 13 spot and Brown Deer lost to New Berlin Eisenhower and a team from Oklahomm but, still hang on to 14.Wrightstown lost to Roncalli and Valders and Neekoosa lost to Marshall and Wautoma, both fall out of the rankings and are replaced with Plymouth and Northwestern.

1. Lodi 
2. Roncalli
3. Marshall
4. Peshtigo
5. Elk Mound
6. Edgerton
7. Laconia
8. Valders
9. GET
10. Poynette
11. Plymouth
12. Waupun
13. Aquinas
14. Brown Deer 
15. Northwestern 

Division Four
Shiocton was the only team that lost and lost twice to Iola Scandenavia and Brillion.

1. Dominican
2. Brookfield Academy
3. Racine St. Catherines
4. Blair Taylor
5. Aburndale
6. Mineral Point
7. Lourdes Academy
8. Brillion
9. Cuba City
10. Fall Creek
11. Iola Scandenavia
12. Onalaska Luther
13. Pacelli
14. Marathon
15. Shiocton

Division Five
Barneveld lost to Black Hawk and drop to 11. Milwaukee Academy of Science lost to Salam and Pulaski and fall out of the rankings completely. Catholic Central lost to Dominican and drop a couple spots to 12. Thorp was another team to fall out of the rankings having lost to Black River Falls and Fall Creek. La Farge and Washburn are the new teams to the rankings.

1. NEW Lutheran
2. Black Hawk
3. Cassville
4. Sheboygan Lutheran
5. Central Wisconsin Christian
6. North Crawford
7. Hillsboro
8. Albany
9. Williams Bay
10. Wausaukee
11. Barneveld
12. Catholic Central
13. Randolph
14. La Farge
15. Washburn

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Sun Prairie gets big conference win

Finally got a chance to watch Sun Prairie this year and see what was going on with them. Before the year myself and most people who follow high school basketball thought Sun Prairie would battle Madison Memorial for the top spot in the conference. Thus far in the year Sun Prairie has been fairly disappointing going 3-3 after their win on Friday night. Their star 6'2 junior Nick Noskowiak seems to be putting up some big numbers but, he just hasn't got any help. 

This was a huge game as far as conference goes with Lafollette being 3-2 and Sun Prairie being 2-3. Lafollette came out with a great game plan just simply double teaming Noskowiak any time he touched the ball and even before, when Prairie was trying to in bounds the ball. This caused Noskowiak to really get tired out in the game and never get into his rhythm. Midway through the second quarter though Noskowiak got his outside shooting hitting three three point shots. The emergence of Noskowiak may of been because fellow junior 6'5 JT Ruffin came alive scoring and helping to bring the ball up the court. Ruffin should the ability to help bring the ball up the court and finish at the rim using his size. In the second half Noskowiak kept looking for his shot but, it wasn't falling and he appeared to get frustrated after he was fouled on a pair of shots and it wasn't called. With Noskowiak's jumper not falling, 6'5 freshmen Nate Verstegen came up big scoring at put backs off offensive rebounds. In the end Noskowiak's free throw shooting sealed the game. 

The Sun Prairie zone was huge for Lafollette, they just couldn't get the ball inside and just settled for outside shots all game long. Prairie did a nice job of switching between their 1-3-1 zone and 2-3 zone to confuse Lafollette. Lafollette settled for the threes and they weren't falling. I think Lafollette hit maybe three, three point shots in the game. Lafollette came out with a lot of energy and 6'1 junior point guard Darol Thomas hit a three right away but, Thomas didn't hit another three the rest of the game and it wasn't for lack of shooting them on his part. I can really only think of two or three times where Lafollette actually took the ball inside and they did score each time they did it. There wasn't a lot of bright spots for Lafollette. Everyone that played looked to shoot so, they did score some points but, just wasn't enough team play and too much outside shooting. 

Top Players
Nick Noskowiak 6'3 junior Sun Prairie- Looked very good from three point range and driving to the hoop but, struggled from mid range. Only had one short period of time where he was forcing things, otherwise he really played within the offense. 

JT Ruffin 6'5 junior Sun Prairie- Pretty much said it all earlier. Did a nice job of taking the ball to the rim and scoring and also helping bring the ball up the court to take some of the pressure off Noskowiak. 

Paris Vance 5'10 senior La Follette- Yea he's just a gunner coming off the bench but, did really provide scoring punch for a Lafollette team that needed it. 

Darol Thomas 6'1 junior La Follette- Always liked his game and thought he should shoot more and he did that tonight but, his shot just wasn't falling tonight. 

Box Score
SP 67- Noskowiak 27 Ruffin 18 Verstegen 9 Michael Marshese 6 Malik Robinson 3 Shane Waldon 2 Sam Kerr 2 Conner Stanek 0 Nate Oehrlein 0 Josh Hill 0 Noah Diaz 0 Holden Buie 0 
La Follette- Vance 15 Thomas 14 Keahn Dunn 11 Maurice Ewing 7 Cortez McGree 5 JJ Collins 2 Kian O'Brien 0 Joseph Phillips 0 Jordan Carlson 0 Larry Haynes 0 Quinten Shere 0 

I really think that this game may of been a turning point for Sun Prairie and they will look like the team everyone expected to see this year. Sun Prairie is missing two seniors from last years team and also two other returners from last years team, so we thought that they would be returning seven of their top nine and they actually only returned five. Lafollette will probably end up being a middle of the road team in the conference 

















Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Week Three Rankings

Another week so time for another round of rankings.


Division One
Oshkosh North lost to Neenah who is beating everyone right now and fell to #8. Waukesha West lost to Waukesha North, which is a pretty bad loss but, only fell to 13. Vincent lost to West Allis Central and drop to 15 while Central jumped into the rankings at 12. Sussex Hamilton lost to Brookfield Central and fell out of the rankings despite BC being ranked two, being 3-3 means can't be ranked, same can be said for Milwaukee Hamilton who lost to BC and fell to 2-3. Milwaukee Riverside dropped a game to Neenah but, being that it was their first loss of the season I felt that they should be ranked.

1. Germantown
2. Brookfield Central
3. Racine Case
4. Neenah
5. De Pere
6. Stevens Point
7. Homestead
8. Oshkosh North
9. Milwaukee King
10. Milwaukee Marquette
11. Madison Memorial
12. West Allis Central
13. Waukesha West
14. Milwaukee Riverside
15. Milwaukee Vincent


Division Two
Rice Lake lost to Tartan but, like I've said before I don't penalize teams for losing to out of state teams. Lacrosse Central lost to Marshfield and fell to 11 and Stoughton is right behind them having lost to Sauk Prairie who is 10. Whitefish Bay lost to Homestead and hangs on to the 15 spot but, are 3-3. Kaukauna lost to Kimberly and check in at 13. Milwaukee Pius falls out of the rankings because there were too many good teams.

1. Seymour
2. Rice Lake
3. West De Pere
4. Milwaukee Washington
5. Wisconsin Lutheran
6. New Berlin Eisenhower
7. Mt Horeb
8. Holmen
9. Monona Grove
10. Sauk Prairie
11. La Crosse Central
12. Stoughton
13. Kaukauna
14. Wauwatosa West
15. Whitefish Bay


Division Three
Marshall lost to #1 Lodi and drop a spot to #3. Brown Deer lost twice to Milwaukee Pius and Milwaukee Vincent and drop all the way to 11. Valders lost to Roncalli who also beat Wrightstown. Valders falls to 10 and Wrightstown 12, everyone else stays the same.

1. Lodi 
2. Roncalli
3. Marshall
4. Peshtigo
5. Waupun
6. Elk Mound
7. Aquinas
8. Edgerton
9. Laconia
10. Valders
11. Brown Deer
12. Wrightstown
13. Nekoosa
14. GET
15. Poynette

Division Four
Dominican lost to Germantown badly but, losing to the best team in the state shouldn't hurt a D4 team. Pacelli was the only other team to lose, losing to Shiocton and dropping to 14.

1. Dominican
2. Brookfield Academy
3. Racine St. Catherines 
4. Blair Taylor
5. Aburndale
6. Mineral Point
7. Lourdes Academy
8. Brillion
9. Cuba City
10. Shiocton
11. Fall Creek
12. Iola Scandenavia
13. Onalaska Luther
14. Pacelli
15. Marathon


Division Five 
Sheboygan Lutheran lost to NEW Lutheran and drop a couple spots to four. Randolph lost to Central Wisconsin Christian and West Salem  and fall all the way to 14. Thorp lost to Osseo Fairchild, dropping to 15. Assumption lost to Aburndale and Amherst, Fall River lost to Oshkosh Lourdes, and Bangor lost to Hillsboro, knocking all three teams out of the rankings and are replaced by Albany, Williams Bay, and Wausaukee at 11, 12, and 13.

1. NEW Lutheran
2. Black Hawk
3. Cassville
4. Sheboygan Lutheran
5. Barneveld
6. Central Wisconsin Christian
7. North Crawford
8. Milwaukee Academy of Science
9. Catholic Central 
10. Hillsboro
11. Albany
12. Williams Bay
13. Wausaukee
14. Randolph
15. Thorp

Things seem to have settled down as the rankings become more and more clear as the year goes on.



























Monday, December 16, 2013

NY2LA Tournament

Took in a great tournament on Saturday at Homestead high school. I love these type of tournaments because it allows me to see teams and players that I never would of seen before all in one day. Like most tournaments and games you get some great games and games that just don't live up to the hype.

Brookfield Academy 81 Milwaukee North 71 
Ended up missing the first half of this game so it was hard to get into the flow of the game. I was there to see 5'9 junior David Hamilton and he didn't disappoint. I didn't keep score of this game but, knew Hamilton was closed to 40 points and I was right as he finished with 40. North played very frantic and took shots early and often while Academy was patient and move the ball and always seemed to get a wide open shot.


West Allis Central 68 Racine Horlick 47
One of the games that did disappoint as Central jumped out to an early 17-2 lead and never looked back. Horlick had a huge size advantage but, Central dominated the boards. Horlick could really use a solid point guard and some good outside shooting. Central point guard 6'0 junior Brandon Key had his way in this game and really controlled the tempo.

Top Scorers
WAC- Jerome Cummings 17 Key 13 Ron Turkvan 13
Horlick- Deonta Woods 11 Andre Barry 10 Ricky Neal Jr 6 Deantae Woods 6


Wisconsin Lutheran 68 Pewaukee 45
Wisco did what they always do. They pushed the tempo pressuring Pewaukee into turnovers and then turning those turnovers into easy buckets on the other side. Like last year it will always be a team effort for Lutheran and any one could step up on any given night. Pewaukee really struggled to set their offense. Pewaukee probably could of looked inside a lot more but, they seemed content trying to play Lutheran's game and tried to penetrate from the outside.

Top Scorers
WL- Keith Franklin 15 Milton Cummings 14 Jamare' Griffin 14 Anthony Carver 10
Pew- Ryan Stepanovich 13 Parker Brey 10 Eric Lutzen 6


Milwaukee Vincent 84 Brown Deer 68
Kind of a battle of contrasting styles as Vincent looked to run and it appeared BD would prefer to be a little more patient and use their size advantage. Brown Deers advantage was inside but, their guards struggled to get them the ball and they just couldn't hit anything from the outside. The other big difference in the game was that Vincent's guards attacked the rim while the BD guards settled for outside shots, leading to Vincent having a huge free throw shooting advantage.

Top Scorers
Vincent- Marcus White 27 Tyree Kendricks 17 Brandon Cooper 14 Malik Brown 11
BD- Devante Jackson 23 Lewrenzo Byers 18 Jerry Luckett 11

Homestead 62 Milwaukee Marquette 40
This was a big matchup of 6'7 juniors between Homestead's Jaylen Key and Marquette's Garrison Goode. The matchup started good but, Goode just couldn't find the touch and Key really outplayed him leading to Homesteads victory. Homestead really pounded it inside and Marquette never got things going.

Top Scorers
Homestead- Key 20 Jerrod Walton 15 Jack Popp 8
Marq- Ben Meinholz 12 Jake Matkovich 7 Garrison Goode 6


Neenah 56 Milwaukee Riverside 49
Another big matchup between big men with 6'10 Neenah junior Matt Heldt verse 6'10 Riverside senior Robert Harris. Harris was never a huge factor in the game and Neenah's patience and Heldt wore down Riverside who had the lead nearly the entire game. Neenah was patient throughout, while Riverside took the first shot they saw and played a lot of one on one.

Top Scorers 
Neenah- Heldt 24 Trevor Entwisle 12 Adam Pohlman 8
Riverside- Nicholas Cobbins 14 N'Gai Dixon 12 James Batemon 11


Germantown 75 Whitefish Bay Dominican 29
This game was over before it began. Germantown has a ton of college talent and Dominican had 6'10 junior Diamond Stone. Stone was extremely frustrated, as every time he got the ball he was double teamed by two 6'7 players. Germantown senior 6'2 LaMonte' Bearden was head and shoulders above everyone on the court and 6'4 senior Jake Showalter just couldn't miss a three if he wanted to.

Top Scorers
GT- L Bearden 22 Showalter 14 Dearionte Hudson 8
Dominican- Stone 11 Austin Moutry 6 Jack Jelacic 4

Brookfield Central 61 Milwaukee Hamilton 57
Hamilton jumped out early behind the hot start from 6'9 senior Kevon Looney and BC spent the entire night trying to regain the lead and finally got it back late in the fourth and got the win in OT. In the second half Central doubled team Looney to force his team mates to do something and it looked like it was gonna be 5'10 junior Danya Kingsby that would do it but, he ran out of gas late. The patients and strong play of 6'2 senior Riley LaChance claimed the victory late.

Top Scorers 
BC- LaChance 26 Elijah Goodman 14 Brad Newman 12
Hamilton- Looney 31 Kingsby 17 Delmarco Rucker 6

Top Players
David Hamilton 5'9 junior Milwaukee North- 40 points is all you have to say. Just a pure gunner with unlimited range.

Brandon Key 6'0 junior West Allis Central- Didn't score big but, really controlled this game with his point guard play. Just a very smooth player.

Jerod Cummings 6'1 junior West Allis Central- Did a great job of rebounding and battling the much bigger Horlick players. Was also able to score on the inside off the Key assists.

Milton Cummings 6'5 senior Wisconsin Lutheran- Was huge hitting three big three pointers in the game. Just has a really pretty smooth shot.

Devante Jackson 6'9 senior Brown Deer- Just a real nice player all around. Has a nice mid range jumper and showed a nice game on the inside.

Marcus White 6'5 senior Milwaukee Vincent- Does it all for Vincent. Runs the point at times, plays in the post, rebounds, and can hit the outside shot.

Tyree Kendricks 6'3 junior Milwaukee Vincent- Really gave Vincent a big scoring punch off the bench. A guy that could be a big scorer.

Brandon Cooper 6'6 senior Milwaukee Vincent- Did a nice job battling Jackson and company on the inside. Just a high energy player that always gives 100%.

Jaylen Key 6'7 junior Homestead- Showed a very nice post game and a wide array of moves in the post. Moves very well and can go out and hit the mid range shot.

Matt Heldt 6'10 junior Neenah- A real nice player and big man. Has a nice smooth hook shot on the inside and really keeps his composure and doesn't force things.

LaMonte' Bearden 6'3 senior Germantown- Just a super super quick lead guard. Handles the ball very well, controls the Germantown offense, and reads the passing lanes well on the defensive end.

Jake Showalter 6'4 senior Germantown- Sharpshooter that just doesn't miss. Seemed to take a lot of bad shots but, they were actually good shots as he doesn't miss.

Kevon Looney 6'9 senior Milwaukee Hamilton- Showed why he is one of the top players in the country. With his tremendous size could get his shot off at any time and the threes were falling.

Caleb Mortag 6'6 senior Brookfield Central- Didn't do a ton of scoring but, really showed some athletic ability blocking shots, throwing down dunks, and rebounding.

Riley LaChance 6'2 senior Brookfield Central- Smooth is the word. Never seems pressured and is always playing under control. When he shoots you just expect the shot to fall. Everything is just pretty about his game.

Was a very long day for me, so I did the best I could of my write up. It is now two days since the game so some things are hard to remember which led to my short write ups of each game. When there's eight games it's tough to go in depth on each game.


Friday, December 13, 2013

Madison Memorial over Madison East

Took in a very big game in the Big Eight as Memorial looked to climb back to the top after their loss to Middleton and East was looking to climb back in to some relevance after defeated Sun Prairie to open the season. As usual Madison East was undersized but, they do have some height in a pair of juniors 6'5 D'Angelo Millon and 6'4 Deron Cribbs. East really played tough even though they were much smaller then Memorial and led most of the game before they just seemed to wear out against the Memorial pressure. The East teams of recent have really reminded me of the Madison Edgewood teams, that maybe aren't the most talented team but, they are going to play the hardest and give 100% at all times. I really think highly of Edgewood's coach Zwittler and East's coach Matt Miota is starting to get into that class for me.

Early on East was knocking down their shots from the outside and they were running their offense very well. Memorial was able to stay in the game simply because they were taller and got second and third opportunities every time down the court.  6'7 senior Darral Willis had a field day early on scoring on the inside and hitting his free throws when he got fouled. East got the outside shooting from all their guards in 6'0 senior Dequan Seymore, 5'10 senior Martin Lackey, and 5'8 junior Austin Obodo. East led this game by five going into the fourth quarter but, Memorial got their uptempo gaming going with 5'10 junior Shareef Smith and 6'4 senior Tyler Lindquist and the two of them also hit their free throws late to put the game out of reach.

The future looks bright for East as they played only two seniors that played and I look for them to make some noise next year. It truly was a team effort for them as they had six players score between eight to 13 points. Obodo really was hot from down town early and his team mates looked to him. Both Seymore and Lackey are similar players. Both guys can knock down the three, take the ball to the rim hard where they can finish, and handle the ball really well. Millon really battled on the inside and did a nice jump of pulling Willis away from the rim shooting the 15 footers but, he seemed to fall in love with the jumper and would of like to see him attack the rim alittle more. Deang Deang is a very heady 6'2 sophomore who just seems like a smart player. Deang does a little bit of everything and is really the glue player that holds everything together. Runs the point, rebounds, passes, and scores when he's needed to. 6'3 junior De'Shawn Burks is regared as their top player and he had a pretty solid game. He seems to want to play on the perimeter but, I think he could really help his team out more by playing the post. Burks has a wide array of post moves and I think he could of gotten Willis in foul trouble with his head fakes down low. 5'10 junior Jordan Chester didn't even play in the game either as he was their top JV player a year ago and have seen in the box score that he has been their top scorer at times.

For Memorial they really looked into the post like the last game I saw them focusing on Willis and Lindquist. Also Smith really stepped up this game as it appears he has replaced 5'11 senior Reggie Roemer in the starting lineup. Smith had a quiet first half but, showed up in the second knocking down free throws and getting to the rim in transition. 6'3 junior Henry Houden also had a big second half scoring all 12 of his points after halftime and hitting some big late shots.

Top Players
Martin Lackey 5'10 senior East- Just a very strong lead guard, that used his strength to do what he wanted on the court. Knocked down some threes, got the ball to the rim, and doing a good job handling the Memorial pressure for 3/4 of the game.

De'Shawn Burks 6'3 junior East- Did a nice job battling the bigger defenders for Memorial and was able to score on the inside.

Darral Willis 6'7 senior Memorial- Had a dunk fest in the first half scoring in the paint. Really controlled the interior on both ends and had a ton of rebounds.

Tyler Lindquist 6'4 senior Memorial- Showed some nice post moves in the game and also was running the court well and getting some easy buckets.

Shareef Smith 5'10 junior Memorial- Seemed to be playing with  a lot more confidence this time around and looked to be a point guard rather then a scorer. Was great from the free throw line where he spent a lot of time and was able to score in transition and keep himself under control.

Box Score 
East 65- Lackey 13 Millon 12 Burks 12 Seymore 10 Deang 8 Obodo 8 Cribbs 2 Tre'vone Irby 0

Memorial 75- Smith 20 Lindquist 18 Willis 16 Houden 12 Brett Tauber 5 Roemer 4 Daurice Fountain 0 Bryce Danielson 0 Koko Songolo 0

Memorial looks like they are ready to win their 11th straight conference title and East will probably beat some teams in the top half of the conference and will finish somewhere in the middle.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Necedah and Dubuque Senior get the Ws

Has been a little while since last week when I watched Necedah defeat Dodgeland and Dubuque Senior beat Sussex Hamilton. I've decided to just do a quick write up of each game.

Necedah 69 Dodgeland 42

Coming into this game I really didn't know anything about either team. it warm ups it was fairly obvious that this wasn't my typical game I attend and would be a bit lower level. Early on Dodgeland kept the game close but, as the game wore on it became more and more evident that Necedah was the far superior team. Necedah pressed the entire game and Dodgeland struggled to break the press a game long. Necedah really broke the game open when they out scored Dodgeland 22 to 4 in the third quarter. As the press wore Dodgeland down their defense got worse and worse and the gave up open three after open three.

Top Players 
Jordan Murphy 5'10 junior Necedah- Struggled a bit early but, in the second half really got his shot going and was knocking down the threes. Did a nice job driving to the hoop as well when the shot was falling early.

Tripp Horbinski 5'7 senior Necedah- Didn't do a ton of scoring but, really did a nice job of pressuring the Dodgeland ball handlers and running the offense. Always seems to make the right decision in transition and finding the right team mate.

Colton Neis 5'11 junior Dodgeland- Was one of the few bright spots for Dodgeland as he was able to hit multiple mid range jumpers.

Top Scorers
Necedah 
Murphy 19 Matt Brown 10 Isaiah Dutscheck 10
Dodgeland 
Neis 10 Branden Kluge 9 David Cameron 8


Dubuque Senior 55 Sussex Hamilton 43

This game was really the story of the length of Dubuque just being too much for Hamilton to match. Dubuque started 6'3, 6'5, 6'7, 6'9, and 6'9 and Hamilton had two guys at 6'4 and one at 6'5. Hamilton had the top player in 6'4 senior Brady Ellingson but, he just had no help and just couldn't get his shot going at all. Ellingson took a ton of shots in this game and nothing was falling. As Ellingson continued to struggle he continued to force more and more shots. Shots that were in NBA range, threes with a hand in his face, and runners when he was double teamed. Ellingson's team mates seemed reluctant to take shots as I stated earlier and passed up open shots looking for Ellingson. For Senior they really showed off the defense and really focused on Ellingson, forcing him to get the ball five feet behind the three point line and having to make things happen from way outside. On the offensive end 6'7 senior Kyle Haber didn't do much early but, in the second half Haber got his mid range game going and was able to hit runners in the lane and late when Hamilton was fouling, Haber hit his free throws. Most of the game Senior went inside to their 6'9 big men senior Seth Bonifas and junior Luke McDonnell. They were able to score with ease or get fouled throughout. Hamilton made it interesting late with three pointers but, Dubuque hit their free throws and hung on for the win.

Top Players
Brady Ellingson 6'4 senior Hamilton- Looked real smooth but, just couldn't get his shot to fall. Showed some good ball handling skills.

Kyle Haber 6'7 senior Dubuque- Did a great job running the point. Showed a very nice mid range game from 15 feet and in and hit the big free throws late in the game.

Luke McDonnell 6'9 junior Dubuque- Showed a real nice touch around the rim and also did a great job of rebounding as well.

Top Scorers
Hamilton
Ellingson 19 Mitch Gesvain 9
Dubuque 
Haber 22 McDonnell 14 Bonifas 8

May or may not be going to a game tomorrow night and then will be going to a tournament this weekend.

















Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Another week and it is time for another round of my personal state rankings. These rankings obviously mean nothing but, are solely my thoughts on what I feel the rankings should be. Just something I do for fun.


Division One
Last week missed the fact that Stevens Point lost to Neenah, which force me to drop Point to seven. Milwaukee King lost to Waukesha West who also beat Mukwonago, allowing West to jump into the rankings at 10, dropping King to 12, and knocking Muk right out of the rankings.. Madison Memorial lost to Middleton and drop to 13. Milwaukee Hamilton lost to D4 power Dominican and barely hang in there at 15. Sussex Hamilton lost to Iowa power Dubuque Senior and I hate penalizing teams for losing to out of state teams so they stay right at 14.

1. Germantown
2. Brookfield Central 
3. Oshkosh North
4. Racine Case
5. Neenah
6. De Pere
7. Stevens Point
8. Homestead
9. Milwaukee Marquette
10. Waukesha West
11. Milwaukee Vincent
12. Milwaukee King
13. Madison Memorial
14. Sussex Hamilton
15. Milwaukee Hamilton

Division Two
Wisconsin Lutheran lost to a very good D1 team in Milwaukee King and drop a couple spots to 6. Whitefish Bay lost to D1 power Germantown and also only fall a few spots to nine. Pewaukee lost to Wauwatosa West and Eisenhower and fall out of the rankings and are replaced by Tosa West at 14. Pius lost to Eisenhower and have lost three games but, all of those three teams are ranked ahead of them so they remain 15.

1. Seymour
2. Rice Lake
3. West De Pere
4. Milwaukee Washington
5. La Crosse Central
6. Wisconsin Lutheran
7. Stoughton 
8. New Berlin Eisenhower
9. Whitefish Bay
10. Mt Horeb
11. Holmen
12. Kaukauna
13. Monona Grove
14. Wauwatosa West
15. Milwaukee Pius

Division Three
Roncalli lost to ranked D1 Milwaukee Vincent and drop a couple spots to four. East Troy lost to Mcfarland and Edgerton, fall out of the rankings and are replaced by Edgerton. Nekoosa lost to Medford and drop to 14. Cambellsport lost to Sheboygan Falls, fall out of the rankings and Laconia appears at 13. Also discovered that Brillion has moved to D4 this year and are therefore no longer in my rankings, which allows GET to appear at 14.

1. Lodi 
2. Marshall
3. Brown Deer
4. Roncalli
5. Peshtigo
6. Waupun
7. Elk Mound
8. Valders
9. Aquinas
10. Wrightstown
11. Edgerton
12. Laconia
13. Nekoosa
14. GET
15. Poynette


Division Four
Shiocton lost to D3 ranked Laconia and drop a bit to 11. Marathon lost to Mosinee who falls all the way to 15 but, still hang on to the rankings. Three teams that dropped out were Grantsburg who is 0-3, Spring Valley who lost to Mondovi, and Regis who lost to Aquinas and Altoona.
1. Dominican
2. Pacelli
3. Brookfield Academy
4. Racine St. Catherines
5. Blair Taylor
6. Auburndale
7. Mineral Point
8. Lourdes Academy
9. Brillion
10. Cuba City
11. Shiocton
12. Fall Creek
13. Iola Scandenavia
14. Onalaska Luther
15. Marathon

Division Five
Randolph lost to Oshkosh Lourdes a ranked D4 team and drop to five. Catholic Central lost to Waterford and drop to 11. Assumption lost to D3 ranked Nekoosa, falling to 12. Bangor lost to a very good Blair Taylor team but, remain at 15. Almond Bancroft lost to Necedah and fall out of the rankings and are replaced by Hillsboro.

1. Sheboygan Lutheran
2. NEW Lutheran
3. Black Hawk
4. Cassville
5. Randolph
6. Barneveld
7. Thorp
8. Central Wisconsin Christian
9. North Crawford
10. Milwaukee Academy of Science
11. Catholic Central
12. Assumption
13. Fall River
14. Hillsboro
15. Bangor

There are my new rankings. I have had a busy week but, I did see a pair of games last Friday and will try to get a write up in here in the near future.




Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Middleton upsets Madison Memorial

I have watched Madison Memorial more then any other high school in the past ten years or so and it is very evident that this is not the Madison Memorial of old and this game may look like an upset right now, come the end of the year this may not be an upset. Stating that is really not a knock on this Memorial team that really has a ton of talent but, the fact that the teams in the past have been so good. My comments could be all for not though if these team ends up winning another conference title like last years team which I also thought was not quite up to par with teams of past.

Like the teams of old this Memorial team looks to run and push the tempo but, I'm not sure that is this teams best bet to win. Memorial has good overall team size but, doesn't have the quickness to apply the pressure for an entire game. I would like see them really pound the ball inside to their senior big man 6'7 Darral Willis and 6'4 Tyler Lindquist. They did a nice job of going to Willis at times but, he was limited by foul trouble and had some poor shot selections. Willis needs to do a better job of passing out of the post and just playing a little smarter on defense and offense. Lindquist didn't really look to go down in the low post much and I really think that would benefit him very well.

 I don't like to criticize players directly so I'll just leave it at Memorial took a lot and I mean a lot of very bad shots and probably air balled about half a dozen shots. If they don't have the shooters they don't have the shooters but, not taking those bad shots may have allowed Memorial to win this game. I believe in the game Memorial only hit two three point shots and that has been a weakness for Memorial for a quite a few years and in the past they have been able to over come that with athleticism and rebounding and this team may be able to do the same thing in time. Have to give props to 5'11 senior Reggie Roemer who has really become a leader of this time. At this time last year he couldn't even get off the bench and as the year went on he moved into the rotation and then starting by being a scrappy hard nosed player and is now the floor general of this team and seems to be playing with a lot of confidence.

Middleton was pretty typical of Middleton teams of the past five years. Play a lot of guys, shoot the three, and really play hard nosed hustling basketball. 6'5 senior Derek Rongstad was probably the best player on the court but, he hardly had to do it alone. Seven different players made baskets and it is very hard to tell who the starters are watching the game because everyone is so even and there is no drop off on the bench. Middleton did struggle with Memorial's pressure defense at times but, Rongstad would always come back and take control bringing the ball up the court and settle Middleton down. When Willis for Memorial got in foul trouble Middleton was able to take advantage grabbing offensive rebounds and taking the ball strong to the hoop. I wish I had more to say about Middleton because they won the game but, Memorial has all the hype and the talent. It's also a credit to Middleton because they don't have the standout outside of Rongstad that stands out and takes all the credit.

Top Players
Darral Willis (was Darralyn last year?) 6'7 senior Memorial- Has a pretty nice game with his back to the basket. Is still a little raw and doesn't have the softest touch. With his length showed he could get his shot of at anytime and he is going to affect the game with his rebounding and defense.

Henry Houden 6'4 junior Memorial- Didn't know a thing about this kid and don't recall him since he played JV last year I'm assuming but, he really stuck out to me. Didn't have a great game but, is really athletic and moves without the ball. Also plays some pretty good defense.

Derek Rongstad 6'5 senior Middleton- Just a very good player that will push for conference player of the year in the Big Eight. Shoots the three, rebounds, runs the point, and can get his shot any time he wants.

Demond Hill 6'2 senior Middleton- Watching warmups thought Hill would be a high energy guy but, was really a calming influence and was a great spot up shooter and was able to guard anyone on the court.

Box Score 
Memorial 50- Willis 15 Lindquist 10 Roemer 7 Shareef Smith 7 Houden 6 Bryce Danielson 5 Daurice Fountain 0 Brett Tauber 0
Middleton 54- Rongstad 16 Hill 10 Max Oelerich 8 Luke Schafer 8 Chris Little 5 Andrew Garner 4 CJ Fermanich 2 Derek Rogeberg 1 Brett Joers 0 Nick Revord 0


This game could be a peak into the future with Memorial maybe falling back to the back and Middleton possibly showing they may be one of the top contenders. On the other side Memorial will turn things around and win another conference title and Middleton will fall back to reality and be a .500 team in conference. It will probably be somewhere in between with Memorial challenging for a conference title and Middleton will probably be right with them.







Monday, December 2, 2013

Week One Rankings

Between the two half weeks of season a full week has been played and is time to update my rankings. Here are my new rankings obviously some very minor changes. 

D1
Sun Prairie lost to Madison East and Green Bay Preble and fall out of my rankings all together. De Pere lost to Oshkosh North and drop just one spot to nine.. Milwaukee Hamilton lost to Pewaukee a D2 team,Vincent lost to Racine Case a ranked D1, Mukwonago lost to Milwaukee Washington another good D2 team, and Sussex Hamilton lost to Milwaukee King allowing Homestead and Milwaukee Marquette to jump each of them.
 
1.Germantown
2. Brookfield Central
3. Oshkosh North
4. Stevens Point
5. Milwaukee King
6.  Racine Case
7. Madison Memorial
8. Neenah
9. De Pere
10. Homestead
11. Milwaukee Marquette
12. Milwaukee Hamilton
13. Milwaukee Vincent
14. Sussex Hamilton
15. Mukwonago

Division Two
Whitefish Bay lost to Milwaukee King and Washington lost to De Pere two very good D1 teams, which only caused each team to drop a spot to five and six. Pius lost to Pewaukee and Brookfield Academy and drop all the way to 15. Edgewood lost to Madison West and Janesville Craig, while Plymouth lost to Oostburg, dropping both teams from the rankings and are replaced by Kaukana and Monona Grove. 

1. Seymour
2. Rice Lake
3. West De Pere
4. Wisconsin Lutheran
5. Whitefish Bay
6. Milwaukee Washington
7. La Crosse Central
8. Stoughton
9. New Berlin Eisenhower
10. Pewaukee
11. Mt Horeb
12. Holmen
13. Kaukauna
14. Monona Grove
15. Milwaukee Pius

Division Three
Wrightstown lost to Brillion and falls behind them at 14 while Brillion checks in at 12. Aquinas lost to Stoughton and fall to 11. KML lost to West Bend East and Campbellsport and fall out of the rankings and are replaced by Campbellsport. Poynette lost to Marshall and Neekoosa two ranked teams so they hang on to the 15 spot. Little Chute lost to Dominican and New London and fall out of the rankings. 

1. Lodi
2. Roncalli
3. Marshall
4. Brown Deer
5. Peshtigo
6. East Troy
7. Waupun
8. Elk Mound
9. Valders
10. Nekoosa
11. Aquinas
12. Brillion
13. Campbellsport
14. Wrightstown
15. Poynette

Division Four
Many of the top teams lost to larger schools so I decided not to penalize them for that. Blair Taylor lost to GET a D3 school and fall to 5. Pacelli lost to Wausau East, St Cats lost to Kenosha Tremper, and Brookfield Academy lost to Milwaukee Marquette all D1 schools and they all actually move up a spot. Regis lost to Fall Creek and Milwaukee Bradley Tech and fall down to 15. Cuba City lost to Monona Grove and fall to 11.Wild Rose lost to Iola Scandenavia and Auburndale while Cameron lost to Spring Valley and both fell out of the rankings, while Fall Creek and Spring Valley replaced them. 

1. Dominican
2. Pacelli
3. Brookfield Academy
4. Racine St. Catherines
5. Blair Taylor
6. Auburndale
7. Mineral Point
8. Shiocton
9. Lourdes Academy
10. Marathon
11. Cuba City
12. Grantsburg
13. Fall Creek
14. Spring Valley
15. Regis

Division Five
NEW Lutheran lost to Pulaski and drops to the three spot. Fall River lost to Randolph and Williams Bay and falls all the way to 13. Thorp lost to Altoona and drops to seven. Columbus Catholic lost to Pittsville and Assumption and fall out of the rankings, being replaced by Milwaukee Academy, which was an over sight on my part leaving them out last week. Almond-Bancroft lost to Northland Lutheran and Bangor lost to Onalaska Luther, dropping them to 14 and 15. 

1. Randolph
2. Sheboygan Lutheran
3. NEW Lutheran
4. Black Hawk
5. Cassville
6. Barneveld
7. Thorp
8. Central Wisconsin Christian
9. Catholic Central
10. North Crawford
11. Assumption
12. Milwaukee Academy of Science
13. Fall River
14. Almond-Bancroft
15. Bangor



There are my rankings. At this time they are extremely difficult because there was a lot of good match ups early on in the year and you just don't know for sure at this time.