Josh's Sports Journal

Sixth Round Team Rankings

2012-02-20T14:57:00.000-06:00

Another week and another round of my team rankings. I have a game from Saturday night to write about and then I will not be attending another game before the playoffs so I will be doing my predictions for the playoffs this week. Well anyway here are my new rankings.

Division One
Homestead lost in a minor upset to Whitefish Bay and fall to #7. Bay Port also lost to De Pere on a buzzer shot which allows them to stay at the same spot in the rankings. The city schools really struggled this past week as Vincent and Hamilton both dropped a game and check in at 10 and 11, while Riverside lost a pair of games and fall to #14. Racine Park lost but, since the only lost once are just above Riverside at #13. Middleton has now lost three games in a row and fall out of the rankings and are replaced by Brookfield Central who had just fallen out of the rankings a week ago.

1. Germantown
2. Milwaukee King
3. Madison Memorial
4. De Pere
5. DC Everest
6. Bay Port
7. Homestead
8. Sheboygan North
9. West Allis Central
10. Milwaukee Vincent
11. Milwaukee Hamilton
12. Kimberly
13. Racine Park
14. Milwaukee Riverside
15. Brookfield Central

Division Two
Waunakee lost a tough game to red hot Washington team and fall to #6 and Antigo lost and fall to #7. Pulaski and Eisenhower each dropped a game and fall to 10 and 11. Marshall lost to a top D1 team in Milwaukee King and drop to 13, while fellow City team Washington reappears in the rankings at 12 after defeated Waunakee and a pair of ranked D1 teams. Tosa East and Deforest fall from the rankings and are replaced by Washington and Plymouth who lost but, by the benefit of others losing find themselves at 15.

1. Onalaska
2. Rice Lake
3. Kaukana
4. Milwaukee Pius
5. Whitnall
6. Waunakee
7. Antigo
8. Milwaukee Messmer
9. Beaver Dam
10. Pulaski
11. New Berlin Eisenhower
12. Milwaukee Washington
13. Milwaukee Marshall
14. Stoughton
15. Plymouth

Division Three
Just a few minor changes here. Little Chute lost another game and fall all the way to #8. Peshtigo lost to an out of state team but, stays at the same spot. Oostburg lost a pair of games including a game to Sheboygan Falls who replaces them in the rankings at #14. Arcadia lost to Westby who replaces them at #15.

1. East Troy
2. GET
3. Clinton
4. Wisconsin Dells
5. Lodi
6. Brillion
7. Wrightstown
8. Little Chute
9. Omro
10. Racine St. Cats
11. Valders
12. Peshtigo
13. Marshall
14. Sheboygan Falls
15. Westby

Division Four
Hardly a change in these rankings. Stratford lost to Aburndale and drop to #11 and Shoreland Lutheran lost to St. Cats a ranked D3 team and drop to 12. Only other change was Crandon losing and falling out of the rankings and are replaced by St. Mary Springs.

1. Dominican
2. Aburndale
3. Cuba City
4. Elk Mound
5. Colfax
6. Oshkosh Lourdes
7. Laconia
8. Bonduel
9. Wild Rose
10. Grantsburg
11. Stratford
12. Shoreland Lutheran
13. Colby
14. Howards Grove
15. St Mary's Springs

Division Five
Benton got beat bad by Cuba City and fall to #8 while Royal lost as well and find themselves at #9. Sheboygan Lutheran lost to a ranked D3 team and check in at 13, while Goodman/Pembine lost and fall out of the rankings and are replaced by Fall River.

1. Siren
2. Clayton
3. Prentice
4. Racine Lutheran
5. Randolph
6. McDonell Central
7. Augusta
8. Benton
9. Royal
10. Barneveld
11. Gilmanton
12. Suring
13. Sheboygan Lutheran
14. Green Bay NEW Lutheran
15. Fall River

As I said earlier I will b doing my playoff predictions this week and next week I will have my last rankings as once the playoffs start I don't see a reason to update rankings anymore.

East Troy over Mcfarland

2012-02-17T20:45:00.000-06:00

Last night was my first chance to see the overwhelming division three favorite East Troy. This was the closes that they have been to my home all year and they were playing the second place team in the conference. I knew East Troy was very big and wouldn't play much of their bench and honestly didn't have any idea what to expect in regards to Mcfarland.

I came expecting to see 6'8 senior Tanner Plomb and 6'3 junior Nate Dodge put up bigger scoring numbers and 6'9 junior twins Alex and Brett Pahl doing a little scoring, rebounding, and playing solid defense. With these four players I didn't see much else in the scoring column but, it was 6'0 senior Myles Olsen that stole the show early on. Olsen should the ability to run the offense very well and knock down the open shot when given the opportunity, which he should get a lot since the opponent will be focused on stopping his teammates first. Plomb is the guy going to the D1 school but, he didn't have a great night as the shots just weren't falling, but you could tell that he has tremendous skill with the way he plays and moves for a guy that's 6'8. Dodge was every bit the player I expected to see as he could and would take the outside shot at any time and more times then not would knock it down. The Pahl's weren't great offensive threats but, did their thing on the inside both on offense and defense. Alex was limited due to foul trouble.

On the other side Mcfarland looked totally lost against the bigger East Troy defenders. It seemed to take forever for Mcfarland to get a shot off and when the did take a shot it was swatted back in their face. It took about five minutes into the game before Mcfarland actually ran something that appeared to be an offense. Mcfarland had some nice back door cuts and finally got something going when they went through 6'3 senior Adam Schluter. Despite giving up six inches to both of the Pahls, Schluter was able to use his quickness to get around the defenders and caused Alex Pahl to spend a good portion of the game on the bench. Mcfarland was down 13 points after the first quarter and the game stayed that way for the majority of the time as East Troy got the 75-58 win.

Top Players
Nate Dodge 6'3 junior East Troy- Can get his shot off at any time. Has a very quick release and unlimited range. Moves very well without the ball.
Myles Olsen 6'0 senior East Troy- Considered the fifth best starter in most peoples eyes but, I was really impressed with him. Did a great job controlling the offense and is actually a pretty good shooter but, is over shadowed by by Dodge and Plomb.
Adam Schluter 6'3 senior Mcfarland- Really out played the East Troy big men throughout the entire game and at times was the best player on the court.

Box Score
East Troy- Dodge 25 Olsen 14 B Pahl 11 A Pahl 10 Plomb 10 Will Iloncaie 3 Alex Kaz 2 Zach Davis 0
Mcfarland- Schluter 19 Nik Ewelt 15 Brandon Doll 10 Cory Frank 4 Seth Johnson 4 Chris Wedel 4 Zach Hutson 2 Antwon Washington 0 Ben Jordan 0 Casey Engelhart 0 Ben Miller 0

I came away from this game fairly impressed with East Troy but, I don't think that they are an unbeatable team. Of the teams I have seen in D3 I could only see possibly beating them are Wisconsin Dells, if they were hitting their threes, and Lodi if they can stay out of foul trouble with their big guys. For Mcfarland I think they could possibly win one playoff game but, probably won't get much further in the playoffs.

Fifth Round Team Rankings

2012-02-11T22:49:00.003-06:00

My updated team rankings.

Division One
Riverside dropped to #9 behind Vincent who just beat them and Hamilton fell to #11 after losing to Milwaukee Washington. Brookfield Central lost another game and are replaced by the team that beat them in West Allis Central who comes in at #13 followed by Kimberly that lost a tough game to conference rival Kaukana, and Middleton who dropped a pair of games to Madison Memorial and Sun Prairie.

1. Germantown
2. Milwaukee King
3. Madison Memorial
4. De Pere
5. Homestead
6. DC Everest
7. Bay Port
8. Milwaukee Vincent
9. Milwaukee Riverside
10. Sheboygan North
11. Milwaukee Hamilton
12. Racine Park
13. West Allis Central
14. Kimberly
15. Middleton

Division Two
Eisenhower dropped a game and fall to #9 while Antigo lost to a top D1 team and fall to #6. Beaver Dam lost a pair of games one to an out of state team and fall to 12. Stoughton, Edgewood, and Tosa East all lost but, Edgewood had their worst lose and fall out of the rankings and are replaced by Deforest who defeated Stoughton.

1. Onalaska
2. Rice Lake
3. Kaukana
4. Waunakee
5. Milwaukee Pius
6. Antigo
7. Whitnall
8. Pulaski
9. New Berlin Eisenhower
10. Milwaukee Messmer
11. Milwaukee Marshall
12. Beaver Dam
13. Deforest
14. Stoughton
15. Wauwatosa East

Division Three
Unlike the last rankings their wasn't a lot of change in D3 with the exception of the very top. GET and Little Chute both lost dropping them each one spot which allowed East Troy to climb back into the #1 spot. The only other change was that Omro lost their second game of the year and fall all the way to #9 from #4 just shows how tight the rankings are right now.

1. East Troy
2. GET
3. Little Chute
4. Clinton
5. Wisconsin Dells
6. Lodi
7. Brillion
8. Wrightstown
9. Omro
10. Racine St. Cats
11. Oostburg
12. Peshtigo
13. Valders
14. Arcadia
15. Marshall

Division Four
Bonduel lost a tough game and fall to #8. Wild Rose, Shoreland Lutheran, Grantsburg, Amherst, Crandon, and Howards Grove all lost but, Amherst was hit the hardest as the fell out of the rankings. Colby is the new team that replaces Amherst. I really find these smaller schools tougher to rank because you just don't pay that much attention to them and there just isn't a lot of interest in them.

1. Dominican
2. Aburndale
3. Cuba City
4. Elk Mound
5. Colfax
6. Oshkosh Lourdes
7. Laconia
8. Bonduel
9. Stratford
10. Wild Rose
11. Shoreland Lutheran
12. Grantsburg
13. Crandon
14. Colby
15. Howards Grove

Division Five
Just a few changes but, the big one was Racine Lutheran losing and honestly don't completely agree with what I put but, Siren is the only undefeated team so I'll give them #1. Lutheran falls to #4. Barnveld lost a bad game and drop to #11. Suring lost to a good D2 team and drop to #13 while Columbus Catholic lost to Augusta and drop from the rankings and are replaced by Goodman/Pembine a team that I have simply been over looking all year.

1. Siren
2. Clayton
3. Prentice
4. Racine Lutheran
5. Randolph
6. Benton
7. Royal
8. McDonell Central
9. Augusta
10. Sheboygan Lutheran
11. Barneveld
12. Gilmanton
13. Suring
14. Green Bay NEW Lutheran
15. Goodman/Pembine

There are my rankings not much else to say. D1 should be very interesting to watch as I currently have four teams from the City Conference ranked so things will obviously shake up a bit up there. Also just wanted to restate that these rankings have absolutely no meaning and are simply for my enjoyment and to give what my thoughts are on the rankings.

Week in Review Including Border Battle

2012-02-10T20:08:00.000-06:00

Once again I have procrastinated my blogging and have two games and a tournament that I haven't written about so will include them all in this blog with just short write ups of each game. Friday night I watched Madison Memorial vs Sun Prairie, Tuesday night Wisconsin Dells vs Larcosse Aquinas, and then the big one on Saturday was the Border Battle.
Madison Memorial 60 Sun Prairie 50

This wouldn't of been a shock had it not been the fact that Memorial was without their top two scorers in seniors 6'5 Junior Lomomba and 6'6 Jamar Morris. After seeing that I thought for sure that Sun Prairie was going to win but, the rest of Memorial's starters really picked up their game and took over. The star of the night was 6'4 senior Ngijol Songolo. Songolo really locked up Sun Prairie's star 6'6 junior Nick Fuller. In their first match up Fuller could do whatever he wanted but, in this game Songolo was right up in his face and didn't let Fuller get a good look all night and most of Fuller's points came late in the game. Much of the game Memorial was up by 15 to 20 points until both benches were cleared. Songolo did it on the offensive end as well as he was able to penetrate and score and find open teammates. 6'5 junior Jester Weah also had a huge game scoring and rebounding. Weah is just a physical beast and may be on the level of former Big Eight players Marquis Mason and Chris Hawkins who could just jump out of the gym. Brendan Ortiz 6'1 junior also teamed with Songolo to do most of the ball handling and did a nice job leading the team.

Border Battle
Match up of some of the best teams from Minnesota verse the best of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Dells 61 Maple River 47
From the get go Dells was the better team. Dells junior star 5'10 MJ Delmore got off to a quick start and never looked back as he finished with 27 points. Dells other top player 6'4 junior Shane Wimann was in foul trouble which hurt him but, he still managed 17 points in the game. The biggest story was Maple River's inability to get the ball inside against the Dells zone defense. The Eagles settled for three after three and some dropped but, for the most part they weren't falling for them. Dells two man team just took the game over the game and Maple River had no answer.

GET 71 Maranatha Christian 54
Another Minnesota team that was just over matched early on and really struggled against the zone defense. 6'4 senior Riley Bambenek was the guy I was excited to see and he didn't disappoint early on. Bambenek is very smooth and hit the mid range jumper and used his size against small guards to score on the inside. Late in the game Maranatha had no answer for 6'5 senior Chris Johnson on the inside, who just seemed to be able to score at will. Turnovers killed Maranatha all game long as well as their interior defense.

Grand Rapids 71 Beaver Dam 65
Easily the best game of the day as it took three overtimes before this game was decided. Rapids had a huge height advantage with two 6'8 players but, didn't use them. Beaver Dam's top player 6'4 senior Jake Heuer struggled greatly for the first three and a half quarters on the game. With these two things going on the game turned into a one on one battle between the two point guards 6'0 junior RJ Shelton for Beaver Dam and 6'1 senior Austin Pohlen for Grand Rapids. I'm not sure if anyone besides Pohlen took a shot in overtime but, that's all Rapids needed. Rapids always had the lead and missed some free throws that allowed BD to tie the game back up but, in the end BD just tired out and Shelton fouled out late.

Madison Edgewood 70 North St Paul 59
Early on NSP was able to hang with Edgewood but, in the end the more disciplined team was able to pull this game out. For a time it this game Edgewood's best offense was to just take off when the ball was out of bounds and beat their defender down the court for an easy layup. Edgewood is always a fun team to watch because they play so hard and are just so fundamentally sound. NSP seemed to really on their skills and not their execution and that just wasn't enough.

Waunakee 66 Tartan 65
Another great game that Waunakee was able to win when 6'6 senior Joe Tagarelli was able to knock down a pair of free throws with two seconds left in the game. Tartan had the best player on the court in 6'0 junior Darrion Strong but, Waunakee was the better team. 6'4 junior Will Decorah also had a huge game as he was able to score in the paint and from mid range. Honestly wasn't feeling to great at this time so don't remember much else.

Sun Prairie 61 Minneapolis DeLasalle 35
This game was over before it began. Delasalle just couldn't do anything and Fuller just absolutely took over and could do no wrong. I left at half time once I could see their was no was DeLasalle was going to be able to take over.

Wisconsin Dells 74 Lacrosse Aquinas 52
Another game that was over early. Delmore continued his torrid scoring run and the rest of the team seemed to pick up his hot outside shooting as well. Wimann

Well another great week of basketball under my belt and will be doing my updated rankings some time this weekend as I will actually have some time this weekend.

Madison Memorial gains sole possession of Big Eight lead

2012-02-02T21:12:00.000-06:00

In a battle of first place in the Big Eight, Madison Memorial took on Middleton. All year Middleton has been a surprise to me that they were undefeated in the conference and were neck and neck with Memorial throughout the year. I figured Middleton was playing a lot of players and were very fundamentally sound. For the most part I was spot on with the exception of the first three quarters or so.
Middleton did play eight players big minutes, to the fact that after about two minutes in the game I could no longer tell who the starters were and in fact the top two scorers in the game came off the bench. Looking at the scoring Middleton's three bench players out scored the starters 32 to 20. Middleton didn't really play fundamental tell the fourth quarter when they finally made a huge comeback.

Early on Memorial started like normal dominating the boards with their two big leapers 6'6 senior Jamar Morris and 6'5 junior Jester Weah. Morris finally had a game I expected to see all year long as he was scoring in the post and hitting the 15 foot jumpers from the outside. Morris pair with 6'1 junior Brendan Ortiz were huge in this game because their star and leading scorer 6'5 senior Junior Lomomba didn't really show up in this game. Morris was huge in the first and Ortiz took over in the second hitting three, three point shot in about a five minute time each of which came with a defender in his face. I've said all year Ortiz has been a pass first point guard but, this was the first time he was looking for his shot and looking to score. On the Middleton end it really was a group effort as it seemed everyone that played scored. Almost all of the baskets were scored within two feet of the hoop and typically usually on second attempts at the hoop as their threes just weren't falling and many times they just out hustled Memorial on that end. Middleton's other big struggle was turning the ball over which they did time and again and in the end I think that was the biggest reason that Middleton lost this game.

Memorial led 29-20 at half and extended the lead to 41-28 after three quarters before Middleton made their huge comeback. Middleton was able to climb back into this game and lost 56-52 in the end. The biggest reason Middleton got back in this game was Memorial fouling and allowing the Cardinals to score with the clock stopped. When the game ended Ortiz had fouled out, Lomomba, Weah, Ngijol Songolo had four fouls and Morris had three fouls. Combined with the free throw shooting and then the ability of 6'3 sophomore Derek Rongstad getting himself going driving to the hoop and hitting threes Middleton won the fourth quarter 24-14.

Top Players
Brendan Ortiz 6'1 junior Madison Memorial- Finally broke out of the pass first point guard mold and did some scoring. Shoewed off his superior three point shooting. Didn't have a ton of assists but, still did a good job running the offense.
Jamar Morris 6'6 senior Madison Memorial- Finally appeared to be the player that I thought he would be all year long as he was scoring with his back to the basket, on put backs, and mid range jump shots.
Derek Rongstad 6'3 sophomore Middleton- Honestly didn't do a lot tell late in the game. Did a nice job penetrating to the of the Memorial defense and scoring, hit the three point shot, and was money from the free throw line late in the game.

Box Score
Madison Memorial- Morris 16 Ortiz 14 Weah 11 Lomomba 8 Songolo 3 Joe Ferguson 2 Tyler Lindquist 2 Julian Walters 0 Donnel Thomspon 0
Middleton- Rongstad 16 Eric Hagstrom 10 Sam Everson 7 Nick Schmidt 6 Antoine Buchanon 5 Jake Raffel 3 Bryan Machmeier 3 Robby Williams 2

This game just furthered my belief that Memorial is head and shoulders above every other team in the Big Eight. It may of only been a four point game but, in reality Memorial didn't play very good the entire game but, still had a thirteen point lead after three quarters and if not for a ton of free throw shots would of won by double digits. I just feel as a whole the Big Eight is down with the exception of Memorial who has really dominated and may only drop a game in a second time around match up with Middleton or Sun Prairie.

Fourth Round Team Rankings

2012-02-01T21:32:00.000-06:00

It's been another two weeks so figure it's time to do another round of team rankings. Again these rankings are purely my thoughts and mean absolutely nothing.

Division One
The top three teams won out since the last rankings and after that just about everyone lost. Riverside lost to one of the top teams in the country so they actually moved up two spots, Homestead falls one spot after losing to Germantown and Hamilton remains the same having lost to King. Vincent lost to a tough team from Illinois in Waukegan but, their lose was "the best" I guess you could say as they moved up two spots, Sheboygan North stayed in the same spot having lost to De Pere, Kimberly follows having been the only team left that actually won out, Middleton lost to Madison Memorial but, still moves up, Racine Park had a bad lose to Racine Horlick and hang in at 14, and Brookfield Central was the biggest loser having dropped two games to .500 or below teams and hang in at #15.

1. Germantown
2. Milwaukee King
3. Madison Memorial
4. De Pere
5. Miwaukee Riverside
6. Homestead
7. DC Everest
8. Milwaukee Hamilton
9. Bay Port
10. Milwaukee Vincent
11. Sheboygan North
12. Kimberly
13. Middleton
14. Racine Park
15. Brookfield Central

Division Two
Lots of changes at the D2 level. Whitnall lost to Eisenhower which moved Eisenhower up to #7 and then dropped Whitnall to #8. Tosa East lost twice to Waunakee and a so so D1 team and fall to #11. Pius lost to a team they should of beat but, hang on at #6 while Beaver Dam dropped a tough game and fall two spots. Stoughton and Pulaski each lost a pair of games and fall to the 13 and 10 spot. Messmer lost to a very good Dominican team and drop to #14. Oregon lost twice and falls out of the rankings Luxemburg-Casco has lost three games in a row and fall out as well. Edgewood defeated Stoughton and got a boast into the rankings while Marshall gets the benefit of having a good record despite having lost two games in the past week both to top ranked D1 teams.

1. Onalaska
2. Rice Lake
3. Antigo
4. Kaukana
5. Waunakee
6. Milwaukee Pius
7. New Berlin Eisenhower
8. Whitnall
9. Beaver Dam
10. Pulaski
11. Wauwatosa East
12. Madison Edgewood
13. Stoughton
14. Milwaukee Messmer
15. Milwaukee Marshall

Division Three
Lots of changes in D3 just like D2 with the exception of the top teams. East Troy dropped a game to Germantown and drop one spot to undefeated Little Chute. Lodi got beat pretty bad by the Dells and fall one spot behind them at #7, same thing happened to Wrightstown as they fell to Brillion and fall to #9. Oostburg lost to a D5 power and drop to #11. Valders lost twice to Brillion and Wrightstown but, still hang in at #13. Marshall drops a game but, stays at #15. Watertown Luther Prep dropped a pair of games and fall from the rankings and Westby lost to Arcadia who replaces them in the rankings. The other new team is Peshtigo who just finally got some recognition from me at #12.
1. GET
2. Little Chute
3. East Troy
4. Omro
5. Clinton
6. Wisconsin Dells
7. Lodi
8. Brillion
9. Wrightstown
10. Racine St. Cats
11. Oostburg
12. Peshtigo
13. Valders
14. Arcadia
15. Marshall

Divison Four
Not as many changes in D4 as the other divisions. Bonduel lost to a top D3 team in Peshtigo and fall to #4. Wild Rose lost to Aburndale and drop to #8. In the bottom half Thorp has fallen completely off the map and out of the rankings. Howards Groe lost a game and fall to #15 and Amherst lost to Bonduel so they hang on to their #13 spot.

1. Dominican
2. Aburndale
3. Cuba City
4. Elk Mound
5. Bonduel
6. Colfax
7. Oshkosh Lourdes
8. Wild Rose
9. Laconia
10. Shoreland Lutheran
11. Grantsburg
12. Stratford
13. Amherst
14. Crandon
15. Howards Grove

Division Five
The big news in D5 is Randolph falling to #5. They have now lost four games all have been to D2 schools or bigger but, a lose is a lose and that is what the rankings are about. McDonnel Central lost their first game and drop to #8. Gilmanton, Marshfield Columbus and GB NEW Lutheran were the only other two teams that lost and fall in at 13-15 in the rankings.

1. Racine Lutheran
2. Siren
3. Clayton
4. Prentice
5. Randolph
6. Benton
7. Royal
8. McDonnel Central
9. Barneveld
10. Augusta
11. Suring
12. Sheboygan Lutheran
13. Gilmanton
14. Marshfield Columbus
15. Green Bay NEW Lutheran

Well there are my updated rankings. I did attend a game last night and will hopefully have a write up done tomorrow night.

Week in Review

2012-01-26T23:00:00.000-06:00

I have four games to write about and I just don't think that I will have the time to do a separate post for each game and ever catch up to the point where I have only one game to write about at a time so figured I would just do a write up from the past week. I have gone to four games and will just do what I can do from memory for each game.

Wisconsin Dells 60 Lodi 40

This was a Saturday afternoon game in the Dells at the Just a Game Fieldhouse's new "Court of Champions". I really like arena as it has about the same seating as a typical high school gym but, has a bigger feel to it as their is seating all around the court and even in the corners.

I'm not sure what the exact reason was but, Lodi just didn't show up for this game. I knew they were missing their point guard 6'0 junior Kris Seffrood which I thought would hurt them but, after seeing them play Dominican so close I figured they could handle the Dells. Lodi wasn't able to get to the middle of the zone to find open team mates and settled for the outside shot more often then not and the shots weren't falling. The poor shooting may of been because of the different background but, with the shots not falling they made no attempt to get the ball to the inside and use their height advantage. Leading scorer 6'3 sophomore Jordan Shea never got himself going as he had 11 points most of which in the first half but, then spent a good portion of the second half on the bench in foul trouble.

On the other side the Dells was moving the ball exceptionally well, which led to open shots. The Dells hit eight three point shots in the game and I believe six of those were in the first half. Dells sharpshooter 5'8 junior Mike Dickman got himself going a little bit as he hit two three pointers in the game and 6'4 junior Shane Wimann was his normal self getting in the lane of the offensive end and dominated the glass on D. The star of the day was MJ Delmore a 5'10 junior who is as smooth as the come. Delmore was able to drive to the hoop and score and hit three three point shots in the game.

Madison Memorial 75 Madison East 44

Not much to say about this game. Memorial got up early things just go uglier from there. Memorial was up 6-0 before East even got the ball across half court and they were up 10-0 before East took a shot. I really don't know what more to say about this game. East turned the ball over and over again and Memorial took advantage. 6'5 senior Junior Lomomba was his normal solid self scoring 24 points and fellow senior 6'4 Ngijol Songolo displayed a very nice outside shot which should really help Memorial out come playoff time when they seem to struggle from the outside and teams pack it in on them in the half court setting. Honestly this is all I can say, East struggled with Memorial's size and length all night long and couldn't overcome it or even challenge it.

Randolph 45 Green Lake 31

This game was to see D1 recruit 6'6 senior Matt Van Scyoc take on the mighty Randolph. Van Scyoc ended with 17 points but, he really had to earn them because Randolph's 6'4 junior Aaron Retzlaff was in his face all night long forcing him further and further away from the hoop. 12 of Van Scyoc's came from behind the arc which with a hand in his face and one five feet behind the three point line. Van Scyoc took a ton of shots and Retzlaff was right with him and I'd guess Van Scyoc probably shot 30% or lower on the game. Randolph had a very solid night as a team as they had eight different players score and no player over 10 points. Randolph's top eight players and could easily compete for a state title in D4 and D3 and possibly D2 but, that may be a stretch but, its pretty good for a school that has less than 200 kids in their school. Randolph is once again my pick to win the D5 title.

Madison Memorial 72 Madison West 44

Another very ugly game involving Memorial. Memorial was up by at least 20 for much of the game. I was highly disappointed as West is currently tied for third in the conference with Sun Prairie who is a very good team and I expected this game to be at least somewhat close for most of the way. Lomomba was unstoppable in the first quarter as he scored 14 of his 25 points in the first quarter. Songolo once again showed his nice outside touch. Junior 6'1 Brendan Ortiz seems to have truly embraced the point guard position as he appears to get more joy setting up his team mates then scoring himself, every time I see him play I think this more and more. They also have a pair of dunk hunters in 6'6 senior Jamar Morris and 6'5 junior Jester Weah who two or three times ran into each other going after loose balls that probably would of resulted in break away dunks and every time the go to the rim or a rebound they are thinking dunk. Both Morris and Weah did eventually get one dunk each.

Well it has been a great week of basketball and still have about another two months left and I can't wait for state.

Size Kills Madison East Again

2012-01-20T21:31:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday night I was originally going to go to the Oshkosh West verse Verona game because it would give me a change to see Oshkosh West's star Brandon Marquardt and knew that Verona had a high scorer in Bryan Dalton. When I looked at the game a little more I found a better choice as Verona has only won one game this year and Oshkosh West is only a .500 team. I found a better game a little closer to home and took in the Madison East verse Waunakee game. I knew what to expect in this game being that East would be vastly undersized and Waunakee would control the boards which would give them the easy win.

For the most part the game started and went as expected. Waunakee had their star back in 6'6 senior Joe Tagarelli back, who didn't start but, did play a vast majority of the game. Waunakee really struggled from the outside which kept the game close but, as I expected they were able to get second and third opportunities at the rim and that's all they needed to score. Tagarelli was unstoppable once he got the ball within 10 feet of the rim as East had no one over 6'3 to put on him. Waunakee's number two man 6'4 junior Will Decorah had a pretty solid game despite the fact that he couldn't buy a jumper or even a free throw throughout the entire game.

For Madison East it was all penetration that they relied on with their lack of height. They had some success drive to the hoop and finding open teammates around the rim but, they were unable to get those easy shots to fall. I'm not sure if it was the fear of getting blocked, since their always vastly undersized, or that they were just so excited that they actually were open but, they just didn't have the touch around the rim. East was able to get passed the initial defender but, there was always a long armed defender that would come over to help out and stop the penetration. This defense really seemed to frustrate East top player 5'8 senior Rudy Bentley. Bentley was the primary player doing the driving but, just couldn't find himself an opening the defense and just further frustrated him when his teammates were missing easy shots. The one bright spot for East was Jermel McLin a 6'0 junior who hit four threes in the game and really kept his team somewhat in the game before the final result was obvious. The final score was Waunakee 68 and Madison East 50.

Top Players
Joe Tagarelli 6'6 senior Waunakee- Heard he was just offered a walk on spot with UW Milwaukee which surprised me a little but, the kid is a very solid player in the post. Very smooth touch around the rim and almost impossible to stop when he gets in the lane.
Will Decorah 6'4 junior Waunakee- Moves very well without the ball and when one aspect of his game isn't working goes to another part of his game to get the job done. Did a nice job getting second chance buckets and just finding openings on the inside against the East defense.
Tim Keenan 6'3 senior Waunakee- I think he really gets over looked because of the two guys I just listed ahead of him but, he just does everything well. Tonight he wasn't hitting the threes but, did a great job rebounding and scoring in the paint.
Jermel McLin 6'0 junior Madison East- Very good scorer shooting the three or going to the hoop. Took some wild shots going to the rim but, overall played a solid game finding opening teammates and getting his own in the scoring column.

Box Score
Waunakee- Tagarelli 26 Decorah 16 Keenan 10 Ben Cable 6 Max Chamberlin 3 Dylan DesRochers 2 Ryan Kruser 2 Jakub Bollant-Ulvilden 2 Alex Cole 1 Justin Block 0 Patrick O'Connell 0 Michael Meffert 0 Brett Richgels 0
Madison East- McLin 17 Emani Brathwaite 9 Bentley 7 De'Shawn Burks 6 Eric Aikens 3 Daniel Karlin-Kamin 3 Miles Kietzer 2 Alex Redd 1 Treveon Wright 0 Tim Moses 0 Stavon Staples 0

I came away just reaffirming to me that Waunakee is just a solid team overall, have some great coaching, and the players are really a product of their system. Madison East the story continues to be the same, NO HEIGHT. East will be able to beat the less talented teams but, in the end their height is going to hurt them.

Wisconsin Dells over Mauston

2012-01-19T19:21:00.000-06:00

Once again it has been about a week since I actually watched this game but, I just didn't have the time to post. I choose this game because its a five minute walk from home but, also because the Dells is ranked top 10 in state and have an extremely talent junior class and Mauston was their biggest challenge in the conference and have 6'3 junior Joel Heesch who is one of the top scorers in the state.

Early on this game was alittle out of control as it seemed the primary ball handlers for each team just tried to be alittle to fancy and caught their teammates off guard and led to numerous turnovers. Dells has a very nice two man game with 6'4 junior Shane Wimann and 5'10 junior M.J. Delmore who worked great together but, just couldn't get any of their teammates going. On the other side it was Heesch trying to do everything for his team and the Dells defense was focused on this. Dells played a 3-2 or 1-2-2 zone whatever you want to call which allowed Mauston to penetrate and find open teammates in the gaps but, they just weren't able to capitalize as they missed numerous easy layups early on. The entire first half was a bit of a slug fest, in that the game was sluggish and was a struggle for both teams. At half time Dells was up 24-20 at the half.

In the second half it was the Delmore show as he came out firing and I believe hit three three pointers to open up the second half and the Dells jumped out to a big lead and never looked back. For Mauston Heesch was a one man team as he did his best to keep the game from getting to a blow out but, in the end two players always beat one as the Chiefs got the 62-44 win.

Top Players
Joel Heesch 6'3 junior Mauston- Is a flat out scorer but, at times takes too many shots and takes some bad shots. He's a great athlete and I would love to see him with a team that didn't force him to be such a scorer.
M.J. Delmore 5'10 junior Wisconsin Dells- Just a great great point guard. Early in the game tried to force things a little bit but, in the second half he settled in and ran the show and get his in the scoring column. Very smooth player with a pretty shot and knocks down the three.
Shane Wimann 6'4 junior Wisconsin Dells- Just a beast on the court. Very very solid kid but, still has a nice all around game away from the rim. Has a very nice post game with his back to the basket but, also can step out and hit the three.

Box Score
Mauston- Heesch 17 Jack Orton 10 Taylor Ingraham 7 Ross Thompson 5 Dale Osthoff 3 Skylar Ricks 2 Hunter Nelson 0 Brock Huebner 0 Andy Thrams 0 AJ Butts 0 Jake Gamble 0
Dells- Delmore 27 Wimann 21 Colyn Buss 5 Mike Dickman 3 Bryce Buesing 23 Trevor Hirst 2 Logan Georgeson 1 Cody Buss 0 Dylan Moore 0 Sean Kendall 0 Hunter Hintze 0

Well Mauston will win their share of games because of Heesch but, they probably won't go very far come playoff time and will probably be at least third in the conference come the end of the season. Things have really fallen into place for the Chiefs who have a very good chance to win out the rest of their games as they will be the favorite, in my eyes, with the exception being their game against a Minnesota team. They play Lodi on Saturday who is without their top two players and then Lacrosse Aquinas who is without one of the best players in the state in Bronson Koenig.

Third Round Team Rankings

2012-01-18T20:50:00.029-06:00

Well once again I have been neglecting my blog. I have two games to write about but, I have decided that I will try to keep my rankings updated weekly so it isn't so difficult for me to keep up with.

Division One
Germantown remains at the top as Madison Memorial lost to a very good team from Minnesota and falls to #3. Riverside lost to King but, that was a given so they only drop to #7 while in a mini upset Hamilton dropped a game to South and fall to #8. Milwaukee South was a tough one as the obviously beat Hamilton but, they dropped two games in the past week, one to Vincent which isn't bad but, one to a not so good Bradley Tech team which takes them out of the rankings. Kimberly is the new team to the rankings as they had an impressive win over a previously ranked Oshkosh North team and have the highest RPI of any team not ranked.

1. Germantown
2. Milwaukee King
3. Madison Memorial
4. De Pere
5. Homestead
6. Brookfield Central
7. Milwaukee Riverside
8. Milwaukee Hamilton
9. D.C. Everest
10. Bay Port
11. Sheboygan North
12. Racine Park
13. Milwaukee Vincent
14. Middleton
15. Kimberly

Division Two
Onalaska and Rice Lake both lost to some very good teams from Minnesota but, in my mind that doesn't hurt them and they both stay and #1 and #2. Tosa East lost to a very good D1 team in Brookfield Central and fall a couple spots to #5. Beaver Dam was upset and drop to #7. Pulaski lost to a very good D1 De Pere team and don't fall but, get jumped by Stoughton who won out the past week while Kaukana lost to a so so Lacrosse Aquinas team and fall to #10. Luxemburg-Casco lost twice and fall to #13, while Eisenhower and Oregon each lost and fall to #14 and #15.

1. Onalaska
2. Rice Lake
3. Whitnall
4. Antigo
5. Wauwatosa East
6. Milwaukee Pius
7. Beaver Dam
8. Stoughton
9. Pulaski
10. Kaukana
11. Waunakee
12. Milwaukee Messmer
13. Luxemburg-Casco
14. New Berlin Eisenhower
15. Oregon

Division Three
Nobody lost in D3 with the exception of Lake Mills who lost twice to two other ranked teams and fall from the rankings and they are replaced by Westby at #15.

1. GET
2. East Troy
3. Little Chute
4. Lodi
5. Omro
6. Clinton
7. Wrightstown
8. Oostburg
9. Wisconsin Dells
10. Brillion
11. Valders
12. Racine St. Cats
13. Marshall
14. Watertown Luther Prep
15. Westby

Division Four
Thorp lost twice and falls to #11. Shoreland Lutheran lost a game but, it was to a very good Racine St. Cats team and hang on to their exact same spot. Amherst, Grantsburg, and Stratford all lost but, still check in at 13 through 15. Destiny and Unity are two teams that are knocking at the door to get in.

1. Dominican
2. Aburndale
3. Cuba City
4. Bonduel
5. Elk Mound
6. Wild Rose
7. Colfax
8. Oshkosh Lourdes
9. Laconia
10. Shoreland Lutheran
11. Thorp
12. Howards Grove
13. Amherst
14. Grantsburg
15. Stratford

Division Five
Randolph lost to an exceptionally good Stoughton team but, still manage to move up as Benton lost and fall to #7. Royal and Gilmanton also lost and check in at #8 and #9. Marshfield Columbus lost and dropped to #12.

1. Racine Lutheran
2. Randolph
3. Siren
4. Clayton
5. Prentice
6. McDonnel Central
7. Benton
8. Royal
9. Gilmanton
10. Barneveld
11. Augusta
12. Marshfield Columbus
13. Suring
14. Sheboygan Lutheran
15. Green Bay NEW Lutheran

Well there are my new ranking. Not a lot of subtractions from the rankings just some moving around of the teams but, no big changes.

Second Round Team Rankings

2012-01-07T15:14:00.075-06:00

It has been a long time since I last did my team rankings. In fact I have only done one team ranking since my preseason rankings. So here is an updated rankings for each division.

Division One
Germantown and Madison Memorial both had some very impressive Christmas Breaks and come in at #1 and #2. Milwaukee King lost their first game of the year but, it was in a championship game of a tournament down in Texas and are #3 while Hamiliton hasn't lost since the last rankings. De Pere an Riverside both lost but, don't fall much as De Pere lost to Germantown and Riverside lost to East Troy a top D3 team. Homestead is next having lost only one game followed by Brookfield Central who have only lost to Germantown and Milwaukee King. Bay Port is next being that the just defeated Sheboygan North who comes in just behind them. Oshkosh North has now lost four games and Superior three games and they each fall from my rankings. Milwaukee South has only lost to Brookfield Central and an out of state team and step in at #12 followed by Racine Park who had a couple of not so good losses. Milwaukee Vincent showcases the talent that the City Conference has this year and they just beat Milwaukee Washington and took King to the wire. Middleton is the final team to fill out the rankings.

1. Germantown
2. Madison Memorial
3. Milwaukee King
4. Milwaukee Hamilton
5. De Pere
6. Milwaukee Riverside
7. Homestead
8. Brookfield Central
9. D.C. Everest
10. Bay Port
11. Sheboygan North
12. Milwaukee South
13. Racine Park
14. Milwaukee Vincent
15. Middleton

Division Two
Onalaska and Rice lake remain uindefeated and stay 1 and 2 in the rankings. Wauwatosa East lost a game to Germantown but, you can't let that pull them down. Whitnall and Antigo each only lost one game and stay the same while Beaver Dam is the big winner as they remain undefeated and ranked #4. Pius lost to Milwaukee Vincent but, that won't hurt them as they move up one spot to 7. Kaukana, Pulaski, and Stoughton have all won out since the last rankings and follow in that order. Luxemburg-Casco is an undefeated team that has been overlooked and they move in to the rankings at #11. Waunkaee and Eisenhower suffered some bad losses in the past week and fall to 12 and 13. Waterford, Milwaukee Washington and Fort Atkinson had some struggles and are replaced by Oregon and Milwaukee Messmer.

1. Onalaska
2. Rice Lake
3. Wauwatosa East
4. Beaver Dam
5. Whitnall
6. Antigo
7. Milwaukee Pius
8. Kaukana
9. Pulaski
10. Stoughton
11. Luxemburg-Casco
12. Waunakee
13. New Berlin Eisenhower
14. Oregon
15. Milwaukee Messmer.

Division Three
Lots of very good records in D3 which makes the rankings very tough. Aquinas appears to of totally fallen apart, so GET, East Troy, and Little Chute benefit from winning out since the last rankings and move up. Lodi lost to a top D4 team in Dominican and actually move up while, Omro has only lost to Little Chute, and Clinton only to East Troy, which allows each team to move up. Wrightstown and Oostburg follow who are both undefeated since the last rankings. Lake Mills beat Wisconsin Dells and appear in the rankings at #9 while Dells falls to #10. Brillion lost in a three overtime game and Valders fell dropping them to 11 and 12. Racine St. Cats hangs in at #13 followed by Marshall and Watertown Luther Prep.

1. GET
2. East Troy
3. Little Chute
4. Lodi
5. Omro
6. Clinton
7. Wrightstown
8. Oostburg
9. Lake Mills
10. Wisconsin Dells
11. Brillion
12. Valders
13. Racine St. Cats
14. Marshall
15. Watertown Luther Prep

Division Four
Top three teams have won out since the last time so they stay they same. Bondual, Elk Mound, Colfax, and Thorp have all won out since the last rankings and move up while Wild Rose is right behind them having lost one game. Followed by Oshkosh Lourdes who has only lost two games both to some very tough teams in Oshkosh North and Racine Lutheran. Shoreland Lutheran is a new team to the rankings as they are undefeated. Laconia, Amherst, and Grantsburg have each lost two games and come in 11 through 13, while Howards Grove and Stratford are new to the rankings with Stanley-Boyd and Cameron falling out of the rankings.

1. Dominican
2. Aburndale
3. Cuba City
4. Bonduel
5. Elk Mound
6. Colfax
7. Thorp
8. Wild Rose
9. Oshkosh Lourdes
10. Shoreland Lutheran
11. Laconia
12. Amherst
13. Grantsburg
14. Howards Grove
15. Stratford

Division Five
Randolph lost to two good D1 team and fall to #3 in the rankings with Benton and Racine Lutheran jumping them, followed by an undefeated Royal team. Siren is another undefeated team right on Royal's heels. Young Coggs Prep, Marion, Hilbert, and Drummond all lost at least two games since the last rankings and fall out of the rankings. Gilmanton and McDonell Central move into the rankings for the first time and both are undefeated. Columbus Catholic, Barneveld, and Augusta are teams that are new to the rankings and have only lost one game. Sheboygan Lutheran and Green Bay NEW Lutheran hang in there having played one of the tougher schedules around.

1. Benton
2. Racine Lutheran
3. Randolph
4. Royal
5. Siren
6. Clayton
7. Prentice
8. Gilmanton
9. McDonnel Central
10. Marshfield Columbus
11. Barneveld
12. Augusta
13. Suring
14. Sheboygan Lutheran
15. Green Bay NEW Lutheran

WBBY Shootout

2012-01-05T19:42:00.075-06:00

Another post that has been long overdue, as I was at the WBBY shootout over a week ago. This tournament is one of the premiere tournaments of the year and is a must see for any high school basketball fans in the state of Wisconsin.

Ended up getting to the game alittle late and missed the first quarter of the first game, so I never really got into the game and it wasn't the greatest game to begin with. In a minor upset Waukesha Catholic Memorial beat Milwaukee Thomas More 64-58.

Game two was another private school match up as Racine St. Catherine's defeated Manitowoc Roncalli 55-47. Roncalli is their normal self moving the ball very well with little dribbling and moving incredibly well without the ball. St. Cats once again played great man to man defense and did very little dribbling on the offensive end but, moved the ball well. Roncalli jumped out early behind their three point shooting but, cooled off late and St. Cats methodically won this game going away late. 6'6 senior Jordan Fouse may help this team the most when he's running the point. Fouse passes the ball extremely well and draws the defense and finds open teammates.

The next game appeared to be the main attraction in everyones eyes as the gym was packed for the Cuba City verse Sheboygan Lutheran. Everyone was their to see the 6'8 Lutheran senior Sam Dekker a Badger recruit but, it was 6'3 senior Cory Vaassen that stole the show. The Cubans ran a very impressive 1-3-1 zone defense which really focused on stopping Dekker which worked as Dekker never really got any good looks outside of the fast break. This game would of been a blow out if it hadn't been for Luthern sophomore Tyler Zastrow who at only 5'9 is all heart and plays as hard as anyone on the court. The final score was 73-64 Cuba City with the W.

The next game was alittle bit of a disappointment. Sun Prairie stormed out early over Oconomowoc and never looked back. After one quarter Prairie was up 27 to 11 and at halftime they were up 51 to 22 before coasting to a 66-43 victory. The show in this game was 6'6 junior Nick Fuller and 6'1 freshmen Nick Noskowiak who combined for 40 of the teams first half points before sitting midway through the third quarter. Oconomowoc never played a starter in the second half which obviously showed some frustration from their coach.

The battle between Oshkosh North and Onalaska was a great back and forth battle and in the end it was Onalaska coming out on top behind the strong second half play of 6'4 junior Matt Thomas who was on fire throughout and could get his shot at anytime. Oshkosh North had some great post play from 6'5 senior Izaiah Anderson who can use either hand to finish with his back to the basket. Both teams played a strong zone defense which at times allowed their opponent some open looks. Onalaska got a huge 59-51 win.

The final game I watched was the game of the day by far. Whitefish Bay Dominican was able to out last Lodi 79-68 in double overtime. This game was full of lots of excitement and back and forth action. Lodi led the majority of the game behind some strong outside shooting and never seemed to miss a shot. In the end Dominican's athleticism and quickness one out and took over in the second overtime. Dominican had four players score 16 or 17 points which each took a turn carry the team. 6'3 senior Jamall Taylor was on fire in the first half, 6'3 junior Duane Wilson ad 6'9 freshmen Diamond Stone were a great two man team, and in the overtime it was 6'3 senior Breon Jordan who came up big. Highlight of the game was a put back dunk by Wilson followed up by a transition dunk by Stone.

All Tournament Team (I know it was only day but, I broke it up into three teams to groups of five)
1st Team
Matt Thomas 6'4 junior Onalaska- Like I said earlier he just couldn't miss and could get his shot anytime he wanted. Late in the game he was able to post a smaller defender and score and will and wanted the ball in his hands late in the game to hit the clutch free throws.
Nick Fuller 6'6 junior Sun Prairie- Another guy that just couldn't miss. His shot was just so smoothed today and got his hands on numerous passes on the top of the 1-3-1 zone.
Cory Vaassen 6'3 senior Cuba City- Stole the show from Dekker. Drove right at Dekker and scored on him, hit the three point shot, helped bring the ball up, and did a pretty good job defending Dekker out op.
Tyler Zastrow 5'9 sophomore Sheboygan Lutheran- Nothing real pretty about his game but, was a big time scorer and was money from the outside.
Duane Wilson 6'3 junior Dominican- Showed his superior athleticism throughout the game. Had a pair of very nice dunks and hit a clutch three pointer late in regulation to send the game to overtime.

2nd Team
Jordan Fouse 6'6 senior St. Cats- Does alittle bit of everything from scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals. Shows that he is a true D1 college player.
Izaiah Anderson 6'5 senior Oshkosh North- Just a very smooth player in the post. Can finish with either hand with his back to the hoop.
Jamall Taylor 6'3 senior Dominican- Carried this team in the first half and if he was open he'd knock down the shot.
Diamond Stone 6'9 freshmen Dominican- Has a very nice touch around the rim and runs the court extremely well.
Nate Lassila 6'1 junior Roncalli- Moves very well without the ball and when he's hot shoots the ball as good as anyone in the state.

3rd Team
Jordan Shea 6'3 sophomore Lodi- Honestly didn't notice him much but, he did score 20 points in the game.
Breon Jordan 6'3 senior Dominican- Money player late in the game as he hit three, three point shots in the overtime sessions.
Nick Noskowiak 6'1 freshmen Sun Prairie- A great sidekick to Fuller. Hits the open shot when he's given it and does a nice job helping run the offense.
Brady Moses 6'1 junior Lodi- Got the team going with his outside shooting and it carried throughout.
Nick Arenz 6'8 senior Onalaska- Seems to be alittle slowed by last years injury but, still has a very nice post game and rebounds very well.

Was a great day of basketball and was a great chance to see a wide range of teams from all over the state.

Waunakee over Providence St. Mel

2012-01-04T20:21:00.000-06:00

I know it has been over a week since this game was played but, I just haven't had the time to post about this game. I headed to this game knowing nothing about the St. Mel team but, a team traveling up to the middle of Wisconsin from Illinois, I figured they must be a good team. Arriving at the game I immediately noticed that Providence St. Mel was an extremely young team and they really lacked height, which I figured it was a bad thing for them considering they were playing Waunakee who is one of the better rebounding teams I have seen play. The other thing I noticed was that Waunakee was without their star player and leading scorer 6'6 senior Joe Tagarelli.

Starting out the game Waunakee seemed very out of sorts as they were without their leading scorer and their go to player in the post. Waunakee continually settled for the three point shot, which just wasn't falling to start the game. The Warriors were able to take advantage of their height and get second and third opportunities and in addition St. Mel's continued to foul the Warriors over and over. These two things led to numerous easy buckets around the rim and free throws which Waunakee was able to convert on. In the second quarter St. Mel's full court press was finally provided some success as they were able to run and gun their way to a one point lead at half time.

In the second half Waunakee's experience took over. St. Mel's continued to foul Waunakee and the Warriors continued to convert on their free throws. Waunakee was also able to find a new go to player in 6'4 junior Will Decorah. Decorah was able to use his strength to score over smaller defenders time and time again. Waunakee's lead grew to 11 at the end of the third quarter. With St. Mel's top two scorers in foul trouble Waunakee seemed destined to break this game open but, St. Mel's kept coming back with their run and gun offense and their ability to hit the three ball. In the end the Warriors were able to get a 68 to 61 win.

Top Players
Khalil Small 6'1 junior St. Mels- Was able to score at will throughout the entire game. Would of scored a lot more points but, was in foul trouble most of the game.
Tevin King 6'1 sophomore St. Mels- Really carried the teams at times, typically when Small was sitting on the bench in foul trouble. Was able to get to the rim and score in a variety of ways.
Donald Morgan 6'1 junior St. Mels- Didn't do a ton of scoring but, did a great job battling in the post against much taller defenders, to grag rebounds.
Will Decorah 6'4 junior Waunakee- Just a beast in the post where he used his superior strength to score over smaller defenders. Was able to get to the free throw line time and again where he was able to convert.
Tim Keenan 6'3 senior Waunakee- Honestly didn't notice him much but, he did score 13 points. Keenan has become a very solid third option for this team.
Ryan Kruser 5'11 junior Waunakee- Did very solid job running the point off the bench and handling the full court press.

Box Score
St. Mels- Small 21 King 18 Bernard Lilly Jr 11 Morgan 5 Teadlic Anderson 4 Vesper Young 2 Dayvion Barnett 0 Justin McGee 0 William Browns 0 William Spain 0
Waunakee- Decorah 21 Keenan 13 Ben Cable 12 Kruser 8 Justin Block 7 Dylan DesRochers 5 Brett Richgels 2 Jake Heitland 0 Max Chamberlin 0

St. Mel's has a lot of talent but, I'm guessing will be in for a long year against taller teams and better teams because of their inexperience. Next year their a team that I would be worried about if I had to play them because they will return the majority of their major scorers and add a little height and they will be very good. Waunakee is a team that will just be a very solid team that can play with everyone because of their defense and rebounding ability. Without Tagarelli though this team won't go far. I heard through the grapevine that he has a wrist injury but, it didn't appear to be too bad and hopefully will be back in the near future. With Tagarelli back this team is easily a sectional team and until they meet a power from the north in Onalaska or Rice Lake they should be just fine.

Madison Memorial out last Sun Prairie

2011-12-19T20:36:00.002-06:00

Much like the past few years Madison Memorial was able to win this game because they just have more athletes then their opponents. Throughout much of the game it was Memorial playing with five athletes against Sun Prairies two. For the first half of the game Sun Prairie's two athletes were able to keep up with the five of Memorial but, in the end Memorial was just too quick and too athletic for Sun Prairie. Also similar to last year is the fact that Memorials best offense might be the missed shot as they were able to get second and third opportunities at the basket every time down the court. Memorial may of shot about 30 percent on the game but, it seemed that they scored every time down the court.

In the first quarter Sun Prairie came out in a 2-3 one zone defense which really seemed to play in Memorials hands. Early on Memorial really moved the ball well and they were able to find the openings in the Cardinal defense. Memorials point guard 6'1 junior Brendan Ortiz has really improved his passing from a year ago and had some very nice no look passes that set his teammates up for some easy baskets. A pair of seniors 6'5 Junior Lomomba and 6'6 Jamar Morris really did a nice job of getting the ball in the high post and finding cutting teammates in particular 6'4 senior Ngijol Songolo who has always seemed to move well without the ball. Another guy that really impressed me on the night was 6'5 junior Jester Weah who may be able to out jump Morris now, as it seemed that Weah was able to get his hand on every rebound as well as a couple nice blocks that he pinned against the glass.

On the other side Sun Prairie's star 6'6 junior Nick Fuller put his team on his back and completely carried them as he scored 20 points in the first half and the team only scored 30. Memorial did not have a single player that could stay with Fuller as he could get anywhere he wanted and could score at will.

In the second half Fuller slowed up and couldn't get his shot to fall while Memorial continued to control the glass. Memorial has their normal second half run as they came out and had an 8-0 run right out of the locker room in the second half. Memorial has a ton of athletes but, when they really need the buckets they go to Lomomba who has improved his ball handling, shooting, and his elevation since last year. Memorial was able to cruise to the victory and was able to finish it off with an exclamation point dunk from Lomomba when he drove to the hoop and threw down a monster one handed jam.

Top Players
Junior Lomomba 6'5 senior Memorial- A guy that can flat out score. I've always questioned his athletic ability in the past and in this game he showed me that is something that he has worked on as he appears quicker and can elevate higher then past years. I believe he will have a huge year.
Brendan Ortiz 6'1 junior Memorial- Made a huge name for himself last year with his Championship game heroics but, appears to really be looking to be a true point guard this year. Looked to set his teammates up before looking for his own shot. I have always loved his game and now that he appears to be more of a pass first point guard I love him even more.
Jester Weah 6'5 junior Memorial- Dominated the glass on both ends of the court. I think I may of seen the best leaper I will see all year.
Nick Fuller 6'6 junior Sun Prairie- No doubt he is a high D1 college player. Handles the ball exceptionally well and can get anywhere he wants on the court with the ball. A great shooter that has really expanded his game in the past two years.
Nick Noskowiak 6'1 freshmen Sun Prairie- I am very interested to watch this kid play as he plays like a senior already and plays with a ton of confidence. He is already the second best player on the team and is a dead eye shooter from the outside.

Box Score
Memorial- Lomomba 20 Morris 14 Ortiz 10 Songolo 10 Weah 6 Tyler Lindquist 6 Donnel Thomspon 0
SP- Fuller 27 Noskowiak 11 Craig Evans 4 Ryan Yentz 4 Andre Wallace 3 Nick Behrens 3 Mike Vernio 2 Andrew Struebel 2 Martin Cromwell 0

Once again I think that we will be seeing Memorial at the Kohl Center when it comes to state. Sun Prairie has a star that can carry them in Fuller and they have a handful of solid players but, I just don't think they can put it together to win the conference let alone make a run at state.

First Round Team Rankings

2011-12-13T21:37:00.000-06:00

Two weeks into the season and I figured it was time to do my first official rankings for the regular season. I know I haven't gone to many games yet this year by I now have a fiance and there just hasn't been a lot of good games to start the season.

Division One
I try not to punish teams for losing to out of state teams but, Hamilton lost to a very good team from Illinois and felt they should at least drop alittle so I had them fall below De Pere to number six. Brookfield Central, Homestead, and Oshkosh North all lost a game and fall below Sheboygan North and Racine Park. Menomonee Falls, Burlington, and Racine Case has already lost two games and fall out of the rankings all together. DC Everest, Milwaukee South, and Superior have all registered impressive 3-0 starts and make their appearance in my rankings.

1. Germantown
2. Madison Memorial
3. Milwaukee Riverside
4. Milwaukee King
5. De Pere
6. Milwaukee Hamilton
7. Sheboygan North
8. Racine Park
9. Brookfield Central
10. Homestead
11. Oshkosh North
12. D.C. Everest
13. Bay Port
14. Milwaukee South
15. Superior

Division Two
Edgewood has already dropped two games and fall out of the rankings. Waterford lost to a pretty good Burlington team while Pius lost a game and Waterford moved up to seven and Pius dropped to eight. Whitnall and Antigo remain undefeated and move up. New Berline Eisenhower and Beaver Dam remain undefeated and move up to nine and 10. Milwaukee Washington lost two very tough games and hang in at #11 while Lutheran is now 2-4 and fall out of the rankings along with Pewaukee. Kaukana and Pulaski have both started an impressive and come in at 12 and 13. Stoughton registered an impressive victory over Edgewood to move up to 14 and Fort Atkinson is another undefeated team to make it to the rankings.

1. Onalaska
2. Rice Lake
3. Wauwatosa East
4. Waunakee
5. Whitnall
6. Antigo
7. Waterford
8. Milwaukee Pius
9. New Berlin Eisenhower
10. Beaver Dam
11. Milwaukee Washington
12. Kaukana
13. Pulaski
14. Stoughton
15. Fort Atkinson

Division Three
East Troy lost to a very good D1 team in Arrowhead and fall only two spots to #3. St. Cats lost to a D2 team and fall to #7. Praire du Chien, Two Rivers, River Valley, Roncalli, and University schools all are no one near as good as teams in the past and fall out of the rankings. Brillon, Wrightstown, and Valdres have all already beaten each other and come in at 10, 11, and 12. Oostburg, Marshall, and Northwestern are all new teams checking into the rankings.

1. Lacrosse Aquinas
2. GET
3. East Troy
4. Wisconsin Dells
5. Little Chute
6. Lodi
7. Racine St. Catherines
8. Omro
9. Clinton
10. Brillon
11. Wrightstown
12. Valders
13. Oostburg
14. Marshall
15. Northwestern

Division Four
Dominican lost but, it was to the top team in division one so they'll stay my number one team. Oshkosh Lordes lost to Oshkosh North and drop only one spot. Elk Mound lost to a top D5 team in Elmwood and drop to #10. Fall Creek, Blair Taylor, Destiny, and Regis have all struggled early and fell out of the rankings. Wild Rose, Colfax, Thorp, Stanley-Boyd, and Cameron took their place.

1. Dominican
2. Aburndale
3. Cuba City
4. Laconia
5. Oshkosh Lourdes
6. Bonduel
7. Three Lakes
8. Amherst
9. Grantsburg
10. Elk Mound
11. Wild Rose
12. Colfax
13. Thorp
14. Stanley-Boyd
15. Cameron

Division Five
Sheboygan and Racine Lutheran both lost to larger schools and fall only to the third and fourth spot. Clayton lost to Drummond and fall to #14 just behind Drummond and Green Lake falls to #15 after their first loss. GBNEW has only lost to Sheboygan Lutheran and therefore doesn't fall in the rankings. Marion has only lost to a top D4 team so only drop to #12 and as I said earlier Drummond had the big win and move into the rankings.

1. Randolph
2. Benton
3. Sheboygan Lutheran
4. Racine Lutheran
5. Royal
6. Young Coggs Prep
7. Green Bay New Lutheran
8. Prentice
9. Siren
10. Hilbert
11. Suring
12. Marion
13. Drummond
14. Clayton
15. Green Lake

Well that's my updated rankings first my first round. Hopefully I will get to another game Thursday and then possibly will get to another game on Friday. After Christmas my games should start to pick up more and my game posts will increase.

South Central Preview

2011-12-11T16:02:00.000-06:00

Along with the Big Eight Conference the South Central Conference is the other conference that I follow fairly closely since it is the conference that my home town is in. As always the conference will go to Wisconsin Dells who I believe has at least shared the conference title every year but, one year. Honestly I don't see any other team challenging them whatsoever. The Dells is head and shoulders above everyone followed by Nekoosa and Mauston who are head and shoulders above the bottom three teams in the conference.

1. Wisconsin Dells - They are the defending conference champs and they bring back everyone from their team that won the conference. The are headlined by 6'4 junior Shane Wimann and 5'11 MJ Delmore who were both first team all conference and 5'9 junior Mike Dickman who was a second teamer.
2. Mauston- They are a one man team behind 6'4 junior Joel Heesch who can do it all from run the point guard to guard anyone on the court.
3. Nekoosa- Don't know much about them at all be they seem to be showing some promise and have 6'4 senior Derek Baker.
4. Adams Friendship- Don't know much about them other then they are Adams Friendship so they shouldn't finish last.
5. Westfield- Would of had them last but, Wautoma only scored 19 points in their first game of the year to that puts them last.
6. Wautoma- See above.

All Conference
1st Team
6'4 junior Wisconsin Dells Shane Wimman
5'11 junior Wisconsin Dells MJ Delmore
6'4 junior Mauston Joel Heesch
6'4 senior Nekoosa Derek Baker
5'10 senior Adams Friendship Nick Becker

2nd Team
5'9 junior Wisconsin Dells Mike Dickman
6'3 senior Wisconsin Dells Trevor Hirst
6'2 senior Wautoma John Eagan
6'3 junior Mauston Hunter Nelson
6'1 senior Westfield Cordell Maas

Predicted Standings
Wisconsin Dells 10-0
Mauston 7-3
Nekoosa 6-4
Adams Friendship 5-5
Westfield 2-8
Wautoma 1-9

Well there are my preseason thoughts on the South Central Conference. Some cheating on this one since the season has already started.

Big Eight Preview

2011-12-08T23:51:00.000-06:00

I know I'm alittle late with this preview since most teams have already played two or three games but, this is really the first chance I've had to make the predictions. The Big Eight is one of the conferences that I follow closely. There have already been some big ups and downs with Beloit defeated Sun Prairie who I thought would be one of the top teams in the conference and then Beloit going and losing to Janesville Craig who should be towards the bottom of the conference. The middle of the conference is really going to be up in the air and three through seven could really go anyway. Here are my predictions on the conference.

1. Madison Memorial- The defending state champs are clearly the class of the conference and have at least three scholarship players in 6'5 senior Junior Lomomba, who recently signed his D1 letter, 6'1 junior Brendan Ortiz who should keep the momentum going from his tremendous state championship game, and 6'6 senior Jamar Morris who should have a breakout year now that he will start the year out injury free. 6'4 junior Jester Weah and 6'4 senior Ngijol Songolo also saw lots of minutes starting a year ago.
2. Sun Prairie- 6'6 junior Nick Fuller might be the best player in the conference and should have an extremely impressive year. 6'5 senior Andre Wallace appears to be a solid side kick early in the season.
3. Middleton- Have one of the better coaches in the conference and always seem to play very hard for their coach. I expect a huge year out of 6'5 senior Antoine Buchanon who seemed to have a ton of talent a year ago but, could never get things going.
4. Madison East- Height is always an issue but, they play with alot of heart. 5'8 senior Rudy Bentley should have a big year and teams with 5'10 junior Jermel McLin to form a very solid back court.
5. Verona- Solid coach and a team that always plays well and hard. 6'4 senior Bryan Dalton seems to be poised for a big big year early on.
6. Beloit- Have a ton of talent but, see if they can put it all together. Appears that they will be having an up and down year as they have already beaten Sun Prairie and then lost to Janesville Craig.
7. Madison Lafollette- Don't know much about the Lancers but, they bring back four starters so they could easily make the move higher in the conference.
8. Madison West- Another talented team but, they can never seem to put it all together. Things go there way and they should be able to move up but, usually they seem to be towards the bottom.
9. Janesville Craig- Would of had them tied with Parker here but, already getting a big win against Beloit has me thinking alittle different.
10. Janesville Paker- Don't know much about them but, their Parker so they go here.

Predicted conference records
Madison Memorial 18-0
Sun Prairie 15-3
Middleton 11-7
Madison East 10-8
Verona 10-8
Beloit 9-9
Madison Lafollette 9-9
Madison West 5-13
Janesville Craig 3-15
Janesville Paker 1-17

All Conference Picks
1st Team
6'5 senior Junior Lomomba Madison Memorial
6'1 junior Brendan Ortiz Madison Memorial
6'6 junior Nick Fuller Sun Prairie
5'8 senior Rudy Bentley Madison East
6'4 senior Bryan Dalton Verona

2nd Team
6'5 senior Antoine Buchanon Middleton
6'6 senior Jamar Morris Madison Memorial
5'10 senior Kwame Latimer Madison West
6'0 senior Matt Hunter Madison Lafollette
6'4 sophomore Andre Neal Beloit

HM
5'10 junior Jermel McLin Madison East
6'4 junior Jester Weah Madison Memorial
6'5 senior Andre Wallace Sun Prairie
6'2 senior Brett Pickarts Janesville Craig
6'1 senior Demetrious Durley Madison East

Well there are my picks for the Big Eight conference. I'm sure I will end up being way off by the end of the year but, oh well always fun to see how close I can get.

Randolph cruises past Pardeeville

2011-12-03T15:13:00.000-06:00

Any chance I can see Randolph play against a team that is actually somewhat decent team I'll be at the game. Coming into this game I thought Pardeeville would give them somewhat of a game but, evidently I was wrong. Pardeeville was anything but, impressive but, I have to take into consideration that this was Pardeeville's first game of the year.

From the get go Randolph was the aggressor looking to score and they were getting to every loose ball. Pardeeville came out in a zone not sure if it was 1-3-1 or 2-3 but, it seemed to give Randolph some trouble, for whatever reason Pardeeville came out of it early in the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter Randolph was up 15 to 3 and never looked back as they got the easy 65 to 33 victory. Randolph road the coat tails of 6'4 junior Jay Peters early on, who was able to hit the mid range shot all night particularly in transition. Peters has really improved over the past year and seems to have grown a few inches as well. Throughout the entire game it was the Randolph defense that really set the tone. 6'8 senior Cody Reuter really led the D from the inside out as he was able to block shot after shot, which caused Pardeeville to be really tentative. I think if Pardeeville would of gone right at Reuter instead of stopping and trying to go over him, they would of got the big man in foul trouble.

In the second half Randolph's defense continued to be strong and that was able to key their fast break. Reuter continued to block shots and 6'4 junior Aaron Retzlaff grabbed the rebounds and they would outlet it to their point guard 5'10 senior Miles Taylor who would push the tempo and get his teammates open looks. Randolph cleared their bench with only five minutes left in the game and got the easy W, 65 to 33.

Top Players
Jay Peters 6'4 junior- Has a very nice mid range jump shot and moves extremely well for a player with his size. Just looks like a player.
Aaron Retzlaff 6'4 junior- Offensive game seemed to of suffered alittle as he played on the post much more this year. A tremendous rebounder who does all the little things. Along with Peters plays a very nice two man game in the high post.
Eric Schepp 6'1 junior Pardeeville- The one player who wasn't afraid to take the ball at Reuter and challenge the big man.

Box Score
Randolph 65- Peters 16 Retzlaff 12 Hunter Verhulst 10 Miles Taylor 6 Collin Vander Gailen 6 Duke Vander Galien 6 Reuter 5 Dylan Adel 3 Wesley DeYoung 0 Chris DeVries 0
Pardeeville 33- Schepp 9 Cameron Knutson 5 Tyler Bush 4 Mackenzie Manthey 3 Logan Dredske 3 Trace Osborn 3 Kemal Kirchmeier 3 Eric Curtis 2 Nate Schmidt 1 #2 0

Some final thoughts on the game. Pardeeville will probably do fairly well in their conference as the Trailways isn't the toughest conference and they are one of the larger schools in the conference. Randolph will once again be one of the to teams in D5 because they have that great defense and are still one of the taller teams you will fine in D5. They have a very good top seven players but, one thing that shocked me was that they only had 10 players on the team. In the past Randolph has always had at least 15 players. I'm not sure if it's school enrollment that caused the drop in numbers or what but, just something that surprised me. Should be a great year as the season has just started.

Division Five Preseason Rankings

2011-12-01T19:45:00.000-06:00

This might be the most interesting year of D5 that there has been with Randolph being a bit down. Randolph is still my pick to win state but, I have as many as six or seven teams with a chance to win state. Should be a fun year in D5 and here are my rankings...

1. Randolph- Defending state champs lost a lot but, have 6'4 junior Aaron Retzlaff and 6'8 senior Cody Reuter back. Also have a promising freshmen in 5'7 Duke Vander Galien.
2. Sheboygan Lutheran- Any time you have a player like 6'7 senior Sam Dekker you know your team can do some damage.
3. Racine Lutheran- Always seem to be right at the top and play a very very tough schedule.
4. Benton- 5'10 senior David Neis is in his fourth year on varsity and may be able to carry this team far.
5. Clayton- State runner ups a year ago bring back alot of talent from last years team.
6. Green Lake- 6'7 senior Matt Van Scyoc is just a step below Dekker.
7. Royal- This team has been to state before and return a handful of players that were on that team including 6'3 junior Sam Murphy.
8. Young Coggs Prep- Seem to have a ton of talent and play a lot of the city schools but, just can't put it all together come playoff time.
9. Green Bay NEW Lutheran- Another small school that benefits greatly from playing larger schools all year long.
10. Seneca- Play great great defense which allows them to play with anyone in the state.
11.Prentice- Looking at the yearbook and they were a top team all last year.
12. Marion- Honestly just following the year book here.
13. Siren- Have three double digit scorers back.
14. Hilbert- Great tradition and has been to state many times before.
15. Suring- Think they have one of the better coaches around and always seem to be good.

Well these are my preseason rankings. I have two games I will be attending the next two days and we will see if I will get the chance to post about the games. Will be seeing Randolph and Madison Memorial in the next two days.

Division Four Preseason Rankings

2011-12-01T19:23:00.000-06:00

Ever since the state went to five divisions, division four has been the toughest for me to predict, there are alot of unknowns. Many of the teams in D4 would never of been seen in years past because of the bigger D3 schools they were going against, so many of these teams are unknowns. The only thing I can say for sure and I think everyone can say for sure is that Whitefish Bay Dominican is the #1 ranked team in everyones eyes. I'll admit on this one alot of my rankings come from the yearbook.

1. Dominican- Easily the cream of the crop here as their led by a pair of D1 recruits in a pair of 6'2 guards in senior Jamall Taylor and jr Duane Wilson Jr.. If 6'9 freshmen Diamond Stone lives up to half the hype Dominican should run away with the division.
2. Aburndale- 20 win team a year ago bring back four of their starters including 6'4 junior Austin Hawkins who averaged 15 points a game a year ago.
3. Cuba City- Have one of the best coaches in the state and have 6'5 senior Corey Vassen.
4. Oshkosh Lourdes- Have four starters back from an 18 win team and should be battled tested after going against the larger Oshkosh schools.
5. Laconia- Very strong tradition and they always seem to get to 20 wins.
6. Elk Mound- Return four starters from last years team.
7. Bonduel- Return a pair of double digit scorers in a pair of seniors in 6'6 Nathan Doell and 6'1 Jacob Thorne.
8. Three Lakes- Have 6'8 senior Ross Thorn who averaged a double double a year ago.
9. Fall Creek- Have been very good as of late and have a great coach.
10. Blair Taylor- Have a great coach and they have 6'7 senior Reggie Kujak.
11. Amherst- Don't know anything really but, there always a top ranked team.
12. Grantsburg- State runner ups a year ago always seem to be ranked high and make a strong run at state.
13. Marathon- They were defending state champs. Honestly that's all I have.
14. Destiny- Has been alot of talk about Destiny and I'm not sure if it's just talk or what. 6'4 sophomore transfer Jerrelle Deberry should have a huge year.
15. Eau Claire Regis- Lots of success in the past gives them the nod here.

There are my D4 preseason rankings and there was a lot of guessing and a lot of following the year book.

Waunakee wins big over Baraboo

2011-11-30T00:13:00.000-06:00

In my opening game of the season I watched Waunakee take on Baraboo. Waunakee is similar to their teams of years past in that they have tons of talent and go 11 deep in their normal rotation. Waunakee has very good overall height with six players listed at 6'3 or taller in their regular rotation. On the other hand Baraboo only plays two players over 6'3 and don't have alot of talent. Baraboo relys on one played 6'4 senior Sean McGann to do the majority of their scoring. McGann finished the game scoring 30 of Baraboo's 37 points.

Early on in the game it was very obvious that this was an early season game for the fact that both teams could only manage five points each and bunny shots were missed over and over. Baraboo just couldn't get any shots up as it seemed that the only player that could get a shot off was McGann. On the other side Waunakee got lots and lots of easy shots but, just couldn't get them to fall. Their size was just too much for Baraboo as they got offensive rebound after offensive rebound but, just couldn't get the shots to fall.

In the second quarter Waunakee was finally able to get things going applying their full court press and forcing Baraboo to turn the ball over and then their shots started to finally fall. At half Waunakee had extended their lead to 26-13. In the second half Waunakee was able to continue their strong D, as Baraboo's best offense seemed to be when McGann would just take the ball the entire length of the court and score. When Waunakee had the ball they really looked to force the ball to the inside to big man 6'6 senior Joe Tagarelli, who at times was just a bull going to the rim and getting easy buckets. The entire game Waunakee looked to work the ball inside out, which Waunakee has become known for in the last few years. Waunakee was able to knock down the open threes when they were given them. In the end Waunakee was able to cruise to the 55-37 victory.

Top Players
Joe Tagarelli 6'6 senior Waunakee- Very tough on the glass particularly on the offensive end where he really bangs. Also very tough to stop when he gets the ball in the post, sometimes he forces things a bit at times but, he's able to grab his own misses and put them back in. Can get his hand on tons of passes playing on the top of Waunakee's full court press.
Tim Keenan 6'3 senior Waunakee- Don't remember him from last year but, he's a very smooth player with a very nice three point shot and touch around the rim. Just a real nice complement player.
Will Decorah 6'4 junior Waunakee- Very physical player that can do alot of little things. Has a very high release that he can get off at any time and when given the open shot can knock it down. Has a very strong game in the post as well.
Sean McGann 6'4 senior Baraboo- Just a flat out scorer. Has a very nice pull up jumper and can drive to the rim and finish in a variety of ways. Handles the ball well and has a nice outside shot.

Box Score (starters in italics)
Waunakee 55- Tagarelli 17 Keenan 15 Decorah 13 Justin Block 4 Ryan Kruser 4 Ben Cable 3 Jake Heitland 2 Max Chamberlin 1 Alex Cole 0 Patrick O'Connell 0 Dylan DesRochers 0 Austin Ahern 0 Michael Meffert 0 Brett Richgels 0 Brock Carson 0 Dustin Coyle 0 Jakub Bollant-Ulvilden 0
Baraboo 37- McGann 30 Jordan White Eagle 2 Marquez Jackson 2 Andrew Hendricks 2 Ryan Vorndran 1 Joseph Bruni 0 Jesse Klink 0 Jacob Hacker 0 Brock Maxwell 0 Gerrit Bruni 0 Auston Jackson 0 Marquez Jackson 0 Mart Hickey 0

I know this wasn't the longest post but, it's a little late at night so this is the best I could do. This is going to be a very long year for Baraboo and have to feel for McGann a bit as he's a very good player but, just doesn't have alot around him. Waunakee will more then likely win conference and possibly a regional but, they aren't the state team they were a year ago.

Division Three Preseason

2011-11-25T19:46:00.000-06:00

For the last few years division three has been the deepest division year in and year out and this year should be no different. Traditionally a division that is dominated by the privates, the public schools seem to be gaining some grown, even though a year ago two private teams met in the championship game. Here are my preseason rankings

1. Lacrosse Aquinas- State champs a year ago bring back the top player in the division and maybe state in 6'3 junior Bronson Koenig, who could of gone anywhere he wanted in the country for college but, choose Wisconsin as his college. Expect a big year from 6'4 senior Quinn McCartney who can jump out of the gym.
2. East Troy- 22 win team a year ago bring back all five starters and have tremendous size with 6'9 junior twins Brett and Alex Prahl and 6'7 senior Tanner Plomb all starting.
3. GET- Only lost two games last year and return three starters including their top scorer in 6'4 senior Riley Bambenek.
4. Racine St. Catherines- State runner ups a year ago return their top player in UW Green Bay recruit 6'5 senior Jordan Fouse.
5. Brillion- Team that always finds themselves towards the top of the rankings and bring back 5'8 junior Eric Kittel their top scorer last year and 5'10 senior Trevor Krizenesky who started his sophomore year but, missed most of last year with an injury.
6. Wisconsin Dells- Won their conference a year ago and won 20 games and bring back every single player from that team.
7. Little Chute- Were a final four team a year ago and bring back 6'5 junior Turner Botz who is starting to get some D1 looks.
8. Lodi- Won 19 games last year and bring back four starters that all averaged double digits in points a year ago. 6'3 sophomore Jordan Shea will be a star and then 6'5 senior Danny Padley, 5'11 junior Kris Seffrood, and 6'6 junior Jacob Haag, future is very bright for a team that has struggled for years.
9. Prairie du Chien- Conference champs a year ago bring back sharpshooter 6'0 senior Connor Morovits and 6'3 senior Colin Roach, who should really improve now that he will be a starter.
10. Two Rivers- Should have a strong year behind big time scorer 6'1 junior Brett Linzmeier who averaged 19 points a game last year.
11. Omro- Lost only two games a year ago and have sharpshooter Brandon Tyler back a 6'4 senior who was their leading scorer a year ago.
12. Clinton- Conference champs a year ago and bring back four starters.
13. River Valley- Finished a game behind Prairie du Chien and has a very strong tradition.
14. Roncalli- Lost five starters but, this is Roncalli so you have to rank them here.
15. University School- Don't know a whole lot about them but, the yearbook has them ranked high and their picked to challenge Dominican for a conference title in the Midwest conference so that must mean something.

Well there are my division three rankings. Should be a very exciting year as I should be going to my very first game of the year Tuesday night.

Division Two Preseason Rankings

2011-11-23T21:46:00.000-06:00

Well its no longer preseason but, I'll try to get my rankings in as soon as possible and I promise I won't pay attention to any games that have been played. This weekend has a lot of good early season matchups with the holiday tournaments so it will be difficult to not watch those but, I will do my best. I'll admit for this division my rankings have been helped out a lot by the basketball yearbook. Anyway here are my D2 preseason rankings.....

1. Onalaska- Have a pair of D1 recruits in 6'8 senior Nick Arenz and 6'3 junior Matt Thomas.
2. Madison Edgewood- Austin Arians a 6'5 senior is a D1 college athlete and 6'2 senior Spencer Brink is a four year varsity performer. Also coah Zwittler always seems to get the most out of his players.
3. Rice Lake- In my eyes always seem to underachieve but, they have a ton of talent highlighted by 6'5 senior Wally Ellenson a Minnesota recruit.
4. Milwaukee Pius- Appear to be loaded with talent headlined by a pair of seniors in 6'0 Carrington Love and 6'4 Larr Fitzgerald both of which averaged double digits in scoring a year ago.
5. Milwaukee Washington- Should really benefit from moving down from D1 this year and come out of the always tough City Conference. Lots of athletes and talent here.
6. Wauwatosa East- Always bring a competitive team year in and year out. I expect a huge break out year from 6'1 junior Anthony Carroll.
7. Wisconsin Lutheran- Don't know a whole lot but, at this point you just pencil in Wisco as a top 10 team year in and year out.
8. Waunakee- Really seem to have a great program going as they seem to have huge talented senior classes every year. 6'5 senior Joe Tagarelli should have a very big year.
9. Waterford- Honestly don't know a whole lot but, the yearbook had them high.
10. Whitnall- Another team that I don't know alot about but, the yearbook had them ranked high and they have talented senior 6'2 Stephen Pelkofer who averaged 17 points a game last year.
11. Seymour- Another team with a strong tradition and have some very talented underclassmen coming up.
12. Antigo- Won their conference a year ago and have their top two scorers back in a pair of seniors, 5'9 Andreas Ezer and 6'2 Jake Erickson
13. Pewaukee- Last couple years they just seem to always be at the top of the rankings and have good teams year in and year out.
14. New Berlin Eisenhower- Similar response to Pewaukee.
15. Beaver Dam- Call this one a hunch as I've heard some very good things about this team.

Division two always seems to be one of the most difficult divisions to call and if you remember last year there was a lot of bouncing around in the rankings outside of about the top five to eight teams. Should be another interesting year to see who comes out on top.

Division One Preseason Rankings

2011-11-22T19:00:00.000-06:00

I'm finally back with a real post and I just hope that I haven't lost all my followers. Same way every season starts with the preseason rankings. Once again the rankings are based solely on my own thoughts and really have no meeting whatsoever other then just some fun. I will continue to update my rankings throughout the year purely as my own fun. So without further adu here are my preseason rankings for division one......

1. Germantown- Final eight team a year ago that lost on a buzzer shot. Bring back everyone but, one player and have a ton of height in 6'9 junior Luke Fischer, 6'7 senior Daniel Studer, and a pair of 6'6 sophs in Evan Wesenberg and Jon Averkamp. They are led by Badger recruit 6'2 senior Zak Showalter and fellow three year starter 5'11 senior Josh Mongan.
2. Madison Memorial- The defending state champs bring back three starters in 6'5 senior Junior Lomomba, 6'6 senior Jamar Morris, and 6'1 junior Brendan Ortiz. Throw in 6'4 Ngijol Songolio and 6'4 junior Jester Weah who each started large portions of last year and they have a starting lineup as good as any in the state.
3. Milwaukee Riverside- City conference champs a year ago may have the tallest team in the state with 6'5 senior Jalen Currie, a pair of 6'8 juniors in D'Andre Downey and RaVonn Posey, 6'9 sophomore Robert Harris, and if allowed to be eligible 6'10 senior Phil Nolan. Also bring back their starting back court the Shomari and Bakari Triggs 5'10 seniors.
4. Milwaukee King- King is just penciled in every year to the top ten. They have 6'5 senior Arroyo Edwards but, outside of him they have no one over 6'2 but, they have a great coach and have lots of great guards on the team.
5. Milwaukee Hamilton- Final four team a year ago bring back three starters in 6'7 sophomore Kevin Looney, 6'5 sophomore David Burrell, and 6'6 senior Itavian Belcher. Another Milwaukee school with a great coach.
6. De Pere- State runner ups return a pair of D1 recruits in 6'6 senior Brett Vanden Bergh and 6'3 senior Jordan Poydras as well as some very talented underclassmen.
7. Oshkosh North- Always tough Spartans led by 6'5 senior Izaiah Anderson.
8. Menomonee Falls- Have one of the biggest recruits ever for Wisconsin in North Carolina recruit 6'6 senior JP Tokoto. Also have 6'1 senior CJ Malone back and bring in a jv player thats 7'2 in senior Ryan Bross.
9. Brookfield Central- Honestly only have them here because the yearbook has them listed real high. Have five players taller then 6'4 and bring back their top scorer in 6'4 senior Seth Mortag.
10. Sheboygan North- 19 win team a year ago return their top two scorers in 6'1 senior Devin Yurk and 6'0 junior Ethan Guske.
11. Racine Park- Have loads of talent so hopefully they can put it together now that most of that talent is seniors this year.
12. Homestead- Yearbook seems to think they will have alot of success and have alot of talent in their underclassman.
13. Bay Port- Won 20 games a year ago and have some very strong tradition it seems now and bring back three starters.
14. Burlington- Surprise 20 win team a year ago lost alot of starters but, bring back much of their bench and a very strong jv team.
15. Racine Case- Honestly basing this on the amount of success they had last year.

Well there are my D1 rankings for the preseason. I typed them up pretty quickly but, I have been thinking about these rankings for about the past three months. I feel very confident in my top 10 the rest well its just a crap shoot.

I'm Back!

2011-11-20T20:43:00.000-06:00

Well I'm back for another year of high school basketball. I hope that I still have some readers left since it has been about six months since my last post. The first game I will be attending will be in a little over a week. The following week I will be doing my preview rankings of each divisions and coming out with some of my early season thoughts. I will try to do my best to have at least four post a week just as I have in previous years. I do have a girlfriend now that might provide some issues with posting as much as the past or I will be doing my best to get to as many games as possible and will once again have my weekly ranking post once we get into about the second or third week of December.

End of Season

2011-04-19T20:51:00.000-05:00

I know I said that I was going to have another post on the basketball season but, I have decided at this point not to have another one on the high school basketball season. It has been a month and has just been too long since my last post for me to make a post that would be worth wild. I may start posting on mens slowpitch softball season if I have the chance but, with the way things have gone the past few summers I just haven't had a lot of time to post.

Issue Again

2011-04-07T21:26:00.003-05:00

Obviously there continues to be the problem with the blog. I'm not sure if the problem is because I copy and pasting from previous post or what so I'm not sure if I will continue with my plans to look back at the remaining predictions or not. The season has been over for awhile and there really isn't a reason to continue posting.

Division One Review

2011-04-07T20:55:00.008-05:00

Took a look back at how my predictions for the Big Eight panned out even though it was basically ruined by the blog having some issues but, figured I would take a look back at my preseason picks for each division and how each team finished up. I will put in ( ) what I had each team ranked in the end. 1. Madison Memorial (15)- Had a bit of a rocky season which resulted in their #15 ranking but, in the end they were the tournament champs. 2. Appleton East (1)- Where #1 nearly the entire year and went undefeated all year long until they lost to De Pere in the state semi final. 3. Milwaukee Hamiliton (9)- Lost the majority of their starters throughout the year which really hurt them against the top competition they saw during the season but, still managed to make it to state. 4. Milwaukee King (5)- Had a pretty good year and basically finished where I thought they were to start the year. Missing Bowers throughout the year really hurt them as far as a state title. 5. Sun Prairie (NR)- Had a pretty good season but, didn't really make it to a top tier team like I thought they would. 6. Milwaukee Marquette (NR)- Kind of an up and down year similar to last year but, just couldn't turn it up come playoff time. 7. Depere (4)- Really had a great year. I knew they were a tall team but, didnt realize how athletic they actually were. 8. Milwaukee Washington (NR)- Lost one of the top players during the year and never could really recover after that. 9. Germantown (3)- Had a great great year and lost only two games all year counting the playoffs. 10. Menomonee Falls(NR)- Guess it takes more then one great player to make a team as they struggled to a .500 finish. HM Superior (NR) Similar year to last year. Had a solid regular season despite being hit hard by injuries and then didn't bring it come playoff time when De Pere really dominated them. Waukesha West (NR) Never really lived up to their hype. Had a solid playoff run but, were in a very tough sectional and couldn't come out of it. Marshfield (NR) Started out great going undefeated for the first half of the year and were ranked high and then completely fell apart in the second half of the year. Unranked Milwaukee Riverside (2) Really didn't know much about this team but, they were a very good team winning the city conference and playing Madison Memorial extremely tough in the Super Tuesdyay. Wisconsin Rapids (6) Went undefeated during the regular season and then lost to a team from the Green Bay/ Fox Valley area like usual. Racine Case (7) Had some very good players that I hadn't heard much about including a couple scholarship players. Arrowhead (8) Should of known better then to go against the defending state champs and obviously still had some talent remaining. Bay Port (10) Anothergreat Bay Port team that I really didn't know anything about or heard much about prior to the season or during the season. Beloit (11) Knew they had the talent but, just didn't think they could put it all together to be noticed on the state level. Sheboygan North (12) Didn't know much about them before the season and still don't know much about them but, they had a pretty good record. Burlington (13) Strong senior class carried this team to state ranking even though they got upset in the playoffs. Franklin (14) Another team with a strong senior class that carried them to success. Looking at my state rankings you can see how hard it is for one person to rank an entire state. Particularily in basketball you see a very small number of teams actually play even though in my case I did my best to see as many teams as possible. In the end rankings are all just for fun and people shouldn't look to much into them.

Blog Issues

2011-04-05T21:11:00.003-05:00

Apologize for the last post. The blog wouldn't let me space out the post how I wanted so I was unable to edit it the way I would like. I tried multiple times but still couldn't get the enter problem to work. I will try later to get the post to work correctly but, no promises.

Big Eight Review

2011-04-05T19:50:00.013-05:00

Wow it has been a long time since I posted. I have have about a handful of posts left that I will do on the basketball season that just ended and may or may not try to keep up with my softball posting but, I'm pretty busy at night during the summer and just don't have the time. Figured I would see how my predictions for the Big Eight season finished off and see how my all conference picks and standings worked out. No real surprises other then the fact that Memorial didn't dominate as much as I thought and the few guys that didn't make all conference were for reasons other then their play whether it be injuries or eligibility. My Predictions Madison Memorial 16-2 Sun Prairie 15-3 Madison East 13-5 Beloit 12-6 Middleton 11-7 Verona 10-8 Madison Lafollette 5-13 Madison West 4-14 Janesville Parker 2-16 Janesville Craig 2-16 Actual Standings Beloit 15-3- Bit of a surprise here with Beloit tying for first in the conference. Didn't realize how many athletes that they returned and had some other scorers outside of Broomfield. Would of been at state under the old format with eight D1 teams making it to Madison. Madison Memorial 15-3- Had a bit of an up and down season and really should of gone undefeated in the conference with the talent that they had. Still won state though and in most people's eyes were the top team in the conference just didn't bring it night in and night out. Sun Prairie 14-4- For the most part had the season that I had predicted. only shocked was that they dropped two games to East but, for the most part beat the teams they should of beaten and split with the top two teams. Madison East 10-8- Didn't finish as good as I predicted but, probably did over achieve in reality. Hillard had an amazing year as expected winning Mr. Basketball but, didn't realize how small this team actually was. Middleton 10-8- Thought they could of been alittle better but, just didn't have an offensive game many nights. Only finished one game worse then what I thought. Verona 10-8- Actually hit this one on the head. This team lost a lot of talent from the previous year but, they have a such a strong program in Verona, you knew they couldn't drop a ton. Janesville Parker 6-12- A bit of a surprise here winning four more games then expected. Parker has been showing gradual improvements and could be a good sign for things to come. Janesville Craig 4-14- Had two more wins may of been because Lafollette and West were worse then I thought. Madison Lafollette 3-15- Didn't think Coach Williams would let them fall this much but, they did. Madison West 3-15- Only slightly worse then what I thought. The top half of teams just didn't dominate as much as I thought. My Predicted All Conference 1st Team All Conference Nimrod Hillard 6'0 senior Madison East- Lived up to the hype and captured the conference player of the year. Junior Lomomba 6'5 junior Madison Memorial- Had a great year but, Hillard was just better. Chris Hawkins 6'5 senior Sun Prairie- Feel he was screwed out of first team a bit and was put on the second team. Leketreius Broomfield 6'2 senior Beloit- Missed a good portion of the season including the end of the season which cost him any all conference consideration. Jamar Morris 6'5 junior Madison Memorial- Injury cost him nearly the entire season and all conference. 2nd Team All Conference Ian Joyce 6'6 senior Middleton- Earned third team which was probably what he deserved, wasn't the best player on his team. Nick Fuller 6'5 sophomore Sun Prairie- Had a huge break out year earning first team. Didn't realize how much he had improved from last year. Jordan Noskowiak 6'3 senior Sun Prairie- Basically played how I expected. An ultimate glue guy that does alittle bit of everything. Tre Burnette 6'4 senior Madison Memorial- Had a slow start but, had a big second half of the year and got the second team. Brendan Ortiz 5'11 sophomore Madison Memorial- Had a so so year and may of had a stronger freshmen year but, really showed up huge on the state level. Actual All Conference Nimrod Hillard IV -Sr , G - Madison East (Player of the Year) Junior Lomomba -Jr, G - Madison Memorial Nick Fuller - So, G/F - Sun Prairie Mike Weston - Sr, G - Beloit Memorial- An under the rader guy but, is a solid player that gets his points and rebounds every game. Creed Knutson - Sr, F - Janesville Parker- Have never seen him player but, put up some big scoring numbers throughout the year. 2nd TEAM Chris Hawkins - Sr, F –Sun Prairie Tre Burnette - Sr, G - Madison Memorial Seth Coyne - Sr, G - Middleton- Wasn't much of a scorer last year but, really put his team on his back at times on the offensive end. Jordan Noskowiak - Sr, G - Sun Prairie Danny Burns - Sr, G – Verona- Knew he was a very strong defensive player last year but, obviously really picked his game up on the offensive end. Those are my final thoughts for the Big Eight season. Within the next week will be looking to look at how my state rankings finished up and then taking a look at some of the top players that I saw this past season.

Early Favorites 2012

2011-03-24T19:59:00.007-05:00

With 2011 season coming to an end, time to look ahead to next year. It's never too early to look ahead and makes some picks for next year. This is without a whole lot of research just the first teams that jump to my mind when I think about the top teams from last year. The teams are listed in no particular order just when they come to mind.

Division One
Might be the return of the Milwaukee dominance as three teams from Milwaukee will have a legitimate chance to win a state title. That is off course if the prep school doesn't hit the City hard again.

Milwaukee Hamilton- Lost in the final four this year and bring back four of their five starters that played the entire game at state. Three of those starters were freshmen so Hamilton will be a contender for three years if all the kids stay.

Milwaukee King- Have one of the best coaches in the state in Coach Gosz and return the majority of their team including 6'5 junior Arroyo Edwards and possibly the return of 6'6 junior Cimmeon Bowers who is no longer on the roster. Had only three seniors on an extremely deep team that lost only three games this year.

Milwaukee Riverside- Only lost to one team in Wisconsin and a total of three teams overall, while winning the City Conference. Graduate their best player but, return everyone else that was on the team as he was the only senior on the team.

Madison Memorial- State champs bring back three starters including Mr. Clutch 6'1 sophomore Brendan Ortiz, their best player during the regular season, 6'5 junior Junior Lomomba, and big man 6'6 junior Jamar Morris who missed the majority of this past season. They have two capable starters in two 6'4 players off the bench sophomore Jester Weah and junior Ngijol Songolo who started much of this year anyway and have a very strong sophomore class as a whole.

Germantown- Lost only two games all year and had only two seniors that actually played significant minutes. Had plenty of sophomores and even freshmen are varsity that will be a year older. 6'2 junior Zak Showalter should once again have a huge year.

Menomonee Falls- Have one of the best players in the country and the best player in the state in 6'7 junior JP Tokoto. If he transfers to prep school will struggle to be a .500 team.

De Pere- State runner ups bring back 6'6 junior Brett Vanden Bergh who will be a 20 a game scorer and a handful of sophomores and will once again be tough in the Northeast sectional.

Oshkosh North- Return about half their team and should be very long and athletic.

Division Two
Just like every year in D2, we should see a completely different set of teams at state as all the teams were very senior dominated.

Madison Edgewood- Juniors 6'6 Austin Arians and 6'2 Spencer Brink will be back for their third year starting and return fellow starter 6'4 junior Jack Zwittler as well as the majority of their bench.

Onalaska- Will easily be the favorite in D2 as they return a pair of D1 college recruits in 6'8 junior Nick Arenz and 6'1 sophomore Matt Thomas.

Wauwatosa East- Lose only three players from this years team and bring back their top scorers in 6'6 junior Darrell Bowie and 6'1 sophomore Anthony Carroll.

Rice Lake- Will have an extremely strong senior class highlighted by 6'5 Wally Ellenson and 6'2 Alex Cuskey. Only had two seniors this past year.

Division Three
D3 will once again be the deepest division and you can nearly take this years top 10 and pencil them in for top 10 next year.

Lacrosse Aquinas- State champs bring back super sophs 6'2 Bronson Koenig and 6'6 Mike Conway.

GET- Lost only one game this year and only had two seniors. Bring back their star 6'3 junior Riley Bambeck.

East Troy- Bring back most of their scoring and size with a front line of 6'7 junior Tanner Plumb and 6'8 sophomores Brett and Alex Pahl. 6'3 sophomore Nate Dodge should really improve next year as well and he was great this year.

Brillion- Will be lead be lead by their backcourt in 5'8 sophomore Eric Kittel and 5'9 junior Tevor Krizenskey. Have experience success as of recent and it should continue.

Whitefish Bay Dominican- Will have one of the best back courts in the state with 6'1 junior Jamall Taylor and 6'1 sophomore Duane Wilson.

Racine St. Catherines- State runner ups bring back their top player in 6'5 junior Jordan Fouse and they are St. Cats.

Lodi- Showed some strong success behind an incredibly strong sophomore and freshmen class.

Wisconsin Dells- Won their conference this past year and didn't have a senior on the roster.

Division Four
Honestly don't know much here and no one really stands out too much.

Cuba City- One of the best coached teams in the state and lose only three seniors from this years team.

Colfax- Only other team that sticks out to me and they return most of their team and seem to have a lot of youth.

Division Five
Another one I really don't know other then just saying Randolph and your basically right every year.

Randolph- Have a pair of possible stars next year in 6'7 junior Cody Reuter and 6'3 sophomore Aaron Retzlaff. Not to mention they are Randolph.

Sheboygan Area Lutheran- 6'7 junior Sam Dekker is the best player in this division and could possibly carry his team to the title.

These are my early picks for top teams next year. I will try to possibly rank the teams I have seen this year, not sure if I will or not because you can basically see where everyone finished and one was the real #1 and so on. I will try to rank the players I have seen but, it has been so long since I last ranked them it will be difficult to do. One thing I will be doing is looking at my predictions from the beginning of the season to now and see how close I was.

State All Tournament Team

2011-03-23T21:39:00.005-05:00

I know it has been a few days since the state tournament has ended but here is my all tournament team. I decided to go with 10 players in no particular order. The players I'm choosing either had to have one extremely impressive game or two pretty good games.

Brendan Ortiz 6'1 sophomore Madison Memorial- Honestly didn't have the greatest state tournament but, his clutch play in the three overtime state championship game gives him the nod.

Cody Hanke 6'3 senior Marathon- Just an impressive player in both of their two games. May of been MVP of the tournament had Ortiz not had his heroics. Has got to be closer to 6'5 or 6'6. Love the way he plays at the top of the 1-3-1 defense which allowed him two get three big dunks and just extremely solid in the post where he's impossible to stop.

Reece Zoelle 6'4 senior De Pere- Moves extremely well without the ball in his hands, comes off the screens looking to shoot immediately. Isn't afraid to take the big shot and usually makes it.

Ron Patten Jr 6'6 senior Whitefish Bay- Early on I thought he was taking some bad shots from three point range but, then he started dropping them. High energy player that loves to play on the perimeter but, is pretty solid in the post as well.

Brent Myers 6'0 senior Grantsburg- Was the sole reason that Grantsburg made the huge comeback win against Blair Taylor. Just kept knocking down the threes with his pretty shot and then in the game against Marathon guarded the much bigger Hanke.

TJ Huzienga 6'4 senior Randolph- Very very tough in transition with the ball in his hands. Grabs the rebound or loose ball and gets to the other end of the court as quick as any one in the state. Didn't have a great championship game but, took it upon himself to take Tyler Ketz out of his game and still had enough left in the tank to have a big finish scoring late in the game.

Tyler Ketz 6'0 senior Clayton- Love how he lets the game come to him and doesn't force things. Kind of just sits back and then makes a strong cut and comes off the screen ready to shoot immediately. Had one of the best mid range jumpers at state.

Paul Jesperson 6'7 senior Merrill- I knew he was a shooter coming in but, I didn't realize how well he handled the ball, particularly for a kid that is 6'7. Had the size to get his shot off at anytime he wants.

Bronson Koenig 6'2 sophomore Lacrosse Aquinas- Shows flashes of the player that North Carolina thinks he will be. Handles the ball extremely well and really zips the passes into his teammates in the post. Can really get his shot anytime he wants and just seems he settles for the assist many times. Can be too fancy at times causing turnovers or settling for difficult shots, which he will make half the time.

Brett Vanden Bergh 6'6 junior De Pere- A good shooter that can handle the ball as well. Didn't really stick out a lot but, at the end of every game he had some of the best stat lines in the game. Has another year to go and will only get better.

There is my all tournament team and there were probably about 15 to 20 more players that could easily be mentioned as there were some great games at state and the stars really showed up. One last note is that you have to feel some what sorry for Blair Taylor's Hank Kujak and Lucas Howe who have been to state three years straight and didn't get a gold ball let alone a silver ball and this year really was suppose to be their chance after going undefeated throughout the year but, they just couldn't hold on in the semi final against Grantsburg.

State Tournament

2011-03-21T20:48:00.012-05:00

I'm assuming most people already know how state turned out by this time so I won't waste your time by going over what happened at state and just focusing on some final thoughts for each of the divisions.

Division Five
For the most part this division played out how I predicted. Randolph played their usual great team basketball and got the job done without much of a challenge. I was hoping to see Green Bay NEW Lutheran really push Randolph but, they just didn't come to play early in the game. NEW Lutheran had a great second half and made the game close late. It would of been nice to see GBNL play a solid game from start to finish and play to their potential. The other game wasn't too exciting. Clayton had the edge throughout and Wauzeka-Steuben just seemed to hang around and never gave up and at times looked like they were going to come back but, never could get over the hump. In the championship game Randolph's leader TJ Huzienga didn't have a great game but, still played his typical solid defense game guarding Clayton's best player Tyler Kertz, who hit some shots but, just wasn't his normal self. Randolph cruised to the win number nine for them.

Division Four
This was a surprising division as the two undefeated teams lost in the semis and Marathon was extremely impressive in defeating Grantsburg and Cody Hanke was about the most impressive player on the weekend. Marathon's 1-3-1 zone defense was just too tough for Oostburg and they cruised to the big win. In the other semi final Blair Taylor really chocked away a game they should of win. BT was up by double digits late in the game and then Grantsburg put on the full court pressure and Blair Taylor fell apart. Hank Kujak had the chance to seal the game late but, couldn't get the free throws to foul and in OT it was all Grantsburg. Big credit to Trevor Thompson and Brent Meyers who carried Granstburg. In the championship Thompson and Meyers were just as impressive but, they just didn't have the size to match up with Hanke and company. Marathon got the title and they are the second team at state to credit their 1-3-1 defense to former Adams Friendship Coach Klass, the first being Wisconsin Rapids Assumption a few years ago. It truly is amazing to see how much some coaches affect the game.

Division Three
The all private school division plus Little Chute also played out as expected. Lakeside Lutheran came out looking to run and that played right into the hands of Lacrosse Aquinas who seemed to be able to run just as good if not better then Lakeside and ran them right out of the gym. Evan Pederson was the real star, as he was able to drive past the defenders and set up the big men with two foot layups all game long. In game two Racine St Cats won by outlasting Little Chute. St. Cats wasn't overly impressive but, just kept playing their game and worn down Little Chute and got the win. In the championship St. Cats did their best to hang with Lacrosse Aquinas but, Aquinas just had too much talent for them.

Division Two
Another shocker in this division. Waunakee and Seymour came into state as the overwhelming favorites and both teams lost. Waunakee is a team that I had followed for most of the year and was really pulling for them unfortunately they just couldn't hold on to the win and unfortunately their leading scoring Beau Murray didn't play very well and really struggled to find his shot. Despite Murray's struggles though Waunakee led most of the game but, just couldn't put Merrill and Paul Jesperson away. A very tough break for Waunakee was Jesperson on a break away and was fouled by Ryan Staege. Jesperson made the shot and Staege got called for the intential. Jesperson ended up making the foul shots and Merrill got the ball back to seal the game. In the other game Seymour and Whitefish Bay was a game of runs that just went back and forth all game long. Whitefish Bay weathered Seymour's hot three point shooting in the first half and got a huge play from Jamie Schneck who barely played in the game but, had the game winning tip in at the buzzer to win. In the championship game Jesperson played his heart out but, in the end it was Whitefish Bay's Ron Patten who stole the show and basically out played everyone on the floor and carried his team to the victory and state title.

Division One
Game one Madison Memorial outlasted Milwaukee Hamilton in a fairly ugly game that wasn't real exciting. Everyone had to be impressed with the three freshmen that played the entire game, their long and athletic and can do alittle bit of everything will be a fairly interesting team to follow in the next three years. In game two everyone thought it would be Appleton East but, De Pere came out extremely impressive and they matched eachother shot for shot all game long. I loved watching Reece Zoelle move without the ball and getting open and hit big shot after big shot. I'm not sure if I have to say much more about the championship game. It was probably the greatest Wisconsin State championship game ever. The game went to three overtimes and four seperate occasions Brendan Ortiz was the hero and was without a questions the MVP of the state tournament games. Madison Memorial has really cemented itself as a dynasty within the state and can nearly be penciled in at state every year. This team was up and down and wasn't as strong as some of the previous teams but, they pulled off the huge win that some of those previous teams didn't.

I a bit of a time crunch right now so I'll be doing my all tournament team tomorrow.

State Predictions

2011-03-16T21:31:00.007-05:00

With the final four teams finally set now for all of the five divisions here are my predictions for state.

Division One
Madison Memorial over Milwaukee Hamilton
I think that Hamilton's inexperience and lack of depth will get to them and Memorial will break this game open late. Memorial seems to be on a tare at the right time.

Appleton East over De Pere
This was a very tough pick for me but, East is undefeated and have five guys that basically average double digits scoring. De Pere has a ton of height but, I think East's three point shooting will negate that and East was at the Kohl Center a year ago.

Appleton East over Madison Memorial
East has been my pick before the playoffs started and I will stick with them. East has the experience to handle the Memorial pressure and rebound just as good as they do.

Division Two
Waunakee over Merrill
Waunakee just seems destined to play in the championship game this year. Merrill has Jesperson but, just don't think they have enough to beat Waunakee. Yes Merrill has played a lot of D1 schools but, Waunakee is no stranger to playing D1s so no advantage there. Jesperson may have a big scoring night but, sticking with Waunakee.

Seymour over Whitefish Bay
Don't know much about Whitefish Bay but, Seymour only losses to top ranked teams with the exception of a lose to Appleton West who has played with some very good teams.

Seymour over Waunakee
Seymour has two players that average nearly 20 points a game that I think will carry them to the title. Waunakee goes into some scoring droughts at times and I think that will hurt them here. If Austin Maly has a real good game though I could be proved wrong. Along with the D1 title game this one seems very difficult for me to pick.

Division Three
Lacrosse Aquinas over Lakeside Lutheran
I have seen each team play once and really don't think this game will be that close. If Lakeside is hitting their threes they may stay close but. Aquinas is just too quick and athletic here. Looking forward to the matchup of Pederson and Jarnigo in this one.

Racine St. Catherines over Little Chute
Know nothing about Little Chute but, St. Cats is St. Cats so go with them and their coach. They are battle tested and as everyone knows they have been there before.

Lacrosse Aquinas over Racine St. Catherines
Aquinas has the biggest star and have more athletes then St. Cats and should cruise to the victory. Guessing St. Cats will look to slow the tempo, while Aquinas will push it.

Division Four
Blair Taylor over Grantsburg
BT has the better record and is just the better team, not much else to be said.

Oostburg over Marathon
Oostburg has played better competition and will be prepared for this game.

Blair Taylor over Oostburg
Third time is the charm for BT. Most of these players have been here twice before and won't let the excitement or the moment get to them.

Division Five
Clayton over Wauzeka-Steuben
Going with this pick because Clayton was here a year ago and have the experience edge.

Randolph over Green Bay NEW Lutheran
Lutheran will push Randolph to the limit but, in the end Randolph has been the more consistent team and won't get nervous when the pressure is on. This game may be within five points.

Randolph over Clayton
Think the championship will actually be decided in the semi final game and Randolph should win this one easily.

Super Tuesday
Just some quick thoughts on the Super Tuesday for D1. If there are not going to be eight D1 teams at state then this is the best alternative. The teams got to play at college facilities and the games were broadcast on the Internet and you could actually watch all four games at the same time. It may of been a better experience if my computer or Internet connection were better and it was constantly buffering but, sounded like most people had no problem viewing the games. There were some glitches with some clock, which will only add fuel to the fire of the debate that these games should of been at the Kohl Center. Yes I would of liked to have seen these games at state but, like I said if that isn't a possibility this was a good setup and will be in favor of it instead of going to a normal sectional final and then state with the final four teams. Now if they go back to eight D1s at state I will be all in favor of it.

With the long weekend of basketball coming up I probably won't be back until next week, maybe Sunday but, probably not tell Monday or Tuesday.

Sectional Weekend

2011-03-14T21:43:00.015-05:00

I'm alittle late on the posting of these games so I will just do a quick recap on the three games that I saw this weekend one on Thursday and two on Saturday. Had some great games with lots of excitement, building up to the state tournament the end of this week.

Sun Prairie 72 Madison East 66
Thursday night was the match up of Sun Prairie and Madison East playing in the sectional semi final. This was a great game as both teams seemed to be playing their best basketball late in the season. Sun Prairie would score and then East would come down in score. Senior 6'0 Nimrod Hillard was impossible to stay in front of as he got to the hoop with ease and found open teammates who were hitting the threes in this game, particularly sophomore 6'0 Jermel Mclin who came up with 19 points the majority of them coming from behind the arc. Sun Prairie's top scorers 6'5 sophomore Nick Fuller and 6'5 senior Chris Hawkins had huge games controlling the inside on both ends. Fuller and Hawkins really used their height to their advantage against the much smaller East team and once again the difference was height like it has been all year for East. Both Fuller and Hawkins had highlight dunks in the second half as Sun Prairie simply went to four corners and let Fuller and Hawkins go one on one and beat their defender and threw down some monster dunks. Hillard did have a pretty good scoring night scoring most of his points late in the game. The real difference is this game was the defensive ability of 6'0 senior Jaron Schaffner on Hillard. Schaffner was quick enough to stay with Hillard and deny him the ball and East simply threw the ball away at least three times in the second half and he really seemed to frustrate Hillard.

Top Players
Nick Fuller 6'5 sophomore Sun Prairie- Hit the three in the game, battled well on the inside, and scored in transition.
Chris Hawkins 6'5 senior Sun Prairie- Was the usual beast self on the inside where he completely dominated and had a couple of impressive dunks.
Nimrod Hillard 6'0 senior Madison East- Impossible to stay in front of and was able to score or find open teammates.
Jermel McLin 6'0 sophomore Madison East- Was money from the outside where he just didn't seem to miss.

Top Scorers
SP- Hawkins 19 Fuller 18 Schaffner 11
East- Hillard 25 McLin 19 Rudy Bently 9

Lakeside Lutheran 56 Prairie du Chien 42
Saturday afternoon took in Lakeside Lutheran and Prairie du Chien in a battle to go to state. This game was over early as Lakeside jumped out to a 24-5 first quarter lead and never really looked back. Lakeside took a ton of three point shots and made a ton of three point shots and PDC always seemed to leave a guy wide open out there. Prairie never could get good looks at the hoop and took contested shots and three pointers three point behind the line. 6'0 junior Connor Morovits seemed to have a very sweet shot for Prairie but had a lower release that forced him to have to really be open to take his shot. Morovits did get a couple of open shots but, Lakeside did a nice job of following him off the screens and not letting him go open and then he got into foul trouble and he was limited for most of the second half. In the second half Prairie was able to claw back into the game behind their zone defense and Lakeside seemed to go cold from the outside. Offensively Prairie finally got things going behind 6'3 junior Colin Roach he was able to drive to the left all game long and score at will. 6'4 senior Tanner Roach is the star but, it was the younger Roach that carried the team in this game.

Top Players
Jake Jarnigo 5'10 senior Lakeside- Didn't have a great game shooting but, really ran the offense well and I don't think their was a defender that could stay in front of him. Super quick player.
Sam Kuehl 6'4 senior Lakeside- Was the hottest shooter for Lakeside from the outside as he connected on three first half threes.
Colin Roach 6'3 junior PDC- Impossible to start going to his left which he went to all game long.

Top Scorers
Lakeside- Jarnigo 18 Kuehl 13
PDC- C. Roach 12 T. Roach 9 Morovitis 8

Madison Memorial 67 Sun Prairie 64
Early on it seemed that Sun Prairie had the edge and was thinking they were going to win this one but, then a pair of injuries to Fuller and Schaffner hit them and the momentum starter to swing back to Memorial's way. Memorial starter to turn up their classic pressure defense and forced Sun Prairie to turn the ball over numerous times resulting to some easy baskets. On their final possession of the first half Memorial got a three from 5'10 junior Thomas Parkman who only played that one possession the entire game that was like a dagger to Sun Praire giving Memorial the four point halftime lead. Second half Memorial continued their in your face defense and really looked like the Memorial of a year ago and got some easy buckets and dunks that really got the crowd going. Memorial just seemed to be a step quicker then Sun Prairie all game long and seemed to want the game a bit more. Time and time again Memorial plays were on the ground diving for a loose ball and seemed to get at least two shots at the hoop each time if not three or four shots at times. There was always four Memorial players going for the offensive rebounds and more then not they were gonna get that rebound. In the end it was Sun Prairie fouling and two players for Memorial came up huge in 6'1 sophomore Brendan Ortiz and 6'5 senior Miles Chamberlain. Ortiz was 9 for 10 from the line and had all the confidence in the world at the line and really seemed to want the ball in his hand to get fouled. I'm guessing Chamberlain was 12-15 from the line. As a whole Memorial really struggled but, in those final three minutes they were as good as anyone from the line.

Top Players
Junior Lomomba 6'5 junior Madison Memorial- Just an overall solid game. Did most of his scoring in the first half but, really carried Memorial when Sun Prairie was at their best.
Jamar Morris 6'6 junior Madison Memorial- Yes Hawkins had a big game but, Morris did a nice job battling Hawkins and Hawkins did most of his scoring when Morris was out of the game. Might be the key to the team as he rebounds very well and controls the inside. Gives Memorial seven very good players in their rotation.
Miles Chamberlain 6'5 senior Madison Memorial- Really made his presence felt at the free throw line but, did a good job of moving the ball on the perimeter and finding open teammates.
Chris Hawkins 6'5 senior Sun Prairie- Really showed he wanted this game as he did it all. Shot the three, looked to score on the inside, and did his best to control the inside but, Memorial just had more overall size.
Jaron Schaffner 6'0 senior Sun Prairie- Carried Sun Prairie at times with his deadly three point shooting. Also did a nice job of running the point.
Nick Fuller 6'5 sophomore Sun Prairie- Didn't have the greatest game but, stepped up late and scored at will in the fourth quarter. Maybe forced things alittle too much at times but, the future is super bright for Fuller no doubt.

Top Scorers
Memorial- Lomomba 16 Chamberlain 16 Jamar Morris 11
SP- Hawkins 25 Schaffner 17 Fuller 16

It will be interesting to see Madison East next year without Hillard, they return alot but, losing Hillard is a huge huge lose. Bently should have a very big year. Prairie du Chien appears to have a strong program going now and will have their shot at making it to the same distance a year from now in the playoffs. Sun Prairie had their team of the decade possibly and just couldn't get past Memorial, Fuller will be back so the next two years they will be a factor in the conference race. Lakeside Lutheran shot a ton of threes and made them but, honestly I don't see them staying within 20 points of Lacrosse Aquinas unless their shooting out of their minds at state and then I'm still not so sure. Madison Memorial really is peaking at the right time and honestly I'm picking them to beat Milwaukee Riverside and head to state.

Regional Final Weekend

2011-03-08T20:21:00.006-06:00

Ended up attending two region finals on Saturday after getting a flat tire Friday night and not being able to attend any games. I got over to Sun Prairie to watch them play Watertown and then drove over to Verona to watch Deforest and Monroe play.

The first game was technically called a D1 regional final but, it was the first game for both of these teams so it could hardly be called a regional final. I didn't stay tell the very end of the game so not sure if Sun Praire received a plaque for their win but, personally I wouldn't feel that I truly earned it being that they only got the one playoff win while other divisions won as many as three games to claim their regional title.

Early on Watertown hung with Sun Prairie matching them basket for basket as Sun Prairie had a 15-14 point lead at one quarter. Watertown did a nice job of not turning the ball over early and really looking to their big man 6'9 senior Joe Sokovich who really showed a nice touch around the rim and had a nice hook shot working for him, he does need to add some size and strength though, as the game wore on Sun Prairie was able to lean on him and push on him all game long and really seemed to be worn down late in the game. Part of his fatigue may of been because he played nearly the entire game and rarely sat. Early on Sun Prairie was ice cold from the outside as Watertown gave them open three time and again but, in the second half Sun Prairie was able to push the tempo and force Watertown into turnovers and when Watertown didn't turn the ball over Sun Prairie was able to push the ball off the rebound and get easy baskets. In the end Sun Praire wound up blowing Watertown out 66-38.

Top Players
Chris Hawkins 6'5 senior Sun Prairie- Really showcased his overall game. Hawkins was able to step out and hit the outside jumper and showed some ability to penetrate to the rim.
Nick Fuller 6'5 sophomore Sun Prairie- Couldn't get the outside shot going but, did a nice job of battling inside and getting out in transition. Had a couple of very nice passes.
Joe Sokovich 6'9 senior Watertown- Said it early just showed a real nice touch around the rim. Thinking he is a scholarship player maybe not D1 but, probably a D2.

Top Scorers
Hawkins 20 Fuller 15
Sokovich 14

Game two headed over to Verona to watch the D2 regional final between Monroe and Deforest.
I hadn't seen Deforest play this year but, they just had defeated Edgewood so they were obviously playing some good basketball. Early one neither team could but a basket as it seemed shot after shot would bounce off the rim. At the end of the first quarter the score was only 4 to 3 with Deforest up. For Deforest 6'1 senior Kenny Derlein finally got things going as he scored all eight of his points in the second quarter to get Deforest the 16-12 halftime lead. In the first half Monroe's two star seniors 6'0 Bryan Tordoff and 6'2 Michael Barrett were nearly non existent. In the second half that changed as Tordoff came out really looking to score. Tordoff took some bad shots but, about half way through the third he really got things going. Monroe continued to give Deforest spot up three pointers and they knocked them down but, Tordoff was always there to answer. Everyone in the gym knew Tordoff was looking to shoot and he was still able to get his shot off. With the game very close in the fourth Barrett finally came alive driving to the hoop. Late in the game it was either Barrett or Tordoff taking every shot while Deforest marched to the free throw line the final three minutes or so. Every time I thought Deforest would but the game away there was Monroe bringing it close. In the end Monroe was down by two and Barrett drove baseline for the last second shot that rimmed in and out and Deforst got the two point win.

Top Players
Bryan Tordoff 6'0 senior Monroe- You can see some times he just says screw it when the offense isn't working and just jacks up the three and when he gets hot he's nearly impossible to stop coming off the screen and when he shoots it the shot is going in.
Michael Barrett 6'3 senior Monroe- Had a tough game but, was able to get to the hoop with ease late in the game and score.
Eric Steward 6'0 senior Deforest- Really think he could of scored more but, was content just running the offense. Was easily the quickest player on the court and that's with a monstrous knee brace on his one leg.
Kyle Renz 6'3 senior Deforest- Was very tough in the post scoring as he got a couple and one baskets. Really made his mark being the clutch free throw shooter late in the game.

Top Scores
M- Tordoff 22 Barrett 13
D- Renz 18 Steward 9 Derlein 8

Was a fun weekend and should be another good one coming up. Hoping to catch the Sun Prairie sectional games as well as the D3 sectional in Middleton on Saturday. I think Waunakee should be able to handle Deforest just like they did in the regular season but, right now Deforest is running on emotion and they are a hot team right now. Sun Praire should defeat Madison East, setting up an epic match up with Madison Memorial for a third time this season.

Sauk Prairie over Baraboo

2011-03-02T21:40:00.008-06:00

First round of the playoffs took in the 8/9 match up of the Janesville Craig D2 sectional. There weren't alot of good match ups close to me on opening night of the playoffs and this game was very close to me and seemed to be a pretty good match up of conference opponents. The game did end up being a close game but, in all honesty this was kind of an ugly game to watch and wasn't that entertaining to watch.

This disappointing game kind of capped off a disappointing season for Baraboo. Baraboo had three pretty strong players in 5'11 senior Josh Statz, 6'7 senior Mark Kowalke, and 6'4 junior Sean McGann. Throughout the year all three had great games but, apparently couldn't put it together throughout the entire year as Baraboo finished 12-11 on the year. This was a team that I thought would battle Waunakee for the conference title but, in the end Waunakee was easily the class of the Badger North and outside of some close games really showed they were the class of the conference.

Well back to the game. Both teams started off very slow missing shot after shot and neither team seemed to be able to get in any rhythm. One thing that I think threw Baraboo off was the fact that Statz wasn't able to handle the ball as much as they would of liked because he was shadowed extremely close by Sauk Prairie senior 5'9 Brendan Coy and Statz never seemed to touch the ball until the ball was past half court and he was usually coming off a screen to get the ball. Those screens were costly as Baraboo got two early fouls within the first two minutes of the game setting moving screens which got them into foul trouble and those fouls ultimately allowed Sauk to get a lead late in the first quarter and carry it into halftime. In the second quarter Sauk went to a 1-3-1 zone defense which gave Baraboo even more problems, as they had a tough time figuring out the zone and seemed to spend alot of time just standing around on offense and when they tried to get the ball to the middle of the zone it seemed the ball was always tipped and Sauk ended up with the ball. Baraboo countered the Sauk zone with a zone of their own going to a 2-3 zone defense. The difference was Sauk was able to get the ball to the middle of the zone either score or kick the ball to open teammates. Halftime Sauk was up 21-14.

Honestly there isn't a whole lot more to talk about. Sauk was willing to give up the corner three point shots in the zone defense and Baraboo missed them again and again, I'm guessing Baraboo shot 1-7 from three point range in the first half and maybe shot slightly better in the second half as they did hit three, three point shots late. Midway through the third quarter it appeared that Baraboo was going to take the lead as McGann got hot hitting three straight shots including one of those corner threes and then the shots stopped falling for him and no one else could score. Kowalke was a non factor until he hit a pair of threes in the final minute to make the score close. For Sauk 6'1 senior Matt Rudig had a solid game not great but, did score 14 points half from the foul line and did hit some very tough jumpers, which he seemed to be settling for, in the first half. 6'3 senior Kenny McNeil and foul shooting were the real reasons that Sauk won the game. McNeil came off the bench and was a huge factor playing at the top of the 1-3-1 zone defense tipping balls and getting steals and then on the offensive end finding the opening in the zone defense and scoring. Foul shooting can be summed up with the fact that Baraboo hit four foul shots and Sauk hit 16 foul shots. Sauk shot probably around 75% for the game from the line and I believe they missed only one foul shot in the first half. Sauk won 39-36.

Top Players
Josh Statz 5'11 senior Baraboo- One of the few Baraboo players that actually looked to drive against the zone and score. Struggled at times though with his outside shot.
Sean McGann 6'4 junior Baraboo- Really carried his team in the third quarter and nearly got them a lead. When he got hot seemed every shot he took was going to fall.
Matt Rudig 6'1 senior Sauk Prairie- Just a solid overall game. Did a nice job rebounding on the defensive end and hit some nice jumpers.
Kenny McNeil 6'3 senior Sauk Prairie- Player of the game in my opinion, basically said it all earlier.

Box Score
Baraboo- McGann 14 Kowalke 9 Statz 9 Jesse Klink 2 Erik Anderson 2 Mike Weinke 0 Emerson Halbach 0 Caleb Leonhardt 0 Joe Becraft 0 Jed Traxler 0 Jacob Hacker 0
Sauk Prairie- Rudig 14 McNeil 13 Derek Sullivan 4 Jay Kuenster 3 Cameron Schwarz 3 Lucas Baier 2 Coy 0 Erik Meyer 0

I know I didn't have a ton of comments but, there wasn't much of a game. This game almost felt like the teams were sleep walking and there wasn't alot of excitement in the game. Sauk had a fairly small student section considering this could be their last game of the year and it's playoffs. Baraboo's season has ended and would be completely shocked if Waunakee didn't handle Sauk Prairie with ease, at least looking at the way Sauk looked tonight.

Final State Rankings

2011-02-28T20:40:00.009-06:00

The season is coming to an end and here are my final rankings of the year for the State. Looking are my rankings I can truly say that they are just for fun as some of my #1 rank teams I don't even have winning state.

Division One
Really not any changes for D1 as only three teams lost. Arrowhead fell to #8, Milwaukee Hamilton lost to Riverside and dropped one spot to #9, and Madison Memorial lost to Madison East and fall to #15. Pulaski, Kenosha Bradford, Waukesha West, and Sun Prairie are all right on the edge of being ranked.

1.Appleton East
2. Milwaukee Riverside
3. Germantown
4. De Pere
5. Milwaukee King
6. Wisconsin Rapids
7. Racine Case
8. Arrowhead
9. Milwaukee Hamilton
10. Bay Port
11. Beloit
12. Sheboygan North
13. Burlington
14. Franklin
15. Madison Memorial

Division Two
Top half of D2 stayed pretty much the same as usual and the bottom half changed quite a bit as usual. Onalaska lost their second game of the year and fell to #5. Madison Edgewood and Rice Lake both lost and fell to #13 and #15, while Lacrosse Logan fell out of the rankings all together. River Falls makes their first appearance after defeating Rice Lake and winning the Big Rivers Conference. Milwaukee Pius, Whitefish Bay, and Monona Grove are just on the outside looking in.

1. Waunakee
2. Wisconsin Lutheran
3. New Richmond
4. Two Rivers
5. Onalaska
6. Seymour
7. Monroe
8. New Berlin West
9. Mcfarland
10. Wauwatosa East
11. New Berlin Eisenhower
12. Antigo
13. Madison Edgewood
14. River Falls
15. Rice Lake

Division Three
Not a lot of changes this week. GET lost to the new #1 Aquinas and fall to #5. The only other team that lost was Northwestern and they were replaced by Altoona. Northwestern, Lake Mills, and Clinton were the ones just outside of the top 15.

1. Lacrosse Aquinas
2. Brillion
3. East Troy
4. Manitowoc Roncalli
5. GET
6. Whitefish Bay Dominican
7. Lakeside Lutheran
8. Ladysmith
9. Omro
10. Racine St. Catherines
11. St Johns Military
12. River Valley
13. Kiel
14. Hope School
15. Altoona

Division Four
Racine Lutheran lost to a top D3 team in Dominican and fall to #6. Cuba City lost to Darlington and fell to #11. Bangor lost twice and are replaced by Young Coggs Prep in the rankings. Grantsburg and Crandon find themselves just outside the rankings.

1. Blair Taylor
2. Oostburg
3. Eau Claire Regis
4. Darlington
5. Laconia
6. Racine Lutheran
7. Amherst
8. Aburndale
9. Marathon
10. Peshtigo
11. Cuba City
12. Wild Rose
13. Colfax
14. Colby
15. Young Coggs Prep

Division Four
Prentice and Gilmanton both lost but, both loses were to teams ranked in D4 so they each only dropped a spot to #5 and #6. Sheboygan Area Lutheran lost to a pair of top D4 teams which allows them to stay in the rankings in #14. Both Barneveld and Columbus Catholic lost but hang on to their spots at #13 and #15.
1. Benton
2. Randolph
3. Clayton
4. Seneca
5. Suring
6. Prentice
7. Gilmanton
8. Wauzeka Steuben
9. Hillsboro
10. Green Bay NEW Lutheran
11. Mellen
12. Luck
13. Barneveld
14. Sheboygan Area Lutheran
15. Columbus Catholic

Those are my final state rankings to conclude the regular season of 2010-2011. Post season starts tomorrow!

State Predictions

2011-02-27T18:32:00.014-06:00

With the state tournament starting in just two days here are my predictions for state. I will only go into D1 deeper while just making mention of the other four divisions.

Division One
UW Whitewater Sectional

My Pick
Milwaukee King

Top Contenders
Milwaukee Riverside
Madison Memorial

Long Shots
Sun Prairie
Milwaukee Marquette

All year long I had Madison Memorial going to state and possibly even winning state but, they just have struggled against teams that they should be beating easily all year long. In the end my common sense over took my gut and I went with Milwaukee King. King has the coaching and the history of going to state and have a talent team and have already beaten Memorial handily. Riverside has the best record and will probably be alot of people's picks but, I'm just not sure this is their year and might lose to King in a rematch. Sun Prairie has the talent to get to state but, just haven't brought it night in and night out. Marquette was at state a year ago and state last year and still have their top two players back.

Al Mcquire Sectional
My Pick
Milwaukee Hamilton

Top Contenders
Burlington
Beloit
Kenosha Bradford
Franklin
Racine Case

Hamilton was hurt hard when Elgin Cook but, I think they have a coach that will pull them together and have the most talent. This is the one sectional that doesn't have a clear cut winner and anyone of the top six teams could win this sectional.

UW Oshkosh Sectional
My Pick
Appleton East

Top Contenders
Germantown
Arrowhead

Long Shots
Waukesha West
Wisconsin Rapids
Oshkosh North

East has been number one nearly the entire season and they are undefeated. Germantown has lost only one game and Arrowhead only two and they both have very tough schedules. Waukesha West has been a top 15 team most of the year and Rapids has only lost one game but, I just don't think they see the same competition night in and night out that the other teams see. Oshkosh North is an athletic team that has beaten some very good teams.

UW Stevens Point Sectional
My Pick
Bay Port

Top Contenders
Depere

Long Shots
DC Everest
Marshfield
Superior
Sheboygan North
Pulaski

Really comes down to Bay Port and De Pere but, there are a handful of other teams that have been in the top 15 all year long but, they have play the competition of the top two teams.

State
King over Hamilton
Appleton East over Bay Port

Appleton East over King

Division Two
Marshfield Sectional
Onalaska over Antigo

Top Contenders
New Richmond
Rice Lake
River Falls

Janesville Sectional
Waunakee over Waterford

Top Contenders
Monroe
Madison Edgewood

Brown County Sectional
Seymour over Beaver Dam

Top Contenders
Two Rivers

Al Mcguire Sectional
Wisconsin Lutheran over Wauwatosa East

Top Contenders
Whitefish Bay
New Berlin West
New Berlin Eisenhower

State
Waunakee over Onalaska
Seymour over Wisconsin Lutheran

Seymour over Waunakee

Division Three
Somerset Sectional
Lacrosse Aquinas over Ladysmith

Top Contenders
GET
Northwestern
Altoona

Middleton Sectional
River Valley over Lakeside Lutheran

Top Contenders
Lodi
Prairie du Chien

Menasha Sectional
Manitowoc Roncalli over Little Chute

Top Contenders
Omro
Brillion
Kiel

Al Mcguire Sectional
Dominican over Kettle Moraine Lutheran

Top Contenders
St. Johns Military
Racine St. Catherines
East Troy
Hope School

State
Aquinas over River Valley
Dominican over Roncalli

Aquinas over Dominican

Division Four
Chippewa Falls Sectional
Eau Claire Regis over Grantsburg

Top Contenders
Colfax
Colby

Baraboo Sectional
Blair Taylor over Cuba City

Top Contenders
Darlington
Westby
Bangor

Stevens Point Sectional
Aburndale over Peshtigo

Top Contenders
Amherst
Marathon

Whitefish Bay Sectional
Racine Lutheran over Oostburg

Top Contenders
Laconia
Ozaukee
Young Coggs Prep

State
Blair Taylor over Regis
Racine Lutheran over Auburndale

Blair Taylor over Racine Lutheran

Division Five
Spooner Sectional
Clayton over Luck

Top Contenders
Mellen
Prentice

Lacrosse Central Sectional
Benton over Hillsboro

Top Contenders
Royal
Seneca
Gilmanton

Waupaca Sectional
Green Bay NEW Lutheran over Laona

Top Contenders
Suring

Watertown Sectional
Randolph over Barneveld

Top Contenders
Green Lake
Sheboygan Area Lutheran

State
Benton over Clayton
Randolph over GB NEW Lutheran

Randolph over Benton

There are my picks for state.

Waunakee over Madison Edgewood

2011-02-26T21:17:00.010-06:00

On Thursday night took in a matchup of two of the top teams in division two. Waunakee the current #1 team in D2 and Edgewood who has been in the top 15 for most of the year and have had an up and down season. Waunakee had already defeated Monroe earlier in the year who is the top contender in their regional and this was their chance to get a big win over the number two contender in the regional. Waunakee came away with a pretty impressive 61-48 win in this game, without one of their best players and starting point guard 6'2 senior Jared Staege. For whatever reason he wasn't suited up for the game but, Waunakee didn't miss a beat, with the exception of a couple early turnovers against Edgewood's full court press.

Waunakee was their normal selves to start the game. Very patient on the offensive end and looking to get the ball to the inside, playing great defense, and rebounding extremely well. Early on it was 6'0 senior Zak Hougland that looked to take the ball to the hoop and score and then it went to their regular scorer 6'2 senior Beau Murray who was hot as ever from mid range from the right side of the court. I'm not sure if it's the offense Waunakee runs, the fact that Murray is right handed and drives right more, or simply that he's more comfortable from the right side but, Murray takes the fast majority of his shots from the right side and normally from about 15 foot and in. I've never seen a kid love to settle for the 15 footer from the baseline like Murray does and hits the shot more times then not. Edgewood's outside shots weren't falling early and normally the can get the second and third shot attempts because they rebound so well but, against Waunakee that wasn't happening. The biggest reason for that was 6'5 senior Austin Maly who dominated the boards on both ends from the tip. This was the most impressive overall game I have seen Maly play and the only thing that stopped him was a small cut or scratch on his leg, that required some care. Edgewood was looking very flat and appeared to be in some danger of getting blown out when they got a huge lift off their bench from 6'2 sophomore Matt Ripple who came in and twice had back door cuts that led to easy layups for himself. After the first quarter Waunakee was up 20-9 and at the half they were up 38-24.

In the second half Edgewood's star 6'5 junior Austin Arians finally got going. In the first half Waunakee did a good job of finding Arians but, in the second half he found some openings and started knocking down some shots. Arians is tall enough that if he does get the ball he can shoot over most of the defenders that guard him and when he's in the zone nearly impossible to stop. For Waunakee Murray continue to stay hot and Maly continued to control the glass. Edgewood once again got a big lift from Ripple who hit a three early in the fourth to give the Crusaders some life but, in the end Waunakee was just too much as a team. Final score 61-48, forgot to write down what the score was after the third.

Top Players
Austin Arians 6'5 junior Edgewood- Really carried Edgewood tonight as his teammates just couldn't get the shots to fall. Second half he just didn't miss.
Matt Ripple 6'2 sophomore Edgewood- Was big off the bench. Only made three baskets but, everyone was big and saw some big minutes late in the game.
Beau Murray 6'2 senior Waunakee- Was his usual solid self. Not sure if he missed in the second half also did a nice job of helping bring the ball up the court at times.
Austin Maly 6'5 senior Waunakee- Absolute beast on the inside and really controlled things on both ends.
Andrew Dorscheid 5'10 senior Waunakee- Really stepped up big starting for Staege. Was really fearless driving to the lane and scoring. Only had a couple of turnovers early on but, was solid overall with the ball.

Box Score
Edgewood- Arians 21 Ripple 7 Brock Pavlik 5 Bruin Armwald 4 Jack Zwettler 3 Spencer Brink 2 Hans Meixelsperger 2 Austin Papenthien 2 Chris Wells 2 Dan Drabik 0 Jay Kinzel 0
Waunakee- Murray 21 A Maly 11 Dorscheid 7 Hougland 7 Jacob Soper 7 Ben Cable 5 Will Decorah 3 Ross Maly 0 Joe Tagarelli 0 Justin Block 0

Waunakee appears to be as solid as ever and appear poised to make a deep playoff run and should make it to state they only real contender that I haven't seen is Lakeside Lutheran and I just don't think they've seen a team like Waunakee playing in the Capitol Conference. Edgewood on the other side has the chance to go as far as Waunakee before they'll bow out. Edgewood does have Monroe which should be a very very good game just like their two previous meetings with the winner more then likely getting their second shot at Waunakee but, I just don't see either team beating them.

Wisconsin Dells over Monona Grove

2011-02-26T15:59:00.016-06:00

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.

Waunakee over Randolph

2011-02-23T21:19:00.014-06:00

The matchup of the top D2 team and the top D5 team was an appealing matchup that never really lived up to the hype. Randolph came out extremely flat and never really got into the game. Waunakee rely on there tough defense whether they use their 1-3-1 zone or man to man defense and strong rebounding. that was never more evident in this game. Randolph struggled to penetrate the defense and never really could get the ball near the hoop and Waunakee's size and strength were just too much for them on both ends. The finally score was 51-31 so there wasn't much to talk about but, just a few key factors to look at.

This years Randolph team really doesn't have a guy that they go to that can score at will but, rely on ball movement to score. Last time I saw Randolph play was against a zone defense and they were able to get the ball to the middle of the zone and find wide open teammates cutting to the the hoop. Against Waunakee they weren't able to find those openings against the man to man defense and had to settle for outside shots that just weren't falling for them until late in the game, when the game was already over. Randolph's top scorer is 6'4 senior TJ Huizenga who appeared very exhausted in the game and it really showed in his play and his limited time on the court. I'm not sure if he was sick or what but, normally he seems to have great endurance and rarely comes out of the game but, in this game he appeared to be pulling on his shorts all night long and even saw him take a puff from an inhaler. As far as the outside shooting 6'2 senior Brian Kampstra is normally their top shooter but, he was way off in the game as he air balled a shot and had a shot that hit the backboard and didn't even catch rim. The lone bright stop was 6'7 junior Cody Reuter who actually showed some offensive game outside of put backs on rebounds. Twice Reuter got the ball in the post and made some nice moves and score with his back to the basket.

For Waunakee they were the same as always like I said earlier. They had their usual strong play from their two stars 6'2 seniors Jared Staege and Beau Murray. Staege was his normal stuff running the point and finding open teammates and Murray was able to penetrate and score or get fouled. The one difference in this game was the play of 6'5 senior Austin Maly. Maly really looked good on the offensive end with the ball in his hand especially with his back to the basket where he made some nice moves to score.

Honestly not much to say more I already mentioned all the top players of the game so not much else to say. Both these teams will make a push for state and despite losing Randolph is still the odds on favorite to win D5 and they probably won't see a team with Waunakee's size and strength in the D5 playoffs.

Box Score
Waunakee- Murray 16 Staege 10 A Maly 9 Jacob Soper 4 Zak Hougland 3 Ben Cable 3 Justin Block 3 Andrew Dorscheid 2 Joe Tagarelli 1 Ross Maly 0 Dylan DesRochers 0 Will Decorah 0 Brett Richgels 0 Jake Heitland 0 Tim Keenan 0
Randolph- Huizenga 6 Jay Peters 6 Mike Thoreson 5 Aaron Retzlaff 4 Cody Reuter 4 Brandon Zimmerman 3 Brian Kampstra 3 Miles Taylor 0 Jacob Brandt 0 Jaspreet Singh 0 Jon Roberts 0 Hunter Verhulst 0 Cody Katsma 0

11th Round State Team Rankings

2011-02-21T21:21:00.011-06:00

Another week another round of rankings. There will only be one more round of rankings as the season comes to an end after this week and playoffs start, which at that point the rankings truly are meaningless. The seeding meetings were this past weekend so the coaches have already stated who they think is better where teams have matching records.

Division One
One through six remained exactly the same as everyone won out. Racine Case lost to Kenosha Bradford and dropped to #9 while Bradford lost their next game and fell out of the rankings. Bay Port and Beloit both lost and fall to #11 and #12. Sheboygan North lost to Bay Port but, remain at 13, as Waukesha West lost along with Bradford and are replaced in the rankings by Burlington and Franklin, while Pulaski remains just outside the rankings.

1. Appleton East
2. Milwaukee Riverside
3. Germantown
4. Arrowhead
5. De Pere
6. Milwaukee King
7. Wisconsin Rapids
8. Milwaukee Hamilton
9. Racine Case
10. Madison Memorial
11. Bay Port
12. Beloit
13. Sheboygan North
14. Burlington
15. Franklin

Division Two
The top half of D2 has remained very similar while the bottom half has been very volatile and ever changing. Seymour was the one top team that did lose and fell to #6. In the bottom half Madison Edgewood and Rice Lake were the only teams that won out and move up to #9 and #11. Mcfarland lost to a very good East Troy team and remain in the exact same spot, while Wauwatosa East and Lacrosse Logan both dropped a spot. Monona Grove and Mount Horeb both lost twice and fall out of the rankings and are replaced by New Berlin Eisenhower and Antigo.

1. Waunakee
2. Onalaska
3. Wisconsin Lutheran
4. New Richmond
5. Two Rivers
6. Seymour
7. Monroe
8. New Berlin West
9. Madison Edgewood
10. Mcfarland
11. Rice Lake
12. Wauwatosa East
13. Lacrosse Logan
14. New Berlin Eisenhower
15. Antigo

Division Three
Big news was Roncalli lost to Brillion and Roncalli dropped to #5. GET is my new #1 which alot of people might disagree on but, GET is undefeated. Racine St. Catherines lost twice last week and fall to #10 while St. Johns lost again and fall to #11. Northwestern lost again and fall to #15 while Altoon fell out of the rankings completely and are replaced by Hope School at #14 who is coming off a victory over St. Johns.

1. GET
2. Lacrosse Aquinas
3. Brillion
4. East Troy
5. Manitowoc Roncalli
6. Whitefish Bay Dominican
7. Lakeside Lutheran
8. Ladysmith
9. Omro
10. Racine St. Catherines
11. St. Johns Military
12. River Valley
13. Kiel
14. Hope School
15. Northwestern

Division Four
D4 remained fairly stable with only two exceptions Marathon lost their first game of the year and drop to #10 because #9 Aburndale is the team that beat them. Grantsburg was the other loser and fall out of the rankings and are replaced by Bangor.

1. Blair Taylor
2. Oostburg
3. Eau Claire Regis
4. Racine Lutheran
5. Darlington
6. Laconia
7. Cuba City
8. Amherst
9. Aburndale
10. Marathon
11. Peshtigo
12. Wild Rose
13. Colfax
14. Colby
15. Bangor

Division Five
Randolph lost again but, once again it was to a D2 team and the #1 D2 in Waunakee so they don't drop at all. Green Bay NEW Lutheran lost to Suring and fall to #11 while Luck lost and fall to #14. Columbus Catholic join the rankings for the first time for the fact that I realized that Wisconsin School for the Deaf is not in the state tournament and therefore I feel they shouldn't be in my rankings. They are still undefeated though so big props to them.

1. Benton
2. Randolph
3. Clayton
4. Prentice
5. Seneca
6. Gilmanton
7. Suring
8. Sheboygan Area Lutheran
9. Wauzeka-Steuben
10. Hillsboro
11. Green Bay NEW Lutheran
12. Barneveld
13. Mellen
14. Luck
15. Columbus Catholic

The truth of the rankings will come out in the next week or two when the playoff games begin. That being said I only have one of the #1 ranked teams winning state, so rankings don't mean a lot just are fun to look at and discuss.

Sun Prairie over Beloit

2011-02-20T21:09:00.010-06:00

In my mind this game was billed to be a huge game. Sun Prairie was back at full strength and Beloit was currently tied for first place in the conference and was a long shot to win the conference outright if Madison Memorial got upset in one of their last two games. I should of known though because Beloit just recently dropped a game to Verona that they never should of lost. The last time I saw Beloit their leading scorer 6'1 senior Leketreius Broomfield wasn't playing so I was excited to see him play this time around but, was a bit disappointed when the starting lineups were announced and Broomfield wasn't starting. I'm not sure the reasons behind it but, Broomfield seems to have a hard time staying eligible and has missed a decent amount of games and hopefully this won't affect the team in the playoffs. Another player that wasn't starting was Sun Prairie's 6'0 senior Jaron Schaffner. Schaffner is another guy that has some great talent but, has had a hard time keeping himself eligible and has missed a lot of games and I don't believe that he has started the second half of the year. Schaffner is a double digit scorer that Sun Prairie will need to make a deep run in the playoffs and have a chance of beating Memorial and the Milwaukee teams.

Once the game started Sun Prairie really showed their dominance on the inside as the were able to work their offense from the inside out looking to 6'5 senior Chris Hawkins right away or kicking out to his open teammate 6'2 senior Jordan Noskowiak who was hot from the outside from the tip. Beloit looked much the way I recall every time I see them. They have a ton of athletes but, just lack discipline and an offense and prefer to just "Run n Gun" and don't run much of a set offense and are at their best in the fast past game. Broomfield did get in the game fairly early and he looked good but, he really didn't get the results in the stats. Broomfield seemed to be able to get where ever he wanted but, settled to often and took a lot of tough shots. The same could probably be said about the entire Beloit team. It felt like an NBA game with guys just going one on one without the post game. Beloit isn't a small team but, they just don't have many guys that like playing in the post. At the end of two quarters it was Sun Prairie 24 Beloit 13.

In the second quarter Beloit started to play some good defense and force turnovers which allowed them to get out and run and score 21 points in the second quarter and cut the lead to 42-34. Unfortunately the faster pass and pressure defense gave Sun Prairie some easy baskets. I've said before I believe 6'5 sophomore Nick Fuller might be the best player on Sun Prairie but, he struggled in this game particularly from the outside which he also did the last time I saw him against Madison East. Fuller's struggles from the outside were just plan bad shooting but, on the rest of the court the problem was the defender 6'3 junior Jon Winston. Winston used his physical strength to push Fuller away from the hoop and keep Fuller from getting around him. In the end though it was Winston's physical game that had him foul out guarding Fuller away from the ball early in the fourth quarter.

In the second half finally started looking to the post as they went to 6'3 senior Mike Weston who used his quickness and finesse game to score around the bigger defenders. Weston was the one guy that played a strong game throughout. Nick Fuller did have big highlight play in this quarter as he posterized Broomfield, when Broomfield went to block Fuller and Fuller threw down the dunk in his face. Sun Prairie did increase their lead though as Beloit decided to jack up a lot of threes which they did hit a lot but, missed a lot as well. The two guys taking the threes were a pair of seniors 5'11 Dennis Crosby and 6'7 Cameron Roegner. Fourth quarter continued much the same as Beloit jacked threes and Sun Prairie got the easy buckets and got the big 76-59 win and both benches were cleared.

Top Players
Chris Hawkins 6'5 senior Sun Prairie- Has been a beast in the paint the last two games as he appears to be peaking at the right time. Can flat out jump out of the gym, when he jumps it's him and the rim and there is no one else out there. Had a nice put back dunk.
Jordan Noskowiak 6'2 senior Sun Prairie- Another guy who appears to be playing his best basketball at the right time. He's knocking down the three anytime he gets the chance to set his feet and as always is playing great defense.
Mike Weston 6'3 senior Beloit- Has an engine that never stops and gets all the hustle baskets and always runs the court. Showed a nice post game in this game as well.
Cameron Roegner 6'7 senior Beloit- Is money from the outside when he's left open. Moves very well without the ball.
Dennis Crosby 5'11 senior Beloit- Doesn't have the prettiest shot but, can really score the ball. Comes off screens very hard and is looking to shoot and can get his shot off at any time over taller defenders.

Box Score
Sun Prairie- Noskowiak 23 Hawkins 23 Fuller 18 Daniel Mifflin 8 Ryan Yentz 4 Paris Saffold 3 Bryce Opps 2 Schaffner 0 Rapheal Ragland 0 Andre Wallace 0
Beloit- Weston 21 Roegner 11 Crosby 9 Winston 8 Broomfield 8 Trevea Ross 2 Matt Zibert 0 Dalton Davies 0 Tevin Gamble 0

This game didn't have much to do with the seedings since the teams were in different regionals and both teams ended up with two seeds. You have to wonder though if Beloit had one this game they would of remained co-champs in the always tough Big Eight and if Beloit wouldn't of gotten the one seed. One of two seed isn't a huge deal because those two teams won't meet up until sectionals where they would be on a neutral court. Sun Prairie could lose first game of playoffs or get to state their a team that has been up and down all year and they play Watertown who isn't a push over by any means. For Beloit they will probably win their first game but, have three other very good teams that are in their sectional that could cause them problems and then they have the super sectional to worry about. It will be tough but, wouldn't be completely shocked to see Beloit at state even though they are a long shot.

D2 Top Half of Janesville Craig Sectional Preview

2011-02-16T21:20:00.005-06:00

Is a very interesting and tough sectional to come out of. The sectional has the entire Badger North Conference, the top three teams from the Badger South, and then Mcfarland who is second in the Rock River Conference. Should be a very competitive sectional that will probably have at least one big upset with many teams that are familiar with each other which leads to the possibility of upsets.

1. Waunakee- Won the Badger North conference and they are undefeated in the state of Wisconsin. Have already beat Monroe.
2. Monroe- Guessing they will win the Badger South but, do still have a game against Monona Grove that could give MG the two seed.
3. Monona Grove- Like I said could even jump to the two seed. Have the next best record and are currently a game behind Monroe in the standings.
4. Madison Edgewood- Mcfarland does have a better record but, Edgewood beat them head to head which will be given more value.
5. Mcfarland- Next best record, easy pick here.
6. Mt Horeb- Chances are will end up tied with Deforest in conference and they split their regular season games. Mt Horeb will have the better overall record and will get the nod.
7. Deforest- Next best overall record at least when the seeding meeting takes place.
8. Sauk Prairie- Next best record.
9. Reedsburg- Split with Baraboo during the regular season but, I'm guessing they will win the last game before seeding while Baraboo will probably lose giving Reedsburg the better record.
10. Baraboo- Basically said it above. If Baraboo happens to win their last game though I think they will get the nine seed but, I think they'll lose.
11. Portage- Haven't won a game in conference and have won only three games on the season.

With the exception of Portage I really think that any team could beat anyone on any given night. To start the year I had Baraboo in my top 10 teams but, have really disappointed me this year and haven't played up to their abilities. Probably won't have another post until this weekend after I get a chance to see Beloit vs Sun Prairie and Randolph vs Waunakee.

Division One Sun Prairie Sectional Seeding Prediction

2011-02-15T21:06:00.007-06:00

With the seeding meeting less then a week away I figured it was a good time to look at some of the sectionals that I follow closely and take a stab at what the seeding might look like. This sectional is really only half of bracket that will go to state but, technically this is the sectional with a super sectional to follow. The sectional is made up of most of the Big Eight conference and a couple teams from the Little Ten. For the most part the seeding will fall exactly how the teams finished during the regular season, the only question is will the Big Eight favor each other or give the Little Ten teams some respect. Wishoops feel that they will favor the conference peers and rank teams with worse records over the Little Ten teams while I think there will be some favoritism but, not that much.

1. Madison Memorial- Will probably win the Big Eight and have the best record.
2. Sun Prairie- Beat Memorial once this year and will have the next best record.
3. Madison East- Next best Big eight team and split with Sun Prairie this year.
4. Oconomowoc- This is wear I disagree. Wishoops has Oconomowoc as a 6 seed but, I think the fact that they took second in the Little Ten will get them a nod here.
5. Middleton- Big Eight team gets the conference vote of Watertown. .500 record in the conference and have beaten Madison East already.
6. Watertown- A winning record gives them the nod over Verona in my mind.
7. Verona- Big Eight vote may get them higher but, think the under .500 record in conference and overall will get them here.
8. Madison West- Record wise there here.
9. Madison Lafollette- Have the worst record.

I see three through seven there could be a lot of different scenarios and could finish any way. I see Memorial coming out of this sectional with Sun Prairie have a small chance and really no one else. East could beat Memorial or Sun Prairie but, I don't see them going through both. More then likely the sectional will play out with the higher seed winning throughout. My next post will be taking a look at the top half of the D2 Janesville Craig sectional which features the Badger North and top three teams from the Badger South.

10th Round Team Rankings

2011-02-13T19:43:00.011-06:00

Well another week is over and another round of rankings is upon us. Things are really getting exciting and games are meaning more and more as the seeding meetings are only a week away and every game means that much more the closer we get just like it does in NCAAs. The games
played late in the year always mean more then early season games.

Division One
Top seven remain exactly the same as no one lost after that though things got very messy as four of the next five teams lost. Wisconsin Rapids was the one team that won out and move up to #8. Bay Port lost to the best team so by virtue stay at #9 while Hamilton dropped to #10. Beloit lost a bad game but, because they did just beat Madison Memorial the prior week they remain ahead of them. The last team that lost was Waukesha West lost and fall to #15, while the final three teams move up a spot. Pulaski and Burlington are knocking on the door if anyone slips up in front of them.

1. Appleton East
2. Milwaukee Riverside
3. Germantown
4. Arrowhead
5. De Pere
6. Milwaukee King
7. Racine Case
8. Wisconsin Rapids
9. Bay Port
10. Milwaukee Hamilton
11. Beloit
12. Madison Memorial
13. Sheboygan North
14. Kenosha Bradford
15. Waukesha West

Division Two
One through four remain the same. New Richmond and Two Rivers flip flop as Two Rivers lost their first game of the year to a very good Kiel team. Monroe moves up to #7 after Madison Edgewood lost twice one of which to Monroe, Tosa East lost to a good Marquette team, and Logan lost to Onalaska and Aquinas. Edgewood falls all the way to 13, while Tosa East fell to 11, and Logan went to 12. New Berlin West, Monona Grove, and Mcfarland jumped them all as well as jumped Rice Lake who lost to a good D3 Northwestern. Whitefish Bay lost and are replaced by Mount Horeb.

1. Waunakee
2. Seymour
3. Onalaska
4. Wisconsin Lutheran
5. New Richmond
6. Two Rivers
7. Monroe
8. New Berlin West
9. Monona Grove
10. Mcfarland
11. Wauwotosa East
12. Lacrosse Logan
13. Madison Edgewood
14. Rice Lake
15. Mount Horeb

Division Three
D3 once again proves to be the toughest ranking to break in to as the top 15 remain the same and only two charges as two teams lost their first games of the year, to Wisconsin teams anyway. St. Johns was #1 but, lost to the Hope School who is on the verge of being ranked, and fall all the way to #8. Omro lost their first game of the year and drop to #11. Everyone else won out and D3 looks as tough as ever. One game I did forget was Ladysmith edged out Northwestern for the second time this year and Northwestern goes to #12.

1. Manitowoc Roncalli
2. GET
3. Lacrosse Aquinas
4. Brillion
5. East Troy
6. Whitefish Bay Dominican
7. Racine St. Catherines
8. St. Johns Military
9. Lakeside Lutheran
10. Ladysmtih
11. Omro
12. Northwestern
13. River Valley
14. Kiel
15. Altoona

Division Four
D4 once again looks much the same as Cuba City and Colby were the only teams that lost. Cuba City falls to #8, while Colby falls to #15. Young Coggs Prep and Bangor are right on the heels of the top 15.

1. Blair Taylor
2. Oostburg
3. Eau Claire Regis
4. Marathon
5. Racine Lutheran
6. Darlington
7. Laconia
8. Cuba City
9. Amherst
10. Aburndale
11. Peshtigo
12. Grantsburg
13. Wild Rose
14. Colfax
15. Colby

Division Five
Green Bay NEW Lutheran lost twice and fall to #9 while Suring lost to ranked D4 team in Peshtigo and go to #7. Laona and Eau Claire Immanuel both lost and are on the outside looking in as they are replaced by Barneveld and Mellen. Hillsboro also lost by hang in there at #12.

1. Benton
2. Randolph
3. Clayton
4. Prentice
5. Seneca
6. Gilmanton
7. Suring
8. Sheboygan Area Lutheran
9. Green Bay NEW Lutheran
10. Wauzeka-Steuben
11. Luck
12. Hillsboro
13. Barneveld
14. Mellen
15. Wisconsin School for the Deaf

As the weeks go by I get more exciting for the playoffs. Every week I do my rankings I'm thinking about who I'm going to pick to get to state and it might switch week to week. From the start of the year I had Green Bay NEW Lutheran winning D5 but, now after these two loses I'm not so sure and am leaning towards Randolph but, then I think back to last year and NEW Lutheran pushed Randolph to the limit in the title game and they were barely over .500. Another team I had liked is Madison Memorial but, their recent struggles and I have them barely hanging on to a top 15 spot, I'll admit partly because I watch them a lot and am showing some favoritism. With Onalaska losing two of their top three players I thought Rice Lake was a shoe in to make state but, Rice Lake continues to struggle while Onalaska remains as hot as ever. I could go on and on with different thoughts I've had but, these are just a couple to come to mind quickly. I didn't even mention D3 which is easily the deepest division and it's really anyones title to win. Another week of basketball is right around the corner and I think you can tell I'm excited as ever.

Minneapolis DeLasalle over Waunakee

2011-02-08T19:59:00.008-06:00

On Saturday Waunakee faced easily their biggest test of the year going against a great team from Minnesota in Minneapolis DeLasalle. You could say that Waunakee really hadn't been tested up until this point with the exception of Wauwatosa East and this was a chance for them to really show themselves. Yes Waunakee did lose this game but, they showed they are a top team and can play with anyone in the state. DeLasalle is a team that always has a shot to make it to state in Minnesota, are ranked top 10 in the largest division, and believe they have been to state twice recently.

Waunakee came out in their 1-3-1 zone defense which they played nearly the entire game with the exception of a few possessions which really seemed to cause DeLasalle some trouble. Athletically DeLasalle was far superior and it showed early on as DeLasalle jumped out to the early lead but, Waunakee came back with good defense, rebounding, and their typical patients. With DeLasalle's athletic advante I thought that it was a mistake for Waunakee to use their full court pressure but, I was wrong as the pressure forced DeLasalle into some turnovers and they only got a couple baskets on the fast break. After one quarter Waunakee was up 13-12 but, that was the only quarter they ended with the lead. In the second quarter DeLasalle got something going on the offensive end behind the three point shooting of 6'3 sophomore Riley Dearring who seemed to have unlimited range hitting some very deep threes as he appeared to be the only DeLasalle player that could really shoot. Waunakee couldn't get the scoring going throughout the entire game as I've said before they really only have two big scorers in their pair of 6'2 seniors Beau Murray and Jared Staege. With Staege struggling it was up to Murray who really struggled with DeLasalle's height and athleticism. Normally Murray can rise up over defenders and hit the mid range shot but, in this game he had at least a handful of shots that got swatted back in his face. At the half DeLasalle was up 21-19.

In the second half it was all Murray for Waunakee as it seemed he took 75% of their shots and got fouled a good portion of the time and it seemed he spent the entire second half at the free throw line. For DeLasalle everything seemed to be a struggle for them against the zone defense but, luckily Waunakee was having just as much trouble scoring. Right around the beginning of the fourth quarter DeLasalle finally was able to penetrate the Waunakee zone and drive to the hoop which allowed them to jump out and get a small lead on Waunakee, who kept clawing back in the game behind Murray scoring with the clock stopped. In the end though Murray couldn't do it himself and Waunakee lost their first game of the year in a low scoring game 42-37.

Top Players
Riley Dearing 6'3 sophomore DeLasalle- Sharpshooter from the outside and just realized that he is a sophomore which I never would of guessed watching him. Also showed a nice 15 foot jumper.
Jonah Travis 6'6 senior DeLasalle- Moves very well without the ball. Showed a knack for finding openings in the Waunakee zone and was able to score on the inside. Also was a shot blocker on the defense end and showed the ability to get off the floor very quickly.
Bretson McNeal 6'0 senior DeLasalle- Really showed himself late in the game as he was money from the free throw line to seal the game and had a couple nice drives to the hoop and scored late in the game.
Beau Murray 6'2 senior Waunakee- Love his mid range jumper and is able to get defenders off their feet on the shot fake and then is able to draw the foul. Scored 10 points from the free throw line alone.

Box Score
DeLasalle- Riley 13 McNeal 10 Travis 7 Melvin Collins 5 Robert Ndondo-Lay 4 Marcas Dorsey 2 Tyler Moore 1 Sam Menzel 0 Jacob Dickson 0 LaMonte Hall 0
Waunakee- Murray 20 Joe Tagarelli 7 Staege 5 Jacob Soper 2 Austin Maly 2 Zak Hougland 1 Ross Maly 0 Andrew Dorscheid 0 Ben Cable 0 Dylan DesRochers 0 Will Decorah 0 Tim Keenan 0

Like I said earlier despite losing this game I felt that Waunakee really showed themselves against a team that would probably win state in D2 for Wisconsin and would have a shot at D1. Waunakee continued to reaffirm their #1 ranking in D2.

9th Round State Rankings

2011-02-07T21:08:00.012-06:00

Once again it is Monday and time for my state rankings again. Before I get to the rankings just a quick note which I'm sure many of you heard but, in a recent incident in Milwaukee to stars found themselves in some bad situations. Cimeon Bowers of Milwaukee King and Elgin Cook of Milwaukee Hamilton was in a car that was shot up and Bowers was wounded and will miss the remainder of the season while Cook has now left the state of Wisconsin. Very disappointing to see this happen and you have to wonder if they would of been better off going to the prep schools like many of their peers did prior to the start of the season. My rankings I have decided to follow the coaches rankings and now go to ranking top 15 and not have HM anymore.

Division One
Appleton East remains undefeated and in the #1 spot and following by the exact same teams 2 through 6. Madison Memorial lost another game and fall to #13 while the team that beat them Beloit moves up to #11. Everyone else moved up as only Memorial lost in the top 15 teams. Bradford moves down to #15 as I missed that they lost to Racine Case by 20 two weeks ago.

1. Appleton East
2. Milwaukee Riverside
3. Germantown
4. Arrowhead
5. De Pere
6. Milwaukee King
7. Racine Case
8. Milwaukee Hamilton
9. Bay Port
10. Wisconsin Rapids
11. Beloit
12. Waukesha West
13. Madison Memorial
14. Sheboygan North
15. Kenosha Bradford

Division Two
Waunakee lost their first game of the year but, they lost to one of the best teams in Minnesota and remains #1. New Richmond lost their first game of the year and fall to #6 while everyone below moved ahead of the. Monroe lost for the second straight week to a conference bottom dweller and drops to #10. Monona Grove, Mcfarland, and Whitefish Bay make their first appearance in the rankings after being just outside the rankings all year long.

1. Waunakee
2. Seymour
3. Onalaska
4. Wisconsin Lutheran
5. Two Rivers
6. New Richmond
7. Madison Edgewood
8. Wauwatosa East
9. Lacrosse Logan
10. Monroe
11. Rice Lake
12. New Berlin West
13. Monona Grove
14. Mcfarland
15. Whitefish Bay

Division Three
Once again D3 shows how deep it is with the top 15 remaining the same and the only two teams that fell off were because I trimmed my list to get to 15. Two teams remain undefeated while another eight have lost only one game.

1. St. Johns Military
2. Manitowoc Roncalli
3. GET
4. Lacrosse Aquinas
5. Brillion
6. East Troy
7. Omro
8. Whitefish Bay Dominican
9. Racine St. Catherines
10. Northwestern
11. Lakeside Lutheran
12. Ladysmith
13. River Valley
14. Kiel
15. Altoona

Division Four
Everyone won out in the top 15 except Westby and Peshtigo who both lost and fall out of the rankings well everyone else remains the same.

1. Blair Taylor
2. Oostburg
3. Eau Claire Regis
4. Marathon
5. Racine Lutheran
6. Cuba City
7. Darlington
8. Laconia
9. Amherst
1o. Aburndale
11. Colby
12. Peshtigo
13. Grantsburg
14. Wild Rose
15. Colfax

Division Five
Another divisions with little no no action in the rankings. Luck was the lone team that lost and they fell to #14. I thought about remove the School for the Deaf off my rankings but, they are still undefeated and that's good enough to be ranked in my book and Barnveld fell off the rankings simply because there wasn't room.

1. Benton
2. Green Bay New Lutheran
3. Randolph
4. Clayton
5. Suring
6. Prentice
7. Seneca
8. Gilmanton
9. Hillsboro
10. Sheboygan Lutheran
11. Wauzeka-Steuben
12. Eau Claire Immanuel
13. Laona
14. Luck
15. Wisconsin School for Deaf

Tomorrow I will finally get the chance to talk about my Saturday game where Waunakee lost to Minneapolis DeLasalle a very good team with lots of tradition from Minnesota. Rankings seems to get easier the further we get in the season because it appears that the top teams are rounding in to form and just don't lose much.

Madison East over Sun Prairie

2011-02-05T21:36:00.009-06:00

In a mini upset Madison East was able to defeat Sun Prairie. Madison East appears to have gotten even shorter in the past couple weeks as one of the few players over 6 foot on the team, Stephen Williams, is no longer on the team and one of their other taller players DJ Bell has not seen the court or even suited up the three games I have seen East play. East has called up 6'2 sophomore Mile Kietzer to give them at least two players on the roster over 6 foot but, he played maybe 30 seconds in the game so, therefore East's only player over 6 foot that actually plays is 6'3 sophomore Emani Brathwaite. Sun Prairie was missing two of their top scorers in seniors 6'2 Jordan Noskowiak and 6'0 Jaron Schaffner this really hurt Sun Prairie on the offensive end in the scoring area and bringing the ball up the court because these two players handle the ball alot for the Cardinals.

As I alluded to earlier the absence of Noskowiak and Schaffner was obvious early and often. Madison East had the full court press on the entire game and Sun Prairie turned it over and over time and again and led to some easy buckets. When Sun Prairie did break the press there were only two guys that wanted to take shots in their two 6'5 guys in senior Chris Hawkins and sophomore Nick Fuller. Hawkins and Fuller really seemed to wear down as they had to do the balk of the ball handling against the pressure and then had to work very hard to get shots off against the East 3-2 zone which was focused on stopping the two of them. East came out firing with lots of energy with their full court defense and hot outside shooting. East was up 17-8 after one quarter. Normally a great outside shooter Fuller couldn't get anything to fall for him outside of five foot. Nearly a dozen times Fuller got a wide open shot from the corner and just couldn't get the shot to go. Prairie did finally get something going looking to either Hawkins or 6'5 senior Daniel Mifflin in the high post and cutting to an open teammate, usually Fuller for the easy buckets. East's shooting cooled off in the second quarter and Sun Prairie cut the lead to three and were down 27-24 at the half.

Sun Prairie played a 1-3-1 the entire game but, in the second half they really made a conscience effort to pack in the zone and not let East penetrate and dish to open teammates and East had to settle for just passing the ball around the perimeter normally three feet behind the three point line which kept the game low scoring. Both teams only score six points in the third quarter and the lead remained at three after three quarters. Throughout the entire game no one really stood out for East and it really was a team effort but, then in the fourth quarter and overtime they finally had someone step out and assert themselves on the offensive end. For once in wasn't their star though, 6'0 senior Nimrod Hillard. This time it was the #2 man 5'9 junior Rudy Bentley. Bently was able to score in the transition, hit a huge three to tie the game late, and then was money from the line in sealing it. In the fourth Sun Prairie made the adjustment of putting Fuller at the top of the zone which created a lot of problems for East and they turned the ball over and the tie game and sent the game to OT. Throughout the entire second half Sun Prairie's game was give the ball to Hawkins and let him score using his size and strength to score over the smaller defenders. Hawkins was a beast throughout the second half and had the best game I've seen him play this year but, in OT Sun Prairie looked to drive the ball to the hoop inside of looking to Hawkins when they got down and East used their quick hands to knock the ball away on three straigh possessions last in OT. Final score was 61-56.

Top Players
Rudy Bentley 5'9 junior East- Said it all already. Really did step up and carried his team late to victory.
Nimrod Hillard 6'0 senior East- Second game in a row where he struggled scoring but, did a nice job of penetrating and dishing out to his teammates who were hitting from the outside.
Chris Hawkins 6'5 senior Sun Prairie- Despite losing he was the best player in this game. Was a beast on the inside and the only time he seemed he wasn't scoring was when he was getting fouled where he went to the line and made the shots.
Nick Fuller 6'5 sophomore Sun Prairie- Really struggled from the outside shooting but, did get down on himself and still moved well without the ball and got his points.

Box Score
East- Bentley 19 Hillard 14 Jermel McLin 8 Demetrius Durley 6 Speedy Amara 5 Emani Brathwaite 5 Alex Redd 3 Darius Kelly 1 Mile Kietzer 0
Sun Prairie- Hawkins 25 Fuller 19 Mifflin 7 Rapheal Ragland 0 Paris Saffold 1 Martin Cromwell 1 Bryce Opps 0 Jacob Oakley 0 Ryan Yentz 0 Andre Wallace 0

Sun Prairie is a team that always seems to be on the edge of being great but, then they lose a game like this that they never should of lost but, have to give them a bit of a benefit of the doubt because they were missing two of their double digit scorers. Madison East is a team that will give 110% but, as I've said over and over their height will hold them back but, their hustle and intensity will get them some wins against some very good teams.

Third Round my Team Rankings

2011-02-03T20:34:00.007-06:00

Figured I have seen six new teams from my last rankings so, I should probably update my rankings a bit. I have decided to not break teams down by division but, just rank all the teams in one lump sum since most people can figure out the division rankings from there.

1. Linn-Marr Iowa (1)- Easily the best team I have seen play. Lightning quick point guard that can take over the game without having to take a shot with his defense and play making and have a big man that can score inside or out with ease.
2. Madison Memorial (4)- Getting some of their top tear talent back and have the best eight man rotation in the state. Lots of athletic freaks between 6'4 to 6'6. Junior Lomomba can take the game over at any time and he has lots of help.
3. Milwaukee King (1)- Very athletic team that loves to run but, they are always playing under control. Have a very solid top nine rotation with lots of guards and will have a premier inside man in Cimmeon Bowers come playoff time. Lots of guys that can shoot and handle the ball.
4. Sun Prairie (3)- Have four players that could score 20 plus points on any given night. As Nick Fuller gets stronger and better game to game this team will rise with him. Have the size to battle with Memorial.
5. Southeast Springfield (1)- Just a very solid overall team. Run their offense very efficiently and can shoot the three as well as any team I've seen.
6. Lacrosse Aquinas (1)- Really like this team as the play very under control and don't seem to get flustered. Have lots of guys between 6'2 to 6'5 that can move well. Can play slow tempo or fast and do very well in either setting.
7. Germantown (1)- Have a star in Showalter that really makes them go but, have the size and outside shooting to really complement him.
8. St. Paul Johnson (1)- Another team with lots of athletes that loves to push the tempo. Have four different players that have the ability to score at will from the outside or driving to the hoop.
9. Lamphier Springfield (1)- Really like to push the tempo. Apply in your face pressure defense the entire game and will turn you over.
10. Marshfield (1)- Probably overall the tallest team in the state and their 1-3-1 defense is nearly impossible to score against. Run a very slow patient offense and really take good shots.
11. Onalaska (1)- Shoot the outside shot very very well and love to push the tempo. Play a pretty solid man to man defense.
12. Waunakee (1)- One of the better rebounding teams you will see. Have lots of depth and will press the whole game. Have two very good guards in Staege and Murray.
13. Wauwatosa East (1)- Another team with lots of depth that love to push the tempo. In transition they are very tough to stop.
14. Sacred Heart-Griffin Springfield (1)- Another team that really runs their offense well and loves to shoot the three ball where they usually make the shot. Rebound very well.
15. Springfield High (1)- Like to push the tempo and love to shoot the three point shot in their half court offense. Have a handful of guys that can penetrate and finish at the rim in a variety of ways.
16. Minneapolis South (1)- Love to push the tempo and shoot the long ball. Play a good pressure defense and can take the ball to the hoop strong.
17. Beloit (1)- Another athletic team that likes to push the tempo. Play to their opponents ability so if their playing a good team they look very good.
18. Monroe (2)- Move very well without the ball and another team that is very patient on the offensive end and only take good shots. Bryan Tordoff and Michael Barrett are stars that have both been on varsity forever.
19. Middleton (3)- Ian Joyce is really coming into his own and controls the inside and has a nice game around the hoop. Have a deep team but, not alot of stars.
20. Madison Edgewood (2)- Have one of the best coach's in the state and their team plays as hard as anyone in the state. Run their offense very well which always seems to give them an open shot. Go 12 deep and don't lose anything.
21. Randolph (1)- Typical Randolph team. Moves the ball well on offense and always get good shots and play very good man to man defense. Have a handful of very good players that can really score.
22. Baraboo (3)- Have some very good seniors and a pair of legit stars in Mark Kowalke and Sean McGann. Overall size is a concern though.
23. Madison East (2)- Nimrod Hillard is one of the best players in the state and the team plays really hard. Lack height though.
25. Racine Park (1)- Extremely quick and athletic team. Lack outside shooting though and ballhandlers.
26. Lacrosse Logan (1)- Trevor Jorgenson is as tough as any big man in the state and have some good outside shooters. Finding Jorgenson and handling pressure defense could be a problem though.
27. Monona Grove (1)- Need some more scorers but, Zach Zweifel can score 20 points a night. Could probably carry them a decent way in playoffs.
28. Whitefish Bay Dominican (1)- Lots of athletes but, not much size and not much outside shooting.
29. Green Lake (1)- So so team but, have a great talent in Matt Von Syoc.
30. West Depere (1)- Have nice size and rebound well but, another team without consistent guard play with the shooting and ball handling.
31. Milwaukee Bay View (1)- Honestly just the only other team that I have seen this year.

There are my team rankings not a lot of changes just a few new teams which I had just recently seen. This weekend will be seeing at least two more games possible three if I can get the chance.

Second Round Player Rankings

2011-02-01T20:40:00.019-06:00

It has been a long time since I haven't updated my player rankings and time to finally due some updated rankings since I have seen a lot more teams since I last did my rankings. My overall rankings will include players from out of state by my ranking for classes will solely be based on players from within the state of Wisconsin.

Overall Rankings
1. Marcus Paige 6'1 junior Linn-Marr Iowa- He's going to North Carolina for a reason and he really showed it. Can take over a game without having to score. Can get anywhere he wants on the court and can get his shot at any time. Ultra quick hands that allows him to knock the ball away from unsuspecting ball handlers.
2. Junior Lomomba 6'5 junior Madison Memorial- Isn't the quickest guy in the world but, has the ability to drive past defenders and finish strong at the rim. Solid defender and very strong rebounder. Can hit the jumpers out to the three point line as well.Very high basketball IQ.
3. Nick Fuller 6'5 sophomore Sun Prairie- Has the size of an inside player but, can play like a guard. One of the better ball handlers for a guy his size and if you leave him open from three he's going to hit the shot. Does alittle bit of everything, rebounds well, and loves to finish with the dunk.
4. Nimord Hillard 6'0 senior Madison East- Ultra quick point guard that can find his teammates open for easy buckets. Has a great step back three point shot that he uses to shoot over taller defenders. Drives and can finish in a variety of ways around bigger defenders. His whole game is based on using his quickness and finishing around bigger and taller defenders.
5. Josh Montague 6'7 senior Linn-Marr Iowa- Big man with a great touch from three point range and runs the court very well for a big man. Has a very nice finesse game but, rebounding could use some work for a guy with his size.
6. Zak Showalter 6'2 junior Germantown- Another guy with a high basketball IQ. Moves extremely well without the ball and always seems to find the opening in the defense. Very athletic player that relys on that to get his shot off and drives to the hoop looking to get fouled.
7. Arroyo Edwards 6'5 junior Milwaukee King- Player that has the size of a big man but, plays like a guard. Is at his best when he gets the ball around the 15 foot range where he can pass the ball, shoot, or take it to the hoop. Can finish at the rim with either hand and is a pretty good free throw shooter.
8. Matt Van Scoyc 6'6 junior Green Lake- Every night he has to put his team on his back on the offensive end. Might be the best player in D5 outside of Sam Dekker. Can post up if needed but, seems to prefer shooting from the outside. Can use his height to shoot over defenders from out to three point range.
9. Zach Zweifel 6'0 senior Monona Grove- Just a flat out scorer. Does most of his damage off the dribble, can finish with either hand, or pull up for the jumper. Does a nice job of jumping the passing lanes on defense.
10. Bronson Koenig 6'2 sophomore Lacrosse Aquinas- Solid point guard with good size. Has the ability to score at will but, seems to like setting up his teammates in scoring opportunity. Has a great pull up shot from mid range and gets great elevation on his shot.
11. Chris Hawkins 6'5 senior Sun Prairie- Just a beast on the inside that rebounds extremely well, blocks shots, and needs just one step to throw down monster dunks. High intensity player and can step out and hit the three.
12. Matt Thomas 6'1 sophomore Onalaska- Very similar to Koenig but, lacks the ball handling skills of Koenig. Shoots the three very well and has a great mid range shot. Is very good in the transition game.
13. Michael Barrett 6'2 senior Monroe- Ultimate glue player that does alittle bit of everything. Best shot is the fade away 15 footer but, can shoot out to the three point line. Moves very well without the ball, can run the point, rebounds, and plays pretty good defense.
14. Duane Wilson 6'1 sophomore Whitefish Bay Dominican- One of the quickest players with the ball in his hand. Nearly impossible to stop going to his right. Can stop on a dime and pull up for the shot.
15. Carnell Sheppard 5'10 junior Minneapolis South- Just a flat out scorer. Has unlimited range from three point land and can penetrate and score going straight to the hoop or shooting the floater.
16. Bryan Tordoff 6'0 senior Monroe- Ultimate competitor. One of the best rebounding guards I have seen. Sharpshooter from the outside but, loves to take defenders in the post where he is very strong.
17. TJ Huizenga 6'4 senior Randolph- Is at his best in the transition game where he can use his length to score around defenders. When he gets the ball at the free throw line is a great passer finding open teammates either outside or inside, or he can take the ball to the hoop. One of the best defenders in the state where he once again uses his length and athleticism.
18. Brendan Ortiz 6'1 sophomore Madison Memorial- Sophomore that plays like a senior. He and Lomomba are without a doubt the vocal leaders on this team. Can get his shot off at any time and shoots very well off the dribble, spot up, or coming off the screen. Using his great ball handling skills to get around defenders and can finish with the floater in the lane.
19. Taron Edwards 5'11 junior Racine Park- Great three point shooter that can shoot the three off the spot up or off the dribble. This guy is unstoppable going to his left. Money from the free throw line.
20. Cale Zuiker 6'9 senior Marshfield- Moves very well for a kid his size. Seems like a very smart basketball player. Has a high release that allows him to shoot over most defenders. Moves very well without the ball and has unlimited range.
21.Beau Murray 6'2 senior Waunakee- Always goes hard to the hoop where he can get foul and make the free throw shot or elevate over the defender and pull up for the mid range jumper. Guy that just knows how to score.
22. Jared Staege 6'2 senior Waunakee- Runs the point very well and has a very nice smooth shot from the outside. Forms a great combo with Murray.
23. Anthony Carroll 6'1 sophomore Wauwatosa East- Another player that is great in transition where he can take the ball to the hoop or knock down the three point shot.
24. Darrell Bowie 6'6 junior Wauwatosa East- Once again another guy that is great in transition. Big man that can step out and hit the three point shot. High energy player that can get rebounds and hustle players.
25. Mark Kowalke 6'7 senior Baraboo- Very good spot up shooter but, also very solid in the post. Post game is probably better on defensive end where he loves to come in late and block shots. Rebounds well and doesn't miss from free throw line.
HM
Sean McGann 6'4 junior Baraboo
Jamall Taylor 6'1 junior Whitefish Bay Dominican
Ryan Koel 6'3 junior Lacrosse Logan

Seniors
1. Nimrod Hillard 6'0 Madison East
2. Zach Zweifel 6'0 Monona Grove
3. Chris Hawkins 6'5 Sun Prairie
4. Michael Barrett 6'2 Monroe
5. Bryan Tordoff 6'0 Monroe
6. TJ Huizenga 6'4 Randolph
7. Cale Zuiker 6'9 Marshfield
8. Beau Murray 6'2 Waunakee
9. Jared Staege 6'2 Waunakee
10. Mark Kowalke 6'7 Baraboo
HM
Seth Coyne 6'2 Middleton
Tre Burnette 6'5 Madison Memorial
Trevor Jorgenson 6'7 Lacrosse Logan
Tony Thomas 6'6 Onalaska

Juniors
1. Junior Lomomba 6'5 Madison Memorial
2. Zak Showalter 6'2 Germantown
3. Arroyo Edwards 6'5 Milwaukee King
4. Matt Van Scyoc 6'6 Green Lake
5. Taron Edwards 5'11 Racine Park
6. Darrell Bowie 6'6 Wauwatosa East
7. Sean McGann 6'4 junior Baraboo- Another glue player. Handles the ball very well and the best part of his game is slashing to the hoop. Can shoot the three if left open.
8. Jamall Taylor 6'1 junior Whitefish Bay Dominican- Uses the head fake better then anyone I've seen. Seems to want the contact when he drives to the rim so he can get the three point play.
9.. Ryan Koel 6'3 junior Lacrosse Logan- Just a very smooth player. Has a very nice shot from the outside and can take his defender in the post as well.
10. Elliot Ashbeck 6'3 junior Marshfield- Just a solid point guard and is very strong with the ball in his hand. Doesn't force things and always seems to have things under control. Rebounds well and can shoot the open three.
HM
Vincent Kube 6'2 Lacrosse Logan
Jordan Payne 6'2 Racine Park

Sophomore
1. Nick Fuller 6'5 Sun Prairie
2. Bronson Koenig 6'2 Lacrosse Aquinas
3. Matt Thomas 6'1 Onalaska
4. Duane Wilson 6'1 Whitefish Bay Dominican
5. Brendan Ortiz 6'1 Madison Memorial
6. Anthony Carroll 6'1 Wauwatosa East
7.Austin Malone-Mitchell 5'11 sophomore Milwaukee King- Solid point guard that does a good job running the show. Is a great three point shooter that can get his shot off with very little room.
8. Luke Fisher 6'8 Germantown- Big man with a very good touch around the rim that rebounds extremely well.
9. Jester Weah 6'4 Madison Memorial- A beast on the inside. One step and he dunks with ease, is a very good rebounder, and battles with much bigger players.
10. Mike Conway 6'5 Lacrosse Aquinas- Guy with good size that plays like a guard. Rebounds well, can shoot the three, and handle the ball.
HM
Jermel McLin 5'9 Madison East
Noah Polcyn 6'0 Green Lake
Will Decorah 6'4 Waunakee
Clint Rihn 6'0 Onalaska

Freshmen
1. Evan Wesenberg 6'5 Germantown- Has a great game with his back to the basket and rebounds very well.
2. Tyler Lindquist 6'4 Madison Memorial- Has a very nice mid range shot and was seeing minutes on a loaded Memorial team.
3. Jon Averkamp 6'5 Germantown- Starter with a nice mid range shot and rebounds really well.

There are my player rankings and looking at them you can see that the Junior class is loaded with talent and the sophomores may not be far behind. Tomorrow may be seeing updated team rankings that I have actually seen play.

8th Round State Rankings

2011-01-31T20:58:00.010-06:00

Well it's Monday which means it's time for another round of team rankings for the state. Were about the half way point of conference play and more and more top teams falling from the undefeated ranks playing against conference opponents.

Division One
Appleton East and Riverside won out and remain number one and two in the rankings. King lost to Washington who recently fell out of the rankings and fall to #6. Bay Port has been neglected the past few weeks and defeated and undefeated Wisconsin Rapids team and moves to my #10. Rapids fall to HM despite only having lost one game all year but, I feel they have to be behind the team that just beat them. For HM Marshfield lost twice but, hangs on to HM while Marquette lost their fifth game of the year and fall out of the rankings. Sheboygan North reappear in the rankings.

1. Appleton East
2. Milwaukee Riverside
3. Germantown
4. Arrowhead
5. De Pere
6. Milwaukee King
7. Madison Memorial
8. Racine Case
9. Milwaukee Hamilton
10. Bay Port
HM
Wisconsin Rapids
Waukesha West
Kenosha Bradford
Beloit
Sheboygan North

Division Two
Seymour, Monroe, Tosa East, and Lacrosse Logan were the only top ten teams that lost in the top 10. Seymour lost to a tough Minnesota team and remain #3, Monroe lost a tough game to Stoughton and fall to #7. With East losing to Waunakee and Logan losing to Holmen they remain at the same spot. In HM Rice Lake lost to a good D1 team then beat a good team from Minnesota and stay same and New Berlin Eisenhower takes Pewaukee's spot after defeating them.

1. Waunakee
2. New Richmond
3. Seymour
4. Onalaska
5. Wisconsin Lutheran
6. Two Rivers
7. Monroe
8. Madison Edgewood
9. Wauwatosa East
10. Lacrosse Logan
HM
Rice Lake
New Berlin West
New Berlin Eisenhower

Division Three
Top 10 remains exactly the same as not one team lost. For HM only team that lost was Viroqua who falls out of the rankings and are replaced by Altoona, Lake Mills, and Clinton.

1. St. Johns Military
2. Manitowoc Roncalli
3. GET
4. Lacrosse Aquinas
5. Brillion
6. East Troy
7. Omro
8. Whitefish Bay Dominican
9. Racine St. Catherines
10. Northwestern
HM
Lakeside Lutheran
Ladysmith
River Valley
Kiel
Altoona
Lake Mills
Clinton

Division Four
Racine Lutheran and Colby were the only top 10 teams that lost and Lutheran drops to #5 and Colby falls to HM. Three Lakes lost twice and fall from the rankings.

1. Blair Taylor
2. Oostburg
3. Eau Claire Regis
4. Marathon
5. Racine Lutheran
6. Cuba City
7. Darlington
8. Laconia
9. Amherst
10. Aburndale
HM
Colby
Westby
Peshtigo
Grantsburg
Wild Rose
Colfax

Division Five
Only big stories here is the continued free fall of Sheboygan Lutheran who lost their fourth game of the year and fell to HM. Gilmanton is a team that lost their first game of the year and fell to #9. Marion was the only other ranked team that lost and fell out of the rankings.

1. Benton
2. Green Bay New Lutheran
3. Randolph
4. Clayton
5. Suring
6. Prentice
7. Seneca
8. Luck
9. Gilmanton
10. Hillsboro
HM
Sheboygan Lutheran
Wauzeka-Steuben
Eau Claire Immanuel
Laona
Barneveld
Wisconsin School for Deaf

As you can see as the rankings have gone on their are fewer and fewer comments to made because they are pretty self explanatory and there just aren't many movements in the rankings.

Waunakee over Wauwatosa East at Buzzer

2011-01-30T21:08:00.014-06:00

This game truly was a game of runs, just like the NBA announcers always say on tv. Tosa East jumped out to the early 10-0 lead and Waunakee crawled back into it to make the score Tosa East up 18-17 after one quarter. Second quarter Tosa East only made one basket and Waunakee was up 29-20 at half. In the third quarter Waunakee was the team that couldn't score but, still clung to a 32-31 lead after three. Tosa East continued dominating up until the final three minutes of the game when they were up by 10 and then Waunakee finished on their final run and got the 51-48 win.

Wauwatosa East was able to jump out to their early lead by pushing the tempo in the fast break behind 6'1 sophomore Anthony Carroll and 6'6 junior Darrell Bowie who got easy layups and were able to hit the three pointers in transition. Waunakee was feeding the fire by turning the ball over time and time again as they looked to feed the post. Midway through the first quarter Waunakee turned things around by not turning the ball over and controlling the boards on the offensive and defensive side. Waunakee also benefited from some officiating that went their way and allowed them to spend most of their time scoring from the free throw line. I'm not sure if the Tosa East fans got to the officials or if it was coincidence by the first five fouls in the second quarter went against Waunakee but, not one of them were on shooting fouls so Tosa East couldn't take advantage of it. Tosa East went ice cold shooting and Waunakee continued to dominate the rebounding advantage behind their pair of 6'6 senior big men Austin Maly and Jacob Soper. On the offensive end 6'2 senior Beau Murray led them as he was able to drive the right side and pull up for the short jumpers which he was making without really being opened.

In the second half Waunakee was the team that went ice cold and their offensive was very stagnate as no one wanted to shoot besides Murray and fellow 6'2 senior guard Jared Staege. Waunakee only got three points in the third while Tosa East climbed within one point by the end of the third. Tosa East had only three players score through the first three quarters in Bowie, Caroll, and 6'4 senior Aaron Uden. Tosa East took the lead in the fourth and grew that lead to 10 behind their ability to get fouls on the Waunakee defenders and hitting their free throws. Tosa East was up by 10 with three minutes remaining in the game when Waunakee really turned up the pressure and Tosa East turned the ball over three straight trips and never got the ball past the half court line. East's struggles combined with Staege finally getting hot Waunakee was able to bring the game close. Staege had 10 points in the fourth quarter alone. In the end the turnovers and inability to break the full court press doomed East. With under a minute to go in the game the star of the game finally made his presence known. 6'4 sophomore Will Decorah made a three to tie the game with about 30 seconds left in the game. Tosa East came down the court and got a questionable travel call called on them where it appear Bowie was tripped by a Waunakee defender. Waunakee came back down the court and found Decorah in the exact same corner where he hit a three with two seconds left to give Waunakee the win.

Top Players
Anthony Carroll 6'1 sophomore Tosa East- Was great in transition and was very quick with the ball in his hand. Can hit the three point shot as well with great regularity.
Darrell Dowie 6'6 junior Tosa East- Got in foul trouble early that limited him but, another guy that show great ability in the transition game and could step back and hit the three point shot.
Beau Murray 6'2 senior Waunakee- Showed the ability to really elevate on his shot particularily when he was guarded. Very solid jump shooter from the 15 foot range.
Jared Staege 6'2 senior Waunakee- I've loved watching this kid play the last two years and does a great jump running the point and isn't afraid to take a crucial shot when the game is tight and has a real smooth shot from the outside.
Will Decorah 6'4 sophomore Waunakee- I believe he only took two shots in the game but, they were te biggest shots of the game so he gets the nod here having the ability two hit those two shots when he hadn't played many minutes throughout the game.

Box Score
Tosa East- Carroll 20 Bowie 13 Uden 8 Vince Cupertino 3 Walter Clark Jr 2 Kyle Vnuk 2 Jackson Orin 0 Diamontae McKinley 0 Marquise Carter 0 Ben Carpenter 0
Waunakee- Staege 15 Murray 13 Soper 8 Decorah 6 Joe Tagarelli 5 A Maly 2 Zak Hoglund 2 Ross Maly 0 Andrew Dorscheid 0

Waunakee my be ranked #1 in division two but, honestly would be very surprised to see them win state. They are a very disciplined team and rebound well but, they really only have the two scorers that they can go to in Staege and Murray so if either of those two have a bad game in the playoffs they will have a very hard time winning when they get deeper in the playoffs. Looking at Wauwatosa East's season they have been very up and down and they could just as easily go to state as lose in the first round. No matter what they do this year though they will be one of the top teams next year in division two as they play very few seniors and have lots of juniors and sophomores seeing action this year.

Sun Prairie over Middleton

2011-01-28T21:04:00.015-06:00

After seeing Middleton play Germantown so closely I really expected this game to be much closer then it was the first time around but, I was wrong. Middleton looked just as rough as they did the first time around when these two teams matched up. They lacked the ability to get to the rim and turned the ball over. With the exception of some nice threes from 5'10 senior Sonny Bavery the game was nearly a carbon copy of the first one. After defeating Madison Memorial and the way that Sun Prairie looked in this game they really look to be a tough out come tourney time and will probably push Memorial too the limit in their third match up, that without a doubt will happen.

Sun Prairie jumped to the early lead and never looked back. After one quarter SP was up 20-8 behind some hot outside shooting. 6'5 sophomore Nick Fuller really appears to be taking the leadership roll in scoring by the horns and is carrying this team. All night long Fuller was able to score at will particularly from three point range where he was able to hit whether there was a hand in his face or not. The other SP player that had things going early was senior 6'2 Jordan Noskowiak. It was nice to Noskowiak being aggressive and looking to score, unlike the previous games I had seen him where he was the opposite and didn't put many points up. In the second quarter Middleton was able to get some scoring behind the shooting of Bavery and some nice play off the bench from 6'4 junior Antoine Buchanon. Watching warm ups you can see Buchanon has unlimited athletic ability but, in the first coupled games I saw him play he played alittle out of control at times and didn't appear to have the highest basketball IQ. This game Buchanon really appeared to have progressed from early in the year and played within the offense and kept himself under control without forcing those wild shots. Like the past Middleton looked to get the ball in to their big man 6'6 senior Ian Joyce. Joyce got the ball but, he always wants to go over his right shoulder with the fade away unlike most right handed post players who go over their left shoulder. Joyce could get open and make the moves but, because the shots he was taking were so difficult they weren't falling. Halftime Sun Prairie was up 39-29.

Second half really wasn't much to talk about as Middleton fell apart and turned the ball over time after time and read in the state journal that Sun Prairie had a 20-1 run to start the second half. Fuller continued to fire and was money all night. Only real scoring that I can recall prior to garbage time was a three by Bavery and the ability by senior 6'2 Seth Coyne to drive and draw contact and go to the line and make his free throws. Joyce did his best to keep Middleton in the game as well as he blocked a half full of shots in the second half alone but, he couldn't block all the outside shots Sun Prairie was hitting. Sun Prairie extended the lead to 54-34 after the third and the entire fourth quarter was really garbage time as Prairie just rotated their starters in and out until the final two or three minutes. Final score was 66-55 which really doesn't show how much of a domination Sun Prairie really put on in this game.

Top Players
Nick Fuller 6'5 sophomore Sun Prairie- Like I said earlier he pretty much dominated on the offensive end. Was shooting the three with ease and driving to the hoop, also showed the ability to run the point.
Jordan Noskowiak 6'2 senior Sun Prairie- Really showed some aggression looking to score in the game particularily shooting the long range shot. Also did a nice job guarding Coyne.
Seth Coyne 6'2 senior Middleton- Also does a great job of getting his points one way or another with much help. Got to the line any time he wanted were he usually connected.
Ian Joyce 6'6 senior Middleton- Didn't have a great game on the offensive end but, was very solid on the defensive end. Had between 5-10 blocks in the game and this game could of been alot worse without Joyce patrolling the middle.

Box Score
Sun Prairie 66- Fuller 21 Noskowiak 13 Jaron Schaffner 10 Chris Hawkins 6 Daniel Mifflin 5 Ryan Yentz 5 Bryce Opps 4 Andre Wallace 2 Paris Saffold 0 Nick Behrens 0 Opi Abeysekera 0 Rapheal Ragland 0 Jacob Oakley 0 Martin Cromwell 0 Andy Strueber 0 Kyle Nikolay 0
Middleton 55- Coyne 16 Bavery 12 Nick Schmidt 10 Joyce 9 Buchanon 6 Connor Wipfli 2 Will O'Brien 0 Jake Raffel 0 James Gardner 0 Bryan Mchmeier 0 Connor Stubbe 0 Robby Williams 0 Matt Meinholz 0 TJ Webber 0 Eric Hagstrom 0 Tony Wilson 0

Like I said earlier Sun Prairie appears to be as tough as anyone in the state while I have a hard time figuring Middleton out. Middleton looked very very good in one game and looked terrible both times against Sun Prairie. Tomorrow I will hopefully get a chance to see two teams play for the first time in Waunakee and Wauwatosa East.

Springfield Tournament

2011-01-26T19:56:00.013-06:00

This past weekend I was down visiting my brother in Springfield Illinois and I got to take in the Springfield City tournament, one of the best basketball experiences I've been to. The tournament is a round robin tournament between the four large schools in Springfield. All four schools have between 1000 to 1500 students. They seed the teams one through four and set it up so the top two seeds will meet on Saturday night. The event is held at the Springfield Center very similar to the Lacrosse Center and Alliant Energy Center. The games draw a huge crowd and field the arena about two thirds of the way full and guessing there was roughly six to eight thousand people at the event. For amount of people this was second to only Wisconsin state for what I have been to. I would love to see this event take place in a Madison, Lacrosse, or Green Bay.

Sacred Heart-Griffin 51 Springfield High 42
In the first game the only private school Sacred Heart-Griffin took on Springfield High. Springfield started out hot hitting from the outside which was primarily due to the fact that SHG was playing a zone defense. In the second quarter though SHG got hot while Springfield went cold and SHG took the lead and never looked back. Despite their lack of size SHG was able to control the glass throughout the entire game and was able to kick the ball out to open three point shooters where they hit the shot. Neither team was exceptionally tall with the exception of Springfield's 6'7 junior Willie Wiley who was able to take over the game in very short stints but, just didn't get enough help and his game is very limited away from the hoop. Springfield got the game close but SHG hit their free throws at the end to win.

Top Players
Jarrod Sergent 6'2 junior SHG- Thought he was the best player on the court. Shot the ball extremely well from the outside and also showed the ability get open off the dribble and hit the jumper.
Austin Eagleton 6'1 junior SHG- Nothing real special about his game but, always hustled and moved very well without the ball in his hands. When given the open three he would hit the shot.
Willie Wiley 6'7 junior Springfield- Was the one player on Springfield that was rebounding and showed some promise around the hoop but, is still alittle raw. Had a nice put back dunk and was able to score with his back to the hoop.
Mark Gilchrese 5'9 senior Springfield- Was hitting the three to start the game and did a nice job running the point and not turning the ball over.

Top Scorers
SHG- Sergent 16 Eagleton 14 Jake Williams 8
Springfield- Wiley 12 Gilchrese 10 Thalamus Alexander 8 Alex Kramer 8

Southeast 60 Lamphier 45
I actually left this game alittle early so the final was slightly different but, at that point the game was not in question. This game was the highlight of the night as my brother had student taught at Lamphier and had watched the team play of few times before and Southeast had beaten Whitney Young this year who I had seen play on ESPN earlier this year and looked very very good. I was very surprised that Southeast only played one player over 6 ft in their regular rotation because Whitney Young is a very tall team. Early one Lamphier was able to really push the tempo and take the early lead as both teams started out very sloppy and Southeast turned the ball over time after time. In the second quarter though Southeast really tightend things up controlling the ball and showing a lot of patients on the offensive end. It seemed Southeast always ended up with a wide open three point shot and more times then not they were able to bury the shot. At half Southeast was able to get the big lead then in the second half Lamphier was able to push the tempo again and get back into the game before Southeast was able to seal the game breaking the Lamphier trap and getting easy baskets before ending the game hitting their free throws.

Top Players
Herman Senor 5'10 sophomore Southeast- Was able to penetrate and get into the paint all night long and score or get fouled where he went to the line and scored.
Rodney Smith 5'11 senior Southeast- Had a huge game off the bench leading the team in scoring. Just seemed to always be in the right place at the right time, moving well without the ball and cleaning up on the offensive glass.
Jacobby Anderson 6'0 senior Southeast- Was money from the outside hitting every open three he was giving. Helped get the ball up the court against the pressure defense.
Larry Austin Jr 6'1 freshmen Lamphier- Very very tough to stop in the transition. Ranked in the top 10 in the country and showed some great skills.
Kendall Murdock 6'3 senior Lamphier- Used his size and skill to score in the post. Really looked good in this game scoring with his back to the basket. Most impressive player in the game scoring at will at times it seemed.

Top Scorers
Southeast- Senor 14 Smith 14 Anderson 13
Lamphier- Austin 15 Everett Clemons 10 Murdock 9

I know this wasn't the greatest post but, haven't felt the greatest tonight and don't have alot of energy. This really was one of the most entertaining events I have been to in regards to high school basketball and really showed some love for their high school basketball. Also retired two former NBA players and one current NBA player's jerseys in Ed Horton, Kevin Gamble, and Andrea Igudala.

Seventh Round State Rankings

2011-01-24T17:42:00.010-06:00

Had alot of interesting match ups in the past week as top 10 teams matched up in nearly a dozen different match ups in the past week.

Division One
Appleton East remained undefeated and stays #1 followed by Riverside and King. Riverside lost two games losing to a top team from Chicago and one of the top teams in the country in Hopkins Minnesota. De Pere and Madison Memorial both lost and fall to #7 and #8, benefiting Germantown, Rapids, and Arrowhead who jump them. Racine Case and Marshfield flip flopped with Case winning out and Marshfield dropping their second game of the year. Hamilton lost a tough OT game to King and remain #10. Milwaukee Washington lost two games last year and fall out of HM along with Sheboygan North who lost their third game of the year. Kenosha Bradford and Beloit take their places.

1. Appleton East
2. Milwaukee Riverside
3. Milwaukee King
4. Germantown
5. Wisconsin Rapids
6. Arrowhead
7. De Pere
8. Madison Memorial
9. Racine Case
10. Milwaukee Hamilton
HM
Waukesha West
Marshfield
Milwaukee Marquette
Kenosha Bradford
Beloit

Division Two
Little bit of a shake up at the top of D2 with Monroe and Onalaska both getting their first lose of the season with Monroe falling to my #1 Waunakee and Onalaska to a top 10 team in D3 in Lacrosse Aquinas. Falling to 4 and 5 in the rankings. Rice Lake was the only other top 10 team to lose and they fell to HM while Lacrosse Logan moves to #10.

1. Waunakee
2. New Richmond
3. Seymour
4. Monroe
5. Onalaska
6. Wisconsin Lutheran
7. Two Rivers
8. Madison Edgewood
9. Wauwatosa East
10. Lacrosse Logan
HM
Rice Lake
New Berlin West
Pewaukee

Division Three
St. Johns lost to an out of state team and remain #1. Everyone else won out in the top 10 and remain the same. In HM Prairie du Chien and Hope School both lost twice and fall out of the rankings. Viroqua lost last week but, hangs on to HM as Kiel makes their first appearance in the rankings.

1. St. Johns Military
2. Manitowoc Roncalli
3. GET
4. Lacrosse Aquinas
5. Brilllion
6. East Troy
7. Omro
8. Whitefish Bay Dominican
9. Racine St. Catherines
10. Northwestern
HM
Lakeside Lutheran
Ladysmith
River Valley
Kiel
Viroqua

Division Four
Once again the top 10 was very successful with the only losses coming from Darlington, who lost to Cuba City, and Amherst. Darlington falls to #8 and Amherst to #10. Bonduel and Ozaukee each lost last week and fall out of HM and are replaced by Westby, Wild Rose, Three Lakes, and Colfax. Grantsburg also lost but, hangs on to their HM spot.

1. Blair Taylor
2. Oostburg
3. Racine Lutheran
4. Eau Claire Regis
5. Marathon
6. Colby
7. Cuba City
8. Darlington
9. Laconia
10. Amherst
HM
Auburndale
Peshtigo
Westby
Grantsburg
Wild Rose
Three Lakes
Colfax

Division Five
Top ten all won out with the exception of EC Immanuel who lost twice and falls to HM and Sheboygan Lutheran who lost to a top D4 team and fall to #9. Luck benefits and jumps to #10. Bayfield and Royal were both HM teams that lost and fall out of the rankings. Laona and Gillmanton take their spots in HM.

1. Benton
2. Green Bay NEW Lutheran
3. Randolph
4. Clayton
5. Suring
6. Prentice
7. Gilmanton
8. Seneca
9. Sheboygan Lutheran
10. Luck
HM
Hillsboro
Wauzeka-Steuben
Barneveld
Eau Claire Immanuel
Laona
Marion
Wisconsin School for the Deaf

Saw some excitement in the two larger divisions with some of the top teams loosing and should continue to some of the same as some of the top teams are in the same division particularly in D1 with the City teams. Should be a fun rest of the season and we are at about the half way point of conference play where you typically see more upsets between common opponents.

Second Round My Team Rankings

2011-01-20T19:52:00.012-06:00

I have been doing mostly rankings of the entire state but, I am still ranking only teams that I have actually seen as well. These rankings will only be based on games that I have actually seen, even if teams have actually played each other head to head I only take into the games that I actually saw. I will also be putting in ( ) how many times I have seen each team play. In my overall rankings I will include out of state teams but, for divisions I will only include teams from Wisconsin.

1. Linn-Marr Iowa (1)- Easily the best team I have seen play. Lightning quick point guard that can take over the game without having to take a shot with his defense and play making and have a big man that can score inside or out with ease.
2. Madison Memorial (4)- Getting some of their top tear talent back and have the best eight man rotation in the state. Lots of athletic freaks between 6'4 to 6'6. Junior Lomomba can take the game over at any time and he has lots of help.
3. Milwaukee King (1)- Very athletic team that loves to run but, they are always playing under control. Have a very solid top nine rotation with lots of guards and will have a premier inside man in Cimmeon Bowers come playoff time. Lots of guys that can shoot and handle the ball.
4. Lacrosse Aquinas (1)- Really like this team as the play very under control and don't seem to get flustered. Have lots of guys between 6'2 to 6'5 that can move well. Can play slow tempo or fast and do very well in either setting.
5. Germantown (1)- Have a star in Showalter that really makes them go but, have the size and outside shooting to really complement him.
6. Sun Prairie (2)- Have four players that could score 20 plus points on any given night. As Nick Fuller gets stronger and better game to game this team will rise with him. Have the size to battle with Memorial.
7. St. Paul Johnson (1)- Another team with lots of athletes that loves to push the tempo. Have four different players that have the ability to score at will from the outside or driving to the hoop.
8. Marshfield (1)- Probably overall the tallest team in the state and their 1-3-1 defense is nearly impossible to score against. Run a very slow patient offense and really take good shots.
9. Onalaska (1)- Shoot the outside shot very very well and love to push the tempo. Play a pretty solid man to man defense.
10. Minneapolis South (1)- Love to push the tempo and shoot the long ball. Play a good pressure defense and can take the ball to the hoop strong.
11. Beloit (1)- Another athletic team that likes to push the tempo. Play to their opponents ability so if their playing a good team they look very good.
12. Monroe (2)- Move very well without the ball and another team that is very patient on the offensive end and only take good shots. Bryan Tordoff and Michael Barrett are stars that have both been on varsity forever.
13. Middleton (2)- Ian Joyce is really coming into his own and controls the inside and has a nice game around the hoop. Have a deep team but, not alot of stars.
14. Madison Edgewood (2)- Have one of the best coach's in the state and their team plays as hard as anyone in the state. Run their offense very well which always seems to give them an open shot. Go 12 deep and don't lose anything.
15. Randolph (1)- Typical Randolph team. Moves the ball well on offense and always get good shots and play very good man to man defense. Have a handful of very good players that can really score.
16. Baraboo (3)- Have some very good seniors and a pair of legit stars in Mark Kowalke and Sean McGann. Overall size is a concern though.
17. Madison East (2)- Nimrod Hillard is one of the best players in the state and the team plays really hard. Lack height though.
18. Racine Park (1)- Extremely quick and athletic team. Lack outside shooting though and ballhandlers.
19. Lacrosse Logan (1)- Trevor Jorgenson is as tough as any big man in the state and have some good outside shooters. Finding Jorgenson and handling pressure defense could be a problem though.
20. Monona Grove (1)- Need some more scorers but, Zach Zweifel can score 20 points a night. Could probably carry them a decent way in playoffs.
21. Whitefish Bay Dominican (1)- Lots of athletes but, not much size and not much outside shooting.
22. Green Lake (1)- So so team but, have a great talent in Matt Von Syoc.
23. West Depere (1)- Have nice size and rebound well but, another team without consistent guard play with the shooting and ball handling.
24. Milwaukee Bay View (1)- Honestly just the only other team that I have seen this year.

Well decided that I won't be doing ranking by each division since I ranked all the teams that I have actually seen play so I would only be restating the exact same teams. This weekend I'm going to visit my brother in Springfield and will be getting a chance to see some Illinois high school basketball.

Baraboo over Madison East

2011-01-19T22:01:00.011-06:00

Once again Madison East's height hurt them again, which I'm sure it does every single game. Baraboo isn't the biggest team but, their two best players are 6'4 and 6'7 which really caused problems for East. In most peoples eyes this game was probably an upset by knowing how short East is Baraboo was my favorite going in. The other big factor outside of the height was that East's star player 6'0 senior Nimrod Hillard had the worst game I have ever seen him play. Hillard couldn't get the pull up three to fall and his floaters in the lane weren't falling.

Early in the game Baraboo really took advantage of their height going to the 6'4 junior Sean McGann in the post against the much smaller Hillard. McGann was able to score with his back to the basket all night long. When the junior wasn't scoring he was able to kick the ball out to open teammates who would hit the three. On the other side 5'9 junior Rudy Bentley was able to get to the hoop and score or find his open teammates. Bentley really picked up his game with his back court mate Hillard struggling. Bentley did a great job of getting into the big man, 6'7 senior Mark Kowalk, chest and scoring around him and not letting him block the shot. After one quarter Baraboo was up 19-14. In the second quarter Baraboo continued to get easy baskets and East finally got alittle something going driving to the hoop with Hillard, Bentley, or another guy, drawing Kowalke on the help and finding an open teammate for the wide open teammate. The guy that benefitted the most from the driving guards was 6'1 junior Stephen Williams Jr, who got wide open layup after wide open layup. Though it felt like East cut the lead Baraboo actually extended it to a 35-27 lead.

In the second half Hillard's struggles continued and the frustration really started to show in his facial expressions and his play. Hillard really started to force some shots and committed some bad fouls. Hillard still got a handful of assists driving and finding a wide open Williams under the hoop. The good news for Baraboo was that Kowalke finally got hot from the outside and started draining three pointers from the outside that kept Baraboo was the nice cushion throughout the second half. After three quarters Baraboo was up 53-43. In the fourth East was able to press Baraboo into turnovers and cut the lead to four at one point but, in the end Baraboo's strong free throw shooting and East's inability to hit the three led to a 67-60 win for Baraboo.

Top Players
Mark Kowalke 6'7 senior Baraboo- Was able to post up and score in the post early in the game and then was money from the outside in the second half.
Sean McGann 6'4 junior Baraboo- Could do whatever he wanted in the post, either score or get the assists.
Rudy Bentley 5'9 junior East- Stated it already. Was able to drive and get into the body of Kowalke which allowed him to score against the bigger defender.
Stephen Williams 6'1 junior East- Once again battled very well against much taller opponents and benefitted from his teammates getting him open.

Baraboo 67- Kowalke 22 McGann 18 Josh Statz 8 Tyler Fish 6 Jesse Kling 4 Jed Traxler 4 Caleb Leonhardt 3 Erik Anderson 2 Joe Becraft 0 Zach Trower 0 Mike Weinke 0
East 60- Williams Jr 16 Bentley 12 Jermel McLin 10 Hillard 9 Tyron Galvin 5 Speedy Amara 3 Emani Brathwaite 3 Darius Kelly 2 Alex Redd 0

Like I had mentioned the last time I saw Madison East play, they will beat the ok teams with their talent but, the better teams will beat them simply because of their height. Baraboo has struggled as of late but, hopefully this game will help them turn the corner and get back to their winning ways.