Divison Three Preseason

Division three might be the most interesting division in the state. There are just so many good teams that could probably compete with most of the top D1 schools. This division also brings the most controversy with the private verse public debate. Since private schools have join the WIAA this division has been dominated by privates and this year should be no different.

1. Racine St Catherines- St Cats bring back four starters from last year and are led by a trio of 6'3 seniors in the Lawson twins and Jake Thomas.
2. Eau Claire Regis- State team a year ago, return their two best players in 6'3 junior Adam Ganske and 5'11 junior Jack Eaton.
3. Lacrosse Aquinas- Defending state champs return seniors 6'1 Jimmy Whitehead and 6'7 Michael Hanson.
4. Whitefish Bay Dominican- Always tough Knights bring back 5'11 senior Jerrel Harris and 6'4 junior Mikael Luter along with most of their bench.
5. Laconia- 6'3 senior Derek Semenas is a D1 recruit that can go off at any time.
6. Marshall- Bring back lots of experience and height.
7. Milwaukee Northwest- Coming out of the City Conference they will be well prepared for tournament play.
8. Manitowoc Roncalli- Strong tradition and emergence of 6'0 sophomore Ben Stelzer should carry team.
9. Luck- D4 state team year ago brings back 6'5 senior Brennan Olson.
10. Cuba City- Scrappy team is led by sharpshooter 6'2 junior Evan Richard.

HM
Hurley
Amherst
Fall Creek
Brillion

Preseason All State
1st Team
Jimmy Whitehead 6'1 senior Lacrosse Aquinas
Derem Semenas 6'3 senior Laconia
Javar Lawson 6'3 senior Racine St Catherines
Jake Thomas 6'3 senior Raince St Catherines
Adam Ganske 6'3 junior Eau Claire Regis

2nd Team
Jerrel Harris 5'11 senior Whitefish Bay Dominican
Brennan Olson 6'5 senior Luck
Mike Boebel 6'6 senior Marshall
Jordan Reetz 6'5 junior Fall Creek
Jack Eaton 5'11 junior Eau Claire Regis

3rd Team
Michael Hanson 6'7 senior Lacrosse Aquinas
Mikael Luter 6'4 junior Whitefish Bay Dominican
Daulton Levra 5'8 junior Hurley
Nate Martin 6'1 senior Amherst
Evan Richard 6'2 junior Cuba City

I will admit I show some favoritism to players that I have actually seen in person, just because its so difficult to rank players based on what others say. Well in the next coming days will be D4 preview and the season will begin in a week.

Division Two Preseason

Of all the divisions in the state, division two is probably the most wide open. At this point in time there is no clear cut favorites. There is a lot of good players in the division but, they just don't seem to have enough around them to be considered a true favorite. Originally Adams Friendship was going to be my #1 team, being that the were the state runner ups last year and were returning their top two scores in Lance Fritz and Tommie Gaston. Now with Gaston no longer being at Adams they are no longer the favorites.

1. Monroe- Top back court in D2 with Tordoff brothers.
2. Wisconsin Lutheran- 6'4 Junior star Flavian Davis is looking to have a breakout season after a subpar year the previous season.
3.Northwestern- Tallest overall frontline in 6'4 junior Steve Tecker, 6'6 senior Aaron Corry, and 6'7 Junior Donnie Hissa, all double digit scorers last year.
4. Milwaukee Lutheran- Red Knights should be able to make some noise with the return of D1 recruit 6'5 junior Chim Kadima.
5. Waukesha Catholic Memorial- 6'4 junior TJ Bray is in his third year on varsity, while 5'11 guards junior Derek Schill and Jack Fleming form a solid backcourt.
6. Adams Friendship- May of lost their top player in Gaston but, return their leading scorer in Lance Fritz and their 1-3-1 defense.
7. Port Washington- Battle tested Pirates should go far led by 6'4 junior Josh Gasser.
8. Wisconsin Dells- 6'0 senior Jade Royston is a 20 point per game scorer and teams with 6'9 junior Nate Gibson.
9. Madison Edgewood- Always scrappy team should be able to play with anyone and have ultra talented 6'6 senior Derek Braucht.
10. Black River Falls- Led by leading scorer in the state 5'10 senior Jack Taylor.

HM
Rice Lake
New Berlin Eisenhower
Appleton Xavier
River Valley
Reedsburg
Seymour

Preseason All State
1st Team
Flavian Davis 6'4 Jr Wisconsin Lutheran
Josh Gasser 6'4 Jr Port Washington
Chim Kadima 6'5 Jr Milwaukee Lutheran
Mitch Tordoff 5'11 Sr Monroe
Derek Braucht 6'6 Sr Madison Edgewood

2nd Team
Steve Tecker 6'4 Jr Northwestern
Alex Culy 6'2 Sr Rice Lake
Jack Taylor 5'11 Sr Black River Falls
Jimmy Sherburne- 6'3 Sr Whitefish Bay
Tyler Mazur- 6'4 Sr Reedsburg

3rd Team
Jade Royston- 6'0 Sr Wisconsin Dells
Andrew Kiester- 6'1 Sr Evansville
Lance Fritz- 6'0 Sr Adams Friendship
TJ Bray- 6'3 Jr Catholic Memorial
Chauncey Williams- 6'0 Sr Milwaukee Marshall

The all state team was a little difficult because the players from smaller schools are not as well known as the guys from the big schools but, I believe that I did a pretty solid job. As you can see by the all state team there aren't a lot of top big men in division two as the majority of the guys that I put on the all state are guards. About 90% are guards.

Division One Preseason

In my division one preseason rankings it appears to be the same familiar teams looking for state championships.

1. Madison Memorial- Last years state runner ups are led by two D1 recruits in 6'6 Jeronne Maymon and 6'3 Vander Blue. Add in the return of 6'3 Tre Creamer and a very talented incoming freshmen.
2. Oshkosh West- Lose only two players from last years final four team. West always seems to be there at the end coming out of the always tough FVA.
3. Wauwatosa East- Defending champs return their hero of the championship game 6'3 Eric Williams and starting point guard 5'10 Michael Cupertino. Team those two with the addition of the #1 sophomore 6'3 Larry Bradley from Milwaukee Vincent and they have a great chance of repeating.
4. Eau Claire North- Most talent and possibly the best frontline in the state of Wisconsin with D1 recruits 6'11 junior Evan Anders and 6'7 senior Tyler Brown. 6'5 senior Andy Kleist gives them even more height in the starting lineup.
5. Milwaukee Washington- One loss team from a year ago return stars in the making in 6'3 senior Antoine Byrd and 6'5 sophomore Quevyn Winters.
6. Racine Horlick- Height and experience are on Horlick's side with 6'7 senior Jamil Wilson and 6'5 senior Antwon Oliver.
7. Hamiliton Sussex- Extremely talented junior class led by D1 recruit 6'1 Kameron Cerroni.
8. Milwaukee Vincent- Always tough Vincent is expecting big years from three seniors. 6'3 Michael Weems, 6'2 Trent Thomas, and 6'6 Steve Stoval.
9. Germantown- State finalist a year ago a led by one of the top big men in the state in 6'7 senior Ben Averkamp.
10. Milwaukee Custer- Surprise team a year ago return big man 6'7 junior Calvin Godfrey and 6'1 senior Devereaux Ingram.

HM (Listed in ranking order)
Milwaukee King
Manitowoc Lincoln
Waunakee
Milwaukee Hamiliton
Kaukana

Preseason All State
1st Team
Evan Anderson 6'11 Jr Eau Claire North
Jamil Wilson 6'7 Sr Racine Horlick
Jeronne Maymon 6'6 Sr Madison Memorial
Antoine Byrd 6'3 Sr Milwaukee Washington
Kameron Cerroni 6'1 Jr Hamilton Sussex

2nd team
Ben Averkamp 6'7 Sr Germantown
Clayton Heur 6'9 Sr Wisconsin Rapids
Vander Blue 6'3 Jr Madison Memorial
Larry Bradley 6'3 So Wauwatosa East
DJ Fuller 5'10 Jr Madison Lafollette

3rd Team
Tyler Brown 6'7 Sr Eau Claire North
Marquis Mason 6'5 Jr Madison East
Nathan Zastrow 6'0 Sr Manitowoc Lincoln
Eric Williams 6'3 Sr Wauwatosa East
Jason Ziemer 6'4 Sr Verona

Well there are my thoughts on Division one. I apologize to any teams or players that I may of left out. Most of this I'm doing off the top of my head so I may forgot a player or two.

High School Basketball Right Around the Corner

With high school basketball starting in a little over a week my sports journal is really going to pickup in posts. As last year I will be doing a continuous playing and team ranking of players and teams that I watch play and will also be doing previews for games. To kick off the season I'll just be talking about some of the big stories of the season.

The biggest story in division one this year is the transfer of four of the top 25 sophomores transferring from Milwaukee Bay View to Milwaukee Hamiliton. Many people see Hamiliton as a state contender but, personally I believe that they are still a season away from seriously contending for state. Last year at Bay View they were towards of the bottom of the City conference and they had a division one recruit in Johnnie Lacy playing with them. The Hamiliton transfers are getting the headlines but, a bigger transfer is the move of number one soph Larry Bradley transferring from perennial power Milwaukee Vincent to the defending state champions Wauwatosa East. Tosa East was once again going to be a very good team but, Bradley coming in makes them one of the top teams in division one. Along with Tosa East, Madison Memorial and Oshkosh West are the top teams, in my mind, gunning for a state title. Madison Memorial has a pair of division one recruits in 6'6 Jeronne Maymon and 6'3 Vander Blue and adding in freshmen from Canada that is supposedly going to be the top player in his class. Oshkosh West lost only two players from their final four team from a year ago and as usual have great height and bring back there two starting guards.

In division two is probably the most wide open of any division, as to who is the favorite to win state. You could ask 10 people and probably get at least eight different answers as to who is the favorite. Personally I had my money on state runner ups Adams Friendship having the best shot but, now there are rumors that their best player 6'4 Tommie Gaston may not be playing this year. If the rumor is true that may make the division even more unpredictable.

Division three will once again be the debate of privates verse publics, as privates have seemed to dominate D3 year in and year out. The early favorites, all privates, are Lacrosse Aquinas, Eau Claire Regis, Racine St Catherines, and Whitefish Bay Dominican. The top public schools looking to knock them off are Laconia, Cuba City, and Marshall along with the two schools that moved up from division four in Luck and Eleva Strum, who were both at state for D4 last year.

Division four is Randolph as usual and if Benton can finally get past them and win state. Benton has had a great summer playing against many D1 schools and beating a good majority of them. They also have three guards that are in their fourth year of starting and were knocked out by Randolph last year in the sectional final by two points. Randolph is once again Randolph. They have a big man, 6'9 Kyle Kelm, and a Tillema, 6'3 Tyler Tillema, leading the way.

Those are some of the early thoughts of the season with the season just over a week away. In the following week I will be giving my top teams for each division and my preseason all state for each division and possibly a preview into some of the top early season games I will be going to.

World Series

Well since I'm pretty much butchered my playoffs predictions figured I should take another stab at the big show. The World Series. Like everyone else does I'm going to go through position by position which team has the advantage.

Left Field
Pat Burrell is probably the better player when he's hot but, when he's cold he's on the lower end of left fielders in baseball. Carl Crawford plays better defense and has more speed, while Burrell has the power. I haven't seen Crawford look as good as he did pre injury but, Burrell isn't hitting great either so I call this one a tie.

Center Field
BJ Upton has been the most impressive player in the playoffs so far but, Shane Victorino has been the MVP for the Phillies this post season. Both are very fast players that play great D, have great arms. and are swing the bat great. Another tie here.

Right Field
Big edge to the Phillies here. Jason Werth is playing everyday while the Rays have had four different guys out there in Rocco Baldelli, Gabe Gross, Fernando Perez, and Ben Zobrist. Have that many guys out there just tells me that they have no faith in any of the guys. Not even a debate this is the Phils edge.

Third Base
Same thing in right field except the opposite in that Rays have the edge because Evan Longoria plays everyday while Pedro Feliz and Greg Dobbs platoon. Throw in the fact that Longoria is an all-star and is the hottest player right now outside of Upton.

Short Stop
Edge to the Phillies here. No disrespect to Jason Bartlett and his great defense but, Rollins plays as good as defense and hits the ball better. Not to mention Bartlett had some big errors against the Red Sox.

Second Base
Edge to Phillies (as Chase Utley just goes yard). Akinori Iwamura has been playing really good setting the table for the Rays but, this is Utley. He's the Phils three hitter and was carry the Phils with Burrell and Howard not doing much.

First Base
Phillies have the edge again. Ryan Howard drives in a ton of runs and hits the long ball. Carlos Pena is a clutch player but, doesn't seem like he does much throughout the course of the game until the late innings and at that point the game is over.

Catcher
Finally back to the Rays with the big advantage here. Carlos Ruiz is solid behind the plate but, really isn't a great hitter while Dioner Navarro is an all-star that plays good D and hits the ball well.

DH
Edge Rays. The Rays have guys that are used to being DHs while the Phillies do not. Edge to Rays in the one spot where they have the experience edge.

Starting Pitching
This is probably a push here except for the fourth pitcher spot. I just don't see Jamie Moyer being a big time pitcher while the Rays have four solid pitchers.

Relief Pitcher
Brad Lidge has been awesome all year for the Phillies while the Rays bullpen looked rough against the Red Sox. David Price has made the Rays bullpen a little better but, I still give it to the Rays.

With the Phillies currently winning in the second inning of game one 2-0 I'm gonna go with the Rays in the series like just about everyone else. Winning in seven games. I'm taking a split in Tampa Bay and the Phillies taking two of three in Philly, and then the Rays taking the final two at home to win the series. I know I'm pretty much going along with everyone else making picks but, hey everyone else is right.

Baseball Playoffs

Major League Baseball playoffs started tonight and though a couple games have already been played decided to make my predictions on how the first round will go.

American League
Rays over White Sox 3-1
The White Sox might be my team but, they've just been so inconsistent this year and the Rays pitching is too good. Sox will sneak one out at home when Beuhrle pitches.

Angels over Red Sox 3-2
Red Sox haven't been the Sox of the last couple years and don't seem like a World Series team to me and the Angels have been the best team in the American League this year. Angels also have K-Rod to close the door who has been great in post season in years past.

AL Championship
Angels over Rays 4-2
Yes the Rays have been great all year long but, I just can't see them winning it all. I think their still one year away. Angels experience is the difference in this one.

National League
Cubs over Dodgers 3-2
I was honestly going to take the Cubs 3-1 but, with the Dodgers already winning today they'll probably win at least one more in LA. Cubs are just too good and the Dodgers aren't as the needed to pull things together at the end to win baseball's worst division.

Phillies over Brewers 3-0
Yes I live in Wisconsin and cheer for the Brewers but, the Brewers never beat the good teams and the only game I see them possibly winning is tomorrow with Sabathia. That games in Philadelphia so I'm still taking the Phils. Sorry Brewers your going home early.

Cubs over Phillies 4-2
Cubs really are the best team in the NL and probably best in baseball. Dempster, Zambrano, and Lily have all finished the year strong pitching.

World Series
Cubs over Angels 4-3
Cubs best team in baseball. Better hitters, better pitching, and have better fans.

Summers Over

Well now that summer is officially over it's time to give up on the softball season completely and begin to focus on football. Being football season is the reason why my post have pretty much disappeared. Out of the big three sports football is probably my least favorite to watch or follow. I am currently counting down the days until the high school basketball season starts, which is my favorite time of the year. Once high school basketball season starts I will probably have a post almost every day. Right now during the football season I will probably be lucky if I post once a week.

The Packers are currently 2-1 with their new quarterback Aaron Rodgers which I love because I was never a big Brett Farve fan. I just couldn't stand that everyone treated him like a god. The Badgers are 3-0 which isn't a huge surprise because they always play a relatively weak non-conference schedule. They did go out to Fresno State which didn't turn out to be the game that everyone had predicted. The final team I follow closely is the Wisconsin Dells football team. A bit of a surprise to me that their 4-0 but, that may just be because I don't typically follow them very closely, and this may of been expected. I went to the last game and they beat Milwaukee Bradley Tech 35-19 after being down 13-0 in the first quarter. In that game Dells really showed some great athleticism to keep up and beat up on the Milwaukee players which were supposedly more athletic and quicker.

In the final softball tournament of the season we took the majority of our Mt Olympus Dells league team and few other guys mixed in up to Cataract just north of Sparta. This tournament was a good tournament for us because it was a lower level tournament for us to be able to get out feet wet in the tournament experience. Game one we got Crow Bar one of the few teams there that were a regular tournament team. We played even for most of the game and were up 7-5 going into the 7th inning. Crow Bar ended up scoring five runs in the 7th to go up 10-7. We were able to come back and score two runs in the bottom of the 7th but, fell just short as the game ended 10-9 with two runners on base.

Game two we had only nine players but, luckily got matched up with a lower team in Lessons. We were able to jump out early and cruise to a 15-5 win. We ended up losing our center fielder to a pulled hamstring. The final game of the tournament for us we ended up losing to Market Bar 13-10 which had about five guys from Multistack. This game was about us not having timely hitting. Three separate times we had bases loaded and couldn't score anyone. Two of those times with no outs. First time we had bases loaded we had one out and our three hitter, my brother up to bat and he hit a grounder to the short stop. The went for the double play but, didn't get my brother at first but, our guy on third decided not to run and was thrown out at home when he finally did decide to run. The second time we had bases loaded we had our 2,3, 4 hitters up and no outs. A pop out to first, pop out to short, and then a grounder to second ended that rally. The final time we had bases loaded and no outs our 8,9,10 batters were up. Two pop outs to the pitcher and a ground out to short ended that one.

Next year we are hoping to get our own tournament team but, it is yet known if we will or not. It really depends on a few things. Do we want to break ties with our current tournament team Harmony, will the Dells get into the Sunday league for baseball causing us to lose half our team, can we get a sponsor, will Mt Olympus sponsor us or will we be self sponsored, and the final thing and biggest is can we consistently put together a solid team week in and week out. If we can't get a sponsor you might be seeing Young Guns at a few tournaments next year.