Week 15 Rankings

Well state has been set and really the rankings should be set but, still thought it would be interesting to see what the rankings would be and also be interesting with how many teams have made state that weren't in the top 15 and a couple teams that didn't even have winning records. In D1 West Allis Central had a losing record headed to the playoffs, in D5 Green Bay NEW Lutheran was a .500 team, and Greendale in D2 was barely over .500. Other teams that weren't in my rankings or anyone's for that matter is Madison East in D1 who has just been on the boarder all year of my rankings, East Troy in D3 who was ranked early in the year, and Auburndale D4, another team that was ranked early and fell out of the rankings. So here are my rankings the best I could do anyway.

Division One
Milwaukee King was upset by Milwaukee Marquette who then was upset by West Allis Central, who also beat Racie Case and Kimberly was beaten by Germantown. De Pere was beat by Kimberly. Stevens Point beat Neenah and Superior. Madison Memorial went down to Kenosha Indian Trail who then lost to Madison East. Homestead was the final team that lost to Germantown.

1. Stevens Point
2. Germantown
3. Milwaukee King
4. Kimberly
5. De Pere
6. Neenah
7. Superior
8. Kenosha Indian Trail 
9. Milwaukee Marquette
10. Madison Memorial 
11. Racine Case
12. Muskego
13. Milwaukee Riverside
14. Madison East
15. Racine Horlick

Division Two
West De Pere took out Seymour. Mount Horeb beat Monona Grove. Wauwatosa East lost to Greendale and Shawano lost to Merrill. Monona Grove lost to Mount Horeb.

1. Rice Lake
2. Mount Horeb
3. Kaukauna
4. Milwaukee Pius
5. West De Pere
6. Seymour
7. Beaver Dam
8. Stoughton
9. Wauwatosa East
10. Whitefish Bay
11. Milwaukee Washington
12. Shawano
13. Monona Grove
14. McFarland
15. Luxemburg Casco

Division Three
Ripon lost to Poynette who then lost to Brown Deer. Arcadia lost to West Salem in an upset and Roncalli lost to Valders who then went and lost to Xavier. East Troy is new to the rankings having made their state run.

1. Prescott
2. Appleton Xavier
3. Brown Deer
4. Poynette
5. Ripon
6. Arcadia
7. GET
8. Kettle Moraine Lutheran
9. Laconia
10. Brookfield Academy
11. Freedom 
12. Valders
13. Roncalli
14. East Troy
15. Lake Mills

Division Four
Unity lost to Regis, who also beat Fall Creek. St Cats lost to Dominican. Brillion lost to Auburndale. Amherst lost to Brillion. St Mary's Springs lost to Howards Grove.

1. Eau Claire Regis
2. Mineral Point
3. Whitefish Bay Dominican
4. Racine St Catherines
5. Unity
6. Fall Creek
7. Marathon
8. Oshkosh Lourdes
9. Cuba City
10. Brillion
11. Amherst
12. Darlington
13. St Mary's Springs
14. Auburndale
15. Wabenon/Laona

Division Five
Wausaukee lost to Green Bay NEW Lutheran who also knocked out Port Edwards. Hillsboro took out Shullsburg and Gilmanton. Fredric lost to Washburn, who also beat Mcdonell Central. Hustisford lost to Young Coggs Prep. Sheboygan Lutheran lost to Young Coggs Prep. Mcdonell Central lost to Washburn. Newman lost to Port Edwards.

1. Washburn
2. Wausaukee
3. Port Edwards
4. Hillsboro
5. Young Coggs Prep
6. Frederic
7. Shullsburg
8. Gilmanton
9. Bangor
10. Hustisford
11. Sheboygan Lutheran
12. Gresham
13. Mcdonell Central 
14. Wausau Newman
15. New Auburn

D3 D4 D5 Sectional Predictions

I have three divisions tonight so going to keep this one a little shorter and sweeter then the previous two.

Division Three
Sectional One
Prescott over Northwestern
Arcadia over West Salem

Prescott over Arcadia

Sectional Four
Ripon over Poynette
Brown Deer over Milwaukee North

Brown Deer over Ripon

Sectional Two
Xavier over Peshtigo
Roncalli over Valders

Xavier over Roncalli

Sectional Three
River Valley over Adams Friendship
East Troy over Evansville

River Valley over East Troy

State
Brown Deer over Prescott
Xavier over River Valley

Brown Deer over Xavier

Prescott is the favorite but, both Arcadia and West Salem make me a little nervous. Ripon is my pick but, wouldn't be surprised to see Poynette win and either one could beat Brown Deer. Xavier is my clear pick to make state with Roncalli and Valders being a toss up. Sectional three is the weakest sectional and River Valley is the best I guess. Whoever comes out of Sectional Four will be the state champion and I think it'll be Brown Deer.

Division Four
Sectional One
Unity over Phillips
Regis over Fall Creek

Regis over Unity

Sectional Four
Howards Grove over St Mary's Springs
Dominican over Racine St Cats

Dominican over Howards Grove

Sectional Two
Auburndale over Crivitz
Brillion over Amherst

Brillion over Auburndale

Sectional Three
Melrose Mindoro over Pardeeville
Mineral Point over Deerfield 

Mineral Point over Melrose Mindoro

State 
Dominican over Regis
Mineral Point over Auburndale

Dominican over Mineral Point

Dominican is the cream of the crop and the other two undefeated teams are the picks with Mineral Point and Regis. Brillion plays in a conference where there the smallest school and should have no problem in D4.

Division Five
Sectional One
Washburn over Frederic
Mcdonell Central over Rib Lake

Washburn over Mcdonell Central 

Sectional Four
Hustisford over Williams Bay 
Sheboygan Lutheran over Young Coggs Prep

Sheboygan Lutheran over Hustisford

Sectional Two 
Port Edwards over Wausau Newman
Wausaukee over Green Bay NEW Lutheran 

Wausaukee over Port Edwards

Sectional Three
Gilmanton over Hillsboro
Shullsburg over Fennimore

Shullsburg over Gilmanton

State
Washburn over Sheboygan Lutheran
Wausaukee over Shullsburg

Wausaukee over Washburn

I went with Wausaukee from the get go so I'm going to stick with them for the tournament. Honestly I don't know much else other then what I've heard about these teams.

D1 & D2 Sectional Predictions

This is kind of a second chance at my state picks here after the first week of playoffs.. All four of my final four teams are still alive so that will remain the same but, here are my picks over all and some reasons why.

Sectional One
Superior over Marshfield
Stevens Point over Neenah

Stevens Point over Superior
Point was and is still my pick to win state. They have the top one two punch in Anderson and Hauser and they've beaten Neenah already. Marshfield has hit a hot streak but, now that their not playing Big Rivers team that might run out.

Sectional Four
Milwaukee King over Milwaukee Marquette
Racine Case over West Allis Central 

Milwaukee King over Racine Case
Speed, quickness, and depth will carry King to a state birth. Case's size will just be too much for an undersized WAC team that is finally playing to their ability.

Sectional Two 
Kimberly over De Pere
Germantown over Homestead

Germantown over Kimberly
Kimberly has beaten De Pere once this year so know how to do it and just don't think De Pere has enough scoring outside of Pritzl. Germantown has beaten Homestead twice already and don't see Homestead given them much of a game. Germantown's size will carry them past Kimberly then.

Sectional Three
Madison East over Verona
Madison Memorial over Kenosha Indian Trail 

Madison Memorial over Madison East
Don't see Memorial getting much of a challenge in either game then again I don't know much about Indian Trail. East and Verona are conference opponents and East will have no problem handling Verona again.

State
Stevens Point over Milwaukee King
Germantown over Madison Memorial 

Stevens Point over Germantown
This was my picks prior to state and they remain the same. I'm surprised how many people picked Germantown and King to win state and thinking about it now I would probably give all three an even chance to win state with Memorial being the long shot. I would go Point one, King Two, Germantown three, and Memorial four for order of best chances.

Division Two
Well I've pretty much destroyed my bracket for D2 so getting a little redemption here for new picks.

Sectional One
Rice Lake over Onalaska 
Shawano over Merrill

Rice Lake over Shawano
It'll be the Ellenson show in this sectional and no one will stop Ellenson and may get 40 plus in both of these games. Shawano has played much better competition the Merrill all year long.

Sectional Four
Greendale over Waukesha North
Whitefish Bay over Wauwatosa East

Whitefish Bay over Greendale
A little shaky for the Whitefish Bay verse Tosa East game but, Bay has played a much tougher schedule throughout the year and will be more prepared. Don't know about about the other two teams but, North is a .500 team and I can't see them going any further.

Sectional Two
Seymour over West De Pere
Beaver Dam over Slinger

Seymour over Beaver Dam
Seymour was my #1 ranked team late in the year and I should of gone with them I guess but, wouldn't be shocked to seeing West De Pere winning after taking down the favorite Kaukauna. Beaver Dam is a team that came on late in the year and just don't have the faith in Slinger.

Sectional Three
Mt Horeb over DeForest
Monona Grove over Wilmot

Mt Horeb over Monona Grove
Mt Horeb was the conference champs and DeForest took third so that answers that question but, DeForest did beat them late in the year. MG comes out of the tough Badger South and should have no problem with Wilmot. Mt Horeb was destined last year it seemed but, I think this is the year to make state.

State 
Rice Lake over Whitefish Bay 
Seymour over Mount Horeb

Rice Lake over Seymour
Again it's going to be the Ellenson show all tournament long. No one can match up with him on any of these teams. Ellenson could very well break some tournament records. Seymour has been a little more consistent through out the year. I think either game could go either way but, the top game is the better two teams.

Madison Memorial over Sun Prairie

Saturday night took in the regional final game between Madison Memorial and Sun Prairie. This game was another interesting game because Sun Prairie 6'3 senior Nick Noskowiak was back playing and when he was playing Sun Prairie was able to defeat Memorial. Also the last time I saw Memorial they were playing some of the best basketball I had seen them play all year long.

With Sun Prairie's starting point guard Sam Kerr out with an injury I thought we might see Noskowiak starting but, it was 6'4 junior Rod Johnson that got the start and Johnson made the most of the start. Johnson showed a nice ability to drive the lane and score and use his length early on. When Noskowiak did get his chance to come in he was able to come up with some big shots and knock them down. This game was really a struggling early on for Memorial as the only guy that could get anything going was their top guy 5'10 senior Shareef Smith who is playing some of the best basketball I've seen any body play. Smith scored all seven of Memorial's first quarter points and first three in the second before having to sit with two fouls. Smith joined, 6'3 senior Henry Houden, and 6'0 senior Koko Songolo on the bench for about half the second quarter and Memorial went stagnate as their top three scorers were sitting on the bench. At half time the score was only 18-13 with Sun Prairie on top.

In the second half Memorial picked things up a little bit getting the uptempo game going but, Sun Prairie kept it going themselves and Memorial never could over take Sun Prairie. Late in the fourth Sun Prairie was up by three I believe and had a chance to seal the game when Noskowiak missed a free throw giving Memorial a chance which they capitalized and scored. Then Johnson went to the line to make it at least a two point game but, Johnson couldn't come through and Memorial was able to go down and score and take the lead with under a minute to go and with free throws Memorial won by two. Noskowiak had some costly ball handling mistakes late which can be led to him being a little rusty.

Top Players
Shareef Smith 5'10 senior Memorial- Just lightning quick with the ball in his hands and no one was able to stay in front of him. Smith was also able to knock down the outside shot as well.

Nick Noskowiak 6'3 senior Sun Prairie- Was the one consistent scorer in this game knocking down the three and driving to the rim and scoring.

Rod Johnson 6'4 junior Sun Prairie- Used his length to score over and around defenders and was able to hit the outside shot.

Box Score
MM- Smith 18 Houden 7 Songolo 6 Brett Tauber 3 Billy Wilson 3 Matt Caropreso 2 Joe Ferguson 1 Jason Weah 1 Travis Lindquist 0
SP- Noskowiak 15 Johnson 11 Nate Oehrlein 5 Deshawn Black 4 Ben Hauser 2 JT Ruffin 2 Malik Robinson 0 Nate Vergstegen 0

Well season came to an end for Sun Prairie and Madison Memorial will meet Kenosha Indian Trail on Thursday where they will again be the favorite. State seems like a given for Memorial but, only time will tell.

Sun Prairie over Burlington

Friday night I took in the Sun Prairie verse Burlington game. It was the closes game to me that was actually good. Sun Prairie was the seventh seed and took fourth in the Big Eight conference and Burlington was the tenth seed and took second in their conference. I was interested to see how Burlington would compete with a Big Eight team. Typically the Big Eight is one of the better conferences in the state but, this year I felt like the Big Eight was a little weaker then past years. This also gave me the chance to see 6'3 senior Nick Noskowiak back in action after missing half the season dealing with some personal issues, which I won't get into on here.

Early on Sun Prairie had a tough time getting the bunnies to go and Burlington was knocking down the outside shots led by 6'0 junior Cal Tully who hit some big corner threes early on. On the inside 6'3 senior Frankie Hozeska was doing his damaged using his quickness to get to the rim and rebounding for second chance buckets. Sun Prairie weathered the storm behind big man 6'5 senior JT Ruffin. Ruffin was able to post up deep in the post and his team mates were able to find him. Ruffin showed a couple nice up and under moves in the post and if he hadn't struggled so much from the free throw line Sun Prairie may of led at half, instead they were down 23-21 at the half. Noskowiak didn't start and game in with about 30 seconds left in the first. Noskowiak went right to the rim on his first possession and scored and then had a mid range jumper from the baseline mid way through the second, for four points in the first half.

Second half Sun Prairie got things going forcing turnovers led by 6'1 senior Malik Robinson and Noskowiak. Sun Prairie's starting point guard 6'0 junior Sam Kerr got hurt early in the third quarter which forced Noskowiak into the starting rotation and big minutes. Noskowiak took full advantage and really turned the tide on an end one break away where he hit the free throw for the three point play. Throughout the game Sun Prairie dominated on the glass all game long and Burlington never really figured out the 1-3-1 zone defense. The two bright spots for Burlington in the second half was Hozeska hitting a couple threes and then 5'10 freshmen Nick Klug hit a pair of threes himself. In the end Robinson had back to back break away layups off steals that really sealed the game. Final score was 57-42.

Top Players
Nick Noskowiak 6'3 senior Sun Prairie- Was a nice spark off the bench and was able to get to the rim and score. 5-6 from the free throw line late and had an end one three and layup.

Malik Robinson 6'1 senior Sun Prairie- Really made his presence felt on the defensive end. Had at least five lay ups that led to some easy buckets and used his quickness to drive the lane and score in the half court.

JT Ruffin 6'5 senior Sun Prairie- Really did a great job of posting up deep in the post and using some nice moves with his back to the basket. Also dominated the glass all night on both ends.

Cal Tully 6'0 junior Burlington- Was the sharp shooter from the outside and was the one guy consistantly hitting the outside shot.

Nick Klug 5'10 freshmen Burlington- Had a real nice outside shot as well hitting three threes and really showed off his ball handling skills at times.

Frankie Hozeska 6'3 senior Burlington- Was real aggressive getting to the hoop and scoring and hit a couple of threes as well.

Box Score
SP- Noskowiak 14 Robinson 13 Ruffin 13 Kerr 5 Deshawn Black 4 Nate Vergstegen 4 Rod Johnson 3 Ben Hauser 0 Malick Ceesay 0 Sean Schomel 0 Nate Oehrlein 0 DJ Jones 0 Darian Grant 0
B- Klug 14 Tully 13 Hozeska 13 James Tully 2 Mitch Klug 0 Nathaniel Sibley 0 Bryan Sturdevant 0 Andrew Ohm 0 Jacob Weidert 0 Aaron Mutter 0

Well I was a little late on this game since Sun Prairie has since lost to Madison Memorial which I will be doing a write up on tomorrow.

Week 14 Rankings

Going to give this a try and try to continue my weekly rankings. Not sure how it will work out exactly cause so often the best teams don't always make it to state many times. The other thing to take into account is that typically I don't drop teams when they don't lose but, once a team is knocked out of the playoffs their obviously not going to continue to play. Also if a team gets hot and runs the table to you jump other teams in the rankings that lost fewer games? Well here goes my week 14/playoff rankings.

Division One
Muskego got upset by Janesville Craig showing that maybe they weren't as good as everyone thought and drop them all the way to 11. Milwaukee Riverside got beat by Marquette so dropped them just behind Marquette at 13. Racine Horlick was upset by West Allis Central and check in at 14. Sheboygan North lost to Kimberly which allowed Homestead to jump into the 15 spot.

1. Stevens Point
2. Milwaukee King
3. Germantown
4. Kimberly
5. De Pere
6. Neenah
7. Madison Memorial 
8. Superior
9. Kenosha Indian Trail
10. Racine Case
11. Muskego
12. Milwaukee Marquette
13. Milwaukee Riverside
14. Racine Horlick
15. Homestead

Division Two
D2 was in complete upheaval as many of the top teams didn't get the job down and were upset. Kaukauna continued their poor play dropping a game to West De Pere and Pius was upset in the second round by under achieving Wauwatosa West and drop to three and four. Stoughton was upset by Deforest in the regional final dropping to seven. Washington was taken out by Whitefish bay and fall just behind them at 12. Mcfarland was knocked out by Monona Grove and their just behind them at 14. Luxemburg Casco lost to Seymour early so they stay in the rankings. Port Washington, Wisconsin Lutheran, Sauk Prairie, and La Crosse Central all lost too early and fall from the rankings.

1. Seymour
2. Rice Lake
3. Kaukauna
4. Milwaukee Pius
5. Mount Horeb
6. Beaver Dam
7. Stoughton
8. West De Pere
9. Wauwatosa East
10. Shawano
11. Whitefish Bay
12. Milwaukee Washington
13. Monona Grove
14. McFarland
15. Luxemburg Casco

Division Three
Lots of top 15 matchups here so a lot of the same teams just rearranging of the teams. GET was upset by West Salem and fall to eight. Brown Deer knocked out Kettle Moraine Lutheran and Brookfield Academy dropping them to 9 and 11. Ripon took out Laconia and Freedom. Valders beat Southern Door replacing them in the rankings and Lake Mills beat Marshall replacing them. Waupun lost to Poynette allowing River Valley to sneak into the rankings.

1. Prescott
2. Appleton Xavier
3. Ripon
4. Brown Deer
5. Poynette
6. Arcadia
7. Roncalli
8. GET
9. Kettle Moraine Lutheran
10. Laconia
11. Brookfield Academy
12. Freedom
13. Valders
14. Lake Mills
15. River Valley

Division Four
Marathon was the first undefeated to fall as they were upset by Auburndale dropping them to eight and allowing Auburndale into the rankings at 14. Lourdes was upset by St Mary's Springs putting them at nine and putting Springs at 12. Darlington was beat by Cuba City who comes in at 11 with Darlington falling to 13. Wabeno/Laona was upset by Crivitz and hang out to the rankings at 15. Markesan, Iola Scandenavia, and Ozaukee all fall from the rankings.

1. Eau Claire Regis
2. Mineral Point
3. Whitefsih Bay Dominican
4. Racine St Catherines
5. Unity
6. Fall Creek
7. Brillion
8. Marathon
9. Oshkosh Lourdes
10. Amherst
11. Cuba City
12. St Mary's Springs
13. Darlington
14. Auburndale
15. Wabeno/Laona

Division Five
Bangor lost to Gilmanton knocking them to seven behind Gilmanton. Cameron was D4 so that takes them out of the rankings. Gresham lost to Green Bay NEW Lutheran and New Auburn lost to Mcdonell Central dropping both teams to 11 and 15. Mcdonell comes in at 13. Randolph lost to Hutisford, Seneca lost to Fennimore, and Eleva Strum lost to Gilmanton knocking all three out of the rankings. Sheboygan Lutheran and Newman are new teams to the rankings.

1. Wausaukee
2. Port Edwards
3. Shullburg
4. Frederic
5. Washburn
6. Gilmanton
7. Bangor
8. Hillsboro
9. Hustisford
10. Young Coggs Prep
11. Gresham
12. Sheboygan Lutheran
13. Mcdonell Central 
14. Wausau Newman
15. New Auburn

Edgewood over Reedsburg

Well the playoffs have started and last night took in the best game closes to me. I knew absolutely nothing about Reedsburg and I had seen Edgewood once this year and knew they weren't as good as past teams but, they play incredibly hard for their coach Chris Zwettler. This was a match up of 8 and 9 seeds so this game should of been a good game and I don't know if Edgewood has ever lost a first round game. No matter what Edgewood is seeded they are going to win their first round game, I always pick Edgewood to win first round game.

This game started out pretty ugly early on as neither team could really knock anything down. Both teams seemed very stagnate early on and just wasn't much movement on the offensive end and both teams just seemed to pass it around the perimeter. The majority of both teams baskets early on came from second chance buckets. As poor as the first quarter was the second quarter was even worse as Reedsburg out scored Edgewood 5-3.

Second half both teams really picked things up both knocking down shots and moving on the offensive end. What really changed things for Edgewood was 6'0 junior Sam Noyce coming in off the bench. Noyce is probably the most talented player on the team and for whatever reason he doesn't start whether that's planned or not I'm not sure. Noyce is the guy that was able to drive and break down the defense and score, get fouled, or find open team mates. Edgewood big man 6'6 junior Thomas Thelen owes his eight points all to Noyce who set him up. Throw in 6'3 sophomore Alex Arians who was the one guy hitting outside shots and Edgewood had just enough offense to get it done. Reedsburg was led by 6'1 senior Ty Horkan who has a pretty quick release from three range and didn't need his feet set. Horkan hit three big threes in the game but, there just wasn't any additional shooting coming from Reedsburg.

Midway through the fourth Reedsburg had a lead but, just couldn't put the game away and three costly turnovers late in the game allowed Edgewood a chance in this game and they capitalized on it. Game was tied 41 all at the end of regulation and Edgewood really had the momentum going into the overtime. Reedsburg had three starters foul out in overtime and Edgewood and Noyce took over. Noyce struggled from the free throw line but, Arians stepped up and knock down the free throws late and Noyce did knock down his final two.

Top Players
Sam Noyce 6'0 junior Edgewood- Did a great job penetrating to the hoop and scoring or getting fouled. Noyce also had a decent amount of assists in the game.

Alex Arians 6'3 sophomore Edgewood- Was the one guy that could consistently hit the outside shot for Edgewood.

Ty Horkan 6'1 senior Reedsburg- Was able to knock down three big three point shots in the game and was able to draw fouls and get to the line and score.

Box Score
R- Horkan 15 Jack Yager 8 Noah Geffert 8 Jarod Schyvinch 6 Zeffary Smith 4 Nicholas Hasler 4 Cal Mazur 2 Kevyn Parenteau 0 Thomas Pillow 0 Ryan Dregney 0 Ian Rogers 0
E- Noyce 17 Arians 11 Thelen 8 Cody Link 4 Bryce Haefer 4 Ben Kussow 3 Arthur Cronin 3 Landry Ndahayo 2 DannyCrooks 0 Jack Dunn 0 Lee Witz 0

Well Reedsburg season has come to an end and Edgewood will move on to face Stoughton which will probably be their last game of the year. Edgewood is probably a year away from doing anything as they have some talented sophomores and juniors coming back next year.