WBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[BlueDevil Bob]

Foul, You have been clever enough to place every school in the WIAC with another state (or country) except for Point. Now, I know the geographical restraints of dealing with Point, but somehow I know you will come up with a solution to this final piece of the puzzle.  
Perhaps shutting 'er down and making a brewery out of it? Or maybe a prison?

[Foulanguage]

I have long thought that the answer to UW system budget woes is to declare all the campuses to be prisons, since corrections gets all the $ it asks for, whether for building maintenance or salaries. However, turning Point into the educational arm of Point Brewery might be a better solution (no pun intended, or maybe it is). The only other suggestion is to haul out that old plan to lop off the top third of Wisconsin, stitch it to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and form the State of Superior. I don't know how UW-SP fares under such a deal, but it has some potential to get it off (what's left of) Wisconsin's books.

Read in the Milwaukee J-S that three of UW-Madison's professors are pulling down salaries after criminal convictions--one already serving time in prison. Maybe the university to prison idea isn't all that far-fetched or difficult to accomplish.

[buf]

Cool 

[titan2000]

I heard Ted Van Dellen was going to help with the ladies Titans in his spare time.

 

[Voice of the Titans]

Anyone know what players are/aren't coming back for the Titans (besides graduated seniors)?

[oshfan]

erty

[buckets]

erty

Very insightful Oshfan.

Actually, I know that they will only have 6 returners:

O'Keefe - SR
Herrick - SR
Fehring - SR
Eggers - SR
Knqpp - JR
Tyriver - SO


They lost Rosicky, Holler, Turtenwald to graduation - Mader and Kerczan quit the team.

Not sure about their incoming class.  Seems to this fan that they are in a down year.

[buf]

Looks like both good and bad news for UWO.  The good news is they return all their good, experienced players.  The bad news looks like the team has little depth, especially in the post.   The starting 5 should be tough, but then there's a drop off after that.

After last season, I thought UWO would probably win conference this upcoming year.  But as of now, conference is up in the air.

[Just Bill]

UW-Oshkosh has posted their pre-season roster.  I don't see any names among the newcomers that causes me to sit up and take notice.  Could be a 6-person rotation for the Titans.

No.  Name Pos. Hgt. Yr. Hometown (High School)
11 Kelly O'Keef** G 5-10 Sr. Shorewood (Whitefish Bay Dominican)
14 Shannon Eggers* G 5-11 Sr. Council Bluffs, Iowa (Lewis Central)
20 Becky Knapp** G 5-6 Jr. West Allis (Hale)
22 Whitney Tyriver* G 6-0 So. Oshkosh (West)
34 Pam Fehring*** F 5-11 Sr. Hartford (Hartford Union)
42 Brittany Herrick*** F 6-0 Sr. Appleton (Xavier)
  Jessica Abitz G 5-10 Fr. Franksville (Shoreland Lutheran)
  Amanda Bauman G 5-8 Fr. Marion
  Amanda Dempsey G 5-10 Fr. West Allis (Central)
  Beth Garman G 5-10 Fr. Lake Mills
  Danielle Heroux G 5-7 Fr. Oshkosh (North)
  Becky Roberts G 5-6 Fr. Bessemer, Mich. (Johnston)
  Erin Willkom G 5-7 Fr. Marshfield

[kluch]

WOW, what a change for the lady Titans.
I am going out on a limb and giving Brittany Herrick preseason POY props. She's a legit WIAC baller, now if she can stay healthy and have enough stamina to stay on the court. 
Mader was a big piece to the UWO frontcourt puzzle and now they have to rely on Pam Fehring in the post. eek.

[buf]

Only 2 posts (Herrick, Fehring), with only Herrick getting regular playing time from last year.  OUCH.  UWO better hope no injuries nor foul trouble happen to these two this year.

[Just Bill]

Here's a couple more rosters to tide us over until opening day:

UW-River Falls: http://www.uwrf.edu/sports/sports0506/wbb.roster.2006.html
As usual, two of the three new kids are from Minnesota, so their recruiting class will remain a mystery until play begins.

UW-Stevens Point: http://www.uwsp.edu/athletics/wbb/2006roster.htm
Looks like SP has put two decent recruiting classes together, whcih will be important since they are a bit thin on Juniors and Seniors. Nelson, a D-II transfer, could be an important piece.  I remember her from her high school days.

[buckets]

Only 2 posts (Herrick, Fehring), with only Herrick getting regular playing time from last year.  OUCH.  UWO better hope no injuries nor foul trouble happen to these two this year.

Time will tell about the Titans this season.  Does anybody know much about these recruits? I think one of the better recruiting classes has to be Point.  The DeForest kid will be one of the leagues great players by the time she is a senior and the kid from Hurley isn't bad either.  They will be a good class!

[Just Bill]

Another bunch of rosters have popped up in the last few days:

UW-Eau Claire: http://www.uwec.edu/Athletics/wbkb/0506/roster_num.htm
Muggenborg is a huge pickup for the Blugolds.  She could be in the starting lineup from Day 1.  The freshman appear to be a deep and strong class (and large! 10 of them!).

UW-La Crosse: http://perth.uwlax.edu/Athletics/wbasketball/roster/
Speaking of freshmen, the Eagles have 12! (Although I'm pretty sure Fall played at UWEC, so I doubt she's actually a freshman.) Hunter is a real steal for them. Maybe LC finally gets out of the bottom half of the league...next year.

UW-Platteville:  http://www.uwplatt.edu/athletics/basketball/womens/05-06/roster.html
A very typical Platteville recruiting class, some decent kids, but no real standouts. They will always work hard and be tough to beat though.

That leaves just Stout, Superior and Whitewater without a new roster posted.

[buf]

Looks like Just Bill barely beat me at posting the UWEC roster.  To add to what he posted, UWEC with just 2 seniors (Becker, Van Drasek) and no juniors.  A lot of freshman on the roster.  In my opinion, from looking at their high school careers, newcomers to watch are Rachel Muggenborg, Heidi A., & Brit. Hakanson.   Also, Heather Witt was listed as one of the Fab 40 high school seniors by WBBY magazine(I haven't seen her play).  In addition, one or two of the tall girls should get some PT because all EC has coming back in the center position is Van Drasek. 

Fall played 2 years ago as a freshman for UWEC.  She actually was the leading scorer in the Blue-Gold game.  In that game she showed good poise and quickness around the basket.  I was a bit surprised she didn't play more her freshman year.  The only "knock" I could find on her was she was undersized for playing underneath the hoop.  If she improves her outside shooting, she could be a good WIAC player.

My total guess at starting 5 for EC:

R. Becker
Muggenborg
Heidi A
Burns
Van Drasek

It looks like they will have some decent backups when you consider they lost 5 seniors last year.  In my opinion, on paper this is Englund's best recruiting class.