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Post by skrapheap on Feb 17, 2019 14:48:24 GMT -6
So much for hopeful speculation.
The consistency needed to climb high enough in the standings to get a home game in the opening round of the HL tournament continues to elude the Panthers. After playing so well in Cleveland, Milwaukee played poorly in Youngstown, and lost by 20, 67-47.
The Panthers were outshot, outrebounded, basically outplayed in nearly every way. They scored 15 points in the first quarter, and 10 points total in the second and third quarters, so a 22 point fourth quarter could only reduce the Penguin lead to 20 at game’s end.
The next three games should be winnable, so chances are decent that they will goin to the league season finale at IUPUI with a 10-7 record. But unless UIC pulls off a highly unlikely upset, the Jaguars will enter the game with more than 11 wins. Milwaukee’s inconsistency has most likely limited the team to no better than a fifth place finish. A road tournament victory is not impossible, but the Panthers would have to play consistently good basketball from here on out, something they have had trouble doing.
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Post by skrapheap on Feb 22, 2019 18:01:38 GMT -6
Last night the Panthers won another game easily, but not elegantly. Once again the game was well in hand early and in the the home team’s favor. All 14 active players saw the court, 10 of them in the first quarter as the Panthers held Detroit Mercy scoreless and led 18-0.
Megan Walstad and Akaylah Hayes led the Panthers with 12 points apiece. Alyssa Fischer had eight points off the bench.
Matt Menzel mentioned during the game that the top four teams are decided, but the actual order of finish is not. If the league season finished today, the Panthers would be seeded 5th and heading to Indy to play IUPUI.
He also mentioned why Detroit is having such a fough year: their only returning player who had scored in double figures last season quit the team 14 games into the season.
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Post by skrapheap on Feb 28, 2019 21:16:13 GMT -6
The Panthers won their home finale easily last weekend, beating Oakland by 30 points. It was another game where everybody played and most scored.
Tonight's game in Chicago was another matter entirely. The first half looked like a blowout, as the Panthers led 36-16 at halftime. Then, in the send half, they went long stretches during which no shot would go in. The Flames scored as many points in the third quarter as they had scored in the first half, and had cut the lead to single digits. Fortunately, the Flames weren't quite up to taking advantage, and the Panther defense made enough plays that the offense was able to push the lead back to double digits. The final score was 48-37.
Ryaen Johnson was the defensive star, setting a career high with six blocks, and taking her season record to 99. The team had 10 blocks total for the second time this season, which is tied for second all-time.
Jamie Reit had 15 points and Megan Walstad had 10, but neither scored much after halftime. The team was 5-22 from the field in the second half. That was enough to beat the Flames; it won't win a game against just about any other team in the league. One hopes the Panthers will play much better in their regular season finale.
The Panthers are now 10-7 in league play, in fifth place, and one game ahead of Northern Kentucky University (9-8). Saturday the Panthers have the challenge of playing at IUPUI, who lost a tough home game to Green Bay, while the Norse play at Detroit. A fifth place tie between Milwaukee and NKU is possible, and the Norse would have the tiebreaker advantage. Detroit played Wright State tough at home tonight, losing by three, so an NKU loss is not out of the question. The Norse held off a determined Oakland team to win their ninth league game.
Wright State (15-2) is still game ahead of Green Bay (14-3) going into Saturday. The Raiders play at Oakland; the Phoenix play at UIC. If both games play out as expected, the Raiders will win the regular season championship outright. Youngstown State, currently tied with IUPUI at 12-5, plays at Cleveland State on Saturday afternoon, before the Panthers and Jaguars play.
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 1, 2019 20:47:42 GMT -6
Heading into the last regular season games tomorrow, here is how the standings look:
Wirght State is 15-2, a game ahead of Green Bay for first place. The Raiders play Oakland (currently in eighth place, a game ahead of Detroit for the last tournament spot). Wright State had to gut out a win over Detroit, but in the end the Raiders talent level won out. A Raider win gives them the regular season title outright, which would be nice. If Green Bay wins, and Wright State loses so the the teams finish with the same record, i think the loss to Oakland would tip the tiebreaker to the Phoenix. I don't look for that to happen, but it is possible. Green Bay, who held off IUPUI in Indy, finishes at UIC (1-16, 10th place). UIC was unable to take advantage of the Panthers's shooting woes last night, and the Flames haven't beaten the Phoenix in more than 10 years. A Phoenix loss would be probably the most shocking result in the regular season.
Youngstown State is currently tied with IUPUI for third place at 12-5. The Penguins finish against Cleveland State in Cleveland. The Vikings will finish in seventh place no matter what happens. IUPUI plays Milwaukee. I'm not sure who wins the tiebreaker if the Penguins and the Jaguars finish with the same regular season record. The Jaguars are assured of a home first round game. If they finish in fourth place, they will play the fifth place team, either the Panthers or Northern Kentucky. If it's the Panthers, the teams would play again on Tuesday.
A Panther win or a Norse loss would clinch fifth place for Milwaukee. Northern Kentucky finishes the season in Detroit against the Titans (who, as mentioned, gave Wright State all they could handle). Oakland played NKU tough, but the Norse pulled away late. If the Panthers and the Norse finish with 10-8 records, NKU would take the fifth seed on the tiebreaker and the Panthers would fall to sixth. A Detroit victory and an Oakland defeat would give the teams identical 3-15 records. i'm not sure who wins that tiebreaker, but the odds are against anyone needing to determine that.
The Panther-Jaguar game is the last game to start on Saturday. The Wright State-Oakland games starts at 11:00 a.m. Milwaukee time. Green Bay-UIC, Youngstown-Cleveland, and NKU-Detrot all start at noon central time, and should be at least half over when the Panthers tip off at 1:00 pm.
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 2, 2019 21:38:44 GMT -6
It would have taken a perfect game for the Panthers to beat an IUPUI team determined to bounce back from a loss to Green Bay, on Senior Day. Milwaukee was far from perfect, and the Jaguars won easily, 76-55.
There were no upsets today. That means that Wright State finished the regular season alone in first place. That also means that Northern Kentucky caught the Panthers, tying them with a 10-8 league record and taking the tiebreaker for the fifth seed. The sixth-seeded Panthers will travel to Youngstown State to play the third-seeded Penguins. Anything can happen in the tournament, though the Panthers are going up against a strong YSU team who has lost once at home all season against league opponents. After playing poorly on offense the last two games, the Panthers will need a big bounceback game to advance to the semifinals.
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 6, 2019 21:00:13 GMT -6
The season ended tonight in the league tournament quarterfinals, with a 64-58 loss to Youngstown State.
The game was a microcosm of the season: Milwaukee had opportunities to pull off the upset, but couldn’t close the deal. They lead a close game for a good portion of the time, but after taking a five-point lead early in the fourth quarter, the offense went cold, and the defense got called for foul after foul. The Penguins outscored the Panthers by 11 points in the quarter. There’s no denying YSU is a good team; the Panthers just weren’t able to stay with them with the game on the line late.
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 6, 2019 22:53:42 GMT -6
The top seeds all advanced from the quarterfinals of the Women’s tournament. Wright State (23 point win), IUPUI (16 point win), and Green Bay (43 point win) all won easily. Of the lower seeds, only Milwaukee gave their opponent a fight.
On Monday afternoon, Wright State plays IUPUI. The Raiders won both regular season games. If WSU makes it to the final, they will be guarenteed an opponent who won a game with the Raiders: the Penguins and the Phoenix each gave the Raiders one of their two losses in league play.
Green Bay plays Youngstown State. The teams split their season series, each winning at home. Green Bay is riding a six-game winning streak. The last team they lost to was...YSU.
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 12, 2019 18:04:02 GMT -6
The semifinals and final of the Women’s BB tournament were much more exciting than the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, Wright State and Green Bay both dominated their respective first halves against IUPUI and Youngstown State, but in both second halves, the lower seeds made spirited comebacks to make a close game of it.
The difference between the semifinals was that Wright State pushed back, as senior and all-defensive team member Emily Vogelpohl hit some key shots and got some important rebounds late to re-establish the Raider lead. After a last Jaguar rally had narrowed the WSU lead to 55-51, the Raiders scored the last five points of the game.
In the other semifinal, the Penguins were within two points of the Phoenix, but could not hit a tying shot in the final seconds. Green Bay hung on to win 55-53.
Today’s final was another close, low-scoring game. It was a game of runs. Green Bay took an 11-5 lead in the first quarter, and then were stymied by the Raider defense for nearly eight minutes while Wright State caught and passed them. In the second quarter, Green Bay rallied to cut the WSU lead to four, but the Raiders closed with a flurry to reopen a nine point lead at the half.
The Phoenix spent the third quarter slowly reducing that Raider lead, catching the Raiders and taking a brief one point lead at 36-35. The Raiders retook the lead as the quarter ended. As the fourth quarter began, WSU responded with a run of their own to push the lead back to eight. The Phoenix had one more run in them, and tied the score late, but the Raiders stayed tough and won. The final score was 55-52. The Raiders could have iced the game at the free throw line, but missed two of four in the last minute of the game. Prior to that, they had hit 13-16.
Wright State takes the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Green Bay should get the WNIT bid reserved for the runner-up. IUPUI and Youngstown State will, i am sure, also get post-season bids, as they each reached 20+ wins. The WNIT has taken multiple HL teams in the recent past, and if they don’t come calling, the CBI will.
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 12, 2019 19:56:18 GMT -6
Another season is over, so here are a few opinions (worth, as my dad would point out, every penny you paid for them ): - The Panthers had a lot of scoring from the previous season to replace, which is to be expected when you graduate three top scorers (and a fourth player who contributed in almost every other possible way). Various players stepped up in different games this season, but only Megan Walstad was a really consistent contributor, and even she disappeared in a few games. She shot at a high percentage for the season, as most of her shots were from close-in. She can hit jumpers, though, and even the occasional three-point shot. As the season went on, her defense improved, especially as players avoided Ryaen Johnson’s shot-blocking. Walstad blocked an increasing and respectable number of shots herself in league play, especially. Foul trouble was sometimes a problem for her.
- The two seniors on the squad, Johnson and Akaylah Hayes, acquitted themselves well. A very young team needed their experience and leadership, and they gave what they had. Johnson bettered the single season individual record for blocked shots which Steph Kostowicz had set in 2017-18, and was largely responsible for the team setting a new team single season record the season after Kostowicz et. al had done so. (She wound up in the top ten in career blocks having played only two seasons. It’s a shame she wound up in Milwaukee as a transfer rather than a freshman.) Hayes played solid defense, and had some impressive games scoring. She showed the least fear of anyone on the team in attacking the basket.
- Bre Cera did a little bit of everything in her first season on the court. Most of her contributions were on defense or in distributing the ball or in hustle plays like rebounding or steals, but she had two games where she led the team in scoring.
- Juniors Jamie Reit and Lizzie Odegard had some good individual games, but were inconsistent, especially in shooting, where they were prone to hot and cold streaks. Sydney Staver got more minutes in games as the season wore on. Jaye Two Bears played mostly at the end of games, and did not shoot well. Alyssa Fischer had a couple of games where she couldn’t miss, and more games where her shots were not falling. McKaela Schmelzer had some really good games at point guard.
- The freshmen and sophomores who made up the bulk of the roster got significant minutes over the course of the season. There were a number of games where the coaches played everyone on the active roster. Sydney Levy was a regular in the rotation in the latter half of the league season, and had a couple of really good games where her scoring was a big part of the team’s success. Alyssa Moore spelled Schmelzer more and more frequently at point guard, and looked increasingly comfortable in doing so.
- To me, the sheer number of games in which so many players got onto the court was a mixed blessing. It was an indication that there are good players up and down the roster, and the game experience should help the team develop. But it was also a sign that almost no one was emerging as a clearly superior player, at least not in this season. I hope the team will be able to use that experience to make a step forward next season, and that some players will step up and join Walstad as steady contributors.
- But the most intriguing possibility to my mind is that the coaching staff appeared quite early to decide to red-shirt two players: Talia Walton and Emma Wittmershaus. Matt Menzel seldom mentioned injuries over the course of the season, which i hope means that the red-shirts were possible by choice of the coaching staff rather than because of players having to recover from previous injuries. Both players should benefit from a year of practice, coaching, and work in the weight room. Wittmershaus is especially interesting as she is the tallest player on the team, but she came from a small (Division 5) high school, and so perhaps she had a bigger adjustment to make to play college D1 basketball. If the coaching staff has been able to help her develop the way they helped Ryaen Johnson, Wiittmershaus could be much more ready to be a contributor next season. Walton played at a larger high school, but hopefully the red-shirt season helped her game develop too.
- Since only Johnson and Hayes will be lost to graduation, the Panthers will have two freshmen on the team next season. Both players are guards.
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Post by tom22 on Mar 13, 2019 19:35:35 GMT -6
Thanks Skrapheap for all of your posts throughout much of the Horizon League Women’s basketball season. I appreciated it a lot -being able to keep up with what is going on with the League’s season - learning about the Panther’s team as well as what is going on with most all of the other HL teams. You put a lot of effort into your many detailed posts and it was very interesting and helpful. Thanks for all of the good information!
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 14, 2019 17:51:16 GMT -6
I had added comments to the championship posting, and then decided to make it a separate post. i replayed the title game on ESPN, and i have some comments: - i realize that the league had to get some "neutral" folks to do the broadcast, but was no one available who was willing to do more than the most basic of research into the league? The talking heads started the broadcast saying the Raiders had "snuck up and stole" the regular season title from the Phoenix. The Raiders did not sneak up on anyone; they've been a top contender in the league for the past five years at least. And they were in first place the whole league season; the Phoenix were tied with them briefly but fell out of first place. Even when the Phoenix were the hottest team in the league, the Raiders stayed ahead of them. Also, the announcers don't know that the Horizon League has never had multiple NCAA bids in women's basketball: they talked of the HL being a one-bid league as if that was not typical
- The Phoenix have had a very impressive run, but they were the second seed for good reasons. The constant praise of the Phoenix got old really quick
- "Everybody's doing....the PHOENIX flop." Also, Kevin Borseth is always complaining to the officials.
- Katrina Merriwether has been really good since she took over as Head Coach at Wright State and has not been properly recognized in general, and certainly did not get much love from the announcers. Perhaps she's not much of a self-promoter, but she deserves recognition, beyond being coach of the year.
- Do the announcers really think that the folks who would tune into a mid-major championship really care who the top seeds in the NCAA field will be? They went on at length about games that had nothing to do with the game on the floor.
- This was more a game of runs than usually is the case in HL basketball. WSU went up 5-2 early. GB scored nine straight to take an 11-5 lead. WSU then reeled of 15 points to take a 20-11 lead over eight minutes at the end of the first quarter and more than half of the second. From that point, WSU outscored GB 7-5 t0 get to the half time score of 27-16, WSU. Which makes the Phoenix comeback in the third quarter a little more impressive, as i thought the lead was only nine, and the Phoenix accomplished the comeback and took the lead over about seven minutes in the quarter, and without holding the Raiders scoreless. The Phoenix actually scored first in the fourth quarter, to take their second and last lead in the game at 38-37. The Raiders responded with 10 straight points, taking a 47-38 and forcing a Green Bay timeout. The Phoenix scored 11 of the next 12 points to tie the score with 1:15 left. From there, the Raiders outscored the Phoenix 6-3 the rest of the way.
- Both teams will have a lot of really good players back next year. But at least the rest of the league will be done having to watch Jen Wellnitz of the Phoenix and Emily Vogelpohl of the Raiders. Both players were key to their teams success.
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 19, 2019 6:20:52 GMT -6
As expected, the top four teams are playing postseason basketball. Wright State won the auto-bid to the NCAA. They got a 13 seed. They will face Texas A&M, a Top 25 team, on Friday afternoon. That will present a challenge, but as the color commentator for the HL tournament final observed, the Raiders are a well-coached team, who understand what their coach is asking of them to the point where they don’t need to be told in a time out what they need to do at crucial moments. It will be a game worth following. A 13 seed is typical for the Horizon League’s representative to the tournament. The best Green Bay teams have been seeded at 8 or 9, if memory serves me correctly. The other teams in the top four got WNIT bids. Green Bay will host their first round game with Kent State. This is, apparently, the first WNIT game the Phoenix have ever hosted, which bodes well for them. The Kress Center will certainly be packed. Youngstown State and IUPUI will play road games in the first round of the WNIT. The Jaguars will play Middle Tennessee and the Penguins will travel to Cincinnati. Update: the tipoff times have been announced: - WNIT, Thursday, March 21st, Youngstown State at Cincinnati, 6:00 pm CDT (gobearcats.com/watch/?Live=1267)
- WNIT, Thursday, March 21st, IUPUP at Middle Tennessee, 6:30 pm CDT (CUSA.TV - not free)
- WNIT, Thursday, March 21st, Kent State at Green Bay, 7:00 pm CDT (ESPN 3)
- NCAA, Friday, March 22nd, Wright State at Texas A&M, 3:30 pm CDT(ESPN3)
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 21, 2019 19:30:18 GMT -6
All three league teams lost their first round games in the WNIT tonight. Youngstown State lost to Cincinnati on the road, 76-62. The Penguins did not shoot as well from distance as they have done this season. The Bearcats played their game: they took nine three point shots to 21 for the Penguins, and hit the same number of shots (five). The Bearcats outscored the Penguins 14-4 on second chance points, off a 13-4 edge in offensive rebounds. Cincinnati hit all their free-throws; YSU missed five of fourteen. IUPUI lost to Middle Tennessee, 59-47. Middle Tennessee short almost 45% for the game, and IUPUI could manage only 30% overall, and only 16.7% on three point shots. IUPUI led after the first quarter 10-8, but was outscored in each quarter the rest of the game. The Jaguars eventually ran out of gas, and MTSU pulled away in the fourth quarter. The most interesting game was Kent State at Green Bay. The Golden Flashes started hot, and led 14-9 at the end of the first quarter. The Phoenix dominated the second quarter, outscoring Kent State by 13 points, to take a 29-21 lead into halftime. Starting the second half, Green Bay picked up where they had left off, pushing the lead back to 13 with 2:14 left in the third quarter. Kent State went on a 9-0 run to finish the quarter, cutting the lead to four points at 43-39, and cut the lead to one to start the fourth quarter. Green Bay ended their scoring drought at 3:13 seconds with a three-point shot, starting a three minute, 7-0 run to get the lead back to eight with just under seven minutes left. The Golden Flashes are a young team, but a talented and confident team, and they went on a run of their own and retook the lead with just over four minutes left. They hung on to the lead the rest of the way, and won 64-59 by hitting their free throws. Apparently the Phoenix are not as successful in the WNIT as they have been in the NCAA tournment. The Green Bay announcers said, in the opening of the broadcast, that the Phoenix had not won a WNIT game previously, which would be curious if true. i actually tuned into other games in the second quarter when the Phoenix took over the game. i figured the Phoenix would win easily, as they usally do at home, and i was getting tired of listening the broadcast teams, because they figured the game was probably over, too. I tuned back in in the fourth quarter, and had to listen to the broadcast team give grudging praise to Kent State, and talking about how Green Bay had overcome so much this season, both in terms of players lost to graduation and injury. As i suppose they haven't had much practice dealing with losing games in recent years, i suppose i can always hope the experience will improve their character i imagine Green Bay will continue to contend for the HL title, but i have to say Wright State looks like the early favorite in 2019-20, as they have most of their best, veteran players returning. The Raiders will have their hands full with Texas A&M tomorrow. I hope they play really well; a victory would be really wonderful. It turns out they are in the same regionsl as 5th seeded Marquette, who played Milwaukee and Green Bay and won both games easily. A Wright State - Marquette game could turn out to be very interesting, should it come to pass, which, i will freely admit, is not extremely likely.
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 25, 2019 21:06:05 GMT -6
Wright State lost by 20+ points to Texas A&M, who has a dynamic point guard (who is only a sophomore) who is surrounded by quality players. Wright State’s defense won them a lot of games this season, but it wasn’t up to stopping the Aggies.
The Raiders weren’t as efficient on offense as they were most of the season. How much of that to attribute to Texas A&M’s defense and how much to attribute to lack of tournament experience, i won’t pretend to know.
The Raiders will lose two starters to graduation, but one of their freshmen made the Freshman all-league team. They will be back in contention next season.
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