Ramblermania

Saturday, December 10, 2016 3:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

There’s always been more than the average amount of controversy surrounding UW-Milwaukee’s athletic directors. Since 2010, they’ve had a former Green Bay Packer lineman, one gentleman who quit after 18 months, another who pulled the team out of US Cellular Arena for the tiny Klotsche Center during his 13-month tenure, and the current AD Amanda Braun. Braun stunned many Panther fans last Spring when she removed UWM from consideration for the CBI or CIT and then fired 11-year coach Rob Jeter immediately after a 20-13 season during which the Panthers beat Wisconsin in Madison.

UWM’s new coach is former Butler guard and University of Michigan assistant LaVall Jordan, who faces a big challenge getting experienced players on the court. In addition to senior standouts Matt Tiby and J.J Panoske leaving from graduation, juniors Akeem Springs (Minnesota), Austin Arians (Wake Forest), and Jordan Johnson (UNLV) all transferred to finish their careers elsewhere. As a result, UWM was tabbed for last in the Horizon League men’s basketball preseason poll, behind Youngstown State, Cleveland State, and Northern Kentucky.

Coach Jordan is still trying out styles and tactics, and has yet to develop a cohesive game plan for winning with his inexperienced bunch. They’ve won using smothering defense, setting a UWM record for fewest points allowed in a 54-37 win over UC Irvine, and they’ve won on the road in an 83-78 shootout at Montana State. The Panthers are 3-5 against D1 teams to start the season.

One thing that has been consistent in early days of the new coaching regime is the starting lineup, which features four guards and a forward. Two holdover guards, 6’4” Brock Stull and 6’5” Cody Wickman lead the team in scoring and minutes. Stull, a sophomore out of Rockford, plays more like a small forward; he leads the team in points (11.7) and rebounds (7.3), but also in turnovers. Wickman, a senior, is the team’s most dangerous three point shooter, hitting 42.6% on 65 attempts.

UWM’s other two guards are newcomers. August Haas is a 6’1” freshman from Denmark who runs the point. Haas averages 6.3 ppg, and leads the team in assists (31) and steals (10), but is tied with Stull for the team lead in turnovers. Cameron Harvey is a 6’3” graduate transfer from Stetson. He averages 6.0 points while playing 19.3 minutes per game, and leads the team in three point percentage at 43.5%.

Brett Prahl is a 6’9 redshirt junior forward who rounds out the starting lineup while contributing 3.4 points and 2.3 rebounds. He has an identical twin brother, Alex, who plays very sporadically off the bench.

The bench usually goes five deep for the Panthers. Guards Jeremiah Bell (6’0” sophomore, 8.4 points, good ball handler), Bryce Barnes (5’11” freshman from Bogan, 5.2 ppg), and Jeremy Johnson (6’3” freshman, 5.7 points, gets to the free throw line) pick up most of the minutes. In the frontcourt, 6’7” freshman forward Bryce Nze is a handful. He averages 6.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in 16.7 minutes per game, likes to work the offensive glass, and leads the team in trips to the free throw line. Dan Studer is a 6’7” senior forward who also sees some time in most games.

Loyola used a four-guard lineup against Wright State last time out, in a 77-64 win that saw the Ramblers breaking presses and zones with their quick and small lineup. The Ramblers will likely return to a more conventional starting lineup against UWM, perhaps starting 6’9” forward Maurice Kirby, who did not appear against the Raiders. Loyola beat Wright State by shooting nearly 60% from the floor, but lost the rebounding contest by their worst margin of the year—38-27, including a 13-rebound disparity on the offensive glass. UWM plays at a more deliberate pace and focuses on defense, so securing rebounds and controlling possession will be more important. And under the tutelage of a former Butler guard, Milwaukee has become more focused on reducing turnovers—the Panthers committed only six in their 83-78 win over Montana State last time out.

The Ramblers clearly have the depth, the talent, the coaching and the home court advantage necessary to put Milwaukee away, so it will be important to maintain a balance between securing the win and getting some meaningful playing time to develop Cameron Satterwhite, Vlatko Granic, Maurice Kirby, Bruno Skokna, and Tyson Smith into players who can make the contributions needed and expected of them. Clayton Custer, Milton Doyle and Ben Richardson each played 36 or more high energy, physical minutes against WSU, and UWM offers a chance for more play from front court players (Aundre Jackson should feast against these Panthers) and long guards like Satterwhite.

Links

Ramblermania discussion.

Loyola game notes (Pending)

UW-Milwaukeee game notes

TV/Streaming video: CSN Chicago, ESPN 3

Radio: WLUW 88.7 FM (get the app for your phone at the Google play store—highly recommended)Vegas odds: Pending

Wednesday, December 7, 2016 7:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

The Wright State Raiders were picked to finish fifth the the Horizon League preseason poll. They’re coming off two recent road losses, at Penn State and Georgia State, which have dropped their season record to 5-3 against Division I teams. Their only other loss was a home defeat against Toledo. But WSU isn’t just a team that benefits from home cookin’ at the Nutter Center—they kicked off the season with an 85-81 win against SIU in Carbondale, and trailed by only three at halftime at Penn State.

Coach Scott Nagy’s four guard, one forward starting lineup has been unchanged all year. The Raiders are led by 6’5” junior guard Mark Alstork, who is all over the court and will get much of the defensive attention. Alstork was a preseason 2nd teamer, and is averaging 21.6 ppg even after being held to 15 points (on 3-of-18 field goal shooting) against Penn State. He leads the team in minutes, points, points per game, assists, turnovers, free throw attempts, free throws made, free throw percentage, and foul outs. Alstork shoots less than 40% from the field, just below 40% on both three pointers and including two point attempts. Yet he’s deadly from the free throw line, shooting 85.9% from the stripe on 85 attempts (more than twice as many shots as anyone else on the team).

The other starters have a more equal share in the offense. Six-eight senior forward Steven Davis averages 14.8 points per game on 54% shooting from the field (including 46% from distance), but despite his size averages only 4.0 rebounds. The main work on the boards comes from 6’3” junior guard Grant Benzinger (13.7 ppg, 6.6 rebounds) and 6’4” junior guard Justin Mitchell (10.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg). Senior guard Mike La Tulip out of Prospect High School in Arlington Heights is a great ball handler who chips in 8.3 points, almost all of them (57 points out of his 75 points on the season) coming via the three-point shot, where he knocks down 46.3%.

Only three additional players have appeared in more than half the games for the Raiders: Parker Ernsthausen is a 6’11” sophomore forward averaging 4.3 points and 2.1 boards; sophomore guard Mark Hughes contributes 3.0 points and 3.3 boards; and 6’7” freshman forward Ryan Custer plays about 10 minutes. Unless the game is safely out of hand, you won’t see any other Raiders.

WSU is a team that likes to run, shoot, create some chaos, and look for matchup problems. Their shooting percentages aren’t very high, but they get to the line quite a lot (72 times more than their opponents, and connecting at a very high 76.6% as a team). They’re better than average three point shooters (39.7% as a team), but they fire up a lot of them, helping to make up for low effectiveness near the basket. You won’t find a lot of teams at this point of the season with four starters having made more than 30 three point attempts, and three having made more than 40.

The Ramblers need to control the tempo against the Raiders, who according to kenpom.com play the 45th fastest pace in Division I. Wright State averages 79.0 points on offense and likes to play in the 80s, while Loyola prefers games in the mid to upper 60s.

Despite Alstork’s gaudy numbers, the Raiders’ success is more closely tied to the group play of the other four starters. The Raiders have lost with Alstork scoring 39 (against Toledo) and they’ve won with Alstork held to only five points in 32 minutes (against North Florida). Keeping Alstork off the free throw line and the other four starters from reaching double figures in the scorebook is the best way to beat Wright State. Maybe more attention needs to be given to the three point shooting defense, since the Raiders are happy with the three point trigger finger. Loyola also needs to play with the kind focus and energy they had against San Diego State—it hasn’t been a problem yet this year, but sometimes after winning a big game the Ramblers have been known to get blindsided by their next opponents’ determination.

Links

Ramblermania Message Board Discussion

Loyola game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy … 202aaa.pdf

Wright State game notes: http://www.wsuraiders.com/ViewArticle.d … =211338991

TV/Streaming video: http://www.espn.com/watchespn/index/_/i … olachicago

Vegas odds: Loyola by 7.5

Saturday, December 3, 2016 3:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

San Diego State visits Loyola Saturday for the first-ever matchup between the two teams, part of the Missouri Valley/Mountain West Challenge. Loyola lost last year’s MVC/MWC matchup at New Mexico. Fortunately or unfortunately for the Ramblers, San Diego State is the class of the Mountain West in men’s basketball. Since the beginning of the 2005-06 season the Aztecs are 290-99 (.756), with seven trips to the NCAA tournament, six regular season conference championships, and riding an 11-season streak of 20 or more wins. This season the Aztecs were picked to finish first in the Mountain West men’s basketball preseason poll for the fourth consecutive year.

Illinois native and Illinois State alumnus Steve Fisher took over the San Diego State program in 1999, just as the school joined the Mountain West Conference. Fisher famously won the 1989 National Championship as he took over at the end of the regular season that year at Michigan– his first six games as a D1 head coach were all NCAA Tournament wins. He then went on to preside over the Michigan program during the Fab Five era. Fisher has achieved similar success at SDSU. Fisher is 371-196 at SDSU, and has won 556 games as a head coach at the Division I level.

The Aztecs are off to a respectable start on the season, at 4-1. They had a pedestrian 10-point win at home in their season opener over San Diego. They were then smacked around in their only road game thus far, a 21-point loss at #14 Gonzaga. They beat up on a non-D1 team, eased past Cal in a neutral site game, and beat up on Savannah State in their last outing, 100-67.

Starting for SDSU are 6’3” sophomore guard Jeremy Hemsley, 6’4” junior guard Trey Kell, 6’9” sophomore forward Zylan Cheatham, 6’5” senior guard Dakarai Allen, and 6’10 junior forward Malik Pope.

Hemsley and Kell are a solid backcourt tandem. Hemsley leads the team with 18.2 points and 4.2 assists. He’s the team’s most prolific and accurate three point shooter, having made 12 of his 23 attempts (52.2%), and he takes very good care of the ball (21 assists to eight turnovers). Kell is also a great ball handler, with 17 assists against only six turnovers, and he does a lot of his scoring damage (15.2 ppg) from the line where he shoots 81% on freebies. Kell’s shooting isn’t anything to write home about– he makes only 25% of his threes and only 45% of his twos– but he’s a plus-plus defender leading the team in minutes and steals, and averaging 4.6 rebounds. Dakarai Allen is the third member of the backcourt, but plays like a small forward. He averages 6.8 points and 5.0 rebounds, co-leads the team in blocks and handles the ball well.

Zylan Cheatham plays a lot of minutes in the paint for the Aztecs, leads the team in rebounds, has quick hands and reflexes in traffic, and chips in 10.6 points. Malik Pope missed the first three games of the season, but jumped into the starting lineup against Cal– he averages 11.0 points and 5.0 boards playing 20.5 minutes per game in his first two contests. Another force in the frontcourt is Indiana transfer Max Hoetzel, another 6’9” sophomore forward who also missed the team’s first three games. Hoetzel is averaging 13.0 points and 7.5 rebounds off the bench in the two contests he’s played in this far. Other top bench players are 6’6” sophomore guard Montaque Gill-Caesar (a Canadian who transferred from Missouri), 6’6” senior forward Matt Shrigley, and 6’10” shot-blocking center Valentine Izundo.

The Ramblers will be without 6’6” guard/forward Donte Ingram, who tweaked his knee on Wednesday against Norfolk State and had been diagnosed with an MCL sprain. Loyola will likely start Milton Doyle, Clayton Custer, Ben Richardson, Aundre Jackson, and Maurice Kirby. A short bench without Ingram certainly hurts against a team with the kind of size SDSU presents. Loyola will need to get more minutes out of Kirby and 6’8” Vlatko Granic, and 6’4” Cameron Satterwhite may need to play more minutes in place of Custer or Richardson during four-guard rotations. Despite their size disadvantage, the Ramblers have managed to play competitively with NC State and Washington State. But not having Ingram available makes the margin for error all the more narrow.

Links

Ramblermania Message Board Discussion

Loyola game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy … 202aaa.pdf

San Diego State game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/sds … 201aaa.pdf

TV/Streaming video: http://www.espn.com/watchespn/index/_/i … -vs-loyola

Radio: WLUW 88.7 FM (get the app for your phone at the Google Play store—highly recommended)

Vegas odds: Aztecs by 5