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WIAC Men's Basketball Preview

10/30/2018, 5:30pm CDT
By WIAC

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the NCAA Division III national runner-up from a year ago, has been selected to win the 2019 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) men’s basketball championship, based on a preseason poll conducted by league’s head coaches and sports information directors.
 
The Titans, who are ranked second nationally in the D3hoops.com Preseason Poll, bring back four starters from last year’s squad that tied a school record with 25 wins and received the program’s eighth NCAA postseason bid. UW-Oshkosh welcomes Matt Lewis as its interim head coach, replacing Pat Juckem, who served six seasons at the helm. Lewis was UW-Oshkosh’s top assistant the previous six years.

Senior guard Ben Boots topped the team with 16.0 points, 145 assists and 45 steals. His 145 assists ranked first in the conference, while his 45 steals and .856 free-throw percentage were second and 76 three-pointers made were third. Junior center Jack Flynn and junior forward Adam Fravert contributed 12.8 and 12.3 points per contest, respectively, with Fravert’s 249 rebounds and 39 blocked shots leading the league.

UW-Oshkosh is followed in the conference predictions by:  UW-Platteville; UW-Stevens Point; UW-Whitewater; UW-La Crosse; UW-River Falls; UW-Eau Claire; and UW-Stout.

UW-Platteville, ranked No. 10 by D3hoops.com, claimed the 20th regular-season championship in program history last season after finishing eighth in the league standings in 2016-17 to become the first team in WIAC history to go from last place one year to first the next. The Pioneers advanced to the “Sweet 16” of the NCAA Division III Championship and posted 24 wins for the most victories since the 1998-99 campaign. Senior guard/forward Robert Duax is the reigning conference Player of the Year, after ranking fourth in the WIAC with 15.8 points per game and 10th with 4.6 rebounds per contest. Junior forward Carter Voelker and sophomore guard Quentin Shields added 10.3 and 10.2 points per game, respectively. Voelker also contributed a team-best 64 assists and 43 three-point field goals made.

UW-Stevens Point, ranked No. 12 by D3hoops.com, reached the “Sweet 16” of the NCAA Division III Championship for the ninth time in program archives a year ago and returns four starters from that squad. Senior guard Nate Dodge was second on the team with 11.6 points per game and placed second in the league with 77 three-pointers made. He set a school single-game mark with 10 three-point field goals made against Hope College (Mich.) on Dec. 9, 2017. Senior forward Canon O’Heron was second in the conference with a .585 field goal percentage (137-of-234). Junior guard Ethan Bublitz is back after playing in just one game last season due to injury, but he led the 2016-17 team with 14.3 points per game.

UW-Whitewater, ranked No. 24 by D3hoops.com, has all five starters back from last season, including four who averaged over 10.0 points per contest. Senior guard Andre Brown had a team-high 15.2 points per game and 37 steals, while senior guard/forward Mitchell Pfeifer contributed 11.9 points, senior guard David Sachs had 11.3 points and senior forward Derek Rongstad added 10.9 points. Sachs distributed a team-best 94 assists, while Rongstad topped the squad with 158 rebounds.

UW-La Crosse has three starters and its top-five scorers back from a year ago. Senior forward Ben Meinholz finished with a team-high 14.3 points per contest. He had a league-best eight steals at UW-Whitewater on Feb. 17, 2018. Senior guard Brandon Manning was second on the squad with 9.4 points per game and grabbed a team-best 182 rebounds to finish fourth in the WIAC with 7.0 per contest. Senior guard Taulvish McCray contributed 8.8 points per game and a team-high 65 assists.

UW-River Falls has accumulated 60 wins in the last three seasons for the best three-year stretch in program history. Senior guard Clay Seifert is the leading returning scorer after averaging 9.2 points per contest and adding a team-high 76 assists and 33 steals. Junior guard Matt Keller produced 7.6 points per game. Seifert and Keller each made 34 three-point field goals.

UW-Eau Claire’s Cole Rabedeaux, Ben Widdes and Clay Kujawa all appeared in every game last season. Rabedeaux, a junior guard, is the team’s leading returning scorer at 6.7 points per contest and added 22 assists and 22 steals. Widdes, a senior guard, contributed 5.4 points per game, while Kujawa, a sophomore forward, grabbed 60 rebounds.

Jim Lake begins his first season at the helm at UW-Stout, replacing Eddie Andrist, who accumulated 211 wins – the second-highest mark in program history. Lake was most recently the top assistant at Ferris State University (Mich.). Senior guard John Keefe suffered a season-ending injury in the first game last year, but led the team with 15.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per game during the 2016-17 campaign.

2018-19 Preseason Predictions
Voted on by WIAC Head Coaches & Sports Information Directors

                                                                2017-18 Record

1. UW-Oshkosh                                (25-8 overall, 9-5 WIAC)

2. UW-Platteville                              (24-5, 12-2)

3. UW-Stevens Point                      (21-9, 11-3)

4. UW-Whitewater                          (16-10, 6-8)

5. UW-La Crosse                               (13-13, 5-9)

6. UW-River Falls                              (18-9, 7-7)

7. UW-Eau Claire                              (12-13, 4-10)

8. UW-Stout                                       (8-17, 2-12)

Team Tidbits

UW-Eau Claire
Head Coach:  Matt Siverling; 9th season (7th at UWEC); 107-101 (overall) / 78-77 (at UWEC)
Letterwinners Returning/Lost:  13/3
Starters Returning/Lost:  2/3
Returning All-WIAC:  None

Notable Returning Players:  Clay Kujawa, So., F; Cole Rabedeaux, Jr., G; Ben Widdes, Sr., G

UW-La Crosse
Head Coach:  Kent Dernbach; 3rd season (2nd at UWL); 21-18 (overall) / 13-13 (at UWL)
Letterwinners Returning/Lost:  11/7
Starters Returning/Lost:  3/2
Returning All-WIAC:  Brandon Manning, Sr., G (2018-Honorable); Taulvish McCray, Sr., G (2018-Honorable, 2018-Defensive); Ben Meinholz, Sr., F (2016-Honorable, 2017-Honorable, 2018-First)

Notable Returning Players:  Tanner Bruchs, Sr., G; Terek Nesheim, Jr., F; Sam Skoyen, Sr., G

UW-Oshkosh
Head Coach (Interim):  Matt Lewis; 1st season; 0-0
Letterwinners Returning/Lost:  15/4
Starters Returning/Lost:  4/1
Returning All-WIAC:  Ben Boots, Sr., G (2017-First, 2018-First); Jack Flynn, Jr., C (2018-First); Adam Fravert, Jr., F (2018-Honorable)

Notable Returning Players:  Connor Duax, So., F; Sam Ebersold, So., G; David Vlotho, Jr., G; Brett Wittchow, Sr., G

UW-Platteville
Head Coach:  Jeff Gard; 10th season at UWP; 139-100
Letterwinners Returning/Lost:  11/9
Starters Returning/Lost:  3/2
Returning All-WIAC:  Robert Duax, Sr., G/F (2017-First, 2018-First/Player of the Year); Clay Gerds, Sr., F (2018-Defensive); Quentin Shields, So., G (2018-Honorable); Carter Voelker, Jr., F (2018-Honorable)

Notable Returning Players:  Alex Ranney, So., G; Justin Stovall, So., F

UW-River Falls
Head Coach:  Jeff Berkhof; 13th season at UWRF; 167-151
Letterwinners Returning/Lost:  8/8
Starters Returning/Lost:  2/3
Returning All-WIAC:  None

Notable Returning Players:  Austin Heidecker, Sr., F; Julian Jackson, Jr., F; Matt Keller, Jr., G; Clay Seifert, Sr., G

UW-Stevens Point
Head Coach:  Bob Semling; 14th season at UWSP; 283-80
Letterwinners Returning/Lost:  14/2
Starters Returning/Lost:  4/1
Returning All-WIAC:  Ethan Bublitz, Jr., G (2017-First); Nate Dodge, Sr., G (2018-First); Mark Nelson, Sr., G (2018-First); Canon O’Heron, Sr., F (2018-First); Brett Tauber, Sr., F (2018-First)

Notable Returning Players:  Drew Fredrickson, Sr., G; Garrett Nelson, So., G

UW-Stout
Head Coach:  Jim Lake; 1st season at UWS; 0-0
Letterwinners Returning/Lost:  8/6
Starters Returning/Lost:  2/3
Returning All-WIAC:  John Keefe, Sr., G (2016-Honorable, 2017-Honorable)

Notable Returning Players:  Jon Ciriacks, So., F; Zach Dahl, Sr., G

UW-Whitewater
Head Coach:  Pat Miller; 18th season at UWW; 369-114
Letterwinners Returning/Lost:  11/8
Starters Returning/Lost:  5/0
Returning All-WIAC:  Andre Brown, Sr., G (2018-First); Derek Rongstad, Sr., F (2017-Honorable, 2017-Defensive, 2018-Honorable, 2018-Defensive); David Sachs, Sr., G (2018-Honorable)

Notable Returning Players:  Riley Jensen, Jr., F; Dalton Menke, Sr., G; Mitchell Pfeifer, Sr., G/F

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