skip navigation

WCC Men's Basketball Weekly Roundup: December 5, 2018

12/05/2018, 2:30pm CST
By Travis Wilson

Each week WSN will take a look at the happenings in the Wisconsin Collegiate Conference, which includes many of the two-year campuses in the UW system. A look back at the big performances and news from the week before, a look ahead to some of the big games coming up, plus a Player of the Week will be featured.

Looking Back

It is a great time of the year, as the 2018-19 basketball season is underway, and that includes the Wisconsin Collegiate Conference men's hoops teams.

The season is still young, but it has been a bit of a slow start for many WCC men's basketball teams. Every team has at least one league loss already, though every team has at least one league victory as well. It is shaping up to be a very interesting and competitive season in the conference.

After winning the WCC Tournament championship last season, UW-Washington is just 1-3 to begin the new year. The Wildcats dropped games to Fond du Lac, Marinette, and Sheboygan to open the season, but knocked off Waukesha to get the first win of 2018-19.

For Waukesha, it was their first conference loss of the year, as the Cougars posted league wins over Marinette and Manitowoc earlier in the season. In the WCC-East, Waukesha is tied with Marinette in the early going at 3-1 in conference play.

Marathon, Marshfield, and Richland all have just one conference loss in the WCC-West. Marshfield has the best overall record of any WCC team currently at 3-1, as the lone loss for the Marauders was in the first game of the year, a 83-70 road setback. 

Looking Ahead

Wednesday night has some very interesting games on the schedule, as Washington will travel to Manitowoc, Marathon hosts Richland, Waukesha makes the trip to Fond du Lac, and Marinette welcomes in Fox Valley.

There is also a full slate of games on Saturday with five around the state.

With so much parity in the early going of the season, it will be interesting to watch how things continue to play out over the coming weeks, heading into second semester. No team has shown to be head-and-shoulders above the others, but there definitely are some teams trending in the right direction.

For instance, Marinette dropped its first two games of the year, but has rallied to win the last four. It is a tough early schedule for the Buccaneers, who opened with five straight road games. They won't go on the road again until January 4th, however.

WCC Men's Basketball Player of the Week: Ellis Butler, Fond du Lac

This is more of an award for the beginning part of the season than just the past week, but Ellis Butler of Fond du Lac is off to a great start to the season, averaging a league-high 28 points per game. That includes a 41-point outburst in the very first game of the year as the Falcons topped Washington, a game that saw Butler sink nine-of-16 three-point attempts.

Tag(s): News Archive  BBB News  Travis Wilson  WCC  Alumni