Titans Projected To Capture WIAC Title
Reigning national runner-up UW-Oshkosh is predicted to win the 2018-19 WIAC men's basketball championship, based on a poll by the league coaches and sports information directors.
UW-Oshkosh (25-8 record in 2017-18), seeking its 13th WIAC title and first since the 2001-02 campaign, enters the 2018-19 season ranked second in the country by D3hoops.com after advancing to the title game of the NCAA Division III Championship for the first time a year ago. Last season the Titans matched the program record for wins and established school marks with 2,482 points and 301 3-pointers while ranking seventh nationally with a +8.4 average rebounding margin.
The Titans won five consecutive NCAA postseason games either on the road or on a neutral court before falling, 78-72, to Nebraska Wesleyan University in the Division III championship game.
Defending WIAC champion UW-Platteville (24-5) was picked to finish second in the league poll. The Pioneers were followed by UW-Stevens Point (21-9) in third, UW-Whitewater (16-10) in fourth, UW-La Crosse (13-13) in fifth, UW-River Falls (18-9) in sixth, UW-Eau Claire (12-13) in seventh and UW-Stout (8-17) in eighth.
The WIAC leads the nation with four nationally ranked teams heading into the season as 10th-ranked UW-Platteville, 12th-ranked UW-Stevens Point and 24th-ranked UW-Whitewater join the second-ranked Titans in the D3hoops.com preseason poll.
UW-Platteville claimed last year's league championship with a 12-2 record. UW-Stevens Point finished second with a 11-3 mark, UW-Oshkosh was third at 9-5, UW-River Falls fourth at 7-7, UW-Whitewater fifth at 6-8, UW-La Crosse sixth at 5-9, UW-Eau Claire seventh at 4-10 and UW-Stout eighth at 2-12.
The Titans return all but four players from last season's squad under first-year interim head coach Matt Lewis, who as the program's top assistant helped UW-Oshkosh reach the Division III tournament each of the past three seasons and compile a 95-73 record from 2013-18.
UW-Oshkosh brings back 15 letter winners, including preseason All-American Ben Boots and All-WIAC selections Jack Flynn and Adam Fravert.
Boots, a senior guard, led the Titans last season with 16 points, 4.4 assists and 1.4 steal per game. He averaged 19.7 points per contest during the team's postseason run a year ago. Boots paced the WIAC with 145 assists and a 2.20 assist-to-turnover ratio, ranked second in the league with an .856 free throw percentage and 45 steals, and listed third with 76 made 3-pointers.
Flynn, a junior center, was eighth in the conference a year ago with 12.8 points per game while Fravert, a junior forward, ranked 11th at 12.3. The duo finished among the top three rebounders and shot blockers in the WIAC as Fravert pulled down a league-leading 7.5 boards and rejected a conference-best 39 shots. Flynn was third with 7.0 rebounds per game and 23 blocks.
UW-Oshkosh senior guard Brett Wittchow is also back after averaging 10.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game last season.
Sophomore forward Connor Duax, sophomore guard Sam Ebersold, senior forward Alex Van Dyke, junior guard David Vlotho and junior forward Brian Wilman are also back for the Titans after averaging at least eight minutes per game last season.
UW-Platteville claimed the 20th WIAC championship in program history last season after finishing eighth in the league standings in 2016-17. The Pioners, who became the first team in WIAC history to go from last place one year to first the next, went on to reach the third round of the NCAA Division III Championship until falling by one point to eventual national champion Nebraska Wesleyan University. UW-Platteville 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, last season.
UW-Stevens Point returns four starters from last year's team that also advanced to the third round of last season's national tournament. Senior guard Nate Dodge was second on the team with 11.6 points per game and placed second in the conference with 77 3-pointers made while senior forward Canon O'Heron was second in the conference with a .585 field goal percentage. Junior guard Ethan Bublitz, who led the 2016-17 Pointers team with 14.3 points per game, is back after playing just one game last season due to injury.
UW-Whitewater has all five starters back from last season, including four who averaged over 10 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 per contest, senior guard David Sachs averaged 11.3 points and senior forward Derek Rongstad added 10.9 points.
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. Senior guard Brandon Manning was second on the squad with 9.4 points per game and grabbed a team-best 182 rebounds.
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.
UW-Eau Claire returns Cole Rabedeaux, Ben Widdes and Clay Kujawa, who all appeared in every game last season. Rabedeaux, a junior guard, is the team's leading returning scorer at 6.7 points per game.
UW-Stout will be under the direction of first-year head coach Jim Lake. Returning 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.
UW-Oshkosh is the only WIAC program to play in each of the last three NCAA Division III tournaments. Five different teams have represented the conference in the NCAA postseason over the past two years.
The Titans begin the 2018-19 season with an exhibition contest at University of Wisconsin on Friday (Nov. 2). UW-Oshkosh opens the regular season against Piedmont College (Ga.) on Nov. 16 in Wheaton, Ill.