Titans Chosen To Repeat As WIAC Basketball Champion
Defending champion UW-Oshkosh is picked to win the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's basketball championship once again, according to a 2022 preseason poll conducted by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.
UW-Oshkosh, ranked 17th in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, won its league record extending 14th WIAC regular season title last season and added its third straight and record tying seventh overall conference postseason championship with a 74-58 victory over UW-Whitewater in the final. The Titans, who have advanced to the WIAC Championship title game each of the past eight seasons, have now claimed three of the last five league regular season championships and six conference postseason championships since 2014.
Following UW-Oshkosh (9-2, 5-1 WIAC record in 2021) in the conference preseason poll are 18th-ranked UW-Whitewater (8-3, 4-2) in second, UW-Eau Claire (8-2, 6-0) third, UW-La Crosse (5-5, 3-3) fourth, UW-Stevens Point (3-6, 2-4) fifth, UW-Stout (2-7, 2-4) sixth, UW-Platteville (2-7, 1-5) seventh and UW-River Falls (2-7, 1-5) eighth.
Last season the WIAC featured two divisions and schedules comprised of league rivals exclusively to limit travel due to the novel coronavirus pandemic that also canceled the 2021 Division III Championship. This season the WIAC reverts to the traditional eight team standings, a double round robin league schedule, a league postseason tournament and nonconference play.
UW-Oshkosh clinched the WIAC East Division championship a year ago by one game over UW-Whitewater. UW-Stevens Point and UW-Platteville finished third and fourth, respectively, in the East Division standings. UW-Eau Claire finished atop the West Division. The Blugolds were followed by UW-La Crosse in second, UW-Stout in third and UW-River Falls in fourth.
UW-Oshkosh 10th-year head coach Brad Fischer brings back all five starters from last year in their hunt for an unprecedented 15th WIAC regular season title. Fischer, who boasts a 194-49 record at the helm at UW-Oshkosh, is six wins shy of becoming the 11th WIAC coach to reach 200 wins.
UW-Oshkosh led the conference last season with 58 points allowed and 13.7 assists per game, a .455 field goal percentage and a +12.7 average scoring margin.
Leah Porath, a 2021 First Team All-American and two-time reigning WIAC Player of the Year, headlines the returning Titans after averaging 18.7 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steals per game last year while shooting 53.4% from the field.
UW-Oshkosh also returns starters Nikki Arneson, Abby Kaiser, Kennedy Osterman and Julia Silloway in addition to key reserves Jenna Jorgensen and Ava Douglas. Brooke Freitag and Katie Ludwig, who combined to average 35 minutes per game in 2020, are set to return after missing last season due to injury.
Silloway, who averaged 7.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game last year while pacing the conference with 35 assists and a 4.38 assist-to-turnover ratio, was selected to the 2021 All-WIAC First Team and joined Kaiser on the five member WIAC All-Defensive Team. Kaiser averaged 6.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.3 steals per contest a year ago.
Arneson was selected to the All-WIAC Honorable Mention Team for the second time last season after averaging 9.0 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. Osterman was named the 2021 WIAC Co-Newcomer of the Year after averaging 6.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game a year ago. Jorgensen finished second on the team in scoring at 10.1 points per contest while leading the conference with a .535 field goal percentage and shooting 42.5% (17-40) from 3-point range.
Nationally ranked UW-Whitewater returns four starters, including a pair of All-WIAC First Team performers, as it seeks a 10th league regular season championship.
UW-Eau Claire, the top scoring team in the conference last season at 73.1 points per game, welcomes back four starters of its own while UW-La Crosse also returns four starters.
UW-Stevens Point and UW-Stout both bring back three players from its 2021 starting units.
UW-Platteville must replace three starters from a year ago, but UW-River Falls has all five starters back as it attempts to finish higher than sixth in the league standings for the first time since winning the WIAC regular season title in 2016.
UW-Oshkosh has made six trips to the Division III Championship over the past seven tournaments, advancing to the third round in 2014, 2017, 2019 and 2020, and to the second round in 2015 and 2016.
The Titans open the 2022 campaign with exhibition contests at Division I member University of Wisconsin on Oct. 31 and Division II member Michigan Technological University on Nov. 4 before commencing the regular season Nov. 5 at Finlandia University (Mich.).