Basketball outlook for next year

With both of our men’s and women’s team falling in the first round of the WIAC tournament last week, it’s already time to look at next year for each squad.

Men:

The main issue for Ken Koelbl’s squad will be replacing Trevor Stratton in the backcourt. Having a capable scoring guard to complement Tony Mane freed up Mane the past two seasons en route to leading the WIAC in scoring. Stratton averaged 15 points this season as a senior, including a season-high 26 in the Eagles’ upset of  #5 ranked UW-Stevens Point. Capable of hitting an outside shot and driving to the rim, Koelbl will most likely look to sophomore Cory Degner to fill this role. Degner showed great potential late in the season, including a career-high 17 in last week’s loss vs. UW-Superior, where he looked extremely confident on the court and showed great potential as a scorer for next season.

The Eagles will also be forced to replace some size on the front line, including 6’9″ Andy Merklein, 6’5″ Andrew Haass and 6’6″ Derek Wilcox. This burden will fall on the shoulders of sophomores Al Chery (6’4″) and Kurt Kincaid (6’6″), and junior Alex Milsap (6’7″).  All three have seen significant playing time in their career and will be familiar with what it takes to compete with the size they’ll see in the WIAC.

The obvious returner is all-conference performer Mane, who should be fully recovered from the ankle injury suffered against UW-Stevens Point.

Projected 2010-11 Starting Lineup:

G – Tony Mane

G – Cory Degner

F – Al Chery

F – Kurt Kincaid

C – Alex Milsap

Women:

Coach Lois Heeren will only be losing one member from this years 18-8 squad. 5’10″ guard Hanna Lang, who made her contribution off the bench this year, is the lone graduating senior for the Eagles. That means the women’s team will return a potent squad, including the balanced frontcourt of 5’10″ junior Melissa Lang (10.9 ppg), 6’0″ junior Dana Churchill (11.8 ppg), 6’0″ freshman Stacie Van Handel (11.1 ppg), and 6’4″ junior Danielle Frank (9.7 ppg, 10.7 rpg). In addition to guards Taylor Larson and Lindsey Litrenta, both juniors, UW-L should have no problem remaining in the upper echelon of the WIAC.

Projected 2010-11 Starting Lineup:

G -Lindsey Litrenta

G – Taylor Larson

F – Dana Churchill

F- Melissa Lang

C – Danielle Frank

Basketball teams sweep Stout

After our football team fell to UW-Stout in the fall, I joked around with some friends as to why UW-L teams should never lose to Stout. In anything. Well, last night the basketball team helped my cause in avoiding actually writing this column by sweeping the Blue Devils. The women’s team was very impressive, earning their first win at Stout in almost 20 years. Melissa Lang scored UW-L’s first 15 points of the game en route to a career-high 27 in a double overtime win in Menominee. Lindsey Litrenta added four three’s and 16 points for the Eagles.

The men’s team was led by an unlikely scoring source, with 18 points from sophomore point guard Jeff Heiden, including 4 three-pointers. Austin Scott added another 4 threes for the Eagles for his twelve points. This outside shooting, combined with the 32 combined points from scoring leaders Tony Mane and Trevor Stratton, propelled the Eagles to a 10 point win.

Men’s Bball impressive in win over UW-Platteville

26-28 from the free throw line in the second half? That’s a solid foundation for winning basketball. Looks like Coach Koelbl has these boys working fundamentals at practice.

Senior Trevor Stratton led UW-L with 25 points.
Sophomore Cory Degner 10-10 from the line, Kurt Kincaid chips in a huge 18 points as Tony Mane had an off day, with 9 points on 4-13 shooting.

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