State Basketball Roundup: The boys' basketball postseason begins tonight

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The road to a state championship begins tonight for 483 Wisconsin boys’ high school basketball teams.

First-round regional games will be played in five divisions. Three-hundred-26 teams will play this evening, while 157 others will have byes until the regional semi-finals on Friday. Each division has eight Number-One seeds, and they’ll all have tonight off except in Division-Five where all 128 schools will be in action. Two of last year’s five champions made the final AP Top-10 rankings that came out yesterday. Madison Memorial, last year’s Division-One champ, is ranked third this year. Randolph, the Division-Five titlist, is fourth in its new poll. The other defending champions are Whitefish Bay in Division-Two, La Crosse Aquinas in Division 3, and Marathon in Division-Four. Germantown and Milwaukee Rufus King are ranked first-and-second in the AP’s final Division-One poll. Onalaska is ranked Number-One in Division-Two, followed by Rice Lake and Kaukauna. Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau finished atop Division-Three, with East Troy and Wisconsin Dells second-and-third. Cuba City is the final No. 1 in Division-Four, followed by Whitefish Bay Dominican and Auburndale. And Racine Lutheran tops Division-Five, with Clayton and Prentice right behind.

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In the AP girls’ basketball poll, Racine J.I Case moved into the top spot in Division-One, after Milwaukee Vincent dropped to second with a record of 15-3. Chippewa Falls is third. Nicolet and Stevens Point are tied for fourth. New London continues to lead Division-Two, followed by New Berlin Eisenhower and Beaver Dam. Lomira remains atop Division-Three, with Whitefish Bay Dominican second and Adams-Friendship third. Eau Claire Regis still leads Division-Four, with Neillsville and Algoma right behind. And Wausau Newman is still the Division-Five leader, and Wisconsin Rapids Assumption and Seneca are second-and-third. This is the final week of the girls’ regular season. Their playoffs begin a week from tonight.

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The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team will play its final home game of the season tonight against Minnesota. At 10-6, the Badgers are out of the running for the Big Ten regular season title – of which Michigan State clinched at least a share this past weekend. But a win tonight would give 14th-ranked Wisconsin a first-round bye in next week’s Big Ten Tournament. It would also give the Badgers a two-game sweep of its season series against Minnesota. The Gophers have lost all but one of their last 14 games in Madison. Wisconsin topped the Gophers by seven in overtime in Minneapolis on February ninth. The Badgers are 21-and-8 overall. Minnesota comes in at 5-and-11 in conference play, and 17-and-12 overall. Wisconsin seniors Jordan Taylor and Rob Wilson will be honored tonight, as they play their final home contests for the Badgers. Also, the Horizon League men’s tournament begins this evening. UW-Milwaukee hosts Illinois-Chicago in the first round, while UW-Green Bay is at Youngstown State.

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The Marquette University women lost their regular season finale last night, 69-to-58 at Rutgers. The Golden Eagles dropped their sixth straight game, and they’ve lost 10-of-11 going into the Big East Conference Tournament. Rutgers led by five at the break, and they broke the game open with a 9-0 run that opened the second half. April Sykes scored 20 points for 23rd-ranked Rutgers, which improved to 9-and-0 in its all-time series against Marquette. Arlesia Morse scored 19 points for the Eagles, which ended its regular season at 4-12 in conference play and 13-and-16 overall. Marquette was given the 14th-seed among 16 schools in the Big East Tournament. The Eagles will open against 11th-seeded Cincinnati on Friday night. And the winner will play sixth-seeded Rutgers in the second round on Saturday.

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The Milwaukee Bucks will try to end a six-game home losing streak tonight, when they face the Washington Wizards. The Bucks have not lost seven straight at the Bradley Center since February of 2000. And they’ve been dominant over the Wizards lately, winning their last three match-ups and six-of-seven at home. Washington returns from the All-Star break with a four-game overall losing streak, in which they’ve given up almost 109 points a game. The Wizards have also lost three straight away from the nation’s capital. Backup guard Jordan Crawford has the hot-hand for Washington. He has averaged 21-and-a-half points in his last five games, while John Wall has averaged 20 points and almost nine assists. The Bucks have kept Wall pretty much in check, holding him to a 10-point average in the four games they’ve played against him. On December 30th, Wall made just 1-of-9 from the floor in a 21-point loss at Milwaukee. Bucks’ guard Brandon Jennings had 22 points in that contest – and he has averaged 21 in his last two games to end a brief scoring slump. Center Drew Gooden is due back tonight, as the Bucks try to dig out of a hole in which they’re 13-20, two-and-a-half games behind Boston for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Washington has the third-worst record in the East at 7-26.

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Two Wisconsin women’s players have received All-Big Ten honors. Junior guard Taylor Wurtz was named to the all-conference third team by the league’s media, and was an honorable mention by the coaches. Senior forward Anya Covington was a consensus honorable mention. Wurtz was fifth in the Big Ten in rebounding with just over seven-and-a-half boards per game. And she was sixth in scoring at over 16 per contest. Covington is scoring just over 10 points a game – and she’s led the Badgers in rebounding with nine per contest. Samantha Prahalis was named the Big Ten’s player-of-the-year by both the coaches and the media. The women’s Big Ten Tournament opens on Thursday in Indianapolis. The ninth-seeded Badgers will play No. 8 seed Minnesota.

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Julie Wojta of UW-Green Bay and Sami Tucker of UW-Milwaukee are the Horizon League women’s basketball co-players-of-the-week. Wojta, a senior guard-and-forward, put up big numbers in a pair of victories over Valparaiso and Butler that gave Green Bay its 14th straight conference regular season title. Wojta had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists against Valpo. And against Butler, she had 27 points, 13 boards, six steals, five assists, and two blocked shots in a 25-point Phoenix romp. Tucker, a junior guard, averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds in a pair of Milwaukee victories. She tied a career-high with 23 points against Butler, and she set a new career mark of 14 rebounds in that same game.

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Kent Faurote of Edgewood was given the final weekly men’s basketball award in the Northern Athletics Conference. And Shavon Dillon of Wisconsin Lutheran received the final women’s honor. Faurote, a senior guard, averaged 23 points in a pair of conference tournament contests. He had 25 points and 13 rebounds in the title game, an eight-point Edgewood victory over Lakeland. Dillon, a junior guard, averaged almost 16 points off the bench in three NAC tournament wins for Wisconsin Lutheran. She shot 57-percent from the floor in those contests.

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UW-Whitewater is still eighth in this week’s Division-Three men’s poll from D3hoops.com. The Warhawks held steady in the new poll, despite losing to UW-River Falls in the WIAC tournament final on Sunday. River Falls returned to the Top-25 in the Number-17 position. Stevens Point dropped out after being 20th a week ago. But the Pointers still received votes, as did Edgewood. Hope College of Michigan remains at Number-One. Whitewater, Point, Edgewood, River Falls, and Carroll were all named yesterday to the NCAA Division-Three tournament. They’ll play their first round games on Friday.

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In the D3hoops.com women’s poll, UW-Stevens Point rose one spot to 11th. Eau Claire fell two places to 18th. Whitewater rose four spots to 19th. River Falls held steady at Number-21. And Carthage also received votes. All five of those teams, plus Wisconsin Lutheran, were named yesterday to the Division-Three tournament field. They’ll play their opening games on Friday. Amherst of Massachusetts remains the women’s Number-One.

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