Morning State Sports Briefs: UWM to announce new AD finalists today

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MILWAUKEE - UW-Milwaukee plans to announce the finalists today for its new athletic director.

The Panther-“U” Blog identified them yesterday as UW-Whitewater AD Paul Plinske, Illinois-Chicago athletic director Jim Schmidt, and Northeastern executive senior AD Amanda Braun who used to work at UW-Green Bay. Plinske confirmed yesterday that’s among the finalists. He was also a finalist for the UWM job in 2010, but it went to Rick Costello – who left almost a year ago. Former Ohio State administrator Andy Geiger has held the post on a short-term basis. The 43-year-old Plinske has been Whitewater’s athletic director since 2004 – and his coaching hires included Lance Leipold, who led the Warhawks to four national Division III titles, and Stacy Boudreau who led Whitewater to a national women’s volleyball crown in 2005.

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The UW-Stevens Point men’s basketball team fell 10 places to No. 15 in the new Division III poll from D3hoops.com The Pointers lost to UW-Platteville and La Crosse last week, after winning eight straight. Point is now 18-4 overall. Whitewater dropped one spot to 16th in the new poll, despite winning three straight and five of its last six. The Warhawks are 17-4. Stout and Saint Norbert also received votes. Saint Thomas of Saint Paul returned to the No. 1 spot, replacing Rochester which fell to fourth.

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In the D3hoops.com women’s poll, UW-Stevens Point is still 16th with a record of 18-4. UW-Superior returned to the Top-25 after dropping out a week ago. The Yellow Jackets are 24th. Carthage is also back in the rankings at No. 25. Whitewater, Wisconsin Lutheran, and Oshkosh received votes. De Pauw is still the women’s No. 1.

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Germantown still leads Division 1 in the new AP boys’ state high school basketball poll. Germantown remains the only unbeaten team in the Top-10 at 18-0. Milwaukee Hamilton is second, Sussex Hamilton third, and Sun Prairie fourth. Onalaska remains atop Division 2, followed by Seymour and Wisconsin Lutheran. Wisconsin Dells is the still the Division 3 leader, with Little Chute second and La Crosse Aquinas third. Cuba City still rules the roost in Division 4, followed by Whitefish Bay Dominican and Laconia. And Randolph still leads Division 5, with Green Bay Northeast Wisconsin Lutheran in second and Clayton third.

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In the AP girls’ high school poll, De Pere is still the Division 1 leader followed by Oak Creek, Kimberly, and Superior. New London continues to lead Division 2, with Milwaukee Pius XI second and Baraboo third. Neillsville remains atop Division 3, with Brodhead and East Troy in the two-and-three spots. Cuba City is still Number-One in Division 4, followed by Cameron and Colfax. And Wisconsin Rapids Assumption remains the Division 5 leader, with Barneveld second and Milwaukee Heritage Christian third.

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Milwaukee Wave mid-fielder Marcelo Fontana is out for the season with a broken ankle suffered in a win over Missouri on Saturday night. Fontana scored seven two-point goals for Milwaukee in 15 matches. And he had seven assists, for a total of 21 points. Coach Keith Tozer says Fontana will definitely be missed as Milwaukee heads toward a Major Indoor Soccer League playoff run. The Wave has won 15 straight games. Their victory on Saturday assured them of home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

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University of Wisconsin sophomore Austin Mudd has been named the Big Ten men’s indoor track athlete-of-the-week, and Badgers’ junior Japheth Cato received the same honor for field events. Mudd won the Meyo Mile last Saturday in South Bend with a time of 3:59.33. That was the third-fastest indoor time in Wisconsin history. Cato defended his title in the heptathlon at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska last weekend. Cato was a national runner-up in the heptathlon a year ago.

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The Marquette University men’s basketball team rose one place to 24th in the AP media poll, despite its 70-51 loss at Louisville yesterday. The Golden Eagles dropped out of the USA Today coaches’ Top-25 after that game. Marquette is now three spots away from those rankings. Marquette is 15-5 overall, still tied for first in the Big East. Louisville went up one spot in both polls, and is now ranked 11th by the media and 12th by the coaches. The Wisconsin men also received votes, but they’ve five spots away from the coaches Top-25, and six spots away from an AP ranking. The Badgers are 15-7 overall. Indiana is the new leader in both polls. In the RPI Rankings, which often determine NCAA Tournament seedings, Marquette is 17th this week, and Wisconsin is 54th. In the AP women’s poll, UW-Green Bay continues to get closer to the Top-25. The Phoenix are just one spot away this week. The Phoenix are 7-0 in Horizon League play, and 17-2 overall.

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Milwaukee is nowhere near being a Top-10 media market – but the area had the country’s ninth-highest overnight TV rating for the Super Bowl. About 482,000 households in Metro Milwaukee watched at least some part of the game, in which Baltimore edged San Francisco. CBS said the Super Bowl had a rating of 53.4 in the Milwaukee market, which is only the fully-metered market in Wisconsin. Seventy-three percent of the sets that were on in Metro Milwaukee were tuned to the game. As you might expect, Baltimore had the highest local rating at 59.6, with an 83-percent share. And New Orleans – where the game was hosted – had a 57.1 rating. But curiously, San Francisco was not in the Top-10.

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The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team remains at Number-19 in this week’s poll from U-S College Hockey Online. The Badgers are 11-9-6 after a loss and a tie at North Dakota during the weekend. Minnesota is still the men’s No. 1 In the Division I women’s poll, the Badgers remain at Number-eight after being off during the weekend. Mark Johnson’s team is 15-9-and-2 overall. Undefeated Minnesota is still No. 1 at 28-0.

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In Division III, UW-Eau Claire moved up one place to fourth in the College Online men’s poll, after clinching the WIAC title during the weekend. Saint Norbert fell two places to sixth. The Milwaukee School of Engineering is back in the poll at No. 15. UW-Stevens Point and River Falls also received votes. Norwich of Connecticut remains atop the men’s poll. In the Division III women’s poll, UW-River Falls jumped one spot to sixth. UW-Superior rose one place to eighth. Plattsburgh is still the women’s No. 1

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Pewaukee native Mark Wilson dropped four places to 107th in the new World Golf Rankings released today. Wilson missed the cut during the weekend at the PGA’s Waste Management Phoenix Open. Meanwhile, Steve Stricker’s absence from recent Tour events has him falling down the World Rankings. The Madison golfer is at No.13 this week, two spots lower than a week ago. The 45-year-old Stricker is only playing about a dozen tournaments this year, saying he wants to spend more time with his family and charitable activities. The Top-Five in the new World Rankings are unchanged from a week ago. Rory McIlroy is first, followed by Tiger Woods, Luke Donald, Justin Rose, and Louis Oosthuizen. Stricker remains in the Top-10 in the Fed-Ex Cup season point standings, thanks to his second-place finish at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. He’s at No. 10 this week, down from seventh a week ago. Wilson is 83rd in the Fed-Ex totals, down 18 spots from last week.

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49’ers fans are wondering today why Wisconsin native Colin Kaepernick did not run for what could have been the winning touchdown for San Francisco in last night’s Super Bowl. The Niners were down by five with first-and-goal in the final two minutes. And Kaepernick – with five yards separating him from Super Bowl immortality – tossed three straight incompletions to Michael Crabtree. Both Kaepernick and Niners’ coach Jim Harbaugh said there was a running option on one of the plays, but it wasn’t used. On fourth down, Kapernick’s pass floated beyond Crabtree’s reach. Jim Harbaugh pleaded for a defensive holding call on Baltimore’s Jimmy Smith, but it wasn’t to be. And after taking a quick safety, the Ravens locked up their second Super Bowl title in a dozen years with a 34-31 victory. Kaepernick was born in Milwaukee and lived in Fond du Lac and New London before moving to California at age four. It was only his 10th NFL start – and he almost rallied the 49’ers from a 22-point deficit early in the third quarter. Niners’ tight end Delanie Walker said. Kaepernick has what it takes to bring his team back to the Super Bowl – and Walker said quote, “We’re going to put that on his back.

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A former UW-Superior men’s basketball coach has earned his 400th career college victory. Jeff Kaminsky of Valley City State in North Dakota reached the milestone during the weekend, when his Vikings won at Mayville State 68-49. Kaminsky was the head man at Superior for 11 seasons. He’s in his eighth year at Valley City State, where his team is 19-5 this year. Kaminsky’s overall record at Valley City is 131-99.

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UW-Eau Claire men’s hockey team has clinched its first-ever WIAC conference title. The Blugolds claimed the season championship on Friday night, with a 4-3 win at UW-Stout. The next night, Eau Claire kept rolling with a 3-2 home win over UW-River Falls. The Blugolds are tied for fifth in last week’s national men’s poll from U.S. College Hockey Online. A new poll is due out this afternoon. Eau Claire is 9-2 in conference play, with 18 points. Stevens Point is second a 6-4-1 with 13 points. The league has five teams. River Falls is third with 10 points. Superior has 9, and Stout 4. Conference play wraps up next weekend.

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SCORES

Wisconsin boys' high school basketball

Amery 39, Spring Valley 26

Bonduel 70, Menominee Indian 51

Cashton 70, Ithaca 66

Dodgeville 74, Evansville 70

East Troy 74, Beloit Turner 55

Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran 61, Loyal 50

Edgar 68, Rib Lake 52

Elcho 55, White Lake 40

Elmwood 89, Alma-Pepin 68

Fall Creek 69, Ladysmith 22

Fond du Lac 55, West Bend West 43

Gibraltar 68, Stockbridge 45

Gilmanton 71, Plum City 36

Hurley 78, Butternut 49

Ironwood Michigan 79, Chequamegon 31

Kee-Lansing Iowa 67, De Soto 56

La Crescent, Minnesota 62, Arcadia 52

Lakeside Lutheran 65, Cambridge 49

Luck 44, Chetek-Weyerhaeuser 37

Marathon 62, Abbotsford 55

Menominee Michigan 48, Marinette 43

Mosinee 57, Wausau Newman 37

Mount Horeb 61, Platteville 56

Necedah 48, Hillsboro 40

New Lisbon 55, Lincoln 51

Northland Lutheran 63, Athens 56

Oostburg 64, Sheboygan Lutheran 35

Prairie Farm 89, Lake Holcombe 21

Prescott 75, Hastings Minnesota 51

Royall 65, Kickapoo 29

Schofield D.C. Everest 47, Lakeland 36

Spencer 60, Granton 37

Spooner 46, Maple Northwestern 45

Stratford 47, Whitehall 46

Tenor 53, Eastbrook Academy 52

Tomahawk 55, Phillips 36

Two Rivers 67, Campbellsport 54

Wabeno 42, Wisconsin Valley Lutheran 35

Williams Bay Faith Christian 50, Palmyra-Eagle 40

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Girls' high school basketball

Athens 64, Wisconsin Valley Lutheran 21

Barron 61, Durand 42

Beaver Dam Wayland 53, Milwaukee St. Joan Antida 46, OT

Bloomer 50, Chetek-Weyerhaeuser 30

Burlington 52, Delavan-Darien 42

Cameron 55, Siren 37

Cassville 54, Wauzeka-Steuben 44

Chippewa Falls 73, Medford 32

Cochrane-Fountain City 41, Lewiston-Altura, Minn. 23

Drummond 57, Wakefield-Marenisco, Mich. 18

Eastbrook Academy 52, Milwaukee Tenor 18

Freedom 36, Denmark 32

Gibraltar 37, Stockbridge 13

Grantsburg 76, Cumberland 27

Greendale Martin Luther 44, Milwaukee Thomas More 41

Horicon 59, Watertown Luther Prep 51

Hurley 55, Bessemer, Mich. 26

Jefferson 45, Columbus 36

Kee-Lansing Iowa 48, North Crawford 39

Kewaunee 50, Oshkosh Lourdes 40

Lake Country Lutheran 56, Brookfield Academy 28

Manitowoc Lincoln 54, Manitowoc Roncalli 36

Manitowoc Lutheran 53, Cedar Grove-Belgium 25

Markesan 47, Ripon 29

Marshall 51, Pardeeville 34

Mellen 71, Ironwood, Mich. 41

Monticello 51, South Wayne Black Hawk 50, OT

New Lisbon 43, Weston 34

Omro 48, Winneconne 42

Owen-Withee 79, Augusta 36

Pecatonica 70, Juda 32

Potosi 88, Albany 27

Prairie Farm 46, Lake Holcombe 33

Randolph 51, Laconia 33

River Falls 45, Prescott 44

Rock County Christian 48, Kenosha Reuther 44

Schofield D.C. Everest 53, Eau Claire North 41

Seneca 50, De Soto 26

South Shore 96, Solon Springs 41

St. Croix Falls 64, Clear Lake 35

Superior 65, Esko, Minn. 63

Suring 63, Marinette St. Thomas Aquinas 18

Washburn 61, Bayfield 46

Wausau Newman 71, Pittsville 23

Wild Rose 50, Port Edwards 37

Wisconsin Heights 62, Ithaca 56

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