College basketball: Both Blugolds teams battle tested heading into WIAC play
Dec. 1—The WIAC is perennially one of the toughest basketball conferences in Division III, and this year is no different. The league enters Wednesday's first night of conference play with three teams ranked in the national top 25 on both the men's and women's side.
To prepare for the gauntlet, the UW-Eau Claire men and women found challenges as close to conference-level as possible in the early season. The Blugolds made sure to test themselves early on to get ready for what WIAC play will throw at them.
The women already have two top-10 wins to their credit. The men have traveled across the country to find high-level opponents in tournament play.
It's all been to prepare the Blugolds for the main course. The women host UW-Oshkosh to open WIAC play on Wednesday, while the men travel to Oshkosh. Both games tip off at 7 p.m.
"That's why we played as tough of a nonconference schedule as we could," women's coach Tonja Englund said. "Because I have so much respect for our league, and playing ranked teams really allows us to come into the league and really feel like we're game-ready."
The Eau Claire women have wins over Trine, ranked No. 3 in the nation at the time, and Simpson, then-ranked No. 6. The Blugolds are unbeaten at 6-0 and enter WIAC play ranked No. 11 in the country.
They face one of their toughest tests immediately. UW-Oshkosh is ranked 20th and has won three consecutive conference tournament titles.
"It's always exciting to get into the WIAC because I just feel like the quality of the opponents in the conference is just awesome," Englund said. "Especially to able to start off playing against Oshkosh, we've just had epic games for the last couple of years that have just been great basketball and very emotional for both teams. So to start this right away I think really gives us a good measure of where we're at as a team."
The Blugold men don't have it any easier. UW-Oshkosh is ranked 10th in the men's top 25. Eau Claire (5-2) has played a slate that has featured an eight-point loss to Wheaton — currently ranked fifth in the country — to get ready.
"It's definitely a huge test," forward Carter Brooks said. "I always love playing Oshkosh. I don't know why, I just love playing them in general. I would say it's our biggest game this year. ... We'll really see how good of a team we are."
In years past, conference play usually began in January. With games scheduled earlier this season, teams have had to get up to speed a bit more quickly.
"It's an interesting schedule, to say the least," men's coach Matt Siverling said. "It's been a while since we've played conference games before Christmas, especially this early. Fortunately we've been able to play some good competition leading up to this week, so hopefully that's going to help us once we're in conference play here."
The Blugold women have ridden strong showings across the board to march into WIAC play undefeated. Jessie Ruden, Bailey Reardon and Tyra Boettcher have all seen their time in the spotlight, providing plenty of offense this season.
In both of the team's wins over ranked foes, at least two of those three have scored in double figures.
"We just have a special group of girls this year," said Boettcher, a Menomonie native. "Any girl can go off on any given night, and I think just taking that into conference is going to be very beneficial for us."
The men are following a similar pattern. Brock Voigt is averaging nearly a double-double with 15.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, but Spencer Page (12.6 ppg) and Michael Casper (10 ppg) have stepped up too.
"I would say everyone on our team is very unselfish," Brooks said. "We all have a common goal of winning, and no one is really worried about their stats or anything like that."
The taste of WIAC play will be short-lived. Both teams play UW-Oshkosh on Wednesday and UW-Stevens Point on Saturday before returning to nonconference play for the rest of December. Conference play resumes in January.
