Seeding, Superior, etc.

So how would I seed the Division 3 Altoona Regional? For starters, not very easily. But here’s my best crack at it:
1. Colby.
2. Fall Creek.
3. Stanley-Boyd.
4. McDonell.
5. Mondovi.
6. Osseo-Fairchild.
7. Owen-Withee.
8. Cadott.

Now on to some unfinished business. I’ve been meaning to post some extra notes and quotes from UW-Superior but keep getting distracted by shiny objects. Anyway, one week after I watched the Yellowjackets beat the Blugolds, here they are at last:

It’s interesting to watch how Shane Manor and Dan Culy have matured, both physically and in terms of basketball ability. Manor definitely looks bigger and stronger. Culy does looks older, but he’s probably never is going to lose that paper boy look.

The sky really is the limit for Manor. As his outside game continues to improve, he’s only going to get tougher and tougher to match up with in the WIAC. He showed off his improved 3-point shooting against the Blugolds.

“I’ve been working on my outside game a lot,” Manor said. “Coach has me in the gym every day shooting — shooting a ton of 3s, a ton of pull-ups, all that stuff. It’s helped a lot.”

“Shane Manor keeps getting better,” UW-Superior coach Dave Buchanan said. “Shane tonight was playing really confident. That 3-point shot was pure. He hit some nice pull-up jump shots and he’s obviously very athletic getting to the rim. As he keeps adding that dimension to the game, I really like the upside for these guys.”

Culy has always had that 3-point shot, though he’s struggled at times as a freshman after coming back from a stress fracture in his foot. But after watching him torch the Blugolds from the outside early in the game, it’s obvious how important his shooting is to that team’s success.

“For Dan to get off early, hit those three 3s early, really stretches everything out,” Buchanan said. “It really opens things up for the Jake Smiths, the Shane Manors. And there’s a collective calm our guys have when Dan is hitting. You can see it with everybody. When he’s not, they’re anxious and pressing for him to hit that shot. I believe when Dan is right and when he’s hitting like he was tonight, we can really compete with anybody in this league.”

Lastly, it’s pretty clear that there’s some momentum surrounding UW-Superior. Buchanan has a lot of young talent to build around in freshmen Culy, Manor, Jake Smith, Greg Roeder, Ben Lindberg and sophomore Dwight Hill.

“We’re getting our experience together,” Culy said. “Our team chemistry is good already and it’s only continuing to get better. Especially with all the young guys. We’re going to be tough this year and hopefully, for years.”

Well, that’s all for now. Hope it was worth the wait.

- Joe Ziemer