February 28, 2018 at 1:28 p.m.
The journey begins
Hodag Hoops the No. 1 seed, but plenty of playoff potholes await
The journey begins
Though the Hodags are the No. 1 seed in their 12-team half sectional, each step along the way presents another obstacle, another potential for a playoff upset, if the cards don't fall the right way.
That includes tomorrow night at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium, as the Hodags open the WIAA tournament against Great Northern Conference foe Medford which beat Shawano 60-56 on Tuesday night. A win tomorrow night would give the Hodags another home game Saturday night against either Marshfield or Mosinee, two teams that Rhinelander barely beat on the road back in January.
Let's not forget the other half of the bracket which features Merrill, which is responsible for one of Rhinelander's two losses on the season, as well as Lakeland and Hortonville, which both played Rhinelander tough in the second half of the campaign.
"It's going to be a very interesting bracket," Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. "There's not going to be a team that goes through and necessarily dominates. Anything can happen. There's going to be a lot of parity, I feel. And, hopefully, we can take care of business."
The Hodags were 11-1 against the sectional field, which helped them to earn the No. 1 seed, but it was not like they blew the other teams in the bracket out of the water. They lost by seven at home to second-seeded Merrill Feb. 6, barely beat third-seeded Lakeland 53-51 Jan. 26 in Minocqua, lodged a 62-59 win at Mosinee Jan. 19, fended off Marshfield on the road 64-61 Jan. 2 and overcame a poor shooting first half to win at Hortonville 75-67 Feb. 10.
"When you look at the one and the five - us and Marshfield - the separation between us in the regular season was three points," Lemmens said. "We beat Lakeland by two, beat Mosinee by three. We lost to Merrill. There's going to be a lot of parity in this bracket."
The biggest thing the No. 1 seed brings with it is home court advantage throughout the regional rounds. The last time Rhinelander had that was 2014, when a senior-laden squad led by Mitch Reinthaler and Colton Volkmann reached the sectional finals and lost to Rice Lake team led by future NBA'er Henry Ellenson.
"I hope that one-seed brings a little intimidation as well. I think they know we're a very good team so I'm hoping as much of a bull's-eye that we'll have, teams know they have to bring their best. I hope we take that swagger with us," Lemmens said. "They have to come into our house and take it from us in our building. I'd like to think that, in itself, is very challenging. In the last seven years, we've lost two conference games at home. We do a good job of protecting 'the Jim.' In the playoffs, we've had some strange games at 'the Jim' but, overall, it's a very difficult place to play and our fans give us an edge."
Tomorrow's opponent
The Raiders are preparing to make their second trip to the Miazga Gym this season. The first came back on Feb. 13 when the Hodags defeated Medford 60-46 to lock up a share of the Great Northern Conference championship. It was the Hodags' fifth conference title in six years.
Medford was the only team to trip up Rhinelander during that streak, winning the conference title last season before bowing out to Wausau East in the sectional semifinals. This year's team lost much of the offensive punch from that squad, but is still paced by senior guard Cam Wenzel, who was a unanimous first-team all-GNC selection and finished second in the conference in scoring at 20.1 points per game, behind only Rhinelander's Owen White.
"I think where they've struggled this year is the consistent second offensive player," Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. "They've got Wenzel, who's a 1,000-point scorer and it's hard to say, 'Stop Wenzel.' Even without a strong offensive supportive cast he's going to find ways to score."
Rhinelander won the first meeting between the teams 50-37 in January at Raider Hall in Medford. Both teams did well limiting the other's best scorer in both contests. Wenzel scored 15 and 16 points in the two games against Rhinelander while Medford limited Owen White to 13 points in each contest.
The x-factor in both game was the shooting of Rhinelander senior guard Reese Flores. Averaging only 3.8 points per game for the season, Flores scored 12 and 14 points in the two contests against Medford, hitting six 3-pointers in the process.
Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. Should the Hodags win, they'll play again at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Miazga Gym. Tickets for playoff games are $5 each and available at the door. Due to WIAA regulations, season passes will not be accepted.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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