Rice Lake vs Onalaska tonight in Menomonie

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I was hoping to head over there tonight but unfortunately it's already sold out at UW-Stout (1,800 seat fieldhouse). Top 2 ranked teams in WI D-2. Would have been nice to see Ellenson against Thomas.

WEAU Preview (w/ a bit of video)

La Crosse Tribune Preview
 


I am the game. A packed house. Both teams are 23-1 with their lone losses at the Timberwolves Shootout.

Rice Lake is led by Minnesota signee Wally Ellenson and his younger brothers, Ellwood, a junior and Henry, a 6-8 freshman.

Onalaska is led by JR Matt Thomas, who is hearing from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa State, Boston College & Virginia and GB signee Nick Arenz.

I will be tweeting throughout the game at #collegebbnews.

Chris Monter
 

If somebody plans on watching this let us know how Ellenson does tonight?
 

Parski1 said:
If somebody plans on watching this let us know how Ellenson does tonight?
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Chris is doing almost a play-by-play on his twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/collegebbnews

Here's his last tweet and it's encouraging: "Wally picks Matt Thomas' pocket and goes in for a reverse dunk to end the first quarter. Onalaska up 12-11"
 








bga1 said:
Wally with 23. Nice ballplayer, strong and played inside and out. Thomas had 13 or so.
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I agree. He looked physical and good body for B1G. Good ball handler. Looked like a streaky shooter. Played hard, did not give up. Onalaska played better team ball. Lots of fast break points. One breakout Wally stuffed Thomas.
 



So where is that Thomas going to school next year?
 




I was at the game as well. I have heard that the younger two Ellenson brothers are going to be transferring to De La Salle next year. I heard before that they were going to move to the metro, but heard tonight that they decided on De La Salle.
 

Wally played very well tonight but did not get much help. Wally also did a good job of keeping Matt Thomas well under his average. It will be fun to see Wally in a Gopher uniform next fall. I didn't realize the younger Ellensons were planning to move to the Twin Cities. That is certainly an interesting development.
 

Honestly, I thought Rice Lake got out coached. The coach from Onalaska is very good in getting you out of your rhythm. Onalaska did a great job in not letting Tyus get out and run on them when they played Apple Valley at Target Center. All Onalaska really has is Arenz and Thomas and Rice Lake has more talent across the board. I know the coach at Rice Lake and felt bad for him because he has done a better job of coaching in years past with much less talent. This is by far the most talented team he has ever had and I really never thought that they were going to make it to state.
 

Sounds like De La Salle is turning into MN Pump N Run. That'd be pretty interesting if that comes to fruition. Hopefully Henry wants to be a Gopher like his brother and can convince Jarvis Johnson and Reid Travis to come with him assuming they develop and are good enough. For some reason I get the feeling Travis will end up at Harvard with his brother, but we'll see.
 

Wally didn't........

see the ball enough at crunch time. I don't know how this team normally plays but he should get the ball every time down. He can score in traffic or find the open man.

And he's a lefty!
 

IDFM said:
I was at the game as well. I have heard that the younger two Ellenson brothers are going to be transferring to De La Salle next year. I heard before that they were going to move to the metro, but heard tonight that they decided on De La Salle.
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That's excellent news. A large part of why they are transferring is for basketball, right?

Also, it would help our chances if they consider themselves Minnesotans by the time their senior year comes around.
 

RoyalGopher said:
That's excellent news. A large part of why they are transferring is for basketball, right?

It would help our chances if they consider themselves Minnesotans by the time their senior year comes around.
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Yeah, from what I have gathered. They were originally at Rice Lake when Wally was in middle school and transferred to Eau Claire Memorial and then back to Rice Lake. From what I gathered it was completely about exposure for basketball. Wally's dad played at Marquette and Wisconsin. The reason I heard from him transferring back to Rice Lake was something about him being picked on but I have always had my doubts about it because it sounds a little too bs for me.

I do know that his father is a piece of work, I have heard that from alot of people. I have never met the man, but it seems to come up in conversation whenever Wally's name comes up.
 


Another reason why they left was cause Pop's wanted all his boys to play at the same time and Van Grunsven wouldn't guarantee it
 

ECMEM96 said:
Another reason why they left was cause Pop's wanted all his boys to play at the same time and Van Grunsven wouldn't guarantee it
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that is why they play Pump N RUn too---- Wally is good, Henry is going to be great and without them Ellwood is not playing Pump n Run
 

ECMEM96 said:
Finally got to posting around here. Ok so here's the being picked on bullying piece I think your refering too when he did file a lawsuit. Wally is a steal for the Gophers. http://www.leadertelegram.com/news/front_page/article_62960a42-3990-11e0-b72c-001cc4c002e0.html And his dad is a piece of work. If it was for exposure they would have received more exposure at EC Memorial.
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I did not know about a lawsuit and the story. I just heard this from various people who know the family. You have to admit that it sounds pretty hokey.

I dont know about receiving more exposure at Memorial, they play in the same conference and Memorial is an ok basketball program. Memorial was better when Nicholas and obviously when Dick Bennett were the basketball coaches at the school. Back in the early 90s Todd Stepanek did the same thing in going to Eau Claire North when they were a power and it did not help him with exposure. If you are good on the AAU circuit today, that is the exposure that you need.
 

IDFM said:
I did not know about a lawsuit and the story. I just heard this from various people who know the family. You have to admit that it sounds pretty hokey.

I dont know about receiving more exposure at Memorial, they play in the same conference and Memorial is an ok basketball program. Memorial was better when Nicholas and obviously when Dick Bennett were the basketball coaches at the school. Back in the early 90s Todd Stepanek did the same thing in going to Eau Claire North when they were a power and it did not help him with exposure. If you are good on the AAU circuit today, that is the exposure that you need.
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Good Point. AAU is where it's at now days it appears.
 

IDFM said:
Yeah, from what I have gathered. They were originally at Rice Lake when Wally was in middle school and transferred to Eau Claire Memorial and then back to Rice Lake. From what I gathered it was completely about exposure for basketball. Wally's dad played at Marquette and Wisconsin. The reason I heard from him transferring back to Rice Lake was something about him being picked on but I have always had my doubts about it because it sounds a little too bs for me.

I do know that his father is a piece of work, I have heard that from alot of people. I have never met the man, but it seems to come up in conversation whenever Wally's name comes up.
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I know his dad. He is a great guy. People can get pretty upset when they see stuff happening to their kid. It's a story of a young player who transfers to a new school and is the best player on the team but not accepted by the older kids who have played together for years. Dad did what had to be done to help his kid and went back to Rice Lake. Anyway, one thing I can tell you is that Wally's dad is a great guy.
 

Excellent news from Marcus.

“@GophersNow: Hearing Thomas is very high on Minnesota, even though Iowa State and Wisconsin have offered. Maybe the two will be #futureGophers.”
 

“@GophersNow: Thomas might be able to play some point guard in college. But he's more of a shooter in the mold of Blake Hoffarber but more athletic.”
 

scher215 said:
“@GophersNow: Thomas might be able to play some point guard in college. But he's more of a shooter in the mold of Blake Hoffarber but more athletic.”
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This team really needs a shooter like Blake that is more athletic. Who are our most likely prospects for2013? How many schollies?
 

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