Long Lake Wi

Former Badger expected to be drafted in second round

Leuer grew 10 inches during his four years at Orono High School and arrived at Wisconsin in 2007 an intriguing 6-foot-10 prospect, albeit weighing about 190 pounds.

Long before his head and shoulders soared toward the stars, Leuer embraced a dream shared by thousands of basketball players:

To reach the National Basketball Association.

“For me, it’s what I’ve always wanted to do,” Leuer said recently. “I played football, baseball and basketball growing up, but basketball was always my biggest passion, what I loved the most.

“That was always my goal, ever since I can remember.”

The goal should become reality sometime during Thursday’s NBA draft (6 p.m., ESPN). Leuer appears to have an outside chance of being selected late in the first round but more likely will be taken in the second round. A mock draft on NBADraft.net has Leuer going 40th overall, the 10th pick of the second round, to Milwaukee.

ESPN college basketball analyst Len Elmore, who played 10 seasons professionally, believes Leuer could be a first-round pick.

“He is an extraordinarily skilled guy for a guy his size, particularly on the perimeter,” Elmore said last month during ESPNU’s coverage of the NBA combine in Chicago. “He handles it, goes to the basket strong and certainly shoots it with range.”

Leuer, listed at 6-11 and 223 pounds, averaged 18.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per game as a senior at UW. He shot 37 percent from three-point range and 47 percent overall and helped the Badgers reach the NCAA Sweet 16.

However, he struggled in UW’s 61-54 loss to Butler in New Orleans. Leuer made just 1 of 6 three-point attempts, 1 of 12 field-goal attempts overall, and finished with three points and six rebounds in 33 minutes.

“Now, he didn’t have a good NCAA Tournament,” Elmore said, “particularly the game they lost to Butler where he was literally shut down. But I think that was more a product of the intensity of the Butler defense as opposed to Jon Leuer not being able to compete.

“Because this is a guy who has shown time and time again he knows how to score. And he knows also how to be able to play some defense on the perimeter despite being 6-10. ...

“I think he’s got some skill and I think he is worth a strong look in the first round.

The 'Place of Many Dead' - Devil's Lake, Wisconsin

Devil's Lake of Wisconsin has its share of geological oddities such as glacier scratches on unusual rock formations and petrified sand waves of an ancient sea, but it is the Amerindian mounds that are especially interesting. Three major effigy mounds are located in Devil's Lake State Park. One in the shape of a bear and another, which resembles a lynx, are at the north end of the lake. A bird-shaped mound is at the southern end. Did the moundbuilders wish to acknowledge real animals or phantom creature forms that haunted the shores of Devil's Lake? During the summer of 1970, campers at Devil's Lake complained of shadowy "somethings" prowling around their tents. Department of Natural Resources personnel stated that no bears are found in the area. However, Bigfoot accounts are well known from Wisconsin. Devil's Lake is also the location of an 1889 lake monster report. Additionally, the surface of the lake is broken with the ghostly wake of a phantom canoe seen in the mists of cold, still nights. The place does have an aura about it. Folklore tells of an Indian maiden and her lover leaping to their deaths. In general, the site is said to be a "place of many dead." When the first missionaries arrived in the Devil’s Lake area they where greeted by the Nakota Tribe, who told them about a year in which the area experienced a great drought. During this drought the Nakota Tribe remained near the swiftly drying lake, not only because it was the only source of water for miles, but also because it drew animals from all over to its shores in order to drink, providing the tribe with a stable food source. As the summer drew on and the drought continued to lower the lakes levels it eventually became two lakes, separated by a shallow strip of mud which ran through the middle. One morning the Nakota people awoke to find what they could only describe as a huge, fish like creature trapped on the strip of mud which now divided the two remaining bodies of water. The tribe described the large creature as having a long neck, small head and wide body that it thrashed and wiggled in an attempt to free its self. After several days the creature was able to free its self and slip into the deeper of the two remaining pools of lake water.

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