Quote from: AO on March 02, 2015, 01:43:49 PM

Quote from: carletonsid on March 02, 2015, 01:25:22 PM

Quote from: AO on March 02, 2015, 11:13:40 AM

Quote from: GoldandBlueBU on March 02, 2015, 10:51:08 AM
Interesting defensive strategy to put 6'6 Nord on either Wojta or Tusler most of the day...worked out mostly, there were a few times when they were just a step too quick for him, but he kept them in front of him for the most part.

Chasing around Bridge must have tired him out judging by his goose egg in the scoring column.

Looks like the West committee really hated the Royals based upon early reports that the final secret rankings had them at #6 despite 3 wins over Olaf.  Could have had 3 MIAC teams in the tourney if they don't bury Bethel in the rankings by selectively using the head to head criteria when considering Buena Vista but not St. Olaf.

I would have to add that Bethel's losses to Hamline and Carleton certainly didn't help either.

Sure but "bad losses" aren't really a part of the criteria.  Bethel had a much better resume than Buena Vista but was put below them due to 1 head to head matchup.  Surely then St. Olaf who has a similar resume to Bethel (better WP but worse SOS and wins versus Regionally ranked) would be punished more heavily for losing 0-3 in the head to head?  I think the West committee was nervous about getting bids and set Olaf up to be the first West team on the board believing that the committee wouldn't look past the win pct.  Maybe I'm giving them too much credit and they just didn't apply the criteria themselves.

Why do you think the committee actually follows its own listed criteria?

Quote from: AO on March 02, 2015, 11:13:40 AM

Quote from: GoldandBlueBU on March 02, 2015, 10:51:08 AM
Interesting defensive strategy to put 6'6 Nord on either Wojta or Tusler most of the day...worked out mostly, there were a few times when they were just a step too quick for him, but he kept them in front of him for the most part.

Chasing around Bridge must have tired him out judging by his goose egg in the scoring column.

Looks like the West committee really hated the Royals based upon early reports that the final secret rankings had them at #6 despite 3 wins over Olaf.  Could have had 3 MIAC teams in the tourney if they don't bury Bethel in the rankings by selectively using the head to head criteria when considering Buena Vista but not St. Olaf.

I would have to add that Bethel's losses to Hamline and Carleton certainly didn't help either.

Quote from: AO on January 26, 2015, 10:23:24 AM

Quote from: nkwest on January 26, 2015, 09:39:14 AM
Thoroughly entertaining game at Schoenecker Arena on Saturday with an atmosphere and competition level worthy of the rivalry, bucking the J-Term trend in St. Paul. I can't figure out if it helped or hindered SJU down the stretch to only have been whistled for one foul in the second half prior to a UST possession with 2:30 remaining. The Tommies managed to bleed a lot of time off the clock their last couple of trips down the floor, aided by two huge offensive rebounds. UST had no answer defensively for Mitchell Kuck, who (finally) missed a good look for three with 1:15 left which would have made it a one possession game.

We had the "too few fouls" problem at Northwestern a few times.  If you have a good set of refs you should be able to use it to your advantage and go for the steals without risking putting someone at the free throw line, but some refs blow the whistle in anticipation of the end of game foul parade rather than seeing if there actually was a foul.

My solutions:
1: Play the advantage like Hockey and Soccer.  If a player is in a likely scoring position or is in the backcourt after a foul was committed the whistle is not blown and play continues until the scoring chance is over. 
2: Let teams decline free throws.  There should never be an incentive to foul.  You should just count the foul against the player and let the fouled team inbound the ball again.
3: Only 1 timeout is allowed per team in the last 2 minutes.

I like the advantage rule to an extent, but I worry about what might happen if an advantage is called by the official and play continues - would the defense simply take out the offensive player? In soccer you have yellow + red cards to deter that behavior. Also, FTs are part of the game and if you can't make them, too bad.

I do like the idea of less timeouts. Great article from a couple of weeks ago from the Rush the Court blog. Pertains a bit more to D1, but think D3 could take a look at less timeouts and keeping the game moving.

Quote from: Drake Palmer on January 21, 2015, 03:52:29 PM
Big things tonight in Northfield when the 19th ranked Oles take on #3 (seriously?!?) St. Thomas.  Other obligations prevents me from checking this clash of the Titans out, but I'm thinking STO has too much depth, and firepower. Oles by 7 points at home.  Austin Majeskie?? 

With any luck I'm might be able to catch the 2nd half on the webcast.

The board is alive!

Since my Knights are out of town, might head over and check it out. The Tommie guards are so good, but thinking home court advantage might be too much to overcome.

Quote from: Drake Palmer on April 07, 2014, 03:07:16 PM

Quote from: AO on April 03, 2014, 01:20:02 PM
another blurb from Concordia, we have a new frontrunner for the "All Name team"

Brodie Running, 6-foot-6 senior forward for Roosevelt and SD Heat, has committed to play basketball at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn.

https://twitter.com/stuwhitney/status/451768110228316160

Hmmm...the committee certainly thinks the name has good potential.  Brodie "Forrest Gump" Running. 

I'm gradually falling out of the loop with high school basketball. Did they play the annual HS All Star games this year? if so, I missed it.  Perhaps  AO, Kilroy, or Jimhoops could post the names of the players in the games and we could start filling in the gaps and list where those players are going to college next fall.   

The names escapes me at the moment, but I heard a nice post player out of Sibley HS in Mendota Heights is going to Hamline next year. Jimhoops - is this one of the players you were referring to?

The game was at the end of March. Here's your list with some commits that I could find easily or I knew already - I'll let others add to it.

Matt Ambriz, Woodbury
Dennis Austin, Apple Valley
Wheeler Baker, Osseo-Albany
JR Bascom, Blake-Wesleyan (Conn.)?
Zach Brandts, St. James
Ryan Bruggeman, Pelican Rapids - Southwest Minnesota State
Ryan Casperson, R'Dale Armstrong-Carleton
Pierre Conwell, St. Paul Johnson
Geno Crandall, Mpls. DeLaSalle - North Dakota
D.J. Davis, Bloomington Kennedy - Northern Colorado
Kory Deadrick, Esko - St. Thomas
Clay Elrod, Elk River - Bemidji State
Andy Foley, St. Cloud Tech - St. Cloud State
Paul Friendshuh, New Prague-Richmond
Brian Goodwin, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa
Michael Gorder, Eagan
Kevin Grow, Centennial-Carleton
Jake Johnson, St. Francis -  Northern State
Jeff Jones, Mpls. Washburn-Minnesota (FB)
Carter Kirk, Mountain Lake Area - Southwest Minn. State
Cole Kruger, Hayfield
Ryan Kruse, St. Clair - Central (Iowa) - track and hoops
James Lawson, Mpls. DeLaSalle - U of Sioux Falls
Damon Longstreet, Delano - St. Thomas
Isaiah McKay, Park Center
Christian Pekarek, Upsala - Bemidji State
Mitch Pfingsten, Fairmont
Brett Peterson, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton
Austin Poe, Big Lake-U of Sioux Falls
Austin Rund, Fergus Falls - Concordia (Moorhead)
Nick Shanks, Plainview-Elgin-Millville-Winona State
Riley Sharbano, Marshall - St. Thomas
Jon Sobaski, Prior Lake - NDSU
Ian Smith, Champlin Park - Northern State
Ian Theisen, Osseo - South Dakota State
Reid Travis, Mpls. DeLaSalle - Stanford
John Veil, Blake - St. Thomas
Tyler Weiss, Shakopee - St. John's
Zach Wessels, Austin - U of Sioux Falls
Brennan Witt, Champlin Park - UW-River Falls
Jake Wright, Hopkins-Citadel (he's read "The Losing Season" I hope)

Quote from: Drake Palmer on February 12, 2014, 01:14:03 PM
Lost in the mini hype of the upcoming Ole-Tommie game, the Carlies lost in Moorhead on Monday night to the Cobbs 67-60.  Although this loss doesn't knock Carleton out of contention for the 6th & final playoff spot, it does put added pressure on their shoulders.

Yes, a tough loss. The Knights struggled a bit with the Cobbers' size down low and had some uncharacteristic lapses in transition defense. It makes Saturday's game with SJU a likely must win, and depending on what Bethel does, Carleton might need to win out to even have a chance. Needless to say the Knights will be rooting hard for the Gusties tonight.

Tough loss for my Knights on Saturday. Poor end to the first half vs. Gustavus, forced to play catch up, and then Brian Jacobs made a couple of tough shots down the stretch (cold-blooded three, baseline fadeaway). Must win for the Knights on Monday at Concordia, and a big week for Bethel with winnable games vs. GAC and at SJU.


Gustavus (11-6): 2 home/1 road, 1 vs. top 5/1 vs. bottom 4
at Bethel
vs. SMU
vs. St. Thomas
BYE

Augsburg (10-6): 3 home/1 road; 0 vs. top 5/2 vs. bottom 4
vs. Hamline
vs. Bethel
vs. Carleton
at SMU

SJU (9-7): 1 home/3 road, 1 vs. top 5/2 vs. bottom 4
at Macalester
at Carleton
vs. Concordia
at St. Thomas

Bethel (9-8): 2 home/1 road, 3 vs. top 5/0 vs. bottom 4
vs. Gustavus
at Augsburg
BYE
vs. St. Olaf

Carleton (7-9): 2 home/2 road, 2 vs. top 5/2 vs. bottom 4
at Concordia (Mon., 2/10)
vs. St. John's
at Augsburg
vs. Macalester

Quote from: Drake Palmer on February 06, 2014, 04:23:01 PM

The Dawgs are tough, but the Jays kept sending wave after wave of talented players at the talented, but not very deep Auggies.  It's tough to play their preferred fast pace style of ball with only 6-7 players. Conversely, I think the old fox in the woods tried to bait the Dawgs into running with the Jays. Coach Smith had 9 players who were on the floor for more than 10 minutes. The Dawgs only had 6 players with double digit minutes.

Noticed that Hines, Seidlitz and Kornbaum played all 20 minutes of the second half (according to the box score). So did McKenzie for SJU and Marx 17, but no one else more than 14.

After going back through the play-by-play, Augsburg pushed out to a 5-point lead three minutes into the second half. SJU embarked on a 17-3 run over a six-minute stretch and then pretty much controlled the game from there. I found it interesting that SJU made only a single 3-pointer among those 17 points (took 3 long-range shots) - they made five layups (including a dunk) and two FTs. They continued to pound the paint and took only two 3-pointers the rest of the way.

You have to contain the dribble drive offense of SJU. I watched most of Carleton's game up there online (laptop, sound was fine) and the Knights controlled the game when they were able to contain the dribble penetration. Ultimately, if memory serves me correctly, too many turnovers and fouls down the stretch allowed SJU to come back and win.

Certainly, St. Olaf, St. Thomas and SJU seem to have the best depth (haven't seen GAC yet, so can't comment there). That makes Saturday's game in C-ville interesting. Even though last time was a high-scoring affair, I'll say that if the Oles can keep the J's out of the lane consistently, they win by 10. If not, #upsetalert!

Just bumping this forward with an update and adding GAC and Augsburg in there so folks can figure out #3 and #4 spots. Havn't put in tiebreakers-maybe once we get to the final week.

Big games Saturday: GAC @ Carleton and St. Olaf @ SJU.

Gustavus (10-6): 2 home/2 road, 1 vs. top 5/1 vs. bottom 4
at Carleton
at Bethel
vs. SMU
vs. St. Thomas
BYE

Augsburg (9-6): 3 home/2 road; 0 vs. top 5/3 vs. bottom 4
at Macalester
vs. Hamline
vs. Bethel
vs. Carleton
at SMU

SJU (9-6): 2 home/3 road, 2 vs. top 5/2 vs. bottom 4
vs. St. Olaf
at Macalester
at Carleton
vs. Concordia
at St. Thomas

Bethel (8-8): 2 home/2 road, 3 vs. top 5/1 vs. bottom 4
at Hamline
vs. Gustavus
at Augsburg
BYE
vs. St. Olaf

Carleton (7-8): 3 home/2 road, 3 vs. top 5/2 vs. bottom 4
vs. Gustavus
at Concordia (Mon., 2/10)
vs. St. John's
at Augsburg
vs. Macalester

Huge win for my Knights last night, completing the season sweep of Bethel. Could prove huge in a few weeks since it gives them the tiebreak over the Royals. McSparron held Wojta to 5-of-19 shooting, and blocked three of his shots on straight-line drives where McSparron just stayed in front of him, rose up and blocked the shot after it left Wojta's hand. Not many guards that can do that in the MIAC.

I think schedule will play a large role in determining those last 2-3 playoff spots. Carleton has already played UST and St. Olaf twice, while SJU and Bethel have to face both the Oles and Tommies over its final 5-6 games. Here's the breakdown:

SJU (8-6): 3 home/3 road, 3 vs. top 4/2 vs. bottom 4
vs Augsburg
vs. St. Olaf
at Macalester
at Carleton
vs. Concordia
at St. Thomas

Bethel (8-7): 2 home/3 road, 4 vs. top 4/1 vs. bottom 4
at St. Thomas
at Hamline
vs. Gustavus
at Augsburg
vs. St. Olaf

Carleton (6-8): 3 home/3 road, 2 vs. top 4/3 vs. bottom 4
at St. Mary's
vs. Gustavus
at Concordia
vs. St. John's
at Augsburg
vs. Macalester


Analysis:
•Not hard to see Bethel finishing at 9-11--that's a tough finishing stretch. Could they steal one at home against Gustavus or St. Olaf (realizing that St. Olaf could be playing for a top-two seed and that it has at-large NCAA Tournament aspirations)? No gimmee at Hamline Saturday, either.

•Seems like SJU, at worst, gets to 10 wins. Obviously big match-up at Carleton on Feb. 15--would give them sweep of Knights and likely push it to 11 wins and a certain spot. Also, if it could wins one of next two games at home (Augsburg or St. Olaf) that gives them a leg up as well, IMO. Of course, I haven't been able to figure this team out all year. Get dumptrucked on Saturday at Bethel, then turn around and win on the road for the first time in MIAC play at Gustavus last night? Still, seem to be trending upwards, having won 5 of last 6, so maybe that Bethel loss is an outlier (outscored by 20 in the second half?). 

•Carleton has the most favorable schedule-3 games left vs. the bottom 4, although two are on the road (at SMU and at Concordia). Both are likely must wins, as is the home game to finish with Mac. That gets the Knights to 9 wins. If they could steal 1-2 among GAC, at Augsburg or SJU, that could push them to 10-12. Realistically, I think they get 9 wins, and maybe 10, and hope things break their way.

Quote from: jimhoops1234 on January 24, 2014, 10:42:43 PM
Kilroy - isn't it just tough to win at SMU in general? And GAC isn't much older yet are competing quite well.

Also, in recruiting is it really something to get excited about when finishing a supposed second for a player? Like Ricky Bobby said "second place is first loser". Second or tenth you're in the same spot. I bet no team was excited and tweeting about finishing second in the Tyus or Reid Travis sweepstakes.

Drake - thanks for filling in the gaps and keeping the board alive.

Also - Carleton has the fewest fouls in d3 this year.  Next closest team has 12 more fouls...and has played four fewer games.  Next closest team with the same # of games played has 32 more fouls.

As someone who recruits (women's golf) I agree you don't really finish second - there's one winner and just a bunch of "non-winners." A kid likely tells many coaches "I chose X, but you were my second choice." 

If you watched any of the Carleton-St. Olaf game, I thought the Knights did an excellent job on the defensive interior of making St. Olaf try to finish over the top of defenders without fouling. The Knights stress this and with as much dribble penetration that takes place in offenses these days, being able to make offensive players convert those layups against solid defense is a great tactic. Carleton has ranked at the top of D3 in least fouls per game many times over the last 10 years, and they typically rank as one of the better defensive units in the conference. If you're into the Four Factors, St. Olaf's FT rate was 5.5% on Wednesday. It really kept the Knights in the game because the Knights' turnover rate was about 30%.

Quote from: miacmaniac on January 20, 2014, 12:27:38 PM
Rivalry week-- Johnnie/Tommie tonight, Gopher/Badger on Weds and Wild/Hawks on Thursday. Life don't get much better!

Add Carleton-St. Olaf to the docket - Wednesday night at West.

Tough week for my Knights, going without Chen and McSparron on Wednesday but still nearly upsetting Augsburg, and then staying close to SJU in Collegeville without McSparron again on Saturday. Still like where the Knights sit at the almost halfway point - they will be in the mix for a playoff spot if they can get and stay healthy.

Add some major college basketball media members to the list of those who think this act is wrong.

CSB National College Basketball Writer Gregg Doyel: Not easy for Grinnell gunner to score 100-plus, till coach makes it so

If you check on Twitter, a number of other media types are weighing in as well, including the well-respected Fran Fraschilla, former coach at Saint John's (NY), Manhattan and New Mexico.

Nice job by Doyle to make the connection between these "records" and the publishing of The System books.

Quote from: jeffp on November 18, 2013, 07:30:28 PM
Mr Ypsi -
Taunting. In your face tongue wagging, face making. Rubbing in what you have done. Making fun of the other team.

Thanks for the scout on Taylor. Interesting.

I would say that what Grinnell is doing is basically what you've described, but in a figurative sense. They're taunting the other team by saying "we're going for XXX record because we don't respect you, and even though we're up by a wide enough margin that the victory is secure, we're going to rub in the fact that we're the superior team by continuing to shoot three-pointers early in the clock and keeping out star player on the floor, getting him shots at every opportunity."

I know you don't see it that way, but it's pretty obvious from the deadspin article and comments, this board and in other places that other people do see these actions as unsportsmanlike. From my vantage point, the "look at me" factor is the hardest to digest. It's a selfish, selfish act and is degrading to the other team, and for me that has no place in Division III athletics.

Quote from: jeffp on November 18, 2013, 05:10:36 PM
Careltonsid -
The Grinnell faithful don't wonder about it at all. Misters Ypsi and Sager have spelled out what we've known for years.

What you all really want is conformity. Well. Grinnell has never been considered a conformist institution, so why should you expect the Basketball program to be any different? And stop with the nonsense about Grinnell causing ALL of DIII to be considered in a bad light. Many of you spend an inordinate amount of time trivializing (or attempting to, anyway) what Grinnell does, but you are about the first to trivialize it and give it great national importance as a determiner of what millions of people think about the whole of Division III in one sentence! It's enough to give a person whiplash!

So, I have a question. Since we seem to have moved away from "this isn't basketball" (finally after 20 some odd years...) to "this isn't sportsmanship" as the way to belittle Grinnell basketball, I'd like a solid all inclusive definition of what good sportsmanship really is - since you all seem to know, and I'd like to know what makes ANY of us omnipotent enough to be the final arbiter. What makes running up the score in football ok while trying for records and running up the score in Basketball isn't. What makes a system contrived to give one player a shot at a national record unsportsmanlike while placing quotation marks around the word TEAM when referring to Finlandia or Crossroads is ok, or suggesting that Crossroads was laying down op purpose ("because IC might actually try and play defense and not be an act in the circus" - Larry U)?

All the the chest pounding and delirium used to make a big deal out of this or anything else surrounding the system is something Grinnell is used to. One word to sum up 20 years of derision? CONFORMITY. Nuh uh. Not at Grinnell anyway. Not as an institution and not as a basketball team, and I personally remain proud of what has been accomplished by both. Jeffdc, just add Deadspin to the list of detractors with no dog in the chase. Who really cares outside of a few self proclaimed basketball purists...er...conformists anyway.

[Also noting that while I composed this, the venerable Mr. Ypsi authored a post with much the same thoughts.]

Jeffp -  I suggest you google the term "red herring."

No one here has said nor insinuated that Grinnell needs to conform. No one is blasting The System. The problem that people have is that feeding one guy like DA + co. have intentionally chosen to do vs. inferior opponents reeks of blatant self-promotion. They're not doing it to improve, or for the betterment of the team, but instead for self glory. It's the ultimate example of Hero Ball, it's self-serving and frankly disgusting. Now Grinnell is feeling that PR blowback. You and the Grinnell fan base can defend it all you want, but it's only a publicity grab at the expense of another team and institution. You can use say you're fighting The Man or whatever, but just because you schedule an inferior opponent doesn't automatically mean you need to feed your best player for basically every shot and have him rarely cross half court and play defense (sorry, pressing the inbounder isn't defense).

I've seen The System. It's a brilliant idea for a place like Grinnell, and certainly helped lift the Pioneers into relevancy in the MWC and kept them there. I love the concept and how it fits a place like Grinnell - 15 kids get to play every game. Wonder how the other 14 players feel when Coach says "Hey tonight only one guys shoots the ball." Each player only gets a certain amount of college games - 100+ if you're really lucky, but probably more like 40-60. Why not let a few of the guys who don't normally get a ton of shots to be featured against Crossroads and Faith Baptist.

Popular opinion is running against Grinnell for shenanigans like this for a reason. It has nothing to do with "having a dog in the chase" or conformity. Using a foe for personal glory (and make no mistake, Grinnell USED Faith Baptist and Crossroads), IMO, certainly runs counter to the D3 philosophy. But that's just my $.02.

Finally, just want to add no hate here, just healthy disagreement.

Former CarletonSID

(PS - How would Taylor fare playing night in and night out in the IIAC or MIAC in a more traditional system? Not being snarky - actually wondered this. Is he easily an all-conference guy? Obvious the dude can shoot it, just wonder if he could get his own against a bit higher level of competition night in and night out in a game with a more normal amount of possessions.)