Shocker you bring up a great point.  Why dont more people talk about Jake phillips?  the jake phillips i know led the miac in assists per game last year, led the league in 3point percentage and was 2nd in the league in 3 pointers made   3rd in the leage in assist to turnover ratio??   also led the league in minutes per game! leading the league in minutes, while being a pg and having one of the best turnover/assist ratios is remarkable i think at least!

now i understand that coaching can affect players stats to some degree but....if schnettler was that good at driving and penetrating and/or kicking it out to others for open shots...what coach would take those skills away from a player???  it just doesnt make sense.  It comes down to, i personally think schnettler is overrated when being called one of the best OVERALL players in the league.  I think he is extrememly 1 dimensional.  He is an incredible shooter and I will give him that but thats all I will give him.

miacwatchmen-im surprised that after you have seen the johnnies put up so many points early in the season and beat a tough carleton squad at carleton that you dont think either team carleton or SJU can beat the tommies.  The tommies will lose either AT carleton, SJU, or bethel.  Winning conference record im guessing will be 18-2 or 17-3 at the end of the year.   They play 20 conference games right?

Columbia......i should state that i actually agree with you that stats dont mean everything.  But i also do believe that if people are going to make the claim he is the best 2 guard/overall guard in the league he sure as heck better average more then ONE ASSIST a game with ike and keating on his team, get more then ONE STEAL A GAME, and more then ONE REBOUND A GAME.

anywhoo, congrats to the johnnies.  by looking at the box score it seems as if they played pretty much flawless.  Only had 9 to's, westman was 5-7 from the 3 point line, ohme was a perfect 5-5 from the field. Liesure continued playing well.  Seems like maybe we still struggle to put teams away though which could hurt them later on.  Drake said SJU is a perimeter team which i agree to an extent but craig schaefer did lead us lasy game with 20 and our first game of the year fogt carried us with 17 pts 11 boards and 3 blocks, so im HOPING the johnnies are just noticing whats working during the game and going with it and thats why they continue to win.  

Because everyone seems to be on the schnettler bandwagon this year for best 2guard/overall guard in the miac ive decided to share a few stats with you people and would love to hear your response on how you can still think that after what i share.......
in 4 games he averages the MOST MINUTES per game on the team at 31.5
in 4 games he averages less then one assist a game...    .8 assists per game
in 4 games he averages  only 1.5 rebounds per game.
in 4 games he has a TOTAL of 3 steals on the year.
in 4 games he averages 19points per game

now for fun i decided to compare that to SJU's guards
Ohme- 3 games, 4.7 assists, 2.3 rebounds, 8 steals, 13.7 points per game
Leisure-3games, 3.7 assists, 2 rebounds, 7 steals, 19.7 points per game
westman-3games, 1.7 assists, 3.7 rebounds, 2 steals, 16 points per game

THEY ALL AVERAGE MORE assists, steals, and rebounds per game then schnettler and points is relatively close.  DO you still think he is the best guard in the league???  i rest my case!

i knwo we have a pickem board for a reason but im curious as to some game prediction talk for monday night because i think the matchups could actually go either way and this is kind of what i think....and why....



SMU BEATS mac   smu is due for a win and mac is just not very good either!!!

Tommies beat pipers   im thinking its gunna be closer then we think plus didnt the tommies struggle with the pipers last year too??

Bethel beats gac  bethel is on fire this game gac just isnt as good as years past

SJU BEATS carleton...not really sure what to say about this one flip a coin to see who wins this one i guess.  Can the johhnnies play d??

Concordia BEATS olaf   carried heavily by mr. linz.  I want to think olaf has a real good chance to win though with home court, no long bus ride blah blah

interesting week for the Johnnies coming up.  At carleton on monday, AT GAC on wednesday and then home vs ST. CLOUD STATE saturday.  I would have to say the biggest game comes Monday vs carleton because those two teams are fighting for the top spot in the miac and its the Johnnies first away game of the year.  TOugh way to start the year at carleton.  This will test where both teams stand so far early in the season.  I would think best case scenerio is the Johnnies win the two conference games and dont worry to much on st cloud state since that wont matter on the record at the end of the year.

well, after reading this debate on the best 2 guard in the conference/ best guard in general i hear the name schnettler and liesure over and over again with the majority of people picking schnettler.  I am pretty disappointed people are putting Tyler Westmans name in there for best shooter/ 2 guard.  He shot 44.5% from the 3 point line last year (ahead of schnettler and leisure, westman ended up 3rd for most threes made in the conference and he only played in 20 games last year when the average person on the list played in 26.  Tommies for life talks about schnettler creates so many shots for others with his passing and driving skills yet schnettler was not even in the top 15 in the miac for assists, or for assist to turnover ratio.  With ike and keating to pass too, i really think if schnettler possessed these skills he shoudl have been in the assist leaders but he wasnt.  I am not saying westman is the best but i sure think he deserves it as much as liesure or schnettler does!!!!

I was going to talk about the SJU game quickly but reading what tommieshoops4life just said i had to quickly laugh my head off and respond to that.  Keating put up numbers like that in a 44 POINTWIN against a team that is not half as good as them and he is trying to talk smack?? hahaha  keating will not average half thos numbers when the end of the year comes...13pts, 7 boards, 2 blocks, and i gurentee it.

Im going to wait to post more about the SJU game after others comment and i can see the box score but, I will already say that the Johnnies will go absolutely no where this year if coach smith continues to be the worst coach in the MIAC like he showed tonight!!!!! ( i can explain later if anyone cares )

Qeustion to everyone....there seems to be a lot of talk about the gusties this year and I would like to know who all thinks that they WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS THIS YEAR??  I personally do not think they will and if they do it will be the 6th seed but im curious as to what others really think.  for those who dont think the gusties will make the playoffs..(if there is anybody) who do you think will get the 6 seed?  i think it will be a fight between saint mary's and augsburg if this transfer keep putting up the numbers he did against crown.  (i know crown sucks...but ya never know)

i would have to agree that he may have lived up to his full potential but......with the addition of Westman, leisure, and surprise of craig s. all being scoring threats I think it takes away chances for him to be the *special* player he could have been.  Now he just plays to win the game so if he needs to score then he will, if he needs to get westman or liesure the ball he'll do that and that may help SJU more then anything this year.

Oddball, for that being your first post, personally I think it was not a very good one.  To say morris didnt have any big guys and that fogt will be exposed in the miac to big men is wrong.  They started a kid at 6'6 230 and he scored 12 points and they had a 6'7 kid come off the bench and score 14 points.  How many miac teams are going to be much bigger then that?  I think 6'6 and 6'7 is pretty standard posts in the miac.  To say fogt is slow, has stonehands, and is uncordinated may be true but the schaefers are EQUALLY as slow, hands are probably worse then fogts and fogt is much more athletic then the schaefers.  I believe they have the worst vertical on the team.  Fogt is the best rebounder on the team.  Still with that said i dont see Fogt ever being being a starter nor does he deserve it.  Craig S. earned it last year when he led or finished near the top of field goal percentage in the Miac.  He is just more polished as of now in the post then Fogt.  The 4 position is and will be brinks by the end of the year but hopefully much sooner.  Brink is probably the most underrated player in the MIAC.  Fogt should be craigs sub during the game and scott should be brinks sub during the game and thats it.  Never should craig and fogt be on the floor at the same time.  That would be the slowest tandom in the league.

Quickly because i hate long posts ill talk about this defensive debate.  I think leisure is probably one of the best defenders on the team..(top 3) but he is undersized which hurts him.  He can guard anyone player in the 1 or 2 position btu not the 3 because he is to undersized.  Nick johnson is the exact same way , probably a little better but still undersized and thats why Brink all around is hands down the best defensive player on the team.  He is long, athletic, quick and can basically guard anyone on the floor.  ona  side note whoever said ohme used to "D" up and get after it is wrong, since the day he got here was the worst defensive player to be in the starting 5 rotation.

well, im back for another MIAC YEAR!  I do believe last year i was the overall winner in PICK-EM so im excited to try and retain my crown!  I guess it is also about time I hope back on the SJU BAND WAGON.

As for my quick MIAC run through, I do believe the tommies should be ranked number one to start off the year.  With IKE and Schnettler coming back ( i still dont think keating is as good as most of you say) they deserve the number one spot TO START!!!!  As far as # 2 and #3 go Carleton and SJU are a trade off.  I think SJU does have the upper hand but carleton is close.  Probably heads up, each will win at home. As for picks 4 through 6, this will be debatable until probably the last game of the year.  I think hamline, Bethel, and and saint mary's are my favorites in that order but the gusties may surprise some people and push SMU out and take one of the other spots.  Scariest team in the Miac will be hamline though.  I think they have the ability to finish anywhere from first to 6th in the conference.  There uptempo offense/gamble on defense is unique and they have the players to do it.  They basically return everyone who mounted a 19? point comeback in the playoffs last yeat to beat sju and they are cocky, aggressive, and physical and well lets be honest, the miac doesnt have any teams like that.  They get in teams heads and it works for them. so watch out for the pipers!!  sorry my first post back is so long!!!