Nice recap of Ole/Knights contest Carletonsid. Your Knights have definitely had a frustrating year to date.

I was shocked to read my Sunday paper today and learn that Bethel had pulled off another upset. Knocking off UST and Gusties in consecutive games ranks very high in the "who would have thunk it" category. I was also surprised at the margin of Concordia's win over the Johnnies. SJU definitely get my vote for Jeckel/Hyde team this year. Hamline also really rolling throught he softer part of its MIAC schedule which has to have piperinsider smiling. Can they use this momentum to keep moving up the ladder? Should be interesting second half, although whatever happens, it is clear to me any team making the playoffs has a shot. No more "papa power rankings" this year....right now I would have about 5 teams tied for first

I decided to take in the UST/Auggies game yesterday. Particularly with Tommy Hannon out of the lineup with a knee injury, I was curious as to whether the strong Auggie front court tandem of Cory P and Anny G-G could take advantage of the situation. Unfortunately for the Dawgs, the 25 combined points scored by this tandem was not nearly enough. UST's FY post Connor Nord filled in admirably for Hannon as the starting post player for UST with a double/double to help neutralize the Auggie front court. Nord also gets props from papahoops for his new clean cut hair style which has no doubt improved his games:)   As is often the case, the UST defense was key to the outcome of the game, always seeming to keep Augsburg off balance and uncomfortable. Will Deberg's smooth shooting stroke generating 15 points off the bench gets my #1 offensive star of the game award for UST (Alipate's 11 off the bench didn't hurt the cause either).

Although he didn't have his best shooting game, I like Tyler Schmidt's smooth shooting stroke and I can see why his scoring output has been strong recently. I also would also give Parker Hine high marks for his post entry passing skills. Although UST handled the Dawgs yesterday, I would be very surprise if Augsburg is not a top 4 playoff team at the end of the conference season.

On another note, I cannot help but note MAC's 15 point HOME loss to SMU yesterday dropping them to the bottom of the conference standings. Like their non-conference loss to Crown earlier in the season, losing to SMU at home is yet another low point for a program many thought would be more competitive this year. I was hopeful the recent MAC win over Carleton was a signal things were on the upswing, but this win was quickly followed by an embarassing performance at Augsburg and a loss to previously winless SMU. As the old saying goes, the more things change, the more things stay the same

Quote from: papahoops on January 02, 2012, 11:03:27 AM

Quote from: miacmaniac on December 30, 2011, 08:49:47 AM
Upset watch: Augsburg has been slipping and MAC is due for an upset to get into victory column. Keep an eye on this one

I was right about MAC being due for a win, but had the opponent wrong
MAC BEATS CARLETON 61-59 FOR FIRST WIN TONIGHT
CONGRATS TO THE FIGHTING SCOTS

Quote from: miacmaniac on December 30, 2011, 08:49:47 AM
Additional props to GAC for its late-night win in Sin CIty, this time over Transylvania. WOW both games sound like they were thrillers... this could carryover and give the Gusties a shot of confidence and momentum. Papa- does this move them up in your power rankings? Definitley a sweet win.

I agree that GAC's nice performance in the Vegas tournament against quality competition is an indication that they are on the upswing. It was nice to see Ben Biewen have a nice 18 point performance to complement Seth Anderson in the championship game to give them some scoring balance.  My power league power ranking for top teams at this point would be:
1 UST
2 GAC
3 CAR
4 AUG/STO TIE
I still believe CAR is potentially more of a matchup problem for UST in a head to head contest, but GAC's early home win over CAR combined with their strong holiday tournament performance makes them deserving of the #2 power rank position heading into 2012 portion of the MIAC schedule.
Upset watch: Augsburg has been slipping and MAC is due for an upset to get into victory column. Keep an eye on this one

Happy New Year  

Quote from: miacmaniac on December 17, 2011, 01:24:00 AM
puhleez people...Mac had a 4-5 year run where they were competitive, and based on their history, those were an aberration. They have made the Playoffs 3 of 27 years and are 2-3 in playoff action. They last won the conference in 1980 (well shared it with a few others) and their only other title was in 1936-37. The Scots haven't been a factor in the league 80 of 90 years.  There is nothing to REbuild there...it's a building project and one that has been tried and retried and never really been done. Many sources say the Admin is reluctant to support athletics and it shows on the court (as well as the football field). Yes, it was nice for a handful of years a decade ago, but that is the Golden Age at Mac.

Ouch :-[But you make very valid points Mose which I cannot argue with. Although ancient history, MAC's last win over the Tommies will, however, always be a fond memory for papa
I was disappointed in Drake's news of another Augsburg loss against weak competiton. I was hoping based on their early conference success twith good front court play that the Dawgs might join Carleton in giving UST some real competition this year. Based on Augsburgs's  recent slide however, it appears Carleton is shaping up as the one true threat to UST's run of league dominance.

Quote from: AO on December 14, 2011, 01:23:22 PM

Quote from: WAlum on December 14, 2011, 12:26:12 PM
What is going on at Mac? The Scots were supposed to be better this year but yet they are 0-8 and 4-54 under this regime.  The Scots are on a streak of 15 straight losses. They lose to a team that turns around and loses by 40 to a sub .500 team!!!!

I'd be far more worried about the Crown loss if I'm a Mac supporter.  Hamline looks capable of another playoff berth.  Mac can always look forward to St. Mary's and the possible/likely continuation of their winning streak against Gustavus.

Right on AO. When I saw MAC lost to Crown in the non-conference part of their schedule I knew troubles were ahead in conference play. MAC seems to play reasonably well against better teams (ie. close loss at STO), but has played poorly against weaker teams, losing to teams like Crown and getting smoked at home by Concordia and Bethel. They need to time some of their better efforts for weaker competition to allow them to pick up a few wins.

Congrats to the Oles on a big 82-59 home win over the Gusties. Looks like they came out swinging with a 14-2 run to start the game and never took the foot off the gas pedal. Given the margin of their road losses to both UST and STO thus far, it appears Gustavus still needs to show they can compete with quality teams away from St. Peters. Unlike typical balanced scoring Gustie squads from the past, this year's squad needs a strong offensive performance from one player (Seth A) to succeed. I'm sure Coach Hanson would prefer more balance, but the offensive skill level of Anderson's supporting cast is forcing Gustavus to take a different approach this year.
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I just checked the schedule and noted that Gustavus travels to Northfield to play the Oles Saturday. After struggling to beat MAC at home and losing to Hamline on the road this week, I think this a very significant game for the Oles as they wrap up their pre-holiday conference schedule. Although STO is 2-2 in conference play and there is a lot of basketball to be played, their only wins to date were over winless SMU and MAC. If they lose to Gusties at home, they will need to start thinking more about making the playoffs than being the higher seeded team that many thought they might achieve this year after their strong finish last season. I really think this a big swing game for STO's season.

On the other hand, a road win by the Gusties over STO would build on their recent big home victories over Carleton and Augsburg and would provide more validation for ranking them as a top tier team in the league. I went into the season thinking STO would be a top 4 squad in the MIAC and Gustavus would be a 5-6 place team, but a win tomorrow at Northfield by the Gusties would definitely change my thinking on that projection

Had a commitment with the wife last night that kept me from checking out the Auggies/GAC matchup. I must admit I was hoping for an undefeated showdown between the Dawgs and Tommies in early January, but I know St. Peters is a tough place to pull off a road win. Last night's results did nothing to change my feelings that playoff teams will likely be UST, Augsburg, Carleton, Gustavus, Hamline, STO. Hamline moves ahead of STO in Papa's current power rankings based on strong win last night. Although Gusties have moved up to my #4 spot with big wins over Carleton and Augsburg this week, I'm not ready to move them ahead of Auggies/Carleton since their wins were both in St. Peter.

The first big upset of the season almost happened in Northfield tonight, as Oles barelysqueak out a 69-68 win over winless MAC. This one went back and forth the whole game. Oles had 2 point lead guarding a MAC in bounds play under the MAC basket with .6 seconds left and fouled the shooter (Sam Marshall) off the inbounds pass. Marshall had 2 foul shots with .2 seconds left, made the first, but the second rolled off the rim giving the Oles a tight win. I could hear Koz's sigh of relief, and I live a long way from Northfiels I watched the first 10 minutes of the Carleton/Gustavus matchup before getting interested in the Ole/MAC contest and Knights looked in control, but Gusties obviously took over in the second half for a nice home win.

Have been checking out web checking out a few games on the web. Unfortunately see no improvement in Mac squad as Bethel handles them easily. In terms of legit playoff potential, the Scots do not appear to be contenders. I'm afraid my friend Mose was overly optimistic about their prospects this year.

On the positive side, Augsburg REALLY impressed me today. When I turned off the game with a couple of minutes left, Cory Polta and Andy G-G had combined for 46 points and Augburg was handling Concordia easily. This will be a very tough front court matchup for most teams in the league. Although I realize it was only only one game and a small sample size, I would move up Auggies on my chart from projected top 4 team to legit contenter for the top spot.

Had a busy day yesterday and was unable to post any observations of UST/STO contest. After Drake's thorough game analysis, I don't have much to new to add in terms of game summary.

I will say I am even more enthusiatic than Drake regarding the potential of STO's FY point guard Sterling Nielson. I REALLY like his game and the poise he showed as a FY player playing point against a good pressure defense. Whatever the reason was for Jaryan not getting minutes in this game, Nielson's ability could be a bigger problem for Jaryan in terms of minutes played this year. Bobby Fong's inconsistency came to the forefront once again and after coming into the game averaging 20, he was a complete non-factor offensively. Stu Neville had a nice game, but cannot carry a team, so the lack of offensive help from Fong and Gunderson was the probably the key to the STO's loss.
On the UST side of the ledger, Tommy Hannon continues to demonstrate he is clearly the MVP of this year's UST squad. His steady play is key to UST's success. UST will need to keep on the floor this year, as there was a noticable drop off on team performance when he picked up a second early foul and had to sit the last 10 minutes of the first half. Regarding DP's expressed love of FY post Connor Nord's game, I was so distracted having to look at his hairstyle that I had trouble taking his game seriously. I know that is an unfair bias from an old school fan of the game, but let's leave it at that

A final note....Drake must have had a disguise on at the game, for I scanned the crowd on several occsions and could not pick him out. I'm sure he knew I would likely be sitting with MiacManiac, so I am wondering why he did not stop by to say hello ??

I was surprised to see SJU was able to beat #24 ranked Pointers, although after checking box score, it is hard for a team to win with a 11% shooting percentage in the second half. Not sure I can recall a quality team shooting that bad of a percentage

I see Bethel gave UWRF a surprisingly good battle last night losing 65-62. Based on the results of that game, I have either overestimated the strength of UWRF's squad or not given Bethel enough credit. As Drake noted in an earlier game, I noticed another unimpressive stat line for Chris Palmer (11 min, 2 points, 2 boards). Did the weakr front court talent he played with at SMU make him look that much better?? I suspect his performance has dropped off for whatever reason, as the player we saw last year should command more than 11 minutes on a team only beating Bethel by 3 With 2 personal fouls in 11 minutes, Mose will be pleased to see Palmer must still be playing an aggressive style

Just checked out a few MIAC rosters and noticed UST and SJU are tied in one category heading into the season with 31 roster spots each. I  know they need guys to fill JV squads, but 31?? Depth in a program is nice, but I think 31 is a bit much. I realize participation is important in D3, but most high schools cut to 18 roster spots, including JV. I can't imagine coaching a practice with that many players.