In shock for the way this shook out for my blazers....

I have always put more stock in a strong schedule than easy wins...Gustavus definitley had this with their early season tourney.  The loss for CSB to Wartburg is what really stands out for CSB....This is a very young team with loads of players ready and willing to step in next year.  Congrats to the 3 miac teams!!  Let's go out and show the WIAC what's up.

CSB probable starting lineup next year

F-  Frank
F- Tauer
G- Carter
G- Schmidt
G-.... Bowlin(best high school player I have ever seen!  Had to sit out this year with a knee injury), Also, 4 or 5 freshmen from this year that will contribute major minutes.  If there are any incoming freshmen next year they will have to be pretty good to work themselves into this lineup.

I have a hard time seeing this team losing more than 3 games next year.  They will win the games that they didn't this year. 


Once again... Tough pill to swallow w/ the Blazers out, but it's tough for me to get upset too much as long as these teams represent the conference well!

Quote from: Collegeville Magic on February 28, 2008, 02:05:30 PM

Interesting, however, that PRF "anticipated 3 of 4 pre-game factors" correctly before the game, but then also stated the opinion that 3 of Frank's 4 fouls were iffy calls.  Isn't it hard to both credit and discredit the same poster for his/her comments about the same game?    

Even if I thought the fouls were "iffy"  my "pre-game factor" is still accurate.  I felt that Okenberg-Frank would be a big factor in the game  (not really going out on a limb by making that assumption)  It ended up being a HUGE factor.  The iffy calls are just a partial reason as to why this "pre game factor" was won so handily by okenberg.

Fact:  Okenberg v. Frank was a huge factor

Fact:  Frank played 9 minutes

Opinion:  Poor calls were part of the lopsidedness of this matchup.  


How does that not make sense?

Frank's fouls came from a combination of a lot of compaining by Okenberg and just some pour calls.  1 over the back foul that wasn't even close...and 2 clean blocks that were called fouls for some awful reason.  However, these calls definitely didn't change the outcome too much.

Carleton had a great game plan and ran it to perfection.  Okenberg was outstanding especially without having much defense against her.  After seeing the tommies saturday and carelton tonight I think that the tommies will have no problem on saturday. 

Good luck to both teams in the next round.  They are two tough teams. 

CSB v. Carleton thoughts....


-Frank vs. Okenberg...Can Frank match Okenbergs offensive output or at least hold Okenberg down a bit?

- 3 point shooting....CSB will need to make some shots early and often

- turnovers... Carleton needs to eliminate their turnovers to have a chance.

-  Sarah Lincoln... how effective can she be on her injured ankle?

Should be a good game... CSB by 10 setting up a big game on saturday.

St. thomas 56  St bens 55

First days take on Tommies vs. Bennies...

Great last 10 minutes from the tommies.  They will have some real confidence heading into the playoffs now which will make them tough to beat.

St. Ben's lost it towards the end of the game and will have to find themselves in the next 3 days to get back into form before a very tough matchup either way on Wednesday. 

MVP of the game.... Carrie Embree... This game would have been a blowout with out her...

There is no way Katch is the MVP of this league.  There are 2 more valuable players in this league including one on her own team.  MVP goes to Vadnais due to the fact Embree loses her votes due to splitting with Katch.

CSB losing on Saturday?  I don't know how anyone could see that as being a LIKELY scenario.  It is definitely a possibility that they won't win, but likely is quite a stretch with how CSB has been dominating lately.

Few stats for CSB

Scmidt has had 20+ in 5 of the last 7 games.
Frank had 16 pts 12 rbds and 7 blocks in her last game. (21 blocks in last 3 games)  Including one that was swatted over the visitor bench last night.

CSB does seem to get cold shooting on the road though.  It will be a good game.  It is likely that CSB will win though.

Looking forward to a tough game for St. Bens today.  St. Ben's has been great at home this year, but this definitely has the making of a trap game.  Hamline can sew up a spot in the playoffs with a win today and St. Ben's has been making a habit of starting slow.  Hamline's freshman post plays with a lot of confidence and was definitely not afraid to go right at the St. Ben's posts who had a very tough time defending her in their first meeting.  Combine this with some hot shooting and St. Ben's could find themselves in a struggle today. 

That said, I think St. Ben's should pull this one out winning by ten.  It will be a close game with St. Ben's pulling away late.  This team is starting to finally develop some confidence with a very young team and they have just been too tough at home. 

Quote from: gacbacker on February 03, 2008, 11:14:24 AM
I still think the MVP race is a three horse race with Katch, Vadnais and Hageman. A lot will be decided in the next 8 days in my mind as the Gusties face St. Ben's, St. Thomas and Concordia in that span. If Vadnais performs well and the Gusties win two of those three games, the MVP might be hers.

WW and others:  Do you think someone can win the MVP if he/she is not the leading scorer on his/her own team. Going into yesterday's games Carrie Embree was actually outscoring Katch by the smallest of margins. Embree is also fourth in the conference in rebounding...perhaps she should be receiving consideration for MVP, given that St. Thomas has made the jump from an average team to a conference leader with the same players except for the addition of Embree.

I agree with GAC on this one WW.  Katch is a good player, but I was expecting her to be the clear leader and focal point of St. Thomas.  I think my problem with Katch for MVP is more about how good Embree is than Katch being bad.  In my opinion Embree is the most valuable player on that team and probably #3 in the conference behind Hageman and Vadnais.

That being said, great game by St. Ben's yesterday.  This team is much much different than the team that lost a few straight earlier this season.  Schmidt scored 20 on some very hot shooting and Frank had 18 pts and 15 boards.  Very impressive game by those two along with a freshman off the bench who scored 11 on some hot 3 point shooting.  Should be a great game on Monday!

Quote from: gacbacker on February 01, 2008, 08:21:05 PM

And by the way mnbball4, or should I say Jamie? great way to start your posting career. A little jealous of the Gusties record perhaps over there in Northfield? Or just jealous of Vadnais' skills?

Way to go GAC, you called out someone by their real name.  I bet you slept well after that comment. 

In other news to get back on track for GAC's sake.... GAC is the great and I bet if all 5 starters score in double figures they will win every game.... Way to go out on a limb there. 

Quote from: east coast miac fan on January 31, 2008, 02:19:01 PM
PRF, how do you know anything about what was going on at SMU last year?  How could you possibly know if he was or wasn't going to class?

I think you have no idea what you're talking about, and maybe you should be in the situation before you try to state facts about what was going on.

Even if he was forced into coaching golf and didn't do a good job, how does that have anything to do with coaching basketball, the job he was there to do?  If he did such a bad job, then why were all his players unhappy when he left?

There's no need to slam coaches if it's going to offend anyone.  Let's leave with... in my OPINION St. Mary's is MUCH better off with the new coaching staff.  Hopefully this coach will be able to stick around for a while.  It would definitely help a lot.  I know one girl on the team that has had a different coach 7 out of the last 8 years since 8th grade.  She will be a Senior next year.

As for "not knowing the facts".  I know the entire golf team, 5 players from the baketball team(who weren't as dissapointed as you say), numerous staff members at St. Marys, and 3 players that were being recruited hard by St. Mary's and are college freshmen this year playing at other colleges.  If that's not enough information to come up with a solid and definitely defendible opinion... what is?

Once again,  this is my opinion....  Get over it.

St. Bens looked good against Carleton last night.  Hot shooting kept them in the game during the first half.  Carleton was executing their offense flawlessly in the first half.  I think they scored 10-16 points on back door cuts in the first half.  Lincoln and Okenberg are a very good duo and work very well with eachother.  When one or the other was out of the game they tended to struggle due to a lack of perimiter game.

The 2nd half was a different story with Okenberg getting very frustrated going against Frank and a slew of other Bennie posts.  Also, St. Bens played much better D and Carleton got a little lazy and tenative on offense. 

On a neutral court I think that Carleton is a better team right now due to their size and experience.  Okenberg and Lincoln are not only skilled, but they are very smart players and do not make many mistakes.

Quote from: gacbacker on January 23, 2008, 11:20:43 AM
There isn't a single player in the league this year who doesn't have a weakness somewhere on their stat line.

Katch is the front runner for MVP because she is in the top 10 in the conference in all the major catagories: points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, and her team is tied for first place in the conference.

She might be top 10, but you have to be a clear defined MVP of your own team to be considered a league MVP.  Vadnais and Hageman are clearly that.  I couldn't have picked Katch out of a crowd, but it could have also just been a tough game for her.

St. Bens gets pounded by Concordia tonight.  Team shot 1-16 from three and about 25% overall from the floor.  St. Ben's really seems to struggle if they aren't able to hit a few threes to spread out the floor.  Watched this game on Webcast.  Even despite the poor game from St. Bens, Concordia definitely looked like a strong and confident team.

Caught the CSB UST game last night.  CSB played well and definitely needed to win that one.  They will have a much tougher time when they play on the road at UST.  A few notes from the game.  St. Ben's had a very balanced scoring attack with 3 players in double figures and 4 or 5 scoring 8 or more. 

First time I've seen Katch play.  Definitely must not have been her best game.  I'm surprised at the MVP talk with her.  I didn't think she was even the best player on their team.  #11 (the girl that is playing for her first year as a senior) was the leader of the team on offense.  Very good mid range player.

Still a lot of season left though.

MVP talk.

I have been to 5ish St. Bens teams and have had a chance to see a few players from different teams play. I have not seen Katch or Vandais play, but they both seem to be the marquee players.  Hageman had a very tough game when I saw her play against St. Bens.  Couple notes on the "big girls" around the league that I've seen so far.

Center for Augsburg was very impressive.  She is a solid player who definitely knows how to play to her strengths.  She was very effective against St. Bens even though she played with 4 fouls for a lengthy part of the game.


It should be an interesting remainder of season.

I am looking forwardto the Tommie/Bennie matchup next Monday.  I would imagine that St. Ben's should be able to play with them, but it seems that St. Thomas knows how to finish, something we don't know about St. Bens yet.   

Hageman is clearly the best player on the squad.  However, she won't be able to carry this team.  The young tall posts from St. Bens held her in check the first half of that game.  If some of the cobber guards can develop some outside threat Hageman will put up even better numbers.

Quote from: Maroon&Gold on November 29, 2007, 09:52:53 AM
For all of you Blazer faithful at CSB last night, what are your impressions of this year's Cobber squad???

Just by reading previews and looling at rosters, my take is that this is a very young team who will probably grow and mature throughout the year, hopefully to be playing their best ball come playoff time.