Quote from: localcoach on February 09, 2009, 12:39:37 PM
Another crazy weekend in the MIAC, or so it would appear

- I had to call some friends over at Snelling and Hewitt yesterday and ask about the power of the manifesto.  They denied any knowledge of such a document within the men's basketball program, but acknowledged that things are changing.  In all seriousness from what I have heard the biggest keys to the Pipers recent run are A) healthy team B) More consistent play from Carl Hipp and Eric Clute and C) changing defenses.  That is all I can offer at this time.

- A tough schedule to finish out the season for the Tommies (@ CAR, vs. BETH, @GAC, vs. SJU, vs. HU).  Still I have to believe that this is a special team and staying undefeated is a definite possibility.

- A three-way tie for second place.  Who will win it?  And are St. John's and Gustavus even in the discussion, having only one additional loss to those clubs?  Regardless it appears that the playoff teams are set unless the Pipers can end on one heck of a run.  The schedules (See below) have me doing some pondering:

BU - @ UST, @AUG, vs. GAC, vs. CAR - 2-2 would be great, but 0-4 is not out of the question
CAR - @GAC, vs. MAC, @AUG, @BU - Again, 2-2 would be good, but.....
AUG - @SJU, vs. BU, vs. CAR, @SMU - Again, is 0-4 a possibility??

SJU - vs. AUG, @HU, @UST, vs. GAC - I have to believe 1-3 is a likely finish
GAC - vs. CAR, vs. STO, vs. UST, @BU, @SJU - 2-3 is a realistic finish....?

So what have we learned??? Not much it would appear.  I do believe though that Bethel and Carleton have the best chance to fight it out for the second position. 

- MVP Watch -
Top 5 frontrunners (in no particular order) appear to be the following: Zach Johnson (CAR); Mike Moberg (BU); Nate Alm (AUG); Aaron Burtzel (SJU); and John Fraase (CON)?

The doc is in ---

The Pipes have shown that they can play
Their wins are coming day by day
The goal to make the playoff berth
Proves PHD wisdom has some worth

From what you know and what I see
The Pipers five should change by three
I write a riddle to make them best
This short poem - a Piper test

Change the starters and they may reign
The best five together will inflict more pain
This change should come to pass the test
Of seven straight wins and hope for the best

The biggest loser on D3Boards page 829
Should be one of five on the starting line
Speed, rebounds, and scoring plus experience
Will help the Pipes get to the dance...

The second change to make today
Initials start with D and A
His shot and control will help the five
To keep the Piper dream alive

The third of all to make the grade
Was called "The Flute" when he was played
The team has never lost a game
When 20+ come behind his name

Change is good when becoming great
Thus far what's done has helped Piper fate
Four games to win and none to lose
It's time to add nitro to the Piper cruise

A riddle is fun and is a guess
Yet it seems intuition has passed the test
So hope all D3 folks enjoy my jest
Here's hoping the Pipes can win the rest.....

Quote from: slickyquick on January 25, 2009, 09:28:19 PM
PI, completely understand your thinking but at the same time, Whitmore has one class of his own recruits on campus right now. None of the veterans have ever won at Hamline and from the looks at other MIAC rosters, they never won in HS either. It will probably take some time, things are just going to turn around especially when you look at the MIAC website and see that St. Thomas, St. John's, and Gustavus have won a majority of the conference titles over the last couple of decades.

Just want to clarify that there are winners at Hamline.  These are their HS senior records.  To get a PHD you have to do your research -

Senior Season.................Win..................Loss

Nick Carroll........................26......................3
Eric Clute...........................22......................3
Eric Gusaas........................21.....................7
Pierre Harris......................21......................7
Nick Hutchinson.................19......................6
Max Van Ordstrand...........20.....................10
Dan Anderson...................19.....................10
Stoddard Barnhill...............18.....................11
Korey Kelzer......................18.....................10
Tanner Anderson...............16.....................11
Carl Hipp............................16.....................11
Tony Thrasher...................N/A
Brandon Hayes..................6.......................21
Levi Wenrich.....................N/A
Brandon Rieg....................N/A

Total.................................222...................110
Win/Loss Ratio.............................67.3%
Gets you into the playoffs.
The ability to win is not in question.

Yah!  The Wit was jumping and swearing.  He even looked like he wanted to take a punch at the guy.  Guess the refs will have to wear head gear and mouthguards for Piper games now.  Just in case an MIAC ref makes a bad call....what are the odds?

Good evening America and Piper pessimists!  It is time to wake up and smell the Wit – ness.  As the JockDoc I have immense experience via 1200+ coaching wins, All American honors, and twenty years of teaching teamwork and the art of winning.  I too have watched enough Piper crap this year and need to make comment.  When you consider the vices and virtues in Piperland it is easy to see that unintelligent, fickle, egotistical coaching has reduced the virtues of intelligence, athletic talent, and passion to a sloppy, inconsistent, fearful, confused, low confidence and unhappy team that is no fun to watch and is incapable of winning. 

The Pipes came marching into the 08-09 season with energy, teamwork, talent and a blossoming understanding of roles and abilities needed to keep Hamline in the MIAC post season race.  Unfortunately, the leaders of the band began playing reveille after traveling to Chicago and losing to a tough Elmhurst team.  Thrasher, Clute, and Hipp were living up to expectation and Hayes, Tanner Anderson, and Gusaas were filling their roles with confidence and success.  Morrow and Dan Anderson filled out a perfect 8 man rotation.  Nick Carroll is still a brute who should be used in spurts to go out and kill people who need to be beat up physically.  Beyond that he has no value to the Piper lineup – turnovers, poor  shooting and a nasty tendency to criticize and yell at teammates when he is making lots of mistakes makes him a detriment to a team in need of confidence, consistency, and trust.  For unknown reasons, the Witmeister failed to find a true baclup point guard who can run a team, handle pressure, see the court, deliver the ball timely, and intelligently run the court.  Reig and Wenrich cannot deliver a pass, cannot handle pressure, and do not understand the role of a point guard.  Coach, please teach them something.  Perhaps Hutchinson is a solution as a quick, strong, unselfish, positive, high energy, leader but the Wit has not allowed him to prove himself there

After the first two games the Wit – ness decided that his body type would lead him to the promised land and he began to play small ball which is only successful on little league baseball fields.  Running lineups with average size on the court of  probably 6 feet he benched Clute for the Northwest game (played 17 minutes 2008 / scored 40 2007) and elected to use Van Ordstrand (30 minutes / 4 points) - who never saw a shot he didn't like and never saw a cut that was good enough to reward with a pass.  He started Nick "The Killer" Carroll and completely disregarded the roles and lineups that looked optimistic last year and successful this one.  Since then he has shifted lineups and playing time so randomly that this looks like a sports version of musical chairs.  It appears that he hates Clute (35 total min in last 5 games) and Gusaas who any team in the MIAC would love to have.  Now he has dumped Hayes as well?  He wants so badly to prove that little guys like him can win that he runs his teams out of games with weak, short lineups of guys that cannot defend, score, or play like a team. 

All coaches should know that you have two hundred minutes of playing time in a game.  You want to put enough points up in those minutes to win.  You cannot make turnovers and miss gimme assists.  There are three proven all conference players on our team.  Thrasher, Clute, and Hipp need to start and be on the court for at least 30 minutes each.  Brandon Hayes starts and should see about 25 minutes with Wenrich and Reig filling out 15 minutes of point duties and learning how to compete in non game changing opportunities.  Dan Anderson and Tanner Anderson should play 30 total minutes per game and provide scoring and rest for the big three.  Gusaas should get 10-12 minutes to abuse people and put pressure on other post players.  Hutch, Van Ordstrand, and Carroll should fill out the thirty and all else would adapt with situations.  This system will give balance, scoring and solid defense, fresh bodies, and consistency that will lead to victory.  Players have to know their roles and fill them. 
   
Finally, strategy needs to be learned.  Coach needs to teach Karl how to get out of the post if there is nothing there, to get out of the way when his teammates are cutting or driving and also how to pass from the post.  Put the players in positions and offensive sets where they can think, see, and play to win.  Forget the ridiculous four out one in and the Texas weave offense.  Go to a strong high-low post work the wings and get the ball up and down.  Let the stars make mistakes and teach your freshman not to make them – keep the new guys out of the way in critical times instead of putting them in the way.  Pass the ball quick and short, keep everyone involved by minimizing dribbling, waiting for good looks to score, and cutting sharply to and from the basket.  Also please teach your team to get the ball downcourt and into scoring position quickly.  You do not know how to come back when using 6-10 seconds dribbling into position to run some complex offense with no time left.

Play man to man defense no matter what and use your 2-3 or 1-3-1 zone or amoeba only for 2-3 minutes and rotate your zones consistently cause MIAC players are smart and figure out weaknesses and gaps quickly which is why zones are not the prime way to defend.  You also cannot always try to belly up on defense cause then defenders with weak scorers cannot help on the guys that kill you.  The quicker man always creates gaps and high percentage scoring opps.  You cannot trap until offensive players get into your front court and you always trap in the corners not at the top of the key.  Baseline players in 2-3 and 1-3-1 gotta stay low enough to stop over the top and baseline drives and wing players only steal when offense has been trapped-especially weak side defenders gotta stay low to deny gimme shots and drives.  Know that if a guard allows penetration from the front court it is their fault when it leads to a score.  You cannot play crazy in a zone you gotta play carefully and with complete ability to stop penetration from the front court.   Speed kills - court sense wins...ask Auerbach if Bird was a speed demon.  Keep your 3-12 assistants from deciding who plays and have them count minutes and fouls and keep rotations balanced.  1-5 playerz on the court at all times.

Wit has got to dump his ego cause he ain't playing and if he was he would know that no one plays good in two minute shifts.  Guys like Thrasher and Clute go on runs that win championships - not by being in for a couple of minutes to see if they are lucky and when they miss two replaced.  The guys he pulls in critical times are the ones who won his games last year.  Do you have a memory(brain) Wit?  You should know that if you pull a proven winner every time they make a mistake they will lose all confidence and flow.  If teammates question ability and lack trust the program fails.  You have to let college athletes make mistakes without fear because that is how you win games. These are bright, experienced kids.  Some of them know way more than their coaches.  Players have to love each other and have fun.  Coaches have to see talent and understand roles.  It takes brains and intuition - not Wit.

Piper pregame looks like a prayer service for my dead aunt!  You don't teach puppets – you pull their strings and I never saw a good game of basketball in a puppet theatre.  Teach them, trust them, and let them play Wit!!!  Anybody know how many shots Jordan missed?  Anybody know how many loose balls he did not dive on.  Anybody know how many times he did not sprint like a wild man to belly up on the man he was defending.  Ha! Ha! Did his coaches jerk him when he failed and what might have happened if they did?  A lot of highlight tapes would be missing from the archives and a lot of wins from the Bulls record book. Did anyone bench Bird cause he was too slow?

Hamline has a coaching problem that goes beyond X's and O's.  It goes right to the heart of the win – loss column and that is morale and character.  Coach has it all wrong.  Get some help and talk to your players without hating what they say.  The games your teams won yesterday don't mean squat today.  You gotta know that in life and war it is always the soldiers who know when you are losing the war.  Finally, when they are going down they will not be afraid to tell you if they know the way up.  They are the ones who suffer when the generals are making the wrong decisions.  Listen to the ones who everyone but you know can win.  You coaches are always telling what the players did to cause the loss. It is coaches that create winning and losing teams.  You have the talent- a lot of it is on the bench most of the time.  Come on Wit and company you gotta listen to the music, get out of the way, and let the Pipes play.  Otherwise, you will be playing Bye Bye Miss American Pie.    I love you boys!  You deserve more than just Wit - you deserve brains. 

Good evening America and Piper pessimists!  It is time to wake up and smell the Wit – ness.  As the JockDoc I have immense experience via 1200+ coaching wins, All American honors, and twenty years of teaching teamwork and the art of winning.  I too have watched enough Piper crap this year and need to make comment.  When you consider the vices and virtues in Piperland it is easy to see that the vices of unintelligent, fickle, egotistical coaching have reduced the virtues of intelligence, athletic talent, and passion to a sloppy, inconsistent, fearful, confused, low confidence and unhappy team that is just no fun to watch and is incapable of winning against any quality team. 

The Pipes came marching into the 08-09 season with energy, teamwork, talent and a blossoming understanding of roles and abilities to keep Hamline in the MIAC post season race.  Unfortunately, the leaders of the band began playing reveille after traveling to Chicago and losing to a tough Elmhurst team in a highly competitive battle.  Thrasher, Clute, and Hipp were living up to expectation and Hayes, Tanner Anderson, and Gusaas were filling their roles with confidence and success.  Morrow and Dan Anderson filled out a perfect 8 man rotation.  Nick Carroll is still a brute who should be used in spurts to go out and kill people who need to be beat up physically.  Beyond that he has no value to the Piper lineup – turnovers, poor  shooting and a nasty tendency to criticize and yell at fellow teammates when he is making the majority of mistakes makes him a detriment to a team in need of confidence, consistency, and trust.  For unknown reasons, the Witmeister failed to find a true backup point guard who can run a team, handle pressure, see the court, deliver the ball timely, and intelligently run the court.  Reig and Wenrich cannot deliver a pass, cannot handle pressure, and do not understand the role of a point guard.  Coach, please teach them something.  Perhaps Hutchinson is a solution as a quick, strong, unselfish, positive, high energy, leader but the Wit has not allowed him to prove himself there

After the first two games the Wit – ness decided that his body type would lead him to the promised land and he began to play small ball which is only successful on little league baseball fields.  Running lineups with average size on the court of  probably 6 feet he benched Clute for the Northwest game (played 17 minutes 2008 / scored 40 2007) and elected to use Van Ordstrand (30 minutes / 4 points) - who never saw a shot he didn't like and never saw a cut that was good enough to reward with a pass.  He started Nick the killer Carroll and completely disregarded the roles and lineups that looked optimistic last year and early this one.  Since then he has shifted lineups and playing time so randomly that this looks like a sports version of musical chairs.  It appears that he hates Clute (35 total min in last 5 games) and Gusaas who any team in the MIAC would love to have.  He wants so badly to prove that little guys like him can win that he runs his teams out of games with weak, short lineups of guys that cannot defend, score, or play like a team. 

All coaches should know that you have two hundred minutes of playing time in a game.  You want to put enough points up in those minutes to win.  You also cannot make turnovers and miss gimme assists.  There are three proven all conference players on our team.  Thrasher, Clute, and Hipp need to start and be on the court for at least 30 minutes each.  Brandon Hayes starts and should see about 25 minutes with Wenrich and Reig filling out 15 minutes of point duties and learning how in non game changing opportunities.  Dan Anderson and Tanner Anderson should play 30 total minutes per game and provide scoring and rest for the big three.  Gusaas should get 10-12 minutes to abuse people and put pressure on other post players.  Hutch, Van Ordstrand, and Carroll should fill out the thirty and all else would adapt with situations.  This system will give balance, scoring and solid defense, fresh bodies, and consistency that will lead to victory.  Players have to know their roles and fill them. 
   
Finally, strategy needs to be learned.  Coach needs to teach Karl how to get out of the post if there is nothing there, to get out of the way when his teammates are cutting or driving and also how to pass from the post.  Put the players in positions and offensive sets where they can think, see, and play to win.  Forget the ridiculous four out one in and the Texas weave offense.  Go to a strong high-low post work the wings and get the ball up and down.  Let the stars make mistakes and teach your freshman not to make them – keep the new guys out of the way in critical times instead of putting them in the way.  Pass the ball quick and short, keep everyone involved by minimizing dribbling, waiting for good looks to score, and cutting sharply to and from the basket.  Play man to man defense no matter what and use your 2-3 or 1-3-1 zone or amoeba only for 2-3 minutes and rotate your zones consistently cause MIAC players are smart and figure out weaknesses and gaps quickly which is why zones are not the prime way to defend.  You also cannot always try to belly up on defense cause then defenders with weak scorers cannot help on the guys that kill you.  The quicker man always creates gaps and high percentage scoring opps.  You cannot trap until offensive players get into your front court and you always trap in the corners not at the top of the key.  Baseline players in 2-3 and 1-3-1 gotta stay low enough to stop over the top and baseline drives and wing players only steal when offense has been trapped-especially weak side defenders gotta stay low to deny gimme shots and drives.  Know that if a guard allows penetration from the front court it is their fault when it leads to a score.  You cannot play crazy in a zone you gotta play carefully and with complete ability to stop penetration from the front court.  Keep the assistant coaches from saying anything about who plays and just have them count minutes and fouls and get the right people in each rotation.  Keep a 1-5 player on court at all times.

Wit has got to dump his ego cause he ain't playing and if he was he would know that no one plays good in two minute shifts.  He should also know that if you pull a proven winner every time they make a mistake they will lose all confidence and flow in a game.  You have to let college athletes make mistakes without fear because that is how you win games. Players have to love each other and have fun.  Pregame looks like a prayer service for your dead aunt!  You don't teach puppets – you pull their strings and I never saw a good game of basketball in a puppet theatre.  Teach them, trust them, and let them play Wit!!!  Anybody know how many shots Jordan missed?  Anybody know how many loose balls he did not dive on.  Anybody know how many times he did not sprint like a wild man to belly up on the man he was defending.  Ha! Ha! Did his coaches jerk him when he failed and what might have happened if they did?  A lot of highlight tapes would be missing from the archives and a lot of wins from the Bulls record book.

Hamline has a coaching problem that goes beyond X's and O's.  It goes right to the heart of the win – loss column and that is morale and character.  Coach has it all wrong.  Get some help and talk to your players without hating what they say.  You gotta know that in life and war it is always the soldiers who know when you are losing the war.  Finally, when they are going down they will not be afraid to tell you if they know the way up.  They are the ones who suffer when the generals are making the wrong decisions.  You coaches are always telling what the players did to cause the loss. It is coaches that create winning and losing teams.  You have the talent-some of it is on the bench most of the time.  Come on Wit and company you gotta listen to the music, get out of the way, and let the Pipes play.  Otherwise, you will be playing Bye Bye Miss American Pie.    I love you boys!  You deserve more than just Wit.