Bethel
On the other hand, I watched a bit of the Bethel webcast on Friday & they are going to need their guys to get healthy or return from football to help out the talented Taylor Hall.  Hall goes off for 30+ points & 10 + rebs in both games but gets very little help from the rest of his team. Anybody have any idea where Kyle Zimmerman or Greg Myers was this weekend?  Any hopes of a top two league finish or playoff berth will be tough without those guys.

Greg Myers tore his ACL. Not too sure on Zimmerman.

In the past 6 years, GAC has had a tendency to go through the first round of conference play with a record near the top only to stumble down the stretch of the regular season. I was almost half expecting it this year especially with a loss to Bethel, but with wins against UST and AUG, they may be bucking that trend. This makes Wednesday night against STO huge, since the remainder of their games are all ones they should win in SJU, CON, MAC, SMU, and BU.

Quote from: Drake Palmer on November 11, 2011, 02:00:18 PM
And then there was one.  Bethel finally posted their roster.  Now the only remaining school that has not published their roster is Concordia. Shame on the Cobbs. 

Back to Arden Hills & the Royals. 

*  They finally posted their roster 7 days after they published their season preview.
*  Bethel has a whopping 26 players listed on their current roster.
*  None of the rostered players are FY, yet in the season preview, they tout 5 incoming freshmen.
*  Is Soph Tyler Schmidt from Watertown –Mayer any relation to former Gustie gunner – Robbie Schmidt?

Yes he is DP.

I think Palmer will give BU some of the toughness and consistency it has been lacking the past few years. One of the assistants went to the same high school so it's possible that would spike his interest for choosing BU. Also, the move has nothing to do with one school being more strict than the other. It is for personal reasons. I wish him the best and hopefully he can help turn a Bethel program around that was one of the stronger programs in the MIAC up until recently.

If this has already been reported I apologize, but I've heard through the rumor mill that Palmer is transferring from SMU to BU.

In my last post I said that 3 losses was what it would take to win conference this year. I said this when both GAC and CAR were tied for second just two games behind UST with each getting to face one another and UST one more time. I was optimistically hoping that it would be GAC that ended up where CAR did. They had only lost a few games and they were all in overtime. I would have never predicted the losing streak that was soon to follow. I can't really explain why it happened. Losing Hill for the season didn't help but it was obviously more than that. With that said, GAC now sits only 1 win away from reaching the championship game for the 3rd time in four years.

Interesting tidbits....

GAC has now won at least 1 playoff game for 9 consecutive years and counting. The longest streak in the MIAC.

This is the 5th time in the last 6 years GAC and CAR have met in the playoffs.

06 Semifinals             at CAR           CAR 55 - GAC 48  GAC had chance to take lead with under a minute left.
07 Quarterfinals        at GAC           GAC 70 - CAR 59
08 Semifinals             at GAC           GAC 71 - CAR 70 OT GAC scores 6 points in last 13 secs to force OT.
10 Finals                    at GAC           CAR 78 - GAC 71 OT

This has been a fun rivalry that has started to develop over the last 6 years with both teams meeting so many times in the playoffs, and almost all of the games being tight and hard fought. It should be a fun atmosphere and an entertaining game to watch. With the each team winning on there home floor this year, you would probably have to give the edge to CAR especially given how both teams played down the stretch. On the other hand GAC is coming off a road playoff win where they shot 68.5% from the field, and CAR hasn't played since Saturday. Momentum could be on GAC's side. Either way recent histroy has shown us that we can count on a close game.
 

I don't have much of a recap. I watched the last 4 minutes online and it was back and forth. GAC had the lead with 35 seconds left but MAC had the ball. GAC got MAC in a tough trap near half court but they somehow got a pass out of it to a player who had a wide open layup but was fouled. He made both with about 23 seconds left. The gusties had two possesions after this with two missed free throws by MAC sandwiched in between, but they couldn't convert. Definitely a dissappointing loss especially knowing that UST opened up the door a little themselves.

It was nice to see GAC get a nice rebound win coming of the loss to STO. Playing at CON the past 4-5 years have given the Gusties trouble but they controlled the game the entire way.

I see two huge games tonight. STO vs. UST & STM vs. CON.

STO vs. UST is huge for two reasons....One, STO has been playing well lately losing in a close game to CAR and beating SJU & GAC handly. If they can beat UST, they can begin to separate themselves from the other two teams that will make up the 4-6 seeds. Also to make this conference championship race interesting, UST needs to lose to someone other than CAR & GAC to make those matchups more meaningful. UST isn't going to lose to both CAR & GAC. They could easily lose one, but losing one doesn't take them out of first place. STO with how they have been playing lately could give UST a really tough game tonight. Should be a good game.

STM vs. CON are both fighting for there playoff lives. Whoever loses is done, and in reality both are already done because even if CON wins, they have a really tough last four games all against playoff teams with three being on the road. SJU is really the only team on the outside looking in that has an outside chance of making the playoffs.

This will be a fun year to see how the playoffs will shake out because everyone is beatable.

Back from my one month hiatus. Congrats to Sutherland. It's nice to see him stay healthy.

+k on the list Drake.

The second half should be interesting. I think it's clear that GAC, CAR, & UST are the top three teams, and I'm curious to see how the three fall into line at seasons end. With that said, I don't think the conference is going to be won by a team with more than 17 wins.

Then there's the log-jam behind the top three with as many as 6 other teams with a realistic chance at making the playoffs. No one thought SJU or SMU would do this poorly the first time through the schedule. Both of their seasons are on the line in their next two games. SMU plays GAC and BU who has been playing teams tough as of late. If they don't come out with two wins, their season is done. SJU also has a tough next two games with UST and HAM. Their season could very well be done by next week as well.

If this ends up being the case, which I think it will,  then CON, HAM, STO, and AUG will be vying for 3 playoff spots. The difference in who gets in and who doesn't between these four will come down to who suffers a bad loss to a team out of contention.

Let the second half of the conference schedule begin.

Looks like Bobby Johnson is playing in his first game tonight off the bench since the 08-09 season as the gusties are up 19-5 early.

Listening to the gopher game on the internet on St. Joseph's website, and the two guys doing the broadcast don't realize that they are still live during breaks in the action. Right now they are discussing whether they should do the broadcast more radio style or TV style. Kinda funny.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that CON and SJU are the two most disappointing teams in the last 3 years. Both teams have had virtually the same starters for the last 3-4 years now, and they have basically regressed or stayed the same. Both of these teams were being hyped back when these players were freshman because of their talent and because they all played right away and even started in most cases. That talent and early playing time was supposed to translate to success when they were juniors and seniors.

SJU has had some good wins in their non-conference games, but started the conference schedule out with a dud.

CON also had some nice wins in the non-conference portion of their schedule, but have started the conference season out 0-2.

SJU had a freshman class of Burtzel, Schwartz, and Blank in 07-08. The next year they added Burns and Barmore. Now in their senior and junior years here are their records the last 3 years.

SJU            Overall        Conf
07-08         14-12         11-9
08-09         14-12         12-8
09-10         14-12         11-9


CON had a freshman class of Olmsheid, Lien, Olson, and Fraase in 07-08. The next year they added hartman and molina. Agai, these players are now seniors and juniors.

CON           Overall      Conf
07-08          13-13       12-8
08-09          11-14       8-12
09-10          13-12       9-11

Will this be the year they turn the early hype they experienced into success on the court? It's their last chance.

Gustavus is going to continue to be successful this season because of the poise and leadership of Wirtjes and Schmidtkneckt. This might be the best senior leadership GAC has had leading a team in quite some time with Wittwer's senior season being the only other year that compares since Espenson's senior year. Wittwer's senior year had more depth, but I think in a guard driven league, having two players like this makes such a huge difference. You really have to go back to GAC's last two championships to find a team that was truly led by a front court player, and even then, Espenson brought the ball up the court a lot of the time. UST has had Schnettler, Scott, Robinson, and Niccolai. SJU had Ohme, Westman, and Lieser. Carleton had Sutherland last year, and even BU had Madson and Laugen when they made their run to the championship. Without a really good guard or guards, you cannot consider yourself a true contender in this league anymore. That is why this year is probably going to come down to GAC, CAR, & UST as the true contenders for the championship.

St. Olaf is definitely for real. They might not be top three, but they are definitely playoff worthy from what I can tell. Neville is going to be a tough match-up for most teams with his size, length, and athleticism.

Augsburg continues to surprise me. I thought they would fall off for sure after losing their starting backcourt, but I stand corrected. They look like they will be tough every night, though they haven't seen their efforts turn into wins in their past two games.

Quote from: Drake Palmer on December 06, 2010, 01:59:02 PM
**Has anyone watched a Gustie webcast this year? How’s the video quality? I’m half inclined to stay home & watch the Gusties & Oles square off rather than venture out into a cold, dark, wintry night to watch UST @ AUGS or SJU @ Hamline.  Decisions, decisions.

I watched their first game against Buena Vista and the quality was pretty good, but I didn't watch the last one to know if they are consistently putting out good quality. I'm going to take a chance and say you should be fine staying home and taking in the game over the web.

Some interesting scores last night. St. Olaf might actually be for real this year. SJU continues to underachieve in conference play.

GAC gets a nice win against a good CON team that had won 3 in a row coming in. It nice to see that GAC can beat a good team when its top two scorers go a combined 2-12 from the field. Just like the BU game, it looks like GAC's success will hinge on its defense. Holding CON to 30% was definitely nice to see.

I think the three major story lines I'm going to be looking at going forward are:

Is St. Olaf for real?

Who is MAC going to be beat because it's going to happen.

Who is going to challenge UST and end their 5 year reign.