OAS...

I'm honored to find myself on your photos page, and yeah I'm pretty sure he missed the shot as well.  It was a new defensive stance I was trying, where I box out before the guys shoots it.  I just knew he would miss, so why contest it?  Just box-out in advance.  Good lord, was I that bad?

Final: BU 96 HU 89

Frederickson finishes with 25

92-89 BU with :16 left...as soon as I say Freddy is playing really well he turns it over

90-84 BU with :43 left...CAR wins so both teams are in...Frederickson with 21 and played really well

62-57 BU, 9:41 to go

Hamline on a run...49-43 BU

BU up 49-36 at the half.  Game has not featured much defense and Bethel has been streaky in their shooting, but have shot it pretty well.  Meadowcroft leads the way with 15 and I think Frederickson has 11.

Interesting, but not surprising news out of Bethel.  The change to Westlund will be quite smooth I'm sure.  Both he and Coach Bjorklund were on the same page most of the time and both were very involved in the recruiting process, and pretty much everything else, so for guys being recruited now and those that are new freshmen, there is really not much different in terms of dynamics of the program.  There will be some changes, as there always are in a coaching change, but this is the best type of change to have, it seems to me.  And OAS is right, Westie is very high energy, but really does know his X's and O's.  He is a great basketball mind, and I learned a bunch from him in my time there.

One thing that has gone relatively unnoticed regarding the Royals is the production of Frederickson off the bench.  Coach B has started giving him more minutes, and his production has gone dramatically up.  He is now consistently second on the team in scoring, right behind Meadowcroft.  I think this has much to do with BU's improved play lately, and what I think is going to be their successful push to the post-season.  Earlier I was thinking that Frederickson ought to be starting, but now I like his role off the bench.  This gives BU a spark that most teams covet.  Having a sixth man who has the capability to score like Freddy does is nothing but a positive (which is an obvious statement, I know).  For what it's worth, I like this decision to keep him in a substitute role, I think they are finally figuring out a line-up that's going to push them into the post-season.  After what was a very disheartening beginning, things are looking up.

Listening to the webcast last night it was a disappointing loss for BU (all the while watching Bucky on mute take one on the chin from OSU didn't help either).  Drake seemed great last night, but no one has really mentioned that Meadowcroft has been playing really well lately.  After seeing him play some this summer when I was home visiting, I thought he might be able to do this, like what he did last night.  I think some of Bethel's recent improvement has a large amount to do with his more consistent and solid play.  In my opinion, he is one of the five best players in the league when he plays consistently at his best, so here's hoping he is able to continue that.  He makes BU a much better team that way.

Drake, yeah I'm the one in Divinity School.  Nice memory.  I haven't actually had the chance to see much D3 action out here.  I did, however, make it to a Princeton game last year and did not find the talent to be that much better than D3 in the Ivy League.  A bit bigger, but skills-wise, they were not that great.  Comparable, in my opinion, to good D2 basketball, with the exception maybe of Penn who is pretty solid.  I do need to check out NJAC, however.  Maybe next week on my time off.

B34...thanks for the game description.  I thought Chuck might have a good year, and it seems that lately he's been playing pretty well.  He's got a pretty good motor in him, so here's hoping he starts to get some more minutes as it sees we need him pretty  bad. 

By the way, for those of you thinking about grad school, avoid it at all costs.  I just finished finals week last night (which is to say in the wee hours of this morning).  Let's just say two pots of coffee a day for two weeks, and roughly three hours of sleep a night, all to write 60-70 pages of papers is, despite what they may tell you, not fun. 

A very disappointing score for the Royals.  I was hoping they would play a bit better than they did.  I thought perhaps some confidence was beginning to build up with their win this past weekend, and they would really show up to play tonight.  Was anyone there?  Details?

funbb...

While I agree with you that you do not see a lot of guys in the MIAC that put the ball on the floor and explode past guys to the hoop, I am not sure that it is a case of the league not being athletic enough.  In fact, I think the exact opposite is the case.  I'm not saying the league is loaded with athletes, but it is a fairly athletic league.  And, because I think the MIAC plays very tough and good team defense by and large, I think this is why you do not see the penetration as much as do elsewhere.  MIAC coaches focus so much on team defense, that this is where athleticism is very evident.  Because of the proximity to Bethel, I think of guys like Repasky and Jones, who were both very good athletes, but much of their athleticism was displayed on the defensive end.  Also, a guy like Tebrake at GAC, who was a ridiculous athlete, still did not get to the hoop that much, but was certainly a great defender.  I guess my point is that, oftentimes the MIAC may seem like a catch and shoot league because in order to do well you have to run good team offense to counter the good team defense played in our league.

Also on this line of thinking, I think if you look at the college game in general right now, this seems to be the case.  Teams play such good team defense, that the teams that do well are often better at executing a solid game plan, rather than simply being able to put the ball on the deck and get by people.  For instance, UConn has players all over the court that can get by guys, but they get beat by Marquette partly because Marquette outplayed them as a team, defensively and offensively. 

Just my thoughts.

Willy...I know that 2004 all-conference team had 3 Royals on it: Gilbert, Jones, and Jacobs.  But the last time there were four is beyond my limited scope of knowledge.