For 34 minutes last night the Blazers and Wildcats hurt my eyes with some pretty ugly basketball.  I don't know if you want to chalk it up to tough D on each side or just poor play, but I think it was more of the latter as LA Rams eluded to.  However, the final 6 minutes made up the first 34, mainly because my Blazers pulled victory from the jaws of defeat.  I truly thought the game was over when they went down 10 as St. Kate's started getting contributions from their guards.  However, big 3 pointers by Waytashek and Dale along with driving shots by Stifter and clutch free throws by Whitney Canton put a nice bow on the win.  It would have been very difficult to swallow a loss last night to start the 5-time defense of the MIAC title.  It seemed apparent that the veteran play of St. Ben's was too much for a more inexperienced team in St. Kate's.  Also, CSB had huge defensive plays by Whitney, Dale and Gillund (a huge block by Gillund at the end).

It appears St. Olaf is much improved and will be a big test for the Blazers in their first home game Saturday.  By looks of the box score from Tuesday, had the Oles made their free throws they could have knocked off Concordia. 

LA Rams - was that you chatting with Durbin after the game?  If not, someone else is both a big Rams and D3 basketball fan. 

What happened to the MIAC chatter on D3 Hoops?   This used to be one of the hottest message boards. 

There were some very interesting outcomes during the pre-MIAC schedule. 

What was more surprising; Concordia beating Cal Lutheran and clobbering Occidental or UST barely beating Occidental and getting clobbered by Cal Lutheran? 

St. Mary's looks to be much improved.

My Blazers are off to a nice start at 3-0.

Anyone else see some promise for their teams after a few games? 

I was trying to take a look around the region to see how things are developing and take a stab at what pool c might look like for the MIAC.  The top WIAC teams won which is good since I think they were both locks anyway.  The top IIAC teams won as well, which I think is a good thing, except that it might have been better for the MIAC for Coe to lose in the semis and then Simpson take the title over BVU.  It would have made Coe more of a bubble team than if they lose to Simpson Saturday. 

At this point it seems like a toss up if it's between Coe and GAC or CSB given strength of schedule.  Coe would certainly be ahead of UST.  Also, the NWC is tipping off the semis and the top two teams there would seem to be locks so hopefully they both win.  After looking at what happened last year and thinking about how things are shaping up this year, I am becoming more convinced the MIAC will get the AQ and that's it.  I know we have to consider what is going on in the East as well, but given budget concerns I have to think the committee will have travel distance in the back of their mind when organizing the pods.  I believe it's going to come down to one pool C bid for either the IIAC or MIAC, but not both. 

That's big news about Tammy.  I felt she always got more out of her teams than the talent they had "on paper."  Given what I saw this year out of the Knights they will have a tough time bouncing back under a new coach with a transition coming at a critical time for recruiting.  I doubt they can find someone who will be able to match the success Tammy brought with the multiple conference titles and NCAA appearances.  Best wishes to Tammy in her next chapter in life and I hope she can still find time for basketball in some way. 

Switching gears, what a night for the Wildcats.  I am very impressed with them traveling to Moorhead and knocking of the Cobbers.  While I know they will pose a threat to the Blazers, I am glad to see them instead of St. Thomas in the semi finals.  I am also glad to see the team that swept CSB this year out of the picture as well.  What a great match it should be at GAC Wed. night.  That should be a blood bath.  I watched a bit of the second half of the Mac/UST game on the web and it seemed like Mac was just a little too tight playing in their first playoff game and in front of the home crowd.  Great season for them though, and what a story going from non existent to 16-7 in just a few seasons. 

I was at the CSB/GAC game today and I agree that the officiating was terrible, but it cut both ways most of the game.  Also, as it goes to the final non-call, even if they had called the foul, it was before the shot and would have only been St. Ben's 6th team foul.  GAC would have been throwing the ball in with less than a second remaining (at best).  Stranger things have happened I guess, but it's not as if Geske would have been at the line for a chance to tie. 

For some reason, D3Hoops has CSB with a loss to Hamline and tied with Concordia for second at 17-5.  Is a Gustie running the results page? 

Hey UAA folks, I'm a St. Ben's fan here checking out the chatter on this board in preperation for the Sweet Sixteen matchup with Wash U.  CSB only faced Wash U one other time and that was 10 years ago in the National Championship game.  What do you suppose St. Ben's will be up against when they take on the Bears Friday? 

As for the Blazers they have had an outstanding season, especially after losing their leading scorer more than half way through the season to an ACL.  St. Ben's success is all about defense, defense, defense.  With a quick "4" in Ariel Tauer, a 6'4 post who can block shots and rebound and point guard who takes great care of the basketball it's a well balanced team with a lot of heart and determination. 

Human interest note: The two seniors (Tauer and point guard Nikki Carter) have played together since grade school. 

Ariel Tauer certainly was fun to watch last night.  It's always exciting to see a senior play their best game when it counts the most.  I was very nervous about how the game would go when Whitewater ran off 14 consecutive points early, but CSB gained their composure and cut down on some turnovers.  Laura Canton hit some big 3's and Danielle Frank was a monster on the board.  I was also very impressed with Amy Stifter's defense on UWW's top guard and her offensive rebounding (especially on two missed free throws).  I thought the Technical on Berg from Whitewater really helped change the momentum of the game back to the Blazers. 

Now it's on to Bloomington IL and "rematch" with Wash U that is 10 years in the making.  Looking to face Wash U brings back some great memories of the trip to Danbury for the Final Four in '99.  I hope St. Ben's can keep up the defensive pressure.  If so, they should at least give themselves a good shot to move on.  Tough bracket though with the #1 team in undefeated IWU, WIAC's champ UWSP and perennial power Wash U.  It should be fun. 

I think CSB and Concordia received the most favorable matchups possible in the first round so I predict they both advance.  However, given what I have seen from the MIAC recently I would hesitate to pick either of them to get past a WIAC team.  I really want to pick St. Ben's to get to the sweet 16, mainly because they are at home.  However, I am nervous about how much longer they can keep this winning streak alive without Mindy Schmidt. Once a deep and talented team like Whitewater or Simpson goes up against the Blazers I think they will finally run out of magic without somewhat like Schmidt to turn to for points.  If Defense truly wins championships then CSB will have a shot to make some noise.

The Cobbers intrigue me with their style of play because they might cause some serious matchup problems for any back to the basket teams. However, while a post oriented team might struggle to guard Concordia they should be able to pile up points in the paint.  Nord cannot disappear like she did against St. Ben's in the MIAC title game, especially if Freudenberg is not 100%.  I hope she is doing okay after receiving a huge gash above her eye early in the game last Saturday.   

I think we all end up choosing a player of the year based on how well they played against the teams we see most often.  For me I would have to pick Katch because of how she excelled on both ends of the floor in the two games I saw her play CSB.  Unfortunately, I was not in Moorhead to see Freudenberg drop 34 on the Blazers so it's hard for me to know how incredible she was that day beyond the total number of points scored.  I guess you could say it was a toss up between those two.

I cannot figure out where the Nautch following comes from.  She was okay, but I wouldn't even put her in the top 5.   Her status as pre-season All-America was highly overrated.  She was a complete ghost when matched against Frank all three times this year.  Her backup Hormig proved to be the better player in the tournament game against CSB.

LA Rams, thanks for bringing me back from the posting dead.  It took another snub of Durbin to make a return to this board.  It's clear that the coaches are filled with petty jealousy when it comes to Mike Durbin.  I guess success breeds contempt from peers, but I would have hoped the rest of the coaches were above that. 

In one coach we have someone with the services of the Player of the Year and yet landed 3 games back of the conference champs and failed to beat them in 3 attempts.  In another coach you have someone who lost his best player, rattled off 10 consecutive victories and remains the only coach to have the distinction of guiding a team to both an outright regular season title and tourney title in the same year (he's done it twice in three years now).

What's even more amazing is that everyone looks at CSB basketball and dismisses Durbin's work because of how deep and talented St. Ben's is.  I don't seem to recall any St. Ben's players being talked about for Player of the Year this year or last year for that matter.  Or was there an All-America player I am forgetting about?

p.s. The only people "hiding" their identity on these pages are the cowards who log on as "guest" like Hoop202. 

Has SCSU played everyone in the MIAC now?  I know they played CSB, UST and Bethel.  Are they having a tough time finding competition in D II? 

Okay, "stink" was a bit harsh, but Hamline has never been better than .500 and they actually had enough talent to finish better than the 13-13 finish they had in MYK's second year as head coach.  Last year they tried to cheat their way to getting a 7th year of eligibility for a player who bounced around from one school to the next with only basketball on her mind so I relaly don't have much respect for MYK or the Hamline program.

Every year I hear about how Hamline has some player from out of nowhere and every year they stink.  I don't expect that to change.  Bethel is also a team that always should be better than they are, but they never are.  Expect both of those teams to underachieve like always. 

I caught the CSB scrimmage at St. Cloud State.  Actually, I should say it was an exhibition since they were able to officially keep score and play it like a real game.  St. Ben's was down early as they used a lot of rookies, but they made a run in the second half when both teams had their top players and ended up losing 67-61.  I was very impressed with two of the First-Year guards Amy Stifter and Joelle Waytashek.  They will see a lot of time off the bench for the Blazers.  I also thought Danielle Frank, the 6'4 FY post for CSB played well.  She came in and had 5 rebounds, 2 blocks and 5 points in 11 minutes.  St. Ben's will be very solid at all of the guard positions and I am more optimistic about the posts after what I saw yesterday. 

Prediction for top 6 in the MIAC
1. Blazers
2. Gusties
3. Knights
4. Cobbers
5. Tommies
6. Wildcats

Oh, my mistake.  Yes, Hutchinson is from Detroit Lakes...although I'm sure you can see how I messed that up.