I just got this on my news feed but the NCAA will not allow fans during the D1 tourney. Will D3 be right behind?

Quote from: Gregory Sager on March 07, 2020, 10:38:58 PM

Quote from: iwumichigander on March 07, 2020, 10:29:09 PMBig effort by Blaise Meredith tonight ending up with 23 points.  Clausel big off bench and Pollack finishes with 17 on 5-6 3 pt FG including some big treys.

Those three guys were huge, but Matt Cappelletti made two of the biggest plays of the night. His trey with fifteen seconds left in regulation put NCC ahead by two, a necessary margin on a night when Jack Flynn in the paint seemed like a money deuce every time down the floor for UW-Oshkosh. (And it proved to be just that, as he hit the layup with two seconds left that let the Titans force the extra session.) And it was Cappelletti's leaping-out-of-bounds offensive rebound and mid-air pass with 17 seconds left in OT after a Meredith miss that kept the possession alive for the Cardinals and enabled them to play for the last shot with the shot clock turned off, resulting into the Clausel-to-Pollack game-winner.

Quote from: iwumichigander on March 07, 2020, 10:29:09 PMWe might have seen the championship game tonight but if not certainly had a championship feel.

Yep, very much so.

I was doing some channel surfing up in MN when I saw the score in this game keep getting closer and closer, until I finally had to switch over to see the final minutes.  I thought the ending of the Springfield Hobart game was wild, but this game was nuts! As the game went into OT, the best spontaneous announcer quote of the day was by the NCC crew - "This is absurdity at its finest!" Got a nice little chuckle out of me. 

Great ballgame!  Props to NC and the Lazarus like comeback!

Quote from: SUMMIT? on March 08, 2020, 12:12:25 AM
I don't think any of the UST or UWP players or coaches would agree with you Faunchie...the reffing was even, they let things go about the same on both ends of the court....and were consistent throughout the game. THAT'S the measure of a good ref.

Man, some tough ball games all around the country today.  Well played games in C-ville and Platteville by the MIAC elite. Plus, the Jays & Tommies get to square off for an unprecedented 4th time (?) this season?  Help me out Mose/Summit. Let's squeeze every last bit out of the UST- SJU rivalry before it goes the way of the DeLorean.

Quote from: SagatagSam on February 28, 2020, 11:23:06 AM

Quote from: SUMMIT? on February 28, 2020, 08:55:53 AM
Today's MIAC basketball history lesson---Tomorrow is the first time UST & SJ2  play in the Playoff title game since 2007 (a UST win).  It is the first championship meeting in Collegeville since 1994 (UST win, the "Tauer game"). This will be the 7th meeting in a champ game, and UST has won 5 of 6 (1990, 1993, 1994, 1995 & 2007) losing in 2000. The 1993 & 1994 games were the only prior games at SJ.

That '07 game was an ugly one for the Johnnies. My memories of that game were the Johnnies getting throttled and having U$T students throwing popcorn (and other objects) at SJU fans, myself included, as we walked out of Old Schoenecker Arena.

Man, we're getting old! I remember that 07 title game between the Jays & Tommies!  If my memory is correct, the Jays had Tyler Westman, a D2 transfer, post players, the "Anoka twins," one of whom had a silly tattoo of the Nebraska "N" on his shoulder, and lil sharpshooter, Ryan Lieser.  During warmup, Lieser airballed a trey attempt and the Tommie fans began to torment him mercilessly with the "airball" chant. Lieser heard it and laughed it off, but ended up having a miserable shooting performance that day.  And although the Tommies did throttle the Jays that afternoon, one of the memories I also have of that day were Johnny and Tommie fans greeting and mingling with each other on the court once the game was over. That's the positive of a great D3 rivalry that will be sorely missed in the years to come.

Quote from: WUPHF on February 22, 2020, 05:11:01 PM
By the way, I am not sure what I have said that is so controversial that I deserved three hits to my karma (until this post), but dang, St. Thomas fans don't play...

It wasn't me. +k.

UST had a ton of breaks & good bounces in this game... but they played on when other teams might have quit.  They won't get very far if they continue to shoot like they did today. 35% FGA, 10-40 3FGA, 25%??

Quote from: WUPHF on February 22, 2020, 04:10:49 PM
Lots of thing broke right including getting away with an obvious travel and drawing a charging foul in the restricted zone...

Certainly big free throws and three pointers too...

I'm not so sure about the travel call on Miller, but I thought 2-3 Tommies should have been called for a blocking foul on that charging call on Eli Cave.

On another note, man, the Dawgs crush Gustavus 97-77.  Gusties lost their last 8 games.  Wow.

But the northern Lutes, Cobbers, break their 0-19 conference skid as they slip by Hamline 67-62.

Oles beat Mac to clinch the 6th spot.

SJU get out of Arden Hills with a 73-66 win over Bethel.

And the first place tiebreaker goes to...?

Quote from: WUPHF on February 22, 2020, 03:53:34 PM
How many steps did the Tommies player take on that final, game winning drive to the basket?

How about how many things had to break right for the Tommies to pull out the win in the last seconds of the game? Down 19 points???  That steal by Cunningham without fouling was grand larceny at its best.  Zach Thiesen with the clutch FTs...


Raheem Anthony with the accidental flagrant foul, who otherwise had an outstanding game. SMU has to be tremendously disappointed in the outcome of this game, but those kids have got something to hang their hats on as they go into the playoffs next week.  They've served notice and they should be very tough for anyone to handle.  Again, great job by Coach Fano in what has been a basketball purgatory for a number of years.  Go get 'em Redbirds!

   

Well, with just over a 1.5 week to go, the MIAC is building up for its annual race to the regular season finish line, and playoffs.  At this point, it would seem a given that the top 2-3 teams will be SJU, UST, & Augsburg.  What will be fascinating is to see who the final three playoff teams will be.

Teams, current conference record, and my projected order of finish.

SJU (18-0): UST, - , @ BET  - 20-0/ 19-1
UST (16-1): @ SJU, @ STO, SMU – 18-2/ 19-1

AUG (12-5): @ MAC, BET, GAC – 15-5/14-6
BET (11-6): @ GAC, @ AUG, SJU - 12-8

SMU (9-8): HAM, @ GAC, UST – 11-9/10-10
STO (8-9): @ CARL, UST, MAC – 9-11

GAC (8-9): BET, SMU, @ AUG – 9-11

Random factoids or observations:

The last MIAC team to go undefeated in conference play was the 2008-2009 UST Tommies. Will SJU be able to pull off
the same feat this year?

Augsburg's Booker Coplin looks like he's rounding into post season form. Coach Griess had a great game plan for playing the Jays last Saturday and started 6-10 James Street along with 6-5 Carter Duncan to try to neutralize the Jays' size.

However, the Jays were just too big, & Zach Hanson was a man among boys. Alade did a great John Wick impersonation in the second half.  Ruthlessly efficient basketball. 😉

SJU's Zach Hanson & Jubie Alade are a formidable inside-outside punch. Throw in the threat of Lucas Walford, and you've got a scary good team.

UST – winning again with munchkins, mirrors, and talent. Another great coaching job by Coach Tauer and staff.

[b]Carleton'[/b]s lack of depth, and playing 3 FY & I SO in their top iron 6 has finally caught up with them as the long season begins to wind down.  A nice recruiting class next year and they should in the playoff mix. They've got a nice nucleus of talented, young players. Isaac Tessier needs to develop a consistent J for next year.
  Looks like Smitty already said this.   


Tough loss for the Bethel Royals to lose SR Granger Kinglund.  He could have helped in some of these close games the Royals have had. Like tonight against the Tommies.

Big props for the Redbirds. Fingers crossed, they should make the playoffs.  Shout out to Coach Joe Fano as well for developing these guys into a playoff caliber team.

STO has a very good shot at making the playoffs this year.

The Gusties are now on a season high five game losing streak.  They need to let go of that big rock they've been lugging around and get back to swimming if they plan on making the playoffs.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on February 06, 2020, 02:09:14 PM

I second Grunder over Dennis.  Also, Ben College should be in the Top 10, minimum.  He's one of the very best guards in the country.

Micah Elan at P-P might be another to consider.  Connor Delaney at JHU is very, very good.

You seem to be pretty heavy on scorers.

Also, is Alade even the best player on his team?  A lot of guys to consider from St. John's.

In my opinion, and I believe Smitty would concur, yes Alade is arguably the best player on the Johnnies team. He helps space the floor so the big men can score their points. Otherwise, teams would jam the paint and dare SJU to beat them from the outside. The Neb Wes - SJU game might of had a different outcome if Alade would have played that first game of the season.

Quote from: Retired Old Rat on February 05, 2020, 09:30:21 PM
Johnnies win 20th in a row with a 68-53 victory over Olaf.  Johnnie fans chanting "kick us out" in the 2nd half.

Good humor. 

The Jays and Tommies both have similar types of games in their next two games before the big showdown next Saturday. SJU on the road Saturday against currently tied for third place Augsburg, then a game against near cellar dweller Mac on Wednesday.  UST plays the season long occupant of the cellar, Concordia on Saturday, then travel to Arden Hills next Wednesday to play the other currently tied for third place team - the Bethel Royals.

If both the Jays and Tommies hold serve, next Saturday should be bedlam! I'm sure the rat pack will be out in full force with a wild variety of creative cheers.  A decent game might even ensue!

Quote from: jamtod on January 30, 2020, 10:17:00 AM
Tommies shot the lights out against Augsburg last night. I tuned out partway through the 2nd half (who could possibly choke a 20-pt lead with ~10 minutes to play!! never happens!!) in favor of the women's live stream.

15-33 from 3-pt range, I think 11 of those were in the 1st half. Going to need a night like this the next time we face the Johns.

Since the last time these two teams met back in December it was a close 89-81 win by the Tommies, I thought the second meeting might have a similar result. So, I made my way over to UST to watch the game last night. Nope, I was clearly wrong.  UST was the better team in all aspects, speed, better defense, better ball movement, and better shooting. This recent version of the Tommies lives and die by the triple, and the smaller Auggie defenders were a half step slow getting out to the open shooters. 25 assists on 35 made baskets. Yowch.  Still gotta love Augsburg's big man, James Streeter, and his nimbleness around the basket.

The Tommies are a streaky shooting team, so it will be interesting to see how well they'll shoot against a taller, athletic team like the Johnnies up in C-ville. SJU is nearly as quick as the Tommies, and have the length to defend and get a hand up in the face of the shooter. Last Saturday, SJU's Zach Hanson had a great block out on the wing against Carleton's Kent Hanson after K Hanson had hit a couple of clutch treys to make the Carleton faithful start thinking upset. Eventually, order was restored, and the Jays sneaked out of Northfield with a well-earned victory.

Changing topics ever so slightly... the Trib adds a bit of fire to the mostly good-natured rivalry and animosity between SJU & UST.  This could be the Jays' year, if they can get past the UMAC rep in the post season.

http://www.startribune.com/coach-from-across-the-hall-extraordinary-wing-from-armstrong-have-st-john-s-soaring-in-basketball/567247282/

Quote from: txg on January 23, 2020, 11:02:38 AM
The ref waved it off because he used two hands.  But a tap does not need to be one-handed.  A blown call, and a shame.  That would have been a great win for the Oles, coming back from a 17 point deficit.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but how many times have we seen in televised college or pro sports, a call reversed that the game announcers & a neutral party "ref" thought would go one way, and the court officials go the other way?  Without the benefit of slow motion replay, its tough for an official to make a bang-bang decision like that.  Statistically, the refs might have thought, no way anyone can make this basket with this little time left. Nonetheless, tough loss for the Oles, and the Dawgs are looking like a really tired team.