MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[kel_varnsen]

An ugly game at Gus Young tonight made uglier by the elbow. Hamline opted for the slow, painful death by playing a 2-3 zone for the entire contest. The zone surrendered uncontested lay-ups and plenty of open looks for Gustie shooters. Credit the Gustie offense for patience, but I think that was the worst executed zone defense I've seen since my team tried it when I was a freshman in high school.

The Gusties depth is certainly an asset. DesLauriers sat out the second half, presumably with an injury. Wittwer sat early in the second with 3 fouls, but the Gusties had enough left to hold the lead.

The elbow was just an unfortunate all-around play. I had a pretty good look at it, but it happened pretty quickly so my account of the details will be somewhat fuzzy. Gustavus guard Robert Schmidt received a pass at the elbow with Anderson guarding him. There weren't any other players near either of them. Schmidt made some kind of a fake, but then made a move in an unexpected direction. (Sorry; all I can really remember is being surprised by which direction he went). To make it worse, Anderson also reacted unexpectedly and somehow Schmidt's elbow found Anderson's eye. The contact was definitely incidental, but even with the refs calling a loose game, it probably should have been a foul.

[localcoach]

As Willy and VOJ stated, what an amazing night for the Cobbers.  If I do my math right they're officially in the post-season.  Good for Coach Siverson. 

I am however still amazed that CC shot 36.4% and won the game, let alone by 10 points   I guess when you go 33-43 from the line that will do it.  UST with an uncharacteristic 23 turnovers as well.

In other playoff news....it all comes down to Bethel/Auggie on Saturday for the right to move on. 

[TommieHoops4Life]

Carleton eliminates Olaf tonight 62-51. The Knights started with a 9-0 run and never looked back. St. Olaf looked very stagnant in its offense early, which is suprising since it was senior night and a playoff spot was on the line.

Johnson scores 29, and based on his performance tonight he's got my vote for MVP. He exploited every mismatch on offense and scored easily in the paint. Hunter was virtually non-existent inside, as was much of the St. Olaf offense.

Tough way for the Oles to go out, they're not as bad as they played tonight. Carleton, on the other hand, played solid in virtually every phase. If Sutherland was healthy the whole year, he'd probably get my vote for MIP. He was a difference-maker tonight.

Sounds like UST suffers a tough loss tonight. Are we going to start a debate on here about the Tommies getting all the calls just like Duke does? In their loss at Wake, all five starters fouled out. When was the last time a starting five fouled out in a game?? In any case, not worried about the Tommies heading into the playoffs, they've played too well not to go far and even to the NCAAs.

[Willy Wonka]

Tommies lose. Dukies lose. Lakers lo...

Well, maybe it wasn't the perfect night

[piperinsider]

VOJ...Drake wanted some spouting off, I gave him some.

After tonight:
School MIAC Overall
1. St. Thomas* 16-3 20-4
2. Gustavus* 14-5 18-6
3. Carleton* 12-7 17-7
4. Saint John's* 11-8 14-10
Concordia* 11-8 12-12
6. Bethel 10-9 14-10
Augsburg 10-9 12-12
8. St. Olaf 10-10 12-13
9. Hamline 5-14 7-17
10. Macalester 4-15 6-18
11. Saint Mary's 2-17 2-22

One game for No. 6 - Bethel and Augsburg. The Auggies are 7-2 on the backstretch. Wow. Go Tech!

[piperinsider]

Oh, btw...Hamline was 4-1 and now has lost 13 of their last 14 games.

Some people might choose BET/AUG, but Ham at Macalester (being played at UST) is for 9th place!

[Drake Palmer]

First off, props to all seniors, but in particular St. Olaf's Bobby Hunter & Steve Banick on two solid careers. I've seen those guys play for what seems like 10 years. Good job, well done & best of luck in the future.

Two, back from Northfield & the 07-08 streak continues.   

Looks like the Tommies laid an egg on the road in a 67-57 loss to the Cobbs to further muddy the playoff picture. UST finally got some refs who called their shinanigans, getting whistled for 30 fouls and giving CC around 40 FTs.

No, no no my son.  In the words of singer Jimmy Cliff I Can See Clearly Now

Congratulations Cobbs!

I'm sure the Tommies would like to win them all, but if they were going to drop a stinko game, this was the one to drop.   I'm guessing the Cobbs played UST much like their first game against Hamline.  Hard tough screens across the lane & kept attacking the cup. They only took 7 shots from beyond the arc.

On the UST side of things, in addition to the bazillion UST fouls (33) they had 23 TOs.   Plus, the refs weren't letting the choirboy Tommies get away with their usual pickpocket defense & called them for a season's worth of clutching & grabbing.  Some might call it karma.  Now instead of just relying on their quick hands, maybe they'll be more attentive to the coaches & keep moving their feet doing defensive slides to play better defense.

[Sparticus-dttyd]

Not to dispute the elbow thing since it looked like an accident, but it appeared to me that they just banged heads when going for somewhat of a loose ball. Hamline coach flipped out because the refs didn't stop the game after his player was bleeding. It almost seemed like he just wanted to leave and not have to watch the rest of the game after his players gave up. Good win for the gusties. Also, an interesting scenario could develop where the gusties last regular season game and first playoff game is against the same team which would happen to be carelton both years.

[miacwatchmen]

VOJ- I don't think you can look at the Loras game to guage the attendance. There was a white-out snowstorm that day and even Loras had trouble getting to the game!! Granted the attendance was VERY poor but when you have to risk your personal safety to attend a basketball game.... not such a bright idea.

So you're saying spending roughly 7 hours on the road that day going to the women's title game and then coming back down in the snowy dark for the men's title game wasn't a good decision? Who knew

Willy- You are a true MAN. I think it was wise for the pretend men, women, and children to stay inside that day. Thats why there were only a dozen fans at the SJU-Loras game. I could not imagine driving 7 hours in those conditions. My hat is off to you.  +K for your amazing dedication.


Tommies got caught looking forward to Saturday??  Thoughts?

[abominable_snowman]

watch- i doubt it was the casce the tommies were looking past concordia.

it's a lot like carelton, where ust is grateful just to come out of there with a win.  Most of the time, it's not pretty.

as alluded to before, the stripe is where this game was won.  giving up 33 free points is a hard way to win games.  And it takes away any sort of rythm or momentum.

The bigger question is why UST was unable to make the adjustment.  This is a key point headed into (hopefully) NCAA tournament, where the officiating is definitely random, and adaptation is key.

[VOJ]

Auggies or Royals.  Let's start the debate...

What a great matchup first of all...Solaja vs Moberg, Madson vs Cassens...Auggies are arguably the hottest team in the MIAC against the team that had the most pub coming in and now is in danger of not making the playoffs....

I like the Auggies in an upset

Here is the big question...you know that the four players listed above will show up and be factors....

WHO WILL BE THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH WHO HELPS DECIDE WHO MAKES IT TO THE PLAYOFFS?

+k Drake...for the roadtrip, wish I could have been there...

[UST_LBOW]

Playing up at Concordia is as tough a game as their is in the MIAC.  UST never plays well up there and Fritz hates to lose at that place.  This is a good game to lose because it puts the focus back in their heads.  I guarantee today Fritz will put them through a good practice to make sure that they're ready to go Saturday night.  This is the best game of the year for UST and SJU and both teams will want to beat the daylights out of one another.  Should be a good atmosphere!

[concordia of the north]

i'm so happy.

This clinches 4th for the Cobbers now if everyone goes 11-9.

Go Cobbs!

[BBTommie]

Playing up at Concordia is as tough a game as their is in the MIAC.  UST never plays well up there and Fritz hates to lose at that place.  This is a good game to lose because it puts the focus back in their heads.  I guarantee today Fritz will put them through a good practice to make sure that they're ready to go Saturday night.  This is the best game of the year for UST and SJU and both teams will want to beat the daylights out of one another.  Should be a good atmosphere!

Pretty tough to win any game when your starters score 21 points and two of them are shut out including your second leading scorer.  UST has gone with the same starting line up in all but one game this year.

Maybe any starter that wasn't ready to play last night should sit this Saturday for a few minutes.  That should send the message that the post-season is a new season.

[UST_LBOW]

I'm sure the coaching staff doesn't want to switch up the starting lineup.  You can't argue with what their record has been for the year.  Every team hits a few snags, look at Duke.  2 losses in 4 days.  This is probably what the Tommies needed if they thought they could coast since they wrapped up the conference.  Fritz has been here many times in the past and he will have the players FULL attention going into Saturday and the playoffs.