MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Willy Wonka]

So...how bout them Oles? 

[funbballer]

So...how bout them Oles? 

Oles won only because the STO players told Koz the game was at MAC so Koz drove up there and wasn't at the real game in Northfield. Really, there's no other explanation for this, is there? 

WW....and now YOUR Gusties......talked to a friend of mine that was at the game, he said your boy AT was a non-factor....he played soft and never got into the game. (suppose we'll hear that he has the flu or something!). He said the only guy that played with any heart was Sowden and that UST did shoot well, but he said they got a lot of "good looks" and knocked down the shots. He also didn't think the Gusties are a good come-from-behind team as they over pass the ball and no one was aggressive in going to the basket. Appears this was a real meltdown, but these things happen.

Looks like the boys at SJU are stepping up and playing some good ball.  With again no inside game and the rainbow of three's not going in = another BU loss. (Go figure!!!)

CAR put a spanking on AUG and brought them back to reality.

[Touchdown Tommy]

Willy Wonka brings up a valid point.  How bout them Oles?  Or more aptly how bad is MAC?  Ut oh, here comes the demise ala the football team...

[columbianmaffia]

how bout big IKE on the front page of D3 hoops....a block short of a tripple dip! looks like he stepped it up

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

For those who get Sports Illustrated, check out the Scorecard section. There's a writeup on some of the shenanigans that take place - stolen mascots, etc., - when rivals meet. There's one that brings up memories of the Rats' venture against STU a few  years ago, with the infiltration of the Tommies' stands. It reads:

2004: Posing as members of the "Harvard Pep Squad," Yalies hand out 1,800 colored squares of paper to Crimson fans at The Game, telling them that when held up, they will spell GO HARVARD. Instead, they spell WE SUCK.

The best part is there's a photo of it, giant red letters with a white background, spelling out, WE SUCK.

This reminds me--- OAS & others, any idea what happened to that corny mascot that Mac spent so much money on? He/she/it has been nowhere to be seen (and knowing how you feel about said mascot, OAS, it is probably a good thing that it disappeared)

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Bus-
stick to what you know about....hurricanes, pink tees & selling real estate   

[piperinsider]

In all fairness, the Tommies got nearly every roll in this game. With 1 sec left on shot clock, Danny Peterson throws up a prayer from the baseline, goes in. Rosefelt had a dunk that he missed, the ball pops up and comes back down into the hoop. The Tommies just had the good touch.

Schnettler played great last night. He hit his open threes, which he will always do but I was more impressed by his aggressiveness to dribble towards the basket. He had a pretty 14 footer that he banked off the glass from the left side. He also created a few easy opportunities for Rosefelt and Shimek.

Rosefelt is a much different player this year. He's found how to finish his move. Instead of fading away, he uses his height to go towards the basket. Turns an 8-footer to a 6-footer. Plus his presence on defense and on the boards is real nice.

I think the thing with the Gusties is that Rosefelt didn't have to pay much attention to Stien or Whippler. He looked for the block from other players.

Pipers lose to Luther 86-72. Is Luther for real this year? If my memory serves me correct, they defeated St. olaf and lost to GAC. Thrasher scores 21. DeRock has only 4. Like I said two weeks ago, Thrasher is much farther along than DeRock right now.

Miac Maniac- Yes, I said GAC by eight. I was wrong. Way wrong.

[Touchdown Tommy]

Maniac,

Are you buds with OAS?

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

PI--- I couldn't resist tweaking ya on it...for what its worth my precition was almost as far off (73-71)

[Touchdown Tommy]

Almost time to throw some K around MM...

[big_shocker]

There was lots of truth in PI's comment where he said that everything went UST's way, plus the fact that they played ridiculously well, and GAC played ridiculously poorly. Ike missed a dunk that bounced three times on the rim and went in. Twice (at least) there were scrums for rebounds at UST's ends that bounced in the air and into the bucket for scores. Plus, Ike had at least three goal tends (only one was called)- even though they were pretty impressive.

Complaining aside, UST came out ready to go. Schnettler could,'t miss from anywhere last night. It seemed like he was a D-I guard who only needed a plit second to line up and bury threes. Ike was on (though I still think he's soft-regardless, his finese around the basket was impossible to stop last night) and played like the D-I player he may have been in a former life. I heard a qoute from the game last night, which said that all of UST's transfers played like they were D-I or D-II players, as some of them had been. Sweeney seemed on last night as well, giving off sort of a sinister look, kind of like he had nothing but focus on winning the game. I don't think I've ever seen this group of UST guys so focused, and it scared me to think what happens if they start playing to their full potential.

And GAC just didn't have it last night. Sowden was on, steady as always, and he showed why he is a great offensive post. However, GAC couldn't stop UST anywhere, and the backcourt just couldn't find the usual weaknesses to explot. Before the game, I thought UST was hiding a poor defense with good offense, but a team like GAC doesn't get confused with a smoke-and-mirror defense. No one seemed ready to follow Sowden's lead and pick up the slack. However, GAC had a bad game like this last year (the home loss to CAR), which jolted them awake, and they ran off an impressive run through the rest of the season.

Anyway, the jist of it is: UST played well, GAC did not. Now we know who the #1 team is in the MIAC right now.

[localcoach]

Comments based on last night's results.

1) St. Thomas wins big.  I know that some of you are not surprised by this, and while I'm not shocked that the Tommies won, I still cannot believe it was by 30+ points.  The Gusties get to the line 25 times and have only 8 turnovers and the margin of defeat is still huge.  One needs to only see that GAC shot 32% from the field and only totaled 20 team rebounds. UST shoots nearly 65% from the field and gets nearly double the number of total rebounds.

2) St. Olaf is making steps in the right direction.  I understand that people will look at who the Oles have beaten and say big deal, but sometimes the toughest games to win are against teams that you should beat.  I think that the Concordia game this weekend will reveal a lot about where they are truly at. 

3) Hamline loses on the road by double digits to Luther?  Is Luther better then people think as piperinsider said, or is Hamline not as good?  I just can't figure out this Hamline team.  They manage to stay within striking distance of St. Thomas, they beat Carleton on the road, but then they lose to teams like Luther and Northwestern.  Anyone??

4) Carleton finally gets on the winning track.  All five starters reach double figures and the Knights actually out rebound their opponent.  That's more like the Carleton I'm used to.

5) What has happened to Bethel?  Three loses in a row and they all of a sudden can't hit the broad side of a barn from long distance. 

6) I wish I could say that I'm surprised Macalester has fallen off this season, but I'm truly not.  They rely completely on Conboy for offense and they start a freshman point guard who has to play nearly the whole game.  That's not a good combination.

It continues to be an interesting year in the MIAC...

[Drake Palmer]

Appreciate the reports summarizing the Gusties/Tommies game but still no one has really addressed the defense.  Was it stellar D by UST or just a really poor shooting night by TeBrake & crew?

MM - aside from Sir Dunk-a-felt, you did single out the effort by Keating & Shimek, so I've gotta believe they had a say in the scoring outcome for the Gusties. I've been a fan of Shimek since he arrived at UST, & Keating I've followed for a number of years.  So unless I read otherwise, I'll just assume they finally brought their "A" game defensively & the Gusties weren't quite up to the challenge last night.

Big Shocker - nice post buddy!  You whined a little bit, (we all have) & you gave props  to your opponents.   If I know the Gusties, round 2 is going to be a monster!    

...Pipers lose to Luther 86-72. Is Luther for real this year? If my memory serves me correct, they defeated St. olaf and lost to GAC. Thrasher scores 21. DeRock has only 4. Like I said two weeks ago, Thrasher is much farther along than DeRock right now.

PI  - when did you ever make that comment about Thrasher being further along than DeRock??    Sounds like a little "bandwagon jumping" to me.   If I recall, you paid Thrasher a compliment, but DeRock you were gushing over & compared him to a poor man's Mark Buri (I paraphrased).  Don't forget, we can easily scroll back through each others old posts you know.

The Pipes are going to be a good club, no doubt about it.  But they're still young which I think is what hurt them last night.

"Hey, jeez, we just barely lost to UST, etc. & now we gotta go play lowly Luther" or words to that effect.  If Wohler & staff can coach, the players are teachable, they'll learn from last night.  Looking at the boxscore, it looks like he decided that everyone would get some clock.  Everybody on the Hamline bench got into the game.

Strangely quiet from the corner of Grand & Snelling today.

[big_shocker]

I was always taught to say thank you for nice compliments, DP, so thank you. I'll just keep saying things as I see 'um.

One more thought from last night: GAC will recover from this. They usually have these games a couple times a year where nothing goes right (it can't always be when you play STO, as it did like last year). They will let last night simmer until J-Term kicks in. Then we'll hopefully see a resurgence in the rematch.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

For my 200th post, I want to take a minute to say 'thanks" to all of you—your differing opinions, your unique perspectives and your obvious love of all that is MIAC athletics is special. While we all don't always see eye-to-eye on specifics, we all share a deep love of the MIAC, its student-athletes (past & present), its coaches and our fellow fans. I view it as an honor to be part of the fellowship of this board and the football board and look forward to reading your comments and adding my two cents worth for years to come.