MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Nites]

Do you ever read a stat or angle in a story, or hear an announcer say something over the air & wonder – "how the heck did they come up with that one?" To a much lesser extent that's what happened to me last night & this morning while reading the various game boxscores & summaries. The first thing I noticed after reading the game summaries was how woeful everyone seemed to be shooting the deep ball.  Players I've talked to have said the new 3-pt line doesn't really make much difference but it does make you wonder. We'll have to check back in the end of the year & compare this season's shooting percentages to last year's.

Th new line probably doesn't make much difference to the Bryan Schnettlers of the world who can launch one way beyond the arc with a hand in the face and hit nothing but net, but I'm guessing that it can have a significant effect of the average shooter because it can take him out of his comfort zone.

I was watching the Mavs play Indiana recently and the announcers were talking about T.J. Ford.  They pointed out that he is an excellent free throw shooter and that he has managed to turn himself into a pretty darn good jump shooter - but only up to about 18 or 19 feet.  When he gets out near the 3-point line, he doesn't look near as comfortable.  Consequently, he's not much of a 3-point threat.

The average shooter tends to be more cognizant of exactly where the 3-point line is and I think you will find that he usually tries to get pretty close to the line before letting lose - unlike, say a Schnettler who can fire and hit from the locker room if he thinks he's open.  Thus, moving the line back for the average shooter can make him uncomfortable, which likely will affect his accuracy.

[columbianmaffia]

went to the CAR STO game last night...a few thoughts

fong will be good down the road when he figures out how to take a shot within the flow of the offense...he tried to hard to make things happen...hes got some hops though thats for sure

STO in general had horrible shot selection yesterday and took themselves out of the game pretty quickly because of it

THE GOOSE IS LOOSE!! i saw the goose neck last night and it is still long and elegant

sutherland looks really good on the wing on the offensive end of the court...i miss watching him pester the pg from the opposing team though but he still does his thing defensively

very dissappointed in the crowd...not very rowdy for 2 schools who are suppose to have a big rivalry although 3 olaf fans got tossed but i have no idea why

thats about all i have to say about that...i had me about 16 of them dr peppers...

on a side note...it is mustach season...time to get it going for the big xmas sweater parties coming up...

FREE MUSTACH RIDES FOR BOOMBALAHTIES!

[carletonsid]

Do you ever read a stat or angle in a story, or hear an announcer say something over the air & wonder – "how the heck did they come up with that one?" To a much lesser extent that's what happened to me last night & this morning while reading the various game boxscores & summaries. The first thing I noticed after reading the game summaries was how woeful everyone seemed to be shooting the deep ball.  Players I've talked to have said the new 3-pt line doesn't really make much difference but it does make you wonder. We'll have to check back in the end of the year & compare this season's shooting percentages to last year's.

I was wondering the same thing after watching the Knights and Oles both struggle from deep last night. Some quick work reveals:

2008-09 3-pt FG shooting (all MIAC teams, all games): 448-1275 (35.13%)
2007-08 3-pt FG shooting (all MIAC teams, all games): 1799-5076 (35.44%)
2006-07 3-pt FG shooting (all MIAC teams, all games): 1950   -5393 (36.16%)
2005-06 3-pt FG shooting (all MIAC teams, all games): 1806   -5076 (35.58%)

So not a huge difference--yet. We've yet to get to those "dog days" of late January/early February, where teams have five games in 10 days and typically we'd see shooting percentages drop. Also, since it's a relatively small sample size (11 teams, 3+ seasons) and I probably should compare against overall shooting percentages.

From kenpom.com, here's DI comparison from this year to last:
3-Point Tracker (D-I vs. D-I only)
2009 to date... 3PM/3PA:33.8%  3PA/FGA:33.2%
2008 season.... 3PM/3PA:35.1%  3PA/FGA:34.4%

I think once we settle into conference play, we'll see that number drop under 35 percent. Would be interesting to see a similar stat for all of D3, but I can't seem to find anything on the NCAA site (big surprise).

[AO]

here's the solution for increasing your team's shooting percentages.  Stop taking so many threes!  Let's move the line out to 25 feet and eliminate the Grinnells of the world from contention.  Give it to the Big Man!  stop calling the ticky tack fouls and let's get back to real basketball, let's make a shot from 5 or 12 feet instead of winning games with wide open threes and free throws!

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

here's the solution for increasing your team's shooting percentages.  Stop taking so many threes!  Let's move the line out to 25 feet and eliminate the Grinnells of the world from contention.  Give it to the Big Man!  stop calling the ticky tack fouls and let's get back to real basketball, let's make a shot from 5 or 12 feet instead of winning games with wide open threes and free throws!

why not go back to the Stone Ages-- get rid of the shot clock and require 1970-style uniforms too? bring back the 4 Corners? put the bottom back on the peach basket?

I know...we can use the UMAC as an experimental lab for this! Judging by the tons of posters from that league and activity on its boad, their game could USE some change.

[Retired Old Rat]

This many Johnnie posters & flurry of posts on the basketball board must only mean one thing - they think their team is on to something good this year.    Glad to see you all around.  While the Jays certainly do have young talent, they better get their precocious young PG, Andy Burns & others to start taking care of the ball.  In the closing minutes of last Saturday's game against the Knights, they appeared to be turnover prone, and dropped the ball 21 times last night against a team with considerably less talent.

Naw, just a game close to home where I knew I would be able to stroll in at tip and get a great seat.  Also wanted to check out the new digs at Mac.  And be one of the first to be able to say I've attended games at all 3 of Mac's basketball venues.

[abominable_snowman]

Rather uninspired play by SJU tonight at Mac.  I had to wake up Maniac 2 or 3 times when he started snoring so loudly the players were distracted.  With only about 200 people in the gym (counting players and coaches) it was really embarrassing.

Johnnies have some very good young talent.  The player I was most impressed with was point guard Andy Burns.  I expect the Johnnies will be up and down this year with all the Freshmen and Sophomores.  Another good recruiting class and they will be able to compete with St. Thomas.

The Leonard Center at Macalester is quite the facility.  The basketball arena is a nice size.  Not an airplane hanger like the  field house and unlike the old gym has room for more than 27 fans.

Line of the night from Faunch, to the referees:  What youth league tournament are you working on Saturday?  With the crowd of 200 and a less than exciting game to generate crowd noise, you know they heard him.

Was it the Asian Sensation? I'm surprised he didn't give you an answer. Maybe he was thinking about his little dog that likely shares his short man syndrome...

Snow - I got myself into a reffing situation coming up. Any advice for a novice just getting his feet wet? I'd hate to get heckled by old guys like ROR, Moses and Faunch

This adage always served me well when I officiated. 

"Call what you see and see what you call."

Hustle but also be patient and don't anticipate calls.  Keep in mind that every parent there is watching their kid and if little Johnnie or Billy gets knocked down they will go ballistic.  Don't worry about it.  The kid probably had it comin' anyway!   

I guess I picked up an alter-ego   Can't really disagree with the nuggets here. My tip would be to try to remain calm.  Games can get frenetic in a hurry, so try to find times to catch your breath and calm yourself down.  Good luck!

[VOJ]

Fellas...

We have a real rarity on the MIAC schedule, well its actually a non-conference game but the Johnnies host the University of Chicago SUNDAY NIGHT...how about a gathering at the Buckhorn in Avon for a holiday party before or after the game??  What else do you guys have going on this Sunday??  Course we would have to make sure its open, or we could use Old Chicago as a fall back.

[columbianmaffia]

Fellas...

We have a real rarity on the MIAC schedule, well its actually a non-conference game but the Johnnies host the University of Chicago SUNDAY NIGHT...how about a gathering at the Buckhorn in Avon for a holiday party before or after the game??  What else do you guys have going on this Sunday??  Course we would have to make sure its open, or we could use Old Chicago as a fall back.

U of Chi-town plays back to back games agianst the MIAC...they have the johnnies on sunday night and CAR on monday night

tim taylor and al borelan are dominating mid-day television

[AO]

here's the solution for increasing your team's shooting percentages.  Stop taking so many threes!  Let's move the line out to 25 feet and eliminate the Grinnells of the world from contention.  Give it to the Big Man!  stop calling the ticky tack fouls and let's get back to real basketball, let's make a shot from 5 or 12 feet instead of winning games with wide open threes and free throws!

why not go back to the Stone Ages-- get rid of the shot clock and require 1970-style uniforms too? bring back the 4 Corners? put the bottom back on the peach basket?

I know...we can use the UMAC as an experimental lab for this! Judging by the tons of posters from that league and activity on its boad, their game could USE some change.

judging by the number of people as was reported that went to see the MAC-SJU game and the generally unexcited fans at CAR-STO, I'd say the MIAC might consider upping their game as well.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

here's the solution for increasing your team's shooting percentages.  Stop taking so many threes!  Let's move the line out to 25 feet and eliminate the Grinnells of the world from contention.  Give it to the Big Man!  stop calling the ticky tack fouls and let's get back to real basketball, let's make a shot from 5 or 12 feet instead of winning games with wide open threes and free throws!

why not go back to the Stone Ages-- get rid of the shot clock and require 1970-style uniforms too? bring back the 4 Corners? put the bottom back on the peach basket?

I know...we can use the UMAC as an experimental lab for this! Judging by the tons of posters from that league and activity on its boad, their game could USE some change.

judging by the number of people as was reported that went to see the MAC-SJU game and the generally unexcited fans at CAR-STO, I'd say the MIAC might consider upping their game as well.

those crowds would be SRO in the UMAC.

[AO]

here's the solution for increasing your team's shooting percentages.  Stop taking so many threes!  Let's move the line out to 25 feet and eliminate the Grinnells of the world from contention.  Give it to the Big Man!  stop calling the ticky tack fouls and let's get back to real basketball, let's make a shot from 5 or 12 feet instead of winning games with wide open threes and free throws!

why not go back to the Stone Ages-- get rid of the shot clock and require 1970-style uniforms too? bring back the 4 Corners? put the bottom back on the peach basket?

I know...we can use the UMAC as an experimental lab for this! Judging by the tons of posters from that league and activity on its boad, their game could USE some change.

judging by the number of people as was reported that went to see the MAC-SJU game and the generally unexcited fans at CAR-STO, I'd say the MIAC might consider upping their game as well.

those crowds would be SRO in the UMAC.

come see some Northwestern games during UMAC play, last year's Martin Luther game was 1700, another game was 1500 and so on.  Martin Luther also has a nice home crowd, with a rowdy student section.  Morris has potential with their massive gym.  The Johnnies definitely rule Minnesota as far as average home attendance. 

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

here's the solution for increasing your team's shooting percentages.  Stop taking so many threes!  Let's move the line out to 25 feet and eliminate the Grinnells of the world from contention.  Give it to the Big Man!  stop calling the ticky tack fouls and let's get back to real basketball, let's make a shot from 5 or 12 feet instead of winning games with wide open threes and free throws!

why not go back to the Stone Ages-- get rid of the shot clock and require 1970-style uniforms too? bring back the 4 Corners? put the bottom back on the peach basket?

I know...we can use the UMAC as an experimental lab for this! Judging by the tons of posters from that league and activity on its boad, their game could USE some change.

judging by the number of people as was reported that went to see the MAC-SJU game and the generally unexcited fans at CAR-STO, I'd say the MIAC might consider upping their game as well.

those crowds would be SRO in the UMAC.

come see some Northwestern games during UMAC play, last year's Martin Luther game was 1700, another game was 1500 and so on.  Martin Luther also has a nice home crowd, with a rowdy student section.  Morris has potential with their massive gym.  The Johnnies definitely rule Minnesota as far as average home attendance. 

If I ever get desparate enough for entertainment to attend a UMAC game, check to see if my Living Will is being disregarded. As they say on the UMAC board... oh wait, they dont say anything there -- a whopping TWO total posts since the end of last season?? TWO? 

[Nites]

come see some Northwestern games during UMAC play, last year's Martin Luther game was 1700, another game was 1500 and so on. 

1700 what?   

[AO]

come see some Northwestern games during UMAC play, last year's Martin Luther game was 1700, another game was 1500 and so on. 

1700 what?   

1700 more fans than the johnnie students could muster against mac.