MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[cawcdad]

I was at the UPS - GA game yesterday. The Gusties were scrappy but ran into a Logger team that was firing on all cylinders. This is the second time this year I've seen UPS and wow they were much better than the first time.
There are pictures posted of the Sunday game for anyone interested: USP - Gustavus game pics

[Drake Palmer]

...• Big picture, how important is it to recruit the cities? While you seem to suggest its uberimportance, take a look at GAC's best players over the last 10 years:

Bobby Southworth (Gibbon)
Luke Schmidt (New Ulm)
Bobby J (Jackson)
Chad Henke (Gaylord)
Kirk Wahlberg (Annandale)
Chris/Adam TeBrake (St. Peter)
Espo (Mankato)
Trevor Wittwer (Redwood Valley)

No, I'm certainly not saying that you can only win with players from the cities but they certainly help.  Look at your Gusties.  Arguably, the best single season in Gustavus & MIAC history was the 2003 Gustie squad.  This team included not one, but two key players from the metro area– Tim Brown from Bloomington & Eric Nelson from Mendota Heights.   All I'm saying is that if you're a Minnesota outstate school or even semi-outstate, you'll probably need a blend of players from both areas to contend on the national scene.
********
I saw Puget Sound play last year & they were one of the two fastest D3 teams I'd seen.  UW-Whitewater being the other team.
***
Regarding James Baldwin:

That's funny/sad about Baldwin.  The guy was built like the proverbial brick sh*thouse.  I remember looking him up a couple of years ago wondering how in the world did an African American kid with the name of James Baldwin end up at Concordia.  Well, the last laugh was on me.  Baldwin is a white guy from a farm in North Dakota. Now some of you posters may recall, ironically enough, in the 06-07 season the Cobbs also landed an African-American player with the Scandinavian sounding name of Erik Johnson from San Diego.

Open the following link, scroll about halfway down the page to Baldwin's bio.  Check out his hobby.  And in track guess what? he threw the shot. 

[miacsuperfan]

• Hanson has spent a LOT of time going after some recruits in the cities the last few years. However, the effort hasn't really panned out — he went hard after Leslie (UST), Kaiser (SJU) and a few others. He even missed exchanging high-fives with me last year when UST fell flat in the national tourney because he was out recruiting in the cities.

• Big picture, how important is it to recruit the cities? While you seem to suggest its uberimportance, take a look at GAC's best players over the last 10 years:

Bobby Southworth (Gibbon)Luke Schmidt (New Ulm)
Bobby J (Jackson)
Chad Henke (Gaylord)
Kirk Wahlberg (Annandale)
Chris/Adam TeBrake (St. Peter)
Espo (Mankato)
Trevor Wittwer (Redwood Valley)

I'm a bit surprised to hear this, as it was my impression that Hanson has always had a clear cut preference for small town, tough farm kids.   That coupled with the fact that the city of St. Peter must appear to the average metro kid as a total negative on the balance sheet----one quickly understands Hanson's hesitance to recruit the metro area.   He has been able to build some great teams around a few outstanding individual players and surrounded them with a bunch of hard-working, over-achieving role players.   It has been a pretty good formula for him.   He just needs to come up with a few more Southworths, Wahlbergs, or Espensons.   A Tim Brown or two wouldn't hurt either.

Seeing Chad Henke's name brought back a flood of memories of a player who was the icon for Hanson basketball.   Henke was the classic 'lunch bucket' farm kid who got more out his ability than most could ever imagine.  I don't know what his off-season regimen was, but nobody worked harder during the 40 minutes of play than that kid.   

[The Roop]

Do the Tommies have a chance @DII Concordia-St.Paul tonight ?? FYI it's free on PennAtlantic.com

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Do the Tommies have a chance @DII Concordia-St.Paul tonight ?? FYI it's free on PennAtlantic.com

dunno...did they "have a chance" at Winona State last year?

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Regarding James Baldwin:

That's funny/sad about Baldwin.  The guy was built like the proverbial brick sh*thouse.  I remember looking him up a couple of years ago wondering how in the world did an African American kid with the name of James Baldwin end up at Concordia.  Well, the last laugh was on me.  Baldwin is a white guy from a farm in North Dakota. Now some of you posters may recall, ironically enough, in the 06-07 season the Cobbs also landed an African-American player with the Scandinavian sounding name of Erik Johnson from San Diego.

Open the following link, scroll about halfway down the page to Baldwin's bio.  Check out his hobby.  And in track guess what? he threw the shot. 

Interesting find Drake. Love the irony this whole post is loaded with. The whole episode - assuming WW's info is accurate- is a real headscratcher.  It is a shame, though, as the little I saw of Baldwin's play, I liked what I saw.

[Drake Palmer]

It's a good thing the MIAC has built up a decent non-conference record.  By the time the snow finally settles in mid February on the league's foray into the non-conference world, we might be lucky to be above .500.  Based on the data I posted the other day, the MIAC had an overall record of 24-20 as of December 23, 2008.

Since that date the MIAC has played four additional non conference games.

The Gusties played and lost 2 games out in California to 19th ranked Puget Sound and 22nd ranked Whitworth College.

As we all probably expected, the hardworking, but hapless Scots fell to UW-River Falls last night 77-44.

The lone bright light of last night was the Cobbs' squeaker over Nebraska Wesleyan by the score of 66-62.  So that brings the MIAC's current overall non conference record to 25- 23.

So now we have six non conference games left on the slate.  In three of the six games I would think we're the decided underdog:

12/30/08   St. Olaf    @South Dakota
12/30/08   St. Mary's   @ St. Cloud State
2/16/09   Hamline   in a late Valentine's Day present for UND
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And three games where –"Hmm, who knows?"

12/30/08   UW-LAX @ Carleton.

I'm not really sure how to call this game.  LAX gave the Tommies all they wanted & then some little over a week ago before the Tommies leaned on the throttle in OT & pulled out the win.  According to CMob, Jeremy Sutherland maybe out for awhile with that shoulder injury.   But while scanning the LAX website this morning I saw that 3 year senior starter at PG, Brandon Brown for LAX was declared academically ineligible.  But LAX has still got some size & decent quickness with 6-0 190lb Tony Mane, a streaky but tough shooting guard; an excellent defender in jumbo guard Trevor Stratton who goes 6-2 210lb with a nice j, & a big post Andy Merklein who's listed at 6-9 240lbs. Carleton will definitely have their hands full.

DP's call –a push.  And if someone said you've gotta make a call – I'd whimper- "LaCrosse, I mean Carleton, LAX,..." 

12/30/08    UW-River Falls    @   Hamline

My new favorite WIAC school versus my old MIAC flavor of the month.  The Falcons have been playing very well as of late. They beat UW-Oshkosh, played #3 ranked UW-Platteville at the time to a draw before P-Ville took over in the last 4 minutes of the game, & just came off of a beatdown of D2 Bemidji State. 

As far as the Pipes are concerned, I can't imagine it's been a very merry holiday season over at Snelling & Hewitt.  LA's (Coach Whitmore) probably been flaying around with the cat-of-nine tails at practice since they've had 2.5 weeks to stew on that loss to Concordia up in Moorhead.

DP's pick – If Coach Whitmore plays his guards right, he might have a chance to wear down the River Falls PG – quicksilver Jontae Koonkaew.  If they can neutralize him the Pipes can win, if not, chalk up a win for the WIAC.

12/30/08   UST      @ Concordia –St. Paul

The storylines in this game are almost endless.  Two schools less than two miles apart; a former prep school multi-sport phenom & CSTP player who literally grew up in UST's backyard & attended a bazillion Johnny Tauer basketball camps – Matt Cadwell; former Cretin HS teammates now rivals – Cadwell, Al McCoy, Josh Peltier, two teams that have both beaten the reigning D2 national champs – Winona State; neither team relies much on their inside game to generate a bunch of points; a 5-11 wing who is the team's 2nd leading rebounder& will pick you blind if you're not careful – CSTP's Sammy Ricks; a tremendously athletic PG who can grab a dime from the top of the backboard – CSTP's Mike Cunningham;  both team's best player can score treys in bunches  - UST's Joe Scott & CSTP's Craig Heiman, etc. etc.

DP's pick – no doubt about it this is a pickem.  In many ways these teams mirror each other.  Dang!  It's too bad I took VOJ's advice & signed on to become a HS scout for UW-River Falls. There's a bunch of good high school games going on tonight as well.   

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Excellent pregame analysis, DP, but you forget one consideration, at least if you listen to Dickie V, et al: History.

In nine previous meetings between UST(CST) and C-StP, the Tommies hold a 9-0 advantage. Although, I don't believe they have met since C-StP moved "up" to D-II after being soundly rejected in its appeal for membership in the MIAC.

Granted, none of this has any bearing on tonight's battle for the supremacy of St. Paul, at least not IMHO. It should be a most intriguing matchup, but I see UST bringing home a 5-7 point win.

[Willy Wonka]

Regarding James Baldwin:

That's funny/sad about Baldwin.  The guy was built like the proverbial brick sh*thouse.  I remember looking him up a couple of years ago wondering how in the world did an African American kid with the name of James Baldwin end up at Concordia.  Well, the last laugh was on me.  Baldwin is a white guy from a farm in North Dakota. Now some of you posters may recall, ironically enough, in the 06-07 season the Cobbs also landed an African-American player with the Scandinavian sounding name of Erik Johnson from San Diego.

Open the following link, scroll about halfway down the page to Baldwin's bio.  Check out his hobby.  And in track guess what? he threw the shot. 

Interesting find Drake. Love the irony this whole post is loaded with. The whole episode - assuming WW's info is accurate- is a real headscratcher.  It is a shame, though, as the little I saw of Baldwin's play, I liked what I saw.

That reminds me of a quote...name that movie!

Frank Perry: Well, since you're throwing bullets, I'm not even gonna mention the fact that you're an hour late (haven't posted in a week or two), and I have been standing here trying to figure out who my starting pitcher would be if you didn't show up.
Billy Chapel: Have I ever not showed? In the 19 years, have I ever not showed?
Frank Perry: Well, that's true of everyone until the first time they don't show.

My info comes from a Cobber insider who is fairly close to the situation. Could it be wrong? Of course...but I'd wager a lot of money that it's accurate.

[Gregory Sager]

In nine previous meetings between UST(CST) and C-StP, the Tommies hold a 9-0 advantage. Although, I don't believe they have met since C-StP moved "up" to D-II after being soundly rejected in its appeal for membership in the MIAC.

Since I'm afflicted with that incurable disease called curiosity, I'm gonna just go ahead and ask: Why was Concordia-St. Paul rejected for MIAC membership?

[miacsuperfan]

Do the Tommies have a chance @DII Concordia-St.Paul tonight ?? FYI it's free on PennAtlantic.com

When the dust finally settles in St. Paul:

MIAC 71
NSIC 59      8)

[TommieHoops4Life]

Nice little web cast of UST/CSP. Tommies are up 26-18 4 mins to go 1st half.

[TommieHoops4Life]

31-26 UST at the half.

[TommieHoops4Life]

Heading to OT at the Gangelhoff Center. UST trails most of the second half, but Nicolai drills a deep 3 off a screen with 12 seconds to play, tying the game at 62. He's got four 3s tonight.

[localcoach]

Sounds like one heck of a game over at CSP.  BJ Viau has 19 points and 14 rebounds as they enter the O.T. 

One other note, St. Cloud State pounded Saint Mary's by 20+