MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[sumander]

On another note.  You might want to find another bikini clad beauty to grace your avatar selection.  Based on the color of her suit you might give people the impression you've joined the ranks of the Tommies. 

Drake, tough to find an image of a hottie with a tatto and a red bikini! The new image will have to do for a while.

[Gregory Sager]

On another note.  You might want to find another bikini clad beauty to grace your avatar selection.  Based on the color of her suit you might give people the impression you've joined the ranks of the Tommies. 

Drake, tough to find an image of a hottie with a tatto and a red bikini! The new image will have to do for a while.

Nice fart wings on that one, Sum.

[sumander]

Thanks, Sensei

[localcoach]

Wow, quite a busy day today on the board. 

Drake - Don't be a copycat now with the pick'em selctions    Here's how I rendered my verdict on the upcoming STO/HAM game.

-The Pipers have one once in the past 10 games.  There clearly are issues over at Snelling and Hewitt and while I'm not about to throw anyone to the Wolves, I will revert back to my previous statements from months ago, in which I said something to the effect of, "It's all about recruiting."  Coach Whitmore's first recruiting class was average by MIAC standards.  I'm waiting to see how this year's class turns out. 

- The Oles have won 3 of their past 4 and are in a dogfight for the final post-season playoff berth.

- In their first meeting way back in November, the Pipers won by 5.  In that game Eric Clute had 13 points (he hardly plays now) and Bobby Morrow (no longer around) had 8 points.  They say home court is worth an extra 5 and I agree.  The Oles have home court for this game. 

[Willy Wonka]

Wow, quite a busy day today on the board. 

Drake - Don't be a copycat now with the pick'em selctions    Here's how I rendered my verdict on the upcoming STO/HAM game.

-The Pipers have one once in the past 10 games.  There clearly are issues over at Snelling and Hewitt and while I'm not about to throw anyone to the Wolves, I will revert back to my previous statements from months ago, in which I said something to the effect of, "It's all about recruiting."  Coach Whitmore's first recruiting class was average by MIAC standards.  I'm waiting to see how this year's class turns out. 

- The Oles have won 3 of their past 4 and are in a dogfight for the final post-season playoff berth.

- In their first meeting way back in November, the Pipers won by 5.  In that game Eric Clute had 13 points (he hardly plays now) and Bobby Morrow (no longer around) had 8 points.  They say home court is worth an extra 5 and I agree.  The Oles have home court for this game. 

Feel free to take the kiddy gloves off any time now, Mr. Loco 

[columbianmaffia]

Good evening America and Piper pessimists!  It is time to wake up and smell the Wit – ness.  As the JockDoc I have immense experience via 1200+ coaching wins, All American honors, and twenty years of teaching teamwork and the art of winning.  I too have watched enough Piper crap this year and need to make comment.  When you consider the vices and virtues in Piperland it is easy to see that unintelligent, fickle, egotistical coaching has reduced the virtues of intelligence, athletic talent, and passion to a sloppy, inconsistent, fearful, confused, low confidence and unhappy team that is no fun to watch and is incapable of winning. 

The Pipes came marching into the 08-09 season with energy, teamwork, talent and a blossoming understanding of roles and abilities needed to keep Hamline in the MIAC post season race.  Unfortunately, the leaders of the band began playing reveille after traveling to Chicago and losing to a tough Elmhurst team.  Thrasher, Clute, and Hipp were living up to expectation and Hayes, Tanner Anderson, and Gusaas were filling their roles with confidence and success.  Morrow and Dan Anderson filled out a perfect 8 man rotation.  Nick Carroll is still a brute who should be used in spurts to go out and kill people who need to be beat up physically.  Beyond that he has no value to the Piper lineup – turnovers, poor  shooting and a nasty tendency to criticize and yell at teammates when he is making lots of mistakes makes him a detriment to a team in need of confidence, consistency, and trust.  For unknown reasons, the Witmeister failed to find a true baclup point guard who can run a team, handle pressure, see the court, deliver the ball timely, and intelligently run the court.  Reig and Wenrich cannot deliver a pass, cannot handle pressure, and do not understand the role of a point guard.  Coach, please teach them something.  Perhaps Hutchinson is a solution as a quick, strong, unselfish, positive, high energy, leader but the Wit has not allowed him to prove himself there

After the first two games the Wit – ness decided that his body type would lead him to the promised land and he began to play small ball which is only successful on little league baseball fields.  Running lineups with average size on the court of  probably 6 feet he benched Clute for the Northwest game (played 17 minutes 2008 / scored 40 2007) and elected to use Van Ordstrand (30 minutes / 4 points) - who never saw a shot he didn't like and never saw a cut that was good enough to reward with a pass.  He started Nick "The Killer" Carroll and completely disregarded the roles and lineups that looked optimistic last year and successful this one.  Since then he has shifted lineups and playing time so randomly that this looks like a sports version of musical chairs.  It appears that he hates Clute (35 total min in last 5 games) and Gusaas who any team in the MIAC would love to have.  Now he has dumped Hayes as well?  He wants so badly to prove that little guys like him can win that he runs his teams out of games with weak, short lineups of guys that cannot defend, score, or play like a team. 

All coaches should know that you have two hundred minutes of playing time in a game.  You want to put enough points up in those minutes to win.  You cannot make turnovers and miss gimme assists.  There are three proven all conference players on our team.  Thrasher, Clute, and Hipp need to start and be on the court for at least 30 minutes each.  Brandon Hayes starts and should see about 25 minutes with Wenrich and Reig filling out 15 minutes of point duties and learning how to compete in non game changing opportunities.  Dan Anderson and Tanner Anderson should play 30 total minutes per game and provide scoring and rest for the big three.  Gusaas should get 10-12 minutes to abuse people and put pressure on other post players.  Hutch, Van Ordstrand, and Carroll should fill out the thirty and all else would adapt with situations.  This system will give balance, scoring and solid defense, fresh bodies, and consistency that will lead to victory.  Players have to know their roles and fill them. 
   
Finally, strategy needs to be learned.  Coach needs to teach Karl how to get out of the post if there is nothing there, to get out of the way when his teammates are cutting or driving and also how to pass from the post.  Put the players in positions and offensive sets where they can think, see, and play to win.  Forget the ridiculous four out one in and the Texas weave offense.  Go to a strong high-low post work the wings and get the ball up and down.  Let the stars make mistakes and teach your freshman not to make them – keep the new guys out of the way in critical times instead of putting them in the way.  Pass the ball quick and short, keep everyone involved by minimizing dribbling, waiting for good looks to score, and cutting sharply to and from the basket.  Also please teach your team to get the ball downcourt and into scoring position quickly.  You do not know how to come back when using 6-10 seconds dribbling into position to run some complex offense with no time left.

Play man to man defense no matter what and use your 2-3 or 1-3-1 zone or amoeba only for 2-3 minutes and rotate your zones consistently cause MIAC players are smart and figure out weaknesses and gaps quickly which is why zones are not the prime way to defend.  You also cannot always try to belly up on defense cause then defenders with weak scorers cannot help on the guys that kill you.  The quicker man always creates gaps and high percentage scoring opps.  You cannot trap until offensive players get into your front court and you always trap in the corners not at the top of the key.  Baseline players in 2-3 and 1-3-1 gotta stay low enough to stop over the top and baseline drives and wing players only steal when offense has been trapped-especially weak side defenders gotta stay low to deny gimme shots and drives.  Know that if a guard allows penetration from the front court it is their fault when it leads to a score.  You cannot play crazy in a zone you gotta play carefully and with complete ability to stop penetration from the front court.   Speed kills - court sense wins...ask Auerbach if Bird was a speed demon.  Keep your 3-12 assistants from deciding who plays and have them count minutes and fouls and keep rotations balanced.  1-5 playerz on the court at all times.

Wit has got to dump his ego cause he ain't playing and if he was he would know that no one plays good in two minute shifts.  Guys like Thrasher and Clute go on runs that win championships - not by being in for a couple of minutes to see if they are lucky and when they miss two replaced.  The guys he pulls in critical times are the ones who won his games last year.  Do you have a memory(brain) Wit?  You should know that if you pull a proven winner every time they make a mistake they will lose all confidence and flow.  If teammates question ability and lack trust the program fails.  You have to let college athletes make mistakes without fear because that is how you win games. These are bright, experienced kids.  Some of them know way more than their coaches.  Players have to love each other and have fun.  Coaches have to see talent and understand roles.  It takes brains and intuition - not Wit.

Piper pregame looks like a prayer service for my dead aunt!  You don't teach puppets – you pull their strings and I never saw a good game of basketball in a puppet theatre.  Teach them, trust them, and let them play Wit!!!  Anybody know how many shots Jordan missed?  Anybody know how many loose balls he did not dive on.  Anybody know how many times he did not sprint like a wild man to belly up on the man he was defending.  Ha! Ha! Did his coaches jerk him when he failed and what might have happened if they did?  A lot of highlight tapes would be missing from the archives and a lot of wins from the Bulls record book. Did anyone bench Bird cause he was too slow?

Hamline has a coaching problem that goes beyond X's and O's.  It goes right to the heart of the win – loss column and that is morale and character.  Coach has it all wrong.  Get some help and talk to your players without hating what they say.  The games your teams won yesterday don't mean squat today.  You gotta know that in life and war it is always the soldiers who know when you are losing the war.  Finally, when they are going down they will not be afraid to tell you if they know the way up.  They are the ones who suffer when the generals are making the wrong decisions.  Listen to the ones who everyone but you know can win.  You coaches are always telling what the players did to cause the loss. It is coaches that create winning and losing teams.  You have the talent- a lot of it is on the bench most of the time.  Come on Wit and company you gotta listen to the music, get out of the way, and let the Pipes play.  Otherwise, you will be playing Bye Bye Miss American Pie.    I love you boys!  You deserve more than just Wit - you deserve brains. 

can you repeat the part about the stuff where you talked about the things?

[miacsuperfan]

hey miac fans----how cool is it to see ust with the #1 ranking in the country on d3hoops?   i'm loving it.   and how fun for the rest of the league to have a chance to beat the #1 ranked team in the nation!!  8 or 9 games to go. should be a great finish!   

[HoopPHD]

PI, completely understand your thinking but at the same time, Whitmore has one class of his own recruits on campus right now. None of the veterans have ever won at Hamline and from the looks at other MIAC rosters, they never won in HS either. It will probably take some time, things are just going to turn around especially when you look at the MIAC website and see that St. Thomas, St. John's, and Gustavus have won a majority of the conference titles over the last couple of decades.

Just want to clarify that there are winners at Hamline.  These are their HS senior records.  To get a PHD you have to do your research -

Senior Season.................Win..................Loss

Nick Carroll........................26......................3
Eric Clute...........................22......................3
Eric Gusaas........................21.....................7
Pierre Harris......................21......................7
Nick Hutchinson.................19......................6
Max Van Ordstrand...........20.....................10
Dan Anderson...................19.....................10
Stoddard Barnhill...............18.....................11
Korey Kelzer......................18.....................10
Tanner Anderson...............16.....................11
Carl Hipp............................16.....................11
Tony Thrasher...................N/A
Brandon Hayes..................6.......................21
Levi Wenrich.....................N/A
Brandon Rieg....................N/A

Total.................................222...................110
Win/Loss Ratio.............................67.3%
Gets you into the playoffs.
The ability to win is not in question.

[Nites]

PI, completely understand your thinking but at the same time, Whitmore has one class of his own recruits on campus right now. None of the veterans have ever won at Hamline and from the looks at other MIAC rosters, they never won in HS either. It will probably take some time, things are just going to turn around especially when you look at the MIAC website and see that St. Thomas, St. John's, and Gustavus have won a majority of the conference titles over the last couple of decades.

Just want to clarify that there are winners at Hamline.  These are their HS senior records.  To get a PHD you have to do your research -

Senior Season.................Win..................Loss

Nick Carroll........................26......................3
Eric Clute...........................22......................3
Eric Gusaas........................21.....................7
Pierre Harris......................21......................7
Nick Hutchinson.................19......................6
Max Van Ordstrand...........20.....................10
Dan Anderson...................19.....................10
Stoddard Barnhill...............18.....................11
Korey Kelzer......................18.....................10
Tanner Anderson...............16.....................11
Carl Hipp............................16.....................11
Tony Thrasher...................N/A
Brandon Hayes..................6.......................21
Levi Wenrich.....................N/A
Brandon Rieg....................N/A

Total.................................222...................110
Win/Loss Ratio.............................67.3%
Gets you into the playoffs.
The ability to win is not in question.

Doc,

Whitmore recruit Levi Wenrich was right on the mark.  His team, Newhall Hart, went 19-9 his senior year, a .679 winning percentage.

[slickyquick]

Well I was proven wrong, which is fine. I was going with the schools that I know from some of the national rankings that have included Minnetonka and Hopkins (must be loaded this year). I might be able to catch them this year at the Garden. Can they compete with the best of NYC?

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Well I was proven wrong, which is fine. I was going with the schools that I know from some of the national rankings that have included Minnetonka and Hopkins (must be loaded this year). I might be able to catch them this year at the Garden. Can they compete with the best of NYC?

Hopkins High-- using my tax $ to build a powerhouse.   I think all 5 starters have D-I schollies...but idk if that can compete wih NYC's best

[Russian Mig AK47]

Now we're talkin'.  It's great to see the Tomcats with the #1 ranking.  It looks quite natural, hopefully it will stick for the remainder of the season.

That is a fierce pic of Joe Scott yakking on the front page as well.  What a mean bastard.

C-mob - Do you think you could make your quotes a little longer?  I had to take a 5 minute break and grab a cup of coffee to read that novel.

HoopPHD - nice stats. If I had the ability to distribute karma I would throw you some.  I love stats.

Drake, I love Bill Walton:  "Raef LaFrentz, get a rebound!"  I have a Portland authentic home jersey that I customized with Walton's name and number.  The point is... there can be no higher praise for Big Al McCoy, then to have his name and Walton's name in the same sentence.   "That was the worst pass in the history of basketball." 

[Drake Palmer]

Congrats UST!  Nice job on the #1 ranking.

To follow up with Sum's Question of the Day, I have one of my own:

Is it better to have the # 1 ranking throughout the regular season, and miserably go one & done in post season play; or hang around in the top 10 ranking or so, & then make a DEEP run in the national tourney?

I'm almost of the opinion, ain't nobody doing like the '76 Indiana Hoosiers & going door to door undefeated on the year.  It would be a fantastic feat, but I just don't see the Tommies doing it.  So if given a choice, I would rather see them lose a late season conference game which really fires up the troops, & then let them go DEEP into national tourney. (IMO DEEP = final four)

Greg, fart wings?  Way to wreck a nice winter getaway daydream.  Nice avatar Sum! 


47 - it's those shoes, man!  Both Big Bill & Al sport those sweet Adidas models.

 
Big Al's                                                                                          Big Bill's

[Drake Palmer]

Alright, let's go with one more old school look. Sum, I know you'll like this one.



UCLA power forward Sidney Wicks.  I tried to find a nice B&W Jamaal Wilkes shot but wasn't able to. 

[sumander]

DP, I concur with your opinion on "losing" a game prior to the end of the regular season. I think it takes some of the pressure off the troops and would allow them to play a little looser. ( is that even a word?)(more loosely).

I think Mr. Walton's shoes looked more like this: