MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Little Eagle]

To all of u who want to know about the UST AUG game  here it is...  UST is not what everyone thinks and Aug is actually good.   they are finally learning the new coaches system and if they play as they can look out miac.  I have heard Aaron Griessis a great fit for the team this year because he can teach the team how to win consistantly.  Whoever says shimick  is all miac you havent seen him play.  he is a role player to the max; he has nothing to offer UST that the bench can not.  AUG defense rocked.  if it were not for Ike UST would have been sooooo embarrassed.  Tait Thomsen was unable to contain Ike at all, but size may have had something to do with it because he got yaked on a couple of times!  AUG missed a lot  of free throws especially dan graf ' '; who didnt play too well offensively.  Justin Koslowski had a  good game shooting and started out the game right for AUG.  Tommies would have had no chance if Aug would have made free throws.  UST played from behind all game and they may have never led.  Instead of  starting out as AUG usually does in the season I look for them to end strong starting now. 

[localcoach]

Wow...I had to clear my glasses off last night when I checked out the MIAC scores.  Both St. Thomas and Gustavus take "L's."  This season just got that much more interesting. 

I'll start with my box-score observations:

The Augsburg victory over the Tommies seems to have been explained from many sides.  Sounds like the Auggies just wanted it more then UST did.  Good for them!  It's funny, that Augsburg wins their second road game, and yet they're 0-4 at home.  Keating, Schnettler, and Sweeney combine to shoot 7 for 30 from the field.  Ouch! Only 6 Tommies played, and the lone sub, Mr. Weaver got 20 minutes off the bench before fouling out.  Now UST has to play St. John's on Wednesday....is anyone going to predict a two-loss week for UST?

No one seems to be talking about the 3-1 boys from Winona. SMU is quietly getting it done, last night inching past Bethel.  Unfortunately neither SID has posted a box score yet for this game.

Carleton shoots 67% in second half and 56% for the game in their win over Gustavus.  It looks like the Knights may be about to hit their stride.

I received a frantic call from a friend who attended last night's MAC/CON game, saying he couldn't believe the wacky last 90 seconds in which the same referee called all the fouls, including two technical's on Coach Siverson.  It looks like the Cobbers bench almost outscored the starters.  Two stat lines of note: Eric Meichsner 0 points and 0 shots but 3 fouls in 15 minutes and Mr. Dixon, 2 points, and 5 fouls in 17 minutes. MAC has a 41-29 rebounding edge and the inside punch of Conboy and Bosman gets it done (45 points, 14 rebounds).

Which leaves the Hamline/STO game.  Hamline put up 95 points and had 5 players in double figures.  Freshman Tony Thrasher lead the way with 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists.  Jon DeRock got back on track with 18 points and 6 assists.  Sam Wiener had a double-double with 11 points and 10 assists and everybody's "love to hate guy" Kyle Foster had 13 points, 9 rebounds, and a whopping 7 steals! Sounds like great balance.  One note - Hamline gave up 21 offensive boards to the Oles and got out-rebounded by 14.  That's not a good sign as they face Macalester on Wednesday.

[KnightsArmor]

I have a question for any Piper fans:  I reviewed the box score for last night's HAM-STO game and noticed that Charlie Good did not play.  What's his status?

[funbballer]

CAR/GAC -
Nice win for CAR.  Not surprising to see Big Dan Forkrud put up 24, however it is surprising to see Big Dan Forkrud only grab 2 boards!  I think one of the Gusties is going to need to step up and take charge if they want to right their ship, right now they are playing with 5 role players.  Overall, it is shaping up for a nice little MIAC race and should get interesting over the next month.
    ____________________________________________________________________________________________

Regarding that game, I notice Stein only played 5 minutes...did he get hurt? Also, Kaus didn't see the floor and Sivesind (who the hell is he?) plays 5 minutes? Gusties get out-rebounded by CAR even tho Forkrud only had 2 boards....wow!

Appears the Gusties just aren't physically or mentally tough enough to "step it up" when needed......and apparently is the case with UST as well.

Obviously Hanson is hurting not having Espo around to bail him out!  

[localcoach]

knightsarmor - I had the same question last night before the game so I asked some of the fans and Hamline students and they said that Charley Good got married this past weekend and will be back for the Pipers next game.  Congratulations are in order for Mr. Good I guess! 

[Willy Wonka]

What a disappointing performance by the Gusties last night. They came out of the gates awful (16-3) but somehow battled back to take the halftime lead. Carleton really dominated the game in every facet, but GAC had two great chances late to make it a contest even though they had no business being in the game.

1) After GAC cut a double digit lead to six with a few minutes to play, a CAR guard drove baseline and crushed Wippler at the block. It was a pretty clear charge, but was called a block. Whip had to leave the game with an injury and the Knights proceded to get the rebound on the second FT for an easy putback. Huge momentum switch.

2) GAC put the press on down 8 with 1:30 to play. CAR got trapped and just threw it to halfcourt. TeBrake stepped in for the steal, but missed a wide open 3. As an aside, TeBrake played pretty well (12 pts, 7 rbs, 3 stl) but his stroke just wasn't there (1-6 on 3, 1-4 FT).

The Gusties role players aren't playing well right now (50 of 72 from the Big 3). Hollerich was borderline bad yesterday, Stein needs to be productive on both ends/stay out of foul trouble and the bench needs to score more. The offense was very herky-jerky until DesLauriers got in the game - I wouldn't be surprised to see him get more time as the year wears on.

With that said, I wasn't real impressed by Carleton...but that's not saying much for GAC. The Gustie offense is very stagnant and the defense was awful. That, and foul trouble, was why Stein didn't play much. The way GAC was switching all five spots, there was no way Kaus could have helped - I'm sure there's more to the story, but Hanson was on the radio when I left.

At least Keating continues to disappoint and UST lost, right...? 

[piperinsider]

Good did indeed get married. I think he proposed to her by engraving an inscription on a brick in Downtown St. Paul.

Another new starting lineup for the Pipes last night. And Ayan Hargrove saw more than 1+ minutes for the first time this season. I stopped counting at 10, but I think the majority of the Hamline team played except for Hutchinson and Seliga.

I really like Thrasher. DeRock ain't bad either. 95 points is a good sign for the Pipes, 85 against is bad. ORebbs did kill them.

For Oles, Nordberg impressed me over the webcast. Hunter from Sibley has gotten a lot better since his freshman campaign.

Supposedly Wohler is coming home on Thursday to watch his dad coach and a guard we have at BOLD. I'm going to try to interview him for a piece on him and is father, see if i can get anything out of him.

[Willy Wonka]

PI - You can put me on the record saying no BOLD guard will make an impact in the MIAC anytime soon.

[piperinsider]

In checking the box score, I got it wrong, it was Banick, the pg that impressed me. Nordberg just missed a lot of shots.

Butula played his best game since his freshman season as well. 6 off. rebounds.

I'm officially starting the SMU bandwagon. Membership into the club is on a game-by-game basis. We can all jump off in a few weeks, I promise.

[bethelguy]

Local - I've noticed Eric Meichsner's box score lines all year and they are very similar to last night's.  Very little shooting, sccoring rebounding, assists or steals.  He gets a lot of minutes, little production but few negatives as well.

[onearmedscot]

I'll repeat what's been said on here before.  Mark Dixon at Concordia is a bit of a head case.

Also, I'm sending coach Duane Siverson a t-shirt that reads

I heart Mark Bakko.

oAs

[TommieHoops4Life]

In looking at the St. Thomas/Augsburg boxscore, a couple things jump out at me:

Ike continues to be consistent with a ridiculous 16-19 from the field. But Sweeney and Schnettler go a combined 6-24 from the field, with Schnettler just 1-9 from 3-land, ick. Apparently, he came back to reality a little after having a crazy two games from long range in River Falls. Augsburg manages to win with a 13-22 performance at the charity stripe?! How does UST lose at Schoencker even with a 41-28 rebounding edge? It would at least look better if it was a loss at Augsburg, but on their own court? The Tommies shot 32% in the second half. It appears the poor shooting of Schnettler and Sweeney plagued UST. I have to give credit to Augsburg, that's a big road win in the MIAC for them. On UST's side, thank god GAC lost in Northfield. The ball better starting going back in the net for the guards if the Tommies are planning on beating the Johnnies.

[sju4life]

it is still very early in the season so its hard to predict the next few weeks which is going to be super busy but i have a few things to share......First off i recall numerous people claiming the tommies were going to run the table this year and finish no worse then 18-2 in the conference.  I predicted the winner of the conference will be closer to a 16-4 record because the miac is pretty balanced this year and as weve seen any team can beat any team.  Anyone still think tommies run away with a 18-2 record?  I also claimed st. mary's would be much improved this year and maybe make playoffs and a few agreed and i also took a large amount of grief for that as well and i believe they are 3-1 in conference play?  Anything to say about that either? LAst.... anyone going to sju/tommies game tomorrow night?  I think its going to be an incredible game.  Johnnies get tyler westman back who know one really knows about yet and the tommies just had an aweful loss.  Gunna be a great game!!

[Willy Wonka]

Is anyone else watching this PSU/FSU game?? Craziness!! I hope tomorrow night is as good!

Back to business...I was talking to a former MIAC multi-year starter today and he had the following to say about Keating in an unprovoked commentary about his skills:

"He's like you. He's a joke. He shoots 1-7 from the field, 1-3 from the line and gets a few rebounds and a few steals a game. If he was one of the best players in that league out east, Chris TeBrake would own every record in that conference."

I hate to post that I was a joke as much as I hate to stoke TeBrake's ego, but I'm far from the only one to make the tough assessment it seems.

sju4life - UST still has the potential to run off a 18-2 record. Potential is a fleeting thing though, as Monday night showed. If they don't pull their heads out, they could easily be 15-5 at the end of the year. Sadly, so could my Gusties. The MIAC will only get one team into the dance now

As for SMU...they've played two teams that won't make the playoffs and two that are borderline contenders. 3-1 is impressive given their recent history, but I doubt it will last.

[miacwatchmen]

PSU vs. FSU may be one of the best. I cant believe those kickers!!! AMAZING.