MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[sumander]

From Frank's Blog , SJU has finalized their schedule for next year. Sounds like they are stepping up the level of their non-conference competition. No more UMAC teams!

* Johnnies coach Jim Smith said his team has finalized its schedule for next season. It will include three games against WIAC opponents and matchups against NSIC schools St. Cloud State and Minnesota State-Moorhead at a St. Cloud State tournament at Halenbeck Hall.

[AO]

From Frank's Blog , SJU has finalized their schedule for next year. Sounds like they are stepping up the level of their non-conference competition. No more UMAC teams!

* Johnnies coach Jim Smith said his team has finalized its schedule for next season. It will include three games against WIAC opponents and matchups against NSIC schools St. Cloud State and Minnesota State-Moorhead at a St. Cloud State tournament at Halenbeck Hall.

the Johnnies didn't play any UMAC teams this season either.

anyone goin to any high school games this week...state starts up on wednesday next week...should be good times

Was thinking of going to see Henry Sibley play Tartan on friday night.  90% of sibley's scoring is coming from players 6'8" or taller.--or at least it did last night.  can't think of a whole lot of teams at any level able to claim that. 

[papahoops]

Concerning D3 Hoops All Region Team announcement.........
Surprising in a year in which many of us thought the overall level of play in the league was down, the MIAC gets 5 representatives in the top 3 Western region teams

Also noticed the D3 West Region SID's confirm CSN's previous MOP selection of Zorro as the  top player in the  league, naming Zorro to the first team after MIAC coaches snub him in their MVP voting. Perhaps this is a sign the MIAC should the outsource the all conference selections to the CSN panel of experts Mose??

[ChairmanYao]

Columbian: I'm heading to Alabama to the heart of dixie in a couple days. Should be a boombalatti madhouse. I'll be sure to pack an extra pair of roller skates.

P.S. If the gophers somehow come out of this weekend with two victories including a win over Duke.....Words cannot describe the joy I will feel.

Extra P.S. Very late notice but congrats to the tommies on a great season

[columbianmaffia]

Columbian: I'm heading to Alabama to the heart of dixie in a couple days. Should be a boombalatti madhouse. I'll be sure to pack an extra pair of roller skates.

P.S. If the gophers somehow come out of this weekend with two victories including a win over Duke.....Words cannot describe the joy I will feel.

Extra P.S. Very late notice but congrats to the tommies on a great season

+k for going to the south

the south is full of southern belles...make sure you are polite and say please open my beer or please fetch me a drink...also southern belles love a gentleman in rollerskates so either put on your sundays best or a tux and you will melt their hearts

if the gophers win against texas...i will have a chubby for tubby

if they beat duke i will be dirk diggler x10 from boogie nights...so i better be careful where if walk if they pull that one off

[TommieHoops4Life]

Gophers lose 76-62 to Texas, season's over. What happened to the team that jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the first three minutes?

The Gophers played absolutely terrible basketball in the second half, and failed to grasp the concept that A.J. Abrams can and will make three point shots from ANYWHERE!!! Dude made 8 for the game and four in a row in the second half, at least get a hand in his face and contest it. Hoffarber made one shot, but did very little to try and get himself open. Tubby needs to teach him how to score off the dribble by next season for him to be worth a lick.

Westbrook continues to show me just how selfish he is when he has the ball. Yes, he can make shots. But they often look ugly and not within the flow of the offense. Tonight he actually took what the defense gave him in the first half, then reverted to a 1-on-1 game in the second half like he felt obligated to score every time he touched the ball. The Gophs aren't capable of playing like that, they don't have that kind of talent. They also jacked up 3s in the second half thinking they were worth more than three points, and not playing good defense in transition let Texas pull away.

Disappointing finish, but a good season. With Mbakwe eligible and the HS studs coming in, Gopher nation should be fun to watch next season. They won't lose much, Abu-Shamala didn't amount to much talent at the Division I level and Williams has no business being on a basketball court.

Can't wait for Friday's games, let's go BISON!

[Chocolate Hoops]

anyone goin to any high school games this week...state starts up on wednesday next week...should be good times

I heard the good shooting guard from Henry Sibley is on crutches; he didn't play Tuesday night, but don't know if he'll be ready for the Tartan game or not.

Tartan can't board with the Henry Sibley boys, so wouldn't be surprised if Klingsporn goes 5 out and holds the ball to feature more one-on-one situations. He made sure the Section rankings were set so his first two opponents  didn't have any size, so he "rationalized" that Cretin and Stillwater should be ranked as such that they were in oppostie brackets of him and that Henry Sibley had to beat them both....which they did handily. Klinger's quite the politician when he wants things done his way!!

Who knows? If Hernandez doesn't play, maybe Tartan pulls an upset! Boy the media would love to see that so they could listen to him flap his tongue for hours upon hours on how much he knows and how little everyone else does. 

I see Tech beat Buffalo by one in the section finals after being down by 13 at half time.

Ok, I know, I'll get in trouble now as this isn't a HS board. 

[AO]

anyone goin to any high school games this week...state starts up on wednesday next week...should be good times

I heard the good shooting guard from Henry Sibley is on crutches; he didn't play Tuesday night, but don't know if he'll be ready for the Tartan game or not.

Tartan can't board with the Henry Sibley boys, so wouldn't be surprised if Klingsporn goes 5 out and holds the ball to feature more one-on-one situations. He made sure the Section rankings were set so his first two opponents  didn't have any size, so he "rationalized" that Cretin and Stillwater should be ranked as such that they were in oppostie brackets of him and that Henry Sibley had to beat them both....which they did handily. Klinger's quite the politician when he wants things done his way!!

Who knows? If Hernandez doesn't play, maybe Tartan pulls an upset! Boy the media would love to see that so they could listen to him flap his tongue for hours upon hours on how much he knows and how little everyone else does. 

I see Tech beat Buffalo by one in the section finals after being down by 13 at half time.

Ok, I know, I'll get in trouble now as this isn't a HS board. 

Now it definitely makes sense why 90% of the scoring came from sibley's bigs the other night. 

[abominable_snowman]

anyone goin to any high school games this week...state starts up on wednesday next week...should be good times

i might try to hit up some day games.   i work downtown so anything at the target center over lunch is generally fair game.

[TommieHoops4Life]

I'll be at the Target Center all day on Wednesday. I want to watch Hopkins live and in person. I'll try to provide some notes next week on the experience.

[Nites]

Gophers lose 76-62 to Texas, season's over. What happened to the team that jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the first three minutes?

The Gophers played absolutely terrible basketball in the second half, and failed to grasp the concept that A.J. Abrams can and will make three point shots from ANYWHERE!!! Dude made 8 for the game and four in a row in the second half, at least get a hand in his face and contest it. Hoffarber made one shot, but did very little to try and get himself open. Tubby needs to teach him how to score off the dribble by next season for him to be worth a lick.

Westbrook continues to show me just how selfish he is when he has the ball. Yes, he can make shots. But they often look ugly and not within the flow of the offense. Tonight he actually took what the defense gave him in the first half, then reverted to a 1-on-1 game in the second half like he felt obligated to score every time he touched the ball. The Gophs aren't capable of playing like that, they don't have that kind of talent. They also jacked up 3s in the second half thinking they were worth more than three points, and not playing good defense in transition let Texas pull away.

Disappointing finish, but a good season. With Mbakwe eligible and the HS studs coming in, Gopher nation should be fun to watch next season. They won't lose much, Abu-Shamala didn't amount to much talent at the Division I level and Williams has no business being on a basketball court.

Can't wait for Friday's games, let's go BISON!

TH4L - As I said, Abrams can hit them from half court.  I can't believe the Gophs let him get 15 shots off from 3 point land.  They apparently didn't control Pittman either.  Obviously, they did a poor job of executing their game plan.

CMob,

The Longhorns aren't as good as they've been the last couple of years.  They don't have a Kevin Durrant or D.J. Augustine this year.  The Gophs need to keep Abrams from torching them from beyond the arc.  He's the all-time conference leader in threes and he can about hit them from half court.   James is a tough cookie and he's frequently good for a double double.   Texas discovered Dexter Pittman's inside game in the conference tourney.  He's got size - 6'10", 300 lbs, which is down from the 390 lbs he was when he got there.  He obviously tires pretty easy if the pace is quick.  Minnesota shouldn't give him any easy buckets.  They should hack him hard if he's in position for an easy two and make him earn it at the line.  He's a terrible free throw shooter. 

The Horns are a very deep team, but they battle pretty hard.  It ought to be a good matchup and one in which the Gophers are very capable of winning.

[Drake Palmer]

From the "If it's any Consolation Department"

"TitanQ" who was the color commentator at the Wheaton sectional had this to say while he was at Salem covering the games for the Final Four this weekend:

Sitting courtside at the Salem Civic Center, watching F&M play Richard Stockton.

Wheaton, Elmhurst, Augustana, and North Central (and Lawrence, UW-Platteville, UW_Whitewater, St. Thomas and others) are significantly better than these two teams, and the Guilford squad Wash U dismantled.  I've been pretty quiet about the bracket here and on Hoopsville, but watching this Final Four is disappointing.  To go from the field at the Wheaton Sectional to this is just ridiculous.

Gotta be a way to fix this.  Division III fans deserve better.

Sitting courtside at the Salem Civic Center, watching F&M play Richard Stockton.

Wheaton, Elmhurst, Augustana, and North Central are significantly better than these two teams, and the Guilford squad Wash U dismantled.  (And Lawrence, UW-Platteville, UW_Whitewater, St. Thomas and others too.)  I've been pretty quiet about the bracket here and on Hoopsville, but watching this Final Four is disappointing.

Gotta be a way to fix this.  Division III fans deserve better than this.

Ehhhh, we just call it the "Texas Sub-bracket" in football. 

Ralph, while I think the "Texas Sub-bracket" in football also gets screwed, there is a significant difference.  Most years lately, the best Texas team would still finish at best 3rd in the country.  Bob is suggesting (and I'd agree) that the "Bracket of Death" would have finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th ... (and that the Wheaton sectional alone would have finished at least 1st, 2nd, and 3rd - he left out UPS, and I'm undecided whether they would be in the 'and others').

I would not put Puget Sound in that category.  I'd say UPS is right in the same tier as Guilford, Richard Stockton, and Franklin & Marshall...and there is definite separation between that tier and the Midwest/West grouping I mentioned last night.

Dang...

[Willy Wonka]

As long as the voting/seeding process remains a subjective thing, we'll always have these problems. It's a little like the problems with the MSHSL decision to seed the top four teams in the state tournament. A year ago, Mayo got screwed on the boys side. This year, the Worthington (26-2) girls didn't get seeded and should have beaten top-seeded New Prague in the first round. Thankfully, they didn't play a senior and should be the favorite next year (with North).

In Class AAA, the seeded teams were all metro schools. The four unseeded teams were all outstate schools. I wrote about that same bias last year...but that process just led to the #4 seed playing an unseeded team for the title. Call me crazy...but that ain't right.

[Drake Palmer]

I didn't really have a problem with the seedings in D3, but I had a problem with the allocation of the seeds across the regions.

Re MSHSL: I like the idea of trying to reseed for the state tourney, but unless there's a monster outstate powerhouse team i.e. Braham & Litchfield in boys hoops a few years ago, there's always varying degrees of metro bias, due to the greater # of schools, more media coverage etc. 

I remember 6-7 years ago I went to Monticello to watch the #1 ranked team in 2A , DeLaSalle, with Michigan State recruit Alan Anderson play a sectional game against Hayfield (?).  A number of fans including myself thought DeLaSalle would run over this team.  Nope.

It's a war out there between Villanova & UCLA, but Nova's got shooters!

[AO]

I just got done watching the championship game on cstv and was thoroughly convinced the Tommies could have destroyed d3 runner-up richard stockton.  Wash U did what they wanted, when they wanted.  They took a 10 point lead in the first half and were content just to sit on it and cruise to their 2nd straight title.

also, they're showing the d3 hockey championship game and referring to minnesota's own gusties as "goosetayvus", GAC up 1-0 early in Lake Placid.