MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Sheesh- you would think the D3 pollsters might have listened to the posters. 

For some inexplicable reason they have UST ranked an ungodly 4th in the preseason poll.  With all of UST's graduation losses, there's no way they should be ranked this high.  Now if they go out & beat #9 Wooster next month, & #10 Stevens Point in December, then mebbe. 

is that too low to your tastes?

preseason polls always tend to be a little wacky. Im more surpised by Bethel getting votes than UST being 4th

[Drake Palmer]

Apparently, the economic downturn hasn't negatively impacted the Gusties' recruiting efforts as much as their fellow Lutheran college over in Northfield.  The Gusties actually list 3 freshmen on their 09-10 roster. 

[Drake Palmer]

Double play...

I've heard through the grapevine that Conboy's dad is already on record predicting a second straight perfect conference record for the Tommies. Given that there isn't a clear-cut contender behind UST, I'm not sure I can disagree with any degree of vehemence.

But I also don't think they're deserving of the #4 ranking right now. They lost their heart (Robinson) and soul (Big Al), and will presumably be required to trust Archer to play big minutes, which is always a scary proposition.

And I might add, if "Lonnie was the heart, Big Al the soul," then BJ Viau was the team vision & Brett Tuma was the sparkplug.
******
Back to Gustavus... I'm guessing Ben Biewen is the younger brother of Ana (?) Biewen and they are both cousins of Carter Biewen over at Carleton?

Willy – it seems the kid from Mpls North that you mentioned last year who created positive waves during the early season practice, made a stronger impression on the coaches in his sophomore year & made the cut.  Ty Moore.

Anybody know anything else about the other Gustie freshmen?

[Drake Palmer]

Umm, errh, UST has their roster posted, plus a season preview.  Looks like the chemistry staff, I mean coaching staff has some nice options to mix & match, & stir together.   If  I'm a coach I'd be drooling at the various possibilities.

Hopefully the younger players can buy into the team concept.  There's a ton of talent over there. It's a good thing Coach Fritz stopped using the old 6-7 man rotation that he had used for so many years. Otherwise, there would be a mass exit at the semester break.  

On a sad note, former starter, David Baker decided not to return for his senior season.  Best of luck to him.

UST roster

UST Preview

[Willy Wonka]

Apparently, the economic downturn hasn't negatively impacted the Gusties' recruiting efforts as much as their fellow Lutheran college over in Northfield.  The Gusties actually list 3 freshmen on their 09-10 roster. 

It appears the GAC roster has since been taken down. That gives me hope.

My boy, Bobby Johnson, was NOT listed on the initial roster that hit the web. From the rumblings I've heard, he might be the (only?) guy that can develop into the explosive scorer this team has been missing the last couple years.

If he's truly gone, that would be a very significant blow for my Gusties.

[Drake Palmer]

Apparently, the economic downturn hasn’t negatively impacted the Gusties' recruiting efforts as much as their fellow Lutheran college over in Northfield.  The Gusties actually list 3 freshmen on their 09-10 roster. 

It appears the GAC roster has since been taken down. That gives me hope.

My boy, Bobby Johnson, was NOT listed on the initial roster that hit the web. From the rumblings I've heard, he might be the (only?) guy that can develop into the explosive scorer this team has been missing the last couple years.

If he's truly gone, that would be a very significant blow for my Gusties.

Willy- the GAC roster has been re-posted & Bobby Johnson's name does not appear on it. Any reason why? Based on what I saw last year, Johnson's mobility seemed to have been impacted by his knee injury (?) & I never considered him one of the more nimble or explosive post players in the league.

Yet, looking over your roster the Gusties have some solid players to build around - Dan Schmidtknecht, Jesse Van Sickle, Sam Paulson, Ryan McPartland.  If some of the younger players can step up it could be a solid season for Gustavus.  It also seems that GAC stole a page from the UST SID.  Apparently senior Mychal Crowder has "grown" 2 inches from his junior to senior year & is now listed as 6-5.

Where are the rest of the rosters???

[Willy Wonka]

Your take may have needed some adjustment if Bobby J had rejoined the Gusties. In case you forgot, here's the blurb I had posted about him over the summer.

Did anyone take in the Star of the North games in late July? Apparently my boy, Bobby Johnson, went up and dunked on a big guy in traffic, two-handed styley. His teammates were stunned (as am I). It might be safe to say he's fully recovered from the ACL tear he suffered as a HS senior.

I spoke with Hanson about a week ago, but it was to relay a funny story about a recent alum who suffered a broken arm while arm wrestling at his own wedding. Needless to say, we never got into scouting report mode.

[Willy Wonka]

Here's the latest from south of the metro...

Bobby J *IS* still with the Gusties. But he hurt his knee (ACL, I think) and will miss his second season in the last three years. Tough blow for GAC, but an even more bitter pill to swallow for BJ. I had heard rumblings that he might turn out to be the best player in black and gold this season.

Still, the coaches are excited for their freshmen class. Will be interesting to see how minutes go with so many returners back. I could see the rotation taking a LONG time to get worked out, similar to last year, with a few freshmen stepping in to play important minutes down the stretch ala 2000-01.

Also, can someone please get Fong a burger or 12? He's starting to looking like Schlenker, the former Ole beanpole in the middle. Given the way he faded down the stretch prior to the injury (I think...or am I just making that up?), you'd think bulking up would be a better option than slimming down. I guess we'll see how it works out for him.

Haven't been to Winona in awhile, so I can't comment there yet. Maybe soon though.

Anyone planning to take in the Winona State/UST clash Nov 12? It's not officially on the Tommie schedule, but the exhibition game could be an interesting road test. I've got my WSU shirt ready to roll

[carletonsid]

Apparently, the economic downturn hasn't negatively impacted the Gusties' recruiting efforts as much as their fellow Lutheran college over in Northfield.  The Gusties actually list 3 freshmen on their 09-10 roster. 

It appears the GAC roster has since been taken down. That gives me hope.

My boy, Bobby Johnson, was NOT listed on the initial roster that hit the web. From the rumblings I've heard, he might be the (only?) guy that can develop into the explosive scorer this team has been missing the last couple years.

If he's truly gone, that would be a very significant blow for my Gusties.

Willy- the GAC roster has been re-posted & Bobby Johnson's name does not appear on it. Any reason why? Based on what I saw last year, Johnson's mobility seemed to have been impacted by his knee injury (?) & I never considered him one of the more nimble or explosive post players in the league.

Yet, looking over your roster the Gusties have some solid players to build around - Dan Schmidtknecht, Jesse Van Sickle, Sam Paulson, Ryan McPartland.  If some of the younger players can step up it could be a solid season for Gustavus.  It also seems that GAC stole a page from the UST SID.  Apparently senior Mychal Crowder has "grown" 2 inches from his junior to senior year & is now listed as 6-5.

Where are the rest of the rosters???

Carleton roster is now posted. Will be good to have J. Sutherland back at full strength.
2009-10 Carleton Men's Basketball Roster

[miacsuperfan]

Apparently, the economic downturn hasn’t negatively impacted the Gusties' recruiting efforts as much as their fellow Lutheran college over in Northfield.  The Gusties actually list 3 freshmen on their 09-10 roster. 

It appears the GAC roster has since been taken down. That gives me hope.

My boy, Bobby Johnson, was NOT listed on the initial roster that hit the web. From the rumblings I've heard, he might be the (only?) guy that can develop into the explosive scorer this team has been missing the last couple years.

If he's truly gone, that would be a very significant blow for my Gusties.

Willy- the GAC roster has been re-posted & Bobby Johnson’s name does not appear on it. Any reason why? Based on what I saw last year, Johnson’s mobility seemed to have been impacted by his knee injury (?) & I never considered him one of the more nimble or explosive post players in the league.

Yet, looking over your roster the Gusties have some solid players to build around - Dan Schmidtknecht, Jesse Van Sickle, Sam Paulson, Ryan McPartland.  If some of the younger players can step up it could be a solid season for Gustavus.  It also seems that GAC stole a page from the UST SID.  Apparently senior Mychal Crowder has “grown“ 2 inches from his junior to senior year & is now listed as 6-5.

Where are the rest of the rosters???

Carleton roster is now posted. Will be good to have J. Sutherland back at full strength.
2009-10 Carleton Men's Basketball Roster

I like a lot of these guys, but who is going to carry the scoring load this year for the Knights?   

Also, am looking forward to seeing the rosters of the Snelling Avenue
neighbors----the Vipers and the Royals.

[MiacLostProphet]

Don't have the HU roster but i can say they have some promising freshman.  Nellie & co. did the usual coast to coast recruiting and have brought in some guys to fit nicely around Hipp, Anderson, and the other returners.  I'm more interested in who is going to take the leadership role on the team, and who is going to fill in the production of thrasher from last year.  Could be a very interesting season for the pipes.

Bummer news for bobby J. down in st. peter.  Along with willies dunk story i've heard from several gusties about how he had gotten his legs back and was looking like a straight stud.  Good luck on the recovery and hope to see him next year.

[papahoops]

As the month of October winds down and BBall season approaches it is time for paphoops to come out of off season hibernation and join in on the fun again

As Willy noted earlier on the board, I did go out on a limb with Mose and make an early prediction regarding another undefeated MIAC season for UST (he of course did nothing to discourage my optimism ). I believe the Tommies have the top returning MIAC offensive players at their positions in Scott, Halversen, and Nicolai. They also enough solid role players to fill in any other needed points. Defensively, I see the team with a lot of weapon, as there are no better athletic/versatile defenders in the league than Archer and Ervin.
Despite the loss of several nice players, the core strength of the team returns and I believe a top 10 national preseason ranking is deserved. Obviously, anything can happen on a given night in the MIAC, but this will be a strong team.

I must say learning of the addition of Ray Brown to the Hamline squad definitely changes my view of the Pipers'  potential this year. I have always been impressed with the play of Carl Hipp, but combining Brown and Hipp makes for a potentially lethal inside/outside combination. I have not seen Brown play since his AAU/High School days, and I realize he had some off court issues that forced him out of the D1 arena, but if he still has his game, the combination of his length and outside skills will make him a VERY difficult matchup for MIAC teams. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[Drake Palmer]

As the month of October winds down and BBall season approaches it is time for paphoops to come out of off season hibernation and join in on the fun again ...

Finally - grist for the mill... (by the way, nice to see you back on the board Pops. +K)

After reviewing the UST roster, I too was very impressed with their embarrassment of riches. Two FY who you didn't mention is the addition of former U of MN D1 football scholie player, John Nance, & SJU transfer Noah Kaiser.  Nance has the potential to be a combination Lonnie Robinson type lockdown defender & possesses the offensive skills that Robinson would only flash on occasion.  Kaiser was a deadly 3-pt shooter for Sibley HS & is also a strong perimeter defender.

My guess is that the competition for the 2 & 3 spot  behind Joe Scott is absolutely fierce.  For Alex Healy & Teddy Archer's sake, I hope they were working on their games this off–season.  I think the coaches will be less likely to put up with some of Teddy's theatrics with the other talented players waiting in the wings.

I believe the Tommies have the top returning MIAC offensive players at their positions in Scott, Halversen, and Nicolai. They also enough solid role players to fill in any other needed points.

Halvorsen??   I doubt you'd get much protest from league followers regarding Joe Scott & Tyler Nicolai as top offensive performers, but I would hesitate to put Halvorsen in the same category.  Although Halvorsen's certainly a very talented player, I think Carl Hipp up the street at Hamline, & Long John Fraase at Cord would get the definite nod in my book. Watch for another kid at UST- another undersized post player in Josh Peltier- the kid will bump & grind, defend, flop, score & pass with the best of them.  You put Peltier's post ability in Halvorsen's body you could be talking about another All American at UST.  As it is you have a 6-8,6-9 small forward/wing in Halvorsen, who prefers to play out on the wing, & another undersized 6-3, 6-4 type of post player in Peltier. Fortunately for UST, they seem to have a glut of post players as well.      

***
Johnnies have their roster posted and it appears they've adopted the UST "more is better" recruiting model.  Plenty of nice young players, although they seem a little thin in the post positions.  My guess is the hard working & talented 6-4 Aaron Burtzel will still average close to 38 minutes per game in the post.   Todd Hermann, one of my favorite players from last year apparently has done his due diligence in the classroom & rejoined the team.  SJU have got some interesting pieces of the talent puzzle.  The coaching challenge will be trying to mold these players into a cohesive team that can challenge the UST stranglehold at the top of the league.  

[miacsuperfan]

As the month of October winds down and BBall season approaches it is time for paphoops to come out of off season hibernation and join in on the fun again

As Willy noted earlier on the board, I did go out on a limb with Mose and make an early prediction regarding another undefeated MIAC season for UST (he of course did nothing to discourage my optimism ). I believe the Tommies have the top returning MIAC offensive players at their positions in Scott, Halversen, and Nicolai. They also enough solid role players to fill in any other needed points. Defensively, I see the team with a lot of weapon, as there are no better athletic/versatile defenders in the league than Archer and Ervin.
Despite the loss of several nice players, the core strength of the team returns and I believe a top 10 national preseason ranking is deserved. Obviously, anything can happen on a given night in the MIAC, but this will be a strong team.

I must say learning of the addition of Ray Brown to the Hamline squad definitely changes my view of the Pipers'  potential this year. I have always been impressed with the play of Carl Hipp, but combining Brown and Hipp makes for a potentially lethal inside/outside combination. I have not seen Brown play since his AAU/High School days, and I realize he had some off court issues that forced him out of the D1 arena, but if he still has his game, the combination of his length and outside skills will make him a VERY difficult matchup for MIAC teams. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

at 6'6", brown will definitely improve the 'vipes.'  but has he developed a reasonably consistent outside shot since his richfield days?   that was not previously a strength of his.

[faunch]

Umm, errh, UST has their roster posted, plus a season preview.  Looks like the chemistry staff, I mean coaching staff has some nice options to mix & match, & stir together.   If  I'm a coach I'd be drooling at the various possibilities.

Hopefully the younger players can buy into the team concept.  There's a ton of talent over there. It's a good thing Coach Fritz stopped using the old 6-7 man rotation that he had used for so many years. Otherwise, there would be a mass exit at the semester break.  

On a sad note, former starter, David Baker decided not to return for his senior season.  Best of luck to him.

UST roster

UST Preview

If you check out the UST roster you will see a team picture at center court w/ a UST logo.  Does anyboy know where the picture was taken.  It was my understanding that they don't a court on campus at this time.  Is there another gym somewhere on campus?