MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Drake Palmer · November 25, 2009, 12:16:14 AM

UST –UWRF 72-71 Observations

*UWRF has a very nice club & obviously the Tommies were lucky to leave with a W.

*Nicolai, Scott both missed the front end of 1x1 in the closing minute, & FY post Josh Pedretti missed a pair of FTs which might have made the ending a little less exciting.

*Pedretti, Anders Halvorsen, Sam Eicher & Josh Peltier all had their hands full with UWRF post Wade Guerin. He was killing Pedretti inside or altering Pedretti's shot or anybody else who tried to post up.

*Pedretti is going to be a hooper in this league. He'll learn a lot from going up against players like Guerin.

*UST missed Lonnie Robinson & BJ Viau's perimeter defense & Al's' post defense. Jake Voelz & Brady Hannigan from RF who are both strong, physical wing/forwards (6-4) were slashing hard to the hoop.

*When UST learns to play better help (and recover) defense they'll be real solid. They've got some very nice young players in John Nance, Noah Kaiser, et al. Peter Leslie has the potential to be another Sean Sweeney type of player.

*Interestingly, UST had Nance play the PG spot when Nicolai was on the bench.

*Willy – Interesting observation about Archer. When I got to the game - 17:00 in the first half, he was already off the floor; started for a minute at the beginning of the 2nd half, went to the bench, & then was back on the floor at the end for defense. I'm not sure what to make of his situation. He's not had much PT all season. He's' certainly got talent, but Nance & Kaiser may force him to the bench.

*Anders Halvorsen was almost a nonfactor on offense. At crunch time for defense, UST had Scott, Nicolai, Healy or Archer, Eicher/Pedretti & Josh Peltier on the floor. Peltier appears to be their leader on the defensive end.

*Nicolai was looking good, & it will be nice to see Joe Scott get off the mark. In 3 games so far this season it seems he's been struggling with his shot.

*Tough loss for UWRF & lucky, good win for UST.

*UST will get better, there's a ton of talent on that team.

Drake Palmer · November 25, 2009, 12:30:16 AM

Umm, not to be an alarmist but what's wrong with Bethel??

Is it still karmic payback for scheduling Nebraska Christian in their tourney last weekend? The Royals barely beat Bethany Lutheran 68-61.

This is the same Bethany Lutheran that lost 90-50 to St. Olaf, & then lost 87-58 to Central, 101-59 to Wartburg & 77-57 to Concordia - WI.

sumander · November 25, 2009, 09:26:00 AM

CORD continues the MIAC frustration for MSUM with a 54-53 win at Nemzek last night. John Fraase posts a double double for the Cobbs 14 pts 11 reb, including 10 on the defensive end! The Fool-Em story is here . Fraase hits a FT with 16 sec left for the game winner. Box score .

miacsuperfan · November 25, 2009, 10:17:34 AM

Quote from: Drake Palmer on November 25, 2009, 12:30:16 AM
Umm, not to be an alarmist but what's wrong with Bethel?? Is it still karmic payback for scheduling Nebraska Christian in their tourney last weekend? The Royals barely beat Bethany Lutheran 68-61.

This is the same Bethany Lutheran that lost 90-50 to St. Olaf, & then lost 87-58 to Central, 101-59 to Wartburg & 77-57 to Concordia - WI.

DP, I see by the boxscore that Eliot Hall and JD Robinson were DNPs (injuries?) That might have something to do with BU's narrow road escape at Bethany. Can injuries be 'karmic payback?'

As for MSU-Moorhead going down to Cobs, no surprise from here. NSIC is a cut above MIAC, but not far enough that anyone should be too surprised when a MIAC team dumps one of it's members.

Anybody know anything about the GAC/BV game? Where is BV picked in IIAC this year?

miacsuperfan · November 25, 2009, 10:22:51 AM

Quote from: miacsuperfan on November 25, 2009, 10:17:34 AM
Quote from: Drake Palmer on November 25, 2009, 12:30:16 AM
Umm, not to be an alarmist but what's wrong with Bethel?? Is it still karmic payback for scheduling Nebraska Christian in their tourney last weekend? The Royals barely beat Bethany Lutheran 68-61.

This is the same Bethany Lutheran that lost 90-50 to St. Olaf, & then lost 87-58 to Central, 101-59 to Wartburg & 77-57 to Concordia - WI.

DP, I see by the boxscore that Eliot Hall and JD Robinson were DNPs (injuries?) That might have something to do with BU's narrow road escape at Bethany. Can injuries be 'karmic payback?'

As for MSU-Moorhead going down to Cobs, no surprise from here. NSIC is a cut above MIAC, but not far enough that anyone should be too surprised when a MIAC team dumps one of it's members.

Anybody know anything about the GAC/BV game? Where is BV picked in IIAC this year?

Woops! Make that TAYLOR Hall.

huhoops · November 25, 2009, 10:40:58 AM

Gacman,

I stand corrected. Nice win for the Gusties.

huhoops · November 25, 2009, 10:59:11 AM

Double post coming...

13-2 run by Bethany to start the second half--Bethel goes scoreless for roughly 6 minutes to start second half,after a quick basket by Robertson.

No go to scorer for Bethel in rocky spots is going to put them in a world of hurt in the MIAC. Many teams are going to expend their energy shutting down Vavra. It will be interesting to see the remedy the Bethel staff comes up with.

Also saw Hugoson back in the lineup for Bethel. I'm sure he will get some significant minutes for the Royals in the near future.

sfury · November 25, 2009, 11:11:51 AM

Played against Bethany for two years when they were community college and there was always a lot of grumbling about them because of the scholarship issue compared to the other schools in the MCCC (*it was much more expensive to go there so the scholarships really didn't benefit but there were still complaints. Coach Jeddeloh sets me straight below).

One of the more enjoyable games ever was when we beat them in Worthington my sophomore year, something like 120-118. We benefited from a lot of hometown refereeing, making their misery that night even more enjoyable as it made up for the game in Mankato.

Back to your regularly scheduled MIAC programming.

TommieHoops4Life · November 25, 2009, 01:44:08 PM

To steal a phrase from a certain mediocre Gopher football coach, I'm never disappointed with a win.

UST hangs on, but it doesn't sound like it was pretty. I'm not above winning ugly, especially this early in the year when a team spends its first few weeks figuring out its identity.

It's a matter of figuring out roles and the chemistry, how it will all play out. The Tommies have a ton of talent and athleticism, I'm sure Fritz will figure things out. Looking forward to attending Saturday's first NCAA home football game in a while in St. Paul. Should be a good one.

AO · November 25, 2009, 02:35:03 PM

Bethany Lutheran is definitely down this year, so this does spell trouble for the Royals. I don't expect Carleton or Gustavus will have near as much trouble with Bethany, especially not when Bethany shoots 6-27 from 3.

columbianmaffia · November 25, 2009, 02:36:24 PM

gobble gobble gobble...

jeddeloh · November 25, 2009, 02:54:06 PM

Two things: Bethany supposed scholarships when it was a junior college is wrong. It cost $2500 to go to a community college and $20,000 to go to Bethany. The supposed scholarship was financial aid that was availabe to any qualifing student at that time. As far Bethany being down your right and they've played 5 games without their senior post player and most improved player from last year Stephone Frederick so they are playing freshman inside.

sfury · November 25, 2009, 03:14:10 PM

Quote from: jeddeloh on November 25, 2009, 02:54:06 PM
Two things: Bethany supposed scholarships when it was a junior college is wrong. It cost $2500 to go to a community college and $20,000 to go to Bethany. The supposed scholarship was financial aid that was availabe to any qualifing student at that time. As far Bethany being down your right and they've played 5 games without their senior post player and most improved player from last year Stephone Frederick so they are playing freshman inside.

Rick, I amended my post and shot you a private message.
shawn

Gacman · November 25, 2009, 03:22:31 PM

Anybody know anything about the GAC/BV game? Where is BV picked in IIAC this year?
[/quote]

Wartburg and Buena Vista are supposed to be the top two teams in the IIAC this year from what I hear.

Some of this I posted earlier, anyway the gusties were 2-16 to start the game, but kept it close in the first half.
The gusties grabbed the lead at 38-36 and never trailed the rest of the way. Tyler Grey and Jesse Van Sickle combined for three 3's in a short span to push the lead out to 12. BU made a little run at the end but it wasn't quite as close as the score would indicate.

Willy Wonka · November 25, 2009, 03:39:12 PM

Quote from: Gacman on November 25, 2009, 03:22:31 PM
Anybody know anything about the GAC/BV game? Where is BV picked in IIAC this year?

Wartburg and Buena Vista are supposed to be the top two teams in the IIAC this year from what I hear.

Some of this I posted earlier, anyway the gusties were 2-16 to start the game, but kept it close in the first half.
The gusties grabbed the lead at 38-36 and never trailed the rest of the way. Tyler Grey and Jesse Van Sickle combined for three 3's in a short span to push the lead out to 12. BU made a little run at the end but it wasn't quite as close as the score would indicate.
[/quote]

That's not exactly what I've heard. My people tell me the Gusties practically sprinted to the bus to make sure they got out of there before the win slipped away. Though still a dubya, it was far from pretty...but the fact that three MIAC teams won ugly against three rival leagues yesterday has got to be a little encouraging on the whole.

If we can draw anything from these early-season games it's probably just that the IIAC is doooooooown this year. GAC will have to play much better if it's to make any noise in the conference.