MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[huhoops]

Lots of silence from the Piper crowd today. Can't imagine why...

Well...I'm done sulking now

Lots of silence from the Piper crowd today. Can't imagine why...

Huge win for the streaking Knights. Sets up a huge match-up on Monday over at St. Olaf. A win really puts the Knights in great position to return to the MIAC Playoffs.

Great photo of Rosett denying Brown at the rim, taken by Tom Dahlin, scroll to end of story:

Did you also get a photo of Brown posterizing Rosenow?    The audio guys said that words couldn't do the play justice

All in all, a good day for the Gusties to have a bye and regroup. Hamline is on the verge of missing the MIAC tournament with Carleton and Bethel both streaking — can we stop the national tournament talk now, please? — while Concordia might be listening to a little too much Tom Petty on its long roadies.

Come on, missing the playoffs? They lost to the team that is playing second best in the conference (behind UST) yesterday by 3 points. HU is 9-3 in their last 12 conference games and I don't see that pace slowing down much, if at all. CAR and GAC are two teams that will always be tough for HU, no matter how good they are, because the styles conflict so much.

As for the game yesterday, I ended up having to listen to a good part on the audio cast because my video stream went out late in the first half.

From what I did see:

* Rosett caused big problems for Hipp pulling him away from the rim. He hit a couple of uncontested threes in the first half because the big fella just didn't want to come out and guard him.

* Jonker was getting easy touches in the post and the HU bigs simply couldn't stay in front of him.

* Sutherland was just too big for any HU guard that was on him. He got a lot of post touches and easy looks from his size advantage.

* HU's turnovers are killing them, see below.

* HU didn't get the right shots at the end of the game. It was brought up about the buzzer beater Brown hit against STO and it held true yesterday. Late in the game, they are settling for okay shots instead of forcing the issue and getting Hipp the ball inside.

* In doing a little research, Brown is leading the conference in turnovers during conference play (47--3.35/game) and in overall games (60--3.15/game). He already has 17 turnovers in the first 4 games of the second go around the MIAC (4.25/game). Logic would say that an offense will struggle on a nightly basis if its main ball handler is consistently turning it over. Don't get me wrong, Brown is the most special player in the conference, hands down. My thing is that HU could be doing a better job putting him in spots where he doesn't need to make decisions. Get him on a wing and let him just got by someone on the catch, rather than dribble up the court and try to break down a defender who is already anticipating an attack. I like Wenrich, even Schmidt or Carroll at the point. Just someone to get it from A to B and get in the offense without trying to do too much too early in possessions.

[Willy Wonka]

Lots of silence from the Piper crowd today. Can't imagine why...

Well...I'm done sulking now

Lots of silence from the Piper crowd today. Can't imagine why...

Huge win for the streaking Knights. Sets up a huge match-up on Monday over at St. Olaf. A win really puts the Knights in great position to return to the MIAC Playoffs.

Great photo of Rosett denying Brown at the rim, taken by Tom Dahlin, scroll to end of story:

Did you also get a photo of Brown posterizing Rosenow?    The audio guys said that words couldn't do the play justice

All in all, a good day for the Gusties to have a bye and regroup. Hamline is on the verge of missing the MIAC tournament with Carleton and Bethel both streaking — can we stop the national tournament talk now, please? — while Concordia might be listening to a little too much Tom Petty on its long roadies.

Come on, missing the playoffs? They lost to the team that is playing second best in the conference (behind UST) yesterday by 3 points. HU is 9-3 in their last 12 conference games and I don't see that pace slowing down much, if at all. CAR and GAC are two teams that will always be tough for HU, no matter how good they are, because the styles conflict so much.

Hamline is now fifth in the conference with three teams within two games at its rear. If two catch them, they are left out of the mini dance. Though it could still finish third with relative ease, missing the playoffs is definitely something that deserves consideration.

A healthy and surging Bethel, which has won five of six, now has a bye to prepare for Hamline on Wednesday. Given that the top three teams are still left on HU's schedule, that result could go a long way in deciding the enigma's postseason fate.

[Drake Palmer]

Fun ball game at Si Melby yesterday.  Augsburg 72-65 over St. Olaf.

Another end of season award should be created & given to the Dawgs' Ben Flavin.  We'd call it the Energizer Bunny award.  Dude has got a serious motor.  He defends, boards well for a small guard, gets out on the break finds the open man (7 assists yesterday, 4 assists against UST earlier in the week), or takes it to the cup for the sweet kiss off the glass.  He had a couple of old school leaning bankers.  Also give the Dawgs an award for being the team with the most lefties – Flavin, Matt Quammen, & Zach Eastman.

This game was a tug of war with the Oles maintaining control for most of the first half, & running their offense smoothly through Alfred Jaryan & Stu Neville.  An aside, we were bemoaning the lack of quality bigs in the league a few weeks ago. Guys like Neville, Hipp at Hamline, Palmer at SMU, Hannon & Pedretti over at UST, & my guy Jonkey Kong at Carleton, we'll be doing ok.  Based on what I saw yesterday, Neville & Palmer just might be the best of the bunch. Neville could easily fit in at GAC or most any other MIAC school.  He defends well or at least he did well against AUGS), nice post moves & passes the ball very well for a post player.

2nd half the Dawgs tried to push it whenever they could so they could take advantage of the slower Oles.  Coach Griess rolled the dice & went to a smaller lineup. He had Andy GG & Cory Polta on the bench for much of the 2nd half & went with 4 guards & Marcus Brumm.  Matt Quammen hit a couple of huge treys, & Anthony "Mr. Shake & Bake, Instant Offense, Microwave" Humphrey electrified the crowd with a couple of exciting drives to the basket. 6 minutes, 3 shots, 2 momentum changing baskets.  Efficient. Those baskets came at a very clutch time when the Oles were beginning to mount one of their last rallies around the 8-6 minute mark of the 2nd half.  (Could be a barnburner in St. Peter on Monday night)

It could just be me, but tactically it seemed the Ole coaches picked the wrong time to rest Neville in the 2nd half as he would have been able to stop, or at least contest some of the Augsburg drives to the basket.  Also the Oles went away from letting him get the ball in the post, make a move, & then kick the ball back out to a wing, or reverse it.  Although some credit must go to AUG's Marcus Brumm for sucessfully denying Neville the ball.

The other thing I wonder is – has Bobby Fong totally recovered from his knee injury?  I didn't notice him wearing a knee wrap, but I can't recall a single time when he exploded to the basket.   He's certainly still got his ups as STO tried a mistimed alley oop pass to Fong & he got some serious elevation on his jump.

More award nominations.

Speaking of shoes...I understand that shoes & funds are being collected for the relief effort in Haiti & cancer awareness, but aren't these shoes supposed to be reasonably presentable? The reason I ask, St. Olaf's Alfred Jaryan gets the award for wearing the ugliest, basketball shoes ever made in the history of basketball.  Black shoes, a little splash of white, & bright cherry red caps on the toes. Migawd - Clown shoes!!    

The Awards committee is quietly compiling a list of the league's best whiners, pouters, arrogant & annoying players you generally love to beat list. Let me just say the schools from the southern end of the metro & state will be well represented.  

[Drake Palmer]

Pickem Roundup

1.  UST   18-2
2.  GAC   14-6
3.  AUGS  13-7
4.  HAM   13-7
5.  SJU   12-8
6.  CARL  11-9

7.  STO  9-11
8.  BET  8-12
9.  SMU  7-13
10.  CORD  5-15
11.  MAC   0-20

[huhoops]

Lots of silence from the Piper crowd today. Can't imagine why...

Well...I'm done sulking now

Lots of silence from the Piper crowd today. Can't imagine why...

Huge win for the streaking Knights. Sets up a huge match-up on Monday over at St. Olaf. A win really puts the Knights in great position to return to the MIAC Playoffs.

Great photo of Rosett denying Brown at the rim, taken by Tom Dahlin, scroll to end of story:

Did you also get a photo of Brown posterizing Rosenow?     The audio guys said that words couldn't do the play justice

All in all, a good day for the Gusties to have a bye and regroup. Hamline is on the verge of missing the MIAC tournament with Carleton and Bethel both streaking — can we stop the national tournament talk now, please? — while Concordia might be listening to a little too much Tom Petty on its long roadies.

Come on, missing the playoffs? They lost to the team that is playing second best in the conference (behind UST) yesterday by 3 points. HU is 9-3 in their last 12 conference games and I don't see that pace slowing down much, if at all. CAR and GAC are two teams that will always be tough for HU, no matter how good they are, because the styles conflict so much.

Hamline is now fifth in the conference with three teams within two games at its rear. If two catch them, they are left out of the mini dance. Though it could still finish third with relative ease, missing the playoffs is definitely something that deserves consideration.

A healthy and surging Bethel, which has won five of six, now has a bye to prepare for Hamline on Wednesday. Given that the top three teams are still left on HU's schedule, that result could go a long way in deciding the enigma's postseason fate.

16-40 is the combined conference record of the last 4 teams Bethel has beaten. Not to say that Bethel isn't playing better than they did to start the season, but I don't think "surging" is the best adjective for a team who happened to play the three worst teams in the conference(MAC, SMU, CON) right in a row.

You could just as easily say SJU is on the brink of missing the playoffs at 8-5 and a very similar schedule to HU down the stretch. That won't happen either.

Do I smell wishful thinking from a Gustie fan who doesn't want to see a certain enigma in St. Peter come playoff time  

[miacsuperfan]

You could just as easily say SJU is on the brink of missing the playoffs at 8-5 and a very similar schedule to HU down the stretch. That won't happen either.

similar, maybe, but definitely easier.  sju has four games that they SHOULD win, barring something crazy happening.   vipes have only two games that appear to be gimmes.  plus, the vipes are still hamline.   

[Drake Palmer]

You could just as easily say SJU is on the brink of missing the playoffs at 8-5 and a very similar schedule to HU down the stretch. That won't happen either.

similar, maybe, but definitely easier.  sju has four games that they SHOULD win, barring something crazy happening.   vipes have only two games that appear to be gimmes.  plus, the vipes are still hamline.  

Supe - what 4 games are you considering "gimmes" for SJU?   They've got the following games on tap:

@ MAC
STO
CORD mebbe

@ AUGS
UST

HAM
@ GAC

I only see 2 games that one could consider gimmes  - MAC, & possibly CORD. Otherwise, every other game has the potential to be a battle royale.  

Hamline's in a similar situation but perhaps with one fewer gimme - CORD.

CORD
BET
GAC

@ SMU

@SJU
UST

[miacsuperfan]

You could just as easily say SJU is on the brink of missing the playoffs at 8-5 and a very similar schedule to HU down the stretch. That won't happen either.

similar, maybe, but definitely easier.  sju has four games that they SHOULD win, barring something crazy happening.   vipes have only two games that appear to be gimmes.  plus, the vipes are still hamline.   

Supe - what 4 games are you considering "gimmes" for SJU?  They've got the following games on tap:

@ MAC
STO
CORD mebbe

@ AUGS
UST

HAM
@ GAC

I only see 2 games that one could consider gimmes  - MAC, & possibly CORD. Otherwise, every other game has the potential to be a battle royale. 

Hamline's in a similar situation but perhaps with one fewer gimme - CORD.

CORD
BET
GAC

@ SMU

@SJU
UST

drake, on sju's remaining schedule i also see them beating oles (H) and
vipes (H).  "gimme" might be a bit strong,   but it seems that sju is pretty good on jim smith court, (early hiccups to a struggling--at that point in the season--carleton and one to gusties.)  i would be very surprised if they don't hold serve.
i agree with you on the one gimme (cc) for hamline.

[carletonsid]

Well...I'm done sulking now

Lots of silence from the Piper crowd today. Can't imagine why...

Huge win for the streaking Knights. Sets up a huge match-up on Monday over at St. Olaf. A win really puts the Knights in great position to return to the MIAC Playoffs.

Great photo of Rosett denying Brown at the rim, taken by Tom Dahlin, scroll to end of story:

Did you also get a photo of Brown posterizing Rosenow?    The audio guys said that words couldn't do the play justice

Not sure, haven't seen all the photos yet Brown should be posterizing big guys who are the 12th man off the bench of a solid but unspectacular D3 team.

In all honesty, I wasn't at yesterday's game (son's birthday party obviously took priority) and was a bit bummed b/c wanted to see Brown play. He's a special talent that we don't see every year in the MIAC.

Sorry to hear your video didn't work in the second half--hopefully it was an issue on your end, not ours.

I looked the skeds this morning as well and tons of interesting match-ups down the stretch, with key games every night for every team to get into the "mini-dance" (I like that term).

2/1 Carleton @ St. Olaf
2/3 Bethel @ Hamline, St. Olaf @ SJU
2/6 GAC @ Hamline, St. Olaf @ BU
2/10 SJU @ Augsburg
2/13 Augsburg @ Carleton
2/17 Hamline @ SJU
2/20 GAC @ SJU

Personally like Carleton's chances IF it can win at St. Olaf Monday. Home games with Mac, SMU and Augsburg still left, roadies at UST and BU. If they win Monday and take care of Mac and SMU, three losses in the back half still leaves the Knights 10-10, and have to think they can either get Augsburg at home in revenge game after 2OT thriller or at BU to end season.

Also, don't forget that St. Olaf loses Neville for the final four games when he leaves on study abroad.  Those games are home vs. GAC and MAC and at SMU and Cord, so maybe they can go 3-1 without him. That places even more importance on Monday's game or getting road win at SJU and/or at BU this week. If Oles could get sweep this week, they'd be in great position to get into mini-dance.

[sumander]

DP, My consultant(shown above) and I wish to submit the following entry to the pickem roundup:

UST 17-3
GAC 15-5
AUG 12-8
SJU 12-8
HAM 11-9
CAR 10-10
STOLAF 9-11
BET 9-11
SMU 8-12
CORD 6-14
MAC 0-20

[Willy Wonka]

Lots of silence from the Piper crowd today. Can't imagine why...

Well...I'm done sulking now

Lots of silence from the Piper crowd today. Can't imagine why...

Huge win for the streaking Knights. Sets up a huge match-up on Monday over at St. Olaf. A win really puts the Knights in great position to return to the MIAC Playoffs.

Great photo of Rosett denying Brown at the rim, taken by Tom Dahlin, scroll to end of story:

Did you also get a photo of Brown posterizing Rosenow?     The audio guys said that words couldn't do the play justice

All in all, a good day for the Gusties to have a bye and regroup. Hamline is on the verge of missing the MIAC tournament with Carleton and Bethel both streaking — can we stop the national tournament talk now, please? — while Concordia might be listening to a little too much Tom Petty on its long roadies.

Come on, missing the playoffs? They lost to the team that is playing second best in the conference (behind UST) yesterday by 3 points. HU is 9-3 in their last 12 conference games and I don't see that pace slowing down much, if at all. CAR and GAC are two teams that will always be tough for HU, no matter how good they are, because the styles conflict so much.

Hamline is now fifth in the conference with three teams within two games at its rear. If two catch them, they are left out of the mini dance. Though it could still finish third with relative ease, missing the playoffs is definitely something that deserves consideration.

A healthy and surging Bethel, which has won five of six, now has a bye to prepare for Hamline on Wednesday. Given that the top three teams are still left on HU's schedule, that result could go a long way in deciding the enigma's postseason fate.

16-40 is the combined conference record of the last 4 teams Bethel has beaten. Not to say that Bethel isn't playing better than they did to start the season, but I don't think "surging" is the best adjective for a team who happened to play the three worst teams in the conference(MAC, SMU, CON) right in a row.

You could just as easily say SJU is on the brink of missing the playoffs at 8-5 and a very similar schedule to HU down the stretch. That won't happen either.

Do I smell wishful thinking from a Gustie fan who doesn't want to see a certain enigma in St. Peter come playoff time  

I absolutely want no part of Hamline in the playoffs...but I wouldn't be so quick to look past Bethel. They handled GAC — a convenient thing to leave out of your argument — and still have the talent that caused one coach to pick them as the preseason champ. As I said about a week ago, they have the pieces to make some noise if/when the full roster is available.

[MiacMadness]

going with strong finishes for some teams

St thomas    18-2
Gustavus      15-5
St.  John's     13-7
Hamline        12-8
Augsburg      12-8
Carleton        11-9
St. Olaf           10-10
Bethel            7-13
St. Marys       6-14
Concordia     6-14
Macalester    0-20

[OldUMACFAN]

Well...I'm done sulking now

Lots of silence from the Piper crowd today. Can't imagine why...

Huge win for the streaking Knights. Sets up a huge match-up on Monday over at St. Olaf. A win really puts the Knights in great position to return to the MIAC Playoffs.

Great photo of Rosett denying Brown at the rim, taken by Tom Dahlin, scroll to end of story:

Did you also get a photo of Brown posterizing Rosenow?    The audio guys said that words couldn't do the play justice

Not sure, haven't seen all the photos yet Brown should be posterizing big guys who are the 12th man off the bench of a solid but unspectacular D3 team.

In all honesty, I wasn't at yesterday's game (son's birthday party obviously took priority) and was a bit bummed b/c wanted to see Brown play. He's a special talent that we don't see every year in the MIAC.

Sorry to hear your video didn't work in the second half--hopefully it was an issue on your end, not ours.

I looked the skeds this morning as well and tons of interesting match-ups down the stretch, with key games every night for every team to get into the "mini-dance" (I like that term).

2/1 Carleton @ St. Olaf
2/3 Bethel @ Hamline, St. Olaf @ SJU
2/6 GAC @ Hamline, St. Olaf @ BU
2/10 SJU @ Augsburg
2/13 Augsburg @ Carleton
2/17 Hamline @ SJU
2/20 GAC @ SJU

Personally like Carleton's chances IF it can win at St. Olaf Monday. Home games with Mac, SMU and Augsburg still left, roadies at UST and BU. If they win Monday and take care of Mac and SMU, three losses in the back half still leaves the Knights 10-10, and have to think they can either get Augsburg at home in revenge game after 2OT thriller or at BU to end season.

Also, don't forget that St. Olaf loses Neville for the final four games when he leaves on study abroad.  Those games are home vs. GAC and MAC and at SMU and Cord, so maybe they can go 3-1 without him. That places even more importance on Monday's game or getting road win at SJU and/or at BU this week. If Oles could get sweep this week, they'd be in great position to get into mini-dance.

The 2nd half worked for me.  I was very impressed with Sutherland's athleticism and height and also his ability to somewhat lock up brown.  Brown's dunk was very nasty though!  But they lost so who cares, i guess.  Rough rough lost!

[huhoops]

Lots of silence from the Piper crowd today. Can't imagine why...

Well...I'm done sulking now

Lots of silence from the Piper crowd today. Can't imagine why...

Huge win for the streaking Knights. Sets up a huge match-up on Monday over at St. Olaf. A win really puts the Knights in great position to return to the MIAC Playoffs.

Great photo of Rosett denying Brown at the rim, taken by Tom Dahlin, scroll to end of story:

Did you also get a photo of Brown posterizing Rosenow?     The audio guys said that words couldn't do the play justice

All in all, a good day for the Gusties to have a bye and regroup. Hamline is on the verge of missing the MIAC tournament with Carleton and Bethel both streaking — can we stop the national tournament talk now, please? — while Concordia might be listening to a little too much Tom Petty on its long roadies.

Come on, missing the playoffs? They lost to the team that is playing second best in the conference (behind UST) yesterday by 3 points. HU is 9-3 in their last 12 conference games and I don't see that pace slowing down much, if at all. CAR and GAC are two teams that will always be tough for HU, no matter how good they are, because the styles conflict so much.

Hamline is now fifth in the conference with three teams within two games at its rear. If two catch them, they are left out of the mini dance. Though it could still finish third with relative ease, missing the playoffs is definitely something that deserves consideration.

A healthy and surging Bethel, which has won five of six, now has a bye to prepare for Hamline on Wednesday. Given that the top three teams are still left on HU's schedule, that result could go a long way in deciding the enigma's postseason fate.

16-40 is the combined conference record of the last 4 teams Bethel has beaten. Not to say that Bethel isn't playing better than they did to start the season, but I don't think "surging" is the best adjective for a team who happened to play the three worst teams in the conference(MAC, SMU, CON) right in a row.

You could just as easily say SJU is on the brink of missing the playoffs at 8-5 and a very similar schedule to HU down the stretch. That won't happen either.

Do I smell wishful thinking from a Gustie fan who doesn't want to see a certain enigma in St. Peter come playoff time  

The GAC win was quality for BU but I'm not sure how much it applies to HU. That game was a grinder (52-54) and Bethel was able to shut down GAC's somewhat monotonous offense (which they usually do a great job executing).

It has become clear that containing Brown and Hipp equates to an increased level of success against HU. Even if Robertson holds down Hipp, who will guard Brown if Hall is out? In the 3 recent HU losses, Brown was faced with 3 defenders who could keep up with him athletically (Archer, Sutherland, Crowder-only for 2nd half). In the first match up between BU and HU, Taylor Hall was in the lineup and was able to contain Brown to a certain extent (14 pts 9 rbds). Without Hall in the lineup, I don't think BU will be able to stop the top scoring offense in the conference led by Brown. That said, they do deserve some caution and a loss could be detrimental to HU's playoff progress.

Gosh Willy, now you even got me worried about the Cobbers 

[Drake Palmer]

Lots of silence from the Piper crowd today. Can't imagine why...

Lots of silence from the Piper crowd today. Can't imagine why...

Hamline is now fifth in the conference with three teams within two games at its rear. If two catch them, they are left out of the mini dance. Though it could still finish third with relative ease, missing the playoffs is definitely something that deserves consideration.

A healthy and surging Bethel, which has won five of six, now has a bye to prepare for Hamline on Wednesday. Given that the top three teams are still left on HU's schedule, that result could go a long way in deciding the enigma's postseason fate.

16-40 is the combined conference record of the last 4 teams Bethel has beaten. Not to say that Bethel isn't playing better than they did to start the season, but I don't think "surging" is the best adjective for a team who happened to play the three worst teams in the conference(MAC, SMU, CON) right in a row.

You could just as easily say SJU is on the brink of missing the playoffs at 8-5 and a very similar schedule to HU down the stretch. That won't happen either.

Do I smell wishful thinking from a Gustie fan who doesn't want to see a certain enigma in St. Peter come playoff time 

The GAC win was quality for BU but I'm not sure how much it applies to HU. That game was a grinder (52-54) and Bethel was able to shut down GAC's somewhat monotonous offense (which they usually do a great job executing).

It has become clear that containing Brown and Hipp equates to an increased level of success against HU. Even if Robertson holds down Hipp, who will guard Brown if Hall is out? In the 3 recent HU losses, Brown was faced with 3 defenders who could keep up with him athletically (Archer, Sutherland, Crowder-only for 2nd half). In the first match up between BU and HU, Taylor Hall was in the lineup and was able to contain Brown to a certain extent (14 pts 9 rbds). Without Hall in the lineup, I don't think BU will be able to stop the top scoring offense in the conference led by Brown. That said, they do deserve some caution and a loss could be detrimental to HU's playoff progress.

Gosh Willy, now you even got me worried about the Cobbers 

Rob Lang