MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

Drake Palmer,

Glad to see a MIACer come over to Wisconsin to see a game.  I was at the Point game last year, and yeah, the atmosphere was crazy!

So, what's the scope over here in MIAC land?  It looks like the usual suspsects of St. Thomas and Gustavus Adolphus, though I see the latter already has three conference losses!  I see that St. Thomas lost to Stout and La Crosse, but that was it in nonconference. 

Are there any sleeper teams from the MIAC that could possibly knock St. Thomas off the perch?  Could a team other than St. Thomas win the conference tourney and therefore get two MIAC teams in the dance, or is it St. Thomas or bust?

[funbballer]

I know Funballer & others might disagree, but I would think pitching the school's academics, facilities, & close proximity to the cities would be a great attraction for players coming out of high school.

Drake....actually, I couldn't agree with you more. STO has a beautiful campus and combined with the academics and location, etc. it should be an excellent opportunity for the "right coach."

Therein, lies the problem....Coach Koz. Flat out, he can't/doesn't get it done. Reports I get are the players don't care for or respect him and I don't think he can lead & motivate his teams. (Now Wonka, I know you're going to challenge me again on this "lack of respect" issue, but I'm not fabricating anything.)

I would think the MIAC coaches would want to name him Coach of the Year every year just to keep him the league!!   

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Don't let the final score fool you....SMU is a contender. I was very impressed with them. They didn't give up, even when down 20+.... a few other teams can not make that claim. Pencil them in as #5 or 6 for sure, with a few breaks, maybe a first-ever playoff game in Winona.

Batterman is a complete player-- not afraid to mix it up in the paint, smooth moves, nice shot.  Trewick has done a great job thus far turning things around... he is ahead of Kietzer's first years in terms of turning a woeful program around.  They had UST close till the last 2 mins of the first half, when Schnettler got loose and went hog wild.

UST's first three buckets were alley-oops to Ike that he thundered home. I think he made his first ten shots from the field with 6 or 7 dunks.

S Sweeny, Schnettler and Keating had some beautiful passes for assists... Sweeney flipped on behind the back to Shimek on a fast break that was beyond ridiculous. 

Drake--- I think you may be using that quote all season, and maybe next year. The Tommie bench is starting to come together nicely.

[miacwatchmen]

Local, I'm curious, when have you seen the Gusties play this year?  Yesterday was their first appearance here in the cities for the season, unless you made a trip down to St. Pete's.  Hmmm...  I'm hoping to see the Gusties play next week, so I'll withhold my assessment of the Gusties until that time.  I have seen both CARL & SJU play, & at this point I would give the definite nod to Carleton.  During conference play, Carleton has not exhibited any of the Jekyll & Hyde tendencies that the Johnnies have been showing & nearly causing Miacwatchmen to recant his vow of loyalty to Coach Smith.    

Drake as much i may have wanted to give up on the Johnnies i can't. Smith is to good a coach and they have to good a players to give up on. I think my prediction for SJU in the three spot at years end may be a little high. However i think with the team they have this year in Smith's mind anything less than 2nd or 3rd will be a let down.

[sju4life]

i dont wanna start anything cuz its not really my place too but miacwatchmen, im starting to wonder if you know anything about SJU basketball? I think you along with many others may be over reacting to the SJU downfall they were on.  They lost 5 out of their last 6 before beating MAC and didnt play real well but they lost to REAL GOOD competition. They lost to  concordia st paul who is 12-4 in d2, Chaminade who is 11-4 in d2 and started off the season 0-3 vs 3 major d1 programs and Hawaii Pacific who is another d2 school.  They then came back and got beat by St. Thomas but no one expected them to win anyways and then followed that up with a tough loss at SMU.  Out of all those games the only one they falted in was at SMU.  They are one of the few to beat CARELTON who people are claiming to get the 3 spot in the miac and lost to moorehead but a couple "WHEN THEY HAD ECKHOFF" and shouldnt have lost cuz they were winning the whole game.  So with all that said, i will make the claim that the Johnnies get the 3rd seed in the playoffs!!!!!!!

[Russian Mig AK47]

Willy - Who was picking on who?!  The frequency of your posts doesn't validate the content of your posts.  Truth be told, I found literally picking you apart with surgical precision to be sort of academic.  I would post more if I thought you might be able to post a legitimate counter response, or if there were some erroneous information regarding UST floating around.

B34/bum - I wasn't at the game so I can't say with any certainty, but was it really a coaching strategy to play off Schnettler or can some of his performace be a result of his ability to move without the ball?  I know that he is very active without the ball and uses screens very well, that combined with his lightning quick release makes it very difficult to guard him.  While coaching decisions aren't always right, it seems extremely unwise and unlikely that adjustments wouldn't be made.  However, if UST was running a high ball screen and Schnettler was just parked in the corner getting kick outs from Sweeney off the penetration then maybe it is flawed coaching.  Holla back youngins.

[piperinsider]

I know somebody asked this very recently and somebody said I think.

Jim Wajda (sp?), former SMU player, is at Minnespoluis Community and Tech College under Jay Pivec. In the Trib's lengthy article on the program, it mentioned he got very sick and had to leave.

[Willy Wonka]

Mig - To quote yourself "Whatever. Peace. God bless."

[Russian Mig AK47]

That is a great quote.  Applicable in all situations, kudos to you!

[sumander]

If you are interested here is a link to a story from the St. Cloud Times on Tyler Westman.

http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060116/SPORTS/101150055/1002

Auggies making the trip to Collegeville tonight. Looking at the scores from their season, I would expect the game tonight to be at a much slower pace than Saturday's game. What/who is the key for the Auggies? Kozlowski and Graf are the leading scorers. Will the Johnnies front line have the opportunity for a big game?

[D3BBALLFAN]

I am curious as to what other MIAC fans on the board think is the appropriate time to clear the end of the bench during a blow out. I took in the Carleton/STO game Saturday and was a bit surprised that Kolland waited until there was 1 minute left in the game to clear his bench. STO was down 20+ at the half and Carleton was up 30+ throughout the second half, so the game was NEVER in doubt. I also found it strange that STO cleared its bench well before Carleton when they were on the short end of the rout. Since most MIAC games are typically pretty competitive and coaches typically play 7-10 players leaving several guys with no time, my feeling is a coach should use a 30 point lead to give the end of his bench a meaningful 3-5 minutes of action as a reward for their practice time participation. I thought Carleton waiting until 1 minute was a bit bush league and unsportsmanlike, but I have heard this is this coach's pattern in the past. Am I being to harsh on Kolland, or do others agree with me? Just curious.

[sumander]

D3 -- I struggle with this very topic and our local high school coach as well. If a coach is leary of making wholesale substition too early in a blow out why not sub in 2 or 3 reserves with some of the players that see regular time. I would think this would "reward" some of the reserves with meaningful minutes while not letting the other team back into the game.

Also, is there some unwritten coaching code about subbing down (i.e. a road team getting blown out is suppose to sub down before the home team). Just wondering being I am not a coach.

[columbianmaffia]

D3
CAR uses a sub chart and they stick to it pretty much no matter what the score is...i have no problem with a team sticking with their starters...play good and dont let it get to that point and you wont have to worry about it...ive seen some crazy come backs before also and every game is important so make sure its in the bag...if i was on a team getting killed i would rather play against starters than scrubs but thats just my personal opinion...the only bad i see out of it is the chance of a starter getting injured when game is in hand

[ustbumkneez]

Gahbage
Schnettler hardly moved, he was simply receiving drive and dishes from Sweeney and Keating. He did knock down two off the dribble, but the others were simply catch and release. And you know Schnetty isnt going to miss too many of those-he picked up some tricks from a couple of old pros. (Yeah, Im giving us partial credit for his deadeye shooting. Why not?)

[miacwatchmen]

D3
CAR uses a sub chart and they stick to it pretty much no matter what the score is...i have no problem with a team sticking with their starters...play good and dont let it get to that point and you wont have to worry about it...ive seen some crazy come backs before also and every game is important so make sure its in the bag...if i was on a team getting killed i would rather play against starters than scrubs but thats just my personal opinion...the only bad i see out of it is the chance of a starter getting injured when game is in hand

CM- what is a sub chart??