MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OldUMACFAN]

Good game by Hamline as Hipp dominated right out the gates.  You know its going to be a good game for Ham when the first possession Brown blows by Lang and drops a no-look pass off to Hipp for the dunk.  I was impressed by Bahh (sp?), however he shot everytime he touched the ball.  I think after Brown dunked on him in  the second half he lost his confidence (still do not understand why people try and jump with Brown). 

Brown finishes wiht 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists.  Hipp finishes with 29 points and 14 rebounds. 

[Drake Palmer]

Hamline 87- 71 Bethel

1) The game was much closer than the final score would lead one to believe. Although it never happened, one just had the sense that Bethel was going to make a run.  Pipes would go up 12-13 points, Bethel would scrape & claw back, & several times got the lead down to 3 points in the 2nd half.

2)  Daniel Baah could be the next best thing/guard to come out of Bethel. The kid was absolutely on fire, beating his man off the dribble & hitting a variety of pullup jumpers & the occasional long jumper or trey. In the 2nd half, Nick Carroll from Hamline (who had a middling offensive night) did a really solid job of shutting Baah down.  He had 3 blocks in the 2nd half & I believe they were all on Baah.

As I said earlier in the week, Baah has got some tremendous hops & was right there with Ray Brown's huge 2nd half tomahawk dunk that PI mentioned.  I'm not sure if Baah loses it mentally, runs out of gas or what,  but the Bethel coaches did the same thing they did in the SMU game last Saturday.  After he tried to block Chris Palmers' dunk they took him out, & shortly after his foul on Brown's dunk in the game tonight, they took him out for much of the of the 2nd half. Strange.

3) I've never been a big Nate Robertson fan, but I give him much respect for how much he's developed over the past 4 years. He's learned to harness his fiery competitive nature & emotions, & is having a real solid senior season.  In previous years he might have checked out emotionally in what was a real rugged duel between 2 quality big men.  Robertson came up on the short end of the winning & personal stats stick, but he more than held his own, & gave as good as he received.

4)  Hamline's Carl Hipp doesn't have quite the same explosive temperament as Robertson, but he can get too amped up for games, & occasionally lets his emotions hamper his effectiveness. Tonight, he was a composed, tough warrior.  In fact I even saw him catch the ball in the middle of the lane, kept the ball up high over his head, pivot, & made a sweet turnaround 8 foot jumper. Hipp dominated the inside with his presence, work on the boards, & scoring.
 
5) Ray Brown played under control for the most part & only had 2 TOs on the night. He must have decided to play the part of Ray-Ray the distributor & had 6 assists (several of the "damn, did he just do that?" no-look variety), 15 pts & 8 rebs. Brandon Rieg played the part of Dan Anderson's 3-pt understudy, & was tonight's designated deep ball threat. It seemed every trey he hit came at a crucial juncture in the game.

6)  Turnovers, or a lack of TOs were a big factor in this game. By my unofficial count the Pipes only had 5 in the 2nd half which helped them get some breathing room from the Royals.

7)  Once Baah went out in the 2nd half, the Royals never really developed any outside consistency.  Chris Vavra had a relatively quiet 13 points on the night.  As a result, Hamline defenders started clogging the lane, blocking or altering shots, & or eventually Robertson would end up getting to the FT line.

8) Unofficially, from a fairly credible source, I'm hearing that Hamline is exploring another year of eligibility for Ray Brown.  

[Willy Wonka]

I'm bored so I'm going to provide a little game for this board ala Nites.

The Game
These are three guys who might be on the all-conference bubble when the year ends. Based on their numbers, please rank them. I'll reveal the names in 24 hours. No cheating!

Team record is obviously a factor in these decisions (hence UST getting two players last year who averaged 7 PPG...), but I'm throwing that out for the purpose of some blind objectivity.

Guard A
11.3 PPG
41% shooter, 31% from deep
2.7 RPG
1.5 APG
16 steals
4 blocks

Guard B
11.5 PPG
39% shooter, 23% from deep
4.6 RPG
1.4 APG
18 steals
2 blocks

Guard C
11.9 PPG
44% shooter, 38% from deep
2.9 RPG
0.9 APG
15 steals
0 blocks

[OldUMACFAN]

Hamline 87- 71 Bethel

1) The game was much closer than the final score would lead one to believe. Although it never happened, one just had the sense that Bethel was going to make a run.  Pipes would go up 12-13 points, Bethel would scrape & claw back, & several times got the lead down to 3 points in the 2nd half.

2)  Daniel Baah could be the next best thing/guard to come out of Bethel. The kid was absolutely on fire, beating his man off the dribble & hitting a variety of pullup jumpers & the occasional long jumper or trey. In the 2nd half, Nick Carroll from Hamline (who had a middling offensive night) did a really solid job of shutting Baah down.  He had 3 blocks in the 2nd half & I believe they were all on Baah.

As I said earlier in the week, Baah has got some tremendous hops & was right there with Ray Brown's huge 2nd half tomahawk dunk that PI mentioned.  I'm not sure if Baah loses it mentally, runs out of gas or what,  but the Bethel coaches did the same thing they did in the SMU game last Saturday.  After he tried to block Chris Palmers' dunk they took him out, & shortly after his foul on Brown's dunk in the game tonight, they took him out for much of the of the 2nd half. Strange.

3) I've never been a big Nate Robertson fan, but I give him much respect for how much he's developed over the past 4 years. He's learned to harness his fiery competitive nature & emotions, & is having a real solid senior season.  In previous years he might have checked out emotionally in what was a real rugged duel between 2 quality big men.  Robertson came up on the short end of the winning & personal stats stick, but he more than held his own, & gave as good as he received.

4)  Hamline's Carl Hipp doesn't have quite the explosive temperament as Robertson, but he too has gotten too amped up for games & let his emotions get in the way of his effectiveness. Tonight, he was a composed, tough warrior.  In fact I even saw him catch the ball in the middle of the lane, kept the ball up high over his head, pivot, & made a sweet turnaround 8 foot jumper. Hipp dominated the inside with his presence, work on the boards, & scoring.
 
5) Ray Brown played under control for the most part & only had 2 TOs on the night. He must have decided to play the part of Ray-Ray the distributor & had 6 assists (several of the "damn, did he just do that?" no-look variety), 15 pts & 8 rebs. Brandon Rieg played the part of Dan Anderson's 3-pt understudy, & was tonight's designated deep ball threat. It seemed every trey he hit came at a crucial juncture in the game.

6)  Turnovers, or a lack of TOs were a big factor in this game. By my unofficial count the Pipes only had 5 in the 2nd half which helped them get some breathing room from the Royals.

7)  Once Baah went out in the 2nd half, the Royals never really developed any outside consistency.  Chris Vavra had a relatively quiet 13 points on the night.  As a result, Hamline defenders started clogging the lane, blocking or altering shots, & or eventually Robertson would end up getting to the FT line.

8) Unofficially, from a fairly credible source, I'm hearing that Hamline is exploring another year of eligibility for Ray Brown.  

They cannot start filling out the NCAA papers for Rays year back till the end of the year.  However I am farely confident that he will get that year back.  Technically he has one year and one semester left.  They already have a NAIA transfer from Fl coming in next year (one of Rays friends).

[Drake Palmer]

I'm not sure how many of you follow the D3 basketball on a regional or national level, but next door in the WIAC,UW-Stout just pulled off their 2nd upset of a top 5 ranked team in as many games.  Saturday, they crushed UW-Whitewater on UWW's home court 95-77.  Tonight they beat 4th ranked UW- Stevens Point at home 69-67!

[Drake Palmer]

Here you go Willy!

I'm sure a certain Joe Scott might be included in this blind sampling eh? 

[piperinsider]

How about none of them make it?  

Seriously, without looking at the team each plays on, there would be no way to pick just one. If one of them was a Scot, they're thrown out immediately. If one is a Tommie, they're in. It sucks that it's that way, but you have to reward the good teams, especially if a certain team goes 19-1 in the conference.

I could take another year of Ray   I've got four years of eligibility left he could use.

Who is the friend? I assume it's not former teammate Erik "The Goose is Loose" Gusaas, who has one year left of eligibility. 

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
"Hopefully raising my family and helping little "Ray Ray" become the best player he can be."

[Willy Wonka]

Here you go Willy!

I'm sure a certain Joe Scott might be included in this blind sampling eh?  

Sour grapes? You mean the fact that the reigning league MVP's numbers are down in literally every single statistical category — including double digit drops in overall and 3-pt shooting percentages — when he's playing almost 5 minutes more a game is really a non-story to you? I don't create the stats, but I will talk about them...especially after he stole the top honor from either Goose or Madsen a year ago.

Scott the Role Player will definitely be among my bubble all-conference players until he's able to put his super hero cape back on. You might be surprised at who his closest statistical comparables are right now. I know I was.

And it's not like I've singled out Scott all year. I've questioned Hipp, Fraase, Nicolai and Van Sickle, among others, when they've struggled this season. You might say I'm an equal opportunity hater  

[MiacLostProphet]

PI- The only goose that ever got loose on snelling was ZJ.

Whitmore would be an idiot to not look into another year for Brown.  I think Ray will be back, and another year of teaming with Hipp could lead to a great season.  Hipp is still budding as a player, and another year of weights, footwork, and post moves never hurts.  The GAC game on saturday is huge, and I'd expect a decent crowd.  Hopefully i can get work off to attend.  Gacman, you going to the game?

[VOJ]

Here you go Willy!

I'm sure a certain Joe Scott might be included in this blind sampling eh?  

Sour grapes? You mean the fact that the reigning league MVP's numbers are down in literally every single statistical category — including double digit drops in overall and 3-pt shooting percentages — when he's playing almost 5 minutes more a game is really a non-story to you? I don't create the stats, but I will talk about them...especially after he stole the top honor from either Goose or Madsen a year ago.

Scott the Role Player will definitely be among my bubble all-conference players until he's able to put his super hero cape back on. You might be surprised at who his closest statistical comparables are right now. I know I was.

And it's not like I've singled out Scott all year. I've questioned Hipp, Fraase, Nicolai and Van Sickle, among others, when they've struggled this season. You might say I'm an equal opportunity hater  

Wow I kept looking thinking a Johnnie would be next in line...you must be going soft WW

[miacsuperfan]

nice writeups on the game at hamline.  i thought it was quite entertaining as well.  i was told while leaving the gym that that was bethel's first loss at hutton since january of 2000.  i checked it when i got home, and that IS correct!

the vipes are legit.  hipp was sick.  and if bethel's aniel baah can develop some consistency in his game to game play, he could be fun to watch the next two years.

[Nites]

I'm bored so I'm going to provide a little game for this board ala Nites.

The Game
These are three guys who might be on the all-conference bubble when the year ends. Based on their numbers, please rank them. I'll reveal the names in 24 hours. No cheating!

Team record is obviously a factor in these decisions (hence UST getting two players last year who averaged 7 PPG...), but I'm throwing that out for the purpose of some blind objectivity.

Guard A
11.3 PPG
41% shooter, 31% from deep
2.7 RPG
1.5 APG
16 steals
4 blocks

Guard B
11.5 PPG
39% shooter, 23% from deep
4.6 RPG
1.4 APG
18 steals
2 blocks

Guard C
11.9 PPG
44% shooter, 38% from deep
2.9 RPG
0.9 APG
15 steals
0 blocks

First, I have to say I agree with PI that the stats are close enough that you'd probably look to team success to distinguish the three.    That being said, if I had to rank them, I'd go C-B-A.  My thoughts:

  *If any one of them is a point guard, I'd rank that person 3rd because based upon the assist numbers, he is not distributing the ball the way he should.

  * Assuming then that they are all 2 guards, I'd take C because he has the highest shooting percentages.  The other two have fairly weak shooting percentages so I'd say they actually may be hurting their teams by shooting too much.  In fact, without considering defensive abilities (which you can't necessarily judge by these stats), I'd say only C has a shot at my All-Conference team.

  * B comes in second because he apparently helps out on the boards quite a bit.  That might mean he has some size, which actually might help him out defensively, but that's just speculation.

[sumander]

New Pool C calculations after last night from KnightSlappy. Looks like even with UW LAX out of the picture GAC is a long shot at best right now.

REG   #   WP      OWP     OOWP    SOS     RPI50   RPI     NAT   Pool        REG     OVR   CONF     Team


W   001   0.850   0.642   0.550   0.612   0.731   0.671   004   A   C      17-3    17-3   WIAC     UW-Whitewater
W   002   0.850   0.605   0.558   0.590   0.720   0.655   008   C   001    17-3    18-3   WIAC     UW-Stevens Point
W   003   0.882   0.520   0.547   0.529   0.706   0.617   012   A   C      15-2    18-2   MIAC     St. Thomas
W   004   0.882   0.508   0.540   0.518   0.700   0.609   014   A   C      15-2    17-2   NWC      Whitworth
W   005   0.938   0.428   0.509   0.455   0.696   0.576   016   B   001    15-1    19-2   IND      Chapman
W   006   0.882   0.460   0.515   0.478   0.680   0.579   021   A   C      15-2    17-4   IIAC     Central
W   007   0.800   0.472   0.519   0.487   0.644   0.566   043   C   013     8-2    10-8   NWC      Linfield
W   008   0.818   0.458   0.481   0.466   0.642   0.554   045   A   C       9-2    14-5   SCIAC    Occidental
W   009   0.786   0.489   0.495   0.491   0.638   0.564   049   C   015    11-3    15-4   SCIAC    Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
W   010   0.684   0.593   0.562   0.582   0.633   0.608   054   C   020    13-6    14-7   WIAC     UW-La Crosse
W   011   0.722   0.514   0.538   0.522   0.622   0.572   069   C   033    13-5    13-7   MIAC     Gustavus Adolphus
W   012   0.684   0.571   0.523   0.555   0.619   0.587   072   C   035    13-6    13-6   MIAC     Augsburg

[huhoops]

2)  Daniel Baah could be the next best thing/guard to come out of Bethel. The kid was absolutely on fire, beating his man off the dribble & hitting a variety of pullup jumpers & the occasional long jumper or trey. In the 2nd half, Nick Carroll from Hamline (who had a middling offensive night) did a really solid job of shutting Baah down.  He had 3 blocks in the 2nd half & I believe they were all on Baah.

8) Unofficially, from a fairly credible source, I'm hearing that Hamline is exploring another year of eligibility for Ray Brown.  

Whitmore had better hope he has Brown back as HU is an average offensive team and a sub par defensive team without the guys they would be losing (Brown, Andersen, Carroll). 

In regard to Baah, the kid's a player. He made HU defenders look pretty silly in the first half and I was glad to see them switch Carroll on to him.  In all of the MIAC games I've been to, I don't think I have ever seen a player get three consecutive jump shots blocked.

A few thoughts from the game:

* I love the way Taber is playing. He adds another component for HU from the perimeter that help stretch defenses. IMO, he should have been playing a lot more the whole season.

* One of the better games I have seen Brown play at HU. Very balanced and under control. He took what the defense gave him and made a huge impact without scoring an overwhelming amount of points. I've said it time and time again, no chance anyone can guard HU when he facilitates and acts as a play maker.

* Me and PI disagree on the Schmidt kid. I really don't like his game. He had a turnover last night and literally walked two steps and watched his defender run all the way down court for a layup, no effort to get back at all. He does make the occasional drive or one dribble jumper but he also makes some pretty glaring mistakes on the defensive end. If I'm not mistaken, that's who guarded Baah during his 17 point spree in the first half. Schmidt is tied with Brown at 28 minutes/game for HU.

* Very nice to see Reig step up in a meaningful game. I wish he was just a little more consistent, because it's obvious that the guy can score. Unfortunately, I don't know how productive he can be against a team like GAC or SJU (with bigger guards).

* I didn't like the tempo of the game for HU last night. It's fun to watch but against more quality teams the high scoring games don't bode well for HU. They allow too many players on other teams to get in their rhythm offensively. HU has 1 loss the entire season (last Sat. @ CAR) where their opponent scores less than 70 points and still wins. It's nice to see different guys stepping up and scoring but the defense is going to do it for them.

* GAC will be interesting. I almost want to stay home and watch the UST webcast back and forth with our game. CAR is really rolling.

[Gacman]

MLP, not sure if I'm going yet but if do I'll drop in and say hello.

As for the saturday matchup at Hutton this weekend. This might be the most important game either team has played all season. With only 5 games left in the season, there isn't much time to make up a lot of ground in the standings unless you get to play teams ahead of you head to head which HAM gets to do this weekend.

I'm going to go ahead and predict that whoever wins this game gets the 2nd seed and a first round bye in the playoffs. This is why this game is so important. GAC, SJU, and HAM all play UST down the stretch which you could say is a loss for all 3 teams, so you are simplifying the race for the 2nd spot down to four games. If GAC wins that takes HAM out of the race for the 2 spot since they would bascially be 4 games back with 4 left because GAC would hold the tie breaker just like the Vikes over the Pack. This also keeps GAC 1 game ahead of SJU and 2 ahead AUG with four games left to play. Since Augsburg and SJU are already 2 and 1 games behind respectively, as I just mentioned and play eachother on saturday, Augsburg basically faces the same situation as HAM needing to win to stay in contention for the 2nd spot. SJU still plays GAC and gets UST at home keeping them in it even with a loss on saturday until there last game which happens to be GAC.

Now I did say that they all lose against UST but if one of them upsets UST especially SJU, that changes things significantly because I don't see UST losing more than 1 of those three games. That's where AUG has an advantage since they don't play UST again. If they take care of SJU they are sitting pretty good for a run at the 2 seed as well.

Obviously there still are a lot of scenarios out there. If Hamline wins it's wide open. If Gustavus wins, it's basically there's to lose. Hence why this game is so important and if your AUG and SJU you are pulling for HAM.