MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Drake Palmer]

Pops & Sum – remember the old saying from the movie the Godfather: "keep your friends close and your enemies closer?"

I've spent quite a bit of time studying my rival & his deep seated hatred of all things that emanate from Collegeville.  So of course I'll have to pull the double blind, or was it the triple blind cross trick from "Princess Bride" to vanquish my foe. (Talk about your mixed metaphors, movies & pop-culture  )

Pickems judge - TD – I'll take one serving of Pipers - over easy.  I think.  


I'm holding Sum accountable if I lose.

[Willy Wonka]

pops-
2003-04 is painfully etched in my memory. That win you mention have have been the high point of someone's career at Mac. That night, I went to bed expecting to wake up and find that the world had indeed ended but I wasnt that lucky. Fortunately, UST reloaded and by 2005-06, the current dynasty began.

Some might say the debacle of a 2003-04 season was a hangover from how the previous season ended 

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

pops-
2003-04 is painfully etched in my memory. That win you mention have have been the high point of someone's career at Mac. That night, I went to bed expecting to wake up and find that the world had indeed ended but I wasnt that lucky. Fortunately, UST reloaded and by 2005-06, the current dynasty began.

Some might say the debacle of a 2003-04 season was a hangover from how the previous season ended 

very true... PAINFULLY (as in Marx's shoulder and Siroris' foot) true

[piperinsider]

Work completed by 5:30: Check
Gas up the truck
Pick up a friend in St. Cloud
Head to SJU
Disappointment or jubiliation?
Introduce myself to VOJ?

DP - Hamline is 2-0 when I'm in attendance at Sexton Arena. Once during the playoff win and another when Nik Windschtil made two free throws with like .6 left in 2003 or 2004.

Let's play!

[Gregory Sager]

The NCAA, Hamline and you and I can't determine his best course of action.

Not without all of the relevant data, we can't. But that doesn't mean that he'll correctly determine what is his best course of action.

It wouldn't matter if you did have the data.  Just like you were wrong to suggest Joldersma shouldn't try and go pro, you also shouldn't decide what is best for Ray.  If the decision he is making is deciding whether or not to take drugs again, then obviously you can decipher the correct option, but this is not that sort of "responsible" vs "irresponsible" decision.

Lord love a duck, AO, read the posts correctly, willya? I never said that "Joldersma shouldn't try and go pro." I said that Joldersma was never going to play in the NBA. See that ever-so-slight difference there?  Sheesh.

I'm not deciding anything for Ray Brown. He doesn't know me from Adam, and even if he did he's not going to cede control over his life to me. Here's what I know, though, and I'll spell it out crystal-clear for you so that we can end this discussion once and for all: If his decision is to leave school without a degree, leave his children behind, and move to a foreign country where he may not make much money, then based upon those three hypotheticals without knowing any of any possible extenuating circumstances, his judgment is open to question.

The NCAA's not in the gauging-best-life-choices business. It's in the supervising-college-athletics business, and one of the things that it's attempting to do to atone for the mess that D1 sports have made of the educational process is to track graduation rates (and not just at the D1 level).

How has a d1 sport hurt the educational process?  Are coaches requiring basketball players to practice dribbling in the classroom?  The individual is the only one responsible for his/her education.

You're joking, right? You can't be the only person in America who hasn't followed the endless parade of abysmal graduation rates, cheating, payoffs, recruiting violations, etc., that has poured across the news over the past twenty years. Clem Haskins ring a bell with you? Dave Bliss? Kelvin Sampson? Bob Huggins? Yeah, it's all up to the individual player in terms of the educational process getting hurt, isn't it?

Again, neither you nor I can say for certain what the future would hold for him if he were to leave school without his degree. Life circumstances can often make it very difficult for someone to complete an unfinished degree, particularly if he or she has breadwinner responsibilities or there are economic issues involved. And the terms upon which he leaves vis-a-vis Whitmore and Hamline, good or bad, aren't really relevant.

In the end, the best scenario is that Ray Brown gets his diploma from Hamline in May and can move forward in his life with that very valuable piece of paper in hand.

We both agree it's going to be more difficult for student athletes if they leave school early to chase dreams, but I'm not going to discourage someone from doing something because of the difficulty. 

If I'm the athletic director or a supporter of Hamline I would consider how the players leave the program to be very relevant.  The program's reputation isn't built by wins and losses alone.

That's right. The program's reputation is also built by having the students who participate in the program graduate from college.

The primary role of an institution of higher learning is to graduate properly educated and prepared students. The role of a D3 college basketball program is to win games without getting in the way of the primary role.

Chasing dreams is all well and good, and I would never want to be someone who stood in the way of someone else's dreams. But reality is a harsh mistress, and we live in a world ruled by reality rather than dreams. Sometimes you have to forsake the dream in order to do what's best for yourself and for those who are dependent upon you.

[miacsuperfan]

how can ust's webpage/game coverage be such garbage?  how i say?       gac, however, appears to be no match for the cats.  kind of makes you wonder how they beat them earlier this year.

sounds like ray didn't come to play tonight.   hope he hasn't been reading blog.  good win for johnnies.

dawgs finally beat bu at robertson in a game in february.   lots of threes for aug, with flavin going off early.  and not much resistance from the 'cashing it in' royals. 

[AO]

Lord love a duck, AO, read the posts correctly, willya? I never said that "Joldersma shouldn't try and go pro." I said that Joldersma was never going to play in the NBA. See that ever-so-slight difference there?  Sheesh.

So you thought Joldersma would find a steady job playing basketball overseas?  Let's just say you're leaning towards advocating these types of players stay home as the odds are very small they'll make millions playing basketball.  I'm leaning towards letting the individual make their own decision and support them whatever they choose. 

I'm not deciding anything for Ray Brown. He doesn't know me from Adam, and even if he did he's not going to cede control over his life to me. Here's what I know, though, and I'll spell it out crystal-clear for you so that we can end this discussion once and for all: If his decision is to leave school without a degree, leave his children behind, and move to a foreign country where he may not make much money, then based upon those three hypotheticals without knowing any of any possible extenuating circumstances, his judgment is open to question.
//

You obviously aren't the one deciding.  What you are doing, as you stated, is questioning his judgment.  You are doing this before knowing all the facts of what he might be offered or what his progress towards a degree might be.  Leaving his children behind would obviously be difficult, and I find it ridiculous that you would question his judgment if he decides that he could best support them by temporarily moving somewhere where his talent is more highly valued.

You're joking, right? You can't be the only person in America who hasn't followed the endless parade of abysmal graduation rates, cheating, payoffs, recruiting violations, etc., that has poured across the news over the past twenty years. Clem Haskins ring a bell with you? Dave Bliss? Kelvin Sampson? Bob Huggins? Yeah, it's all up to the individual player in terms of the educational process getting hurt, isn't it?

The incidents of cheating and payoffs has not hurt the educational process as a whole.  They've hurt the individuals who cheat and the programs who have tried to cover it up.   To claim that these incidents means that division 1 has messed with the education process is to ignore the vast majority of kids and programs who don't cheat and don't try to cover it up if they find that the kids did cheat.

The primary role of an institution of higher learning is to graduate properly educated and prepared students. The role of a D3 college basketball program is to win games without getting in the way of the primary role

Again, no one at Hamline or any program is advocating kids cheat or (for the vast majority of kids) leave school early.   The reality is that a small amount of players might be able to make more money if they leave school early, than if they stayed an additional year.

Chasing dreams is all well and good, and I would never want to be someone who stood in the way of someone else's dreams

So..., get out of the way   ----that of course goes for me too.

[piperinsider]

Double post coming - I may get long WW.

SJU 65, HAM 62
* Initial thoughts - I lay blame on three people for this loss. And it's not the inconsistent referees. A. Brown  B. Hipp and C. Whitmore.

Let me explain.

A. Brown connected on his first shot to make it 5-0, but made only one more outside shot in the poorest basketball performance from a MVP candidate I have ever seen. Sure, he was a pathetic 2-for-11, 2-for-8 from outside and missed a key free throw in the final minute, but it was the other things that bothered me.

He cried all night about the non-calls. It got to be so bad on one possession he was going to be whistled for a foul no matter whether he made contact or not. He then walked to the bench and sat down even though Whitmore had no one at the table for him (Charlie Choiniere got two minutes of playing time because of it). He repeatedly looked at the bench after a missed shot like they were going to do something and he sat at the end of the bench while a unit of Rieg, Andersen, Voigt, Aguirre and Schmidt willed the Pipers back to even at 59 after they once trailed by 15. Almost every player was standing led by Carroll besides Ray.

C. With the score tied with 120 seconds to play following a Burtzel putback (I thought it could have been a loose ball foul on a push), Whitmore subbed back in his three starters along with Schmidt and Aguirre. The first possession Brown travels. The second possession he misses a free throw. Down 3 with 14 seconds left, Brown forces an NBA three much like he did at GAC. The ball was cleanly blocked and he whined the whole rest of the game. Why I throw Whitmore under the bus is because he had a unit out there that was getting the job done. Schmidt and Aguirre were playing great as the go-to guys and when he subbed in Brown and Hipp, they didn't touch the ball the rest of the way. Players get adreanline rushes....they were fine to stay in the game especially with the time outs and such.

He chose to play Brown, who clearly did not warrant minutes down the stretch. I have been a Brown apologist all season when he's had a bad game or tried to put the weight of the whole team on his shoulders, but his attitude was a disease tonight. He was struggling offensively and he let it trickle down through his whole game (see Aaron Barmore and his six points in the first four trips of the second half).

Plus he took a meaningless technical in the first half because he was mad his team was getting outworked and refused to move their feet and were whistled for ticky-tacky fouls.

B. Much like his performance at GAC, Hipp was off from the start. 7-of-16 from the field and 0-4 from the line. I bet four of the seven buckets were off his own missed shots. Of his nine missed shots, seven were layups. He just had a tough night. Again, every player has off nights offensively, but his defense is another thing. Maybe he has done this in the past but I have never seen it. Every time Burtzel would catch the ball just off the block, Hipp would step back into the lane and allow the MVP runner-up to back right into the lane. Burtzel chose to pass 90% of the time when this happened, but when he didn't it was a pump fake and an easy basket on a block-happy Hipp.

As for my MVP runner-up comment, after watching both Burtzel and Brown tonight, neither deserves the award if I based it on tonight's performances. I've already stated my Brown comments, but with Burtzel a MVP takes more than eight shots in a big game with it in doubt. He repeatedly was given room in the paint through post ups and slashing and yet he almost always made the pass. Sure he had 13 rebounds and got to the line 11 times (made six and all six hit the rim), but he did not establish himself like he did a month ago.

Todd Herman played well as did Sam Blank (minus a couple of ill-advised shots down the stretch). Burns and Schwartz were non-factors.

[piperinsider]

A couple of other quick comments:
* While I think it's great that Mr. Smith is still coaching at his age, I ask why one of his college roommates is running the clock? I counted at least four times where the timer messed up.

1. One time the shot clock was reset when the ball hit the side of the backboard
2. Another time the shot clock wasn't reset, forcing a whistle and giving SJU a fresh 35 when it should have been 30 3. A third time the shot clock was started when a missed FT was being tipped around between Hipp and a SJU player. When possession was finally gained, the shot clock read 30. Hamline got the ball over at 22 but after a timeout it was reset to 27 since the guy only counted eight and not 13
4. And then on the final possession there was 3.2 left, a baseball pass across half court was first touched near the three-point line by Blank. I looked at the clock when he first touched it - 2.1 The guy started the clock when it first hit the ground.

* I wondered why a Hamline player didn't accidiently throw a pass out of bounds toward the seven SJU/CSB students that cared. I mean, you would think Burtzel's "roommates and neighbors" could come up with better cheers than "you can't do that.....shot, shot, shot.....strictly business.....you guys suck." And what was up with the "We're at the office bit?" Huh?

Nice to shake hands with you tonight VOJ. Can't wait to hear your spin on it. 

[piperinsider]

Triple post - can't sleep:
Through tonight -
St. Thomas 18-1
Augsburg 12-7
Gustavus 12-7
Carleton 11-8
Hamline 11-8
Saint John's 11-8

Let's assume the favorites win Friday/Saturday:
St. Thomas 19-1
Augsburg 13-7
Gustavus 13-7
Carleton 12-8
Hamline 11-9
St. John's 11-9

Playoff Seeding Tie Breakers
1. Results head to head.
2. Results against teams above those tied.
3. Results against teams above those tied in rank order. (In the case of a multiple tie the teams that remain after this breaker will return to breaker #1 and so forth).
4. Record against teams below tied teams in descending order.
5. Random draw.

Auggie and GAC up first
* Head-to-head: 1-1
* Record against UST: GAC is 1-1, AUG is 0-2

Gusties get No. 2 seed and a first-round bye with a win over St. John's

Hamline and SJU up next
* Head-to-head: 1-1
* Record against top 4: HAM 3-5, SJU 1-6

Pipers get the edge over Johnnies. If GAC and UST win Saturday, Pipers are No. 5.

My best guess
(1) UST   (2) GAC   (3) AUG   (4) CAR   (5) HAM   (6) SJU

[Willy Wonka]

I feel like a college student again after putting off work until AFTER driving to watch a college hoops game. It seemed like a good decision at 3 pm...not so much at 1 am.

Anyway, some quick hits as I finish up...

• As I've said, the Tommies won't be threatened in the MIAC if Scott shoots well. He started 3-3 from deep tonight and was clearly full of confidence.

• Leslie's o-board and 3 to end the half were huge for momentum.

• GAC made UST's average, at best, posts look like all-stars tonight. Old Man Eicher, Peltier and Hannon combined to shoot 11-17. None of them is particularly talented offensively, but you'd never have guessed that after watching tonight's game.

• Did anyone see Paulson's alleged elbow to Leslie? It was apparently enough to keep the little guy down for a good 10 seconds, barely moving, until play was stopped on a GAC secondary break. Then he got up, wasn't bleeding and didn't even need to see a trainer after walking off completely under his own power. I was about 80 feet away, but it looked like a total flop to me. Makes you wonder if Crowder had a point when he called him out from the bench for taking a dive...

Combine that with Archer's 10+ "falls" within the first two minutes of the game — seriously, he looked like a handicapped kid skating for the first time — and UST's storied history of flopping (Viau and Archer in the MIAC title game two years ago are prime examples)...and it really makes me question what Fritz et al are teaching in Tommieville. It was disappointing, to say the least.

• For as bad as the Gusties have been lately — and it's been ugly in losing 6 of 9 — they still control their own destiny. If Augsburg loses Friday against St. Mary's, GAC secures the #2 seed even if it finished an extremely ugly 12-8.

• Call me crazy PI, but 14-13-6 for Burtzel in a victory seems like a pretty good line. Oh, and I can't wait for someone to call you ignorant for calling out Brown like that  

UPDATE: Why wasn't Archer included in the senior class recognition tonight? He's listed as a senior on the UST web site and has played varsity for the past three seasons. I really hope that was an oversight because I'm not sure I can handle another year with Archer in my life...

[VOJ]

A couple of other quick comments:
* While I think it's great that Mr. Smith is still coaching at his age, I ask why one of his college roommates is running the clock? I counted at least four times where the timer messed up.

1. One time the shot clock was reset when the ball hit the side of the backboard
2. Another time the shot clock wasn't reset, forcing a whistle and giving SJU a fresh 35 when it should have been 30 3. A third time the shot clock was started when a missed FT was being tipped around between Hipp and a SJU player. When possession was finally gained, the shot clock read 30. Hamline got the ball over at 22 but after a timeout it was reset to 27 since the guy only counted eight and not 13
4. And then on the final possession there was 3.2 left, a baseball pass across half court was first touched near the three-point line by Blank. I looked at the clock when he first touched it - 2.1 The guy started the clock when it first hit the ground.

* I wondered why a Hamline player didn't accidiently throw a pass out of bounds toward the seven SJU/CSB students that cared. I mean, you would think Burtzel's "roommates and neighbors" could come up with better cheers than "you can't do that.....shot, shot, shot.....strictly business.....you guys suck." And what was up with the "We're at the office bit?" Huh?

Nice to shake hands with you tonight VOJ. Can't wait to hear your spin on it. 

PI...nice to meet you as well, thanks for introducing yourself, (+K)wish we could have chatted a bit more.  I did not realize what a good luck charm you had been to the Pipers at Sexton, next time I will circulate a rough sketch to Life Safety so you're kept outside the arena  ...just kidding

I think your report pretty much covered the game, credit Hamline's D with the "Little Piper" lineup on the floor for keying a comeback from 15 down into a two point lead. 
The Johnnies needed this game to build some momentum which hopefully they will carry into their "Titanic" matchup with Gustavus, perhaps Molly Brown will make an appearance.

[huhoops]

Double post coming - I may get long WW.

SJU 65, HAM 62
* Initial thoughts - I lay blame on three people for this loss. And it's not the inconsistent referees. A. Brown  B. Hipp and C. Whitmore.

Let me explain.

A. Brown connected on his first shot to make it 5-0, but made only one more outside shot in the poorest basketball performance from a MVP candidate I have ever seen. Sure, he was a pathetic 2-for-11, 2-for-8 from outside and missed a key free throw in the final minute, but it was the other things that bothered me.

He cried all night about the non-calls. It got to be so bad on one possession he was going to be whistled for a foul no matter whether he made contact or not. He then walked to the bench and sat down even though Whitmore had no one at the table for him (Charlie Choiniere got two minutes of playing time because of it). He repeatedly looked at the bench after a missed shot like they were going to do something and he sat at the end of the bench while a unit of Rieg, Andersen, Voigt, Aguirre and Schmidt willed the Pipers back to even at 59 after they once trailed by 15. Almost every player was standing led by Carroll besides Ray.

C. With the score tied with 120 seconds to play following a Burtzel putback (I thought it could have been a loose ball foul on a push), Whitmore subbed back in his three starters along with Schmidt and Aguirre. The first possession Brown travels. The second possession he misses a free throw. Down 3 with 14 seconds left, Brown forces an NBA three much like he did at GAC. The ball was cleanly blocked and he whined the whole rest of the game. Why I throw Whitmore under the bus is because he had a unit out there that was getting the job done. Schmidt and Aguirre were playing great as the go-to guys and when he subbed in Brown and Hipp, they didn't touch the ball the rest of the way. Players get adreanline rushes....they were fine to stay in the game especially with the time outs and such.

He chose to play Brown, who clearly did not warrant minutes down the stretch. I have been a Brown apologist all season when he's had a bad game or tried to put the weight of the whole team on his shoulders, but his attitude was a disease tonight. He was struggling offensively and he let it trickle down through his whole game (see Aaron Barmore and his six points in the first four trips of the second half).

Plus he took a meaningless technical in the first half because he was mad his team was getting outworked and refused to move their feet and were whistled for ticky-tacky fouls.

B. Much like his performance at GAC, Hipp was off from the start. 7-of-16 from the field and 0-4 from the line. I bet four of the seven buckets were off his own missed shots. Of his nine missed shots, seven were layups. He just had a tough night. Again, every player has off nights offensively, but his defense is another thing. Maybe he has done this in the past but I have never seen it. Every time Burtzel would catch the ball just off the block, Hipp would step back into the lane and allow the MVP runner-up to back right into the lane. Burtzel chose to pass 90% of the time when this happened, but when he didn't it was a pump fake and an easy basket on a block-happy Hipp.

As for my MVP runner-up comment, after watching both Burtzel and Brown tonight, neither deserves the award if I based it on tonight's performances. I've already stated my Brown comments, but with Burtzel a MVP takes more than eight shots in a big game with it in doubt. He repeatedly was given room in the paint through post ups and slashing and yet he almost always made the pass. Sure he had 13 rebounds and got to the line 11 times (made six and all six hit the rim), but he did not establish himself like he did a month ago.

Todd Herman played well as did Sam Blank (minus a couple of ill-advised shots down the stretch). Burns and Schwartz were non-factors.

PI...nice post game wrap. We are pretty much in agreement the whole way.

* I don't see a reason in the world why you take that group of scrappers out with 2:00 left when they basically went on a 19-2 run. For the first time all season you have other guys stepping up besides Hipp and Brown and you basically tell the kids that you don't trust them to finish a game they brought you back into. Not to mention Brown, Hipp, and Carroll had all been on the bench for the last 8-10 minutes of game time.

* OldUMAC, Gacman, whoever else has watched Brown play away from Hutton but still thinks he's "MVP" material...did you catch the game last night? It's like night and day. These fans seem to get in his head from the tip off and he takes it out on the refs, the coaches, and his teammates. I didn't see a ton of bench footage last night online but if it's anything like what I saw at UST or CAR, I can just picture it. He starts shooting threes therapeutically like they are worth 10 points and does it without any ball movement. Then he yells at the refs or his coaches when the results don't go his way. Ray Brown is a great basketball player but he is his own worst enemy. If he keeps his head in that game last night, there is no doubt that HU wins the game. Burtzel settled the MVP discussion last night, IMO.

* I don't know what to make of Hipp. He seemed to establish himself inside and just couldn't get his shots to drop. They were sending double teams immediately on his catches and much like the first GAC game, he was rushing. I did like the fact that he was trying to look for cutters off of the double teams early, that's a facet of his game I hadn't seen before. Not making excuses but he could easily still be under the weather. He hasn't gone 0-4 from the free throw line in a long time and he seemed a little bit lethargic in the second half.

* Dan Andersen with a double-double 11 points and 11 boards.  Nice work!

* Aguirre and Schmidt did a really nice job of being assertive last night. HU will need that in the playoffs to be successful.

I still think they have a good chance of beating UST at home. Hopefully the team morale isn't going south because the only way they will win games from here on out is to strap up and move on.

That's all for now 

[piperinsider]

You could tell that some of the players were visibly upset with Brown at different points of the game. Early in the second half after two wild misses, Whitmore called a time out, Schmidt used a bad word and slammed his hand on the chair.

WW - I'm not saying Burtzel didn't play well, but he did not play like an MVP should in a big game. He could easily have had 24-30 points with the positions he was getting himself into. I mean, would you rather have him taking shots from 5-8 feet away or Andrew Latzke (3-10) from the wing? BTW, Chris Schwartz was pretty much non-existent when he was on the floor. What has happened to him?

HU - Hipp was subbed out four minutes into the game - I thought maybe that was a sign that he was still feeling a bit ill. At that time, he was 1-for-4 and had already missed a couple free throws.

[Drake Palmer]

GAC-UST

Willy did a solid highlight review of last night's game, so I'll just add the following...

Exciting ball game last night if you're a Tommie fan. Tough night for the Gusties.

I'll have to see a few more games like this from UST's Joe Scott to proclaim his return, but it was a nice start in the right direction.  He's had a couple of decent shooting performances over the last week.  4-5 overall in the first half, 3-3 from the 3pt line for 11 points.

Tommies were shooting pretty much lights out in the first half. The Gusties were playing pretty solid defense but with the slightest of openings, one of the Tommies would hit their shot. For example, shot clock is running down, the Tommies have passed the ball around, in & out of the post, & Josh Peltier is stuck with the ball at the top of the key.  He looks around & with no one to pass to, takes off for one of his infrequent drives to the basket & scores.  Huh?  

Yet in spite of UST's torrid shooting, Gustavus stuck around, kept the UST lead within striking distance & stayed within 9-11 pts throughout the first half.

The Paulson Elbow:
In hindsight that seemed like a fairly significant turning point.  Did Peter Leslie have his head & hands up in Paulson grill trying to rip the ball away?  Yup.  And why not? In the last regular season game between these teams at UST, this same GAC post player turned the ball over 8 (EIGHT) times.

However, once Paulson clearly established control of the ball, he continued to brandish his elbows about as if they were some type of billy club trying to hit the closest UST defender he could find. Unfortunately, Peter Leslie was the unlucky recipient of one of those massive elbows.  Paulson ended up decking Leslie upside the head rather than in the face. That's why there wasn't any blood.

You can be sure Leslie took great delight in grabbing that offensive rebound in the closing seconds of the first half & then with a flourish, hit the trey to close out the first half. His performance was reminiscent of his timely shooting against Augsburg a few weeks earlier.

Back to the Bow:
I'd be willing to bet Paulson & his thuggish antic(s)   were the source of some conversation by UST players & coaches at the halftime talk.  (It certainly was talked about up in the cheap seats during halftime).  Once the 2nd half began, Sam Eicher went on the attack & was planting his chest, shoulder, elbow, & anything else he could think of into Paulson.  In fact, a couple of times I groaned "c'mon Paulson, you know all he's got is that left handed hook."  I was reprimanded by a few Tommie fans who said "Sam (E.) can go his right!"  Yeah, he did & missed.  

Seriously, I thought Eicher got away with a couple of travelling calls as he was doing his "gangsta lean" while trying to create space & leverage on Paulson. However, it was clear the word from the coaches was to go after the Gustie post players.

Turnovers:  
The other key 2nd half turning point was Gustie TOs. In the first half they had a respectable 5 TOs for the half.  Not the case in the 2nd half. So many times you hear coaches talk about the importance of the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half.

Last night was a perfect example. Down by 11 points, 39-28, a good start for the Gusties was critical.  Instead Gustavus turned the ball over 5 times in the first 4 minutes & the Tommie lead jumped to 51-32.   9 TOs in the 2nd half.  For the game, UST converted the Gustie TOs into 17 points.

*Phil Wirtjes is a gamer.  I'd hate him as an opponent, but would love to have that kid on my team.  

*Robbie Dan Schmidknecht had a tough night & he's another tough competitor. ** (Edit is courtesy of the "Willy Webster" unabridged 20th version of the Gustie dictionary.)

In reading the GAC game story I see they mentioned they'll be honoring Paulson, Jesse Van Sickle, & Ryan McPartland at Sr Recognition Day on Saturday, but no mention of Mychal Crowder. Willy- maybe he & UST's Teddy Archer will be 5th year seniors for their respective squads next year?  

I'm sure the UST fans will love Crowder just as much as the Gusties will not love to see a possible return by Teddy Archer.