MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Drake Palmer]

DP I think there will be a very big crowd there tonight. It might not be enough to fill up all of Gus Young Court, but the lower sections should be filled for sure. I know there will be the body painting group in the front row again.

I was thinking about crowds from GAC and other schools and others feel free to way in on this but doesn't GAC have the craziest student section of all the teams in the miac. Of course I have a bias thinking about this which is why I want others to comment, but for playoff games or other big regular season games the gustie student section gets packed and crazy...
Thoughts.......?

G-man – I've been around the MIAC for a number of years, but have a relatively short history of actually attending any MIAC playoff games:  A handful of Augsburg, UST games in the late 90s, a couple more in the early 00s, & then from 03 until today.

Here are a few of my high-lowlights regular season & post season games in the last 7 years. Maybe not the loudest crowds, but my favorite combination of fans, game atmosphere, game etc:

March 2003- GAC beatdown of UST in the league championship game in St. Paul, 62-32.  Cold-blooded, ruthless. Nasty domination.

February, 2005 –The Big E – Doug Espenson erupts to the tune of 30 points & 10 rebounds!!  Gus Young was rocking as GAC beat UST at St. Peter 68-58 in the MIAC league championship game to advance to the NCAA tourney.

March, 2006 NCAA tourney - UST 1st round win over North Central college. 76-68

2007 UST-SJU games:  Packed house in C-ville & you have to yell to the person next to you to be heard. The Johnnies pull off the upset at home & beat the Tommies 64-59. Brady Brink was huge!!

 07 Payback in St. Paul – Tommies extract revenge for their earlier loss & thump the Johnnies 74-59. Tommies were relentless in their play, & the UST fans were their equals in the stands. 3-4 SJU fans were escorted out of the gym by some of St. Paul's finest.  

2007 NCAA tourney – UST loss to Carroll college 86-80 – Great game, electric atmosphere & totally deflating loss for UST & league supporters. I merely like the Tommies & I was depressed for a week.  

Bethel home games 04-09- When Bethel was on their game, taking in a competitive game in Arden Hills was great.  A smaller fieldhouse so as fans you're close to the court & despite their reputation, the Bethel students could get real rowdy!  White suits, umbrellas, beach balls, loud obnoxious voices etc.  Bethel –Augsburg, Bethel-GAC, Bethel & Cord, & Bethel –UST.  Fun, fun ball games!

There were other memorable games along the way, but two other games that stood out as exciting, regular season games were the UST-Bethel games in 2009.  The game in Arden Hills was almost enough to send some of us older fans into near cardiac arrest. Bedlam! The UST home game against Bethel was a "Lazarus returns from the dead" classic. Tim Madsen was making turnaround jumpers with guys flying at him like Matrix, yet UST came back from a 14-15 point 2nd half deficit to pull out the win 75-72.  CRAZY!

I was also fond of the old MAC fieldhouse & students, & have always enjoyed the Carlies' fans. Very creative.

[Willy Wonka]

Tough to post on an iPhone...but the rowdiest things got for GAC from 00-04 was my freshman year at Sju when a Johnnie prof was literally elbow dropping a gustie doll 2 feet from the end of our bench and sju fans were chanting at us 45 minutes before tipoff.

The numerous trips to Storm Lake were also epic. Hard to top drunk posters swimming with Hanson's family in the hotel pool, trading for beaver den shirts at the bar and having roommates fly to the game in a bi-plane.

Body paint is solid, but the current fans are NOT road warriors like the glory days. That's the biggest difference I see.

[Gacman]

I would agree with the road warriors part at least from what I have heard from numerous people, but they have traveled really well for playoff games the past few years especially the ones at UST.

I referenced it before but the championship game in Wittwer's senior year was crazy. It was packed an hour and a half before the game. I just remember coming into the locker room at half time and my ears were ringing and hurt a little bit it was so loud for so long. I think we had more student fans than UST for that game which made the atmosphere even more combative. Plus you add the fact that the GAC fans came in on a bus and probably pregamed it a little didn't hurt with the rowdiness that ensued.

Should be a fun game and a fun atmosphere for tonight's game. In the first game Aug didn't start both of their bigs. In the second game they did and the production from gac's 3 posts were definitely down from the first game. Will Augsburg go with the same strategy tonight.

Can't wait.

[Drake Palmer]

I forgot one...

'09 NCAA 2nd round:   The 53-50 UST win over the UW-Stevens Point in the NCAAs last year.

One of the things Gustavus fans have lorded over the Tommies in recent years was the fact the Gusties had won tough NCAA post season games. The Tommies had not. This was the game when UST finally started to earn the begrudging respect from the Gusties.

The game was about as tough as it could be & it was the last game in the "Shoe."  The arena was packed, with fans, bands, and a break-dancing cheerleading specialist that Point brought into embarrass the UST mascot.    Plus Stevens Point had the well deserved reputation as one of the country's elite D3 programs & had recently won 2 national titles.  A little intimidating to say the least.

An incredible game!  The final exclamation point dunk by Joe Scott at the end of the game helped begin the demolition project on Schoenecker (sp).  The fans went nuts & started to raise the roof!

Hope there's some excitement at both gmaes tonight!  I'd better remember to take my heart medicine! 

[VOJ]

Is it too early to be at GAC? I guess I'll find out in 30 minutes...

So, are they expecting a big crowd in St. Peter tonight?

I'm going out the limb   & predicting a 9 point win. Just not sure which team will have the most points.   I'm leaning toward the Dawgs but it might be tough to overcome the Gustie home court advantage.  For sheer consistency, Augsburg & UST have been at or near optimal performance all season long, while Gustavus & Carleton have experienced more of a rollercoaster season.

However in the case of the Knights, it looks like they eliminated most of the peaks & valleys in the first half of the season, & have been riding on the strength of the Jonkey Kong Express.

Old skool for you Willy. The Express is rolling into St.Paul tonight. The Tommie faithful better have some conductors, guards & sentries in place to protect the senior citizens, young children & the hoops.    
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATlOAkAB8ww

What home court?  I was told Auggy has won the last 3 times in St Peter   

[buf]

GAC wins by 2.....and Carleton upsets UST, 73-67

[Touchdown Tommy]

Great to see you the other night at Auggie Tech VOJ.  You were dominating that popcorn.  See you in September with my homies at the tailgate party!!!

[TommieHoops4Life]

Tommies fall 73-67 tonight at the Gangelhoff Center.

Carleton shoots 60 percent from the field in the game and was 6-9 from three land in the second half. They also made their free throws for the most part down the stretch, unlike last time in St. Paul.

Highlight of the night... late in the first half Rosett dunked it two-handed over Teddy Archer and another Tommie and got fouled. Could make for a good poster some day. UST is a very athletic group, but it does them no good when they spend most of the night not playing to their strengths. They finally played chaotic, helter-skelter basketball in the last five minutes and turned a 14-point deficit to 3 in less than 3 minutes. Archer even said they played too conservative after. It also hurts UST that they don't have a true post player, and they lack a half court offense. They pass the ball around and wait for a guard to get open for a 3.

Jonker was great in the post tonight and the Knights hit every big 3 they needed. I put this one on the UST coaching staff for not making adjustments quickly enough. They didn't play with the playoff desperation tonight until the last 2 minutes. Carleton played like they knew they had to win the whole game. UST took questionable shots much of the game when they could've gotten a lay up if they worked a little harder. Carleton played solid D for a lot of the night though.

And lastly... The UST student fans haven't learned much in college apparently. If I had a dollar for every reference to someone from Carleton being gay, I could retire tomorrow. If you're gonna make fun of someone, criticize their game, high socks, t-shirt, etc. Fag is the best you can do? I'm embarrassed. and Maniac jumped off the bandwagon tonight as well. Food for thought for when the at-large berth comes.

[gacbacker]

Wow...fortunate turn of events for the Gusties tonight. How big is that No. 2 seed now?

Gusties do it again with balance tonight as they have all year. High scorer tonight was Tyler Grey with 11.

Gus Young Court should be rocking on Saturday night. I believe the last time the Gusties and Knights met in an MIAC Playoff Championship game was 1997 when Luke Schmidt hit a shot at the buzzer to send the Gusties to the big dance.

[Drake Palmer]

Too much Kong. 

Tonight, Jr. Seth Jonker was the fuel (19 points, 9 in the first half & 10 pts in the 2nd) that kept the Jonker Express running smoothly.  The first half was a physical, scratching, clawing & grabbing see-saw affair until UST finally got their nose out in front 17-13.  At that point I thought UST was going to take over the game, but on 2-3 straight occasions they came down the court with an empty possession & still held Carleton scoreless. Finally,  Carleton went on a small steady run fueled by Seth Jonker.  The Knights scored 9 straight points to lead 22-17 & never looked back the rest of the game.

Once the Express got up & running, Jonker's  teammates took over led by Jeremy Sutherland, 20 pts, 18 in the 2nd half.

Also in the 2nd half, the Knights were able to successfully beat the Tommie press by going over the top.  Since UST was so conscious of Jonker on the inside, it opened up the perimeter for the streaky Carleton sharpshooters to get hot & boy, did they ever! Blaise Davis - sure, but  Tommy Sawatzke too ??  Solid all around game by the Knights.

Jeremy Sutherland did an outstanding job of defending Tyler Nicolai & it wasn't until St. Thomas finally started setting some screens for Nicolai that he was able to get a few open looks.  In addition to Sutherland's defense & scoring, he distributed the ball well, & feed Bryan Rosett a sweet bounce pass on a nice breakaway for a nice 2-handed flush by Rosett.

Then to close the game out he must have told Seth Jonker – "Seth I know you can't dunk, so let me slam down a Jonkey Kong dunk for you" and he did. With 8 seconds or so left in the game he throws down the left–handed jam, hangs on the rim, tucks his knees up to his chest & started swaying back & forth.  Made me sick!    He got a tech, but I'm thinking he probably felt it was worth it.   

Tonight was the first time I'd had a chance to watch Carleton play against UST, & the mismatches I thought the Tommies would take advantage of never really materialized.  This was due in no small part to the Carleton D.  Carleton had 6-1 Blaise Davis guarding 6-4 Joe Scott & the Tommies never got the ball to Scott to post him up.  If Scott faced up & made a move to the basket, Carleton would slide another defender at him to cut off the drive.  Same thing on the other side of the floor with Alex Healy going up against slow-footed Carter Biewen.  Biewen might be slow, but he played the defensive angles well & got good help. 

The law of averages says "those games when nothing really seems to flow yet you still pull out the W, must finally catch up with you."  Tonight was one of those nights for UST.  They've used up a number of cat's lives in some of their battles with Carleton over the past 4-5 years.  Tonight, the only consistent offensive success the Tommies had against Carleton was Teddy Archer.  Teddy played an outstanding game on both ends of the floor & was causing Bryan Rosett, one of the top defenders in the league, all kinds of trouble with his quickness.  Archer, along with Brady Ervin did all the little things for UST that kept them in this game, hit the boards, hit a few Carlies (accidentally of course), dove for loose balls & were just hard-nosed competitors.  Ervin also scored well which was a pleasant surprise.

Great game Carleton!

An exceptional season for the Tommies---hopefully, they might receive an at-large berth to the Big Dance next week.

[frodotwo]

I forgot one...

'09 NCAA 2nd round:   The 53-50 UST win over the UW-Stevens Point in the NCAAs last year.

One of the things Gustavus fans have lorded over the Tommies in recent years was the fact the Gusties had won tough NCAA post season games. The Tommies had not. This was the game when UST finally started to earn the begrudging respect from the Gusties.

The game was about as tough as it could be & it was the last game in the "Shoe."  The arena was packed, with fans, bands, and a break-dancing cheerleading specialist that Point brought into embarrass the UST mascot.    Plus Stevens Point had the well deserved reputation as one of the country's elite D3 programs & had recently won 2 national titles.  A little intimidating to say the least.

An incredible game!  The final exclamation point dunk by Joe Scott at the end of the game helped begin the demolition project on Schoenecker (sp).  The fans went nuts & started to raise the roof!

Hope there's some excitement at both gmaes tonight!  I'd better remember to take my heart medicine! 

UST student body made up for it with the embarrassing kid in the short-shorts that they would hoist up behind the basket and spread legs to show his crotch when the Pointers shot free throws.

Tommies fall 73-67 tonight at the Gangelhoff Center.

Carleton shoots 60 percent from the field in the game and was 6-9 from three land in the second half. They also made their free throws for the most part down the stretch, unlike last time in St. Paul.

Highlight of the night... late in the first half Rosett dunked it two-handed over Teddy Archer and another Tommie and got fouled. Could make for a good poster some day. UST is a very athletic group, but it does them no good when they spend most of the night not playing to their strengths. They finally played chaotic, helter-skelter basketball in the last five minutes and turned a 14-point deficit to 3 in less than 3 minutes. Archer even said they played too conservative after. It also hurts UST that they don't have a true post player, and they lack a half court offense. They pass the ball around and wait for a guard to get open for a 3.

Jonker was great in the post tonight and the Knights hit every big 3 they needed. I put this one on the UST coaching staff for not making adjustments quickly enough. They didn't play with the playoff desperation tonight until the last 2 minutes. Carleton played like they knew they had to win the whole game. UST took questionable shots much of the game when they could've gotten a lay up if they worked a little harder. Carleton played solid D for a lot of the night though.

And lastly... The UST student fans haven't learned much in college apparently. If I had a dollar for every reference to someone from Carleton being gay, I could retire tomorrow. If you're gonna make fun of someone, criticize their game, high socks, t-shirt, etc. Fag is the best you can do? I'm embarrassed. and Maniac jumped off the bandwagon tonight as well. Food for thought for when the at-large berth comes.

See above.

[Willy Wonka]

I'll post more tomorrow, but I want to say this before hitting the sack.

Congrats to Jon Cassens on a nice career. It was a tough way to end it — a missed jumper with 12 ticks left and a turnover with 3ish seconds left — but he has been one of my favorite non-Gusties to watch the last few years.

As someone whose collegiate football career ended on a controversial no-call in the end zone of a 6-point game, trust me when I say I feel your pain 

[VOJ]

Tommies fall 73-67 tonight at the Gangelhoff Center.

Carleton shoots 60 percent from the field in the game and was 6-9 from three land in the second half. They also made their free throws for the most part down the stretch, unlike last time in St. Paul.

Highlight of the night... late in the first half Rosett dunked it two-handed over Teddy Archer and another Tommie and got fouled. Could make for a good poster some day. UST is a very athletic group, but it does them no good when they spend most of the night not playing to their strengths. They finally played chaotic, helter-skelter basketball in the last five minutes and turned a 14-point deficit to 3 in less than 3 minutes. Archer even said they played too conservative after. It also hurts UST that they don't have a true post player, and they lack a half court offense. They pass the ball around and wait for a guard to get open for a 3.

Jonker was great in the post tonight and the Knights hit every big 3 they needed. I put this one on the UST coaching staff for not making adjustments quickly enough. They didn't play with the playoff desperation tonight until the last 2 minutes. Carleton played like they knew they had to win the whole game. UST took questionable shots much of the game when they could've gotten a lay up if they worked a little harder. Carleton played solid D for a lot of the night though.

And lastly... The UST student fans haven't learned much in college apparently. If I had a dollar for every reference to someone from Carleton being gay, I could retire tomorrow. If you're gonna make fun of someone, criticize their game, high socks, t-shirt, etc. Fag is the best you can do? I'm embarrassed. and Maniac jumped off the bandwagon tonight as well. Food for thought for when the at-large berth comes.

Maniac no longer on the purple bandwagon???  The world will end shortly   

Congrats to the hottest team in the MIAC, Carleton on the win and to Gustavus on the gutty win over the Auggies.  The MIAC should get at least 2 in and who knows how Pool C will work itself out for the Auggies, I know the odds are long, but committee's do interesting things all the time.  I might be mistaken but didn't the WIAC get three teams in the field recently?

[scooterman]

Just a short note to congratulate Hamline on their first winning season in quite a while. Not sure of just how long but at least 10 years? They probably should have finished stronger but I want to congratulate Coach Whitmore and his staff on resurrecting the program. Hopefully this is just the beginning.

[Nites]

If I were an Augie fan, I'd be watching whitworth, central and claremont-ms.  They could get to the table very early and the committee would be looking at a team with 3 losses to St. Thomas and a very strong strength of schedule (boosted by the additional loss to the tommies).  In the end, 8 losses might just be too many to overcome.

You mean boosted by an additional loss to Carleton, in which case St. Thomas gets the Pool C bid and Auggie goes home.    What do you think of that scenario?   

... but little did I know that Auggie would not survive to face the Knights in the championship game.  Nice season for Augsburg though.