MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[columbianmaffia]

i scored tickets to the gophers game on friday!! milwaukee here i come!

[Willy Wonka]

i think this off season we should have a contest to see who has the hairiest chest...im pretty sure i would lose...but it would sure drum up some heated debates about the way the selection committee decides upon a winner...would they go for overall coverage, thickness of the hair, or length of the hair? or perhaps does someone get extra credit if they comb their hair or shape it into a design with the clippers?

A former football teammate of mine used to shave his into an arrow pointing down. It was, uh, classy 

(No, it wasn't Hoag)

[papahoops]

Please take your bickering elsewhere, fellas. This board already gets its fair share of annoyance from an outsider named AO 

But let's now take a look at a blurb from the SMU release about Palmer...

Palmer took the MIAC by storm in his first season, ranking fourth in the conference in scoring (299 points, 15.0 ppg) and fifth in rebounding (171 rebounds, 8.6 rpg). The Cardinal freshman, who put together eight double-doubles — including four in SMU's last five games — led the league in free throws made (95), was third in the MIAC in free throw percentage (95-for-110, .864) and offensive rebounds (50, 2.5 orpg), and fifth in defensive rebounds (121, 6.05 drpg).

Now please explain me again how he didn't make the all-conference team. I mean, I'd take Palmer over Fraase for my all-conference selection, my fantasy team AND in a MIAC pick-up game.

I would not debate your preference for Palmer over Fraase. In terms of all conference selection, Fraase was on a lower tier team with no other teammates deserving consideration. Palmer was a FY player on another lower tier team that had two other players deserving consideration. In my view, it is clear Palmer as the FY player was the odd man out on all conference selection due to his team's performance, and the nod went instead to upper classmen Wright and Holland.

Fraase's all-region selection, however, is baffling. Even if you consider Ray Brown a wing, Hipp and Burtzel were both clearly better front court players this year, and it would be hard to argue that Fraase was any better overall than Seth Jonker, Chris Palmer,  Rosett, or Robertson.

[Willy Wonka]

For the sake of discussion, I'm posting an email I got recently from a former high school hoops coach from just outside the metro area. He got to see the second-most controversial team in the state, behind the University of Hopkins, play for the first time just the other night.

Is anyone familiar with this team? There was a Noreen that attended St Bens a few years back. Is Kevin any relation? Could he possibly be a future Johnnie?

I'd be curious to hear what other people have seen or heard about this situation...

****************************

Your roving reporter was out last night and filed the following report on an historic night in the world of high school basketball in Minnesota:

Our buddy Oly was assigned to referee a boys basketball tournament game in Section 4A last night. This game pitted the very controversial Minnesota Transitions team against a little known school named St. Agnes.

In case you have not been following the story of the Minnesota Transitions team, here is a quick overview:
    -This team is a collection of basketball players who masquerade as a Charter School
    -Star player is a 6"10 kid named Kevin Noreen
    -Noreen broke the MN high school basketball career scoring record earlier this year
    -Record is thought to be tainted because he plays against very weak competition
    -They play other charter schools who have very poor teams.....run up scores.
   
Game Summary & Highlights
    -If this game was a boxing match, the fight would not have been allowed to start
    -Transitions is up by 30 at the 10 minute mark of the first half
    -Kevin Noreen scores when ever he feels like it...St. Agnes has no answer...it's a travesty.
    -At the end of the first half an angry fan from St. Agnes confronts Oly at mid court
    -Oly keeps his cool and heads to the locker room...no punches were thrown
    -I decided not to leave at halftime because I felt Oly would "T" up someone
    -Oly did not disappoint...he "whacked" a player from St. Agnes within 3 minutes
    -Noreen stays in the game for most of the second half....it's a joke...
    -Up by 40 and the big fella is having a field day against bench players from St. Agnes
    -History is finally made....Noreen scores his 4,000th point of his career...
    -First high school player in Minnesota to reach that point total.
    -44 points for the game...could have been 70.

This game provided the following "firsts" for me:
   -Garbage time starting 5 minutes into the game
   -Mercy rule in a high school BB game...running time at the 9:00 minute mark of 2nd half
   -Seeing a coach tell his big star player not to play defense so the other team could score
   -Seeing a high school tournament game that resembled a bad pick up game at the YMCA.

(Name withheld to prevent injury)

[ChairmanYao]

WW. I've seen the team play a couple times. Although pretty unfair their competition during the regular season, as far as I know they have nothing to show for it as far as post season accolades--something Hopkins certainly has attained. Transitions came down to play Ellsworth High School a few years back when then MN scoring champion, Cody Schilling now at Augustana in Sioux Falls, was playing and Ellsworth handled them. This is a single A team that has gone to state repeatedly but never has done any damage, so that's why I am assuming they are relatively unknown. I know they put up 110+ ppg every season but the teams actual talent level isn't any better than a solid single A team. I know nothing about the actual school though.

[jquentint]

MN Transitions is coached a MN Sun sports writer and the head of the Magic AAU program.  I know they have tried to upgrade schedule by playing some 3A/4A schools in 2009/2010. In 2005, one of MN transitions player scored around 100 points in a game in against an over-matched team that caused a bit of controversy.  I saw them play Minnetonka this year when Mn Transitions lost by a shot with 4 seconds remaining.  They went about seven players deep and led the entire game against tonka-they tried to take the air out of the ball in last five minutes in the game but their strategy failed.

[bball1122]

Kevin is not a future Johnnie unless he transfers back a couple levels - he's headed to Boston College next year. 

[piperinsider]

MN Transitions is coached a MN Sun sports writer and the head of the Magic AAU program.  I know they have tried to upgrade schedule by playing some 3A/4A schools in 2009/2010. In 2005, one of MN transitions player scored around 100 points in a game in against an over-matched team that caused a bit of controversy.  I saw them play Minnetonka this year when Mn Transitions lost by a shot with 4 seconds remaining.  They went about seven players deep and led the entire game against tonka-they tried to take the air out of the ball in last five minutes in the game but their strategy failed.

How could you forget Cash? What a name.

[AO]

There are far worse teams than St. Agnes in class A.  Agnes was a 3seed in that section (out of 11).  I don't have any problem with his scoring record.  I don't blame Transitions for staying in Class A where they have a better chance of winning a championship.  I blame the system for allowing multiple classes.  They wouldn't schedule such horrible teams if it hurt them in a quest for a title.  As it is, they don't get any post-season benefit from beating Minnetonka or Minneapolis Henry.  Either go back to a single class, or 2 if you absolutely can't get reach an agreement and have some sort of promotion/relegation system where the top 3 from class A move to to AA the next season and the bottom 3 move down.

In a world where Northern Iowa knocks off Kansas, we do have small high schools who can play with the suburban powers. 

PS....Northern Iowa wasn't the only team with a big upset last night!

[piperinsider]

UNI assistant Kyle Green is a former Piper...
http://www.unipanthers.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/green_kyle00.html

[Gregory Sager]

Kevin is not a future Johnnie unless he transfers back a couple levels - he's headed to Boston College next year. 

Indeed, he's BC's #1 recruit, so he obviously has big-time potential in the eyes of at least one Big East head coach.

Kevin Noreen's uncle Jerry was the reserve center behind All-American and future Portland Trailblazer Michael Harper on North Park's first D3 national championship team (1977-78). Kevin's parents attended North Park at the same time that I did.

[papahoops]

The MN Transitions coach John Sherman has had a positive impact on the MN AAU scene with his Minnesota Magic program. My son had a lot of very positive experieces playing for Magic teams under John's direction.
I do not agree, however, with the way the Minnesota allows charter school to be created and used for various activities. It is not fair for a smaller school that draws from a typical population talent pool to have to compete with a team that is a group of AAU all stars. To their credit, MN Transitions does play some higher quality teams, but they still play a lot of weak teams, leading to tremendously inflated stats that will no doubt distort future state records. I do not agree with the state supported charter school concept in general, so I admit I am biased, but I believe MN Transitions should be placed in a larger school bracket if they are to be included in the state high school league playoffs.

[TearDrop]

Looking over the state tournament brackets for this upcoming week I see that former SMU coach Mike Trewick has had a nice season with St Cloud Tech and a state tourney appearance. I do not know a ton about MN high school basketball but does anyone know what their chances are? Can Trewick go from bottom of the barrel SMU to a state title??

[papahoops]

St. Cloud Tech is a nice team, but would be a definite underdog to take state. As usual Hopkins is very good and the favorite (Eden Prairie/Champlin Park are considered seeds 2/3). From what I have heard, however, Owatanna is the only team in the tournament that has very little chance of competing with the big boys, so we will see how things play out

St. Cloud Tech has a very nice player, Alex Hanks, that has committed to Minnesota State Mankato (he made all tourney team is last year's state tournament).

Speaking of the high school tournament, I would encourage anyone enjoying basketball played the right way to check out St. Paul Johnson Governors (#1 seed) and DeLasalle Islanders(#2 seed)in 3A. Both of these teams are very well coached, play defense, and really share the ball. I am hoping these two teams make it to a final that would be very interesting. Johnson already beat 4A Hopkins earlier this year, so they are the real deal and DeLasalle's talent (with outstanding coach Dave Thorson) never backs down from anybody. The "D" squad is not as deep as St. Paul Johnson, but I would expect them to give the Governors a battle.

[AO]

The MN Transitions coach John Sherman has had a positive impact on the MN AAU scene with his Minnesota Magic program. My son had a lot of very positive experieces playing for Magic teams under John's direction.
I do not agree, however, with the way the Minnesota allows charter school to be created and used for various activities. It is not fair for a smaller school that draws from a typical population talent pool to have to compete with a team that is a group of AAU all stars. To their credit, MN Transitions does play some higher quality teams, but they still play a lot of weak teams, leading to tremendously inflated stats that will no doubt distort future state records. I do not agree with the state supported charter school concept in general, so I admit I am biased, but I believe MN Transitions should be placed in a larger school bracket if they are to be included in the state high school league playoffs.

I'm admittedly pro-charter schools because they do a better job for less money, but you can't make a rule that makes all private and charter schools play at a higher level.  There are some truly awful charter/private schools who couldn't beat Hopkins jr. high.  Maybe you would agree with my idea for  promotion/relegation to separate Transitions from the math and science charter school if Transitions wins the A title. 

I understand why we separate college divisions due to the varying amounts of money the schools give to athletes, but I do not understand why we have multiple classes in high school sports when all the schools play under the same rules.