MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[miacsuperfan]

However, when your e-mail address indicates that your name is David Pannell,

wow... totally unbiased opinion!

hey, who better to tell us about tyler pannell than his big brother?   

[PurpleReign]

Was UST 24 and Pacific Luth 37 with St. Thomas playing about 14 different guys and just trying a lot of different combinations out.  The PacLu stats site went down and can't follow the game.  I can understand a video feed going down, but a chucking stats site going down is pretty ridiculous.

[PurpleReign]

Tommies were just down by 15 and now just down by 6.  Gophers up by 5 against North Carolina.

[PurpleReign]

Tommies down by 2 and taking over the game.

[John Gleich]

Wow, back to back to back steals and a Nicolai 3, then a 10 second violation.

UST up 1 with the ball.

[John Gleich]

Unbelievable... another 10 second violation for Pac Lutheran... 5 straight stops.

[John Gleich]

UST pulls out the win like I knew they would... but goodness, they just wouldn't seal it.  Leslie missed just his second shot, but it was an open layup that could have pushed the lead to 7.  Then PLU hit a jumper and cut it back to 3, and then turned it over.  UST gave up a number of good looks up 3 in the waning seconds, then got a rebound and went to the line and promptly missed 2 FT's with 6 seconds left.  They did manage to poke the ball away so Pac Lutheran didn't get a look in the end but... sloppy, sloppy 73-70 win.

UST had 21 TO's and PLU had 18

[aero75]

Stats on the web show turnovers the other way, Lutes 21, Tommies 18

[John Gleich]

Stats on the web show turnovers the other way, Lutes 21, Tommies 18

You're probably right, I was actually going off of the PLU radio guys' mention, not the stats!

[huhoops]

A couple of quality wins thus far for the Toms. Any time you go that far from home, with no one in your corner (fans, refs, etc), the wins are difficult to come by. That's a great experience for such a youthful bench. Nicolai was his regular self with 22 pts and Healy didn't shoot it as well as he typically does, but was still productive with 14 pts. My question is, who else is going to step up on their off nights? Last year they had Scott who was obviously a more than comfortable scoring threat, although he had somewhat of an off year in comparison to 2008-2009. They slide Archer to the three this year, Hannon to the four, and Halvy to the 5. This is a longer line up than last season but I'm not sure that they will be as capable on either end of the floor. With Teddy @ the three, he doesn't create any match up problems for other teams, because his quickness doesn't create as many mismatches for most perimeter players. Being that he is fairly limited offensively, he will struggle to give them the scoring punch that he did at times last season. Hannon and Halvy are a traditional four/five duo in that they can both really only guard the four or five position. I like a lineup with either Hannon or Halvy coming off the bench, plug Leslie @ the two, Healy @ the 3, Archer @ the four, Halvy/Hannon @ the 5. This will allow them to pressure a little bit more like they have been in past years and not worry about over extending their bigs. Just an idea  

Hot start for the Ole's. I'm happy for Bobby Fong's early success, although you never know how long lived it will be. The kid has been a walking injury since he got to Northfield. He is such a capable scorer (however outlandish at times) that you simply hope he can stay on the floor for the Ole's. One concerning thing is that the box of the Luther game looks like a box from last year's HU team. Fong with 31, Neville with 15, next guys with 7 and 6 points. When it gets down to grinding time, teams will be able to limit Fong, and someone else will need to be ready to get it going. I see it having to be one of the FY players in Gunderson or Kuck.

Poor Bethel   Those dudes are in trouble, plain and simple. They got off 25 more shots, turned the ball over 11 less times, and STILL lost by 9

HU tries to bounce back after an embarrassing first game loss. The Northwestern team they lost to on Tuesday is nowhere near as good as the NW teams that the Pipes have gone down to the wire with in recent years. It's the same point reiterated, but they need shooters, and they need some solidity off the bench. Whether or not it's from the high school prodigy Tyler Pannell   or the homegrown boy in Josh Pratt, one of the youngsters needs to step up. That's easier said than done, as Whitmore has been known to play musical chairs with his rotation after just one or two losses, seemingly making it difficult for players to get in a rhythm. They struggled with a bad Elmhurst team last year @ home, so I hope they come more prepared than last year, as this is a must win with the tumultuous schedule that lies ahead for my boys. Next 8 games after Elmhurst:

Sun., Nov. 28    at Buena Vista        
Wed., Dec. 1    at Carleton*       
Mon., Dec. 6    Saint John's*        
Wed., Dec. 8    Augsburg*        
Sat., Dec. 11    St. Thomas*       
Tues., Dec. 14    at UW-River Falls       
Thurs., Dec. 30 at UW-Whitewater       
Mon., Jan. 3    at Gustavus Adolphus*    

Awesome balance for GAC in their home opener against Buena Vista. Every starter in double figures led by Mr. Consistency Phil Wirtjes. Sneaky win as BV was picked preseason #2 in the IIAC. It's not the WIAC, CCIW, or even MIAC, but still pretty competitive nonetheless. As long as GAC's continues to be inside/ out, they are really dangerous. They run into problems when they fall in love with the three. A very modest 6/12 from 3 in the first game. They have a much improved Superior team today(away), but I expect them to roll.

Auggies win big in home opener. I'm assuming the Northlanders didn't quite bring MIAC level competition, but it's always good to get that first one under your belt. FY Hines and FY Seidlitz combine for 20 pts and Quammen looks to take a bigger scoring load for the Auggies leading them with 16.

What's up with Sutherland? Hopefully everyone's preseason disclaimer for if J. Suth is injured, doesn't play into effect, as I was looking forward to watching him have an outstanding SR campaign. The loss of Davis for the Knights can't be overstated enough. The way that kid handled UST's pressure last year in the conference semis made him a lifetime member of my "captain cool covenant" Wartburg isn't a terrible team by any means, but not a good loss for a team with preseason conference champion hopes.

Nice win for the Johnnies in Collegeville. Obviously, SCSU is depleted beyond belief. Nonetheless, you play the team that shows up and the Johnnies handled business accordingly. Sam Blank taking on a bigger role on the perimeter will be huge for the John's as Schwartz's consistency is marginal and they don't have "Mr. One Dimensional" Andrew Latzke patrolling the 3 point line. That said, I don't see good things happening @ Point today.

Can't comment on how disappointing that Cord loss is. I know UMACFAN thinks those kids should be able to hang with even marginal MIAC teams, but that's wrong. 90% of UMAC players are kids that MIAC schools didn't want or even try to get. CON starts all seniors and is expected to be a formidable playoff team this season in our conference, there's no excuse for that loss. They shoot 35% from the floor and get out-rebounded by 8. They are not a great three point shooting team by any stretch of the imagination but they still shoot 23 of them in the game and only make 5 in comparison to UM-Morris's 2/4 from three. Get the ball inside!!! Olmscheid is one of the best slashers in the conference (had 0 rebounds in 23 minutes  ) and Fraase can score it as well as anyone inside. Erik Lien can get to the whole and to the free throw line and Hartmann and Olson are your shooters. Molina just facilitates and gets people shots and then Hagemeyer bruises on the inside. Martinson and Ebo fill in accordingly. PLAY YOUR ROLES   don't just run around aimlessly then hope the ball goes into the basket!

Cards are more of the same. It's great to beat Crown, but the three headed monster was the only unit putting in work (although Siefert poured in 10 off the bench). Holland, Wright, and Palmer accounted for 53 points, which means they almost outscored Crown's 57 total by themselves. Maybe this is harsh, but I'm not even going to say someone else needs to step up, because I don't think anyone CAN. Freeman is probably the next closest, which is a somewhat unsettling thought.

MAC drops their first two against Bethany Lutheran and UW Superior. Bethany is a tough match up for MAC as they run and gun and MAC is such a half court grinding team. Neither loss surprises me as they have some new players plugged in and it's so early in the season. I stand by my statement that they will win more than one MIAC game this season.

[OldUMACFAN]

HUHOOPS, sad thing is that loss came without Morris' best player (conference best player) bahahah.  Now if Morris would have lost I would have said the same thing you did, "there is no reason for that loss cougars".  I agree that 90 percent outside of the top 3 teams do not get recruited by MIAC or UMAC, but the top 3 sure do.  Like I said before we had no problems dismantling MIAC teams my sr year. 

On to the topic, this is late but huge win for the Johnnies as is the win over Concordia for the Tommies.  HU is going to strgugle without Ray Ray but they will find scoring from Campbell and possibly Agguire and Taber.  I still think Concordia Moorhead is a darkhorse wiht a formidable frontline (Olmschied and Fraase).

[Drake Palmer]

HUHOOPS,...Like I said before we had no problems dismantling MIAC teams my sr year.  

If I wasn't "chumming up" to AO so we could outsource our league pickems,  I'd suggest you guys go post on your own board - all 10 pages worth of posts.     But since we live in an ecumenical time & we're trying to promote unity among the various races, religions & cultures, why not you UMACERS.  It's the holiday season ... Smirk.

Give me some facts, which MIAC team/s did you dismantle?
***

As usual – excellent post Mr Hoops.  Agreed on all accounts, in particular the Cord loss.  The Cobbs' Darrin Olmscheid sort of reminds me of Taylor Hall from Bethel & Anders Halvorsen at UST.  Talented big men, who can put the ball on the floor, are quite capable of playing an inside-outside game but apparently fall in love with their jumper. Take it to the rack & then pop the J in your opponent's face!!!  I've got to believe this is why Halvo from UST has two basketball home addresses – Coach Fritz's doghouse or the penthouse. Because of their ridiculous depth, UST can afford to put Halvorsen on the bench.  Cord & Bethel don't have the luxury of that type of front court depth.

Speaking of depth – I watched a portion of the Augsburg Northland game last night.  The Dawgs started Andy Grzesiak-Grimm & Cory Polta at the same time.   Marcus Brumm was sitting in the stands wearing a shoulder brace & I also spotted former Auggie player – Zach Krumwiede.  The Dawgs have no frontcourt depth whatsoever after Andy GG & Polta.  If they can avoid injury or foul trouble they could be serious pretenders for the 6th & final playoff spot.  Time will tell.

The young Augsburg guards are good, but young.  All FY Name player of the year Parker Hines could have a good season & career.  Skinny strong, nice stroke, quick, needs to develop a better left hand dribble.

Highlight of the game:  In the 2nd half Northland was hanging around keeping the game close when Hines was on the left wing & spotted Andy GG on the right baseline. Hines lofts a sweet alley oop pass to Grimm who dropped the hammer on the unsuspecting Northland defender for the 2-handed flush.  Next offensive possession, House is feeling it & pulls up at the top of the key & launches a pretty rainbow triple.   The rout was on.

Andy Seidlitz & David Weber will also offer up some decent firepower.  Defensively though, all of the guards will have to spend a lot of time working with their coaching staff & listening.  For awhile I thought they had never seen a head & shoulder shot fake before. Good luck.

Early front runners for best league slashers:  – when healthy, Carleton's Jeremy Sutherland & the Ole's Bobby Fong, GAC's Seth Anderson, apparently the new kid at Hamline Mike Campbell, & Augsburg's electrifying Anthony Humphrey.  Practically every time I see the Dawgs play – Mr. Microwave pulls off a shot that makes me nearly drop my league neutrality, stand up & go unnhh!  

Another FY to keep our eyes on might be this Justin Wasik from Mac. He had 22 points in a losing effort against Bethany Lutheran.  6-14FGA, 3-4 from 3FGA & 7/8 FTs.  6 TO though which isn't so good. Last night against UW-Superior he scored 11 points & was 3-4 from 3FGA.   Does Tyler Pannell from Hamline have this kind of shot?  

[OldUMACFAN]

We beat Concordia by 13 (Linz sr year) and we beat preseason number 1 Bethel by 10 however lost to St. Johns (also beat top 10 NAIA d2 school Jamestown College).  I frequent this message board becuase I have friends currently playing in the MIAC and yes the UMAC board is crickets. 

[John Gleich]

Point beats St. Johns 78-51

Both teams shot 50%+ and 40%+ from 3... but SP made 12 3's to SJU's 7 and shot 15 more shots, making 11 more.

Both teams were terrible from the charity stripe, SJU was 4/11, Point was 4/8

[Drake Palmer]

Pipes Win!!

Hamline beats Elmhurst 71-67 with the special Zebra trapping defense in the last seconds of the game!!  

Down 65-66 with approximately 50 seconds left, 3 Pipers trap the ball after a Hamline basket. In one of the strangest calls I've ever seen, the refs called the Elmhurst player for an intentional, offensive foul for swinging his elbows trying to ward off the Hamline defense. Noah Aguirre goes to the FT line to shoot the technical foul. Aguirre makes both FTs, Hamline gets the ball again, someone else scores a basket for Hamline, (I forgot) & general craziness ensues. Someone else from Hamline makes 1-2 FTs.

Then with Hamline up by 4 points (?), 70-66, in the closing seconds of the game, Aguirre foolishly fouls an Elmhurst player attempting a trey.  The Elmhurst player makes one of 2 FTs, they deliberately miss the last FT, Christian Taber is fouled & makes 1 of 2 FTs to make the final score 71-67?

Sorry for the messed up post  - I sort of lost my head trying to keep up with the last minute pandemonium!  

The Portland Trailblazer did knock down back to back treys.