MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[papahoops]

I think the three major story lines I'm going to be looking at going forward are:

Is St. Olaf for real?

Who is MAC going to be beat because it's going to happen.

Who is going to challenge UST and end their 5 year reign.

Excellent suggested story lines GACMAN.
I think winning in Collegeville give strong indication the Oles are for real, but next two games (at GAC tomorrow night and then home game with UST) will definitely tell us more. Hopefully GAC webcast will be working Monday so I can see this contest.

Concerning MAC's projected initial win, I would say home games with Hamline and Bethel in January are the most likely candidates. I think they will win at least one of these two games

Projected challengers to UST for conference???  At this point, I'll go with GAC and Carleton, but I'm not counting out STO, particularly if they win one of their next two games.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Some interesting scores last night. St. Olaf might actually be for real this year. SJU continues to underachieve in conference play.

GAC gets a nice win against a good CON team that had won 3 in a row coming in. It nice to see that GAC can beat a good team when its top two scorers go a combined 2-12 from the field. Just like the BU game, it looks like GAC's success will hinge on its defense. Holding CON to 30% was definitely nice to see.

I think the three major story lines I'm going to be looking at going forward are:

Is St. Olaf for real?
Time will tell...but the Oles usually put on a strong run at the end, so this could be VERY interesting
Who is MAC going to be beat because it's going to happen.
I'd say they will sweep Bethel and will win 3 or 4 other games as well
Who is going to challenge UST and end their 5 year reign.
Uhhhh....my purple blinders say no one

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Saturday's loss was Mac's 50th MIAC loss in a row....easily the all-time conference record.... but I say it now-- Mac will go 5-15 or 6-14 this year.

[Drake Palmer]

Mose – now I like what I've seen from Macalester but 5-15 or 6-14 in the conference?  They have to pick up one or two from Bethel, plus pick up a couple from CORD, Hamline, Augsburg, SMU's etc.  I just don't see any easy wins for them.  Based on game scores they've been competitive in every single game they've played this year, but does that translate into 5 or 6 conference wins? I don't know, but I'm pulling for them.

We should start a separate pool - how many league games will Mac win? 

MAC-SMU:
I watched a portion of the Scots game against SMU the other day on the webcast & this is the most athletic & talented MAC team I've seen in the past 4-5 years.   This was a very competitive game & the Birds had to pull out all of the stops to overcome a 10 deficit in the 2nd half. The MAC guards are playing well, & FY Justin Wasik will be a player in this league.  He led the Scots in scoring with 20 pts & was 4-6 from the 3pt line.

People who saw MAC play last year will hardly believe the improvement soph post Andy Bowman has made in his game.  He was a serviceable offensive option but made his presence known defensively. Also, Pierce Peters & SMU's Chris Palmer will have a nice rivalry for the next 3 years.  Peters gave as well as he got & finished with 17 pts & 10 rebs compared to Palmer's 8 pts & 8 boards.

Unfortunately Mac didn't have an answer to Lukas Holland & Will Wright.  Holland was knocking down ridiculous jumpers all over the place in the first half, & then in the 2nd half Will Wright took over.  Wright scored 18 points in the 2nd half to compile 29 points on the day.  Holland wasn't too far off the pace as he ended up with 23 points.

SJU-STO:
Just reading the boxscore & game summary it seems like the Jays have fallen in love with the jumper instead of running their offense through Burtzel?  I realize some of their shooting woes (3-19 3FGA) were a result of trying to play catch up ball at the end of the game, but here's a quote from the SJU game story:

The Johnnies led by seven with 13:43 left, but went 0-for-7 from the field, including 0-for-5 from beyond the arc, to create a 6:48 drought without a field goal. A layup and free throw by senior Sam Blank (Rollingstone, Minn.) with 6:55 remaining ended the skid and gave SJU a two-point lead. Five straight free throws, four by Tucker Sheley with the help of a technical foul called on Blank, gave St. Olaf a three-point lead 1:27 later.

Hmm, is Mr. Blank back to flexing his defensive muscle again?   I recall last year he got teed up for a hack on a fast break basket at Hamline & a similar type of play against UST. 

Plus the Johnnies were outrebounded by the Oles were outrebounded 32-24.
***

**Has anyone watched a Gustie webcast this year? How's the video quality? I'm half inclined to stay home & watch the Gusties & Oles square off rather than venture out into a cold, dark, wintry night to watch UST @ AUGS or SJU @ Hamline.  Decisions, decisions.

[RAsportsnut]

I firmly agree that MAC has certainly improved from past seasons, and can say that 3-4 conference wins this year will not be surprising to me. I was at the game at the new Shoe last Monday and was very impressed with the improvement MAC has made from just last year. Peters looks to be bright and upcoming sophomore, and if he can bulk up a bit... watch out.

As a team they seemed to handle the UST defense and pressure fairly well for being a young team (starting 2 sophomores and a FY). They were in it up until the final minute.

If I had to guess a figure, I'd say they get 3 conference wins this year.

[Buddo]

If I had to guess a figure, I'd say they get 3 conference wins this year.

I agree with this projection. Slow, but steady progress...

[Gacman]

**Has anyone watched a Gustie webcast this year? How’s the video quality? I’m half inclined to stay home & watch the Gusties & Oles square off rather than venture out into a cold, dark, wintry night to watch UST @ AUGS or SJU @ Hamline.  Decisions, decisions.

I watched their first game against Buena Vista and the quality was pretty good, but I didn't watch the last one to know if they are consistently putting out good quality. I'm going to take a chance and say you should be fine staying home and taking in the game over the web.

[papahoops]

If I had to guess a figure, I'd say they get 3 conference wins this year.

I think good potential MAC wins are home games against Bethel, Hamline, and Con, with a possible upset over SJU translate into 4 wins. If they don't upset SJU, then road win at Bethel another possibility for the 4th win. I obviously am pulling for them to win more, but that would be my realistic assessment at this point. Although MAC has improved significantly, most other MIAC teams seem to be as good or better than last year (with Bethel being the exception). I thought Augsburg would drop off more, but they seem to weathering the departure of their strong guard tandem from last year pretty well to date. I hate to agree with DP, but I have to side with his 4 win prediction versus Mose's more optimistic forecast. I believe Mose may be building up MAC to makes his UST's squad's recent tight win over MAC look a bit better

[papahoops]

I just check out the pickum board and see DP is a late entry again, once again utilizing the expertise of those of us who enter picks early. Mose warned me about DP's strategy, and I now see he was correct

[Drake Palmer]

I just check out the pickum board and see DP is a late entry again, once again utilizing the expertise of those of us who enter picks early. Mose warned me about DP's strategy, and I now see he was correct

DP Associates, win place or show. A winning formula for 7 consecutive years. Better than Bernie Madoff & legit to boot. Straight cash pickem dollas homie. 

I'll think of you when you're on vacation somewhere this winter & realize you forgot to post your pickems in.  I'll try not to step on your head as I advance to top of the heap. 

[papahoops]

Oles up by 6 over GAC at the half 35-29. Tucker Sheley with 15 on 6-7 shooting from the floor. Another half like this and the Oles are officially for real.

[oldjammer]

Watching the Oles tonight I would say they are for real---a bit of choking down the stretch at the foul stripe by them and some heroics from Phil Wirtjes for GAC, with 22 2nd half points and the Gusties pull out the win.

[papahoops]

Second half a different story as GAC pulls out nice 74-66 win. Game was in doubt for 35 minutes but in last five minutes, GAC played with poise and St. Olaf did not. Phil Wirtjes was particularly impressive with 26 points including a perfect night at the charity stripe (8-8).

Congrats Gacman, your squad hung in there and then really played well when it counted.

[miacsuperfan]

Second half a different story as GAC pulls out nice 74-66 win. Game was in doubt for 35 minutes but in last five minutes, GAC played with poise and St. Olaf did not. Phil Wirtjes was particularly impressive with 26 points including a perfect night at the charity stripe (8-8).

Congrats Gacman, your squad hung in there and then really played well when it counted.

wow, wirtjes was a monster for gusties.  oles are still the oles, but i agree that they appear to have improved.  tucker sheely's career night was wasted when sto couldn't make shots down the stretch.  watching much of the second half, i got the feeling that they would not seal the deal.   bobby fong is a nice player, hitting a couple of big threes inside of 10:00 to play, but missed several huge free throws near the end.  all the credit to gustavus, for finishing strong after struggling for much of the night. 

half way across the state, smu's chris palmer packed a rather impressive stat sheet against the royals:

35 minutes, 37 points, 11 rebounds, 10-12 fgs, 4-5 3fg, 13-13 from the line, and a steal. not a bad day at the office for the cardinal soph!   

[Gacman]

Gustavus is going to continue to be successful this season because of the poise and leadership of Wirtjes and Schmidtkneckt. This might be the best senior leadership GAC has had leading a team in quite some time with Wittwer's senior season being the only other year that compares since Espenson's senior year. Wittwer's senior year had more depth, but I think in a guard driven league, having two players like this makes such a huge difference. You really have to go back to GAC's last two championships to find a team that was truly led by a front court player, and even then, Espenson brought the ball up the court a lot of the time. UST has had Schnettler, Scott, Robinson, and Niccolai. SJU had Ohme, Westman, and Lieser. Carleton had Sutherland last year, and even BU had Madson and Laugen when they made their run to the championship. Without a really good guard or guards, you cannot consider yourself a true contender in this league anymore. That is why this year is probably going to come down to GAC, CAR, & UST as the true contenders for the championship.

St. Olaf is definitely for real. They might not be top three, but they are definitely playoff worthy from what I can tell. Neville is going to be a tough match-up for most teams with his size, length, and athleticism.

Augsburg continues to surprise me. I thought they would fall off for sure after losing their starting backcourt, but I stand corrected. They look like they will be tough every night, though they haven't seen their efforts turn into wins in their past two games.