MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Drake Palmer]

i agree with p. hoops.  nicolai is absolutely clutch.  he had a huge turnover late in the game, but i would have bet the farm he would hit his shot at the buzzer to atone for his earlier gaffe. 
actually, teddy archer should be treating nicolai to dinner tonight for bailing him out of his "goat" status; we were not quite sure what teddy was trying to do in the last five minutes of the game----but the fact that fritz didn't yank him was evidence of his incredible patience with the kid.  archer had a string of bad decisions that were almost comical, if you were not one of the tommie faithful.  he has tremendous athletic ability, but his shooting and touch around the basket do not match his other skills. 
you had to feel for carleton, who played well enough to win.  but five absolutely bricked free throws down the stretch by a bevy of knights led to the game-winning heroics by the MIAC's best clutch shooter tyler nicolai.   

There's good Teddy & bad Teddy. And to get to good Teddy you've gotta go through patches of bad Teddy for awhile.    The Tommies wouldn't have defeated UWSP without his efforts nor would they be sitting at 11-0 on the season without his contributions.  Barring injury or a total collapse by the Tommies, I'm sure we'll see Mr. Archer's name listed on the All-Defense team at the end of the season.   Now offense, that's another story. 

[piperinsider]

Look who quietly is one game out from second place....that's right, the resurgent Vipers! That's three straight MIAC wins, including two in overtime.

BTW, my key stat Drake, is the participation numbers - 30!!!!!!!! That has to be a record for a game. 16 Pipers got in, while 14 Royals hit the hardwood.

With six teams in a pack with two or three conference wins early on, will we be seeing a 10-10 team or a Seahawks-like 9-11 team make the playoffs?

[Drake Palmer]

PI- A really key stat regarding Hamline and their success is the final score.  If the Pipes score 80+ points, greatly improves the odds of the Pipes winning the ball game.

Hamline is 5-5 on the year but is 4-1 when they score 80+ points this season.  The one loss they had when they scored 80 points was against UW-Whitewater in OT.  Hipp ran into foul trouble & the Warhawks had the athletes to run with Hamline in the 2nd half.

Some of you may recall a couple of years ago a poster from back east who was familiar with Coach Whitmore and his playing style basically posted this about Whitmore's teams & I paraphrase:  "defensively his teams don't really want to press a team into submission & force a bunch of TOS, but basically wear out the opposing team & run them out of the gym."

Maybe this year Whitmore has the depth & conditioned ball players to play this style of ball.  We'll see.  But for right now opposing teams need to be forewarned, run with the Pipers at your own risk.  Gustavus & Augsburg both tried & look at what happened to them.  It will be interesting to see how Coach Whittle at Macalester approaches their game with Hamline on Saturday.

[miacsuperfan]

hey, nice win by the vipes last night @ hutton.  they really can play some pretty good basketball, and they will be a constant threat to ANYONE they play this year when they play like they did last night. carl mv hipp was a monster as usual, though the vipes will have to finish in the top 6 for him to pick up his award. 

but . . . . what is up with the bu royals??  i mean, "COME ON MAN!!!"  they have gone from a perennial playoff team (10/11 years?) to the MIAC conference whipping boy in less that two seasons!!  what is up with that?   it is hard to imagine how quickly and hard this group has fallen in a short period of time!   

[piperinsider]

Two days of silence....no reports yet?

Concordia 77, St. John's 63
Carleton 74, St. Mary's 57
St. Thomas 68, Gustavus 64
Hamline 81, Macalester 71 - looked like a great game...stupid birthday party
Augsburg 74, Bethel 72 OT

[papahoops]

Tommies eke out an overtime win over Gusties today at the Shoe in an outstanding college basketball game. This one could have gone either way. Gusties had lead and played good D but Nicolai hit yet another dagger 3 to send game into overtime, where UST prevailed. Tyler Grey and Ben Biewen played very solid off the bench for the Gusties, giving them the depth needed to match up with a deep Tommie squad. UST, however, won the front court battle with Tommy Hannon outplaying the Gustie forwards.
The rematch in St. Peter should be another barnburner

No big surprises in other MIAC games, other than Aggies needing overtime to beat Bethel .

After about 1/3 of the conference schedule, I believe playoff picture is is already clearing up. At this point, I believe UST, Carleton, Gustavus, Hamline, and Concordia are generally looking solid. I think Augsburg and St. Olaf will battle for the final playoff spot. SJU and SMU obviouslly are still in the hunt, but personally, I don't see these teams as being playoff caliber from what I have seen to date. It will be interesting to see how things shake out in the weeks to come.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

nice story aired on WCCO Sat night:
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/01/08/st-thomas-mens-b-ball-again-at-the-top/

[Buddo]

Packers 

[Drake Palmer]

I never thought it could be a "3 Wow Week", but it was.  

I took in the GAC-UST game yesterday afternoon in front of a large, but somewhat subdued crowd at the new Shoe.  The game was a great defensive battle & it's no wonder.  UST & the Gusties are first & 2nd in the league in Defensive Field Goal percentage, 40.3% and 41.9% for each team; & 3-pt FG Defense—23% for UST & 28.8% for GAC.  It took excellent ball movement by both teams & quick preparation by the shooters to score any basket. If the player wasn't ready for the shot, the defensive recovery was outstanding by both teams & would quickly shut down the scoring opportunity.

If not for terrific team defense by the Tommies over the last 4-5 minutes of the game, & exceptional individual effort by UST's Tyler Nicolai, the Gusties would have walked out of the Shoe with a win.  It's difficult to imagine that Gustavus has lost 3 consecutive OT games.  I was left to shake my head in amazement at Nicolai's latest clutch performance.  Gustavus couldn't have defended the game tying shot by Nicolai much better than they did.

For Gustavus, I've got to believe GAC's Phil Wirtjes & James Hill will have payback on their minds when they meet the Tommies next month in St. Peter. They're much better shooters than what they showed yesterday as they combined to shoot a dismal 4-22 from the floor & 1-7 from the 3pt line.  However, Wirtjes did grab 9 rebounds from the wing position. It will be quite interesting to see what type of karmic payback both Carleton & Gustavus will have cooked up for UST next month.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

WOW....this board is getting to be as slow as the UMAC board. At least the level of play in the MIAC remains far superior to that of the UMAC. With Hamline & Concordia sharing the second longest active win streak in the conference, maybe some of the HU bandwagoners will return....and possibly some CORD posters? (calling Cord of the North)

Saturday's GAC/UST game was a typical battle between these 2 programs-- incredible defense play, a tad cautious on offense (mainly due to the quality of the "d") and a fiercely fought contest settled in the final minutes. Tyler Grey lit things up in the first half for the Gusties, but UST kept pounding the ball inside. Nicolai comes thru yet again-- talk about ice in your veins!   Healy, who was not having a good game, came thru clutch in the OT for a three that proved to be the dagger that ended GAC's upset hopes.

The rematch (as well as the rematch at West Gym) will be a wild one....I will stock up on Kims chicken, since *someone* owes me a bucket, for karmic payback prevention. (DP? time to pay up, or chicken up in this case )

[AO]

WOW....this board is getting to be as slow as the UMAC board. At least the level of play in the MIAC remains far superior to that of the UMAC. With Hamline & Concordia sharing the second longest active win streak in the conference, maybe some of the HU bandwagoners will return....and possibly some CORD posters? (calling Cord of the North)

Saturday's GAC/UST game was a typical battle between these 2 programs-- incredible defense play, a tad cautious on offense (mainly due to the quality of the "d") and a fiercely fought contest settled in the final minutes. Tyler Grey lit things up in the first half for the Gusties, but UST kept pounding the ball inside. Nicolai comes thru yet again-- talk about ice in your veins!   Healy, who was not having a good game, came thru clutch in the OT for a three that proved to be the dagger that ended GAC's upset hopes.

The rematch (as well as the rematch at West Gym) will be a wild one....I will stock up on Kims chicken, since *someone* owes me a bucket, for karmic payback prevention. (DP? time to pay up, or chicken up in this case )

If you're going to take a shot at the UMAC, it might make more sense if after taking the shot you don't mention hamline and concordia as being the hot teams as they were beaten in their matchups against the upper half of the UMAC.

[Drake Palmer]

Hmm lets see, in the last two years MIAC vs the UMAC in basketball: 26-5.  

WOW....this board is getting to be as slow as the UMAC board. At least the level of play in the MIAC remains far superior to that of the UMAC. With Hamline & Concordia sharing the second longest active win streak in the conference, maybe some of the HU bandwagoners will return....and possibly some CORD posters? (calling Cord of the North)

Saturday's GAC/UST game was a typical battle between these 2 programs-- incredible defense play, a tad cautious on offense (mainly due to the quality of the "d") and a fiercely fought contest settled in the final minutes. Tyler Grey lit things up in the first half for the Gusties, but UST kept pounding the ball inside. Nicolai comes thru yet again-- talk about ice in your veins!   Healy, who was not having a good game, came thru clutch in the OT for a three that proved to be the dagger that ended GAC's upset hopes.

The rematch (as well as the rematch at West Gym) will be a wild one....I will stock up on Kims chicken, since *someone* owes me a bucket, for karmic payback prevention. (DP? time to pay up, or chicken up in this case )

Mose back in his youth.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

WOW....this board is getting to be as slow as the UMAC board. At least the level of play in the MIAC remains far superior to that of the UMAC. With Hamline & Concordia sharing the second longest active win streak in the conference, maybe some of the HU bandwagoners will return....and possibly some CORD posters? (calling Cord of the North)

Saturday's GAC/UST game was a typical battle between these 2 programs-- incredible defense play, a tad cautious on offense (mainly due to the quality of the "d") and a fiercely fought contest settled in the final minutes. Tyler Grey lit things up in the first half for the Gusties, but UST kept pounding the ball inside. Nicolai comes thru yet again-- talk about ice in your veins!   Healy, who was not having a good game, came thru clutch in the OT for a three that proved to be the dagger that ended GAC's upset hopes.

The rematch (as well as the rematch at West Gym) will be a wild one....I will stock up on Kims chicken, since *someone* owes me a bucket, for karmic payback prevention. (DP? time to pay up, or chicken up in this case )

If you're going to take a shot at the UMAC, it might make more sense if after taking the shot you don't mention hamline and concordia as being the hot teams as they were beaten in their matchups against the upper half of the UMAC.

Yes, they were beaten by the elite of the UMAC.... and they currently are 3rd-5th in the MIAC, so you seem to be saying that the premier teams of the UMAC can hope to finish in the middle of the MIAC pack.

I think 26-5 says it all. 

Nice pic DP... that chicken does look good!

[AO]

WOW....this board is getting to be as slow as the UMAC board. At least the level of play in the MIAC remains far superior to that of the UMAC. With Hamline & Concordia sharing the second longest active win streak in the conference, maybe some of the HU bandwagoners will return....and possibly some CORD posters? (calling Cord of the North)

Saturday's GAC/UST game was a typical battle between these 2 programs-- incredible defense play, a tad cautious on offense (mainly due to the quality of the "d") and a fiercely fought contest settled in the final minutes. Tyler Grey lit things up in the first half for the Gusties, but UST kept pounding the ball inside. Nicolai comes thru yet again-- talk about ice in your veins!   Healy, who was not having a good game, came thru clutch in the OT for a three that proved to be the dagger that ended GAC's upset hopes.

The rematch (as well as the rematch at West Gym) will be a wild one....I will stock up on Kims chicken, since *someone* owes me a bucket, for karmic payback prevention. (DP? time to pay up, or chicken up in this case )

If you're going to take a shot at the UMAC, it might make more sense if after taking the shot you don't mention hamline and concordia as being the hot teams as they were beaten in their matchups against the upper half of the UMAC.

Yes, they were beaten by the elite of the UMAC.... and they currently are 3rd-5th in the MIAC, so you seem to be saying that the premier teams of the UMAC can hope to finish in the middle of the MIAC pack.

I think 26-5 says it all. 

Nice pic DP... that chicken does look good!

Yeah, I'd say that's fair to say this season.  I'm not confident we're going to see any playoff wins from the UMAC in the first year of the AQ.

[Drake Palmer]

Random stat observation:

I think the motto for this year's version of Concordia's team should be: "This ain't your father's Buick/Cobbers anymore."

For a few weeks now I've been writing that Coach Glas has the Cobbers believing they're outside shooters.  In the game I saw them play against Augsburg, even reserve post player, 6-6 230lb Ryan Hagemeyer got in on the act & jacked up three trey attempts & even made one.  Not bad shooting form either.  So I looked at the stats & what to my wondering eyes did I see?  The Cobbers are 2nd in the league behind Augsburg in 3 pt FGA attempts as they've shot 134 treys in 7 games to average 19 3-pt FGA per game.  Now, this is the plodding, deliberate Cobbers mind you.   Plus, they're making them at a respectable 35% clip which is good for 4th place in the league.  UST is #1 in 3pt FG% at 45% as they have made 43-95 3pt FGA.

So here's an interesting twist, the Cobbs are playing the Tommies at home tonight. In addition to leading the league in 3-pt FGA percentage, St. Thomas leads the league in defending the trey attempt.  UST has held their opponents to a very frigid, northern MN like 22.7% from the 3ptline.  Plus, UST leads the league in steals per game as they average nearly 9 steals per game.  On the other hand the Cobbs are 10th in the league with TOs as they average nearly 13 turnovers per game.

However, the last time UST played a team with similar type of game statistics – Macalester (but not W-Ls), the underdog nearly pulled off the upset. Is there an upset brewing in Spudtown tonight?