MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[carletonsid]

Carletonsid's reasons for optimism despite heavy graduation losses from last year = Taylor Hanson

Thanks for making my case!

Also think Caleb Rosenow, along with Hanson, gives the Knights a very strong front court. I think the Knights will need Theissen and Geiger to step up a bit and be more assertive and productive on the offensive end, but I'm expecting a strong season from Sawatzke.

Also, the Knights have finished outside the top 4 only twice in the last 9 seasons, and those two times they finished fifth.

[papahoops]

While vacationing in Siesta Key, FL this past week, papahoops had an unexpected college "hoops" experience. I stopped in for breakfast with my wife one morning at the popular local Broken Egg eatery and ended up meeting ESPN hoops analyst Dick Vitale. When not analyzing basketball on ESPN, Dick works tirelessly raising money for cancer research. In addition to eating at the Broken Egg on a regular basis, he sells autographed items, poses for pictures, does anything he can to raise money for the fight against cancer. He is as energetic in person as he is on camera, and it was inspiring to spend just a few minutes talking to him. To use Dick's word, it was AWESOME BABY. Unfortunately, his knowledge of MIAC hoops was limited, so I was unable to get any pre-season MIAC predictions from him  

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

While vacationing in Siesta Key, FL this past week, papahoops had an unexpected college "hoops" experience. I stopped in for breakfast with my wife one morning at the popular local Broken Egg eatery and ended up meeting ESPN hoops analyst Dick Vitale. When not analyzing basketball on ESPN, Dick works tirelessly raising money for cancer research. In addition to eating at the Broken Egg on a regular basis, he sells autographed items, poses for pictures, does anything he can to raise money for the fight against cancer. He is as energetic in person as he is on camera, and it was inspiring to spend just a few minutes talking to him. To use Dick's word, it was AWESOME BABY. Unfortunately, his knowledge of MIAC hoops was limited, so I was unable to get any pre-season MIAC predictions from him

how limited was his knowledge? Probably like El Sid's, who can barely spell MIAC 

[carletonsid]

While vacationing in Siesta Key, FL this past week, papahoops had an unexpected college "hoops" experience. I stopped in for breakfast with my wife one morning at the popular local Broken Egg eatery and ended up meeting ESPN hoops analyst Dick Vitale. When not analyzing basketball on ESPN, Dick works tirelessly raising money for cancer research. In addition to eating at the Broken Egg on a regular basis, he sells autographed items, poses for pictures, does anything he can to raise money for the fight against cancer. He is as energetic in person as he is on camera, and it was inspiring to spend just a few minutes talking to him. To use Dick's word, it was AWESOME BABY. Unfortunately, his knowledge of MIAC hoops was limited, so I was unable to get any pre-season MIAC predictions from him

Very cool. While not a fan of his broadcasting (feel he adds very little REAL knowledge to the games), I really respect his enthusiasm and love for college basketball, and more importantly what he's done for cancer research. He tends to like frontrunners (like dook and my Tar Heels) so I'm sure he would have been all over the Tommies.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Preseason rankings are out....interstingly, only 2 MIAC teams received votes:

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2011-12/preseason

[Drake Palmer]

Preseason rankings are out....interstingly, only 2 MIAC teams received votes:

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2011-12/preseason

Seriously, only two MIAC teams? You were really expecting more?  That UST national championship must have removed whatever semblance of objectivity you had left.   

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Preseason rankings are out....interstingly, only 2 MIAC teams received votes:

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2011-12/preseason

Seriously, only two MIAC teams? You were really expecting more?  That UST national championship must have removed whatever semblance of objectivity you had left. 

Did someone's nurse sprinkle snarkiness on his oatmeal instead of sugar??  What would UST's peformance in 2011 have to so with this year's preseason poll? (You'd have a point if I had beefed about UST's #8 ranking, but I hadn't mentioned that)

I merely felt that the MIAC has a few other teams that might have been worthy of a vote or 2, either based on recent playoff appearances (Car), traditionally strong with good NCAA history (GAC) or maybe even a 40+ year history (SJU). I could see one of these maybe getting a #23, 24 or 25 slot vote. Kinda like how Chubby & the Goofies get an occasional preseason vote- based solely on coaching "name"

[Drake Palmer]

Preseason rankings are out....interstingly, only 2 MIAC teams received votes:

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2011-12/preseason

Seriously, only two MIAC teams? You were really expecting more?  That UST national championship must have removed whatever semblance of objectivity you had left. 

Did someone's nurse sprinkle snarkiness on his oatmeal instead of sugar??  What would UST's peformance in 2011 have to so with this year's preseason poll? (You'd have a point if I had beefed about UST's #8 ranking, but I hadn't mentioned that)

I merely felt that the MIAC has a few other teams that might have been worthy of a vote or 2, either based on recent playoff appearances (Car), traditionally strong with good NCAA history (GAC) or maybe even a 40+ year history (SJU). I could see one of these maybe getting a #23, 24 or 25 slot vote. Kinda like how Chubby & the Goofies get an occasional preseason vote- based solely on coaching "name"

Where's Greg Sager when you need him?  Mose - you know as well as I do that the MIAC is not a powerhouse D3 basketball conference, & has done very little on a national level to warrant much attention in the polls.  If we were the WIAC, CCIW, or the NESCAC I could understand such talk (2 teams being ranked), but with the exception of the 30-1 Tommies from a couple of years ago, & last year's UST national championship team, the MIAC has rarely achieved much success on the national scene. Typically, we have one team that's strong every 7-8 years or so.  The Gusties back around the beginning of the 2000s, & St. Thomas in 1992-1993.  Otherwise, we've just not done well when competing against other elite teams.

Shall I bring up the disappointing, underachieving UST loss to Carroll College a few years ago, or Buena Vista, or Anderson College,or...

I would love to see the MIAC be a consistent national power league, but we're not there..yet.  Like yourself I would love to see this change, but I'm just not sure this will be the year.

[Gregory Sager]

Where's Greg Sager when you need him?

He's sitting back and applauding your excellent post, DP.

[John Gleich]

Hi MIACer's...

I know that the transfer of Chris Palmer from St. Mary's to River Falls has been talked about a little bit... but what kind of a player is RF getting?  In Pat's preview, it mentioned that Palmer played point guard for St. Mary's... but he's listed as a forward on their roster from last year and the description on UWRF's website...

It would be rare but not unheard of for a 6'4" point guard... but it would be rare for that guy to lead a team in rebounding as well.

Perhaps Pat might have been confusing Palmer with Ethan Thomforde, who also transfers to UWRF from Augustana (SD) and also is from Minnesota?

Thoughts or insights?

[Pat Coleman]

I called him a point guard based on my observation of him having the ball in his hands a lot. I only saw St. Mary's play a couple of times but that was my impression. He may have been miscast because of a lack of talent at the position at SMUM but that was my take.

[John Gleich]

I called him a point guard based on my observation of him having the ball in his hands a lot. I only saw St. Mary's play a couple of times but that was my impression. He may have been miscast because of a lack of talent at the position at SMUM but that was my take.

That makes sense.

I think invariably his point production will go down... RF has a lot of weapons and so Palmer may not have to shoot more often.

... That being said, it looks like he wasn't the guy firing... Will Wright shot 100 more times than Palmer... that's 41% more, but didn't have the same production.

True, Palmer did shoot more free throws, so the stats may not be fully indicative of how the offense worked... Palmer may frequently have been fouled in a non-shooting sense as well... taking potential shots off of the stat sheets.

But his percentage was nearly 10 points higher too... so he was just overall more efficient.

[nca11]

Palmer was NEVER anything close to a point guard for Saint Mary's.  He's a rugged 3/4 who plays bigger than his 6'4" height.  While he can handle the ball on the outside and hit the 3, he's best in the paint.   I'm not sure how you got the idea he was a point guard. 

[Drake Palmer]

Palmer was NEVER anything close to a point guard for Saint Mary's.  He's a rugged 3/4 who plays bigger than his 6'4" height.  While he can handle the ball on the outside and hit the 3, he's best in the paint.   I'm not sure how you got the idea he was a point guard. 

NCA 11 is right. Palmer never played PG for SMU. He played a 3/4 for SMU & I anticipate he'll continue in the same role for UWRF.  As I've said before, Palmer will be a tremendous asset for UWRF, especially if Wade Guerin returns to man the center spot. The Falcons will have a lot of toughness on the court –to go along with basketball talent.  They will definitely be a team to keep an eye on this season.  The early season, non-conference matchup between UWRF & UST at River Falls should be a beaut.

[Pat Coleman]

I'm not sure how you got the idea he was a point guard.

As I said, I only saw him play a couple times, maybe just once, in fact, at Augsburg two years ago. Not a lot of St. Mary's games necessary for the national scene. Thanks for setting the record straight.