MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[gustie12]

Bethel was a completely different team Saturday. Being at the same I was amazed by the deadly duo of Baah and Hall, who are both playing at an All-Conference level as of late.

GAC definitely needs Bethel to beat Olaf, which is highly possible. Olaf has the advantage in depth on the bench, and it will be fun to watch the Hall v. Neville/Fong and Baah v. Jaryan/Fong matchups.

Clearly, no one wants to play Bethel at this point because they are tenacious and are hitting on all cylinders right now.

With a week to think about it and reflect, GAC will be geared up and ready to go Friday regardless of who they play. I think the loss may have helped them reset their focus for the rest of the season, however long it may be. They are a senior and junior heavy team who have been to 2 consecutive MIAC championships. It will be interesting to see how they respond to the loss Saturday.

[nca11]

I'm fairly certain Alfred Jaryan is no longer on the team - he hasn't played in any of their last five games.

[Drake Palmer]

I haven't been able to attend many games the second half of the season, to busy with work but I was able to watch a few on-line.

IMHO, Tauer will not win coach of the year.  He inherited a solid program with plenty of talent and experience.  He also lost some questionable games.  But, that's the way the MIAC goes - lots of depth and experience in most teams this year made for a great season.

I think it will come down to Hanson or Koz.  Hanson's team was consistent throughout the year with only one proven scorer and a solid supporting cast of good role players.  Koz finished the year very strong with leadership by Neville and Fong and a strong cast of sophomores that provided dependable scoring and defense.

I'll predict Olaf over BU and Augsburg over SJU.  Quarterfinals Olaf @ GAC and AUG at UST - - - - should be a great week of MIAC basketball.

I don't have a horse in this race, but I still contend it should go to Hanson or Westlund for COY honors.

Both UST and STO were picked to finish one and two in the league in the Coaches' Preseason Poll.  IMO UST slightly over achieved with a new head coach – longtime assistant Johnny Tauer, and did so without the services of All-MIAC performer, Tommy Hannon.  With a healthy Hannon, the Tommies would have won the league title outright.

STO and Coach Koz slightly underachieved by finishing 3rd with a full arsenal of talented players and the best big man in the league – Stu Neville.  With as much talent as they possess, the Oles should have won the league.  Having said this, I think they are the most dangerous team in the playoffs.  They've got a great FY PG in Sterling Nielson & backup in Alfred Jaryan (?), tremendous talented and occasionally inconsistent Bobby Fong, former All MIAC FY in SO Connor Gunderson, Neville, & some tough players off the bench to spot in at anywhere from the 2-4 positions.

Between Tauer and Koz, I'd would go with Tauer.  He's had to make a bigger adjustment with the loss of Hannon & personnel.  Koz could just keep plugging along, fine-tuning the well oiled Ole roadster.

In St. Peter and Arden Hills, it's been an uphill battle all year.   I saw Bethel play back in November and I thought they would be lucky to win 8-9 games all season.  Also, most followers of Gustavus basketball would admit that this is not one of the more talented Gustie teams to ever win a league championship. So I tip my cap to the quiet, laconic coach from St. Peter. Same thing can be said about Coach Westlund from Bethel.  Back in the day, Bethel had some squads – this is not one of them. But this year's version will definitely get down & wrassle with you & make it ugly – I love it.

I'm really torn which game I ought to see on Wednesday - SJU @ AUG or BET @ STO.

Which game is going to be more exciting?  As I mull over the possibilities, I'm thinking...

* Will Polta crush guys in the paint
* AGG have 3-4 spectacular dunks
* Tyler Schmidt hit 4-5 triples
* Burns go on one of his patented rolls
* Seth Marx does his best marskman impersonation
* Barmore - the best midrange jumper in the league

Or

* Watch Baah take over on both ends of the floor
* Fong break out
* Hall & Neville battle like Joker & Batman
* Nielson break a few ankles
* Gunderson clean up

Dang, tick, tock, tick, tock,

[Patriot]

DP -
You make valid points as well.  I'm guessing everybody that contributes to this site will have their own, different opinion.  It will be interesting to see who will win the COY award.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

As I said over the weekend, there are 4 coaches who deserve consideration for the COY: Tauer, Hanson, Koz and Westlund. I can see good reasoning for giving it to any of them and can follow the logic of why any of them isnt "worthy". Each of them did a phenomenal job while facing a series of challenges, with each program facing unique challenges. If the award were for the half-season, I'd say Westlund would be a lock for the second half.

But for the full season (and despite the fact that I "allegedly" have some purple bias), I lean towards Tauer. Overcoming the inexperience his squad had, especially after Hannon was lost, was a formidable task; dealing with the loss of Hannon and numerous other injuries to key players (DeBerg, Leslie, Kaiser, Pella in particular) was also a huge challenge. Dealing with the high expectations and the "bulls-eye on your back" that comes with being the reigning champ, while transitioning to a new position as head coach were additional potential stumbling blocks that JT was able to overcome and lead his squad to a share of the conference title.

All that being said, I could just as easily see the award going to Hanson or Koz or even Westlund (digging out of the hole their first half of the season left them in was amazing). My expectation is that the vote will be extremely close and we will end up with co-COYs and possibly a 3-way tie.

POY in my mind absolutely goes to Anderson. Neville had a strong season and a solid career, but the season Anderson had speaks for itself. Very, very few (if any) thought he'd be a POY candidate back in October. These two were clearly separated from the pack. Buerfiend had a solid statistical season at SMU, Nance was a major factor in UST's snagging half the crown, and AGG put up some solid, impressive numbers, but no one was more indispensable to his team's success than Anderson. Without him, I'd say GAC would have been in that battle for 5-6-7.

[miacsuperfan]

COY is a bit of stretch award, in my opinion.  i've always felt the MVP award carried a bit more status.
whatever they do, i hope they don't co- or tri- the award. . . as that would only further dilute it's significance.  i agree with maniac that any of four guys are deserving.  hopefully ONE coach receives the award and we can all live with it. 
the bottom line is that the only award in which the coaches are interested is the MIAC tournament championship trophy. 

[carletonsid]

But for the full season (and despite the fact that I "allegedly" have some purple bias), I lean towards Tauer.

I have no opinion one way or the other on COY, but thanks for the laugh on this one!

The one thing I would add is that I don't think preseason rankings/expectations should play too heavily into the COY vote, and I doubt any of the coaches allow that to weight their opinion all that much. Certainly if a team isn't expected to do much and they come through with a top-four finish, that's pretty easy to recognize. But, as we've seen this year, dealing with injuries, departures, etc., and still being able to keep your team performing at a high level is certainly one of the many signs of a job well done.

[TommieHoops4Life]

For COY it seems to make a lot of sense to have it shared between Tauer and Hanson. Tauer deserves a lot of credit for making adjustments after Hannon went down. Despite a couple questionable losses, which can happen in league play, they did their part to end up at the top of the league when the regular season was said and done. Hanson is also so consistent in his approach and the way his team plays that if I had to choose between the two this year, I would give it to him. Despite losing their finale, they seem to be always ready to play and you have to be at your best to beat them.

Would love nothing more than to see a GAC @ UST title game, it's a great and respectful rivalry. But here's a question that's probably been answered before... Why is the playoff title game on a Sunday? There was nothing better than the Saturday night MIAC championship game. I don't see why the 3-6 seeds can't play on Monday or Tuesday, then have the semis on Thursday or Friday and play the title game on Saturday. Some Division I conferences have teams playing games four days in a row. Something for the league decision-makers to ponder, although there has to be a valid reason for the switch that I missed. A Sunday title game just makes no sense to me.

In any case, should be one of the more competitive tournaments in recent memory. St. Olaf and Augsburg can beat anybody on any given day. Good luck to the Tommies, it would be nice for them to get back to the NCAAs after winning it all last year.

[piperinsider]

For COY it seems to make a lot of sense to have it shared between Tauer and Hanson. Tauer deserves a lot of credit for making adjustments after Hannon went down. Despite a couple questionable losses, which can happen in league play, they did their part to end up at the top of the league when the regular season was said and done. Hanson is also so consistent in his approach and the way his team plays that if I had to choose between the two this year, I would give it to him. Despite losing their finale, they seem to be always ready to play and you have to be at your best to beat them.

Would love nothing more than to see a GAC @ UST title game, it's a great and respectful rivalry. But here's a question that's probably been answered before... Why is the playoff title game on a Sunday? There was nothing better than the Saturday night MIAC championship game. I don't see why the 3-6 seeds can't play on Monday or Tuesday, then have the semis on Thursday or Friday and play the title game on Saturday. Some Division I conferences have teams playing games four days in a row. Something for the league decision-makers to ponder, although there has to be a valid reason for the switch that I missed. A Sunday title game just makes no sense to me.

In any case, should be one of the more competitive tournaments in recent memory. St. Olaf and Augsburg can beat anybody on any given day. Good luck to the Tommies, it would be nice for them to get back to the NCAAs after winning it all last year.

Conspiracy to kill the D3Hoops MIAC Board annual tailgate.

[carletonsid]

For COY it seems to make a lot of sense to have it shared between Tauer and Hanson. Tauer deserves a lot of credit for making adjustments after Hannon went down. Despite a couple questionable losses, which can happen in league play, they did their part to end up at the top of the league when the regular season was said and done. Hanson is also so consistent in his approach and the way his team plays that if I had to choose between the two this year, I would give it to him. Despite losing their finale, they seem to be always ready to play and you have to be at your best to beat them.

Would love nothing more than to see a GAC @ UST title game, it's a great and respectful rivalry. But here's a question that's probably been answered before... Why is the playoff title game on a Sunday? There was nothing better than the Saturday night MIAC championship game. I don't see why the 3-6 seeds can't play on Monday or Tuesday, then have the semis on Thursday or Friday and play the title game on Saturday. Some Division I conferences have teams playing games four days in a row. Something for the league decision-makers to ponder, although there has to be a valid reason for the switch that I missed. A Sunday title game just makes no sense to me.

In any case, should be one of the more competitive tournaments in recent memory. St. Olaf and Augsburg can beat anybody on any given day. Good luck to the Tommies, it would be nice for them to get back to the NCAAs after winning it all last year.

Conspiracy to kill the D3Hoops MIAC Board annual tailgate.

Maybe you just need to turn it into a bloody mary brunch affair.

Seriously, though, I think moving the game to Sunday actually hurts the MIAC. I think it played a part in my Knights not getting in last year. Of course, they should have taken care of business on the home ground by winning the semifinal match-up with Gustavus. They didn't, and the committee had to wait around to see what transpired on Sunday, because obviously UST would garner an at-large bid if it had lost the MIAC title game. I'm not saying if that game is Saturday that Carleton gets into the tourney, but it certainly didn't help that the committee had to wait around for the Sunday game and then debate the issue.

Better on so many fronts to have this game on Saturday.

[Drake Palmer]

For COY it seems to make a lot of sense to have it shared between Tauer and Hanson. Tauer deserves a lot of credit for making adjustments after Hannon went down. Despite a couple questionable losses, which can happen in league play, they did their part to end up at the top of the league when the regular season was said and done. Hanson is also so consistent in his approach and the way his team plays that if I had to choose between the two this year, I would give it to him. Despite losing their finale, they seem to be always ready to play and you have to be at your best to beat them.

Would love nothing more than to see a GAC @ UST title game, it's a great and respectful rivalry. But here's a question that's probably been answered before... Why is the playoff title game on a Sunday? There was nothing better than the Saturday night MIAC championship game. I don't see why the 3-6 seeds can't play on Monday or Tuesday, then have the semis on Thursday or Friday and play the title game on Saturday. Some Division I conferences have teams playing games four days in a row. Something for the league decision-makers to ponder, although there has to be a valid reason for the switch that I missed. A Sunday title game just makes no sense to me.

In any case, should be one of the more competitive tournaments in recent memory. St. Olaf and Augsburg can beat anybody on any given day. Good luck to the Tommies, it would be nice for them to get back to the NCAAs after winning it all last year.

Conspiracy to kill the D3Hoops MIAC Board annual tailgate.

Maybe you just need to turn it into a bloody mary brunch affair.

Seriously, though, I think moving the game to Sunday actually hurts the MIAC. I think it played a part in my Knights not getting in last year. Of course, they should have taken care of business on the home ground by winning the semifinal match-up with Gustavus. They didn't, and the committee had to wait around to see what transpired on Sunday, because obviously UST would garner an at-large bid if it had lost the MIAC title game. I'm not saying if that game is Saturday that Carleton gets into the tourney, but it certainly didn't help that the committee had to wait around for the Sunday game and then debate the issue.

Better on so many fronts to have this game on Saturday.

I think we're all in agreement – the Sunday afternoon title game sucks.  The Saturday night title game was a Monster!  It became a social event, and even casual D3 sports fans and MIAC alumni would turn out with their wives, a family member, or friend for the Saturday championship game.  Invariably, I would run into a former classmate, social or work acquaintance and we would both ask each other – "what are you doing here?" 

Short of cloning myself, I'm really leaning toward doing a webcast of both games tonight and then cut over to whichever game becomes more compelling.  Either game – SJU @ AUG or BET @ STO could be a blowout by one of the four teams, or a nail biter.  Dang!  Decisions, decisions. I just want to see the best game.

If distance was no barrier, I would go with the Bethel- St. Olaf game. It could be a barnburner.  The 3rd time is the charm for the Royals and they owe the Oles for the OT loss back in 2007 (?).

[TommieHoops4Life]

My first MIAC tailgate wound up being an incredibly awkward meeting with none other than the mother of Adam Denny. I know PI has that infamous photo somewhere.

I've never gotten more crusty looks from a family in one day after spending a season on here giving my honest opinion of him as a player. I loved his hustle and effort the Scots back in the day, but the talent just wasn't there. Thankfully I've gotten to know a few Scots over the years who are quality people, including him.

The league really should reconsider having the championship game on Saturday night. Like DP said, it gives a chance for posters on here to meet, socialize and enjoy the biggest MIAC game of the year. Wonka sent me a text last night that it has something to do with not doubling up the men's and women's title games on the same day. With all due respect, that's a horrible reason. Isn't it somewhat rare to have a men's and women's team from the same school in each title game?

Regardless, should be an exciting week for all the teams involved. Got to love playoff basketball!

[AO]

The UMAC will trade you a Saturday night title game, for the opportunity to play in a gym that seats more than 400 (unless Morris manages to upset Bethany tonight).

Is the MIAC keeping the women separate to be politically correct?  The IIAC and UMAC seem to do pretty well hosting both on the same day.

[Gregory Sager]

My first MIAC tailgate wound up being an incredibly awkward meeting with none other than the mother of Adam Denny. I know PI has that infamous photo somewhere.

I remember that pic. That was a good laugh!

Reminds me of how much I miss One-Armed Scot (and his constant shilling on behalf of those MIAC championship tailgate Stiftungsfest burgers).

[John Gleich]

Some interesting tidbits about the MIAC Playoffs....this is the 28th season with playoffs. The first 16 were 4-teams. In the 11 years that the playoff has been in its present format of 6 teams, with 1 & 2 getting first-round bye:   
         
The #1 seed has won the tourney 8 times. The exceptions were in 2003 when #2 GAC won it all, 2010 when #4 Carleton was champ and 2011 when #2 UST won
            
The #1 seed has made the title game 9 times. The 2010 UST and 2011 Carleton teams were the exceptions
            
The #2 seed has made the title game 10 times. The exception was in 2002 when #3 Bethel beat #2 GAC in the semifinals   
         
Higher seeds have won 18 of 20 semifinal games. The exceptions: 2002 when #3 Bethel beat #2 GAC and 2010 when #4 Carleton beat St. Thomas
            
Higher seeds have won 15 of 22 quarterfinal games. 5 losses by the higher seeds were by #3 seeds—SJU in 09, Bethel in 07, SJU in 06, Car in 03 and UST in 01; the others were #4 Concordia losing in 2008 and #4 St. Olaf losing in 2011   
         
The #3 seed has has reached the title game once- Bethel in 2002   

The #3 seed has never won the tourney

The #4 seed has has reached the title game once- Carleton in 2010 (they won it)            

The #5 seed has has reached the title game once- Gustavus in 2011- but #5 has never won it            

The #5 seed has won 2 quarterfinal games (2008 & 2011) and one semifinal game (2011)            

The #6 seed has never reached the title game

It's really interesting to me that the 3 seed has struggled... Things have evened out a bit over the last 4 or 5 years, but for a while there, the 6 seed actually had a better record than the 3 seed in the WIAC tournament too.