MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

a nice Q & A with Caoch Tauer (the lower half of the post)

http://miacmedia.blogspot.com/

[miacsuperfan]

dp, i was relegated to watching last night's tilts on webcast. . .though the carleton feed was miles better than the one coming out of si melby.  the cc/bu game was interesting to say the least, despite the fact that  it appeared guy kalland and jeff westlund had both been studying tubby smith's 'how to play offense' video a bit too closely.  wow, that was some ugly stuff all night long.  the disparity in free throws attempted (cc-16, bu-3) was also noteworthy.  i was a bit surprised that bethel went to anyone other than taylor hall coming out of a late game time-out (needing a three or a quick two late in the game,)  the guy has carried them on his back all year long. . .i think he was the guy i want taking that shot. 

tom sawatzy's late shot (i figured it would be a buzzer-beater so was a bit off on that call) was impressive, though much of his earlier game was not.  i do, however, still want him taking his team's clutch shot anytime!  the announers were actually a bit critical of his selection, but the result was hard to argue with.   

as for the dawg's game. . . no real surprise (but i actually thought SJU had a great chance to steal this)as aug's size and power appeared just a bit too much for the possibly more athletic johnnies.  kornbaum did his usual number (20,10) and tyler schmidt came up with some big threes.  unfortunately i missed both of kornbaum's dunks that catapulted one of our posters aloft.     i think that was the biggest (looking) crowd i have EVER seen at an augsburg game. 

the next round should be interesting.  carleton will have their work cut out for them.  and after trying to figure out what guy kalland said after the game in his interview last night, maybe he can confuse the tommies as well!!  as for the 'lutheran game' up north, in my mind that is a 6-5 you pick-em.  i will not be betting any money on anything other than a good game.

[carletonsid]

I know UST is good, but they really don't need Kornbaum, too!

First Team
Will DeBerg – UST
Taylor Hall- Bethel
Dan Kornbaum – Augsburg
John Nance – UST
Scott Theisen – Carleton

Second Team
Tommy Hannon – UST
Jim Hill – Gustavus
Ebo Nana-Kweson – Concordia
Tom Sawatzke – Carleton
Eric Tengwall – St. Thomas

Third Team
Shane McSparron - Carleton
Michael Burfeind – St. Marys
Connor Gunderson - St. Olaf
Kyle Zimmerman – Bethel
Andrew Martinson – Concordia

Player of the Year – Taylor Hall, Bethel
Most Valuable Player – Scott Theisen, Carleton
Sixth Man of the Year - Andrew Martinson, Concordia

All Defensive Team
Tommy Hannon - UST
John Nance - UST
Eric Tengwall - UST
Scott Theisen - Carleton
Shane McSparron - Carleton

Defensive Player of the Year – John Nance

Coach of the Year – Guy Kalland, Carleton (feel like he's done far more with far less than anyone else in the conference)

All Rookie Team
Mitchell Kuck – St. Johns
Dylan Kilgour – Macalester
Taylor Montero - St. Thomas
Brett Rasmussen – Augsburg
Will Swiggum - -St. Marys

Rookie of the Year -  Mitchell Kuck, SJU

[MIAC23]

CSID, looking at your all-MIAC picks, I'd say Rich Glas did a lot more with a lot less!

[carletonsid]

CSID, looking at your all-MIAC picks, I'd say Rich Glas did a lot more with a lot less!

That was a tough one leaving out any Cobbers from the first  team - goes to show that delineating top 5-next 5 is a lot harder than what the coaches do, just picking 15 and naming them All-MIAC. I do have a Cobber on the second team (Nana-Kweson) and third team (Martinson) and the sixth man of the year is a Cobber (Martinson).

For me, I tend to look more for efficient players who still are productive. That's why I liked McSparron and Gunderson over, say Marshall from Macalester or Schmidt from Augsburg.

I'll totally admit my bias for McSparron, but I gave him the edge over Lindahl and a few others because of his defense and offensive efficiency. I think when one gets down to those last few spots, it's a toss-up and you'll trend towards the team or teams that you've seen most often.

[Drake Palmer]

...
as for the dawg's game. . . no real surprise (but i actually thought SJU had a great chance to steal this)as aug's size and power appeared just a bit too much for the possibly more athletic johnnies. ...kornbaum did his usual number (20,10) and tyler schmidt came up with some big threes.  unfortunately i missed both of kornbaum's dunks that catapulted one of our posters aloft.     i think that was the biggest (looking) crowd i have EVER seen at an augsburg game. 

Aside from 6-9 Dan Kornbaum, & the generously listed 6-5 Brett Rasmussen,  the Dawgs don't have a lot of size. Parker Hines is 6-1, Noah Veach is 6-3, but due to injury, has been replaced in the lineup with 6-2 Andy Seidlitz, & 5-10/5-11 Tyler Schmidt. And if you're were to poll the MIAC coaches, I think you'd hear them say the Augsburg's top 7 rotation are far more athletic than the Johnnies top 7. Have you seen certain sharpshooters from SJU try to put the ball on the floor? 

Be that as it may, the Cobbers have got to be grinning from ear to ear realizing that Augsburg has to make the unfriendly drive up I-94 through blowing snow for tonight's game in Moorhead.  If both teams play up to their potential, that game should be a treat. It will be interesting to see how the Dawgs handle the loss of Noah Veach as they try to defend the Cobbs.  Andy Seidlitz is more of a scoring threat than Veach, but Veach is a very tough defender. The Cobbs have got three lanky, good sized guard-wings in 6-4 Ebo Nana-Kweson, 6-4 Aaron Lindahl, & 6-4 Brandon Fischer.  Seidlitz, Parker Hines and crew will have their hands full guarding the Cobbs. Should be a great ballgame.

It will be interesting to see what type of defensive game plan Guy Kalland will come up with to stop the Tommies. Will it be the usual cerebral Carlie-Tommie wrassling match?  Will the Tomcats come out cold & rusty after a 9 day layoff?  I love tournament time!

[carletonsid]

...
as for the dawg's game. . . no real surprise (but i actually thought SJU had a great chance to steal this)as aug's size and power appeared just a bit too much for the possibly more athletic johnnies. ...kornbaum did his usual number (20,10) and tyler schmidt came up with some big threes.  unfortunately i missed both of kornbaum's dunks that catapulted one of our posters aloft.     i think that was the biggest (looking) crowd i have EVER seen at an augsburg game. 

Aside from 6-9 Dan Kornbaum, & the generously listed 6-5 Brett Rasmussen,  the Dawgs don't have a lot of size. Parker Hines is 6-1, Noah Veach is 6-3, but due to injury, has been replaced in the lineup with 6-2 Andy Seidlitz, & 5-10/5-11 Tyler Schmidt. And if you're were to poll the MIAC coaches, I think you'd hear them say the Augsburg's top 7 rotation are far more athletic than the Johnnies top 7. Have you seen certain sharpshooters from SJU try to put the ball on the floor? 

Be that as it may, the Cobbers have got to be grinning from ear to ear realizing that Augsburg has to make the unfriendly drive up I-94 through blowing snow for tonight's game in Moorhead.  If both teams play up to their potential, that game should be a treat. It will be interesting to see how the Dawgs handle the loss of Noah Veach as they try to defend the Cobbs.  Andy Seidlitz is more of a scoring threat than Veach, but Veach is a very tough defender. The Cobbs have got three lanky, good sized guard-wings in 6-4 Ebo Nana-Kweson, 6-4 Aaron Lindahl, & 6-4 Brandon Fischer.  Seidlitz, Parker Hines and crew will have their hands full guarding the Cobbs. Should be a great ballgame.

It will be interesting to see what type of defensive game plan Guy Kalland will come up with to stop the Tommies. Will it be the usual cerebral Carlie-Tommie wrassling match?  Will the Tomcats come out cold & rusty after a 9 day layoff?  I love tournament time!

What an effort by my Knights, nearly pulling the upset of the Tommies.

Game much closer than the final score indicated. Knights got off to a horrific start (think they were 1-9 with 3-4 turnovers in first 8 minutes) and trailed by 10. Battled back and UST led 33-27 at the break.

Second half, early on, looked like UST might run away. But my MIAC POY Scott Theisen had other ideas. He diced the vaunted UST defense and pretty much got Carleton right back in the game. He got free underneath, hit a couple of tough jumpers and all UST could do was hack him and send him to the line.

In the end, the Knights ran out of gas and Erik Tengwall was huge. After Carleton climbed the summit and tied the game at 57-57, ET scores 9  in the final four minutes, and really over three minutes as he had two and-ones and a triple with a minute left that sealed the deal.

Few things that stand out for me. First for Carleton: Scott Theisen is the MIAC POY in my book. Taylor Hall is a great scorer and a match-up nightmare, but no one does more for his team than Scott. If the Knights need scoring, he does that. Rebounding? That, too. Assists? No problem. Guard the other team's best big? Check. Hall will probably get it, but his team simply doesn't ask as much of him, and Theisen carried the load tonight. Second, what an unbelievable coaching job this year by Coach Kalland. Not much else to say. With the oodles of talent available to UST, it was pretty stunning to see the game tied on the #1 team in the country's home floor with four minutes left. The Knights are left wondering if they could have improved just a bit on that 4-for-23 performance from three-point range, the outcome could have been different. Some of that was due to the UST defense, but many were open looks that I think tired legs couldn't convert.

Finally, on to UST. An embarrassment of riches. Tengwall hasn't score in double figures since Dec. 10 win over BLU and he's The Man tonight? What depth. My concern with this team is where do they go in big games against teams with far more athleticism than teams like Carleton and Concordia. Who is their go-to man? Guess they hope to answer this question over the next few weeks, and maybe having different guys step up in big moments will work for them. 

[TommieHoops4Life]

Kornbaum had 20 and 10 today for Augsburg but the Tommies depth took over in the second half for a 92-65 win over the Auggies to claim the MIAC title. St. Thomas went on a 9-0 run to end the first half and lead 41-35. That's a 51-30 second half by my math. Auggies played well and hit a lot of shots in the first half before wearing down.

One unfortunate note from the contest: Augsburg fans standing behind the UST basket in the second half appeared to either push or throw punches at Tommy Hannon as the game was getting out of reach. Security quickly escorted said fans out and I didn't see it, but the webcast announcers apparently had a clear view of it. Hannon was beside himself that the refs didn't call a technical foul on Augsburg for it.

Hannon led UST with 22 points and surpassed 1,000 for his career. Nice accomplishment for a guy who missed most of last year with a knee injury. DeBerg had 20 points shooting 6-8 from 3-point range.

Kornbaum will be a great player, but he needs help if Augsburg wants to be a conference contender.

With the top ranking in the West Region, Tommies will have a top seed and a home game next week. With a closer game, Augsburg might have been able to get an at-large but now they have no shot.

[AO]

One unfortunate note from the contest: Augsburg fans standing behind the UST basket in the second half appeared to either push or throw punches at Tommy Hannon as the game was getting out of reach. Security quickly escorted said fans out and I didn't see it, but the webcast announcers apparently had a clear view of it. Hannon was beside himself that the refs didn't call a technical foul on Augsburg for it.

The replay is on-demand from Augsburg's site http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/augsburg.portal#  The Hannon vs. Auggie Student section incident is at 1:24:10.  There was a little holding, a little shoving, and a few weak punches from one individual that landed on Hannon's arm.  A well deserved ejection, but I'm not surprised that a technical wasn't called in a 17point game with less than 7min to go. 

Augsburg can definitely beat St. Thomas, just not when the Tommies shoots 12-20 from 3.  DeBerg was ridiculous in the 2nd half.

[Gregory Sager]

With a closer game, Augsburg might have been able to get an at-large but now they have no shot.

Not true. Winning margin is not one of the five primary criteria used by the selection committee, nor is it a secondary criterion.

[Gregory Sager]

One unfortunate note from the contest: Augsburg fans standing behind the UST basket in the second half appeared to either push or throw punches at Tommy Hannon as the game was getting out of reach. Security quickly escorted said fans out and I didn't see it, but the webcast announcers apparently had a clear view of it. Hannon was beside himself that the refs didn't call a technical foul on Augsburg for it.

The replay is on-demand from Augsburg's sit http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/augsburg.portal#  The Hannon vs. Auggie Student section incident is at 1:24:10.  There was a little holding, a little shoving, and a few weak punches from one individual that landed on Hannon's arm.  A well deserved ejection, but I'm not surprised that a technical wasn't called in a 17point game with less than 7min to go.

I watched it. That should've been a technical foul. Rules are rules, regardless of the score and time remaining. The officials have to protect the players from the crowd. The ejections weren't enough; those fans interfered with a player while the ball was live.

[stormyfuture]

Congrats to the Tommies on the MIAC Regular Season and playoff championships.  Hopefully UST has 3 home games coming in the tournament assuming they continue to win, and I hope they can atleast make it to the Elite Eight/Final Four in Salem this year.  Of course playing for the national title the Sunday of D1 final four in Atlanta is the ultimate goal.  Let's Go Tommies, and a little prediction of getting Northwestern (MN) at home in the first round

[Retired Old Rat]

Technical should have been called.  I hope Augsburg takes appropriate action on those losers.

[bball1122]

Kornbaum had 20 and 10 today for Augsburg but the Tommies depth took over in the second half for a 92-65 win over the Auggies to claim the MIAC title. St. Thomas went on a 9-0 run to end the first half and lead 41-35. That's a 51-30 second half by my math. Auggies played well and hit a lot of shots in the first half before wearing down.

One unfortunate note from the contest: Augsburg fans standing behind the UST basket in the second half appeared to either push or throw punches at Tommy Hannon as the game was getting out of reach. Security quickly escorted said fans out and I didn't see it, but the webcast announcers apparently had a clear view of it. Hannon was beside himself that the refs didn't call a technical foul on Augsburg for it.

Hannon led UST with 22 points and surpassed 1,000 for his career. Nice accomplishment for a guy who missed most of last year with a knee injury. DeBerg had 20 points shooting 6-8 from 3-point range.

Kornbaum will be a great player, but he needs help if Augsburg wants to be a conference contender.

With the top ranking in the West Region, Tommies will have a top seed and a home game next week. With a closer game, Augsburg might have been able to get an at-large but now they have no shot.

You do realize they finished third in the league and just played in the conference title game, right?  Is that not the definition of a contender?

The Tommies are clearly the class of the league (and maybe the country) right now, but I would not be excited about a game with Northwestern.  They shoot the 3 and rebound really well - if they could withstand a couple Tommie runs, it could be a tighter game than most expect.     

Here's my question - is it good for the league to have one team be so dominant?  Or would it have been better had someone beaten the Tommies in the conference tournament to get another team into the Big Dance.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Kornbaum had 20 and 10 today for Augsburg but the Tommies depth took over in the second half for a 92-65 win over the Auggies to claim the MIAC title. St. Thomas went on a 9-0 run to end the first half and lead 41-35. That's a 51-30 second half by my math. Auggies played well and hit a lot of shots in the first half before wearing down.

One unfortunate note from the contest: Augsburg fans standing behind the UST basket in the second half appeared to either push or throw punches at Tommy Hannon as the game was getting out of reach. Security quickly escorted said fans out and I didn't see it, but the webcast announcers apparently had a clear view of it. Hannon was beside himself that the refs didn't call a technical foul on Augsburg for it.

Hannon led UST with 22 points and surpassed 1,000 for his career. Nice accomplishment for a guy who missed most of last year with a knee injury. DeBerg had 20 points shooting 6-8 from 3-point range.

Kornbaum will be a great player, but he needs help if Augsburg wants to be a conference contender.

With the top ranking in the West Region, Tommies will have a top seed and a home game next week. With a closer game, Augsburg might have been able to get an at-large but now they have no shot.

You do realize they finished third in the league and just played in the conference title game, right?  Is that not the definition of a contender?

The Tommies are clearly the class of the league (and maybe the country) right now, but I would not be excited about a game with Northwestern.  They shoot the 3 and rebound really well - if they could withstand a couple Tommie runs, it could be a tighter game than most expect.     

Here's my question - is it good for the league to have one team be so dominant?  Or would it have been better had someone beaten the Tommies in the conference tournament to get another team into the Big Dance.

Are you saying UST should have let someone beat them?  Having a dominant team in the league SHOULD inspire other programs to upgrade & improve and become contenders. That's what happened in football as Bethel, UST, Cord, Augs and Ole all got tired of SJU kicking sand in their faces. That's what Griess is doing at Augsburg and he is doing one hell of a great job!

Barring transfers and hotshot freshies next year, Id rate Auggie as a strong threat, very capable of ending UST's hold on the conference titles. I expect the Oles and the Joanies to contend as well, and never count out GAC or Carleton. And never underestimate Bethel.

Today was a display of what this Tommie team is capabel of doing. 28 assists?? that's selfless ball! Tengwall continued showing he is able to be an offensive player as well as a defensive stud. Hannon was solid, almost dominant, in the paint, and when DeBerg gets hot like he did again today, there isnt anything at the D-III level to stop him. UST's suffocating defense totally discombobulated the Auggies in the 2nd half and the depth wore them down. Anytime UST needed the ball back it seeme that Nance would score a timely steal.

I've seen a lot of MIAC powerhouse teams, and I'd put this year's UST squad at or near the top of list of best-ever that the conference has ever seen. A trip to Atlanta would seal that ranking.

It was awesome to see Hannon notch his 1000th point....it couldnt happen to a greater and nicer guy....a truly amazing story.

The incident with the Auggie fans had Hannon chucklng after the game. The missed 10-second violation non-call still had the UST coaches baffled....but no one ever said Bushalt (the lead ref) could count that high. Dear Santa- PLEASE bring the MIAC some competent referees!!!