MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[AO]

Here is a link to save for your files.......the short answer to the question, should we go D1?

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2013/03/21/good-question-why-arent-more-minn-colleges-in-division-i/

The short and terrible answer.  The better short answer is because the rest of NCAA D1 presidents don't want the competition.  It's not nearly as expensive as Fritz would have you believe as you don't have to play FBS football to play in D1 basketball.  You could be Drake or Butler and have a non-scholarship FCS team playing in the same small stadium.  It's also a big omission to not mention title IX as the primary reason Omaha dropped football and wrestling. 

Some funny comments from winona state fans who probably have no idea St. Thomas beat them this season.

[Pat Coleman]

While I salute UST for the FF, they WERE ranked #1 in the final regular season poll.  UMHB was unranked in that poll, the first unranked team in the d3hoops.com poll's history to make the finals.

UST just ran into a buzz-saw.  Congrats on a great season that ended sooner than most of us expected once the season was well underway.

Their record (and track record over the last few years) propelled them into that spot.  Remember, they started at #11. 

It's probably fair to say to some degree that....
a) the MIAC wasn't as tough this year as it has been in the past
b) Until UST has two poor seasons in a row, they'll continue to get moved ahead of teams with similar records in the rankings - as they did week's 4 - 7 this year.

St. Thomas earned that, though, by beating UW-Stevens Point and Whitworth. It's not as if it was all name recognition that moved them up the poll.

[Walter Eagle]

While I salute UST for the FF, they WERE ranked #1 in the final regular season poll.  UMHB was unranked in that poll, the first unranked team in the d3hoops.com poll's history to make the finals.

UST just ran into a buzz-saw.  Congrats on a great season that ended sooner than most of us expected once the season was well underway.

Their record (and track record over the last few years) propelled them into that spot.  Remember, they started at #11. 

It's probably fair to say to some degree that....
a) the MIAC wasn't as tough this year as it has been in the past
b) Until UST has two poor seasons in a row, they'll continue to get moved ahead of teams with similar records in the rankings - as they did week's 4 - 7 this year.

St. Thomas earned that, though, by beating UW-Stevens Point and Whitworth. It's not as if it was all name recognition that moved them up the poll.

Don't forget that dramatic OT victory over the mighty UMAC juggernaut Bethany Lutheran where they went into their home gym and held them to 91 points.

[TommieHoops4Life]

Definitely a tough loss for the Tommies, who all looked stunned when the clock hit zero and the season was over Saturday night. Generally when a team has a 14-point lead in the second half and ends up losing the game, you would think they melted down or blew it somehow, but I'll give credit to Mary Hardin-Baylor. Like others have said, they never looked panicked down the stretch and suddenly just started making everything, including free throws. The four-point play late may have been the straw that broke the camel's back.

After turning it over to give MHB late free throws, Noah Kaiser actually got a pretty good look at what could have been a game-tying 3, but it rimmed off. Remember, he hit the 3 against Calvin that turned out to be the game-winner.

While playing for the national championship may not have been an expectation, it was certainly a goal this year. St. Thomas was ranked No. 1 for several weeks and in the top five most of the season, and it get that close to Atlanta and come up short is tough. When they went through the first half of the MIAC season and were beating teams by 20-30 points, it was clear that this year's group could accomplish something special.

It's bittersweet to finish 30-2 but come up short of playing for all the marbles, shows just how hard it is to win a national title. UST is the favorite in the MIAC until someone knocks them off. Congrats to the Tommies on great season. They'll be hungry for more, that's for sure.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Congrat to Coach Tauer, a finalist for the McLendon Award...up agianst some big names (but I notice Chubby Tubby isnt up for it):
http://www.johnmclendonaward.com/

[Drake Palmer]

Is it just me, but doesn't it seem like it's taking forever for St. Mary's to hire a new basketball coach? Since February 25th, when Coach Landrum retired, Hamline's  hired a new coach, the Gophers fired Tubby, Tubby lands another coaching gig at Texas Tech, & the Gophers hire a new head coach, Richard Pitino. Yet the Redbirds are still sitting on the sidelines?   

[Pat Coleman]

I don't think the hiring timeline of a D-I program is particularly relevant here.

[Gregory Sager]

Agreed. It can't be said often enough that D1 coaches and athletic directors operate under completely different sets of expectations, timetables, and agendas than what we see here in D3.

[Drake Palmer]

Guru & Sensei – it must be light reading & posting on the other boards eh? 

My previous post was a feeble effort to revive a dormant board. I was not doing a serious side by side comparison between D1 & D3 hiring practices.

If any school needs to make the right hiring decision, St Mary's does.  If I'm not mistaken, this will be the 4th or 5th head coach hire at St. Mary's in the past 10-12 years. I guess the real question should have been  - "why is there such a coaching carousel at SMU?"

[Pat Coleman]

It will be -- but it's not as bad as when they had three coaches in three years last decade. I guess I see this as somewhat stable.

http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2004/05/st.-marys-men-hire-st.-johns-assistant

[Retired Old Rat]

Is it just me, but doesn't it seem like it's taking forever for St. Mary's to hire a new basketball coach? Since February 25th, when Coach Landrum retired, Hamline's  hired a new coach, the Gophers fired Tubby, Tubby lands another coaching gig at Texas Tech, & the Gophers hire a new head coach, Richard Pitino. Yet the Redbirds are still sitting on the sidelines?   

I bet they could get the Rutgers guy.

[Drake Palmer]

Is it just me, but doesn't it seem like it's taking forever for St. Mary's to hire a new basketball coach? Since February 25th, when Coach Landrum retired, Hamline's  hired a new coach, the Gophers fired Tubby, Tubby lands another coaching gig at Texas Tech, & the Gophers hire a new head coach, Richard Pitino. Yet the Redbirds are still sitting on the sidelines?   

I bet they could get the Rutgers guy.

The way the former Rutgers coach can kick, perhaps he can become the special teams kicking coach for the Johnnies football team? 

[Retired Old Rat]

Is it just me, but doesn't it seem like it's taking forever for St. Mary's to hire a new basketball coach? Since February 25th, when Coach Landrum retired, Hamline's  hired a new coach, the Gophers fired Tubby, Tubby lands another coaching gig at Texas Tech, & the Gophers hire a new head coach, Richard Pitino. Yet the Redbirds are still sitting on the sidelines?   

I bet they could get the Rutgers guy.

I think Saul Smith is still on the board as well.
(just trying to keep the board rolling)

[Gregory Sager]

Guru & Sensei – it must be light reading & posting on the other boards eh? 

It's like watching paint dry.

There's little or no excitement anywhere on d3boards.com right now. We seem to have hit the proverbial dead spot in the school year -- and this is in spite of the fact that the men's basketball championship game has yet to be played, thanks to this year's interminably long tourney schedule.

Right now, CCIW Chat is talking about Mr. Ypsi's wife's shoulder replacement surgery and the prospects of frost damaging the fruit harvest in Michigan. By comparison, this room is crackling with electricity.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

There have been a total of 12 MIAC coaching changes since 2000:

0-Carleton, Gustavus, St Johns, St Olaf
1-Augsburg, Bethel, Concordia, Macalester, St Thomas
3- Hamline
4- Saint Mary's

I'd call that a pretty stable conference on the whole, especially when you take into account that the changes at BU & UST were the long-time coach giving up the job to focus more on his responsibilities as AD.

The new guy, when hired,  will be SMU's 5th in 12 seasons. My feeling is that SMU is moving slowly for a couple of reasons, the biggest one being that they want to get it right this time with someone who is going to stick around and will improve the program.  Also, I dont know if there is an overabumndance of qualified applicants.  SMU has done well hiring young unproven coaches (see the sucess of Pearson in WBB and Winecke in baseball). I'd be surprised if they dont make an announcement by the 15th