MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[localcoach]

gustiesoaps - The young woman on Survivor also lists UMD as her favorite college team.  I thought she went to Bethel 

Drake - That game on Wednesday the the Metrodome between St. Olaf and Hamline should be interesting.  Obviously it will be a tough atmoshphere for both teams as I'm sure the depth perception must be crazy in such an arena.  I heard from some friends that tickets are free for everyone who would like to attend.  Has anyone else heard this?  If so I might have to check it out. 

I also agree with your statement about the game being a possible make or break for both teams in terms of the playoff picture.  However the Oles have to take care of business against MAC tonight.  If they do that, then they have a little bit of breathing room, although it won't be much. 

And that begs the question, how will Hamline bounce back after that huge loss at St. Thomas on Saturday?

[columbianmaffia]

i think olaf and hamline should play their game at the X-center instead of the dome and play the first ever basketball game on a hockey rink...basketball on ice baby....snowcones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[onearmedscot]

Looks like Zach Johnson has nabbed Player of the Week honors for this past week.  Not a bad performance over two games:

Men's Basketball Player of the Week
Carleton College first-year forward Zach Johnson (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) averaged 22.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and shot 73 percent from the field in leading Carleton to a pair of victories, pushing the Knights' MIAC winning streak to 10 games. In Wednesday's 86-68 victory at Hamline, the forward tallied 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting, making 2-for-3 from beyond the arc, and added four rebounds and three steals in 39 minutes of action. In Saturday's 67-65 overtime win over St. John's, he tallied 25 points on 8-for-11 shooting, making 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, and grabbed six rebounds. His two free throws with under two minutes remaining forced overtime, and his 3-pointer with 2:15 left in the extra session pushed the Knights in front by four, 62-58. For the season, the first-year player is averaging 15.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.6 steals. He's shooting 58 percent from the floor and 50 percent (18-36) from 3-point range and his play is a big reason why the Knights are currently in second place in the MIAC. Stats for week: 16-22 FG (72.7%), 5-8 3-pt. FG (62.5%), 8-9 FT (88.9%), 10 reb. (5.0 rpg), 2 ast. 91.0 apg), 4 stl. (2.0 spg), 45 pts. (22.5 ppg).

oAs.

[TommieHoops4Life]

Zach Johnson has flat out been a stud this season and should get FOY honors. He is my pick for MIAC mvp by the time he is a junior.

MM, WW, anybody else planning on hitting up Schoenecker tonight for UST/Gustavus? I'm debating scooting from the office to drive up for the game.

[miacwatchmen]

Zach Johnson has flat out been a stud this season and should get FOY honors. He is my pick for MIAC mvp by the time he is a junior.

I think Tom Conboy may have something to say about Johnson winning it in his junior year.

[Drake Palmer]

IMO, Conboy's gonna have to start playing better defense if he wants to earn the POY award.  He needs to want to dominate on both ends of the floor.  Plus, how well his team is doing will certainly enter into the picture as well.

Zach Johnson's style of play bothers me, but he definitely plays both sides of the ball.

[TommieHoops4Life]

DP,

How does Johnson's play bother you? He's got all the makings of a star in this league. He can play inside and outside. He takes good shots within the rhythm of the offense, gets the ball inside to Forkrud, can rebound and play defense. He doesn't need to dominate, he is just making a lot of the shots that he takes so he's playing with a lot of confidence, which he very well should be.

Maybe I haven't paid enough attention lately, but it seems like there has been little mention of Forkrud in general on the board. Right now, MIAC MVP is between Ike and Forkrud at this point, and I give the nod to Forkrud until I see the Car/UST rematch at Schoenecker and Ike proves otherwise.

[onearmedscot]

Drake--

WE AGREE!!!

No way Conboy even sniffs the MVP if he doesn't develop a much stronger defensive game and LEADS his team to a top 4 finish.  Right now he is only a scorer.  If he desires to round out his game, he will contend but as for right now, no way.

oAs

[Drake Palmer]

TH4L- it's his on-court personality, not his ability.  I think he's got all kinds of ability & is a definite team player.  But it's sorta like some people have dogged Sean Sweeney over the years. It's not really about his ability or Johnson's, but their personalities.   Sweeney happens to be a favorite of mine so I tend to overlook any of his so-called character flaws.  8)  

I'll admit, I haven't seen much negative from Johnson this year,  but during the couple of years I saw him play in high school, I didn't like him or the school's style of play.  If Cmob's around he can tell you about Eastview & their general basketball reputation.  Who knows, mebbe he's outgrown that style of play.  Hopefully so, but again just my opinion.

I also think you're right about the Ike & Fork show for MVP finalists.  Someone else is gonna have to step up big time in the next month to take the award away from either one of those two.  The more I see Forkrud play, the more I like what he brings to his team. 

Just for the sheer drama of it all, it would be great to see those two or TeBrake, Conboy, Butala, Heinrichs, Meadowcroft, etc. pull a "Puckett"  and strap his team on his back & carry them into the playoffs.  Who's going to be the HEMI?

OAS - I knew sooner or later we'd agree on something!    How many total points do you think the unlikely combo of Johnson & Ranwick get tonight?  +/- 30 points?

[onearmedscot]

Drake--

From what I've seen this year, Conboy has a 4-cylinder.  We'll see.  He tried to do everything in Northfield in round one and basically did nothing.

I hope Ranwick and Johnson stay hot.  In the MAC gym, i think they will be the difference.  We'll need to stop Bergstrom but I think we can.

oAs.

[3m71578]

Flip the Red Bird

Lars plays good against SMU at home.  In his freshman year he had a big steal and knocked down a trey to put Mac up by 3 and winning the game for Mac. 

I'm sure OAS and KA remember that right?

[3m71578]

Drake & OAS,

I totally agree with you guys.

Conboy is MVP caliber only in offense so far.  He's turing the ball over more than 4 times a night (39 assists and 75 TO's/18 games).  That kid almost had a quadruple double in pts (15) , rb (7) , assists (8)  and TOs (9) against STO.

He's got 2 seasons and 7 games left.  It's still too early to predict if he'll be in MVP-talk or not.   But so far Zach's playing like future-MVP candidate.  Especially he got MIAC player of the week before Conboy. 

[localcoach]

I agree that Zach Johnson from Carleton has positioned himself nicely to win the freshmen of the year award.  I do however think that Hamline forward Tony Thrasher is the other player to watch.  Tony is in the MIAC top 10 in scoring, top 20 in rebounding, and top 15 in fg% and 3-pt fg% and he leads the Pipers in a bunch of statistical categories.  Plus like Zach he's proven that he can come up big in the clutch.  Just another player for everyone to keep an eye on.  Jon DeRock is another but he hasn't shown as much consistency scoring and rebounding as of late.

[3m71578]

Local,

You are totally right.  Hamline does have nice young squad that's already carrying their team.

But I don't think anyone had expected that a freshman would be taking a huge role for CAR consistenly when they already stacked with Fork and Drake.  I think we need to also give credits to Jake Philips, he's dropping almost 5 dimes a night with more than decent Assist to TO ratio (1.68), shooting 51% from the field including 3-pt (50%), and being top-10 in scoring. 

[piperinsider]

Well I'm back, but I forgot my broom in Madison

Wow, what happened to my Pipers squad? I don't care if USt played their best game, scoring 59 points when the other team is playing second-stringers is not a good sign.

I was chatting with OAS about the playoff picture and I really don't like Hamline's chances. They do have the easiest schedule, having already played against GAC, CAR and UST, but I think this team is too hot and cold. It probably has something to do with the fact that Freshman play 10 times as much as the few seniors. They are a year away from top 3.

HAM plays neutral: STO  home: BET, AUG, SMU  road: CON, SJU, MAC

4-3 record brings them to 10-10. Pesky road schedule.