MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Curious as to Schaeffer's status for St. Thomas 

Is he hurt??

Ankle sprain, I believe.  He's missed a couple of games, but probably not a long term problem.

[Drake Palmer]

Saturday Roundup

A miserable cold kept me home bound for the Saturday games, so I did the next best thing and had the computer and laptop zoomed in on games around the league.

Hamline 68 – Concordia 53
The Pipes stepped out on the floor with a bounce in their steps that I hadn't seen since the days of Carl Hipp and crew.  Zach Smith and the rest of the Pipes were two steps ahead of the Cobbs all afternoon.  Hamline had only three turnovers all day and harassed the Cobbers into 15 TOS which they converted into 17 pts. Cobbs also shot a poor 38.6% FGA.

Smith had 15 pts, So Ethan Scheuring 11 pts on 4-4 FGA, & 5 rebs. An early front runner for 6th Man of the Year Award is Jay "The Human Highlight Reel "Betts.  One of his teammates deflected a ball away from a CC player on the defensive end, and Betts leapt out of bounds to save it and threw it back to one of his teammates. Then faster than you can say, Jay be nimble, Jay be quick, Betts tore up the other end of the court grabbed a pass from his teammate and finished with an acrobatic, flying layup, with a splashy three-point landing on the floor to conclude the play.  Made me jump out of my chair! Dang, young fella, nice!

Bethel 89 – Augsburg 71
Bethel bounced back from its tough loss to UST on Wednesday with a beat down of the Dawgs.  Granger Kingland continues to shine as he led the Royals with 16 pts, followed by Bridgeport Tusler & Tim Hanson with 14 pts each, Brycen Wojta & Trevor Hall with 12 pts each.  Hall must be the best rebounding guard in the MIAC as he pulled off a double-double with 12 rebs from a 6-0 guard.
Collin Olmscheid struggled going 2-10FGA for 7 pts. Augsburg was led by Kevin McKiernan with 18 pts, Riche Perea 16 pts, & Chuckie Smith 12 pts.  Dawgs need the big man to have a big game to compete with the league's elite.

STO 78 – MAC 60
In the cellar dweller bowl, FY Nate Albers 19 pts, & crew soundly beat the Scots.

SJU 73- Gustavus 56
What has happened to the vaunted Gustie defense & the old "Duke floor slap"?  The Jays scorched the Gusties in St. Peter with 70% shooting in the first half and finished shooting 60% for the game.  David Stokman was on fire as he was 11-14FGA, 6-8 3FGA for 28 pts.  Jubie Alade with 12 pts, & Tyler Weiss 11pts & 1 reb ( One rebound from your 6-7 center??)

UST 62 – Carleton 61 OT
The Carlies & Tommies held their annual closed cage wrassling match down in Northfield yesterday and the Tommies escaped on a last second tip in by Connor Bair off a missed jumper by John Veil.

For the Knights, Kevin Grow had a monster game with 19 pts, & a school record 25 rebounds! FY Kent Hanson made his big-time debut with 22pts on 10-17 FGA.  Tommies were led once again by John Veil with 14 pts & FY Elijah Hannah 10 pts, & Ryan Boll 10 pts. Grant Shaeffer is tentatively scheduled to make his return to the lineup next week.

This game had the usual Carleton- UST assortment of defensive tricks such as pulldowns, Baron Von Raschke's CLAW, arm bars, grab the shorts, etc.  Even on the last play of the game, old, sly fox Coach Guy Kalland had a sweet inbounds play drawn up that almost worked. With 2.1 seconds left in OT, Kalland had Ryan Casperson lined up to inbound the ball on the baseline on the far side of the basket, and the rest of the Knights at half court or by the Tommies' basket.  Once the play went live, Casperson ran the baseline to his left, and one of the Knights came flying back to meet Casperson on the same side of the court, stopped and laid a sweet backscreen on an unsuspecting Tommie defender that was guarding Casperson on the inbounds pass. The Tommie defender was felled liked an ox, & Casperson heaved a pass downcourt like the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger to FY Kent Hanson.  Hanson fired up a 3 pointer that fell several feet short of the basket. Great call by Carleton!

All afternoon, Coach Kalland had his charges playing great defense as they held the Tommie attack to a miserable shooting performance as they shot just 37.1%.  But Coach Tauer wasn't resting on his considerable coaching chops either.  After losing Ryan Boll to an ankle injury late in regulation, and emerging FY stud Elijah Hannah to fouls, then falling behind by 8 pts early on in OT; Tauer and the Tommies kept their cool and scratched back until they could pull out their defensive ace in the hole:

The old, baleful, squint-eyed Free Throw Line Defense card. 

While the Tommies had a bad shooting day, the Knights matched them with a nearly identical shooting performance from the FT Line. They were 10-27 from the FT line for a ghastly Shaquille O'Neill like 37%.  In the late stages of OT, UST kept pressuring & fouling the young Carleton guards, who were not able to finish off the Tommies at the FT line.  At one point Carleton missed 4 straight free throws. Thus, creating the opportunity for the Connor Bair Tip in Cannonball.

[Smitty Oom]

AO - being the connected  guy that you are - do you know why the BU - UNW game didn't happen this year?

I think both teams just figured they'd meet in March in the tournament.  Also, way too many fights in the stands last year, bibles being thrown, big mess.

More seriously, I haven't bothered to ask about it.  Stay tuned for updates.

Got a good belly laugh for one minute about this!! It would have been a fun game in all reality though!

[GoldandBlueBU]

Bethel 89 – Augsburg 71
Bethel bounced back from its tough loss to UST on Wednesday with a beat down of the Dawgs.  Granger Kingland continues to shine as he led the Royals with 16 pts, followed by Bridgeport Tusler & Tim Hanson with 14 pts each, Brycen Wojta & Trevor Hall with 12 pts each.  Hall must be the best rebounding guard in the MIAC as he pulled off a double-double with 12 rebs from a 6-0 guard.
Collin Olmscheid struggled going 2-10FGA for 7 pts. Augsburg was led by Kevin McKiernan with 18 pts, Riche Perea 16 pts, & Chuckie Smith 12 pts.  Dawgs need the big man to have a big game to compete with the league's elite.

Probably the only game I'll make it to this year with a toddler and a brand new baby, so it was nice to see BU perform well.  Offense was clicking, and they bottled Olmscheid up nicely.  Combination of good defense from Granger Kingland (his athleticism continues to impress me...one play in particular he was defending Olmscheid in the post, giving up 4 inches of height, and Olmscheid turned to shoot a fade away, which should be tough to block for an equal height defender, but Kingland got up and blocked him) and Hanson, and Olmscheid just being off when he did get good looks.

Game was never really in question after the first 10 minutes.  Hope they can keep this rolling and have the same performance / mentality next time they see UST.

[Smitty Oom]

Saturday Roundup

A miserable cold kept me home bound for the Saturday games, so I did the next best thing and had the computer and laptop zoomed in on games around the league.

Hamline 68 – Concordia 53
The Pipes stepped out on the floor with a bounce in their steps that I hadn't seen since the days of Carl Hipp and crew.  Zach Smith and the rest of the Pipes were two steps ahead of the Cobbs all afternoon.  Hamline had only three turnovers all day and harassed the Cobbers into 15 TOS which they converted into 17 pts. Cobbs also shot a poor 38.6% FGA.

Smith had 15 pts, So Ethan Scheuring 11 pts on 4-4 FGA, & 5 rebs. An early front runner for 6th Man of the Year Award is Jay "The Human Highlight Reel "Betts.  One of his teammates deflected a ball away from a CC player on the defensive end, and Betts leapt out of bounds to save it and threw it back to one of his teammates. Then faster than you can say, Jay be nimble, Jay be quick, Betts tore up the other end of the court grabbed a pass from his teammate and finished with an acrobatic, flying layup, with a splashy three-point landing on the floor to conclude the play.  Made me jump out of my chair! Dang, young fella, nice!

Bethel 89 – Augsburg 71
Bethel bounced back from its tough loss to UST on Wednesday with a beat down of the Dawgs.  Granger Kingland continues to shine as he led the Royals with 16 pts, followed by Bridgeport Tusler & Tim Hanson with 14 pts each, Brycen Wojta & Trevor Hall with 12 pts each.  Hall must be the best rebounding guard in the MIAC as he pulled off a double-double with 12 rebs from a 6-0 guard.
Collin Olmscheid struggled going 2-10FGA for 7 pts. Augsburg was led by Kevin McKiernan with 18 pts, Riche Perea 16 pts, & Chuckie Smith 12 pts.  Dawgs need the big man to have a big game to compete with the league's elite.

STO 78 – MAC 60
In the cellar dweller bowl, FY Nate Albers 19 pts, & crew soundly beat the Scots.

SJU 73- Gustavus 56
What has happened to the vaunted Gustie defense & the old "Duke floor slap"?  The Jays scorched the Gusties in St. Peter with 70% shooting in the first half and finished shooting 60% for the game.  David Stokman was on fire as he was 11-14FGA, 6-8 3FGA for 28 pts.  Jubie Alade with 12 pts, & Tyler Weiss 11pts & 1 reb ( One rebound from your 6-7 center??)

UST 62 – Carleton 61 OT
The Carlies & Tommies held their annual closed cage wrassling match down in Northfield yesterday and the Tommies escaped on a last second tip in by Connor Bair off a missed jumper by John Veil.

For the Knights, Kevin Grow had a monster game with 19 pts, & a school record 25 rebounds! FY Kent Hanson made his big-time debut with 22pts on 10-17 FGA.  Tommies were led once again by John Veil with 14 pts & FY Elijah Hannah 10 pts, & Ryan Boll 10 pts. Grant Shaeffer is tentatively scheduled to make his return to the lineup next week.

This game had the usual Carleton- UST assortment of defensive tricks such as pulldowns, Baron Von Raschke's CLAW, arm bars, grab the shorts, etc.  Even on the last play of the game, old, sly fox Coach Guy Kalland had a sweet inbounds play drawn up that almost worked. With 2.1 seconds left in OT, Kalland had Ryan Casperson lined up to inbound the ball on the baseline on the far side of the basket, and the rest of the Knights at half court or by the Tommies' basket.  Once the play went live, Casperson ran the baseline to his left, and one of the Knights came flying back to meet Casperson on the same side of the court, stopped and laid a sweet backscreen on an unsuspecting Tommie defender that was guarding Casperson on the inbounds pass. The Tommie defender was felled liked an ox, & Casperson heaved a pass downcourt like the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger to FY Kent Hanson.  Hanson fired up a 3 pointer that fell several feet short of the basket. Great call by Carleton!

All afternoon, Coach Kalland had his charges playing great defense as they held the Tommie attack to a miserable shooting performance as they shot just 37.1%.  But Coach Tauer wasn't resting on his considerable coaching chops either.  After losing Ryan Boll to an ankle injury late in regulation, and emerging FY stud Elijah Hannah to fouls, then falling behind by 8 pts early on in OT; Tauer and the Tommies kept their cool and scratched back until they could pull out their defensive ace in the hole:

The old, baleful, squint-eyed Free Throw Line Defense card. 

While the Tommies had a bad shooting day, the Knights matched them with a nearly identical shooting performance from the FT Line. They were 10-27 from the FT line for a ghastly Shaquille O'Neill like 37%.  In the late stages of OT, UST kept pressuring & fouling the young Carleton guards, who were not able to finish off the Tommies at the FT line.  At one point Carleton missed 4 straight free throws. Thus, creating the opportunity for the Connor Bair Tip in Cannonball.

Thanks for the great recaps! I missed the UST Carleton game so that roundup was very fun to read! No surprise that both coaches in that one were on top of their game, two of my favorite MIAC coaches. Another non-surprise is that there was a couple of cold shooting teams in the West Gym on Carleton's campus. For as long as I can remember (only about 5 or 6 years for me, but that phrase sounds better than 5 years ) that gym sees the offensive struggles of the MIAC, partly due to the physical and shot clock dwindling offense of the Knights as well as the stiff rims and usually poor atmosphere. At least that's what my teammates and I thought.

Like Drake I went to the Cobber and Piper game, the Pipers have a very solid and deep team with quite a few bench players making impact plays! They are no fluke and will be a playoff team at this rate. The Cobbers looked slow after their third trip down to the Twin Cities in the same week, they will try to get back on track after a needed home game against Carleton on Wednesday.

The tale of two takes:
- I nailed the fact that St. Olaf was going to be much down this year, I would be shocked if they are even in the playoff hunt in Feb.
- I was SO wrong about MAC, still winless in conference (they had a 26-2 lead on Mary's at home Wed. and still pulled out a loss) with a roster that has some of the most talented players they have had for a while. Ferm is was in the box sore finally but it looked like a scorer mistake, wonder what happened there. Also, when is it time for the Scots to move on from Whittle? They need to build a new culture there.

[bball1122]

Where are you seeing the 26-2 lead for MAC against SMU?  They were down 8-0 to start the game.

[Smitty Oom]

I was just following along on the live stats while watching other games that night. I didn't go back to check if it was true, must have been an error in the stats refreshing or something then.

[GoldandBlueBU]

BU took care of business with a 92-82 win at Gus Davis last night, though it was a very close game at halftime.

Glad to see Tusler and Hall leading the way with 26 apiece, as while I love to see Kingland contributing in a big way, I'd prefer not to count on having a freshman lead them in scoring consistently.

Weekend off for the royals before heading up 94 to play @ SJU on Monday, where they've always seemed to struggle, and then further up 94 to the Cobbers on Wednesday.  Hopefully they can take care of business, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them drop one of the 2.

[Drake Palmer]

Weekend off for the royals before heading up 94 to play @ SJU on Monday, where they've always seemed to struggle, and then further up 94 to the Cobbers on Wednesday.  Hopefully they can take care of business, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them drop one of the 2.

BU-  sort of self fulfilling prophecy eh? SJU slipped by Bethel last night 87-81 in Collegeville.  Johnnies big man Tyler Weiss with a career night with 25 pts and 10 rebs.  Bethel's Derek Magnuson matched him with 27 pts and 7 rebs

This is gut check week for the league leaders as the teams edge past the halfway point of the season. Bethel has to turnaround and go back up 94 to Moorhead on Wednesday to play the Cobbs, and then finish off the week at home on Saturday against the suddenly surging Hamline Pipers. 

Looks to be a great showdown between the surprising Pipers and Jays on Wednesday night at Hutton arena. The Pipes, Jays, and Royals are currently in a three-way tie for first place with 7-2 records.

In the marquee match up on Wednesday, the Jays have the superior size & excellent 3ball shooting, while the Pipes are UST like quick, take care of the ball very, very well, and also shoots well.  Should be a great ball game.

Saturday, the Jays will head down to West gym in Northfield and face the dangerous Carleton Knights who are starting to get healthy and making a move up the standings.

UST  6-3:  Ryan Boll is back, as is the "General" Grant Shaeffer. Starting to put the pieces together to make a second half run?

STO 5-4:  Upside, dangerous team - nice bigs, and heady FY Nate Albers.

AUG 4-5: Too much talent, but looks to be fading or mid season malaise?

CORD 4-5: Question Mark & the "Mysterians"

Carleton & SMU at 3-6.  Two very dangerous teams.

Although mathematically still alive for a playoff spot, Gustavus & Macalester look like they'll be fighting it out for the cellar with 3-7 and 1-8 conference records.

Great week for MIAC basketball!

[faunch]

Weekend off for the royals before heading up 94 to play @ SJU on Monday, where they've always seemed to struggle, and then further up 94 to the Cobbers on Wednesday.  Hopefully they can take care of business, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them drop one of the 2.

BU-  sort of self fulfilling prophecy eh? SJU slipped by Bethel last night 87-81 in Collegeville.  Johnnies big man Tyler Weiss with a career night with 25 pts and 10 rebs.  Bethel's Derek Magnuson matched him with 27 pts and 7 rebs

This is gut check week for the league leaders as the teams edge past the halfway point of the season. Bethel has to turnaround and go back up 94 to Moorhead on Wednesday to play the Cobbs, and then finish off the week at home on Saturday against the suddenly surging Hamline Pipers. 

Looks to be a great showdown between the surprising Pipers and Jays on Wednesday night at Hutton arena. The Pipes, Jays, and Royals are currently in a three-way tie for first place with 7-2 records.

In the marquee match up on Wednesday, the Jays have the superior size & excellent 3ball shooting, while the Pipes are UST like quick, take care of the ball very, very well, and also shoots well.  Should be a great ball game.

Saturday, the Jays will head down to West gym in Northfield and face the dangerous Carleton Knights who are starting to get healthy and making a move up the standings.

UST  6-3:  Ryan Boll is back, as is the "General" Grant Shaeffer. Starting to put the pieces together to make a second half run?

STO 5-4:  Upside, dangerous team - nice bigs, and heady FY Nate Albers.

AUG 4-5: Too much talent, but looks to be fading or mid season malaise?

CORD 4-5: Question Mark & the "Mysterians"

Carleton & SMU at 3-6.  Two very dangerous teams.

Although mathematically still alive for a playoff spot, Gustavus & Macalester look like they'll be fighting it out for the cellar with 3-7 and 1-8 conference records.

Great week for MIAC basketball!

I f'd up that post yesterday...I'll try again.

Strom was on fire in the first half Monday night but cooled off considerably in the 2nd.  Tusler struggled to find his game last night and picked up / got called for some touchy and unnecessary fouls in the second half and fouled out w/ a lot of time left in the game.

[Drake Palmer]

Ive noticed FY Jubie Alade hasn't been in the lineup in the past several games for the Jays.  An injury?

[Smitty Oom]

Ive noticed FY Jubie Alade hasn't been in the lineup in the past several games for the Jays.  An injury?

I have noticed that too, he has been their best man off the bench so that hurts in theory, but still beat the Royals without him. I would like to know what is up with him.

Other injury updates:
UST is finally all healthy after Schaeffer and Boll missed some time and appear ready for their patented strong second half of the MIAC calendar.

Wyatt Ferm lives! Did anybody ever figure out what his ailment was? He played both games last week (started against Cobbs and looked healthy, had a nice fastbreak dunk) for the Scots but it is too late as they are already 1-8 in conference. MAC will get some big wins as spoiler down the stretch, too much talent to only get one more win the rest of the way.

What does everyone think of the Pipers? I kind of think they are a Paper Tiger and haven't bought into the Pipers to contend for a MIAC championship? They are really solid and almost a lock for the playoffs at this point but would love to hear some of your thoughts.

[GoldandBlueBU]

I f'd up that post yesterday...I'll try again.

Strom was on fire in the first half Monday night but cooled off considerably in the 2nd.  Tusler struggled to find his game last night and picked up / got called for some touchy and unnecessary fouls in the second half and fouled out w/ a lot of time left in the game.

Thanks for sharing the details...I was unable to watch, but suspected as much when I saw Tusler having fouled out.  As stated previously, he needs to learn to play to the refs when physicality is or isn't being permitted.  He ends up spending too much time on the bench because of foul trouble, which kills their offense with how much he can score for himself, and dish to teammates once he starts getting more of the defenses' attention.

Sadly, I have to peg BU as pretenders and not contenders until they can show up for the big games (UST, SJU) consistently...I had hoped that UST was a one-off when they followed it up by drubbing a solid Augsburg team, but apparently not. 

Need to take care of business on the long trip west tonight, and then hopefully do the same on Saturday against a Hamline team that seems to be much better than when BU took care of them relatively easily earlier this season.

Weiss continues to impress. 

[bball1122]

Ferm had/has a bad back, from what I have heard.

While Bethel did control much of the first game against Hamline, it was only a 4 point spread with about 4 minutes left to play.  Not a blowout by any means.

I think Carleton makes the playoffs - the question is, how many wins will they need to get there?

[Smitty Oom]

I f'd up that post yesterday...I'll try again.

Strom was on fire in the first half Monday night but cooled off considerably in the 2nd.  Tusler struggled to find his game last night and picked up / got called for some touchy and unnecessary fouls in the second half and fouled out w/ a lot of time left in the game.

Thanks for sharing the details...I was unable to watch, but suspected as much when I saw Tusler having fouled out.  As stated previously, he needs to learn to play to the refs when physicality is or isn't being permitted.  He ends up spending too much time on the bench because of foul trouble, which kills their offense with how much he can score for himself, and dish to teammates once he starts getting more of the defenses' attention.

Sadly, I have to peg BU as pretenders and not contenders until they can show up for the big games (UST, SJU) consistently...I had hoped that UST was a one-off when they followed it up by drubbing a solid Augsburg team, but apparently not. 

Need to take care of business on the long trip west tonight, and then hopefully do the same on Saturday against a Hamline team that seems to be much better than when BU took care of them relatively easily earlier this season.

Weiss continues to impress.

He is really good and if not for CO he could be a solid MVP candidate. CO is just too tough to gaurd... With that being said, if the Auggies were to miss the playoffs and SJU finishes near the top like they are now, I could definitely see a case for him. Gutz from MAC is also a solid player but they need to be in the playoff race first before he gets MVP consideration.

I think that this year is as equal across the board as ever, especially with Ferm back and playing as of now. I see 10 wins getting into the playoffs this year, much like the 2014 playoffs were. So Carleton would need a nice little run in the second half but definitely doable, playing in that West Gym is not easy.