MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[funbballer]

FB doing some diggin tonight. Awesome that someone is taking the time to help us all out. Thank you FB

You're most welcome.

I watched the last 5 minutes of the HAM-AUG game...man, oh man, HAM sure plays down to their competition. Certainly didn't look like any playoff team to me. Very, very sloppy and with a good lead, made poor decisions with the ball. They need to become much more disciplined if they intend to be a top notch program in the MIAC.

[miacwatchmen]

Johnnies played down to SMU tonight. SJU was the better team but you couldn't tell from the way they played.

[Willy Wonka]

Interesting trend emerging from the new-look Gusties. With Andrew Olson and his paltry 1.5 boards in 35+ minutes in the infirmary, GAC has turned to the 6-6 force that is Trevor Wittwer (14-16 FG as a starter, which is about normal for him this season) to fill the starting rotation. They've proceeded to outboard SMU and BU by a combined margin of 33 the last two games after being about average in that category before.

Granted, SMU and BU ranked 9th and 10th in the league in rebounding margin, but GAC was -6 the first time around. If this continues, Olson's injury could almost turn into a positive - especially if the 6-6 soph Andrew DOBLE continues to average 11 points in less than 20 off the bench.

Lost amidst these other facts is a resurgence from Sowden. With Olson out, he's averaged 19 and 8. GAC will need that type of effort if they want to make any kind of noise to end this season.

Is this all smoke and mirrors against bad teams? Can this continue? Wednesday at Olaf should be another game to pad these stats, but the Johnnie game is looming large to end the season...

Do I watch two teams fight for third or do I watch my sister play for the conference crown on the 18th? Am I crazy for even asking? These are the kind of things I ponder as I get paid to use Posting Up

[RussT]

I have felt this way for the past three years and quite simply Jim Smith is not a good coach. I have yet to watch an SJU game and say to myself, "they are a well coached team." Conversely, within the first 10 minutes of watching my first GAC game I knew that Hanson is a heck of a coach. Getting a technical foul for not getting your team onto the floor for the second half is absolutely unexcusable. Just ridiculous.

Why in the world would a person move Ohme back to PG when it is clearly obvious that he is not a PG. He has poor court vision, a low basketball IQ, and is turnover prone. Not exactly the makings of a great PG.

Tonight Smith busted out the old line change substituion. 5 men in and 5 men out. Are you kidding me? Is this a 10 man 8th grade AAU team where everyone has to play the same amount of time because they all payed to play on the team? I haven't seen that since jr high. Not to mention that this line change left the team without a starter or a scorer on the floor.

A good win for the Johnnies tonight, but there are going to be nights when Smith needs to outcoach the guy on the opposite end and not expect his players to out talent everyone else.

[funbballer]

Willie, my boy, you do the right thing and go watch your sister. She's family. There will always be another game to attend, but your sister won't be playing forever.

By the way, congrats to your other sister at UND.....what a great season they're having!!

[miacwatchmen]

I have felt this way for the past three years and quite simply Jim Smith is not a good coach. I have yet to watch an SJU game and say to myself, "they are a well coached team." Conversely, within the first 10 minutes of watching my first GAC game I knew that Hanson is a heck of a coach. Getting a technical foul for not getting your team onto the floor for the second half is absolutely unexcusable. Just ridiculous.

Why in the world would a person move Ohme back to PG when it is clearly obvious that he is not a PG. He has poor court vision, a low basketball IQ, and is turnover prone. Not exactly the makings of a great PG.

Tonight Smith busted out the old line change substituion. 5 men in and 5 men out. Are you kidding me? Is this a 10 man 8th grade AAU team where everyone has to play the same amount of time because they all payed to play on the team? I haven't seen that since jr high. Not to mention that this line change left the team without a starter or a scorer on the floor.

A good win for the Johnnies tonight, but there are going to be nights when Smith needs to outcoach the guy on the opposite end and not expect his players to out talent everyone else.

LONG POST WARNING

JJ- I think there are a couple players on here like SJUfan and SJU4life that are going to have a field day with this one. Or maybe i will!  646 career wins in 42 seasons, seven MIAC titles, five MIAC playoff titles, nine trips to the NAIA tournament and seven trips to the NCAA Division III playoffs. Those are some pretty impressive numbers for a guy that is a bad coach.

As for the mishap at halftime. You are right there is no excuse for the team not being on the court on time. Unless they weren't told the time by the score keeper! Wow what a novel idea. Maybe it wasn't his fault.

I think his subbing strategy is a little suspect at times too but if your starters need a blow then you have to give it to them. When they had Brink, Johnson, Veurink, Fogt, and S. Schafer they were not without a scorer. S. Schafer can score, Brink hit a big three and a tough driving layup when he was in and Veurink has proven he is a scoring threat. Smith has alot of options when players are tired or in foul trouble that is why they can be very tough at times.

I think you would be hard pressed not to put Smith as one of the top two coaches in the league if not the top coach.

In the game versus UST on Saturday his team was down 12 early in the second half. With a bad coach they might have folded it in and played not to lose by 40 like last time. But Smith called TO and changed players and offensive attacks. Eventually the changes paid off with a win. Tell me JJ do you think SJU beat UST because they ahd more talent? No way!! UST had 2 D-1 transfers and supposedly 2 D-2 transfers to go along with SJU's transfers Westman and Leiser. Nobody in that gym on saturday would say SJU had more talent. Atleast not after watching Ike snag and alley-oop of the backboard from Sweeney and dunking it home.  SJU won that game because of coaching and intensity.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

On the  Henrichs debate:
Henrichs is the glue that holds SJU together. He is the very heart and soul of that team. Without him they are much worse off than UST would be without Ike or CAR would be without Forkrud. (No, this doesn't make Paul an MVP candidate, but he IS SJU's MVP by a mile). He does so many positive things that don't make the box score and he is easily SJU's most-feared weapon by opposing coaches. Shafer may score a bunch, but he gets many of them points because the other guy's best defender is on Paul.

He is a hands-dow All-MIAC. There isnt a coach in the league who wouldn't want him in his starting lineup.

[miacwatchmen]

What someone agrees with me?!?! This is a new feeling for me. Thanks again MM 

Someone needs to point out that the all-conference team isn't all about the numbers its about the coaches who pick the players.

Does anyone think C. Schafer may get snubbed and the coaches select Henrichs and Westman instead??

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

jjkuenzel --  are you serious??? Please tell me your post was supposed to about Smith be satirical. The man could coach a team made up of regular posters on this board and have a respectable show. He has forgotten more about hoops than you probably will ever learn, and he is still as sharp and savvy as they come. I wouldn't be in the least surprised if his delay to get on the court after the half wasn't a psychological ploy of his. (Which might explain the 10-0 run right after it that followed it) Why do you think SJU beat UST Saturday--- lucky shooting? I give most of the credit for that "W" to Smith's coaching... he out-maneuvered Fritz. He is always a mental step ahead of any and every coach in the MIC in his 42 years.

When he arrived at SJU, hoops was a joke. The John's had NEVER won a MIAC title and were a perennial cellar dweller. It took him four years to turn things around and with rare exception his teams have been playoff contenders every year since the playoffs started.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

As long as my blood pressure is soaring talking about coaches....I need to share something with y'all to bring my BP down. I witnessed a class act tonight from funballer's favorite target, Koz.

Late in the first half, Bain decked Ike with a forearm that the three blind mice wearing the Lady Footlocker outfits failed to see. Ike got up and went about his business.

After the game, Koz made a point to seek Ike out and asked him if he felt Bain's play was a cheap shot, and if he did, Koz apologized and was sincere about it.

Few coaches would have made the effort—I think most might have called the other coach then next day (if even that).

[Willy Wonka]

MM - You've gotta understand, most of these posters are relative "newbies." All they've known are two terrible SJU teams who own a combined record of 12-28 over past two MIAC seasons. In the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world, he's only 2 games better than Koz. Some criticism is warranted.

I can't imagine the start of the second half was planned or a ploy, no matter how it turned out. As a Johnnie player, why wasn't anything said? You know if you've been sitting for too long. That's inexcusable.

As for the Koz moment tonight...I'm glad to hear that. I was at Olaf a few years back - when Mark Buri was a senior - and the Tommies were up 15. Koz had all his subs in for the final 5+ minutes, but Fritz kept Buri on the floor because he had played every minute of every game to that point. Koz was pissed. Words were exchanged prior to the final buzzer sounding.

For as much as we may bash his coaching, I'll be the first to say Koz is a great guy. Very caring and compassionate person. At the D3 level, administrations are often willing to overlook poor results in favor of such things.

[Pat Coleman]

Pat - I don't know who sent you the score, but Bethel's game vs. St. mary's last week is incorrect.  Not that it matters to anyone other than Bethel fans, but I thought you might want to know for accuracy's sake.

Thanks. Perhaps one of the two schools could report the score when the game is played, which might help. I had to go through and post several MIAC scores on Friday just so I could get a complete set and run that QOWI.

And yes -- nine hours later I luckily happened to read this board. Use e-mail.

[onearmedscot]

Introducing...

www.oas.com

oAs.

[3m71578]

OAS,

Nice page, why didn't you start this earlier.   I was looking forward to read about MIAC ref's but no input from last nights game?? 

Those newsletter you used to send out a few years ago was fun to read, too. 

[localcoach]

Well I thought Macalester might beat Carleton last night.  If not for the heroics of Jake Phillips down the stretch it might have been a different story. The Scots had a 4-point lead with 3 minutes left before he hits a three and then the winning free-throw.  Once again great balance for the Knights with four guys hitting for 10 or more points.  MAC turned the ball over in crunch time and that didn't help them. Conboy paces the Scots with 19 and 11.

OAS - What's up with Lars Johnson?  Only 1-5 for 4 points the past 2 games.

funballer - The Hamline/Augsburg boxscore completely supports your statements.  The Pipers appear to have built a 26 point lead, only to sub and have it fall back to 12 or 13 points.  They will have to get better if they're going to beat teams like St. Mary's and Bethel for one of those last playoff spots.  The stats indicate that Freshman Tony Thrasher came of the bench to score a career-high 28 points in 25 minutes.  How about this stat line: 11-13 FG, 3-3 3-PT FG, 3-5 FT, 3 reb. 2 ast. 0 to. 1 stl.  And everyone's favorite big man Kyle Foster contributed 11 points and 13 rebounds.  BTW - I see that the Auggies had 28 team fouls, including 2 technicals, and 3 guys fouled out.  Sounds like an ugly game.

Bethel loses a tough one to GAC.  Only 22 rebounds for the Royals.  That's not a good sign.  Mr. Meadowcroft and Mr. Fredrickson once again have good games, but get little support from the guards.  Mr. Perry and Mr. Bjorklund combine for only 13 points, and each played 31 minutes.  Phil Sowden and Adam TeBrake each score over 20 points for the Gusties.

It's beginning to look like Bethel, Hamline, and St. Mary's will fight it out for the final two playoff spots.