MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[piperinsider]

Wow, I work too much. I fail to read for a few weeks and I had a couple 13 or 14 pages to read.

Good insight from everyone, should be a fun year. Triple burger sounds good.

[PMB]

Yo, Yo, Yo...this is a new crew here, and we comin to take over the MIAC.....ya'll think theres only 2 teams that will run through the conference??? The 2 surprise teams that will give everyone a run will be Hamline and Concordia.  They are both very young and very skilled.  These will be the 2 teams to beat the next 3 or 4 years.  All this debate about Eckhoff maybe being the player of the year....yeah he WILL be the Player of the Year, hands down, and along with that, he will help bring Concordia a championship.

[PMB]

Also, how do I get docked a karma point?? Thats stupid, how do i get that back?

[columbianmaffia]

PMB = Penguins, Magicians and Bulldogs?


cuz that would be neato


BIG FORK IS COMIN!

[big_shocker]

One thing I have been wondering about was the CAR depth factor. Obviously, this hindered them last year, and I want to know if they have made some improvements.

Also, if GAC decides to move Wippler to the "5," I'm not really all that concerned. Whip's a solid player who does all of the little things right, and does what he can to help the team. He might never score 25 a game, but not everyone on the court can. I remember playing pick-up ball with him, and he's tough as nails. He's one of the guys I would want on the court.

Someone said that Ike from UST had gotten bigger. Bigger in what way? How much? He could really be a force of he wanted to, at least it looks that way to me. In some games last year, it looked like someone flipped a switch in him, and he would just explode without anyone being able to stop him. Of course, this didn't happen all the time, or else HE would have been the MVP.

[SofaKing]

Right now I am a graduate assistant for the Gonzaga mens basketball team and from hanging around those guys everyday they all downplay D11 and obviously D111. I state my case that if you take the all-conference players from the MIAC on any given year, they would make up an average D1 team. I know this now from first hand. The only type of player that you would not see is a 6'10'' big, with great skills and strength. Like our JP Batista. Is there anyone that agrees or disagrees. I would like to know the other perceptions and thoughts.

[Cardinalboy]

JD- It really depends on the which part of D-1 your talking about. Low- Major, Mid- Major, etc. For example, All-MIAC vs NDSU (North Dakota State) would be a great game. All-MIAC vs UNI (Northern Iowa), UNI by 15-20. Now All-MIAC vs Gophers, Don't think about it.

I would say, its better to compare with TOP Division II teams than DI.

In basketball though, cinderalla always come calling when you least expect it. 

1 Karma in the plus column. 

[Willy Wonka]

Why is there so much concern about Sowden moving to the "4"? For all intensive purposes, it's a purely cosmetic change IF it even happens. I expect the Gusties to play a lot more "double post" than they have over the past few years when Espo and those other studs roamed the court. Whippler/Stein would become the true post with Sowden willing and able to step out and hit jumpers. However, he could easily stay at the "5" if Wittwer proves to be the best starting option at the "4". Hanson has options was all I was implying, but it set the board afire

Also, why all the hating on AT? I would love to hear which players supposedly told you all that stuff about about him. If Hanson can keep Espo happy coming off the bench for three years before he becomes the MVP - even when he was the best player on the team his junior year - I think he will do just fine managing any attitudes that crop up. I highly doubt any source you have is credible.

However, whoever said AT is a great defensive player is kidding themselves. You must be at least adequate to play at GAC, but he's far from a defensive stopper. Potential? Yes, but that will fall in the hands of Hollerich every time.

Back to watching the World Series...

[big_shocker]

Hollerich for MIAC defensive-player of the year.

Trent is the definition of the word "intangibles."

[megalomaniac]

I agree, Im tabbing Hollerich for Defensive Player of the Year. Hes quick, intelligent, and plays enough of the angles (grabbing, holding, etc) without getting caught to be a 'lock down' kind of guy. Tricky little SOB, but I give him his dues.

[columbianmaffia]

colombian/greek maffia/st. thomas alumni team is officially undefeated after our first mens league game....we are officially 1-0 as we handed the blue team a 83-58 defeat...we are so good

on a side note...carletons bench is a big question mark...i think they will find a way to make it work but it might be a little more tricky than usual

[SofaKing]

cardinalboy- i actually dont think you could be any more wrong. There is actually not as big of a difference between DI and DIII as you think.

I know people are sick of hearing my opinions on Andrew Passanante from CC. But, his combine numbers were better than any other wide reciever that even entered the draft aside from 40 time. All quikness drills, he topped everyone. He played DIII. Devon George was drafted in the first round and I dont know for sure but did his team win the conference or go undefeated. Meaning other players were probably pretty close to just as good. I can tell you right now that Adam Morrison will be a top 5 draft pick and Soren Nelson isnt that far from his skill or size. Player development is a huge difference if anything. Keith Eckoff might even start for our team this team. People have this perception of the DI athlete or even the pro athlete and think that they arent even human. They are really no different. They are a little bigger on average. It is not like thet can dribble or shoot or pass any better. They are on average just bigger. I bet in football especially there are a bunch of MIAC players that would be starters in the Big 10. Brian Shumacher over Cupito even. Why not?

[crazy_carl]

Crazy Carl - did you ever make any of those road trips over to Hawaii when Carleton played Chaminade?  You might be able to shed some light  on the style of play that new Auggie coach Griess used with his former team, the Chaminade Silver Swordfish (?).

Drake-Those were some arduous road trips, that's for sure. 

I indeed played Chaminade (Silverswords, I believe, is the preferred nomenclature) twice in my career.  I'm afraid my answer to your question may be a bit of a cop out, but here goes:

When we played them each time, it was their first game after the Maui invitational, meaning they had just finished playing the likes of Arizona, Texas, other pretty big D1s, etc.  While I am sure Coach Griess is a good motivator and chewed his team out at halftime of our games, the Chaminade team would come out overlooking us (I thought), and would rely mostly on superior athleticism to stake a lead.  Ultimately, after halftime, the coaching would prevail and they would knock us out of the game.  I can't honestly elaborate much on his coaching style, because I think the calibur of athlete he had at Chaminade vs. Augsburg will be significantly different, and he will have to explore other means for achieving success.  With no 7'3" Euro players coming off the bench, or 6'9", 280lb beasts from inner city L.A. in the starting lineup, his strategies will be different.  I imagine the transition might be difficult at first for him as he determines that success in the MIAC can come as much (or more) from superior basketball knowledge as athleticism (the direction Augsburg has traditionally gone in) and pure skill.

[localcoach]

I noticed that both Gustavus and St. Mary's have posted their rosters.

For the Gusties it appears that they brought in only 2 freshmen.  One is from Benilde-St. Margaret's and the other from Watertown-Mayer. 

SMU has a bunch of junior college players on their roster as many of you had stated would be the case.  They also have a pair of freshmen in Mike Sweeney from Cretin-Derham Hall and Nick Carr from Mpls Washburn.  Is Mike related to Sean?
I also found it quite interesting that SMU does not have a single senior on their roster.

[megalomaniac]

Mike is Sean's brother.