MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[TommieHoops4Life]

PI,

Did you ever get any track photos from the Missota Championships? I've been on vacation in North Carolina for the last week, and it didn't hit me until I was driving home that we may have fogotten to email you those. I never heard from you, so I assume you were good to go. If we did forget, my apologies.

As far as those recruiting tidbits go, I think Archer could surprise some people and be an impact player next winter if he works his tail off. The same goes for Cassens from PL. I have seen him play twice, and with his potential, he could be next year's FOY, but it won't come without a lot of hard work.

[Drake Palmer]

Sparing no expense & time (mostly time); I've compiled a list of announced/alleged MIAC recruits for the 06-07 season. Please note some of my news sources might be considered less than totally credible or accurate – Local, Funbb, Watch, Wonka, myself et al.

Other than the couple of MIAC recruits we have listed on the blog, do you have verified sources for any of these? I'd be interested in adding them to the list if they're properly sourced.

Pat  - I can hook you up with a couple of links to cover the SJU players, & one of the Hamline players.  And does a graduation announcement from another player with his college plans listed count as a verifiable source?     Otherwise you'll have to go with my esteemed sources, myself & Slick - who is very well connected.

By the way - why is Funbballer's identity showing up as "guest" on the left hand side of the board? Danke

http://www.gojohnnies.com/basketball/times042106.htm 

http://www.gojohnnies.com/basketball/times051306.htm

http://www.blakeschool.org/athletics/bbasketball/0506season/060501rich/index.html

[localcoach]

Pat - Here's one more for Hamline's recruiting class.  I copied and pasted this from the Howard Pulley basketball website under the "News & Updates" section. www.howardpulleybasketball.com

Monday, May 1
Erik Gusaas receives scholarship from Hamline University
By Errol Carlstrom

Erik Gusaas has committed to play basketball at Hamline University starting this fall where he will receive an academic scholarship. This follows a successful season at Richfield High School, where he was a key member of the Section 6AAAA Championship team that consisted of 3 fellow Howard Pulley players (Dwayne Hardy, Jordan Noonan and Santino Clay).

Erik will play for head coach Barry Wohler who will be starting his third season as head coach of the Pipers. Coach Wohler is very excited about the having "the Goose" fill the missing piece of their team, a 6'9" big man who possesses skills both inside and outside the paint. The Piper coaching staff is also excited about the potential that Gusaas brings to the program along with his determination to be the best basketball player he can. "His best basketball is clearly ahead of him," Wohler noted followed by "Given his work ethic, he should be a huge force in his junior and senior seasons as he only gets bigger and stronger."

Congratulations to Goose! We wish you the best of everything at Hamline.

[sumander]

I have been off line as well for a few days! Kudos to you Drake. That is exactly the type of list I was looking for. Great information.

[Pat Coleman]

Thanks, guys. I appreciate the info.

Funbballer must have deleted himself from the board, I guess. Not sure why.

[funbballer]

Thanks, guys. I appreciate the info.

Funbballer must have deleted himself from the board, I guess. Not sure why.

...I'm back, just had/having computer problems.   

[Drake Palmer]

Dood - I was worried about you.  FWIW, if you send PCole a "Personal Message" --see feature at the top of the board, I think he can reset your poster status, karma & # of posts back to where you were at before your PC glitch.

Now back to speaking of recruits - Funbb have you heard if the hotshot 2G from Wisconsin did in fact decide to enroll at UST next fall?

Also, what have you heard/know about Zach Krumwiede enrolling at Augs?  Based on some incomplete info, it sounds like he might be the real deal & could be the 06-07 version of Jon DeRock.  Course for that to happen,  Auggie would have to get a lot more help in their first recruiting class than just Krumwiede.  The Dawgs need help & depth at virtually every position.

[funbballer]

Unclear on the "hotshot guard" but think he may have decided to enroll at a WIAC school in so. Wiscy;

If Krumiede does or is enrolled at Auggie, that's huge for them. The Cassens kid from Prior Lake might help, although not sure if he'll contribute right away. Auggie will be, IMHO, much improved next year. Good coach and attitudes have improved greatly over there. Is it enough? Maybe not to make playoffs this next year, but they'll definitely be better.

[Willy Wonka]

funbb - Good enough to beat a team like the Tommies this year? Oh wait...

[Drake Palmer]

funbb - Good enough to beat a team like the Tommies this year? Oh wait...

Lest we forget what one of our fearless veterans & leaders said last winter, let me take a moment to remind the board -

"...not a team in this league that can beat them -- GAC and Cobbs included. There is no team that can match-up with them (Tommies) in terms of size, talent and experience."

The one, the only, our very own -  Willy Wonka 

And...

2005-06 Standings

   MIAC  Overall
*#1 St. Thomas  17-3  23-6  
*#2 Carleton  17-3  21-7 
#3 Saint John's 14-6  16-10 

#4 Gustavus  13-7  19-8
 
#5 Bethel  10-10  15-11 
#6 Hamline 10-10  12-15 
St. Olaf  8-12  10-15 
Saint Mary's 7-13  9-16 
Macalester  6-14  7-18 
Concordia  5-15  6-18 

Augsburg 3-17  4-21 

[Pat Coleman]

Dood - I was worried about you.  FWIW, if you send PCole a "Personal Message" --see feature at the top of the board, I think he can reset your poster status, karma & # of posts back to where you were at before your PC glitch.

Actually, not sure I can. I can only guess at it since the name was deleted.

[Drake Palmer]

That's why I'm glad I wrote - "I think...."

I think -  Funbballer was around 350 +/- posts & he had a low-mid 20s karma.

[funbballer]

Pat....I believe the posted number was 357 and the karma was 26. (and thanks Drake for checking with PC on this; it's not a big deal for me though so if it can't be changed, my undies won't wrinkle!)


Willy....now, be nice; all I said was I think they (Aug) will be better!

I don't think GAC will be better than they were last year, and they were SOFT, SOFT, SOFT last year.....at least compared to how mean and tough they were when you played! 

I think the battle for the top 6 spots will be intense....can't wait.

[localcoach]

In an attempt to keep the board at least semi-active, I thought I'd take an early look at the 2006-07 schedules that are currently posted.

Carleton is opening the season in Hawaii with 3 games on the schedule.

St. John's is playing a pair of games in Daytona Beach over the Christmas break

Macalester opens their season in Florida against Embry-Riddle

In other non-conference games, I see that Minnesota-State Mankato is hosting Carleton and St. Mary's, and I have also heard that Hamline is playing the Mavericks as well next year. 

SMU is also playing Division II Lewis University from the Chicago area and Macalester is playing Concordia-St. Paul.

In recruiting news (because I know Drake wants to know ) I have been told that Augsburg is assembling quite a nice group of players.  Their latest coup is apparently a junior college big man from Fergus Falls named Olufemi Solaja.  This is still scuttlebutt right now, but I believe that the person who told me is on the money.  Good for Coach Griess.

[Drake Palmer]

Now, now, now Local, it ain't just me that wants this recruiting info.   

So in my best "PatC" voice can we get any confirmations on these Auggie recruits?  The Dawgs are a bit of an unknown since we haven't really had a reliable rep/poster from there in the last couple of years.  In addition, they have a new coaching staff with seemingly few ties to the local hoops community - or at least to posters on this message board.   

Femi Solaja played for a nice St. Paul Harding team during the 02-03 & 03-04 seasons.  For his size (6-5), he was an absolutely HUGE rebounding machine, a pretty decent athlete, defender & scorer.  If my memory serves me right I believe he was the St. Paul City Conference Player of the Year in 2004.  I looked at the MN JC website & it appears he's added some scoring touch to his game & averaged 17+ ppg, along with 13 boards/game.

If Solaja's commitment to Augsburg is accurate, along with the previously mentioned FY recruits, the Dawgs could be taking some steps in the right direction.  Andy Hannan must be out there pitching one in the recruiting wars. Go git em!