MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[cobbernation]

DP,
CC lost to Maryland Bible in OT 82-75...I think.

They lost to MSU-Moorhead in OT on tuesday night.  I guess they blew a 20 pt lead in the second half.  But at least they have some offense, but looks like no defense.  Hopefully they will get some wins in the close games.

[miacwatchmen]

DP,
CC lost to Maryland Bible in OT 82-75...I think.

They lost to MSU-Moorhead in OT on tuesday night.  I guess they blew a 20 pt lead in the second half.  But at least they have some offense, but looks like no defense.  Hopefully they will get some wins in the close games.

MSUM woke up at half time and played a tough full court press causing the Cobbs to turn it over alot. Linz played as many of us thought he would score a bunch.

[sumander]

If the Cobbs want to take a run at the playoffs this year the guard play will need to improve & Brock Citterman will need to greatly improve his FT shooting.  When one of your best players is a wing & is expected to handle the ball in crunch time, the guy needs be able to deliver from the FT line.  That's another area where Eckhoff was so tough.  I was shocked when I looked at the Cobbs' stats from last year & saw that Citterman only averaged 56% from the charity stripe - that's a Shaq-esque type stat.

Quick look at the box score from last nights Cord loss shows this didn't happen. Here is the line on Citterman:
                         TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name  FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
24 Brock Citterman. 3-13   2-10   0-0        1  8   9    0    8    3  5   0    1  34

26 total turnovers for the Cobbs and 15 assists. Not the type of ratio you want to see.

Encouraging part if you are a Cobb fan is 10 players had double digit minutes.

[Drake Palmer]

Sum- On paper it looks like the Cobbs are at least headed in the right direction. After another loss, the TOs are starting to go down, but now they've got to figure out a way to get some defensive stops.  Their opponents are averaging 83 PPG.

And the road doesn't appear to get any easier for them.  They've got an absolutely brutal schedule for the rest of the calendar year - the Johnnies on Wednesday at C-ville, at the Oles, @ Mayville State (I know using comparative scores is dangerous but  , Mayville crushed Northwestern College, who in turn just beat Hamline yesterday), home against Carleton & then finish out the 06 portion of the schedule with an away game against MSU-Mankato.  They could easily end up going 0-8 for the first leg of their schedule.  Or I would think the coaches would be happy if they can go into the new year with a worst case scenario of 1-2 in conference play.

Onto other teams .. it appears that Carleton is also playing & losing in competitive games, but their overall play seem to be much stronger than the Cobbs at this point of the season.

Here's the boxscore from their 79-76 OT loss to Hawaii Pacific last night

Hawaii-Pacific Carleton Boxscore


A post from a WIAC poster on the MAC - River Falls game

After trailing 46-28 at half, RF played much better in the second half, but lost 87-73 to Macalester. The Falcons started three juniors, 2 freshmen. There are no seniors on the roster. One of the freshmen, Nate Robertson, 6'7", had perhaps the best stat line ever for a true freshman at RF: 26 pts., 15 rbds. Ryan Thompson scored 18.

The Scots won on superior shooting, 55% to 38%, despite being out rebounded by a wide margin. Falcon freshman Jontae Koontaew, 5'8", got 11 boards. RF took 68 shots, Macalester 55.

Woldeslassie, 5'7", was the difference for Mac. He had 23, including 5/6 on threes, five assists, and played tuff D. Conboy got 20.

RF will have big trouble winning in the WIAC with little experience and nobody over 6'7".

It would be nice if we could get a game summary out of St. Peter today when the Gusties take on the Red Men (?) from Carthage. 

[sumander]

Sum- On paper it looks like the Cobbs are at least headed in the right direction. After another loss, the TOs are starting to go down, but now they've got to figure out a way to get some defensive stops.  Their opponents are averaging 83 PPG.

And the road doesn't appear to get any easier for them.  They've got an absolutely brutal schedule for the rest of the calendar year - the Johnnies on Wednesday at C-ville,

Drake, This one concerns me a bit. The Cobbs will have played 3 games since the J's played there opener. They may be a little road weary from the east coast travel, but I think this is going to be a lot more competitive than people think. The J's better come to play from the opening tip.

Tough stretch for the J's as well. They will have 5 games in a 10 day span with 2 road trips. Sure would be nice to see a 4 - 0 conference start.

[piperinsider]

DP-
No mention of Hamline's terrible loss to Northwestern? I didn't make it, I had to help finish off two 1/2 drank boxes of wine from Thanksgiving, and then the Old Style keg. Not a great mix.

Hamline lead 73-59 with like 6 minutes to play....blew the lead and lost on a last-second three 79-78. DeRock missed a FT that would've given the Pipers a three-point lead. With a roster full of shooters, how do you score five points (four if you take away the late FT) over the final six minutes?

[columbianmaffia]

GOPHERS LOSE TO MONTANA 72-65!!

i wish they had UST on their schedule this year...that would be interesting to see how competitive this game would be

DAN MONSON IS A TURKEY!!

[Drake Palmer]

PI - I thought I'd let you or Local take that one.    Speaking of Local,  he's been conspicuously absent this early part of the season.  I still think for the contenders & pretenders in the league this year the motto - "teams who live by the trey (J), die by the trey" will be true.  Teams that can take it inside when their jumpers aren't going down will fare much better when the outside temps start to drop.

Case in point - Ham vs. NW yesterday; & Mac vs. NW last week, & MAC vs. UW-River Falls last night.    Mac gets blown out of the gym by NW because their shots aren't dropping, but turn around & beat a slightly larger River Falls when their shooting touch is hot.

Sum -  I see you've been polishing up your PC skillz, especially over on the football board.   Nice touch!   Since Sum has added a photo of Mr Larry Bird, here's a silly contest for the board.  Include a photo of an old NBA great in your avatar or signature.  I've had one that I've been waiting to break out.   

[sumander]

Drake, Clyde the Glide!

[sumander]

Sum -  I see you've been polishing up your PC skillz, especially over on the football board.   Nice touch!   

I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks! Nice having the kids home from college!

[Willy Wonka]

I'd repeat what I posted a week ago about the Pipers...but I just flew in and am running on 3 hours of sleep. I need to go see who sucks worse: Fat Denny or No Personality Childress.

[d3bballfollower]

Wednesday is the big day...start of the MIAC season...I can't wait...big game between Concordia and St. John's...this will be a good test to see if Concordia can bounce back from a tough 0-3 start and if St. John's is for real

the game between GAC and Mac has a chance to be very interesting if Mac shoots the ball well

Saturday has a very interesting matchup-

Bethel at Hamline- wouldn't be surprised to see a 100-90 final score in this one...who's "run and gun" is better?

gotta feel for SMU having to start off against UST and St. John's...I guess we will see where they stand after a 0-2 start this past weekend...my prediction...0-4

[piperinsider]

http://www.collegesportingnews.com/article.asp?articleid=82441

Not sure I agree with the Maniac on his pre-season teams, especially with Zach Johnson on the third team, while Tommy Drake and Ryan Lieser on the second-team, but he's entitled to his opinion.

PS If I'm Dan Monson I continue to play a rotation of 10-12 each game, because this year is a lost cause, work towards next year when we actually will have a senior on the roster. And they are a disgrace. Lose to Winona State, Marist and now Montana.

[Willy Wonka]

A few blind insights from GAC's 63-58 loss to Carthage this afternoon.

1) Andrew Olson pulled a Neal Anderson 2.0 today. 31 minutes, 0 shots, 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 blocks, 0 steals, 4 fouls and 6 turnovers. Ouch.

AO's the best shooter GAC has, but I'm not sure this is entirely his fault. I'm sure Hanson grudgingly accepts his low rebound totals, but no shots should never happen. His teammates need to do a better job getting him open and/or he needs to use screens more effectively.

2) Jay Stein's injury is really hurting right now, as he didn't play again. Though it could prove beneficial for depth in the long run, it's making for some interesting lineups and forcing Philly to the block. It hasn't hurt rebounding though, as the Gusties held a staggering 37-18 advantage.

3) Defense and turnovers continue to be an sore point early in the season. 20 screw ups, as my man Dwight at the local Y calls them, and allowing nearly 50% shooting will not win many games against good teams.

4) Doble played like a man (21-10 off the bench) after being a non-factor against BV.

A 1-2 record against tough competition is hardly a killer, but execution must improve down the stretch if the Gusties are to compete for the MIAC title like I think they can. It was tied with 2:43 left and the Gusties had the ball down 3 with :13 left, but a screw up turned into a Red Men layup at the buzzer for the final margin.

[Drake Palmer]

Drake, Clyde the Glide!

Nice Sum!

A few blind insights from GAC's 63-58 loss to Carthage this afternoon.

1) Andrew Olson pulled a Neal Anderson 2.0 today. 31 minutes, 0 shots, 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 blocks, 0 steals, 4 fouls and 6 turnovers. Ouch.

AO's the best shooter GAC has, but I'm not sure this is entirely his fault. I'm sure Hanson grudgingly accepts his low rebound totals, but no shots should never happen. His teammates need to do a better job getting him open and/or he needs to use screens more effectively.

Willy looks like you're trying to disarm us by being the first to point out this Olson-Anderson observation.  At least the dearly departed Mr. Anderson was able to get a shot off in the course of a game.   

Like you said though, I wouldn't be too discouraged by the outcome of this game.  The Luther game yes, but I've gotta believe Carthage is a more talented team than Luther??  I'm sure there was a motivational ploy going on when Coach D. was touting his Carthage troops, but you would think a national champion coach would know a thing or two about talent.  Although he didn't score a lot of points, I understand Trey Bowens was a very disruptive force defensively & was able to force the Gusties guards out of their comfort zone. From following the CCIW board it appears he's one of the more talented players in the league, but has had some personal & academic challenges bother him the last year or so.  If he can move past them he could be a real player.

I'm still a little confused by the Smurf ball & the big guy still riding pine.  Or is it to time to close ranks behind the Gustie faithful?