MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Drake Palmer]

Pipes  up 68-67 with 1:02 left in the game.

[piperinsider]

Can we hang on? And was I the only person to pick the Pipers? Wait, Drake posted that 16 minutes ago. Where is the final?

[Dawg-Dude]

Lack of depth at the guard spot hurts the Dawgs though. 

Excellent point. The Dawgs are thin there. Kozlowski has been dinged up all year with a wrist injury. He was back again tonight against UST. This is an inexperienced team and will struggle at times. Additionally, they have not been playing together very long. But the majority of this team will be back next year.

It will be interesting to see how this team responds to a tough string of games (Mac, UST, St. Johns). Mentally, that can be tough to work through.

[Drake Palmer]

Can we hang on? And was I the only person to pick the Pipers? Wait, Drake posted that 16 minutes ago. Where is the final?

Your Pipes pulled it out 75-70.  But you probably know that by now.

[piperinsider]

Sometimes a team just needs a poster telling them they have no chance for them to respond.

There is no way the Pipers Wednesday or Saturday. 

[UST_LBOW]

 If Abe had stayed at UST, he wouldn't have played this year.  He's not the type of PG that they need. 

Augsburg hung tough tonight for a while, then the 2nd half it was over.  UST did not play a good first half at all, but the second half they were up by 18 at one time and the game was done.  Dwyer played another good game.  UST isn't quite all the way clicking, but you don't want to be yet.  Ike is back, Dwyer is getting his confidence up and Lonnie has been just nasty lately.  UST will only get better as the year goes on.

They have a few tough games coming up, GAC at home, at Concordia, and at SJU.  This will be a good stretch for them.  I'd expect some good games

[columbianmaffia]

ohio st and carleton both lost tonight... -2 on pickems for me 

i think i jinxed myself with the gooogs post

on a side note...im not a ohio st fan i was just cheering for them...because the buckeyes are just a nut...they arent even an animal or anything...i think i will start calling them the nuts until they win another championship

[cobbernation]

Tonight, 2 improbable events take place.

1. Ohio State gets blown out in the national championship
2. The cobbers have a 2 game winning streak after dropping their first 9 games.

But in the cobbers defense, they played quite well.  Good shooting from citterman and linz, with tough play from E. Johnson.  Although, they gave up some easy off. rebounds to the gusties often.  But a win is a win.

[TommieHoops4Life]

I went 1-4 in the pick em tonight. That's about as good as the 352 series I had in my bowling league today. Was this "Upset Monday" in the MIAC with the exception of UST? When the Tommies shot 70% in one half and 58 for the game, you might as well put up the white flag and surrender. You've got no chance against UST if they shoot better than 50% for the game. They lead virtually every defensive statistical category in the conference, including scoring defense (allowing 62.5 ppg while out-scoring their opponents by a little more than 12 a night).

Looks like homecourt was an advantage in the MIAC tonight. With the exception of Macalester, all the home teams won tonight.

I have never seen a team get completely out-played like Ohio State did tonight. The time off is no excuse, neither is losing Ted Ginn to injury. Florida played virtually perfect, and the Buckeyes were mediocre in their biggest game of the season.

[Nites]

If Abe had stayed at UST, he wouldn't have played this year.  He's not the type of PG that they need. 

I had a chance to watch Abe last night on the Scot's webcast.  He has a unique, rather unorthodox style.  I can see where he might not be the fit for a different style of play.  He is entertaining to watch though.

[sumander]

Interested to hear some game reports!

Brady Brink gets his first start for the J's and responds with a 6-7 shooting night including 5-6 beyond the arc, 8 boards and 3 blocks! He should be starting full time! Good win for the Johnnies.

Is the turn around complete in Moorhead? CORD gets GAC and has "only" 16 turnovers! They shoot 65% from the field in the first half and hang on for the win.

BET goes to STOLAF and gets beat! Must have been some hangover from the draining losses to the Johnnies and the Tommies. STOLAF goes 16-25 from the charity stripe while BET is 5-8. Margin of victory is 10. I would be interested to hear how STOLAF guarded the BET big guys and only commit 1/2 as many fouls!

[piperinsider]

If Abe had stayed at UST, he wouldn't have played this year.  He's not the type of PG that they need. 

Indulge a little more for me. I know this has been mentioned briefly before, but I just can't understand why a player that is averaging 18.5 points and has a 2 to 1 assist-turnover ratio wouldn't fit with a bunch of guys that can play at UST.

I know that MAC is more of a run-and-gun and that UST like to set up plays, but I can't buy the fact that if Abe was still at UST, he woudn't be playing some, if not starting once the UST coaching staff found out what they had.

[Nites]

Interested to hear some game reports!

Brady Brink gets his first start for the J's and responds with a 6-7 shooting night including 5-6 beyond the arc, 8 boards and 3 blocks! He should be starting full time! Good win for the Johnnies.

Is the turn around complete in Moorhead? CORD gets GAC and has "only" 16 turnovers! They shoot 65% from the field in the first half and hang on for the win.

BET goes to STOLAF and gets beat! Must have been some hangover from the draining losses to the Johnnies and the Tommies. STOLAF goes 16-25 from the charity stripe while BET is 5-8. Margin of victory is 10. I would be interested to hear how STOLAF guarded the BET big guys and only commit 1/2 as many fouls!

Apparently, first half domination by the Johnnies (which I didn't see).  Led by 13 at the half.  Scots start the second half with a 20-3 run to go up by four.  Run was fueled by good defensive pressure by MAC.  SJU tied the score at 49 and then Coach Smith got what appeared to me to be a very ill-timed technical.  The play was at the other end when he got T'd up.  It must have been from constant harrassing.  I thought that was going to be a turning point in the game after Abe canned the 2 free throws as MAC clearly had the momentum.  But Hollander misfired on a 3 that would have put the Scots up by 5.

The game was then back and forth for a while, but SJU began to pick up its defensive intensity and MAC started misfiring on threes.  The game was decided by several key plays around the 5 to 6 minute mark, starting with a nice trey by Westman and with a hand in his face with the shot clock at about 2 seconds to send SJU up by 4.  With about 5 minutes left, Conboy scored to cut the SJU lead to 2, then Brink hit a floating J just inside the free throw line.  Johnnies back up by 4.  Then someone casts up (I think it was Ranwick) a contested three with plenty of time on the shot clock (really a bad shot).  Brink rebounds goes down court, sets on the left wing a cans a triple to put SJU up by 7. 

Johnnies remained patient on offense and Westman added two 3-pointers and that was the game.  SJU showed very good poise down the stretch and I think Brink and Westman combined for 14 of SJU's final 16 points.

Good win by SJU against a hot MAC team.

[abominable_snowman]

If Abe had stayed at UST, he wouldn't have played this year.  He's not the type of PG that they need. 

Indulge a little more for me. I know this has been mentioned briefly before, but I just can't understand why a player that is averaging 18.5 points and has a 2 to 1 assist-turnover ratio wouldn't fit with a bunch of guys that can play at UST.

I know that MAC is more of a run-and-gun and that UST like to set up plays, but I can't buy the fact that if Abe was still at UST, he woudn't be playing some, if not starting once the UST coaching staff found out what they had.

You might be right.  I would admit that it would be possible for Abe to have contributed positively to UST. Especially on the Assist column.    

I would say that the coaches were very aware of Abe's potential.  Like most people after watching Abe, they are impressed.  I think the key is the style of play.  Also consider that Abe has been around the program for some time, and has no varsity experience at UST. Dwyer has.  So  probably as a UST coach, you build on the experience Dwyer has instead of bringing Abe up to speed.

DISCLAIMER. This is only speculation.

I am very happy for Abe, and that he has found a home at MAC.

**********

PI, I also selected the Ham-bones for last night.

[Drake Palmer]

Nites - I was at the MAC- SJU game last night & I would more or less agree with your game summary with one exception.  With the talent & size disparity the J's have -- in the closing minutes of a fairly tight game, why are they casting & (fortunately for them) making treys; instead of running clock & looking to go inside against the smaller Scots?  I think their shot selection & approach to the game could come back to bite them as the season progresses.  Defensively, I though the Js did a good job.  Just my two cents worth.

By the way - Macalester is offering free admisssion to all of their home games this season. The hustling & scrappy Scots were a great sports entertainment bargain to begin with, but this makes their home games all the more appealing.

What's happened to all of the Bethel posters?!?  Bleednavy you're excused since you posted over the weekend -  but Bethel34, Tjones33,  D3ballfollower etc.what's up?  And what's up with your team? 

Wonka's semi excused but while I'm on the subject - Shocker, Wahoo, OAS, funbballer, Cobbernation etc.   Some say global warming - I say strange, yet entertaining season in the MIAC.