MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Willy Wonka]

Keating is still the man, just because he missed a layup it doesn't make him terrible.     I think I may have seen a few guys in the NBA miss wide open layups.......You ask Mike how the game went and everytime he'll say "A wins a win".  That's where his head is at rookie byyyaaatches

A win is a win, but 3-for-12 with bricks from the perimeter and blown layups with no one within 10 feet makes for a terrible game and, sometimes, a terrible player. The performance and Wohler's quote are a laughable combo given the timing. Anyone off the Tommie bench (Grant, McCoy, etc.) was better Wednesday night, though even I am not dumb enough to believe that will be the case the rest of the season.

BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT (Yes, that butt's almost as big as Warren Sapps. RIP.)

Keating is still the MVP of Western Civilization, eh Shocker?

[shocker]

Keating is still the MVP of Western Civilization, eh Shocker?

Why limit ourselves to the West while Yao Ming is out with a broken leg?

[Drake Palmer]

From the Funbballer school of press releases, I came across this cheeky gameday preview of the Carleton vs. St. Olaf match up today:

Scouting the Oles:

St. Olaf is up to their usual tricks in 2006-07, as they have played inconsistent basketball, which has lead to their 6-7 overall record and seventh place standing in the MIAC. In the last ten seasons, the Oles have finished in the bottom half of the conference nine times, qualifying for the MIAC playoffs just once, in 2002-03.
If they want to buck that trend and sneak into the playoffs, they will have to play better basketball as the season progresses. The Oles have gone 2-10 in the month of Feburary the last two seasons. Although we are not their (sic) yet, it appears as though February will once again make or break the Oles' year....

The jab at the Oles might be rightfuly deserved, but I think the Knights are in the same boat with a 4-8 record compared to the Oles 6-7 count. However, based on past seasons results, I think the Carlies have earned the right to puff out their chest a bit.

For the full release click here

[localcoach]

St. Thomas slips past Concordia by 3 points I believe.

St. Olaf surprises Carleton by about 15.

Gustavus hold Hamline to 50 points and wins by 23.

Bethel beats MAC by like 15.

No score yet from Winona @ SMU.

[sumander]

Tomcats were very fortunate to come away with a win today in Moorhead! Game tied, Ike rebounds a Robinson miss gets an and 1, 3 pt play to put the Tommies up 3 with 9.6 sec. to go. Citterman missed a contested 3 from the top of the key at the buzzer!

More later.

[TommieHoops4Life]

Knights looked awfully sluggish today against St. Olaf. The Oles were making shots early, and used a 14-3 run near the end of the half to lead by 15 at the break. Carleton got within 9 in the second half, but didn't get any closer and were down as much as 18 in the closing stretches in falling 67-51. The win snaps a 6-game skid for the Oles against the Knights.

Johnson missed his first couple shots from the field, then forced a lot of bad looks. Looked like he tweaked an ankle in the second half, but I couldn't tell if he was faking it or not. He also got T'd up in the second half for crying to the ref about a no call in the lane where he thought he was fouled.

Carleton never got into a rhythm today, and the Oles played with a lot of heart and made some big shots at key moments. Butala had 15, Bergstrom had 11 and 11. Oles out-rebounded the Knights 43-22. Are they now flirting for a playoff spot?

[columbianmaffia]

knights were brutal...the offense was hirky jerky and had no flow...too much one on one play in an offense that is designed for back door cuts and setting solid screens to get the teammates open....didnt make sense to go to Johnson over and over and over on offense when it just wasnt his day...Sutherland kept them in the game early with a couple nice shots and they never went back to him....the next couple games are crucial if they want to make the playoffs

[Dawg-Dude]

Dawgs win by 10. Cassens had close to 20. SMU was hot from 3 land in the first half to lead by 1 at half. Dawgs actually came out and played inspired D in the second half. Much better than they have played over the last three games. Chuck Scott was on fire with the three ball in the first half for the Dawgs. He's a good three ball shoot when uncontested.

With the three game skid by Augsburg came a big question, why can they play their opponents close in the first half but fall in the second half? Answer: coaching. St. Thomas, Mac, and SJU all made coaching adjustments at half that changed the balance of the game. STO just flat out played D at the start of the second half and went on a huge run that the Dawgs couldn't recover from. Mac put the fy guard in foul trouble and Augsburg had no answer. SJU was just too strong on the boards and Augsburg had no answer. If Griese is going to make it in the Miac, he needs to make the half time adjustments to put the young dawgs in a position to win. Their victories at this point have come when their counter parts do not deviate from their game plan. Will Griese be able to out think the more experienced coaches in the league??

[sumander]

Tomcats were very fortunate to come away with a win today in Moorhead! Game tied, Ike rebounds a Robinson miss gets an and 1, 3 pt play to put the Tommies up 3 with 9.6 sec. to go. Citterman missed a contested 3 from the top of the key at the buzzer!

More later.

and now for the more later part........

This is not the same CORD team I saw earlier in the year. I am not sure if yesterday was an abberation or if their guards are getting better, but CORD only had 11 tunovers. Tommies threw a soft press on the Cobbs and they did not seem too rattled. 5 of their 11 turnovers came from the post players Linz and Johnson. Until Citterman and Dyshaw came of the bench the COBBS guards didn't look to score. Linz works hard inside, but I thought Keating did a decent job defending. Linz also did a nice job of help defense on Ike when he got the ball down low. Interesting matchup between Ike and E. Johnson.

The Tommies, doing their best Johnnies imatation, let the COBBS hang around in the second half. They had a 14 pt lead with 12:00 minutes to go and didn't put them away. CORD chipped away at the lead over the next 11 minutes and ultimately took a 1 point lead with 1:36. Ike was fouled and made 1 of 2 with about a minute to go. He rebounded his own miss on the second shot. With the shot clock running down and UST looking a little rattled CORD committed a foul , which reset the shot clock. After a couple of time outs. UST inbounded at half court, CORD played great defense on the big 3 from UST. They left Robinson wide open for a 3 that missed badly. Fortunately it was a short rebound and Ike was there for the clean up. Citterman had a contested chance to tie at the buzzer but it was not close.

Now having seen both the Js & Ts play, if someone put a gun to my head & said "pick a team," (revised by my editor - Abominable Snowman) here's what I would say:

If it was game of 3x3, I'd pick the Tommies hand down.  Arguably, I believe Ike, Mike & Schnettler are better players than the Johnnies top 3 - Lieser, Westman, Ohme or one of the Schafers.  But, when you look at the top 5 thru top 10 players for both teams, the Johnnies have the superior overall talent.  How does that translate to the court?  I think a home & away split might be forthcoming, with the rubber match going to the Tommies at the conference tourney final.

Drake, I would agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of the Tommies. I don't think I saw Dwyer ever look at the basket yesterday. Robinson ended up scoring 12 points (10 in the 2cnd half), but that was because CORD was defying both He and Dwyer to shoot! In my mind there was a noticeable drop off when Fritz started going to his bench!

Hopefully, the Johnnies will take care of business Monday night. In any event it should be a raucous time in C-ville on Wednesday night!

[miacwatchmen]

Dawgs win by 10. Cassens had close to 20. SMU was hot from 3 land in the first half to lead by 1 at half. Dawgs actually came out and played inspired D in the second half. Much better than they have played over the last three games. Chuck Scott was on fire with the three ball in the first half for the Dawgs. He's a good three ball shoot when uncontested.

With the three game skid by Augsburg came a big question, why can they play their opponents close in the first half but fall in the second half? Answer: coaching. St. Thomas, Mac, and SJU all made coaching adjustments at half that changed the balance of the game. STO just flat out played D at the start of the second half and went on a huge run that the Dawgs couldn't recover from. Mac put the fy guard in foul trouble and Augsburg had no answer. SJU was just too strong on the boards and Augsburg had no answer. If Griese is going to make it in the Miac, he needs to make the half time adjustments to put the young dawgs in a position to win. Their victories at this point have come when their counter parts do not deviate from their game plan. Will Griese be able to out think the more experienced coaches in the league??

The three times I have seen Augsburg play this year their losses can be attributed to the players more than their coach. Cassens is a decent ball player but he is pretty small and doesn't have abe like speed. He also strikes me as being a cry baby. He was hacked once in a game I watched and he cried to the refs for the next 4 minutes. Granted he is only a freshman  but he needs to grow up if the Auggie is going to win in the future. Femi Soliaja is a strong post but he isn't a scoring threat. It seems like the team is out there playing 4 on 5 on their offensive end. He may snag a couple offensive rebounds but I haven't seen him draw rim in the three games I have seen them. Mitch Dice has a nice shoot but is he quick enough to guard people at the 3 spot in this league? SO overall I would say Augsburg should be happy with their 4-4 record because it could easily be 1-7. Thank you all for reading my rants and raves.

[Nites]

Drake, I would agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of the Tommies. I don't think I saw Dwyer ever look at the basket yesterday. Robinson ended up scoring 12 points (10 in the 2cnd half), but that was because CORD was defying both He and Dwyer to shoot! In my mind there was a noticeable drop off when Fritz started going to his bench!

The stats bear that out.  Notice Dwyer's line:

4  Andy Dwyer.......... g  0-0    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   2   0  9  3  0  1  32

Schnettler and Ike only got up 9 shots apiece.  Good strategy by the Cobbers.  Dwyer and Robinson have to keep the defense honest.  Without even witnessing the game, I can probably guess that the Cobbers were doubling down on Ike every time he touched the ball and that they had one guy hounding Schnettler with a second one ready to run at him anytime the chaser got picked.

We'll see how the upcoming teams look to defend Robinson and Dwyer if they don't shoot.  I did see that Robinson did look to shoot, but I think I would leave the two of them open and double off onto Ike and Schnettler until they proved to me that they can hit the shots.

[sumander]

Drake, I would agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of the Tommies. I don't think I saw Dwyer ever look at the basket yesterday. Robinson ended up scoring 12 points (10 in the 2cnd half), but that was because CORD was defying both He and Dwyer to shoot! In my mind there was a noticeable drop off when Fritz started going to his bench!

The stats bear that out.  Notice Dwyer's line:

4  Andy Dwyer.......... g  0-0    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   2   0  9  3  0  1  32

Schnettler and Ike only got up 9 shots apiece.  Good strategy by the Cobbers.  Dwyer and Robinson have to keep the defense honest.  Without even witnessing the game, I can probably guess that the Cobbers were doubling down on Ike every time he touched the ball and that they had one guy hounding Schnettler with a second one ready to run at him anytime the chaser got picked.
We'll see how the upcoming teams look to defend Robinson and Dwyer if they don't shoot.  I did see that Robinson did look to shoot, but I think I would leave the two of them open and double off onto Ike and Schnettler until they proved to me that they can hit the shots.

Nites, Are you sure you weren't at the game? That is exactly what Cord did.
It also looked like they figured, between Baldwin and Johnson they had 10 fouls to give on Ike. I believe they used 8 out of the 10. Ike still got his points but nothing came easy.

[d3bballfollower]

we are now almost halfway through the conference schedule and i thought it would be interesting to see where everyone predicts the teams to finish...i'll give it a shot first

1. UST 19-1...i think that they have had too many close games so far to go undefeated...i think either St. John's or Gustavus will clip them, but they could easily go undefeated
2. SJU 18-2...this could easily be a 17-3 pick as well, but i'm basing the record on the assumption that they will upset UST once...will probably lose at least 1 other game if not two, UST and then either Bethel and or Gustavus
3. Gustavus 14-6...should win the last 2 games of first round to finish off 7-3...i see them losing to UST and either SJU or Bethel in the 2nd half
4. Bethel 12-8...the Royals should win the next 2 games to get back to a 5-5 conference record...will lose a couple in the second half, but they will be close, most likely to UST and eith St. John's or Gustavus...just too touch to stop the Killer M's...Madson, Meadowcroft and Moberg...next game against UST should be a dandy
5. Macalester 10-10the Scots will continue their hot shooting and Conboy will pick up the slack down low and the scots finish up conference play 8-4
6. Augsburg 8-12...sneak in with tie-breaker and streaking shooting performances
7. Carleton 8-12...just too inconsitent and not enough fire power
8. St. Olaf 7-13...better start than expected, but won't be able to sustain it...struggle mightily down the stretch
9. Concordia 6-14...have been playing better...will be a tough game the rest of the way, especially in moorhead...lookout next year with everyone returning
10. Hamline 4-16...can't win without playing defense and with shooting that is inconsistent at best...need a dominant inside presence to compete
11. Saint Mary's 4-16...not enough fire power...with the losses of Smith and Washington they will be lucky to win this many games

Playoffs-
Augsburg @ Gustavus...Gustavus wins by 10 behind experience, leadership and defense
Mac @ Bethel...Bethel wins by 15 just like yesterday because of the bigs...Mac and Bethel will cancel each other out from the perimiter, but inside Moberg and Meadowcroft will be too much for Conboy and Hollander...look out for the Scots next year though with top 3 scorers returning

Bethel @ UST...UST beats Bethel at home in a close game...probably a 73-67 score...Rosefelt, Schnettler and Keating outplay Madson, Meadowcroft and Moberg for the win
Gustavus @ SJU...Saint John's is a little sloppy after the bye...Hanson has his Gusties ready to play, but Lieser, Westman, Brink, Ohme and company are just too much

SJU @ UST...the rubber game of a series that I predict will be split 1-1 during the year...UST comes out with a fire to prove that they are the superior team and win by 10+ in a game that isn't really close after halftime

MIAC regular season and conference tournament champions- UST

[d3bballfollower]

correction on the Mac prediction...since they are 3-5 now and i have them going 10-10 they can't finish off 8-4...i originally had them at 11-9...my apologies...Mac will finish 7-5 the rest of the way to in fact finish 10-10

what are everyone else's thoughts on the final conference standings?

[miacwatchmen]

I remember a certain someone, not naming names....oAs, predicted during last years season that MAC would finish 10-10 in the MIAC too. Well they didn't. But I think this years team has a chance to do it just for the sheer fact that the MIAC flat out stinks this year.  I still haven't got my t-shirt either for all those veteran posters that care