MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Drake Palmer]

Somewhere Funbb is smiling - Carlies 75 - Oles 59.

Tommies beat  Cobbs  77-57.

[sumander]

Redbirds beat A-Tech 80-68! BET beats MAC 105-96 Madson gets 39!

[Freebird]

Royals 105-Mac 96

It was a very exciting back and forth game that featured quite a bit of energy which was fueled by Mac's Brad Liddell flicking off the student section 5 minutes into the game.  The guy actually had a very nice game but that was probably a poor move because of how much it fired everyone up.  

Also Madson was close to unguardable and ended up with 39 points on 13-19 shooting

Mac would be much better if Conboy and his 1-8 shooting from three point land(7-17 overall and 1-6ft) were not on the team

[Drake Palmer]

Redbirds beat A-Tech 80-68! BET beats MAC 105-96 Madson gets 39!

Dang taxes, I seriously thought about going to that game.  Looks like I missed a fun one!   

A little harsh there Freebird.   

[Freebird]

Yeah I suppose.  It seems that he just throws the ball up a lot when some of the other guys on the team take more quality shots.

During the first half it looked like Mac had developed a new offense called the "pass once shoot the three."  At times it was out of control but it actually worked well given the 96 points they put up.

[sumander]

During the first half it looked like Mac had developed a new offense called the "pass once shoot the three."  At times it was out of control but it actually worked well given the 96 points they put up.

Freebird, thats not a new offense. That's the same one the used against SJU on Monday night!

[columbianmaffia]

nice 2nd half for CAR yesterday to pull away from STO...much props to both schools student sections...they make it a good college basketball atmosphere that is not seen enough on the d3 level...johnson played one of the most patient games ive ever seen him play...he looked great...he waited to see if the double was coming and if it didnt he would go to work and if the double did come he made a quick pass and it led to a lot of open shots in the second half for his teamates and even himself when the defense started to scramble...if he can do what he did in the second half of yesterdays game the rest of the year CAR could be a dangerous team in the playoffs

good times

[sumander]

Anyone at the HAM GAC game yesterday? Just wondering what the story on Wittwer was? He only played 16 minutes took one shot, yet was 9-10 from the FT line. Seems a little strange.

Postseason participants aren't officially set, but STOLAF would seem to have the inside track on the #6 spot. They hold the tiebreaker over the Redbirds so SMU must win both their games to get in! That could be dangerous for BET who hosts SMU on Wednesday.

[WeRFans]

Yesterday we braved the cold and headed to the Hutton sauna.  The Pipes have to be happy to have Thrasher back in uniform after his recent injury.  In general, they did the basics and we even noted moments of some solid D.  Nobody lost their head, even when "controversial" calls were made.  Hmmm...this teamwork thing just might be catching on.

GAC couldn't miss on FT's!  They were over 90%.

Vern Mikkelson & Hutton, Jr. were also recognized in the crowd and received a round of applause.

[piperinsider]

I was there and was really impressed with the Pipers. First off the gym looks great with the new scoreboards which include the side boards that have the fouls and pts of players in the game. Also the backboards have the lights. Sweet.

The deal with Wittwer was foul trouble. He had 2 fouls early on and quickly picked up fouls every time he got back on the court. Thrasher, who played despite the bad ankle, had troubles guarding Sowden and also was in foul trouble. He never sat down.

The Pipers played a great half, shooting 50% but only led by 3. In the 2nd half the lead ballooned to 10 with Rich, Babcock, Kaiser, Anderson and Gusaas on the court. The big guy (16 pts) felt like he was back at Richfield. He had a few garbage baskets but also had a few post moves to his left for three-point plays.

Weiner also played great with 16 pts and 6 steals. He was playing with a bad back that forced him to get treatment in the training room during the second half.

DeRock scored 17 of his 22 in the first half.

GAC had a chance to do something but allowed HAM to run the clock down to 3 secs instead of foul with 30 secs. Didn't understand that. The inbounds pass intended for Wittwer at the FT line was knocked down by Kujolic.

Kane Sivesand was on fire, scoring 16. He hit a big three that tied the game with 2:00 but the Pipes found a way to win, which was nice to see. Improved that record to 3-17 the last 10 years.

The Pipes at 6-12 have an outside chance at No. 6 with a win at SJU and MAC. If they can win and SMU swept, while STO loses at GAC Wed, I think HAM clinches. Wow.

If an 8-12 team makes the playoffs, do you think the league should consider making it a 4-team tournament?

Also, congrats to Gusties Bri Monahan (Hutch native) for breaking the women's school record for career points. The old one was held for 20 years.

[d3bballfollower]

freebird- i agree with you on Conboy...if he just worked on his post moves, a 15 foot jumper and his free throws he would easily score 20 points a game even with the Scots pulling 25-30+ 3's a game...and being at the game yesterday myself i agree with you the Conboy took shots just because he thought it was his turn to shoot and not becausse they were great shots for the team...on another note, i was really impressed with the way lars johnson played...he let the game come to him and hit his shots when he got them and played pretty good defense...the loss of johnson and hollander will hurt the Scots immensely next year

[miacwatchmen]

Amherst goes down!! UST to # 2........?

[miacwatchmen]

BET beats MAC 105-96 Madson gets 39!

yeah he also had 7 TO's to go along with his 39 points.  But it still goes in as a W for the royals.

[d3bballfollower]

i think the rankings could go 1 of 2 ways...

1. UWSP
2. UST
3. Amherst

or

1. UWSP
2. Amherst
3. UST

personally, I think Amherst should still keep the number 1 ranking because even though they lost, I think they have clearly proven themselves to be the best team in the country...plus, losing to a Trinity team that is 20-3 is not a bad loss whatsoever...I am all for Amherst keeping the top spot in the rankings because I believe that just because a team loses it doesn't mean that they are a worse team...I understand the concept of dropping a team in the rankings and "penalizing' them for losing, but it just irks me to see a team that is clearly as good as Amherst drop in the rankings because they lost 1 game, especially to a very good team...it's even worse when a team that's ranked say 10th loses to a team ranked 5th and drops in the polls...how can a team drop in the rankings if they lose to a team that they are supposedly supposed to lose to? does losing to a superior team make them a less superior team? absolutely not!...without a ranking system i think we would be in trouble, but i believe that people need to start voting based on the caliber of the team, and not necessarily by a win of a loss

on another note, the higher the Tommies are ranked the better it looks for the MIAC so lets hope for the best...

now for an interesting scenario...if both UWSP and UST win out who gets the number 1 seed in the west?  do they keep both teams in the west bracket? or do they move 1 of them to another region?

barring any upsets I think the 4 "#1" seeds should go to UWSP, UST, Amherst and VA. Wesleyan...you could make an argument for Wooster, Wittenberg or Hope, but VA. Wesleyan is in the south region, and have proven to be the best team in the south

another question...how many teams will the MIAC get? UST is already in...but what does SJU need to do to get in?  will winning the regular season championship alone get them in, or will they need to win the tourney?  how about Bethel?  could Bethel get in if they win out and then lose to either SJU or UST in the tourney championship?...here are my thoughts...SJU is in if they win the regular season championship and/ or get to the MIAC championship game (W or L)...i think Bethel needs to win out and win the Tourney Championship...that 5 game losing skid earlier in the year is just too hard to overcome without an automatic bid i think...the most interesting scenario is if Bethel beats SJU in the tourney championship...then we would have the follwing records

UST at 22-4 or 21-5
SJU at 21-6 or 20-7 with 2 losses to both Bethel and possibly UST and 1 loss to D2 SCSU
Bethel at 22-6

Bethel gets the auto bid and UST gets in...does SJU get in?

[Willy Wonka]

GAC was putrid at defending the Piper guards yesterday and offensive rebounds killed them, especially in the final five minutes. Hamline's guards got to whereever they wanted on the court whenever they wanted, making the shot clock a non-factor even as it entered the final 5 seconds. On the plus side, Wonka cheered himself up with a Wild game from press row and spent the rest of the night at Alary's...extremely underrated establishment.

The MIAC does not deserve more than two teams in the playoffs this year, no ifs ands or buts about it. As I've said before, the league is down and the chance for embarrassment is high if we get three. I also expect UST to fall in the rankings after its loss to a manic-depressive Gustie squad.