MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[miacwatchmen]

MAC beats Hamline 84-72, Abe goes for 23 and 7 assists, Conboy goes for 20 and 7 boards. Thrasher pours in 21 for the pipes. Tanner Anderson? goes for 17 for HAM and Gusaas, the most disgusting post player in the league, scores 10 pts. DeRock with a huge end to the season. He scores 5 points in 29 minutes.

[Drake Palmer]

Wow, my head is spinning from watching too much basketball in one day – two games at the Shoe (I like whoever came up with the abbreviated version of Schoenecker) & 2 more games at Concordia-St.P.  I'd also offer my props to both the Tommies & Johnnies' camps (also "freebird") for making fairly even-handed post game summaries.  I'd agree with the majority of comments, & it's refreshing to hear a Johnnie poster step up & not blame the officials for the Johnnies' loss.

As I said after watching the first Js. & Ts game & now the 2nd game in the season series - it was a fun (intense) game, with an electric atmosphere.  Today's final score was not indicative of how close this game actually was.

Playing at home was a huge advantage, as it was for the Johnnies in their win against UST a month ago in C-Ville.  Today it was a case of fairly vocal Tommies fans for a change, too much cowbell, a Gnarls Barkley lead singer - Cee-lo Green look alike, Bluto from Animal House, & not enough Johnnies fans with commemorative Nebraska tattoos honoring the Schafers.  I think I spotted 3-4 Johnnies fans sporting those tattoos. 

[Pat Coleman]

[

Of the schools for which we have gymnasium capacities in Division III, St. Thomas' gym is way above the average. Even if the capacity is exaggerated by 900, it would still be average.

Pat, wow I'm really surprised by that, thanks for the clarification.  I just figured with an undergrad enrollment of I think 7,000 students, St. Thomas could do a bit better with their gym.  I guess we are spoiled at St. John's.  Does St. John's gym have one of the bigger capacities in the country for DIII? 

Yes, the 3,500 we have St. John's listed for is in the top 25 or so in Division III. How often is it filled, though?

[miacwatchmen]

[

Of the schools for which we have gymnasium capacities in Division III, St. Thomas' gym is way above the average. Even if the capacity is exaggerated by 900, it would still be average.

Pat, wow I'm really surprised by that, thanks for the clarification.  I just figured with an undergrad enrollment of I think 7,000 students, St. Thomas could do a bit better with their gym.  I guess we are spoiled at St. John's.  Does St. John's gym have one of the bigger capacities in the country for DIII? 

Yes, the 3,500 we have St. John's listed for is in the top 25 or so in Division III. How often is it filled, though?

The answer to that question would be once every four or five years when the J's are competing for the MIAC title vs. UST. Or any important game vs, UST. The only game SJU filled the stands for was UST.

[faunch]

SJU was terrible on offense while UST did a good job on D w/ pressure on SJU's shooters.  Schafer was the only one that played with any balls! 
It was my only MIAC game this year and I thought both teams played poorly.

Officials did not cost SJU the game but as stated earlier the "Golden Boy " was terrible.  He made a bone head call on the foul at the end of the half and then made things worse for himself by not walking away from an angry coach. 

[faunch]

Also...there was a time about 15-20 years ago that SJU would have about 1500 or more fans per game.  Both of the sideline seating areas would almost always be full.  A big factor in that was J-term and students needing an activity prior to the nightly libations!

[piperinsider]

It appears if my post from the parking lot of Starbucks Highland didn't go through. Props to the security guard on the side door for allowing the distinguished members of the media in the door at 2:45.

Notes:
UST- Schnettler didn't really find a rhythm all game and whether it was the defense of Lieser or a bad shooting night is to be seen next Saturday (likely). Keating did his best for a T, but despite his non-stop chatting he was really good down the stretch, including that big three pointer that cut SJU's run. Rosefelt wasn't that dominating with C. Schaefer/Fogt playing good defense. With the Tommies bench besides McCoy, I wanted a sign that said "who?"

SJU- Disagreed with Smith's seven minutes sitting of Schaefer as well. Yes, Fogt had a very good stretch, but why not have two posts? Pound the ball down low because the outside shots weren't falling. Lieser and Westman were horrendous. It's never good when I can remember all the shots the pair of them made. Ohme did a nice job drawing fouls on Dwyer, but then didn't do the same with Tuma or the kid from Tech. Brink didn't do all that much besides miss an alley-oop layup.

Note to cookout attendees that would also like to see the game....we better get there early and get inside a bit before 7:25. 6 days away. Make sure to sign up at:

http://www.geocities.com/onearmedscot/stiftungsfest.html

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Awesome battle in the Shoe... to my observation, the big difference was that SJU appeared to be playing not to lose while UST was playing to win. For example, when down by 10 or so most of the 2nd half, SJU remained in a slow, deliberate offense, patiently running the clock down. That's fine if its close or you're up, but when you're down 10 with 6 mins to go, that's a team more concerned with not getting beat (blown out?) than with winning.

On the bench T at the end of the half...a Johnnie alum I know was sitting very close to the score table and he says he heard Smitty drop the f-bomb because he couldn't get his player in the game. If so, the T was a good call and walking away was the right thing to do for the ref.

I agree that the officiating was sub par and that "Blondie" was horrible....but it was unbiased and everyone in the building knew what to expect the minute you saw the crew come out.

I'm no Schafer fan by any means, but I agree with those perplexed by C Shafer's time on the bench in the 2nd half. Very odd to bench one of the 2 players who was effective against UST's defense. The strategy of having Lieser in Schnettler's face non-stop worked in cutting Schnett's 3-pt output down, but it took a toll on Lieser, who looked like he needed an oxygen tank the final 5 mins of the game.

Im still trying to figure the JV game out...how could UST not score a bucket for the first 15 minutes and win the game?

[miacwatchmen]

SJU was terrible on offense while UST did a good job on D w/ pressure on SJU's shooters.  Schafer was the only one that played with any balls! 
It was my only MIAC game this year and I thought both teams played poorly.

I think Ohme really played like he wanted to win the game as well as C. Schafer. The rest of the Johnnies seemed to be out there and playing not to lose.

If that was your first and only game of the year then you picked a good one to wait for!!

[miacwatchmen]

Im still trying to figure the JV game out...how could UST not score a bucket for the first 15 minutes and win the game?

I'll tell ya what it was, it was just solid defense by the SJU JV. What a great start to the day with a JV game that was 16-1 with 5 minutes left in the first half!!

[Drake Palmer]

As others have mentioned, I thought benching C. Schafer was a curious move since an emotionally gassed Ike was barely hanging on as well.  Ike still needs to learn how to regulate his nervous energy before these big games as he tends to get too amped up.  Also, it still seems like he's a half step slower, or not as explosive as he was last year when he made A-A.  Still suffering lingering effects from the mono?  Mose, if you recall, it was Keating that was running down all those big rebounds in the closing minutes of the game.

By the way, I'm confused - I thought C. Schafer was the right-handed twin & S. Schafer was the left-handed twin.  Am I missing something, or are they both ambidextrous?  C. Schafer - rt. handed hook, S. Schafer lt. handed J? I've done my share of dissing him in the past, but in the two games against the Tommies this year; C. Schafer has been more than solid.  That maddening baby hook of his – grrh.   

Other than the Johnnies decision to sit C. Schafer for a prolonged period, I thought the Johnnie game plan was solid: repeat the strategy that won in C-ville a month earlier.  Make it a low scoring, grind-em out, deliberate ball game, but they failed to execute, especially in the shot selection.  I realize the 3-ball is a part of the Js overall game plan, but even UST's Bryan Schnettler was trying to drive to the cup on occasion.  Ohme was the only guard that looked to attack & or kick it out for easier looks.  The Johnnies never made the Tommies defenders pay by over playing them out on the wing.

**********
Ditto, about the JV game.  Watch, what happened to the vaunted JV D in the 2nd half?  One of the highlights in the 2nd half was when a Johnnny defender guarding a baseline  in-bound play against the Tommies accidentally kicked the ball up & off the scoreboard 25 -30 feet off the floor.  I thought I was at a soccer match! 

[piperinsider]

I thought I was at a soccer match! 

Or when the UST students/alum were chanting Olay, olay, olay, olay, olay...

I wish it was windier in Daytona with the oufit Kelly Clarkson has on.

[SJU09]

Yes, the 3,500 we have St. John's listed for is in the top 25 or so in Division III. How often is it filled, though?

I will admit that my perspective on  attendance is based on when I was in school 20 years ago when attendance was very strong for  all home  games at St. John's (we still had J term) and every game against St. Thomas was packed  beyond capacity (both home and away) no matter what the records were.   I'm just old I guess. 

PS I still think St. Thomas's gym is too small. 

[TommieHoops4Life]

Can someone who was at the game explain the whole drama at the end where there was nearly a brawl? From what I'm told, Schnettler bumped into somebody near the SJU bench during the timeout, and that's how it got started. I also hear that Keating got hot about something too.

As much as I've knocked C. Schafer in the past, it sounds like he was the only reason the Johnnies were even close in this one. Offense in basketball looks a lot better when the ball goes in the hoop, and that's probably why Westman and Lieser looked terrible. 3-28?! Yuck. Go to the hoop if you're perimeter shot isn't falling, that way you can at least get to the free throw line.

Sets up a big week for the MIAC playoffs, but before anyone can talk rematch, both teams have to take care of business Wednesday night. Should be a fun week.

On another note, did anyone watch the Gophs today? Bryce Webster looked like a scared little kid trying to guard Greg Oden. He got posterized on a dunk in the first half. Oden is just a man.

[Willy Wonka]

Speaking of the Gopher game...I'm sure Barry was a happy camper that his current team didn't make the playoffs this year so he could go out tonight with his '82 comrades and remember the glory years. Who's program is in worse shape right now, Hamline or the Goophs? I'm hardpressed to think of a more hapless combo...

I was at the game today...Webster looked TONS tougher than Mr. Basketball 2003, who played like a weenie after not even starting. You know you are embarrassing yourself when old grandmas — plural — are yelling at you from the stands and everyone starts laughing and nodding in agreement...

Drake - I'm with you on Ike, although I still think he'll win the MVP. I was down on him his soph year but impressed by his progress last winter. This year...bleh.