MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Willy Wonka]

Both guesses are wayyyy off. Besides, there's a good chance I couldn't crack the GAC JV rotation with the way I've played in my last two games.

We'll see if any of the SMU posters notice anything...unusual...about the Gusties when they post after tonight's game

Oh, and keep the scores coming. Working without being able to webcast anything makes it hard to follow games...

[miacwatchmen]

Oles by 12 with 13:38 to play in the second half.

[gordonmann]

Cobbers 38
Pipers 23

About 3 left in the first half.  Lead has been large as 19.

[miacwatchmen]

Oles by 5 with 8 minutes to play. J's just can't get over the hump right now. Oles are hitting some bug shots.

[piperinsider]

CON leads 46-32 (Thrasher looked to be hurting at end of half)

The Cobbers led by 21 points at one point. Eric Clute has just four points at halftime.

[miacwatchmen]

J's down 8 with 5 to play. TO bug biting them bad tonight.

[miacwatchmen]

Leiser hits a running three with 46 seconds to play but Oles still up 6.

[miacwatchmen]

71-67 J's rally isn't enough to overcome the Oles. 

85-79 Gusties over SMU

[piperinsider]

All Concordia...63-44 (14 minutes left, it's a late one). I call it the retirement factor.

[VOJ]

Cord 99 Ham 76 Linz career high 31

Tommies over Bethel in OT 83-77 I think well I know the Tommies won in OT..its wild wild year in the MIAC...any update on the MAC Auggy game?

Auggy takes MAC out behind the woodshed 72-52, how about that as Mel Allen would say...

[abominable_snowman]

It's just like the eliminator on AMERICAN GLADIATORS.  You can't burn out and you have to finish strong.

Are the Scots slipping?
Johnnies get a wake-up call.
Bethel is neck-deep in a stinky bucket of sludge.
Cobbers showing some muscle, could end up scrapping for a playoff spot with SMU and Bethel?
Gac shows us the definition of consistency.

[piperinsider]

Some thoughts from last night:
* CON shot 67% for the game, including 15-for-20 for Luke Linz. Hard to beat a team playing like the Cobbers, who have beaten first-place teams twice in three days.

* While Clute struggled, Nick Carroll had a nice game off the bench for HAM, scoring 15 points, five rebounds and four assists.

* Femi Solaja had 20 points and 19 rebounds in upset win. Cassens had 18 and Mitch Dice (who?) had 13 points off the bench. Nice balance. Aaron Van der Stoep - 2 minutes - can you say transfer?

* MAC had 5 bench points and only shot 34%. Tough start to the year.

* Another name pops up at UST - B.J. Viau, who scores 18 points and seven rebounds. Joe Scott only scores 9, but Nicolai, Robinson and McCoy pick up the slack.

* Nick Otterson moved to bench - scores 19 in 37 minutes.

[abominable_snowman]

oh yeah, latest pickems are out, and there's a new name on top.

[piperinsider]

http://www.stcloudtimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080108/SPORTS/101080023/1002

Frank the Tank talks about Division IV

[Drake Palmer]

Thanks Snow. Here's my First quarter report I began compiling last night:

MIAC First Quarter Highlights & Lowlights

Now that we're officially down one quarter turn of the MIAC racetrack – I think it's safe to say, the conference race this season is going to be a wide open, woolly affair.  Even last place SMU has got to be encouraged by their last two games. Although it might be a stretch, from an SMU coach's perspective, at 1-5, they are not out of the conference race at all.  On Saturday they hammer the Oles in Northfield 89-75, & last night they go toe to toe with the Gusties only to come up short 85-79. And they do it with without their only consistent inside presence, 3rd leading scorer – Dan Cormier.  Anybody at the game know why he didn't play?  Depending upon your perspective, everybody's favorite/least favorite ride, Nick Carr, goes off for 14 points in his return from the auto shop. 

The Gusties are quietly putting together a solid season. Wednesday's game against the Cobbs is shaping up to be a real battle.  Interesting stat line from reading the Gusties & Tommies game summaries:  SMU has never won on the Gus Young court at Gustavus & the Gusties have a 24 game home winning streak against the Birds. That's since 1984!

Speaking of the Tommies, ho-hum another OT win over Bethel.    The Tommies extend their conference home winning streak to 25 games & their 7th straight win over the Royals.  As badly as this season has gone thus far for the Royals, they're a long way from playing out the string.  Too much talent.

As goes Abe, so go the Scots.  Abe shoots 3-11 & only scores 6 points in their loss to the Dawgs.  In the loss against the Cobbs, I believe he had a quiet 12 points. From looking at their season stats it appears both Abe & Conboy need to have excellent offensive games to give Macalester a decent shot at getting the W.

Prophet - I'm guessing St. Kate's is still reverberating from the sounds of Femi doing his primal roar after laying down his huge double –double: 20 points & 19 rebounds.  Clarification - He had a double double by haltime:  14 points & 13 boards!  Just when you think the Dawgs have been banished to the dog pound for good, they come barking back to knock off the Scots 72-52.

Same holds true with the Oles.  After watching very talented UW-Whitewater play on Saturday, & knowing that the Johnnies had upset Whitewater 10 days earlier, there's no way you could have convinced me that the Oles had a chance against the Johnnies.  Especially since STO just lost decisively to SMU on Saturday.  Shows you what I know.    Nice job Oles.  I still contend if they played 5 x 5, the Johnnies top 5 would beat the Oles' top 5, 7 out of 10 times.  Fortunately for the Oles they've got 2-3 solid contributors who can contribute off the bench. 

I think how well the Johnnies & Carlies do this season will depend upon them staying healthy, & if they can find a way to develop a solid 7th player.  Johnnies are just barely going 6 deep.  And it sounds like the Carlies will need to keep a medic on retainer just to keep 6 healthy bodies available.

Young Pipes lay an egg & lose to the Cobbs.  By the way - how in the world can you develop a decent school cheer (Cobbers?!?) when you yell – "go yellow"?!?  Linz was All World shooting an impressive 15-20 from the field & scoring 31 points.  FY forward Darren Olmscheid looked good as well going 7-9 from the floor & scoring 19 points.  Another player who impressed me was FY PG Karl Olson.  He didn't score but he had a solid floor game, 4 assists (5 TOs) but was out there for 32 minutes against the Piper pressure D.  If they did the hockey scoring thing, I think he would be credited with making the pass that lead to the pass for the assist.  My hat's off to the Cobbs. 

Pipes looked like they attended a Bethel post entry clinic & did a poor job of trying to get the ball inside to Carl Hipp.  Hipp still managed to score 6-8 from the floor.  Based on his pedigree & background, I'm assuming Coach Whitmore will continue to make adjustments & keep developing his players as the season progresses.  Whitmore gambled that his smaller, quicker lineup would beat the taller, slower Cobbers.  At times he had Adam Egan 5-11, Brandon Hayes 5-10 & Pierre Hayes 5-9 all out the court at the same time against the Cobbs. Round 1 to Coach Siverson.

Pick-em players take it from me (at your own risk) – the Cobbs looked solid, good overall team composure, athleticism & decent team quickness.  For the most part they started one player at 6-1 in Karl Olson and everyone else was 6-4 or taller. The Cobbs did a good job of beating the Pipers pressure & throwing over the top of the smaller Hamline players.  Size wise they'll match up real well against the Gusties, & the Cobbs are currently 3rd in the league in scoring defense.  I still question their outside shooting & how well they will fare in a half court game with hard nosed man-man defense. But I guess we'll find out on Wednesday when they play the Gusties at home.

Addendum: PI- Viau is a hooper.  He's a former HS teammate of Zach Johnson's at Carleton.  I like his game alot. He uses his body well, can beat you off the dribble, has got a nice mid range j, finds the open man & plays solid D.