MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[gacbacker]

Sooooo...let me get this straight, Drake.

You're saying I shouldn't be so quick to cast the 7-5 Gusties, who recently got absolutely hammered twice by two ranked teams, as an underdog against the undefeated, second-ranked Tommies? At Schoenecker, where the last GAC win came six years ago?

You got some 'splainin' to do, Lucy!

Willy – Your Gusties are definitely going to be dogs when they take on UST on Saturday, but a different type of dog than what you & I might have expected to see even two weeks ago. They're going to biting, snarling, scratching, and digging junkyard underdawgs with an attitude.  Then they'll need to bring that same cool, calm composure when the Big Dawgs from UST start bringing the defensive heat.  And I think the Gusties will be up for the challenge. If you can't tell, I'm liking how this Gustavus team is playing. 

Last year I don't think your guards could physically or athletically match up with the Tommies, in terms of strength, quickness & intensity, but this year is a slightly different story.  I still give the overall edge in guard play to UST, but what I see happening is the rapid development of your team.  There's an old adage that says "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" & I think this certainly applies to this year's version of Gustavus.

I'm not sure about Whitworth, but Puget Sound is a senior dominated team.  And as I've said before, UPS is one of 2-3 quickest D-3 teams I've seen in recent years.  Gustavus got hammered, but survived UPS & Whitworth, the frenetic style of Hamline, & the quickness of Bethel.  They'll be ready for UST.

Drake your analysis is solid, however I think the Gusties' chances come down to one simple point: Can they control the tempo of the basketball game?

If they can settle into their halfcourt offense, work the shot clock and knock down some shots early they might have a chance. But I'm with Willy, the fact that this game is at St. Thomas makes me think that the Tommies will win this one by double digits.

[piperinsider]

There's an old adage that says "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" & I think this certainly applies to this year's version of Gustavus.

Yes, but the gentleman who coined that particular old adage went insane.

Are you sure this guy didn't coin it?

Who is that?

Kanye West - those are lyrics from Stronger

Take that you stinkin' Badgers! TUBBY TIME! I know my man Mafia was loving him some Devron Bostick-Paul Carter-Blake Hoffarber-DJ Swat Johnson-oh and Lawrence "my cousin is Brian" Westbrook rally. WE'RE COMIN!

Abu-Shamala would look good in Piper maroon and white.

[Drake Palmer]

There's an old adage that says "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" & I think this certainly applies to this year's version of Gustavus.

Yes, but the gentleman who coined that particular old adage went insane.

Are you sure this guy didn't coin it?

Who is that?

C'mon Greg- we know you the know the classic knowledge droppers, but you have to get up to date on the current street philosophers. He's another blowhard from your own Windy City -- "College Dropout", "Golddigger" etc.

And regarding the other quotemaker , F. Nietzsche, I'm thinking your old run of the mill madmen, would have died within months of going insane.  Whatever made Nietzche strong, must have kept him alive for another 11 years! 

And back to basketball...

Big MIAC (Minnesota) beats Big CCIW/WIAC (Wisconsin) 78-74 in OT.

"That's what we do"

Good post PI - you beat me to the punch.  I was going to make Greg sweat out the answer for a bit. 

[columbianmaffia]

i dont think it is that cold outside...too many people putting weak sauce on their cereal

Not all of us have super, impenetrable, kryponite winter weight Spandex tights like you CMOb! 

+k...love the diagram

but...

you know what i love more??

TUBBY!!!!!!


TUBBY GIVES ME A CHUBBY!!!!!

stinkin badgers...

[Gregory Sager]

C'mon Greg- we know you the know the classic knowledge droppers, but you have to get up to date on the current street philosophers. He's another blowhard from your own Windy City -- "College Dropout", "Golddigger" etc.

Even though I don't know enough about Kanye West to recognize his picture, I know who he is, and that's more than most people in my age-and-racial demographic can claim. Sorry to all of you hip-hop fans out there, but I don't feel as though I'm missing anything by not knowing more about him. I already hear more hip-hop than I care to hear by sitting in gyms night after night and having to listen to warmups mixes.

If I ever get to sit in the opposite chair from Meredith Viera on Millionaire, I've already decided that I'm going to get some young pup to be my Phone-a-Friend for any hip-hop questions that come up.

[/old fart mode]

And back to basketball...

Big MIAC (Minnesota) beats Big CCIW/WIAC (Wisconsin) 78-74 in OT.

The number of Badgers fans among CCIWers is probably pretty small. We have one school in Wisconsin, and it's barely across the border -- and in fact a very large percentage of the student population of Carthage consists of FIBs (that's the acronym by which we Illinoisians are known in Cheeseland; I'll leave it to your imaginations as to what the acronym stands for), because the Carthage administration matches Illinois state aid for any Illinois-resident students that apply.

If you're really looking for Big Ten bragging rights over the CCIW people who care about the D1 game (not all of us do; I certainly don't anymore), then hold off until the Gophers beat the Illini. (Northwestern doesn't count, of course.)

[wabbit]

DP - I saw the Knights play Simpson that's how I knew about the PG's. I also did some checking and you are right, Sutherland ran point last year. I noticed the Johnnies seemed to play there starters almost the whole game (K's vs J's). Will they wear down as the season goes on or is it not really a big deal?

Looks like I might have been on to something...St Johns has lost 4 of the last 5...

The Knights are piling up wins...Looks like they will battle the Gusties for second. St. Thomas looks just better than the rest even though the Knights led for awhile and played them tough. Of course it is easier for the Tommies since if you have the cash you can get in unlike Carleton which only excepts only the brightest kids.

Finally, it looks like that Davis kid has taken over the PG position for the Knights...shooting almost 500 on 3 pt. Looks like it will be Burns and him battling for best new PG in the MIAC. When Davis was guarding Burns, Burns only had 2 points but Davis had 14 against Burns, Hmmm....Granted it was catch up time when Davis scored most of his points.

[gacbacker]

Gusties were no match for St. Thomas today. Not even close. 29 Gustavus turnovers has to be the most in a LONG time.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

The Knights are piling up wins...Looks like they will battle the Gusties for second. St. Thomas looks just better than the rest even though the Knights led for awhile and played them tough. Of course it is easier for the Tommies since if you have the cash you can get in unlike Carleton which only excepts only the brightest kids.

Is failure to properly use English a requisite to admission or is it something taught at Carleton? Or does Carleton make an exception for the brightest kids,  and ACCEPT anyone with $45k to cover the check??   

(just tweeking you, Wabbit...I couldn't resist)

[westie]

That may have been worst Gustie game I have ever had sit through...29 turnovers...yuck.  The Tommies were better at every position, end of the story. 

MIAC officiating still horrible (both ways) especially in the first half...Coombes sp? refuses to blow his whistle.

[VOJ]

That may have been worst Gustie game I have ever had sit through...29 turnovers...yuck.  The Tommies were better at every position, end of the story. 

MIAC officiating still horrible (both ways) especially in the first have...Coombes sp? refuses to blow his whistle.

Like I said fellas..."pirranhnas" or the Borg from STNG...they wear you down, deplete your reserves and then consume you.

As for the officiating...Coombs got blasted in the St. Cloud Times recently, he tossed Kevin Schlagel at SCSU when they played UMD, I believe the quote in the paper was, "you have not made a call for us in 5 years"...I used to be a big basher of the refs, but here is what I have learned, they are going to make calls, and you will not always be happy with them...but they come anyway, or in some cases you don't get the call, they seem to even out.

As for the J's yesterday...nice win, executed well offensively and made the extra pass, 24 assists on 34 FG, bench scored 36 or so which was a nice contribution...BIG matchup at St. Peter tomorrow night...will the Gusties be hung over from their showdown with the Tommies?  If its one thing I have noticed in MIAC football, it seems the week after anyone plays SJU they are not as sharpe and seem to struggle...that might start happening here with UST.

[wabbit]

The Knights are piling up wins...Looks like they will battle the Gusties for second. St. Thomas looks just better than the rest even though the Knights led for awhile and played them tough. Of course it is easier for the Tommies since if you have the cash you can get in unlike Carleton which only excepts only the brightest kids.

Is failure to properly use English a requisite to admission or is it something taught at Carleton? Or does Carleton make an exception for the brightest kids,  and ACCEPT anyone with $45k to cover the check??   

(just tweeking you, Wabbit...I couldn't resist)

Ouch! I can give you three reasons for my mistake. 1. Getting old and my brain does crap like that all the time. 2. I am so reliant on spelling and grammer checkers that I am losing it. 3. I graduated from St. Thomas (Magna Cum Laude)! See I told you they let any lame brain into that school.

The Knights took on the Scots with a lack luster effort yesterday. The starters didn't seem to take the game seriously until the last 10 minutes or so when Macalester made a game of it. Johnson scored 36 and did whatever he wanted all game long.

The Knights are in second (tied with Gustavus) place with a game against Bethel Monday and Gustavus Wednesday. If they take care of business, they will stand alone in second place.

[Willy Wonka]

I've never been to a more underwhelming MIAC basketball game in my life. Gustavus is worse than I thought, UST was sloppy and the Tommie crowd was awful. You have the second-best team in the nation, are undefeated, playing your perennial rival for the conference lead...and your home crowd is dead quiet ALL game? Just a terribly disappointing afternoon all around.

Now for some reaction...

Wonka's Quick Hits

• Most people I was sitting around yesterday said Sam Paulson was terrible. I'm here to play Lee Corso (Not so fast!)...The offensive spacing and movement yesterday was the worst I've ever seen. That makes a post's job especially hard. In the first half, Paulson caught the ball on the block and had to wait at least three seconds for congestion to clear. When no one ever moved, it made for easy doubles. He seemed completely unsure of himself in the second half after six TOs early.

• GAC tried to dribble through UST's pressure. The Tommies weren't doing anything spectacular, but it was WAY more effective than it should have been. In my playing days, we prepared for Hampden-Sydney's FC pressure by playing 7v5 in practice, essentially forcing us to move the ball and quickly read the gaps. The GAC guards didn't seem to have a clue how to attack it and its bigs aren't skilled enough to make UST pay in a 2v1 situation (RE: McPartland's charge).

• GAC doesn't have a truly explosive athlete in its rotation. No one can consistently get to the rim or go by his guy in the full court. DLo's best attribute as a PG is his ability to run the offense. He couldn't do that yesterday, which led to just 14 minutes of PT. He wasn't always much better, but I liked Schmidtknecht's fire off the bench.

• GAC had 17 turnovers at halftime and felt like it should be down 30 or 40. Instead, the score was just 30-23. The stats don't necessarily reflect that anything major was out of whack, but I felt the Tommies didn't play well in any aspect of the game except defense. Fritz using two quick timeouts after quick shots late in the second half may suggest he agrees with me. If they played well, I thought it easily could have been a repeat of UST@GAC '06.

• Say what you want about team MVP, Joe Scott is UST's most important player. He got in foul trouble early and sat most of the first half. Halvorson and Healy played well in his place, but he's the best pure shooter (scorer?) in the conference. His shooting in the second half finally blew the game open. Everyone else in the lineup is replaceable to a certain extent, but the Tommies will have trouble in March if he can't find a way to stay on the floor.

• If you combined the two teams on the court yesterday, how many Gusties would make the rotation? Van Sickle, who was shut down by Robinson, would be the only one in the discussion IMO.

Potential Tommie Issues In March

The Tommies are very, very good. They are talented and deep. The #2 ranking is well deserved. However, there are a couple chinks in their armor that could bite them in the national tournament.

• Point guard production. Did Nicolai even show up yesterday? Was he sick again? Tuma didn't make any mistakes, but I'm not sure he's a much better option. This was a HUGE factor in last season's early exit and it doesn't seem to be resolved quite yet. Can Robinson or Scott play the point? I wouldn't be surprised if Fritz experiments with this a bit the rest of the way as a precaution.

• Post production. McCoy was up to his usual tricks yesterday, but I'm not convinced he can play 30+ minutes against the big bangers from the WIAC or IIAC. Eicher's craftiness was missing in a 1-5 shooting performance. Can Viau hold his own against a big, strong 4-man on the blocks? This was also a problem against BV last winter.

• Teddy Archer. After surviving some academic issues and talking his way back into the mix, he remains something of a wild card for UST. His antics/flopping/taunting were on hold yesterday, which was nice to see. I'm guessing he's close to getting the final boot from Fritz, which could throw a wrench in their nice start.

• Complacency. As the UST website points out in the game story, the Tommies just went 4-0 against the top four contenders. The average margin was 18 points. They are clearly the class of the league...but I'm not sure that helps them much for the long haul. How do they play from behind? It's something we may not know until the national tourney, which could make things dicey.

Officiating

Changing 10 calls yesterday wouldn't have altered the outcome...but it was still frustrating to watch. As I discussed at length last year, Coombe is just an atrocious ref. Here was my favorite conversation after the Slap Heard Round The Gym Yet Didn't Get Called.

Hanson: What was that?
Coombe: That was all ball.
Hanson: You could hear the slap from here!
Coombe: The wrist is part of the ball.

Officials are human. They make mistakes. We all understand that. But admitting a missed call is better than digging in your heels when literally everyone in the gym knows you messed up.

[gacbacker]

I agree with just about everything Willy said, with the exception of his analysis of Paulson. Paulson was terrible, and I didn't see the congestion that Willy is talking about. I saw someone who was afraid to make a move against McCoy. To make matters worse, instead of moving the ball he held the ball and it was repeatedly stolen from him. I thought he would have come in with more confidence after a spectacular effort against Bethel.

Even if he had played better, it wouldn't have mattered, because as Willy said, the Gustie guards had no idea how to get the ball across half court.

[Drake Palmer]

A day late & a dollar short.  I'd also agree with Gacbacker – good post WW.  I'd agree with most of your points as well – most not all.  Well written, insightful, plus only a very small dollop of the usual Wonka spew.     It was also refreshing to see none of the usual spouting off by some "Tommie come lately" to the message board, celebrating a win by the Tommies over the Gusties. But as quiet as it's been around here, mebbe some smack talking & controversy from someone other than the usuals – WW, AO, a few of the elders, might be good comic relief & perk up the board. 

A few more post GAC-UST game reactions:

**We've always talked about the LA Laker like crowd at the Shoe- so it's really not that big of a surprise the Tommie crowd was quiet yesterday.  Besides, it's J-term.  And, as the game became more & more lopsided, it became tougher to cheer against a fallen, once proud opponent.

**I was going to leave Sam Paulsen out of my post but since you guys brought him up.    Willy - I'd agree with Gacbacker.  I'm sure yesterday was a day he & the rest of the Gusties would just as soon forget.  From my vantage point what I saw was a post player slow to react & make up his mind what he wanted to do.  He also seemed to have forgotten how to chin the ball, extend the elbows & survey the court. Paulson was constantly (stubbornly?) lowering his head, dropping the ball down to his waist or lower to make a post move, & getting ripped by smaller Tommie defenders.

**I still think Schmidknecht is going to be a very good PG- sooner rather than later. The kid's got guts, & on a couple of defensive switches he was battling it out with McCoy & giving as good as he got. 

**The Tommies' Tyler Nicolai has been playing well & he didn't need to have a big scoring game yesterday.  Hopefully he's still playing well come February & March.

**I'd say Joe Scott is the Tommie best all around player, but B.J. Viau has been playing at a more consistent, MVP type level this season.  The only thing preventing him from getting serious consideration is that Viau doesn't put up the big offensive numbers like a Scott, Zorro or Madson.

In private conversations I've got to believe knowledgeable Tommie fans are wondering when Scott is going to return to early season shooting form.  Now no one is expecting him to make treys at a near 50% clip as he was during the first 5-6 games of the season.  But lately, the signs have been troubling.  Since December 30th, Scott has had one solid night shooting the deep ball, & that was last week against Carleton when he was 5-9.  Otherwise, Scott's numbers in the past 6 games have been a Wonka-like 3-9, 1-6, 2-6, 1-2 & 0-9, totaling 12-41 for a very Frigid King like 29%. 

Fortunately there have been other UST players that have stepped up – Viau, Nicolai, McCoy, Halverson etc., but for the Tommies to win the league & make any potential deep post season run, they'll need to make sure their top long range gunners Batman –Scott and Robin - Nicolai are firing accurately.

**The Tommies have had some tough games, but they were back in December - UW-LAX & CSTP.  Will someone push them in the next 6 weeks or beat them?  For whoever maybe the eventual league representative/s in the big dance, I hope so. Besides, what did Kanye Nietzsche say?   

[TearDrop]

Just a question for the board....

Is a winning team a must to be considered for the player of the year award?? If not, why is SMU's Will Wright not ever mentioned in the discussion about the best player in the league?