MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[VOJ]

Piranhas:  Any of several tropical American freshwater fishes of the genus Serrasalmus that are voraciously carnivorous and often attack and destroy living animals. Also called caribe also called 2008-09 UST basketball team

Honestly, my first thought when I read the definition was that you were talking about CMob chasing Boombalahties on his roller skates....     Okay, maybe not the destroy part....    8)

I think we need further research into that, since Wonka has actually seen CMob on his skates chucking down burgers...maybe he can catch up with a Boombalahty that has been pursued by CMob...

Big Saturday of Hoops fellas...Johnnies at St. Mary's...Auggies invade St. Olaf, Carleton at the rejuvenated Pipers, Concordia at Bethel(break out the shoulder pads for this one) and Mac gets the Toms at home...

Hey Cardinal supporters who post..I will be courside in Winona if you want to introduce yourself...

I wish I could say that I would be able to come introduce myself but I have been traveling a lot lately and will once again be out of town for tomorrows reunion game with Coach Trewick and SMU. I am not sure if he will be there or not but I would love to see how awkward it would be between him and the SMU AD!! If I am not mistaken the johnnies have not played their best basketball when making the trip to winona. It could be a good one!!

Tear...sounds like you won't be able to make too bad...just look for a guy with radio equipment and a headset on if you do enter the gym...hopefully the Sam Blank Posse will be able to cheer the J's to victory...I am also hoping Blank goes off like he did at Morris last year where he had 18 as he struts his stuff in front of the home folk

IF and its a big IF the J's can get this game at SMU, because SMU is playing better and the J's have not always played their best in Winona,  and they beat Mac at home on Monday night...they could be in position to throw the knockout punch to the Oles, especially if the Auggies put one over on the Oles today...

Where is everyone's battleship name??

[Drake Palmer]

Where is everyone's battleship name??

I don't know Voj, but I think Captain Willard aka Sensei (Greg Sager) & company are heading up the Nung River. 

[Gregory Sager]

The horror ... the horror ...

[Willy Wonka]

WOW!!!

Just saw the dunk of the year by Augsburg's Grimm! One of the little Auggie guards had a clear path to the basket in transition with a comfortable lead...but slows down to throw a lob pass over a defender to a trailing Andy Grzesiak-Grimm, who hammer times it on an Ole's head (I think it was Jaryan). He got T'd up for hanging on the rim (and pulling himself up over the trailing Ole).

I hope Luddy got a picture of that..cause it explains perfectly the whooping Augsburg is putting on Olaf right now. First time I've "seen" Augsburg play and it's been impressive. Alm looks like a stud.

(As I typed that last sentence, the Oles have cut it to 57-51 with 1:41 left. Go figure.)

[Nites]

So much for picking SMU in an upset.  Johnnies roll 83-62.

Carleton over HU (sorry Drake) 73-64 and Auggie over St. Olaf, 65-61

Royals over the Cobbers 67-59 behind Moberg's 17 pts. and 19 boards

[papahoops]

UST cruises to 86-41 win at MAC today. No UST starter played over 18 minutes, and their second team would have easily won by 20-30 today on their own. Not only is UST head and shoulders above anyone in the league, but their second team could compete with any of the other teams in the league. I have followed the league closely for 6-7 years, and no one has come close to dominating like this. For those of you following the league longer, has there ever been a MIAC team that has dominated the league as UST is doing this year?

[Nites]

UST cruises to 86-41 win at MAC today. No UST starter played over 18 minutes, and their second team would have easily won by 20-30 today on their own. Not only is UST head and shoulders above anyone in the league, but their second team could compete with any of the other teams in the league. I have followed the league closely for 6-7 years, and no one has come close to dominating like this. For those of you following the league longer, has there ever been a MIAC team that has dominated the league as UST is doing this year?

Yes, but you neglected to mention that MAC held the Tommies to only 20 steals and 8-17 from the free throw line. 

[Drake Palmer]

So much for picking SMU in an upset.  Johnnies roll 83-62.

Carleton over HU (sorry Drake) 73-64 and Auggie over St. Olaf, 65-61

Royals over the Cobbers 67-59 behind Moberg's 17 pts. and 19 boards

I gotta run & try my hand at this snowshoeing "thingy" but the Pipes played the Carlies, very tough in the 2nd half.  One more week of studying the Manifesto & they might have pulled this one off.      Hamline's Nick Carroll did a pretty decent job D-ing up Zorro (12 pts ?) , but the Goose has got his  lil "geesies" trained in the art of the sweet looking follow thru on the tripple- Seth Jonker, Carter Biewen, Blaise Davis held the longest follow thru of the day - good ballgame. 

UST cruises to 86-41 win at MAC today. No UST starter played over 18 minutes, and their second team would have easily won by 20-30 today on their own. Not only is UST head and shoulders above anyone in the league, but their second team could compete with any of the other teams in the league. I have followed the league closely for 6-7 years, and no one has come close to dominating like this. For those of you following the league longer, has there ever been a MIAC team that has dominated the league as UST is doing this year?

Those late 90s Augsburg teams with Devean George were plenty nasty.  But collectively as a league (at least I would hope so), we'd like to see the Tommies (or eventual '09 league winner), do better than the usual "1 and done"  as the Dawgs did.  I think we might be able to get Mose or ahem, Willy to do a little historical background story & tell us about Devean & the Dawgs... C'mon Uncle Mose! 

[HarryDH]

I was able to take in my second MIAC game of the year at Bethel today.  I came away more impressed with the Bethel defense than I have in my past years of following the Royals.  Granted, I didn't see much offensive skill from the Cobbers, but I don't know enough about their team to know if that is the norm or whether the Royals really shut them down.  Bethel played very well in the first half when they were getting the ball into moberg who showed a little more offensive aggression.  As usual they did decided that working the ball inside was working too well so they abandoned it in the second half.  Moberg still got some points, but they were mostly off of offensive rebounds.  Concordia got it to six at one point, but couldn't pull any closer than that as the lead hovered around 10 the remainder of the game.

When I look at the cobbers roster they are pretty young.  They didn't have consistent point guard play or outside shooting which hurt them today.  Also, Freese (sp?) was throwing up some out of control shots in the first half which helped Bethel jump out to a lead.  He's a big strong kid that with a little more finesse could be a solid scorer in the league.  Overall, they just didn't have enough offensive talent to make a run at the end from what I could see.

[Willy Wonka]

UST cruises to 86-41 win at MAC today. No UST starter played over 18 minutes, and their second team would have easily won by 20-30 today on their own. Not only is UST head and shoulders above anyone in the league, but their second team could compete with any of the other teams in the league. I have followed the league closely for 6-7 years, and no one has come close to dominating like this. For those of you following the league longer, has there ever been a MIAC team that has dominated the league as UST is doing this year?

I'd refer you to what the Tommie SID had to say about that, halfway down the page. Personally, I think it's something of the perfect storm this year: UST is head and shoulders above the rest of the league and the usual contenders are almost all "down" this year. An upset could still happen...but I've got to think it's unlikely.

Given that train of thought, the better question might be how does this UST team compare to the other great MIAC teams in recent memory? Namely, the UST teams with the Big 3, the Gusties before that, Buri's Tommies, the George-led Auggies and the Schmidt-led GAC teams of the late 90s? How willing are people to go here without any postseason success? Moses?

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

UST cruises to 86-41 win at MAC today. No UST starter played over 18 minutes, and their second team would have easily won by 20-30 today on their own. Not only is UST head and shoulders above anyone in the league, but their second team could compete with any of the other teams in the league. I have followed the league closely for 6-7 years, and no one has come close to dominating like this. For those of you following the league longer, has there ever been a MIAC team that has dominated the league as UST is doing this year?

Those late 90s Augsburg teams with Devean George were plenty nasty.  But collectively as a league (at least I would hope so), we'd like to see the Tommies (or eventual '09 league winner), do better than the usual "1 and done"  as the Dawgs did.  I think we might be able to get Mose or ahem, Willy to do a little historical background story & tell us about Devean & the Dawgs... C'mon Uncle Mose! 

I for one was never that impressed with Augsburg of the George years. Statistically he dominated the league, but the team around him was good, not overwhelming.  The lasting memory of him that I have was him being utterly and totally dominated by Tommie Fritz in the MIAC playoffs @ Augsburg. The only highlight from DGeorge that game was a monstrous spike of the ball that bounced nearly to the ceiling of Si Melby, drawing a well-deserved T. While they went 19-1 in his senior year, I don't remember them dominating like UST is doing thus far this year.

In the George era, Augsburg was a paltry 1-3 in the MIAC Playoffs, failing to win it all. They were 1-2 in NCAA tourneys, although the MIAC on the whole has a less-than-stellar record in the NCAA.

In the "short" time I've followed the league, I'd say the closest I've seen to this level of domination was SJU in the late 70s, with Frankie Alphabet and Pat McKenzie Sr.  Also, the UST team teams of the early 70s- Fritz, Rosier, Mikan, Fitzpatrick, Tamble, etc- that went deep in the old NAIA tourney were dominant. Frankie and Fritz were easily the two most dominant players I've seen wearing MIAC jerseys and both were blessed with amazing teammates. George had some sweet moves, but has grown as a player since graduating. He's an incredible story, one that continued to grow and evolve throughout his MIAC days and beyond.

In no particular order, I'd rate the GAC team of 2002-03 as better than any of the George teams, along with the UST team that went 27-0 and reached the Final 4 the year before that (Tauer, Longval, & Co). Ditto for the Auggie teams of the mid-70s with Dave Boots running the floor and Irv Inninger drawing up the Xs and Os. The Schmidt-led Gusties WW mentions were powerful teams, too.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Enough nostalgia....as expected UST mauled Mac. The Scots went 12+ minutes without scoring, as the Tommies went on a 26-0 tear to turn a 9-6 game into a 35-6 blowout.

Absolutely a beautiful facility at Mac, though. Its even nicer to see the 2nd time around

[Willy Wonka]

UST cruises to 86-41 win at MAC today. No UST starter played over 18 minutes, and their second team would have easily won by 20-30 today on their own. Not only is UST head and shoulders above anyone in the league, but their second team could compete with any of the other teams in the league. I have followed the league closely for 6-7 years, and no one has come close to dominating like this. For those of you following the league longer, has there ever been a MIAC team that has dominated the league as UST is doing this year?

Those late 90s Augsburg teams with Devean George were plenty nasty.  But collectively as a league (at least I would hope so), we'd like to see the Tommies (or eventual '09 league winner), do better than the usual "1 and done"  as the Dawgs did.  I think we might be able to get Mose or ahem, Willy to do a little historical background story & tell us about Devean & the Dawgs... C'mon Uncle Mose! 

I for one was never that impressed with Augsburg of the George years. Statistically he dominated the league, but the team around him was good, not overwhelming.  The lasting memory of him that I have was him being utterly and totally dominated by Tommie Fritz in the MIAC playoffs @ Augsburg. The only highlight from DGeorge that game was a monstrous spike of the ball that bounced nearly to the ceiling of Si Melby, drawing a well-deserved T. While they went 19-1 in his senior year, I don't remember them dominating like UST is doing thus far this year.

In the George era, Augsburg was a paltry 1-3 in the MIAC Playoffs, failing to win it all. They were 1-2 in NCAA tourneys, although the MIAC on the whole has a less-than-stellar record in the NCAA.

In the "short" time I've followed the league, I'd say the closest I've seen to this level of domination was SJU in the late 70s, with Frankie Alphabet and Pat McKenzie Sr.  Also, the UST team teams of the early 70s- Fritz, Rosier, Mikan, Fitzpatrick, Tamble, etc- that went deep in the old NAIA tourney were dominant. Frankie and Fritz were easily the two most dominant players I've seen wearing MIAC jerseys and both were blessed with amazing teammates. George had some sweet moves, but has grown as a player since graduating. He's an incredible story, one that continued to grow and evolve throughout his MIAC days and beyond.

In no particular order, I'd rate the GAC team of 2002-03 as better than any of the George teams, along with the UST team that went 27-0 and reached the Final 4 the year before that (Tauer, Longval, & Co). Ditto for the Auggie teams of the mid-70s with Dave Boots running the floor and Irv Inninger drawing up the Xs and Os. The Schmidt-led Gusties WW mentions were powerful teams, too.

I never saw George play, but I have two thoughts to add before we end the history lesson.

• George dropped 44 at Gus Young on the GAC team Moses just touted, and Hanson has told me they focused the whole defense around slowing him down. Poo-pooing his talents is ridiculous.
• Augsburg's merely "good" supporting included future league MVP Jeoffrey Reed and all-league Kevin VanRossum — guys who were good enough to finish second in the league the year after George graduated. Call me crazy, but that seems like a fairly potent roster.

UST's dominance this year is impressive, but you can't ignore the context of the situation. The league doesn't have another legit contender and the nonconference schedule doesn't include a team with a winning record: Pomona-Pitzer (8-9), Occidental (8-9) and UW-River Falls (9-10). In fact, just four five of their 19 wins have come against teams with a winning record, including a 9-8 GAC team.

The numbers are great, but let's see how they do in March.

Edit: UST has defeated Augsburg twice.

[papahoops]

WW,
Your point is well taken. I realize that UST's dominance in the conference to date is a function of the other typically stronger teams (like Gustavus) being "down" this year. I realize there have been other teams in the past as good or better than the current UST squad, but a higher level of competition did not allow those teams to dominate the league as UST is doing this year. I hope this lower level of competition will not hurt their post season prospects versus teams coming from conferences like the WIAC, which has several nationally rated teams competing against each other on a regular basis.

[hoopmaster]

The D-George team his Senior year was the most dominate team I have seen.  Comparing 08-09 Tommies team to the 98-99 Auggie team isn't even close.  As WW mentioned the Auggie team played against great competition in a Schmidt lead GAC team, Joldersma lead Bethel team and Whilhelm lead Carelton team.  The league was very good and they still dominated.  However, it did not transfer over to post season success.  I don't believe the 08-09 Tommies will have great post season success either.