MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[sumander]

Nice wrap of the UST/GAC game WW. Got me half tempted to make the 300 mile trek to St. Peter! Restating the obvious, this is the best shot someone has at disrupting the perfect season!. UST closes out with SJU and HAM at home. The J's have been abysmal at the Shoe recently. I don't see that changing. HAM will have to hang on for dear life if UST is 19-0 going into that last game!

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

All the talk about UST trying to complete an unbeaten season got me thinking and after a lot of digging, I think Mac is about to create a piece of MIAC history: they are on the brink of being the first team since WWII to go through the season without a win.

I've combed thru the various team websites, and as far as I can tell, there has not been an MIAC men's basketball team go without a win in conference play since at least 1959-60 (obviously, none have gone winless for the full season since then either). Prior to 1970-71, records get sketchy, but it looks like most of the 60s no one was winless. Before that, it get very hard to say for sure.

The only one I can find since WWII without a win in conference play is SMU in 1945-46, but those Cardinals won some non-conference games.

A caveat--It is hard to find much data prior to the mid 1960s. Augsburg, Gustavus and Mac have no records available online prior to the 1990s. The Concordia site had the season standings for the full league going back to the late 60s, as well as Cobber results going back further. SMU had their records going back to the 30s. Bethel, Carleton and St. Olaf were out of the MIAC prior to 1982-83 (Carlie & Ole were in the league in the 20s and 30s).

I feel safe in saying Mac is approaching history. Their 23 losses is the most I can find by a MIAC team, and 19 conference games is the mos ever lost in a season.

[Willy Wonka]

Game tied 7-7 early.

I had almost forgotten how much I dislike listening to the Gustie announcer...

[Willy Wonka]

Tommies up 35-27 late in the first half.

Gusties have handled the press very well, but Healy just drilled two big threes. GAC is something like 7-15 at the line. Sounds like a big crowd on hand.

[Willy Wonka]

Tommies up 57-44 with under nine minutes to play. Gusties have just nine turnovers today, but haven't made a basket in almost eight minutes either.

[Willy Wonka]

Hamline POUNDS SJU 82-64, according to the GAC announcer.

I wonder if Smith will take credit for that one, too

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Hamline POUNDS SJU 82-64, according to the GAC announcer.

I wonder if Smith will take credit for that one, too

Well, he IS closing in on #500  (698-485)

[papahoops]

After miacmaniac's post pointing out unusual statistical occurences this year (UST's potential 20-0 MIAC season and MAC's potential 0-20 season). I checked out some team web site stats to see if anything else stood out in this unusal year. A stat quirk I noticed was that with 2 games remaining, GAC has no player averaging 10 points per game (although McPartland, VanSickle are just shy at 9.9). Although one of these guys could easily climb over the 10.0 mark in the next 2 games, I can't recall another MIAC playoff team in recent memory that did not have a double figure scorer over the course of the year.

[VOJ]

Hamline POUNDS SJU 82-64, according to the GAC announcer.

I wonder if Smith will take credit for that one, too

Hamline POUNDS SJU 82-64, according to the GAC announcer.

I wonder if Smith will take credit for that one, too

Well, he IS closing in on #500  (698-485)

You two are so funny...if you were closer in age I might suggest you twins split at birth, kind of like Arnold and Danny DeVito

Give credit to Hamline, they were on fire, shooting 60%...Whitmore was probably sitting on the bench wondering where this was all year long, Thrasher had a great senior day and Hipp dominated inside, and Clute could not miss in the second half...

Great performance, Hipp, Clute Wenrich and Van Ordstrand are nice building blocks for next year...

J's go into the pressure-cooker on Wednesday night...hopefully they will apply all they learned in game one and will produce a better result in game two vs UST...

Regardless of that game, next Saturdays game with GAC looks very intriguing from a seed standpoint...possibly a homecourt game in the first round could be at stake?

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Hamline POUNDS SJU 82-64, according to the GAC announcer.

I wonder if Smith will take credit for that one, too

Hamline POUNDS SJU 82-64, according to the GAC announcer.

I wonder if Smith will take credit for that one, too

Well, he IS closing in on #500  (698-485)

You two are so funny...if you were closer in age I might suggest you twins split at birth, kind of like Arnold and Danny DeVito

Give credit to Hamline, they were on fire, shooting 60%...Whitmore was probably sitting on the bench wondering where this was all year long, Thrasher had a great senior day and Hipp dominated inside, and Clute could not miss in the second half...
Great performance, Hipp, Clute Wenrich and Van Ordstrand are nice building blocks for next year...

J's go into the pressure-cooker on Wednesday night...hopefully they will apply all they learned in game one and will produce a better result in game two vs UST...

Regardless of that game, next Saturdays game with GAC looks very intriguing from a seed standpoint...possibly a homecourt game in the first round could be at stake?

Thanks....just trying to inject some levity here

CLute actually didnt miss in either half, at least according to the box score   

See you Weds? will the Big Red faithful be in attendance?

[Drake Palmer]

The board was so quiet after yesterday & this morning, I thought everyone was still stuck in Bruce Springsteen's "Tunnel of Love"

Hamline POUNDS SJU 82-64, according to the GAC announcer.

I wonder if Smith will take credit for that one, too

Hamline POUNDS SJU 82-64, according to the GAC announcer.

I wonder if Smith will take credit for that one, too

Well, he IS closing in on #500  (698-485)

You two are so funny...if you were closer in age I might suggest you twins split at birth, kind of like Arnold and Danny DeVito

Give credit to Hamline, they were on fire, shooting 60%...Whitmore was probably sitting on the bench wondering where this was all year long...

Clever posts Mose, Wonka. +K,+K  I see Valentine's Day weekend isn't over yet & bruh VOJ is leading the snipe patrol & dispatching smites to Mose & Willy.  Dang, V that's harsh - where's the brotherly love? Those were two funny posts. 

Ok, I'll duck for cover & re-emerge later on in the week as Hoops Hump Week begins in earnest.

Watch out MIAC- Bethel is looking serious about making a playoff run. 56-53 over the Dawgs yesterday.  And who said they can't play defense. 

[Freebird]

Dear board-

I have returned from a 6 week hiatus and will be joining the board again for the latter part of  the stretch run. 

A few things of note:

1.  I will be providing my usual in-deep and insightful commentary on the BU squad 

2.  And every other team that happens to be at the gym as the same as Bethel

3.  The BU/UST was a pleasure to watch and a great welcome home from the MIAC after being out of the country for most of the season

4.  Considering we played the best basketball I have seen in sometime and still managed to lose I'm a bit worried heading into the playoffs

5.  However I think if we had won that game it would have decreased our chances of beating UST in the playoffs. Thoughts anyone? Maybe that is a dumb comment 

6.  It was great talking with AO at the game and getting to meet the recently announced, soon to be, Mrs AO.  You have clearly found a winner when she is willing to join you for miac games.  Congratulations 

7.  Moberg played great, Laugen played out of his mind but I thought his fist pumping antics were a bit much especially after that first three he hit in the 1st half.

Thats all I have for now.  Have a great day, +K for everyone!

[Generic Dude 75]

Nice few wins down the stretch for the Tommies. Their success this year is really putting the school and the MIAC in the spotlight which is good to see.

Please tell me someone else saw Crowder from GAC give the Tommie students the ol' one figured salute on saturday, not once but TWICE. I'm sure he's a good kid and plays hard, but I was a little surprised no one called him out on his actions on saturday. I love to see a guy play into the crowd, but that sort of thing makes everyone on his team look bad and to be honest there wasn't really anything to warrant it. I know the Tommie fans usually get blasted for being not being good enough fans but I've been impressed with a small contingent of diehard students who have made an effort to make the game just a bit more annoying for the opposing team.

[HammyPipers]

Word is that Fong had been playing with his quad injury since the Hamline game and continued to play injured through Bethel.  Missing two games and almost two weeks of practice, I don't know if there is reason to bring him back even if he's alright to go the last two games of the season.

[VOJ]

Hamline POUNDS SJU 82-64, according to the GAC announcer.

I wonder if Smith will take credit for that one, too

Hamline POUNDS SJU 82-64, according to the GAC announcer.

I wonder if Smith will take credit for that one, too

Well, he IS closing in on #500  (698-485)

You two are so funny...if you were closer in age I might suggest you twins split at birth, kind of like Arnold and Danny DeVito

Give credit to Hamline, they were on fire, shooting 60%...Whitmore was probably sitting on the bench wondering where this was all year long, Thrasher had a great senior day and Hipp dominated inside, and Clute could not miss in the second half...
Great performance, Hipp, Clute Wenrich and Van Ordstrand are nice building blocks for next year...

J's go into the pressure-cooker on Wednesday night...hopefully they will apply all they learned in game one and will produce a better result in game two vs UST...

Regardless of that game, next Saturdays game with GAC looks very intriguing from a seed standpoint...possibly a homecourt game in the first round could be at stake?

Thanks....just trying to inject some levity here

CLute actually didnt miss in either half, at least according to the box score   

See you Weds? will the Big Red faithful be in attendance?

I am not sure how many of the faithful will be there, but I will be in my normal spot, 500 feet above the action...I hope the new facility goes modern with phone lines on the floor...the reason I identified Clute in the 2nd half vs the 1st was because he was the offense in the second half for the Pipers.