MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

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All this to get to the Final Four!!!!!

First time post - long time MIAC fan - so I guess I better make this first post a good one  8).  The past two years has seen the Tommies draw two teams that got hot at seasons end and bump them out.  What does this year have in store?  If I am reading this bracket correctly, the Tommies would potentially have to knock off the #6 ranked team (WSP), the #3 ranked team (Puget Sound), and the #2 ranked team (Washington U) and with the potential of facing the #4, #5, and #7 ranked teams.  That's a killer bracket!!!!!

The Final Four would be the easiest 2 games to play (besides Aurora)

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Based on last weeks D3Hoops poll, the top 7 teams in the country (UST, Washington U, Pudget Sound, Wheaton, UWPlattesville, UWStevens Point, UWWhitewater) are in the very tough lower left quad of D3 NCAA tournament bracket released this morning. What a meat grinder!!!!! Analysts on Hoopsvile listed Middlebury (upper right), Ithaca (lower right) and John Carroll (upper left) as bracket favorites heading into the tourney. They thought there are so many high quality teams in lower left bracket ot the tournament, however, that picking a "favorite" would be foolish. Definitely a tough road to final 4 for this bracket

Check this out!

Massey ratings for this sectional (from the multi-region board):

Bottom-Left Bracket (AVG=26.07)
1. UW Stevens Point
2. St. Thomas
3. Wheaton
4. Puget Sound
5. UW Whitewater
6. UW Platteville
7. Whitworth
8. Lawrence
9. Elmhurst
11. Washington U
36. Cornell
42. Hope
50. Claremont Mudd Scripps
59. Aurora
148. Fontbonne

The top 9 teams and 10 out of the top 11 in this sectional

[Drake Palmer]

WOW!!!

Well, as that crazy old Raider football coach owner Al Davis used to say - Just win baby!



No Buena Vista,
Elmhurst & UW-Whitewater in the first round
UWPlatteville-Hope
UPS takes on the Whitworth-CMS winner
Washington-Lawrence

If UST & UWSP both take care of business in the first round, there could be a purple death match at the Shoe!     

Craziness all around in the Left Coast bracket. 

[VOJ]

27-0 doesn't get a first round bye? The byes appear to be driven more by geographic isolation than performance. TOUGH draw for UST.. getting TO the Final 4 means beating 2 teams I feel belong IN the Final 4-- UWSP and Wash U. Seven top 10 teams in one bracket (of 16). But you gotta beat the big boys to win the trophy, so take care of biz one game at a time.

Mose...you are right about geography dictating...byes, but really look at the matchup, Aurora is 16-12, how easy can it get???

There is no way UST should not be in the Sweet 16

[Drake Palmer]

27-0 doesn't get a first round bye? The byes appear to be driven more by geographic isolation than performance. TOUGH draw for UST.. getting TO the Final 4 means beating 2 teams I feel belong IN the Final 4-- UWSP and Wash U. Seven top 10 teams in one bracket (of 16). But you gotta beat the big boys to win the trophy, so take care of biz one game at a time.

Mose...you are right about geography dictating...byes, but really look at the matchup, Aurora is 16-12, how easy can it get???

There is no way UST should not be in the Sweet 16

VOJ - have you lost your mind???* Do not add fuel to the fire of the mighty WIAC, IIAC or NathCon.

From here on out everybody take the position, UST is David & everybody else is Goliath.  The Tommies are lucky to even be in the tournament let alone playing the mighty powers of the Nathcon & WIAC.

27-0?  that's nothing. UST plays in the equivalent of the UMAC.  They built their house of cards record by snacking on chumps. That's how sorry this league & state is in hoops.

*(wink, wink)

[papahoops]

I'm sure Mose would rather have had a bye, but it should be a nice relaxing Friday evening for Tommie fans this weekend against Aurora. That potential UWSP matchup Saturday is what we all have been waiting for. I can't believe I had the lack of foresight to previously plan a trip to warmer weather this weekend, so I will have to leave the cheering for our local MIAC playoff squad to others

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

27-0 doesn't get a first round bye? The byes appear to be driven more by geographic isolation than performance. TOUGH draw for UST.. getting TO the Final 4 means beating 2 teams I feel belong IN the Final 4-- UWSP and Wash U. Seven top 10 teams in one bracket (of 16). But you gotta beat the big boys to win the trophy, so take care of biz one game at a time.

Mose...you are right about geography dictating...byes, but really look at the matchup, Aurora is 16-12, how easy can it get???

There is no way UST should not be in the Sweet 16

VOJ-- The Tommies' matchup for the Round of 32 is likely to be UWSP (unless you are guaranteeing that Cornell beats them). If you call that an easy matchup, then just what exactly is a tough one? (and no, Mount Union did not qualify, different sport)

[Drake Palmer]

Mose - just a reminder, take nuthin for granted! Serious bizness, at this point until we are like our much stronger brothers to the east & southeast, any team is tough.

[Nites]

Warning:  Totally Useless Trivia

A bit of trivia for anyone who wishes to give it a try without researching the stats:

Of the players who were named to the College Sporting News MIAC All-Conference Teams (see below for the list):

1.     Which 2 players do not have 3-point shot attempts in their careers?

2.     (This one is the mildly surprising stat) Aside from the two players who do not have 3-point shot attempts, which player with the fewest 3-point baskets in his career (that number is 2 and there are two players with only 2 makes), has the fewest 3-point baskets in MIAC play (he has a grand total of 1)?  For a bonus, name the other player with only 2 career 3-point baskets. 

Answers will be posted at the end of the day.

First Team

Zach Johnson, Carleton College
Nate Alm, Augsburg College
John Fraase, Concordia College
Tim Madson, Bethel University
Joe Scott, University of St. Thomas
B.J. Viau, University of St. Thomas

Second Team

Aaron Burtzel, Saint John's University
Jon Cassens, Augsburg College
Carl Hipp, Hamline University
Mike Moberg, Bethel University
Tony Thrasher, Hamline University
Will Wright, Saint Mary's University

Third Team

Lukas Holland, Saint Mary's University
Cory Laugen, Bethel University
Al McCoy, University of St. Thomas
Tyler Nicolai, University of St. Thomas
Bryan Rosett, Carleton College
Chris Schwartz, Saint John's University

[VOJ]

27-0 doesn't get a first round bye? The byes appear to be driven more by geographic isolation than performance. TOUGH draw for UST.. getting TO the Final 4 means beating 2 teams I feel belong IN the Final 4-- UWSP and Wash U. Seven top 10 teams in one bracket (of 16). But you gotta beat the big boys to win the trophy, so take care of biz one game at a time.

Mose...you are right about geography dictating...byes, but really look at the matchup, Aurora is 16-12, how easy can it get???

There is no way UST should not be in the Sweet 16

VOJ - have you lost your mind???* Do not add fuel to the fire of the mighty WIAC, IIAC or NathCon.

From here on out everybody take the position, UST is David & everybody else is Goliath.  The Tommies are lucky to even be in the tournament let alone playing the mighty powers of the Nathcon & WIAC.

27-0?  that's nothing. UST plays in the equivalent of the UMAC.  They built their house of cards record by snacking on chumps. That's how sorry this league & state is in hoops.

*(wink, wink)

You better be winking...or I was going to smite u...come on Drake its time for this finely tuned machine to put it in gear...40 point semi-final win and an almost 20 point final win show me they are ready to get on the road to Salem.  Perfect pushover team to play in the first round...

They are playing as well as any non-DI team I have seen recently, in fact I would put their achievements on par with the best hoops team I have ever been around...a JUCO team from WNCC where Bobby Jackson was a sophomore that beat teams by an average of 26 points during their conference tournament and finished 3rd in the nation, missing out on a championship game appearance by one missed jumper and a player fight, but that is another story entirely...

The gauntlet has been thrown down...its time for UST to champion the league and show everyone what the "Shoe" is all about

27-0 doesn't get a first round bye? The byes appear to be driven more by geographic isolation than performance. TOUGH draw for UST.. getting TO the Final 4 means beating 2 teams I feel belong IN the Final 4-- UWSP and Wash U. Seven top 10 teams in one bracket (of 16). But you gotta beat the big boys to win the trophy, so take care of biz one game at a time.

Mose...you are right about geography dictating...byes, but really look at the matchup, Aurora is 16-12, how easy can it get???

There is no way UST should not be in the Sweet 16

VOJ-- The Tommies' matchup for the Round of 32 is likely to be UWSP (unless you are guaranteeing that Cornell beats them). If you call that an easy matchup, then just what exactly is a tough one? (and no, Mount Union did not qualify, different sport)

Mose you have homecourt...all the confidence in the world, and the Pointers according to my reports, do not possess a dominating inside game, so it comes down to "guard play" and the Tommies have great guards and should be considered the favorite at the Shoe...

IF they fail to make out of their own gym this time, then some serious questions need to be asked.

[Drake Palmer]

...The gauntlet has been thrown down...its time for UST to champion the league and show everyone what the "Shoe" is all about

Mose you have homecourt...all the confidence in the world, and the Pointers according to my reports, do not possess a dominating inside game, so it comes down to "guard play" and the Tommies have great guards and should be considered the favorite at the Shoe...

IF they fail to make out of their own gym this time, then some serious questions need to be asked.

VOJ - UST's abysmal post season record the past 4 years indicates otherwise. Why don't we let the journey of a 1,000 miles begin with the first step shall we?

[keith45]

All this to get to the Final Four!!!!!

First time post - long time MIAC fan - so I guess I better make this first post a good one  8).  The past two years has seen the Tommies draw two teams that got hot at seasons end and bump them out.  What does this year have in store?  If I am reading this bracket correctly, the Tommies would potentially have to knock off the #6 ranked team (WSP), the #3 ranked team (Puget Sound), and the #2 ranked team (Washington U) and with the potential of facing the #4, #5, and #7 ranked teams.  That's a killer bracket!!!!!

The Final Four would be the easiest 2 games to play (besides Aurora)

Aurora did take WASH U to overtime and was 1 3pointer away from winning that game

[Greek Tragedy]

None of the WIAC teams get to host...what a slap in the face to that league. 

With the likes of Wheaton and Wash U, among others, I didn't think they'd host.  Point's women are hosting, and that's the case why Wash U isn't hosting on the men's side.

Elmhurst is hosting because, from what I was told, they are closer to Wash U...I was told that they aren't making three teams travel to Whitewater...still can't figure out the reasoning for that...Lawrence travels really far now.  I think because Elmhurst made the CCIW final and Whitewater didn't make the WIAC final, that's why.  Platteville was too far away.

[Drake Palmer]

Warning:  Totally Useless Trivia

A bit of trivia for anyone who wishes to give it a try without researching the stats:

Of the players who were named to the College Sporting News MIAC All-Conference Teams (see below for the list):

1.     Which 2 players do not have 3-point shot attempts in their careers?

2.     (This one is the mildly surprising stat) Aside from the two players who do not have 3-point shot attempts, which player with the fewest 3-point baskets in his career (that number is 2 and there are two players with only 2 makes), has the fewest 3-point baskets in MIAC play (he has a grand total of 1)?  For a bonus, name the other player with only 2 career 3-point baskets. 

Answers will be posted at the end of the day.

Nites - I think there might be an internal skirmish getting ready to break out (or would that be an internecine feud - smirk) between MIAC posters.  So I'll slip this guess into your trivia game real quick.

Without looking it up, my guess is some combination of BJ Viau & Carl Hipp.  If you saw Viau's J you would know why I say this.  I've never seen Hipp even try a trey.
**********

And I just saw Keith45's post.  DO NOT be sleeping on Aurora  fellas!!

UST does not have the storied history of deep runs at the Big Dance.  One game at a time. 

[keith45]

None of the WIAC teams get to host...what a slap in the face to that league. 

With the likes of Wheaton and Wash U, among others, I didn't think they'd host.  Point's women are hosting, and that's the case why Wash U isn't hosting on the men's side.

Elmhurst is hosting because, from what I was told, they are closer to Wash U...I was told that they aren't making three teams travel to Whitewater...still can't figure out the reasoning for that...Lawrence travels really far now.  I think because Elmhurst made the CCIW final and Whitewater didn't make the WIAC final, that's why.  Platteville was too far away.

Old school, what games you going too this year? I can't get to see Aurora play this year, although I'd love to go to Minneapolis now (isnt that where St. Thomas is?)..I hope that St. Thomas is as confident as their fans are, I have heard that AU will lose by 30, this will be an easy first round game for them, etc etc!