MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[AO]

On a side note and purely out of frustration, it's seemingly impossible these days for Gophers athletes to stay out of trouble... It's an absolute joke that Michael Carter is playing football on Saturday after getting arrested and put in jail earlier this week. Royce White needs to shoplift despite a free education, putting a highly anticipated basketball season in jeopardy. At what point does having quality kids trump getting athletes who have to worry about posting bail every so often?

TH4L-- THAT is why I have no interest in DI and the thugs that populate it.  You left out the Goophies other poster child of DI at its most typical, Mbemke or however you spell rapist in his native tongue. Although White has shown in the past that he doesnt consider an education to be an important thing. If he did, he would have a DeLaSalle diploma to his name (and a good chance of being able to read that diploma)

So you'll be booing Ray Brown this year?  No one deserves a 2nd chance?  and what if Mbakwe (minnesota native) is being falsely accused?  How many of the student-athletes on your favorite d3 squad could be arrested on any given weekend for underage drinking?

[klomp44]

It's been awhile since I've had anything to say, but I thought I would give a little update from gustieland. I was there to check out their scrimmage against wartburg on wednesday night, and I saw some interesting things.

First off, this might be one of the deepest gustie teams in awhile. I would not be surprised if at least 12 guys are getting some playing time early on as Hanson tries to figure out a rotation.

Freshman James Hill looked really good. He is the type of player the gusties lacked last year. An athletic tall wing who can shoot outside and post up inside. In one of the twenty minute sessions, in five possesions he hit two threes and hit a post-up turnaround jumper from 15 feet. He will definitely get time as might Ben Biewen the other freshman who saw a lot of action last night. The other freshman look nice but probaly aren't quite ready to make an impact in the miac but are definitely talented.

Adam Michel also will add some much needed athleticism to the wing position as he will be one of the first off the bench. A really nice surprise was Paul Blacklock. He is 6'7" and seems to block or alter every shot that comes down the lane. The big surprise was his passing out of the post. I will be proven right as the season goes on but he is probably one of the top three passing big men in the miac which is essential to the gustie offense that relies on getting it into the post as their form of penetration. The offense will not bog down when he gets the ball. Also look for seth anderson to have an impact other than the guys who saw significant time from last year.

I haven't really been follow the chatter about all the teams and where people feel that they will stack up in the conference, but I would be on the lookout for this team to make some dramatic improvements from last year.

I'm looking forward to Monday night's game...

[sumander]

Story in this morning's Fargo Fool-Em on CORD's John Fraase. CORD has an exhibition game against NDSU tomorrow afternoon.

Earlier this week the Bison took care of Moorhead State in an exhibition game.

DP, haven't turned up anything earth shattering on any of the CORD recruits.

[Willy Wonka]

To expand a little on what gacman had to say...

• Wartburg beat GAC 67-58 in two 20-minute halves with a break for OB plays in between.
• GAC was down 17-8 after the first 10 minutes and "played small" when it got pressured.
• The Gusties rebounded to control the second half of the exhibition game...but could only manage a 32-32 tie.
• GAC enjoyed three recent grads as refs.
• Paulson displayed a great FT stroke, but wasn't particularly effective on the block. Van Sickle struggled to get shots up in the first half. Wirtjes looked good and Tyler Grey hit some shots.
• As for the freshmen...I'm told by one of the refs that there are no BVT's waiting in the wings. Let's hope they aren't all Adam Dennys either 

[wabbit]

I'm back, I know you all missed me.  I hear Carleton really wanted Josh Pedretti (6-6 Maple Grove) but due to cash or grades ended up with the Tommies. The Knights went from 9 recruits last year to 3 this year. What happened there?

Zorro is playing in Europe, starting and doing well for the FJOLNIR basketball team
(Iceland-Express L.) http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntry=ISL&Team=5292

[localcoach]

I really need to get back into the swing of things....   Sorry Drake, et all.

A few things to add in response to some recent posts:

wabbit - Are you sure that the Tommies just didn't recruit Mr. Pedretti a little harder and a little better?  It's hard to say no to Coach Fritz

wonka - I would keep a close eye on freshman guard Ben Biewen.  I watched him play throughout his high school career and he blossomed into quite the player last season.  I think he will be one of the better MIAC guard in the coming years.

As for the Pipers, I might have to get to a few more games this season over at Snelling and Hewitt.  Sounds like Mr. Ray Brown and Mr. Carl Hipp will be quite the formidable combination. 

[SofaKing]

Looks like te Cobbs have a great recruiting class coming in along with a solid group of returners. I would say they might have the best team since that star studded team of 03-04.

[bballfan247365]

Been on the sidelines for many years - reading, watching and living the dream.  This looks like the year to join the party.  Looking at the programs and the way the league stacks up - this will be a wild year......

The Tommies look to be king of the hill, but there are many unknowns about everyone - there will be MANY teams hoping for solid play from many young players.

The Front Runner - Summit Ave. Scott, Nicolai and Archer

The Challenger - Riverside Ave. Cassens, Humphrey and Grzesiak-Grimm

The Dark Horse (This is were my money is going) - Hewitt Ave. Brown, Hipp and the FRESH-men...

Found these interesting sites telling me (even though they can't spell Hamline) there has been some big addition by subtraction for the Pipes!!!

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/jschmidt.html

http://www.fullctpress.net/09socalplayerrankingspart2.html

[Drake Palmer]

Welcome to the board 24-7.  +k.

Weekend Update

Apparently the Cobbs played NDSU tough for a half yesterday in an exhibition game yesterday. NDSU-CORD

Down here in in the cities, the Johnnies played an exhibition game against Concordia–St. Paul, put up a nice effort only to lose 71-65.  

Several game observations...

*CSTP head coach Kelly Boe seems to be learning how to adjust playing with athletic big men.  The last few years it never seemed they had much size. With CSTP's size (7-0, 6-10, & 6-7 post players), & speed advantage, they should have dominated the smaller Johnnies on the boards & in the paint.  It will be interesting to see how UST does against CSTP in December once the Bears start getting in sync.

*To their credit the Johnnies hung tough & looked pretty decent for the season opener.

*Todd Herman was in street clothes on the sideline.

*Soph PG Andy Burns went down with an ankle injury 2-3 minutes into the game.

*A player who seemed to step up in Herman's absence was JR wing Sam Blank who hit the first 2-3 shots for the Johnnies & ended up with a game high 16 points.  

*Aaron Burtzel was clutch as usual & was probably the game's MVP.  He brought the ball up, dropped off dimes, money from the FT line, mad D & was doing yeoman's work on the boards.

Right now I'm conflicted.  Obviously UST is the team to beat, but I think the Johnnies could make a real strong push for second place or higher?   Johnnies, GAC, Augsburg, CORD & possibly Hambone could be in the top 6 by season's end.

[Drake Palmer]

Roster update:  Unless my aging eyes are failing me (which is entirely possible  ) I thought I saw Todd Herman on the Johnnie bench last night.  Yet today when I looked at the SJU roster his name is no longer listed.

VOJ, Watchman, Sum any idea what's going on? If he's out for the year, I'll have to revise my Johnnies forecast. They'll still be a team to contend with, just a little less dangerous. 

[columbianmaffia]

On a side note and purely out of frustration, it's seemingly impossible these days for Gophers athletes to stay out of trouble... It's an absolute joke that Michael Carter is playing football on Saturday after getting arrested and put in jail earlier this week. Royce White needs to shoplift despite a free education, putting a highly anticipated basketball season in jeopardy. At what point does having quality kids trump getting athletes who have to worry about posting bail every so often?

TH4L-- THAT is why I have no interest in DI and the thugs that populate it.  You left out the Goophies other poster child of DI at its most typical, Mbemke or however you spell rapist in his native tongue. Although White has shown in the past that he doesnt consider an education to be an important thing. If he did, he would have a DeLaSalle diploma to his name (and a good chance of being able to read that diploma)

So you'll be booing Ray Brown this year?  No one deserves a 2nd chance?  and what if Mbakwe (minnesota native) is being falsely accused?  How many of the student-athletes on your favorite d3 squad could be arrested on any given weekend for underage drinking?

wow...i agree with AO  +k

if this is such an issue with some of you why don't you volunteer some of your time in some inner city programs to help mentor some of these "thugs" who are less fortunate than you...not everyone grows up in a home where everything is all gum drops and lolli pops with roll models to set good examples for them... even so i think we all have known people who are raised in a good home to make mistakes and i am sure you have all made decisions you have regrets making...i know i do!!  reminds me a lot of Dubay from the PA and Dubay show...alway critisizing people for doing dumb things acting like he is better than everyone else and he never made a mistake...i think we all know what happened to him in the end...what about Kip Sparby?? he could have killed someone driving drunk...i think he played for a little st paul school which goes by the initials UST...

damn...if you are so worried about supporting "thugs" playing d1 sports because they get a free education and what not you might as well never invest in anything again since people in that market actually steal millions of dollars from people and live the "good life" off your hard earned money and can crush families by making them bankrupt...im sure some of them got full ride academic scholarships

on a side note...saturday was awesome...it was so nice and warm outside...i thought about doing some yoga outside in the warm air but then i realized i have never done yoga...although i do try to stay limber in the groinal region so i can rollerskate faster and not have marion gabborik like problems

on a second side note...any predictions for who will finish where in the conf this year?

and on a third side note...i heart all of you 

[miacwatchmen]

Roster update:  Unless my aging eyes are failing me (which is entirely possible  ) I thought I saw Todd Herman on the Johnnie bench last night.  Yet today when I looked at the SJU roster his name is no longer listed.

VOJ, Watchman, Sum any idea what's going on? If he's out for the year, I'll have to revise my Johnnies forecast. They'll still be a team to contend with, just a little less dangerous. 

DP- I'll do a little investigating.... maybe open my ears up at Sal's this week and see what the buzz around Johnnieville is!

[piperinsider]

Two months, 16 day absence. Got a new computer and I forgot to add The Hoops to my favorites. That kind of shows you where I've gone the past few years.

DP was right on five or six pages ago - I don't have any connections anymore at Hamline. Former SID Troy Mallat is gone. So is DOB. I don't think I've seen a game in 1 1/2 years and that was only because I was covering a Hutch player breaking the women's scoring record at GAC.

I have vowed to make a better effort this year to make more games. Still, it's an hour to the nearest gym (unless someone plays Clown College in St. Boni). Of the eight districts we cover, only one player - GFW's Reed Sallstrom of GAC - is on a MIAC roster. Yikes.

Checked some of the rosters out. Chris Neumann of Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity is a very solid player (just lacks the quickness, but a great shooter) for SJU. Dittberner from New Prague, also of SJU - I'm not even sure he was all-conference HM last season in the Missota.

Interested to see how the Vipes do this season - a playoff season is what that program needs.

[miacwatchmen]

DP was right on five or six pages ago - I don't have any connections anymore at Hamline. Former SID Troy Mallat is gone. So is DOB. I don't think I've seen a game in 1 1/2 years and that was only because I was covering a Hutch player breaking the women's scoring record at GAC.

I thought Kyle Foster scrapped together another year of eligiblility....    That would be a connection.....

[miacsuperfan]

I thought the Johnnies looked pretty decent last night at Gangelhoff.  I agree that SJU will be in the thick of the race this year.  It was good to see the Michelin Tire Man (Pat Bauschelt) out there talking to the players like they were school children.  He is one large piece of work.