MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[John Gleich]

St. Thomas up to #3 in the most recent poll.  They hopped over former #3 Guilford.

[Drake Palmer]

St. Thomas up to #3 in the most recent poll.  They hopped over former #3 Guilford.

IMO, that's w-a-a-ay too high. And I thought they were too high with their initial ranking of 4th. 

I might head over to River Falls on Saturday so I can do a side by side comparison between the 5th ranked Pointers of UWSP & UST against a common opponent in UWRF. Course then again UST & UWSP will play each other later on this month in a head to head contest.   

[Drake Palmer]

Good points/observations, Gacman. Altho it would have been hard for UST to improve from last year...I think they will be fairly similar, as some of the new parts nicely replace lost parts, but lack experience, so I doubt 20-0 is do-able.. I'd say 17-3.

I think we both realize what G-man was trying to say, but it is kind of tough to improve on 20-0.  

That's not to say 2-3 years from now league followers might not be saying – "gosh I never realized the Tommie class of '13 would have enjoyed as much success as they did." UST has got a ton of unproven talent that at least on paper appear to have more potential than the graduating class of 09.  I will also add – I've seen both UST & Bethel's Freshmen, & I like UST FY class a lot more.

Based on what I've seen & heard, UST along with Hamline might have the best FY class in the conference. But what type of long term success will they have? Very difficult to project.  I would be willing to bet that no one, & I include myself in this category, predicted the level of success the 09 Tommies would enjoy with a nucleus of a 6-2 guard who rarely shot, a 6-3 forward with no jumper, & a 6-4 center with one post move.  But man, did those guys have heart!

I will join with others by saying this year's MIAC race could be wide open. Obviously UST is the favorite, but IMO there are 3-4 teams that have got a decent shot at knocking them off – Augsburg, St Johns, Carleton & Gustavus.   The direction the league seems to be moving in - rangy, athletic type players who can get up & down the floor will make the league more exciting to watch, but when it comes to crunch time, it's gonna be those teams who are willing & prepared to play both styles of ball.  Transition ball, & grind it out deliberate offense along with fundamentally sound, pressing defense & man up, hard-nosed half court defense.  Right now I can only think of 2-3 teams who are capable of playing & committed to playing both styles of ball- UST, Augsburg, & occasionally Carleton.

SJU will run, but I don't generally think of them as a strong defensive-minded club.  The Gusties could play both styles but I wonder if they have the horses to play an up-tempo style.

[John Gleich]

St. Thomas up to #3 in the most recent poll.  They hopped over former #3 Guilford.

IMO, that's w-a-a-ay too high. And I thought they were too high with their initial ranking of 4th. 

I might head over to River Falls on Saturday so I can do a side by side comparison between the 5th ranked Pointers of UWSP & UST against a common opponent in UWRF. Course then again UST & UWSP will play each other later on this month in a head to head contest.   

This discussion is always interesting...  Are they the #3 team in the country (and, for that matter, is Point #5?)  At this time, who really knows?  Point lost 3 starters, but they have their leading scorer back, plus another 10+ PPG guy, and a guy back who didn't play last year who's averaging 11.2 and 8.8 rebs.  He's an athletic specimen.  The other two starters are averaging 9.2 points.  It seems like they may have just reloaded... but if you listened to the coach talk before the season, he was shocked that they were slotted at #10 to start the season (and likewise, I suspect he'd be shocked they're at #5 right now).  They just have way too many guys that are untested.  And I'm sure the same can be said for St. Thomas.

But you've gotta ask yourself... who should be in that spot right now?  The teams behind Point, Whitewater and Wheaton, are in the same boat... and they both actually have lost a starter to injury already.  3 of the next 4 teams had been in the top 8... but they lost one of their first games.  Heck, of the preseason top 25, 15 lost at least 1 game and 6 lost 2 or more.  8 of the top 14 lost  at least once. 

There may be some teams out there who are better... but they're not on the radar yet.  This is just the preseason and first poll.  Lots shakes up before the new year, and for a team like UST who did so well last year, if they don't lose early, then they'll be riding last year's momentum on the polls.

[Gregory Sager]

St. Thomas up to #3 in the most recent poll.  They hopped over former #3 Guilford.

IMO, that's w-a-a-ay too high. And I thought they were too high with their initial ranking of 4th. 

I might head over to River Falls on Saturday so I can do a side by side comparison between the 5th ranked Pointers of UWSP & UST against a common opponent in UWRF. Course then again UST & UWSP will play each other later on this month in a head to head contest.   

This discussion is always interesting...  Are they the #3 team in the country (and, for that matter, is Point #5?)  At this time, who really knows?  Point lost 3 starters, but they have their leading scorer back, plus another 10+ PPG guy, and a guy back who didn't play last year who's averaging 11.2 and 8.8 rebs.  He's an athletic specimen.  The other two starters are averaging 9.2 points.  It seems like they may have just reloaded... but if you listened to the coach talk before the season, he was shocked that they were slotted at #10 to start the season (and likewise, I suspect he'd be shocked they're at #5 right now).  They just have way too many guys that are untested.  And I'm sure the same can be said for St. Thomas.

But you've gotta ask yourself... who should be in that spot right now?  The teams behind Point, Whitewater and Wheaton, are in the same boat... and they both actually have lost a starter to injury already.  3 of the next 4 teams had been in the top 8... but they lost one of their first games.  Heck, of the preseason top 25, 15 lost at least 1 game and 6 lost 2 or more.  8 of the top 14 lost  at least once. 

There may be some teams out there who are better... but they're not on the radar yet.  This is just the preseason and first poll.  Lots shakes up before the new year, and for a team like UST who did so well last year, if they don't lose early, then they'll be riding last year's momentum on the polls.

There was a lot of doubt among CCIW observers considering Wheaton's preseason ranking, and that includes the Wheaties themselves. And now they've lost their D1 transfer Aaron Garriott to bad knees. So you MIAC types aren't alone in thinking that perhaps your defending champion is slotted too high in the current poll.

(I doubt that many of you read the NCAC page, but at least one long-time Wooster poster in that room has said that he feels St. Thomas is much better than #2 John Carroll. Wooster's lost to both of them, but the Scots gave JCU a much closer game than they gave UST -- and the COW/JCU tilt was on the home court of the Blue Streaks in suburban Cleveland.)

[VOJ]

Good points/observations, Gacman. Altho it would have been hard for UST to improve from last year...I think they will be fairly similar, as some of the new parts nicely replace lost parts, but lack experience, so I doubt 20-0 is do-able.. I'd say 17-3.

I honestly wouldnt be shocked if SMU and/or Ham made the playoff field, they are both that much improved. SMU would be a lock if Bradley Bruno had returned. The kid was emerging as a All-MIAC First teamer. He took it to Carleton last week, with 20-6-5.

And the 5th annual preseason awards are out:
http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/index.php/2009/11/27/miac-men-s-basketball-2009-10-csn-presea?blog=5

Another good article...I can agree with your teams but I think Sutherland from Carleton deserves a spot on the second team in place of Vavra who is a good guard, maybe was overshadowed a bit by Madson...

The knock against Sutherland and maybe this figured in to your descision making is that he has a tough time staying healthy, I hope that does not continue...the Knights come to Sexton on Saturday.

[sumander]

Frank has a preview of tonight's J's v. BET game. Sounds like BET is a little beat up.

[VOJ]

1st night of the season and its a ghost town in here....HEELLLLLLLOOOOOOO


HEELLLLLOOOOOOOOOOO...hate it when my posts echo back at me...


Bethel vs SJU tonight...let the fun begin...Maniac where are you going to be?  Drake?  others??

[Drake Palmer]

Through the miracle of modern technology, construction, & free admission, I may be able to pull off a tripleheader tonight & see parts of 3 games!

Confidence pickem of the day:  Johnnies over Bethel in a rout!  

*A suburban dogfight down in Northfield
*An Urban dawg fight at Hutton arena
*Battle of the Basement Dwellers at the new Leonard Center (?)
*Can the Tommies handles the Cobbers biggs & lightning in a bottle (LAB)#2 Johnathan Molina?  LAB #1 being Lord Alfred Jaryan from the Oles.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

1st night of the season and its a ghost town in here....HEELLLLLLLOOOOOOO


HEELLLLLOOOOOOOOOOO...hate it when my posts echo back at me...


Bethel vs SJU tonight...let the fun begin...Maniac where are you going to be?  Drake?  others??

Ill be doing the trrrippple go-around...first half of Augs@Ham, 2nd half of SMU@MAC, then COrd@UST@CStP

[BETHEL34]

Bethel down 3 with 52 seconds left playing without Nate Robertson and Taylor Hall...

Augs up 3 with 9 sec left...Hamline has the ball

[sumander]

J's up 5 with :34 left

[sumander]

SJU "live" stats suck!

[abominable_snowman]

1st night of the season and its a ghost town in here....HEELLLLLLLOOOOOOO


HEELLLLLOOOOOOOOOOO...hate it when my posts echo back at me...


Bethel vs SJU tonight...let the fun begin...Maniac where are you going to be?  Drake?  others??

Ill be doing the trrrippple go-around...first half of Augs@Ham, 2nd half of SMU@MAC, then COrd@UST@CStP

sounds like a great night

[sumander]

BET34, I lost the live stats. How did it end up?