MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[papahoops]

I was able to make the MAC/SMU game and then see a big portion of the UST/Cobber contest.
General thoughts and observations.....
I was really impressed with Lukas Holland's performance. He appears to really have stepped up his game this year. I have noticed his stat lines have been strong in non-conference action, but it was nice to see him live. His shooting stroke was outstanding (5 for 6 from 3 point land). I'll admit I expected to see a stronger performance from the SMU squad. They still rely way too much on the Holland/Wright tandem for points and their starting front court did virtually nothing offensively, although Palmer gives them a nice spark off the bench. They will need to play much better against stronger teams than MAC in league play to contend for a playoff spot.
I thought MAC played a fundamentally solid game and were well coached. I 'm a little puzzled as to why they continue to bring their best scorer/rebounder (Keeley) off the bench, although he did get 28 minutes of PT.

I'll admit I was a little diappointed in the UST/Cobber game. Perhaps it was because I was disappointed with Fraase's performance, as I had been looking forward to seeing him in action for the first time. Needless to say, one would never have imagined he was all MIAC caliber player based on his performance last night, but everyone can have a bad night. Regarding UST, make sure you have a program when you watch them to keep track of all the players going in and out of the game. Personally, I think they would be better off to knock a few guys off the rotation while the game is competitive to have better continuity.  Fritz is a great coach, however, and was successful playing a lot of guys last year, so it will be interesting to see how his rotation develops over the course of the season.

[VOJ]

Happy Friday everyone...thought I would post about tomorrow's matchups...

Bethel @ St. Mary's...The short-handed Royals who opened with SJU now take on SMU on the road, an SMU team that is 1-0 and looking at achieving 1/3 of the wins they had all last year in conference in the first two games...will Bethel's defense which is number one in the conference in FG% and turnover margin keep them in the game until they figure out who has the hot hand to win it?  Will the Cardinals keep maturing behind the Holland-Wright combo in an almost must win game because of road trips to St. Peter and St. Thomas to finish out the first four of the conference season?  I thnk Wright and Holland prove to be too much IF 60% of the Bethel starting lineup is still out along with 6th man JD Robinson.


St Olaf @ St. Thomas Oles conference opener...Tommies turned it on in the second half for a solid win in their opener...Will Jaryan get his 22 that he has been averaging or will he face a stingy defense designed to stifle his play and therefore take away any chance to win this one?  The Tommies are number 2 in scoring defense and the best shooting team of the early season, deadly combination, they also dominate the boards, makes for a tough afternoon in St. Paul for the Oles.


Mac @ Hamline ...Pipers let a 10 point lead slip away in the second half in droping their first home game at Hutton...will Mac be able to take advantage of a generous Piper team that is LAST in turnover margin?  We are starting to learn about Mac, they were in the SMU game to the end, but something tells me they stepping up in class regarding their opponent and who will match up with Ray Brown, and who will keep Carl Hipp off the glass?  Mac is last in rebounding margin...Pipes pound the Scots inside in a PG-13 rated game.

Concordia @ Gustavus...Call me crazy but I think the Cobbers get to the free throw line more than GAC's 1st conference opponent Carleton, by the 10 minute mark of the 1st half.  Post play will be key with all the beef each team has, bit of an edge to the GAC guards  could be enough along with homecourt advantage to put the Gusties over the top...intersting that the Cobbers are better from long range than the Gusties...will the Gusties be able to hold Fraase in check like the Tommies did or will he dominate Paulson and crew?  I think GAC makes a play late to win a tight one at home...

Carleton @ SJU...Defense on one of the best guards in the conference in Sutherland will be key...he has hurt SJU in the past.  Interesting stat is that there is not one player from either team is in the top 11 in scoring in the conference.  Rossett and Sutherland will need help from someone in the scoring column, Johnnies had an issue with turnovers in their last game in the 1st half and were better in the second half...2nd of a three game homestand for SJU to open the conference season

[wabbit]

Looks like there were some good games last night. Here's a list of the scores:

St. Mary's 70 MAC 67
Carleton 46 GAC 55
SJU 67 Bethel 61
AUG 76 Hamline 71
UST 73 CON 55

Yeah I can't remember a time a team made 0 freethrows. Van Sickle continues to struggle to find his shooting touch which to me, makes this win and the one against BU all the more impressive since he is the gusties go-to man. He will come around because you don't lead the MIAC in 3pt. % by accident.  It also looks like Carleton could struggle this year. Maybe I'm wrong but when you only have four people scoring, that isn't a good sign. A team with a Zach Johnson could maybe get away with that since he would be scoring at least a third of their points, but CAR doesn't have that type of scorer this year to carry the scoring load. If you aren't going to have that dominant scorer you better spread things out, and I don't see that happening very much this year for Carleton.

Anybody have some insight from last nights games who were there?

It was one of the ugliest, least exciting basketball games I've ever seen. 19-19 at half and neither team looked like it had a clue. The game finished to a smattering of clapping like it was Hole 1 of a preseason MIAC golf tournament. GAC had zero students makes the trip and Carleton's student section didn't "fill up" until after the national anthem was over. I bet the Biewen clan accounted for about 30% of the attendance figures.

GAC had 3-4 shot clock violations in the first half. Carleton was called for 4 charges, three of which were taken by sophomore Seth Anderson. Carleton senior Seth Jonker finally hit a trey in the second half (after barely drawing iron in his first two attempts) and then pimped his way down court like he was DeShawn Stevenson.

(As an aside to the old-timers out there...does Jonker remind anyone else of Mac's Adam Denny? Not necessarily his game, but his face and physique, or lackthereof? All that's missing is the bowl cut...)

GAC's best offense was generally throwing the ball at the rim and letting Sam Paulson do work. He was credited with 5 off boards, but he had at least 3 deflections that led to more possessions and he tied up another loose ball. He's still thinking way too much on his moves, but it was the most aggressive I've ever seen him. He had 4-5 straight rebounds in one stretch. As you might expect, even his huge night (12 and 10 in 19 minutes) came with an asterisk. He got a steal at the top of the key and was coasting in all alone for a dunk in the second half — until his knee buckled and the 6-9 guy settled for an awkward layup. I blame the questionable beard for making him less aerodynamic.

Carleton needs Sutherland to score/do more. The Carlie guards will struggle against pressure, particularly the ones off the bench. Biewen and Davis are great spot-up shooters...but don't really bring anything else to the table. It could be a long season in West Gym.

The Gusties have some nice young players, but I don't expect them to compete with the UST team I saw barely beat UW-RF. That said, they are improved from a year ago and have some renewed hope for the coming years. While I said otherwise to begin the year, I no longer expect Hanson to shrink the rotation — the difference in skill just isn't all that evident and the young guys will only get better. It would be hard for the offensive flow and spacing to get any worse.

Wow...No love for the Knights. I hear that Kalland installed a new offense 2 days prior to the GAC game. That might account for the 17 TOs by the Knights. Typically the Knights don't turn the ball over like that. Those are some pretty smart boys...they will figure it out and turn it around.

[Drake Palmer]

I was able to make the MAC/SMU game and then see a big portion of the UST/Cobber contest.
General thoughts and observations.....
I thought MAC played a fundamentally solid game and were well coached. I 'm a little puzzled as to why they continue to bring their best scorer/rebounder (Keeley) off the bench, although he did get 28 minutes of PT.

Pops- I get the sense that Colin Keeley plays "accidental defense & rebounding" or is not fully invested in playing on both ends of the floor which is why he's relegated to coming off the bench.  

***
Nice write up VOJ.

One item I would like to point out is Bethel's grossly misleading defensive statistics.  When they actually play a competitive team and win, I'll sit up & take note.

In the meantime, they should be shamefaced & embarrassed about scheduling & defeating a grossly inferior Nebraska Christian 90 something to 20.  Several games later they struggled to defeat a poor Bethany Lutheran team 68-61.  The only real consistent defensive presence for Bethel is Rob Lang.

I'll give Bethel partial credit for giving SJU a good game this week, but I attribute that more to the Johnnies than the Royals. Based on comments Supe made after listening to the Jays Royals game, I think the Johnnies were still recovering from Thanksgiving holiday glow, & still basking over their wins over a couple of teams from the vaunted WIAC last week.  I've seen SJU &Bethel play, & with the starters that Bethel was missing, SJU should have blown the Royals away.

STO-UST
LC whatever happened to Bobby Fong?  sophomore slump?

[Willy Wonka]

Wabbit — What can I say? They looked bad. Like, very bad. It was painful to watch most of the game. Plus, your boys clearly were gassed in the second half. But it's hard to blame Kalland for sticking with his starters. Check out his bench production: 0-5 FG, 0 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, 8 turnovers in 51 minutes.

Check out those numbers again. Do you really want to argue with me about this? As everyone knows, I'm more than willing

And just wait until UST unleashes the hounds on those Carlie guards. Nance could finish with 10 steals if Fritz gives him some extra run. Mark my words, it won't be pretty.

DP - I already told you. He went on the Kate Moss diet.

[Drake Palmer]

DP - I already told you. He went on the Kate Moss diet.

Good humor!  This diet you talk about - it must have affected his shooting eye too?  Granted, Fong's always been a streaky shooter, but so far, in this still young season he's shooting a poor 11-42 or 26% FG, and is 1-11 or 9% from behind the arc. Yikes!!  

[VOJ]

I was able to make the MAC/SMU game and then see a big portion of the UST/Cobber contest.
General thoughts and observations.....
I thought MAC played a fundamentally solid game and were well coached. I 'm a little puzzled as to why they continue to bring their best scorer/rebounder (Keeley) off the bench, although he did get 28 minutes of PT.

Pops- I get the sense that Colin Keeley plays "accidental defense & rebounding" or is not fully invested in playing on both ends of the floor which is why he's relegated to coming off the bench.  

***
Nice write up VOJ.

One item I would like to point out is Bethel's grossly misleading defensive statistics.  When they actually play a competitive team and win, I'll sit up & take note.

In the meantime, they should be shamefaced & embarrassed about scheduling & defeating a grossly inferior Nebraska Christian 90 something to 20.  Several games later they struggled to defeat a poor Bethany Lutheran team 68-61.  The only real consistent defensive presence for Bethel is Rob Lang.

I'll give Bethel partial credit for giving SJU a good game this week, but I attribute that more to the Johnnies than the Royals. Based on comments Supe made after listening to the Jays Royals game, I think the Johnnies were still recovering from Thanksgiving holiday glow, & still basking over their wins over a couple of teams from the vaunted WIAC last week.  I've seen SJU &Bethel play, & with the starters that Bethel was missing, SJU should have blown the Royals away.
STO-UST
LC whatever happened to Bobby Fong?  sophomore slump?

Drake I am not saying you are wrong in your opinion as I shared a similiar one heading into the game...but that is why they play the games.

You are right about Bethel's stats they are a bit misleading...but going off what I saw on Wednesday night they did play rather well defensively at times in the second half and did crash the offensive glass hard, something I am sure that will be/was addressed in practice the last couple of days.

As for Carleton putting in a new offense, that may be an issue now, but without a true dominant scorer like Zorro anymore and Sutherland having to get others involved and get his own points it may take awhile for them to be comfortable with it.  Sutherland has a 1-1 assist to turnover ratio and the fact they are getting outrebounded 29-36, 52% shooting from the FT line, could be causes for concern.

[Drake Palmer]

Drake I am not saying you are wrong in your opinion as I shared a similiar one heading into the game...but that is why they play the games.

You are right about Bethel's stats they are a bit misleading...but going off what I saw on Wednesday night they did play rather well defensively at times in the second half and did crash the offensive glass hard, something I am sure that will be/was addressed in practice the last couple of days.

Interesting, but you never addressed how the Johnnies played against Bethel.  Based on what Supe said & your omission of any details, I'm  going to operate on the assumption that the Jays played down to the level of their competition rather than Bethel played great game. 

[miacsuperfan]

Drake I am not saying you are wrong in your opinion as I shared a similiar one heading into the game...but that is why they play the games.

You are right about Bethel's stats they are a bit misleading...but going off what I saw on Wednesday night they did play rather well defensively at times in the second half and did crash the offensive glass hard, something I am sure that will be/was addressed in practice the last couple of days.

Interesting, but you never addressed how the Johnnies played against Bethel.  Based on what Supe said & your omission of any details, I'm  going to operate on the assumption that the Jays played down to the level of their competition rather than Bethel played great game. 

"playing down" to the level of the royals might be a bit strong, drake.  being able only to listen to the game and not see a video webcast (what's up with that sju?) it was hard to know for sure.   

actually, i see a similar scenario unfolding for BU and CAR in the early part of the season.  both teams relied heavily the past three seasons on two players who were prolific scorers---and they are now being forced to come up with something different offensively to win games.  i think they both will do this---bethel when they can get a few more healthy bodies, and carelton when jeremy sutherland plays himself back in to shape and the knights become more familiar with their 'new' offense.  both teams are well coached, and will be in the thick of the playoff hunt throughout the season.  the mere fact that sju struggled to stay up on the injury-riddled royals seemed to suggest to the 'miked' VOJ that the johnnies were not up to their earlier-in-the-season game.   

[wabbit]

Wabbit — What can I say? They looked bad. Like, very bad. It was painful to watch most of the game. Plus, your boys clearly were gassed in the second half. But it's hard to blame Kalland for sticking with his starters. Check out his bench production: 0-5 FG, 0 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, 8 turnovers in 51 minutes.

Check out those numbers again. Do you really want to argue with me about this? As everyone knows, I'm more than willing

And just wait until UST unleashes the hounds on those Carlie guards. Nance could finish with 10 steals if Fritz gives him some extra run. Mark my words, it won't be pretty.

DP - I already told you. He went on the Kate Moss diet.

Who's arguing Willy Wanker? I thought I was just adding some commentary...
Let's see what I said...

• I hear that Kalland installed a new offense 2 days prior to the GAC game. -  Fact
• That might account for the 17 TOs by the Knights. – Fact
• Typically the Knights don't turn the ball over like that. – Fact
• Those are some pretty smart boys – Fact...Harvard of the Mid-West!
• They will figure it out and turn it around. – Cautiously optimistic

Take a chill pill 

[VOJ]

Drake I am not saying you are wrong in your opinion as I shared a similiar one heading into the game...but that is why they play the games.

You are right about Bethel's stats they are a bit misleading...but going off what I saw on Wednesday night they did play rather well defensively at times in the second half and did crash the offensive glass hard, something I am sure that will be/was addressed in practice the last couple of days.

Interesting, but you never addressed how the Johnnies played against Bethel.  Based on what Supe said & your omission of any details, I'm  going to operate on the assumption that the Jays played down to the level of their competition rather than Bethel played great game. 

I am not allowed to comment on the Js ...some have said there might have been a hangover from the Turkey Weekend Shootout in Oshkosh, possibly...but I think you have to give Bethel credit, they played well at times defensively, and everytime the Js would get on a roll, Coach Westlund called TO and re focus his team and did what good coaches do, set up something that they could run that would put them in a successful situation, I know they turned it over once out of a TO, but for the most part they executed well.  The Johnnies are still playing with Jrs and Sophs who are learning how to throw that knockout punch

[Gacman]

Wabbit — What can I say? They looked bad. Like, very bad. It was painful to watch most of the game. Plus, your boys clearly were gassed in the second half. But it's hard to blame Kalland for sticking with his starters. Check out his bench production: 0-5 FG, 0 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, 8 turnovers in 51 minutes.

Check out those numbers again. Do you really want to argue with me about this? As everyone knows, I'm more than willing

And just wait until UST unleashes the hounds on those Carlie guards. Nance could finish with 10 steals if Fritz gives him some extra run. Mark my words, it won't be pretty.

DP - I already told you. He went on the Kate Moss diet.

Who's arguing Willy Wanker? I thought I was just adding some commentary...
Let's see what I said...

• I hear that Kalland installed a new offense 2 days prior to the GAC game. -  Fact
• That might account for the 17 TOs by the Knights. – Fact
• Typically the Knights don't turn the ball over like that. – Fact
• Those are some pretty smart boys – Fact...Harvard of the Mid-West!
• They will figure it out and turn it around. – Cautiously optimistic

Take a chill pill 

The first two points might be true, but that doesn't change the fact that Carleton is down a little this year. You can make all of the excuses you want, but outside of their starting five, you don't have to guard any of the bench players outside 10 feet. With a bench like that it doesn't matter what offense you have. Every team can just clog the middle and force them to be a perimeter jump shooting team, and they just don't have the shooters to win games like that. They have some nice players in their starting five which on some nights might carry them to victory but not on a consistent basis, especially against the top teams in the league. I wouldn't be surprised if they miss the playoffs this year. I'm not rooting for this cause Carleton has provided GAC so many tough games in the last 5 years and have been fun to watch, but things just aren't pointing to a lot of success this year.

[Willy Wonka]

Wabbit — What can I say? They looked bad. Like, very bad. It was painful to watch most of the game. Plus, your boys clearly were gassed in the second half. But it's hard to blame Kalland for sticking with his starters. Check out his bench production: 0-5 FG, 0 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, 8 turnovers in 51 minutes.

Check out those numbers again. Do you really want to argue with me about this? As everyone knows, I'm more than willing

And just wait until UST unleashes the hounds on those Carlie guards. Nance could finish with 10 steals if Fritz gives him some extra run. Mark my words, it won't be pretty.

DP - I already told you. He went on the Kate Moss diet.

Who's arguing Willy Wanker? I thought I was just adding some commentary...
Let's see what I said...

• I hear that Kalland installed a new offense 2 days prior to the GAC game. -  Fact
• That might account for the 17 TOs by the Knights. – Fact
• Typically the Knights don't turn the ball over like that. – Fact
• Those are some pretty smart boys – Fact...Harvard of the Mid-West!
• They will figure it out and turn it around. – Cautiously optimistic

Take a chill pill 

I'll grant you the new offense thing (if it's actually true...carletonsid?), but your turnovers bit is overplayed.

Is 17 turnovers uncharacteristic? Perhaps, but not when you consider the circumstances. The Carlies have averaged 10.5, 12.3 and 11.3 over the last three years. The five offensive fouls they were called for against the Gusties account for the difference — it wasn't exactly sloppy outside of those calls, it was just ugly (both ways). The three taken by Seth Anderson were textbook and will probably get him some more PT moving forward. That's just good defense.

I like Kalland and the Knights more than most on here, but they have a very low ceiling this year IMO. They lack a natural scorer and don't have any depth to speak of. That's just reality.

[Willy Wonka]

Wow! Great finish in Gustieville today. GAC beats the Cobbers by 3 in OT thriller.

Schmidtnecht missed a potential GW free throw with under 5 seconds left in regulation...but then Wirtjes drilled a hail mary halfcourter after setting up a play to go the length of the court in 0.8 seconds. For the record, these are fairly routinely practiced by the Gusties (especially over the holiday breaks), even though I didn't make a single one in my four years.

GAC led almost the whole way, including by 10 at the half. Sounds like the Gusties tried to piss it away but still managed to come away with a win. We'll have to wait for the story and box for more details since I only got a brief recap from an excited Gustie at the game...

While neither win has been particularly pretty, GAC has to be happy with wins over teams expected to be in the playoff hunt.

Any other scores out there?

[Gacman]

I was at the game and you summed it up pretty well WW. The gusties did piss it away in the last 5 minutes. They had at least four turnovers in the the last 5. The first 35 minutes were completely controlled by the gusties. Tyler Grey hit a huge shot with 8 seconds left in OT to tie it up and the CON came down and took the dumbest shot ever. Molina threw up a prayer with four seconds left without setting up a play. This would cost them because it never drew iron and the gusties quick called a TO with .8 seconds left and the rest as they say is history.