MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hoopmaster]

Loco-  I saw it coming with Nicolai.  He was torching teams in the summer league.  I know its the summer league but he was the only starting backcourt player who played on the team.  I could see him being MVP if he keeps this up. 

Carltonsid- UST is the hands down favorite, I think Augsburg finishes second in conference.  After that it will be a crapshoot.  Augsburg returns 4 out of 5 starters from last year and they didn't lose anyone else who contributed.   There are a lot of guys over there that can play so the trick for them will be keeping everyone happy especially on the wings.  If UST loses a conference game this year my bet is on Augsburg to do it (not tonight).

[Drake Palmer]

Loco-  I saw it coming with Nicolai.  He was torching teams in the summer league.  I know its the summer league but he was the only starting backcourt player who played on the team.  I could see him being MVP if he keeps this up. 
Carltonsid- UST is the hands down favorite, I think Augsburg finishes second in conference.  After that it will be a crapshoot.  Augsburg returns 4 out of 5 starters from last year and they didn't lose anyone else who contributed.   There are a lot of guys over there that can play so the trick for them will be keeping everyone happy especially on the wings.  If UST loses a conference game this year my bet is on Augsburg to do it (not tonight).

Hoops -now if you could just get Nicolai interested in dropping off a dime or two when he takes off for the basket, he would be big-time nasty!  As it is he can torch players with the J & can beat you with his right or left hand going to the rack.  If I'm Anders Halvorsen, Sam Eicher, Josh Pedretti, or Josh Peltier, I'm buying Nicolai lunches at Kim's Chow Mein, or a year's worth of fresh tube socks. 

[TearDrop]

I had some time last night to peruse through the MIAC stats at this early juncture and thought I would offer a few observations.

-Carl Hipp is leading the league in points - 20.8, rebounds -11.8, and blocks -2.8 per game.  Even more impressive is the fact that Mr. Hipp's points don't include a single three pointer.  Could it be that a Piper is in the early lead for MVP  *The other strong candidate appears to be Aaron Burtzel.

-Tyler Nicolai is leading the Tommies in scoring and truthfully it's not even close.  Anyone see this coming  

-SMU's backcourt of Wright and Holland are both averaging over 35min/gm.  Does anyone else see them tiring over the long term 

I see where some might think that this could be a concern but if anyone in the league is used to these kinds of minutes it would have to be these two. They have pretty much been shouldering the team since day 1 of their collegiate careers!

[Willy Wonka]

Loco-  I saw it coming with Nicolai.  He was torching teams in the summer league.  I know its the summer league but he was the only starting backcourt player who played on the team.  I could see him being MVP if he keeps this up.  
Carltonsid- UST is the hands down favorite, I think Augsburg finishes second in conference.  After that it will be a crapshoot.  Augsburg returns 4 out of 5 starters from last year and they didn't lose anyone else who contributed.   There are a lot of guys over there that can play so the trick for them will be keeping everyone happy especially on the wings.  If UST loses a conference game this year my bet is on Augsburg to do it (not tonight).

Hoops -now if you could just get Nicolai interested in dropping off a dime or two when he takes off for the basket, he would be big-time nasty!  As it is he can torch players with the J & can beat you with his right or left hand going to the rack.  If I'm Anders Halvorsen, Sam Eicher, Josh Pedretti, or Josh Peltier, I'm buying Nicolai lunches at Kim's Chow Mein, or a year's worth of fresh tube socks.  

Some defense would be nice, too He reminds me of a flashy DB who always goes for picks on that end of the court...

The Holland/Nicolai debate has turned into a metro/outstate type of debate. It's a shame more people can't/don't see the SMU guard play. Holland scores more, boards better, has a better 3-pt stroke and drops more dimes. Plus, he's got sweet hair.

And since I'm here, has anyone been checking out the webcasts Donny Nadeau has started for the Cards? My boy, WW, seems like a very personable fella while discussing scoring his 1,000th point after Saturday's game. It's a nice touch that I expect others will soon be adding.

PS to DP - If we're willing to draw conclusions after five games, why not just two? Especially when some are talking MVP, where only league games matter.

[Gacman]

Loco-  I saw it coming with Nicolai.  He was torching teams in the summer league.  I know its the summer league but he was the only starting backcourt player who played on the team.  I could see him being MVP if he keeps this up.  

Carltonsid- UST is the hands down favorite, I think Augsburg finishes second in conference.  After that it will be a crapshoot.  Augsburg returns 4 out of 5 starters from last year and they didn't lose anyone else who contributed.   There are a lot of guys over there that can play so the trick for them will be keeping everyone happy especially on the wings.  If UST loses a conference game this year my bet is on Augsburg to do it (not tonight).

They do return a lot but losing arguably their best player does hurt, especially when UST, GAC, CON, SJU, SMU, STO, and MAC all return their best players. Last year it was Alm who single handedly beat us twice last year.

Ok, you dragged me into it, but know that I come kicking and screaming.

The better storylines here might be the disappearance of Fraase and Van Sickle, two AC players a year ago. Fraase has gone from 15.6 and 11.4 with 50.4% shooting to 8.0 and 9.5 on 35%. Granted, it's a small sample size against two quality opponents...but he's also shooting just 41% on the year. That's gotta be a cause for concern for my MVP dark horse from the hinterlands.

Van Sickle is an even bigger enigma right now, though his struggles are a little easier to sweep under the carpet since GAC is "rolling." But his numbers are straight out of Nightmare on Elm Street. He's averaging just 3.5 points on 16% (3-18) shooting in conference games. He's being outscored by a bench player who wears a t-shirt! The best 3-point shooter in the league a year ago is currently 0-7 in league games and 1-12 overall. As I mentioned last year, it's not like he brings a ton else to the table (1.0 reb, 2.0 ast, 0 steals/blocks). It puts Hanson in an interesting bind — do you play an unproductive senior more minutes in hopes he breaks out or do you start cutting back his clock until he begins producing? Personally, I'd like to see Wirtjes be more aggressive to fill that scoring/shooting void.

It's not in the same echelon, but what's going on with the "real" MVP, Joe Scott? I would hope even Uncle Sid agrees he doesn't look like Big Ten material right now 11.0 points, 38% shooting and 16% from deep? He's still getting steals, but it's not like his rebounding and assist numbers are anything special. The Tommies are a lot easier to guard if Nicolai is the only real threat from distance, though Scott seems to be attacking the basket more with his shots not falling — 10 FT attempts in two conference games.

I can't speak for Scott and his troubles, but having seen Fraase and Van Sickle play this weekend I'm not too worried that they both will turn it around.

I'm not surprised to see Fraase struggle a little bit because after the season he had last year coming out of nowhere, people are going to defend him better and teams are going to game plan to stop him more than they did last year. With that said, he has such a quick release that getting shots won't be too much of a problem and little Duncan has too much touch to keep shooting poorly. He had a nice game on saturday despite GAC doing everything they could to stop him. The bigger key to his resurgence and Concordia's team success in general is Olmsheid playing like the best player on this team like he should be. He has so much more talent than Fraase its scary, but Olmsheid tends to just disappear at times and then explode at others. This happens because of his lack of assertiveness. When he buckles down and tries, he is the ultimate mismatch in this conference because of his size, quickness, and his strength not to mention he is a lefty. I have seen him take several games over when he wanted to, but that's the key, "When he wanted too," which isn't all too often. If the cobbers got more consistent play out of him, teams couldn't just gameplanto stop Fraase.

As for Van Sickle, I think plain and simple he is just trying to hard. In the Mankato paper before the season started he talked about how the reason he came to gustavus was to win a championship and this is his last year to make that happen. GAC was close two years ago if it weren't for a phantom foul with a minute left but that's another story. Van Sickle is just trying to hard and it is evident in his shot selection. What has made him such a good shooter is one he is a good shooter but he never took bad shots ever, so when a good shooter does this, his percentages will be really good like his. Of his 9 shots on Saturday he maybe took 4 good shots, and you could tell that on the shots he was open on he was definitely aiming instead of shooting. The only shot he made was his buzzer beater before halftime that he didn't have to think on, he had to just catch turnaround and fire it up. It will take just one game for him to turn it around. If he hits 2 or 3 threes in this next game, I think you will see him play like he did last year for the rest of the season.

[Nites]

It puts Hanson in an interesting bind — do you play an unproductive senior more minutes in hopes he breaks out or do you start cutting back his clock until he begins producing? Personally, I'd like to see Wirtjes be more aggressive to fill that scoring/shooting void.

Yeah, he's got range on his shot to, ohhh, about 50 feet.    

Something tells me the Cobs might put a guy in the face of the player inbounding the ball next time a similar situation arises.

[Willy Wonka]

It puts Hanson in an interesting bind — do you play an unproductive senior more minutes in hopes he breaks out or do you start cutting back his clock until he begins producing? Personally, I'd like to see Wirtjes be more aggressive to fill that scoring/shooting void.

Yeah, he's got range on his shot to, ohhh, about 50 feet.    

Something tells me the Cobs might put a guy in the face of the player inbounding the ball next time a similar situation arises.

I played some with him this summer and he's a very capable scorer. I'm not sure how many more years I'm going to be able to use the "I played with..." line, so I'm going to get it out of my system now He was both efficient and effective when I saw him against Carleton, but he wasn't really looking for his shot enough IMO. He'll have his hands full tonight, though.

[gacbacker]

Ok, you dragged me into it, but know that I come kicking and screaming.

Van Sickle is an even bigger enigma right now, though his struggles are a little easier to sweep under the carpet since GAC is "rolling." But his numbers are straight out of Nightmare on Elm Street. He's averaging just 3.5 points on 16% (3-18) shooting in conference games. He's being outscored by a bench player who wears a t-shirt! The best 3-point shooter in the league a year ago is currently 0-7 in league games and 1-12 overall. As I mentioned last year, it's not like he brings a ton else to the table (1.0 reb, 2.0 ast, 0 steals/blocks). It puts Hanson in an interesting bind — do you play an unproductive senior more minutes in hopes he breaks out or do you start cutting back his clock until he begins producing? Personally, I'd like to see Wirtjes be more aggressive to fill that scoring/shooting void.

I don't think Hanson is ready to cut Van Sickle's minutes yet. I do think Tyler Grey's minutes should be upped slightly from the 18 per game he is at right now though.

[Willy Wonka]

Ok, you dragged me into it, but know that I come kicking and screaming.

Van Sickle is an even bigger enigma right now, though his struggles are a little easier to sweep under the carpet since GAC is "rolling." But his numbers are straight out of Nightmare on Elm Street. He's averaging just 3.5 points on 16% (3-18) shooting in conference games. He's being outscored by a bench player who wears a t-shirt! The best 3-point shooter in the league a year ago is currently 0-7 in league games and 1-12 overall. As I mentioned last year, it's not like he brings a ton else to the table (1.0 reb, 2.0 ast, 0 steals/blocks). It puts Hanson in an interesting bind — do you play an unproductive senior more minutes in hopes he breaks out or do you start cutting back his clock until he begins producing? Personally, I'd like to see Wirtjes be more aggressive to fill that scoring/shooting void.

I don't think Hanson is ready to cut Van Sickle's minutes yet. I do think Tyler Grey's minutes should be upped slightly from the 18 per game he is at right now though.

Eh, go lead your Bri "2 point" Radkte for MVP bandwagon elsewhere, gacbacker

The Gusties need scoring in the worst way, but look at Grey's peripheral stats. If Van Sickle doesn't do much besides score, Grey does NOTHING besides score.

I mean, he makes Neal Anderson look like the Round Mound of Rebound. For those of you too lazy to check, Grey has 0 rebounds in 40 conference minutes thus far and three in 75+ minutes total.

[Nites]

The Gusties need scoring in the worst way, but look at Grey's peripheral stats. If Van Sickle doesn't do much besides score, Grey does NOTHING besides score.

I mean, he makes Neal Anderson look like the Round Mound of Rebound. For those of you too lazy to check, Grey has 0 rebounds in 40 conference minutes thus far and three in 75+ minutes total.

That's not completely fair; he does have 2 assists, including 1 in conference play.   

Interestingly, he and Van Sickle have a combined 1 foul for the year.  It's Grey's (what a hack).  I don't know if that means that they're both very disciplined defenders or very passive defenders.  Nothing like former Gustie Trevor Wittwer who could get a foul just by looking at the opposition.

[columbianmaffia]

So we can all relax and remember it will take at least another month if not two for EVERY coach in the league to find their "Rotation" - I would also venture a guess that there is NO team that has the same starters in more than two games to this point. 

i have not been to a carleton game yet this year but if i were a betting man i would bet they have the same starting line up for every game this season unless there is an injury preventing someone from playing

[gacbacker]

Eh, go lead your Bri "2 point" Radkte for MVP bandwagon elsewhere, gacbacker

The Gusties need scoring in the worst way, but look at Grey's peripheral stats. If Van Sickle doesn't do much besides score, Grey does NOTHING besides score.

I mean, he makes Neal Anderson look like the Round Mound of Rebound. For those of you too lazy to check, Grey has 0 rebounds in 40 conference minutes thus far and three in 75+ minutes total.

The Gusties are outrebounding their opponents by five per game so far this season. Why are you so hung up on our shooting guard needing to rebound? Van Sickle can't jump and Grey is usually the smallest guy on the floor so I don't know what you can expect out of either of those two when it comes to boarding. Seems to me that scoring would be the bigger issue for a team struggling to get to 60 on the scoreboard night in and night out.

[Buddo]

I finally found a board where I can have some good MIAC talks! 

Here are some questions that have been lingering in my head:

- Who do you guys see as the best player in the conference? I think candidates would be Joe Scott, Tyler Nicolai, Aaron Burtzel, Carl Hipp, John Fraase, Lukas Holland, Will Wright, and maybe Alfred Jaryan depending on if he keeps up this scoring average.

- Who do you think has a shot at freshman of the  year? I know Pedretti is getting some good PT at UST, and this Noah Aguirre is scoring nicely for Hamline. Chris Palmer for SMU is averaging 11.3 ppg and 7.5  rpg, good for 20th and 5th in the MIAC. Are there any other freshmen that may have an impact later in the season? Right now Aguirre and Palmer have the statistical advantage over any other contenders, but the season is very young.

-SMU's backcourt of Wright and Holland are both averaging over 35min/gm.  Does anyone else see them tiring over the long term  

Absolutely not, they had similar numbers the last two years. Wright was #1 and Holland was #2 in the MIAC in minutes played last year.

[Nites]

I finally found a board where I can have some good MIAC talks! 

Here are some questions that have been lingering in my head:

- Who do you guys see as the best player in the conference? I think candidates would be Joe Scott, Tyler Nicolai, Aaron Burtzel, Carl Hipp, John Fraase, Lukas Holland, Will Wright, and maybe Alfred Jaryan depending on if he keeps up this scoring average.

- Who do you think has a shot at freshman of the  year? I know Pedretti is getting some good PT at UST, and this Noah Aguirre is scoring nicely for Hamline. Chris Palmer for SMU is averaging 11.3 ppg and 7.5  rpg, good for 20th and 5th in the MIAC. Are there any other freshmen that may have an impact later in the season? Right now Aguirre and Palmer have the statistical advantage over any other contenders, but the season is very young.

[

Welcome, Buddo. 

That's a good start at a best players list.  Other potential contenders to consider are Ray Brown of Hamline, David Olson and John Cassens of Augsburg, Jeremy Sutherland of Carlton, Chris Vavra and Taylor Hall (he's been out the last 2 games) of Bethel and Darrin Olmscheid of Concordia.  Most would probably put Brown at the top of this secondary list, if for no other reason than pure athleticism.

As for freshman of the year, I don't think Pedretti will get enough minutes to post the numbers of some of the others, plus Nance may turn out to be more valuable to the Tommies.  I agree that Palmer and Aguirre are the early frontrunners.  I might add Greg Meyer and Zak Matheson of Bethel as both are benefitting from early playing time due to Bethel's injury situation.  I'm also intrigued by Scott Theisen at Carlton, although he's off to a slow start and Kalland doesn't tend to have a large rotation.

[PurpleReign]

On paper, the UST vs. Augsburg should be one of the better games early in the MIAC season.  I wouldn't be suprised with a Auggie win, but I wouldn't be suprised with a 15 point Tommie victory - I just don't know what to make of this 09-10 Tommie squad.  I really like the scoring balance that Augsburg brings to the court with 5 players averaging double figures.  Hopefully the game is a little better than the performance put on by those guys singing the Star Spangled Banner  .  So, because UST has a considerable height advantage, I am going to go with the Tommies this evening and a margin of victory of nine: 85-76.