MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Gacman]

I still think Hamline can finish top 2-4 pretty easily, if they play a bit of D and limit their TO's.  They have the best 1-2 punch in the conference (Brown and Hipp), however they need to find that third man to step up.  Also, Coach needs to stick with a set rotation ... Stop giving opportunities to players that do not deserve to be on the court.  Time will tell, but I have a feeling Drake will be swallowing some of his words.

Hahaha.......that's funny! Coach Whit setting and staying with a rotation or even a starting line-up for that matter has about as good of chance as Tiger not cheating on his wife.     Never Have I seen a coach change who he plays more than Hammy's guy, and the reasoning will most of the time make zero sense. If you aren't his horse or horses aka...Hipp and Brown, the rest will see their minutes flucuate the rest of the season and that's a guarantee. This is why Hamline will always underachieve with him as coach. Do they have talent this year?......YES, which is why they will beat some really good teams, and then lose to St. Olaf.

[VOJ]

I still think Hamline can finish top 2-4 pretty easily, if they play a bit of D and limit their TO's.  They have the best 1-2 punch in the conference (Brown and Hipp), however they need to find that third man to step up.  Also, Coach needs to stick with a set rotation ... Stop giving opportunities to players that do not deserve to be on the court.  Time will tell, but I have a feeling Drake will be swallowing some of his words.

Hahaha.......that's funny! Coach Whit setting and staying with a rotation or even a starting line-up for that matter has about as good of chance as Tiger not cheating on his wife.    Never Have I seen a coach change who he plays more than Hammy's guy, and the reasoning will most of the time make zero sense. If you aren't his horse or horses aka...Hipp and Brown, the rest will see their minutes flucuate the rest of the season and that's a guarantee. This is why Hamline will always underachieve with him as coach. Do they have talent this year?......YES, which is why they will beat some really good teams, and then lose to St. Olaf.

Hipp and Brown the best 1-2 punch in the conference???  They may have the most individual talent but...that is big talk about two guys who are leading a team that trailed MAC by 3 at the half last week and lost a 10 point lead in the second half vs Auggy and as Gacman pointed out lost to St. Olaf, which leads me to say, let's not crumb on the Oles...the MIAC's Coach K always gets his guys to play hard, but pound for pound Hamline according to speculation on this board should have more talent than the Oles...

Maybe the fact that Hamline has just those two guys is going to hurt more than help...follow me here fellas...@ SJU(yea i know I am not supposed to talk about SJU, but I need to for purposes of this example)  5 different Johnnies have led the team in scoring...I have not investigated other teams due to a time issue, but after reading about them on here it seems most teams have 1 main guy and then another 2 to 4 guys who could help carry a team on a given night...like Torrell for St. Olaf last night or Olson for CC...I just looked and 4 different guys have led GAC in scoring in a game this season but UST arguably the best team in the MIAC has had Nicolai pave the way for the most part, but he has had different help on a given night...

let the debate begin...oh and I am not sure you have enough juice yet to make Drake eat, not swallow, some of his words, but keep trying...

[Willy Wonka]

Do they have talent this year?......YES, which is why they will beat some really good teams, and then lose to St. Olaf.

I think this statement, in particular, resonates in the MIAC this season. The upper echelon seems to have come down some, while the dregs have improved. I doubt it's enough to really sway the usual playoff teams too much — though I think SMU and Hamline will sneak in — but I think we'll see plenty of "upsets" that shouldn't really be that surprising before the year is finished.

[UMACFAN]

Best 1-2 punch in Hipp and Brown?  Absolutely, however there are others that could be mentioned as well.  I do agree that it may hurt them in the long run, only time will tell.  Hopefully somebody else can step up (Aguirre?) and take some of the load off of them.  And to be truthful, after watching some of Hamlines games I do not fully understand Coach Whitmores strategy.  He clogs the lane up and does not spread the floor at all.  When you have a wing player as quick and agile as Brown, you need to feed him on the wing and let him create.  I am rambling now, so this post is over.

[Gacman]

I think you're on to something VOJ. It goes along with what I was saying about SMU. They have for the last two years had to clear horses and noone else. Now they have palmer and might be taking a big leap from where they have been in the past. Hamline has two great players, but evidently noone else to this point anyway, so we could see the same thing from an unbalanced squad. Name me one MIAC champion in the last decade who hasn't had at least 3, 4, or more guys on their team who could lead their team in scoring on a given night. I can't think of one.

[Drake Palmer]

Best 1-2 punch in Hipp and Brown?  Absolutely, however there are others that could be mentioned as well.  I do agree that it may hurt them in the long run, only time will tell.  Hopefully somebody else can step up (Aguirre?) and take some of the load off of them.  And to be truthful, after watching some of Hamlines games I do not fully understand Coach Whitmores strategy.  He clogs the lane up and does not spread the floor at all.  When you have a wing player as quick and agile as Brown, you need to feed him on the wing and let him create.  I am rambling now, so this post is over.

Dang UMAC guy- say it ain't so, don't post & run. I think you bring a fresh set of eyes.  They might need to be calibrated a bit, but you & the other Hamline posters are good for the board.  Seriously.

I do agree with you on how they use Brown & with others on the board regarding the Pipers rotation.  Ray Brown is a scorer, not a shooter. Yet he takes 12 3FGA attempts last night??  Seriously, very few guys in the league can guard him 1x1.  He's too quick, big & strong. Brown should be getting to the FT line at least 10 times a game. Once Brown's defender has to sag off & guard the drive, makes Brown's jumper that much more effective.

Regarding rotation:  Case in point - What's going on with Dan Andersen? 

In the big win over Buena Vista life is good:
Andersen plays 19 solid minutes 6 rebs, 3-7 FGA, 3-6 3FGA, 9 points, 2 assists , 1 steal.

Augsburg: 12 minutes, 0-1 FGA, 3 assists & 1 block.

MAC: 9 minutes 0-2 FGA, 2 rebs.

STO:  3 minutes, otherwise zero, nada, zilch.
***

Nites - +k when time permits! Nice find on the cap. 

[sumander]

Fool-Em story on the CON win over CAR. CAR takes the lead 44-43 with 2:40 to go. they get outscored 15-4 the rest of the way.

DP, almost hate to give you +k at the level you are sitting at! Any significance to the Studs Terkel avatar?

[Gregory Sager]

Fool-Em story on the CON win over CAR. CAT takes the lead 44-43 with 2:40 to go. they get outscored 15-4 the rest of the way.

DP, almost hate to give you +k at the level you are sitting at! Any significance to the Studs Terkel avatar?

I think that Drake's wandering from gym to gym with a tape recorder, gathering an oral history of MIAC basketball.

[sumander]

Sensei, once again spot on with your theory. The following quote from studsterkel.org just needs some slight modifications and we get a picture of DP.

Terkel Drake was  is remarkable in the depth of his personal knowledge of the diverse subjects MIAC. ....... he has an ability to get others to talk about themselves their teams and what they do best.

[ChairmanYao]

I think we can all agree Coach W has not had much rhyme or reason to his rotations the past three years. I have to say neither did Wohler really. This team is going to lose a lot of games simply because the other team is going to be a heck of a lot more disciplined. It is a hard team to watch simply because that talent is there, but the team is so young and just not smart with the ball. All I can say is should be interesting.

[papahoops]

Crazy game in St. Peter... I was watching the live stats all game. SMU came back from a 20+ halftime deficit to cut the lead to as little as 1 point near the end of the game. According to the live updates, it looks like Holland had a chance to tie from 3 but missed with one second left. After thumping Bethel and nearly beating Gustavus, how dangerous is this SMU team?

Depends on Holland Will Wright...if they are on, it could be a tough night for the other team...they are starting to really put it together, have to respect and salute them for fighting back from a major halftime deficit...interesting to get WW take on the near collapse...by the way Holland was 1 for 7 last night

Well, I wasn't there so I can't give any specific feedback...but I can pull some box score tidbits for you.

• SMU shot 68% in the second half. That smells like disaster to me when you play a better team, such as Augsburg tomorrow.

• Since I sang the praises of Paulson, backup Paul Blacklock has actually outplayed him. The sophomore post went for 10 pts, 4 rebs and 3 blocks last night in just 14 minutes. I know the staff is pretty high on him, so his minutes are something that might be worth watching.

• The Gustie bench scored 41 points last night. I'm guessing that's the most at GAC since a certain redhead was still a reserve.

• Palmer is good. He's much, much more polished than the UST freshman center and should easily earn the mythical title of Freshman of the Year.

• Off nights for Holland and Nicolai against solid competition. Interesting to note Holland and WW's minutes were both a season-low last night at 27 and 30.

WW
I agree that Palmer is a nice player, and statistically, he will put up better numbers and log more minutes this year due to the lack of other quality front court players on SMU's roster. He is a very nice complement to Holland/Wright and has an "edge" to his game that SMU needed, and I like what he brings to the table. All that being said, after seeing both in action, I would take Pedretti as my first choice if I was forming a squad to compete in the MIAC for the next 4 years. He is a very fundamentally sound pure #5 post player with better size than Palmer, and a solid #5 is harder to find in this league than a #3 or #4 (however you want to chategarize Palmer). If I was to select my all FY team based on limited action to date, I would take Pedretti as my #5 post and Palmer as a smaller #4 or #3 player.
I wouldn't argue that Palmer would likely win a mythical FY award this year due to better numbers resulting from heavier minutes and weaker supporting cast.

[Drake Palmer]

DP, almost hate to give you +k at the level you are sitting at! Any significance to the Studs Terkel avatar?

Puhleeze!  Sum - you of people should talk about karma.  You've basically got 3 times as much as me. But I tell you what - lets make a deal. Since we both have milestone/symmetry type numbers - you with that ridiculously high 911 & me with 333, I'll give you a bump of +k whenever someone other than me bumps you off that number, & or vice versa. Deal? 

Regarding venerable Studs Terkel.  Several  weeks ago a I heard a portion of an interview with him & I thought to myself – "hey, his photo would be a good avatar."  And so it came to pass...

[Buddo]

Is Joe Scott back in the swing of things? He dropped 21 last night.

One question about Mr. Scott: Did he win player of the year because he was the best player on the best team (Heisman style)? His stats certainly weren't eye-popping, he didn't do better than 7th in any statistical category. Was he just highly effective in short bursts?

Crazy game in St. Peter... I was watching the live stats all game. SMU came back from a 20+ halftime deficit to cut the lead to as little as 1 point near the end of the game. According to the live updates, it looks like Holland had a chance to tie from 3 but missed with one second left. After thumping Bethel and nearly beating Gustavus, how dangerous is this SMU team?

Depends on Holland Will Wright...if they are on, it could be a tough night for the other team...they are starting to really put it together, have to respect and salute them for fighting back from a major halftime deficit...interesting to get WW take on the near collapse...by the way Holland was 1 for 7 last night

Well, I wasn't there so I can't give any specific feedback...but I can pull some box score tidbits for you.

• SMU shot 68% in the second half. That smells like disaster to me when you play a better team, such as Augsburg tomorrow.

• Since I sang the praises of Paulson, backup Paul Blacklock has actually outplayed him. The sophomore post went for 10 pts, 4 rebs and 3 blocks last night in just 14 minutes. I know the staff is pretty high on him, so his minutes are something that might be worth watching.

• The Gustie bench scored 41 points last night. I'm guessing that's the most at GAC since a certain redhead was still a reserve.

• Palmer is good. He's much, much more polished than the UST freshman center and should easily earn the mythical title of Freshman of the Year.

• Off nights for Holland and Nicolai against solid competition. Interesting to note Holland and WW's minutes were both a season-low last night at 27 and 30.

WW
I agree that Palmer is a nice player, and statistically, he will put up better numbers and log more minutes this year due to the lack of other quality front court players on SMU's roster. He is a very nice complement to Holland/Wright and has an "edge" to his game that SMU needed, and I like what he brings to the table. All that being said, after seeing both in action, I would take Pedretti as my first choice if I was forming a squad to compete in the MIAC for the next 4 years. He is a very fundamentally sound pure #5 post player with better size than Palmer, and a solid #5 is harder to find in this league than a #3 or #4 (however you want to chategarize Palmer). If I was to select my all FY team based on limited action to date, I would take Pedretti as my #5 post and Palmer as a smaller #4 or #3 player.
I wouldn't argue that Palmer would likely win a mythical FY award this year due to better numbers resulting from heavier minutes and weaker supporting cast.

I think Palmer is just what SMU needed, a ferocious rebounder with a nose for the hoop. He's already got to be one of the most athletic kids in the league, watch the way he RIPS down rebounds.

[huhoops]

Not sure how much can be blamed on the defense last night when St. O's shot 38% from the field and 20% from three. That's actually really good defense. The problem is rebounding. For being the specimen that UMACFAN is making him out to be, Mr. Brown really lacks in this department.

Eventually UMACFAN's fiance, Mr. Brown, is going to need to develop some patience. I wasn't in Northfield last night but I assume that all 12 of the threes he took were not too late in the shot clock  . Speaking to Ray and Carl getting more isolation plays, they took 33 out of 56 shots for the Pipers. The Hamline guards look for Carl every time down the court.

9-16 from the free throw line won't make anyone blush

[bendres01]

All hail Gacman!  Very good point made about whitmore... couldn't agree more.

And in response to the question about where is Dan Andereson?
I think the lone ranger poster toolmore may have had a point... The problem with the whitmore coaching strategy is there is no consistency... If a coach wants his players to play consistent a coach (the so called leader of the team) also has to coach consistently. So far Withmore has done just the opposite, which leads to the absence of DA and wins for Hamline.