MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Gacman]

As big as the bench has been for the gusties this year, the starters looked like they definitely stepped up. Van Sickle's numbers last night don't jump out at you, but he had a very nice game that we have come to expect over the last 3 years. Taking what the defense gives him and hitting a high percentage with timely shots.  If he can play like this from here on out, it will add a huge piece to what the gusties have been missing. Also, I need to retract my statement from earlier about Sam Paulson. Since their trip to Hawaii, he has been very solid for the gusties, and has definitely earned his spot in the line-up.

That was a huge win coming off their disappointing loss on saturday. WW the 18-26 is a concern, but they were 10-12 down the stretch, so they made them when it counted.

Looking ahead, the Tommies could have a tough game on wednesday as they travel up to moorhead. That was their last conference loss before the one they suffered last week.

[columbianmaffia]

First Dave, now Glen. Sorry CMOB.
http://www.startribune.com/business/81978002.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUl

devistating...both glen and the taco bell puppy die within 7 or 8 months of one another...they will probably haunt ronald mcdonalds dreams for the rest of his life

[TearDrop]

Talking to some old friends from SMU I heard a rumor that Brensley Haywood was playing basketball over sea's. After doing a bit of digging it appears to be true. Good for him! I hope that his post collegiate experience is better than the one he had at SMU.

http://www.eurobasket.com/player.asp?Cntry=USA&PlayerID=132147&AmNotSure=1

[Nites]

Talking to some old friends from SMU I heard a rumor that Brensley Haywood was playing basketball over sea's. After doing a bit of digging it appears to be true. Good for him! I hope that his post collegiate experience is better than the one he had at SMU.

http://www.eurobasket.com/player.asp?Cntry=USA&PlayerID=132147&AmNotSure=1

He plays on Werne, the same team as GAC alum, Trevor Wittwer.  MAC alum, Tom Conboy played on the team for a spell last year.  I don't think TCon is playing there this year, but I'll let papahoops confirm that.

[Willy Wonka]

Don't think it's been mentioned yet, but UST falls to #9 and GAC is tied for 30th in the latest D3 polls. Stevens Point is again leading the way.

[miacsuperfan]

nice recovery by golden gusties in c-ville following their saturday afternoon stinkbomb in arden hills.  mr. hanson undoubtedly had everyone's attention at monday's walk-through?

no surprise at ganglehoff; sounds like cooler heads belonged to tommies---with ust alum yorky working the vipes over pretty good to the tune of 34 fouls.

voj, nice job as usual calling the oft-delayed sju game last night.  the old guys at the bench must have been asleep at the switch again?  or were the switches asleep? 

either way, the johnnies better beware tomorrow----i think the royals have healed a bit and are starting to figure a few things out.  their sixth straight win over the knights has to have coach kalland scratching his head.   

you guys keep trying to get the rest of us excited about smu, but for some reason i am having a hard time buying in.  improved yes, but how much?

the second half of this year could see some interesting twists and turns.  i certainly wouldn't rule ANYBODY out at this point, 'cept of course for the scots.  should be fun.   

[papahoops]

Nites is correct.   Wittwer played the whole season last year for Werne, Germany and TCon went for a partial season. In all candor, from a basketball perspective, one should not get too excited about anyone playing in Europe unless it is in the higher level leagues (where the guys who just missed making an NBA team play, ie. Khalid El-Amin). In the lower level leagues where most D3 players land, multiple American players share small apartments, 3-4 guys may share a car, and the pay isn't great. They only play one game and practice 3-4 times per week, so it can get boring if the team doesn't get you a decent "side job".
Based on my conversations with my son, the level of play in lower European leagues isn't any better than decent D3 level play, and the quality of the coaching is not up to American standards. The best players on these teams would be equivalent to very good D3 players and the bench players could be high school age players (Europe doesn't have high school teams, so many decent H.S. age players play in the lower pro leagues (they don't get paid like the American players on these teams) What it boils down to is if someone wants to keep playing some ball, have basic expenses covered,  and have a travel experience living in another culture/country, it is a good experience for a time.  If you could somehow get in a situation where you positioned yourself to move up to a higher league, it COULD be worth playing more than  a season, but those opportunities are rare. If you are an American college graduate with a job opportunity in the US, the economics of staying in Europe playing in lower level leagues just doesn't cut it, unless continuing to play basketball at any level is a big deal to you.

[huhoops]

A few brief thoughts on the HU/UST game:

HU:

* HU came out with their tails between their legs and let UST dictate their offensive possessions.
* Brown struggles and appeared to be taken out of his game very early on (2/12 FG, 4 TO).
* Hipp was sidelined on some 50/50 calls that could have gone either way. Had an impressive 10 pts, 5 rbds 2blks in 14 min.
* Schmidt and "CCC-re-TTT-in" got some decent looks but rushed and struggled to finish.
* They didn't do a great job keeping the Tommies off the boards and finishing defensive possessions (gave up 14 offensive rbds and got out rebounded by 8).
* A couple of embarrassing T's by Andersen and Brown stinted a potential run for HU midway through the 2nd half.
* Overall, just an uninspiring effort by HU.

UST:

* 32/48 from the charity stripe  YUCK!
* A surprising 20 turnovers (12 by the starting lineup)
* It would be interesting to see how the new starting line up (Nicolai, Healy, Scott, Archer, Eicher) would fare against a bigger/stronger GAC-type team.
* Ervin and Hannon are really playing great basketball right now and doing some much needed dirty work (15pts, 12 rbds, 4 stls in a combined 31 minutes).
* They came out with a point to prove last night and they dominated a shell shocked HU team (allowed 31% shooting for the game).

Back to the drawing board for HU, it will be very telling of their resilience to see how they respond tomorrow night against AUG.

[MiacLostProphet]

huhoops- back to the drawing board? Thats a little harsh don't you think.  I think they have also shown their resilience in having a conference record of 1-3 to start (with the win over lowly MAC) and finishing the last six games going 4-2 against the better half of the league, (which one game was a close one at GAC) which i will go ahead and say they beat GAC at home next time around.  HU always seems to split the season series with GAC as of late.  I think HU just got a taste of a very physical defense in STU, and with such a young team there will be a learning curve.  5-5 at the break, which PI called, and the dud abides.

[huhoops]

huhoops- back to the drawing board? Thats a little harsh don't you think.  I think they have also shown their resilience in having a conference record of 1-3 to start (with the win over lowly MAC) and finishing the last six games going 4-2 against the better half of the league, (which one game was a close one at GAC) which i will go ahead and say they beat GAC at home next time around.  HU always seems to split the season series with GAC as of late.  I think HU just got a taste of a very physical defense in STU, and with such a young team there will be a learning curve.  5-5 at the break, which PI called, and the dud abides.

By back to the drawing board, I meant time to refocus. I actually believe they will go 8-2 or better over the second half of the conference schedule. By resilience, I meant the way they will respond to their first "blowout" loss. I agree completely that they have been a different team since the California trip and have done a nice job bouncing back from a rough conference start.

[Gacman]

huhoops- back to the drawing board? Thats a little harsh don't you think.  I think they have also shown their resilience in having a conference record of 1-3 to start (with the win over lowly MAC) and finishing the last six games going 4-2 against the better half of the league, (which one game was a close one at GAC) which i will go ahead and say they beat GAC at home next time around.  HU always seems to split the season series with GAC as of late.  I think HU just got a taste of a very physical defense in STU, and with such a young team there will be a learning curve.  5-5 at the break, which PI called, and the dud abides.

By back to the drawing board, I meant time to refocus. I actually believe they will go 8-2 or better over the second half of the conference schedule. By resilience, I meant the way they will respond to their first "blowout" loss. I agree completely that they have been a different team since the California trip and have done a nice job bouncing back from a rough conference start.

That's a bold prediction in saying that they will go 8-2 the second time around. The absolute best they are going to do is go 7-3 which is still very good, but that is the best I see them doing. As formidable as they have become they live and die with two players, consistency will still be their nemesis.

[Buddo]

My power rankings for the midway mark in the MIAC season... to my knowledge, all teams have played each other at least once. Let me know what you think.

1. Gustavus
2. St. Thomas
3. St. John's
4. Augsburg
5. Hamline
6. St. Olaf
7. Concordia
8. Carleton
9. Saint Mary's
10. Bethel
11. Macalester

The top spot is obviously a tough choice, the next meeting between GAC and UST will be just as hyped and important as the first.

I like SJU a lot and consider them better than Augsburg. Can't believe they lost to Carleton. Burtzel is my pick for MVP, he's incredibly efficient.

Hamline is tough to judge. They have a great, convincing win over SJU and they steamrolled SMU... but the losses against Conc. and Olaf set them back. They could be a huge wild card in the playoffs.

Olaf is a hot team on the rise (four-game win streak). Can they capitalize on their raw athleticism? Jaryan and Fong have so much potential.

SMU is in the midst of a frustrating year - they have stuck with team like St. Thomas, Winona State and Gustavus until the final minutes. Still, a recently snapped seven-game losing streak likely cripples their playoff hopes. Palmer is easily the freshman of the year.

It's tough to say what's wrong with Bethel. An injury to T. Hall doesn't help... Daniel Baah is an explosive guard that should do well in the future.

Midseason award projections:

MVP - Aaron Burtzel, SJU
Sixth man - Sam Blank, SJU
Freshman of the year - Chris Palmer, SMU
Defensive player of the year - Carl Hipp, HU

First team all-conference:

G Tyler Nicolai UST
G Will Wright SMU
F Ray Brown HU
F Aaron Burtzel SJU
C Carl Hipp HU

Second team:

G Lukas Holland SMU
G Jon Cassens AUG
G Mark Torell STO
F John Fraase CC
F Nate Robertson BU

Honorable mention (in no order):
Chris Vavra BU
Stu Neville STO
Joe Scott UST
Seth Jonker CAR
Alfred Jaryan STO
Chris Palmer SMU
Ryan McPartland GAC
David Olson AUG
Darrin Olmscheid CC
Phil Wirtjes GAC
Jeremy Sutherland CAR

[kel_varnsen]

I haven't seen enough MIAC contests to have much to say about POY. Nostalgia for #32 tempts me to say McPartland, Paulson has become a deceptively effective force in the paint, Wirtjes has matured, Van Sickle is dangerous... Coach of the year is self-evident, isn't it?

[Willy Wonka]

My power rankings for the midway mark in the MIAC season... to my knowledge, all teams have played each other at least once. Let me know what you think.

1. Gustavus
2. St. Thomas
3. St. John's
4. Augsburg
5. Hamline
6. St. Olaf
7. Concordia
8. Carleton
9. Saint Mary's
10. Bethel
11. Macalester

The top spot is obviously a tough choice, the next meeting between GAC and UST will be just as hyped and important as the first.

I like SJU a lot and consider them better than Augsburg. Can't believe they lost to Carleton. Burtzel is my pick for MVP, he's incredibly efficient.

Hamline is tough to judge. They have a great, convincing win over SJU and they steamrolled SMU... but the losses against Conc. and Olaf set them back. They could be a huge wild card in the playoffs.

Olaf is a hot team on the rise (four-game win streak). Can they capitalize on their raw athleticism? Jaryan and Fong have so much potential.

SMU is in the midst of a frustrating year - they have stuck with team like St. Thomas, Winona State and Gustavus until the final minutes. Still, a recently snapped seven-game losing streak likely cripples their playoff hopes. Palmer is easily the freshman of the year.

It's tough to say what's wrong with Bethel. An injury to T. Hall doesn't help... Daniel Baah is an explosive guard that should do well in the future.

Midseason award projections:

MVP - Aaron Burtzel, SJU
Sixth man - Sam Blank, SJU
Freshman of the year - Chris Palmer, SMU
Defensive player of the year - Carl Hipp, HU

First team all-conference:

G Tyler Nicolai UST
G Will Wright SMU
F Ray Brown HU
F Aaron Burtzel SJU
C Carl Hipp HU

Second team:

G Lukas Holland SMU
G Jon Cassens AUG
G Mark Torell STO
F John Fraase CC
F Nate Robertson BU

Honorable mention (in no order):
Chris Vavra BU
Stu Neville STO
Joe Scott UST
Seth Jonker CAR
Alfred Jaryan STO
Chris Palmer SMU
Ryan McPartland GAC
David Olson AUG
Darrin Olmscheid CC
Phil Wirtjes GAC
Jeremy Sutherland CAR

I don't have the time to create my own list right now, but I'd suggest that you're selling the Auggies short with this list. Personally, I'd take Cassens over any of the other four guards you listed. He's the most complete player IMO, and the best shooter. We could be saying he plays on the best team by March, too.

I'm not sure who exactly I'd take instead, but Fraase and Robertson are also borderline guys to me. I think Palmer, McPartland, Rosett and Neville are at least in the discussion. Ugh, looking at the other post candidates makes me realize how down the league is in that department. I mean, imagine what Luke Schmidt, Henke, Wilhelm or any number of other "recent" studs would do to Hipp or Robertson...

[Buddo]

I don't have the time to create my own list right now, but I'd suggest that you're selling the Auggies short with this list. Personally, I'd take Cassens over any of the other four guards you listed. He's the most complete player IMO, and the best shooter. We could be saying he plays on the best team by March, too.

I'm not sure who exactly I'd take instead, but Fraase and Robertson are also borderline guys to me. I think Palmer, McPartland, Rosett and Neville are at least in the discussion. Ugh, looking at the other post candidates makes me realize how down the league is in that department. I mean, imagine what Luke Schmidt, Henke, Wilhelm or any number of other "recent" studs would do to Hipp or Robertson...

Oh believe me, I like Cassens a lot. He's such a clutch shooter and his assist-to-turnover ratio is tops in the league. I still think Wright is possibly the best player in the league at getting to the rim, and Nicolai is simply a very effective floor manager for an outstanding team.

And about the forwards, yeah those were tough to determine besides Burtzel and Hipp. WW  you should eventually post your own picks, I'd be interested to see you or Drake take a shot at it.