MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Drake Palmer]

TD - are you running conference pickems this year?

On opening night of the hoops season, here's what I see:

SCSU big over the Jays
STO decisively over Bethany Lutheran
SMU continues MIAC domination of the UMAC's Crown College
Buena Vista over GAC

[John Gleich]

Meanwhile, the Royals go on the road tomorrow night to play at UW-Stout. Stout was selected to finish 3rd in the WIAC this season.

Stout was picked 5th in the preseason poll.  They did, however, finish tied for 3rd with La Crosse (who was picked 3rd in the pre-season poll) and beat Whitewater and Point back to back late in the season.  They started off the year kind of rough (They won 3 of their first 4, then lost 6 of 7) but they ended really strong, finishing the year 12-3 before losing to Point in the WIAC tourney semi's.

Here's the blurb from the WIAC season preview:

UW-Stout returns 70 percent of its scoring and 67 percent of its rebounding from last year's unit that ranked first in the WIAC in rebounding (36.7 rpg) and second in scoring (77.3 ppg). The Blue Devils closed last season by winning seven of their final nine contests, including victories over UW-Stevens Point and UW-Whitewater who were both ranked in the top-five nationally at the time of the game. The 2010-11 roster includes 11 individuals who are first year to the program.

UW-Stout
Head Coach: Ed Andrist; 22nd season (11th at UWS); 382-316 (overall) / 132-125 (UWS)
Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 7/4
Starters Returning/Lost: 4/1
Returning All-WIAC: Eric Hostetter, Sr., G (2010-First)

[Gregory Sager]

Wow, it's hard to believe that Ed Andrist has been at UW-Stout for eleven years now. Seems like only yesterday that people on the WIAC board were constantly slagging him as "Fast Eddie" and accusing his program at the late, lamented Mount Senario College of being a haven for fly-by-nighters and sketchy characters.

[Gacman]

Gusties up 39-37 at the half. Balanced attack as always for GAC except James Hill is 6-7 with 13 points. Up by as many as ten GAC let BV cut into the lead late in the half.

[Gacman]

GAC beats BV 95-81 led by Wirtjes with 21. I believe he had 19 points in the second half.  BV was playing a really fast paced tempo. The score is indicative of this.

BV has a nice freshman guard who did a nice job of pushing the tempo and kept them in the game for awhile with some nice drives to the hoop, and their top scorer in the game is only a sophomore.

The Gusties had 6 players in double figures led by Wirtjes with 21 and Hill with 18. Hill is player that is going to surprise a lot of people this year with his ability to the score from any place on the floor.

Bobby Johnson was in uniform, but did not play in the game. I don't think we will see him play until after Thanksgiving. Hopefully GAC can keep winning until he comes back.

A nice win for GAC to star the season.

[miacsuperfan]

GAC beats BV 95-81 led by Wirtjes with 21. I believe he had 19 points in the second half.  BV was playing a really fast paced tempo. The score is indicative of this.

BV has a nice freshman guard who did a nice job of pushing the tempo and kept them in the game for awhile with some nice drives to the hoop, and their top scorer in the game is only a sophomore.

The Gusties had 6 players in double figures led by Wirtjes with 21 and Hill with 18. Hill is player that is going to surprise a lot of people this year with his ability to the score from any place on the floor.

Bobby Johnson was in uniform, but did not play in the game. I don't think we will see him play until after Thanksgiving. Hopefully GAC can keep winning until he comes back.

A nice win for GAC to star the season.

nice win for gusties, but an even bigger win for sju as they dump st. cloud by 8 in the ice (shooting) bowl.  hope we get a game report from voj.  please voj---give us some love on the board.   

[Drake Palmer]

Meanwhile, the Royals go on the road tomorrow night to play at UW-Stout. Stout was selected to finish 3rd in the WIAC this season.

Stout was picked 5th in the preseason poll.  They did, however, finish tied for 3rd with La Crosse (who was picked 3rd in the pre-season poll) and beat Whitewater and Point back to back late in the season.  They started off the year kind of rough (They won 3 of their first 4, then lost 6 of 7) but they ended really strong, finishing the year 12-3 before losing to Point in the WIAC tourney semi's.

Point - I'm must be slipping.  I knew this a couple of days ago.    

And then there was one....


So this brings us to Bethel, the last team to post their roster or game scores.  I realize that I've given Bethel a "bit" of flak  in the past for their non-conference schedule, but this year they've done a pretty good job of making some improvements.  They scheduled an away game at UW-Stout on 11/16 for their season opener. This is a pretty gutsy move.  Stout was picked to finish 5th in the 9 team WIAC this season.  ...

Several days later in the annual Bethel tournament they even upgraded the annual tourney lollypop.  Bethel replaced Nebraska Christian from last season (everyone remembers Bethel 93- NC 21 right?) with Trinity International.  At least Trinity typically fields a competitive, but losing team which is more than could be said for Nebraska Christian.  In addition to Trinity, Bethel added Wisconsin Lutheran & UW-LaCrosse.  LAX was picked to finish 3rd in the WIAC.

If you want to see a dangerous shooter you owe it to yourself to check out LAX's Tony Mane.  The kid has no conscience & seemingly unlimited range. With Bethel's style of defense, Mane could easily rack up 50+ points.  

It's a good thing this was my trial run at pickems.    Supe - I caught the last 2 minutes of the SJU-SCSU game & it sounded like 3 of the St. Cloud's starters were missing.  Nonetheless, still a nice win for the Jays.  I might have to eat some mutton chops for dinner tomorrow night.

In other news, is the MIAC turning into the run & fun league?  Nah, they're just continuing their domination over the UMAC.  

Gusties almost hit a C-note on Buena Vista. I'd imagine Willy is smirking somewhere.

St. Olaf lays the smack down on Bethany Lutheran 96-84.  Koz starts 2 FY, Connor Gunderson 8-13 FGA, 2-5 3FGA, 19 pts, 4 rebs, 2 steals & 5 fouls.  Charlie Aslesen, the other FY has 10 pts on 4-8 FGA, 2-2 3fga & 5 fouls. (Fouling out must be a new requirement for Ole freshmen.   ) Bobby Fong & Stu Neville both knocked down double- doubles. In 40 minutes Fong scored 25 points, 10 rebs, + 6 assists, Neville scored 18 & grabbed 12 rebs. No Lord Alfie, as Tucker Sheley slides over from the 2G spot & does a decent job running the point, collects 9 assists along with 12pts. Aslesen must have been starting for Nate Krosschell, as Krosschell was not in the boxscore tonight for the Oles either.

Birds derail the Crown Storm 78-57.  Holland, Palmer & Wright all in double digits & yawn, Palmer collects another double-double.  

[Buddo]

Is Jaryan hurt?

[AO]

In other news, is the MIAC turning into the run & fun league?  Nah, they're just continuing their domination over the UMAC.  

St. Olaf lays the smack down on Bethany Lutheran 96-84.  Koz starts 2 FY, Connor Gunderson 8-13 FGA, 2-5 3FGA, 19 pts, 4 rebs, 2 steals & 5 fouls.  Charlie Aslesen, the other FY has 10 pts on 4-8 FGA, 2-2 3fga & 5 fouls. (Fouling out must be a new requirement for Ole freshmen.   ) Bobby Fong & Stu Neville both knocked down double- doubles. In 40 minutes Fong scored 25 points, 10 rebs, + 6 assists, Neville scored 18 & grabbed 12 rebs. No Lord Alfie, as Tucker Sheley slides over from the 2G spot & does a decent job running the point, collects 9 assists along with 12pts. Aslesen must have been starting for Nate Krosschell, as Krosschell was not in the boxscore tonight for the Oles either.

Birds derail the Crown Storm 78-57.  Holland, Palmer & Wright all in double digits & yawn, Palmer collects another double-double.  

A smack down is a 12 point win?  7 point margin at the half, 74-70 with 8 minutes left?  Smack Down?  Bethany is going to miss saffert this year.  Regarding Koz starting a couple of fy players, I think Jeddeloh from BLC one-upped Koz on the playing of inexperienced players.  Bethany's top 7 in terms of minutes played tonight included 2 freshman and 5 sophmores.

----Crown is even younger than Bethany and with a new head coach I'm quite surprised they kept it as close as they did.

----Tomorrow's night's games could easily even the score for the UMAC.  We're coming...We're coming! ialto

----The MIAC's only shot at the preseason UMAC favorite comes thursday when the UMM cougars travel to Moorhead. (that is to say, only shot during the regular season as the UMAC has entered the first year of the AQ!  booyah!)

----Not sure what to make of my Northwestern squad yet.  Could have given a pretty good NWC-Hamline preview if the alumni vs Varsity throwdown hadn't have been cancelled due to Snow on saturday (though I think most of the alumni thinks they were just scared and the snow was a convenient excuse.. ).  I can tell you Hipp can expect frequent double teams as the starting frontcourt from last year's national championship squad has graduated and Robbie Anderstrom is still recovering from a concussion.  A lot of question marks for both squads to start the year usually means the game will be blowout city or down to the wire as has been the case lately in this snelling ave shootout.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

[----The MIAC's only shot at the preseason UMAC favorite comes thursday when the UMM cougars travel to Moorhead. (that is to say, only shot during the regular season as the UMAC has entered the first year of the AQ! first round automatic loss to MIAC champ. booyah!)

There, I fixed your error

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Sounds like a good start of the season for the MIAC, with nice wins by GAC and USJ (altho if DP's comment about 3 SCSU starters missing is true, it might take a little off the shine of the W). VOJ-- I know you're lurking... whats the scoop? Is the Big Red for real or did SCSU just drop a stinkbomb?

Interesting battle tonight at Con-St P, as UST tries to make it 10 in a row over Concordia. The last 2 meetings have been entertaining nailbiters. Drake- do you have opera plans tonight or will you be in attendance? Or is Tuesday the night for your pedicure? I forget 

Did anyone see Poppa Hoops and sons on TV Sunday night? Their beloved Steelers ran into the Patriots, but the Hoops family avoided our snowstorm and was in attendance.... hopefully Pops has recovered from the defeat enuogh to enlighten us with his predictions...

[TearDrop]

TD - are you running conference pickems this year?
On opening night of the hoops season, here's what I see:

SCSU big over the Jays
STO decisively over Bethany Lutheran
SMU continues MIAC domination of the UMAC's Crown College
Buena Vista over GAC

Honestly I do not have time to total the standings and stuff but would love to participate!

[Drake Palmer]

 Let's see if I can improve on my early season prognosticating skillz. Tough choices tonight.  I forgot that in the last couple of years the IIAC has been going through some down times that are leaner than the MIAC.

So I'll go with the following.  The numbers indicate how I rate my picks

5= lock
4 = almost a lock
3= strong choice
2= not so sure
1= pickem  

Carleton @ Wartburg (4)
Bethany Lutheran @ Macalester (3)
Hamline @ Northwestern (1)
UST @ CSTP (2)
Bethel @ UW-Stout (5)

Speaking of Bethel, once again they have their new roster posted.  They did in fact add a few FY post players, but based on their weight, a strong north wind off 694 & Snelling might blow them over.  The Royals also picked up a couple of candidates for the All-Name team. One of the names makes me wonder – what were these parents thinking when they named their baby 18-19 years ago?

Also, SO wing, Greg Myer must have shrunk over the summer as he is now listed as 6-2 instead of 6-4. And his Minnehaha Academy running mate Taylor Sparkman is no longer listed on the roster. I'm wondering if injuries cut short his basketball career as he never got a chance to play his FY season.  He would have been an excellent post player.  Bethel is also without Eric Hugoson who would have been a very nice guard for the Royals.  In years past you always figured Bethel would put up some points but this year I'm not even sure of that.  Plus with the resignation of Coach Dan Perrel, who's going to handle the defensive end of the game?  We could be seeing a lot of UMAC ball north Snelling style this year.

http://www.miac-online.org/index.aspx?tab=menssports&path=mbball
**
We might have to adopt a UMAC guy to run the MIAC league  pickems this year. AO? I see you ran the MIAC football pickems.

[Gregory Sager]

The Jays are the gracious hosts to St. Cloud State - a top 10 ranked team in several D2 preseason polls, with 4-5 starters returning from a final four team in 2010.  Yikes, like lambs to the slaughter?

Beware the killer sheep, Drake!

[Drake Palmer]

The Jays are the gracious hosts to St. Cloud State - a top 10 ranked team in several D2 preseason polls, with 4-5 starters returning from a final four team in 2010.  Yikes, like lambs to the slaughter?

Beware the killer sheep, Drake!

That's good stuff Basil! 

I'm not sure if you noticed but the photo I posted had a basketball team - 5 sheep, in the foreground of the picture. 

Rogue killas.