MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Drake Palmer]

Notes from around the league while we wait for the Gustie Mac recap: 

From Collegeville where the Johnnies defeated the Royals 77-53.

With 15 minutes left in the game, SJU scored 10 points on one trip down to its offensive end. Following a made basket, Burns stripped the ball and went hard to the basket and was fouled. The foul was ruled intentional and a Royal was called for two technical fouls and ejected from the game. Junior Aaron Barmore (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) made all four free throws resulting from the technicals, and Burns made his two. Barmore then hit a jumper on the Johnnies' extra possession.

Hmm, I've got a pretty good guess who that unnamed Royal might be.   Too bad.

uh, considering the box score identified the player tagged with the technicals by name, yeah, its a pretty good guess as to who he is 

Seems like that Kim's chicken is making Mose queasy. At the time I posted, neither boxscore was posted.  

[Buddo]

Olaf could be pretty good next year. When they're shooting hot, they are HOT. They have a very solid freshman class, too.

Love to see the win from Mac! I like their coach.

[miacsuperfan]

wow.  double wow!  what a night in the MIAC!   

gotta say, the BIGGEST surprise to me is STO.  i would have guessed by now that they would have folded up like a pup-tent and gone home.  flu bug or no, oles winning at ust is a feather in their collective caps.   i have always liked the things that bobby fong can do, but they obvioiusly have a lot more than that---and continue to play well and win games that in years past they would have found ways to lose.   way to go oles and koz.

i liked oldtimefan's line on the gustavus food shelf.     good stuff.  if macalaster shoots 11-16 from deep again, they will win at least one more game.  that is pretty heady stuff.   

looking at last night's picks, it appears that everyone bit pretty hard---but i bit the hardest with FOUR biffs.  i am done rolling the dice on the dawgs and the royals.  i have been too eager to pull the trigger for them, and have been a bit afraid of hamline and olaf.  lots of time left for things to shake a bit, but at this point i think we can safely say that NOBODY appears to have a lock on playing in the first ever sunday night MIAC championship game!

[Gacman]

I don't have much of a recap. I watched the last 4 minutes online and it was back and forth. GAC had the lead with 35 seconds left but MAC had the ball. GAC got MAC in a tough trap near half court but they somehow got a pass out of it to a player who had a wide open layup but was fouled. He made both with about 23 seconds left. The gusties had two possesions after this with two missed free throws by MAC sandwiched in between, but they couldn't convert. Definitely a dissappointing loss especially knowing that UST opened up the door a little themselves.

[carletonsid]

CSID - Interesting discovery regarding the league playoffs.  In addition to the league championship day change, the quarters & semis are scheduled for Wednesday and Friday rather than the Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday format they've used in previous years.   Any idea why?

Not sure if it was a rest/fatigue issue or getting the women's and men's games to different nights. I would guess it will be a Sunday afternoon game, as the NCAA Committee starts putting together the bracket Sunday evening.

The team that benefited the most from last night's upsets has to be my Knights! Still a lot of games left, but at least the Knights control their own destiny for a top two seed. Have to think, though, we'll likely see a few more upsets of the top 3 before the end of the regular season. Not surprised at all the St. Olaf beat St. Thomas--the Oles have played really well since about midway through the first half against Carleton.

[VOJ]

Fellas...homecourt advantage is not what it used to be as four of the 5 winners last night were on the road and the Cards could have posted a win as well as they were up 9 at the half. 

As for the Tommies being kept from the free throw line, after watching their performance against SJU at the line that might be a good thing...

The Oles could make a real run...they are getting great contributions from the young guys, and do alot of the little things to get in position for a win.  Big win for Hamline last night, as a tie with the Johnnies goes to the Js, and yes I know the Johnnies have work to do to get in position to create a tie.

I think DP should donate money to the food shelf totalling two buckets of chicken if Maniac wins the bets...

[Drake Palmer]

Man – whoever was squawking for a competitive league race are certainly going to get their request.  It's going to be a dogfight the next 3 weeks!

Below are the current standings. We seem to be following a moving target, but at this time the only teams you could probably say are realistically out of the running for a playoff spot are St. Mary's, Bethel, and Macalester.  However, I would still contend that even the Birds and Scots are very, very dangerous spoilers.  Case in point, look at what Mac did last night against the Gusties.

St. Thomas 12-2   
Carleton 10-3   
Gustavus 10-4   
Hamline 8-5   
St. Olaf 8-6   
Augsburg 7-7   

Concordia 6-8   
Saint John's 5-8   


Saint Mary's 4-10   
Bethel 3-11   
Macalester 2-11   

Looking over each of the contenders' remaining schedule, the road to nirvana is fraught with peril, danger, or the victor's spoils.

UST (12-2) kicks off their attempt to reach Mt MIAC summit for the 15th time under General Fritz's leadership. The Big Man will first attempt to guide his illness ravaged troops through the southern MN campaign.  The Tommies will battle at SMU, at Carleton and Gustavus. They'll return home to revive the troops, heal the infirmed, and then play the battle scarred Cobbers from the North Country, and the band of Pipers from Hamline at home. Then the troops move north for the regular season's finale against their arch rivals -the Johnnies. Outlook: tough, but a schedule champions should respond to?

Carleton(10-3): @ SJU, GAC, UST, @ SMU, @BET, @ MAC, STO (this GAME could be huge) – Outcome:  tough, but manageable

Gustavus (10-4):   @ HAM, @ CARL, UST, SJU, @ AUGS, SMU.  Outlook: the next 3 games are critical as they move down the home stretch.  They need to go at least 2-1 to have a chance to stay in the top 2.

Hamline (8-5):  GAC, @ SMU, @ BET, MAC, STO, @ UST, CORD.  Outlook:  It will require finesse and skill to tip-toe the dangerous minefields. Do-able.  4-3 should lock up a spot.  Going 5-2 they could even end up the 3rd seed or higher.

St. Olaf (8-6): AUG, MAC, SMU, @ HAM, BET, @ CARL.  Outlook.  Three home games in a row? If they can win the next 3 games at home puts a ton of pressure on the teams above & below them.  Closest thing to a cakewalk schedule.  How will the Oles respond when they're the hunted?

Augsburg (7-7): @ STO, @SJU, @ CORD, BET, MAC, GAC.  Outlook:  This is a brutal schedule.  If they can hang tough & do no worse than .500 they should be ok.  If not, a couple of teams that are currently behind them are trying to climb out of their graves.  See below.

Concordia (6-8): @ MAC, BET, AUG, @ SJU, @ UST, @ HAM.  Outlook:  This is a desperate but do-able schedule.  Grim.

St. Johns (5-8):  CARL, AUG, @ MAC, CORD, @ GAC, @ SMU, UST.  Outlook:  Odds are they're done, but stranger things have happened.  They don't have a "gimme" in their schedule and close to zero margin for error.  Some folks would say Slim Margin and last I heard Slim was headed for Texas. 

[Pat Coleman]

CSID - Interesting discovery regarding the league playoffs.  In addition to the league championship day change, the quarters & semis are scheduled for Wednesday and Friday rather than the Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday format they've used in previous years.   Any idea why?

Not sure if it was a rest/fatigue issue or getting the women's and men's games to different nights. I would guess it will be a Sunday afternoon game, as the NCAA Committee starts putting together the bracket Sunday evening.

Really, it's more like finishes the bracket Sunday evening. They start it Saturday evening. I've heard from committee members who are worried that teams that get upset on Sunday don't necessarily get a fair shake because so much of the at-large and bracketing decision is set that a team on the bubble might get left out because there was only one spot planned for a specific conference.

[carletonsid]

Really, it's more like finishes the bracket Sunday evening. They start it Saturday evening. I've heard from committee members who are worried that teams that get upset on Sunday don't necessarily get a fair shake because so much of the at-large and bracketing decision is set that a team on the bubble might get left out because there was only one spot planned for a specific conference.

That's total you-know-what about the brackets. Why doesn't the NCAA just come out and say be done by Saturday night?

Don't think it matters this year anyway, as I don't think anyone outside UST is getting at-large love, especially with GAC's loss last night to Macalester. I'm not sure how I feel about moving the game to Sunday--there was something pretty cool about that Saturday night men's final, and I think it will lose some of it's "buzz" moving to Sunday afternoon, plus the fact no MIAC games the rest of the year are played on Sunday makes this change seem puzzling.

I've done the women's/men's double before. In 2006, our women played in the afternoon in Moorhead (falling to the Cobbers) and our men played at St. Thomas that evening. I saw both games, and unless you had one game in Moorhead and another in Winona, having those two games on the same day seems doable.

[Pat Coleman]

Really, it's more like finishes the bracket Sunday evening. They start it Saturday evening. I've heard from committee members who are worried that teams that get upset on Sunday don't necessarily get a fair shake because so much of the at-large and bracketing decision is set that a team on the bubble might get left out because there was only one spot planned for a specific conference.

That's total you-know-what about the brackets. Why doesn't the NCAA just come out and say be done by Saturday night?

I think there are two different constituencies here and the people who say it's great that title games are played on Sunday, you know, the ones who pride themselves on how academically superior their school is and how it's great to miss less class time, have never had to sit on a 12-hour conference call over two days to put together a bracket.

[TommieHoops4Life]

Miacmaniac,

Give all the credit you want to St. Olaf for upsetting UST in St. Paul last night. With all due respect, and being a Tommie backer you know this, losing to a team like St. Olaf on your home court is simply unacceptable. If you're going to lose to teams like Hamline and St. Olaf, who are barely above .500 in conference play, I don't know that you deserve to be ranked, especially if one of the losses comes on your home court.

Call it harsh or knee-jerk if you want, but a team that has national title aspirations doesn't lose games like that during the regular season. I can see a slip-up to a top-three team, which Hamline almost is, but I hope Fritz lit into them in the locker room last night. The Oles shoot 52 percent from the field and out-rebound UST 28-23??? They make more free throws than the Tommies attempt? I don't know what that is, but it ain't Tommie basketball sick or not...

Are these guys contenders or are Tommie fans getting their hopes up only to be let down in the playoffs?

[papahoops]

I come back from being out of town for a week and after looking after seeing that UST and Gustavus lost at home to the Oles and the Scots, I thought I was in the twilight zone Who'd a thunk it?
This was obviously a very positive turn of events for Carleton, and makes their upcoming home encounter with UST next week even more intriquing.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Miacmaniac,

Give all the credit you want to St. Olaf for upsetting UST in St. Paul last night. With all due respect, and being a Tommie backer you know this, losing to a team like St. Olaf on your home court is simply unacceptable. If you're going to lose to teams like Hamline and St. Olaf, who are barely above .500 in conference play, I don't know that you deserve to be ranked, especially if one of the losses comes on your home court.

Call it harsh or knee-jerk if you want, but a team that has national title aspirations doesn't lose games like that during the regular season. I can see a slip-up to a top-three team, which Hamline almost is, but I hope Fritz lit into them in the locker room last night. The Oles shoot 52 percent from the field and out-rebound UST 28-23??? They make more free throws than the Tommies attempt? I don't know what that is, but it ain't Tommie basketball sick or not...

Are these guys contenders or are Tommie fans getting their hopes up only to be let down in the playoffs?

TH4L-
I wasn't aware there was any discussion about a national title run. I am sure it's been in the minds of some devoted alum and the players, but no one has been proclaiming this year's UST team an NCAA title contender. And for that matter, where is it written that you can't win a national title with 2 (or more) losses? It seems to me that there is no magical number of losses that defines a potential NCAA champ or even a team going on a deep run.

Lots of teams lose a game or two that, on paper, they probably should have won. UST had some chances to win last night, but when 3/5 of your starting lineup is battling a flu bug, its dammm hard to beat an opponent who is (a) on a hot roll and (b) is shooting the lights out.  Yes, I tip my hat to the Oles—they played a great game, the kind of game you need to play to win on the road, and particularly at UST.    I also commend Nicolai, Healy and Archer for even trying to play, as sick as they were. And as an added distraction, a member of the coaching staff was dealing with e death in the family, the funeral was this morning.

Don't deserve to be ranked? With a 17-2 record? Because of one bad loss at home under difficult circumstances?  So you're saying that in D-I, Kansas doesn't deserve to be ranked? (they lost at home, in a game they "should have" won). Neither does Duke and Tubby's boys might as well forfeit the rest of the season, following your flawed logic. I'm too lazy to look it up, but what percent of the D-III national champs have been undefeated or even had 1 loss?

Maybe from your perspective, "it aint Tommie basketball" but when is the last time YOU saw Tommie ball on any kind of regular basis?

[AO]

I took in EP's upset of the Hopkins tonight at the Lindbergh Center.   Hopkins was ranked 13th nationally according to the USA today, which was probably as high as a minnesota team has ever been.

Of relevance to the MIAC, Espo threw up his arms in frustation at the refs no less than 15 times and Jim Smith was also spotted in the crowd.  EP's Grant Soderberg dropped in 22 despite being the least athletic player on the floor and would seem to be an excellent D3 talent, but maybe the Bemidji State coaches in the crowd or some other D2 will offer him.

[VOJ]

Miacmaniac,

Give all the credit you want to St. Olaf for upsetting UST in St. Paul last night. With all due respect, and being a Tommie backer you know this, losing to a team like St. Olaf on your home court is simply unacceptable. If you're going to lose to teams like Hamline and St. Olaf, who are barely above .500 in conference play, I don't know that you deserve to be ranked, especially if one of the losses comes on your home court.

Call it harsh or knee-jerk if you want, but a team that has national title aspirations doesn't lose games like that during the regular season. I can see a slip-up to a top-three team, which Hamline almost is, but I hope Fritz lit into them in the locker room last night. The Oles shoot 52 percent from the field and out-rebound UST 28-23??? They make more free throws than the Tommies attempt? I don't know what that is, but it ain't Tommie basketball sick or not...

Are these guys contenders or are Tommie fans getting their hopes up only to be let down in the playoffs?

TH4L-
I wasn't aware there was any discussion about a national title run. I am sure it's been in the minds of some devoted alum and the players, but no one has been proclaiming this year's UST team an NCAA title contender. And for that matter, where is it written that you can't win a national title with 2 (or more) losses? It seems to me that there is no magical number of losses that defines a potential NCAA champ or even a team going on a deep run.

Lots of teams lose a game or two that, on paper, they probably should have won. UST had some chances to win last night, but when 3/5 of your starting lineup is battling a flu bug, its dammm hard to beat an opponent who is (a) on a hot roll and (b) is shooting the lights out.  Yes, I tip my hat to the Oles—they played a great game, the kind of game you need to play to win on the road, and particularly at UST.    I also commend Nicolai, Healy and Archer for even trying to play, as sick as they were. And as an added distraction, a member of the coaching staff was dealing with e death in the family, the funeral was this morning.

Don't deserve to be ranked? With a 17-2 record? Because of one bad loss at home under difficult circumstances?  So you're saying that in D-I, Kansas doesn't deserve to be ranked? (they lost at home, in a game they "should have" won). Neither does Duke and Tubby's boys might as well forfeit the rest of the season, following your flawed logic. I'm too lazy to look it up, but what percent of the D-III national champs have been undefeated or even had 1 loss?

Maybe from your perspective, "it aint Tommie basketball" but when is the last time YOU saw Tommie ball on any kind of regular basis?

A Tommie Civil War...how fun, Drake care to make it a 3 sided clash?