MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OldUMACFAN]

Let me first say that this is exactly what Northwestern had in mind when deciding to switch from NAIA to NCAAD3.  Great basketball atmosphere and a great game to match it.  NWC even managed to bring a pretty good student section despite being on spring break.

As for the game, hats off to the the Tommies for bringing it from the tip.  They clearly didn't listen to the nonsense about being able to easily handle Northwestern as their hustle was probably the difference tonight. 

Best of luck to UST through the rest of the tourney.

I will say this, the UMAC overall is a horrible conference but UM-Morris and NWC will cause fits for MIAC teams as they have for the last few years. Good luck to UST in the next round.

[Drake Palmer]

Well said AO.  +k in your sea of negative karma.   Seems you're starting to mature.  

And my 2 cents worth...

Mad props to Northwestern – they played a heck of a ball game!  #3 Brian Lechleler a great crossover dribble drive & shot, Wade "Jimmy" Chitwood was a tough guard to defend, & forward Gabe Jefferson was a man.  He boarded, defended Tommy Hannon & Anders Halvorsen very well, & coolly stepped out & drained couple of treys.  I was in a semi "you gotta be kidding me" mode.  For the better part of 30 minutes Northwestern was able to keep their composure, but gradually began to wilt under the relentless UST full court pressure & home court fans.  Joint started jumping & was LOUD!! Fun basketball atmosphere - aside from an embarrassing display of a couple middle-aged UST mothers who must have decided they wanted to relive their college years tonight & hang out with the coeds. Sheesh! -k for the month of March ladies!  

Back to the game  - the way UST was playing tonight, on a neutral court I don't know if they would have won.  

UST – extremely fortunate to win.  For tonight, I wouldn't necessarily say the best team won, but the better athletes hustling like crazy when they weren't playing their A game won tonight.  The usual cast of characters came up big at key moments – Brady Ervin, Tyler Nicolai, & coming on real strong – John Nance. Alex Healy seems to be in a bit of a slump the last 2-3 games & will need to step it up tomorrow night against Illinois Wesleyan.  

Illinois Wesleyan is the real deal.  It's my understanding they've been impacted by the injury bug all season & are just now starting to round into shape. That could be a bad omen for the Tommies. They're big, & seemed to keep bringing in wave after wave, of talented forwards to wear down the smaller UWRF Falcons.  Plus, they got excellent contributions from the sharpshooters from the perimeter – Jordan Zimmer was flaming from outside – sort of reminded me of a UST Joe Scott, 6-5 190lbs, 2G Sean Johnson & others.  The one weakness they seemed to have was their team speed, but they're not exactly slow either. UST  will need to try to exploit their quickness advantage because they're not going to be able to bang with them in the paint.  IWU dudes are solid.

This game will be a real challenge for UST.  The Tommies have shown they've got the heart & guts, but the skill level will need to pick up if they hope to beat IWU.

[Drake Palmer]

It's probably a good thing someone paid their debt & phoned in an order for Mose to get his beloved Kim's fried chicken.  He must have needed every last bite of chicken to get that win.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

It's probably a good thing someone paid their debt & phoned in an order for Mose to get his beloved Kim's fried chicken.  He must have needed every last bite of chicken to get that win.

I did need every bite and then some. If I'd known NW was going to play as well as they did, I probably would have an extra breast! Hats off the the Eagles, who played a great game and showed real talent and determination. I think UST's overall atheticism wore them down and the "D" forced 12 second half turnovers  and rattled NW. On more than one occasion, I turned to a friend of mine sitting by me and bemoaned the impending UST loss...but they pulled it out once again. However, now they've reached the stage in the tourney where you cant count on using a strong 2nd half to pull a win out of your keister.  IW is gonna be a tough matchup....I may double-up on Kims!

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

On a side note, unrelated to the games being played.... Sour grapes and whining look bad. Bellyaching by a parent about an alleged slight by the NCAA takes some of the shine of their son's outstanding season and career.  The bottom line is, if you dont win, you cant be sure to get in.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Drake,

The injury bug has not gone away for IWU.  All-conference point-guard Travis Rosenkranz has probably finished his career with a severe concussion (suffered 4 weeks ago in a freak play against Wheaton - he lost his footing, and was struck while headed to the floor by a Wheaton player's knee).  Eliud Gonzales (his replacement) was huge tonight against UWRF, but although he distributes very well, offensively they are usually 4 against 5 with Eliud on the floor.

I believe they have played at most 3-4 games all season with the team they thought they had.

[AO]

I promise to move onto next season soon, but I just had to check the replay tonight of the quickest 10-second call ever.  I would direct you to the mnsportsnetwork archive.  Skip ahead to 1:21:38-1:21:44 and you too can witness the ref count 6 seconds with his hand and yet still call the violation.   The shot clock had started way too soon and showed 23 seconds left, but if we're going to call 10 second violations by the shot clock, let's at least be consistent and not blow the whistle as they did on the other 10 second violation when the shot clock was still showing 25.  Isn't it basic knowledge to understand that 10 seconds can't have passed in between 35.00 seconds and 25.anything?   Obviously these weren't game changers as Northwestern came back to take the lead after these calls, but still a head scratcher.

[miacsuperfan]

great game at the shoe. during the entire night the atmosphere was electic. i agree with oldumacfan about northwestern competing nicely in the miac---which they would.  i'm not so sure about morris, year in and year out.  northwestern would be a great addition to the miac, probably in more ways than basketball.

ao, i took your suggestion and checked out the archived video.  and you were not kidding, were you?   puzzling.   maybe the official just needed a brief rest.  otherwise, i really felt the officiating was pretty decent.

i agree with drake that illinois wesleyan is the real deal, but i think the tommies will
win today if they limit teddy archer's touches of the ball.  the kid is an absolute heart attack when he takes the ball into the middle.  he can d up,  but if basketball was a platoon sport---my guess is he would never be on the court offensively.
healy and nicolai will also have to fire at a little higher percentage for the tommies to prevail.

[Drake Palmer]

great game at the shoe. during the entire night the atmosphere was electic. i agree with oldumacfan about northwestern competing nicely in the miac---which they would.  i'm not so sure about morris, year in and year out.  northwestern would be a great addition to the miac, probably in more ways than basketball.

ao, i took your suggestion and checked out the archived video.  and you were not kidding, were you?   puzzling.   maybe the official just needed a brief rest.  otherwise, i really felt the officiating was pretty decent.

i agree with drake that illinois wesleyan is the real deal, but i think the tommies will
win today if they limit teddy archer's touches of the ball.  the kid is an absolute heart attack when he takes the ball into the middle.  he can d up,  but if basketball was a platoon sport---my guess is he would never be on the court offensively.
healy and nicolai will also have to fire at a little higher percentage for the tommies to prevail.

I gotta run, but let me point out what's been previously discussed many times in the last 4 years:  there's good Teddy & bad Teddy.    And for those of you with real short term memory loss,   just as recently as last Friday (just one week ago Supe) a certain Teddy Archer saved the Tommies butt from certain defeat against Hamline in the playoffs.

http://www.tommiesports.com/mbb/stats/2-25-11.htm

[OldUMACFAN]

great game at the shoe. during the entire night the atmosphere was electic. i agree with oldumacfan about northwestern competing nicely in the miac---which they would.  i'm not so sure about morris, year in and year out.  northwestern would be a great addition to the miac, probably in more ways than basketball.

ao, i took your suggestion and checked out the archived video.  and you were not kidding, were you?   puzzling.   maybe the official just needed a brief rest.  otherwise, i really felt the officiating was pretty decent.

i agree with drake that illinois wesleyan is the real deal, but i think the tommies will
win today if they limit teddy archer's touches of the ball.  the kid is an absolute heart attack when he takes the ball into the middle.  he can d up,  but if basketball was a platoon sport---my guess is he would never be on the court offensively.
healy and nicolai will also have to fire at a little higher percentage for the tommies to prevail.

Yea I do not follow many sports outside of basketball so I do not know how Morris or NWC would fit into the MIAC (probably not well) but interms of basketball Morris could be a mid pack team and NWC could be top 3 to 4 team year in and ou
(mens), I know Morris womens was undefeated this year in the UMAC but I fully understand the level of competition in the UMAC.regardless I hope UST repsrespents the state of MN well and gets deep...Congrats to Carl Hipp as well!

[iwumichigander]

Drake,

The injury bug has not gone away for IWU.  All-conference point-guard Travis Rosenkranz has probably finished his career with a severe concussion (suffered 4 weeks ago in a freak play against Wheaton - he lost his footing, and was struck while headed to the floor by a Wheaton player's knee).  Eliud Gonzales (his replacement) was huge tonight against UWRF, but although he distributes very well, offensively they are usually 4 against 5 with Eliud on the floor.

I believe they have played at most 3-4 games all season with the team they thought they had.

How IWU started the season:
"Unfortunately for Rose and the Titans, the injury bug has bitten the team early and often during the preseason. IWU will start the season without the services of two returning starters. 6-5 junior Jordan Zimmer (9.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg) suffered a broken foot and is expected to miss the entire non-conference season. 6-6 junior John Koschnitzky (5.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg) is dealing with a back injury and is out until about December 1.

Also dealing with preseason injuries are 6-9 junior Ryan Connolly (back) and 6-4 freshman Brady Zimmer (shoulder). Both players are expected back soon, but have missed more than a week of practice now.  (Souce: Bob Quillman's IWUHoops.com or "Titan Q" on these boards)"

As the season progressed, the injury and the flu bug did not make things much better. I suspect IWU Coach Ron Rose has spent an inordinate amount of time with starting lineups and substitution patterns this season. 

Since pre-season, only two of the projected starters have actually started all 28 games (Sexauer and Johnson).  Even this is somewhat misleading in that Sexauer started two games and played only limited minutes mid-season due to injury.  The Titans do fortunately have depth.

[bigtime]

miacmaniac (and anyone else), I apologize for letting my disappointment in how the season ended for CAR be greater than the restrain needed to keep from getting too personal on this board. I've actually enjoyed reading everyone's comments the last couple of years.  It's been fun...  In closing, you are right - if you don't win....!

Best of luck to IWU and St. Thomas.  They both are fine teams.

[columbianmaffia]

Lo siento compadres...i have been gone for far too long...i cant tell you where i have been or what i have been doing though...but here is a summary of my basketball life this season

gophers - killing me...lucky for me the fiance's family is Arizona season ticket holders so i now have a 2nd team to cheer for...go Cats!

twolves - who cares

CAR - cant believe they didnt get in/nice season

UST - make it happen!

i hope UST does some damage...Go Tommies

[papahoops]

I see from the D3 hoops web site that the Tommies will be traveling to Augustana, Illinois to take on the Pointers of UWSP next in what should be a very interesting contest. Tommies knocked off the Pointers earlier in the season in the friendly confines of the "nu-Shoe", but a neutral court will obviously present more of a challenge. It should also be noted that the Pointers have not been seriously challenged in their conference tournament or first round games, winning all recent games by 20+ points, so they appear to be in top form. This one should really be a battle, and I wish the Tommies best of luck as they respresent the MIAC this weekend.

[John Gleich]

Per the game notes on the UST website, Friday's games will be a split session... so there shouldn't be any problem with tickets.

For your enjoyment and edification, links to the teams' stats:

UWSP

UST

Augie

MHB