MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hazzben]

Great first half at UST.

Absolute back and forth action, several lead changes with the intensity you'd expect. Hall is having a very good game thus far. Both teams have had a few careless turnovers but for the most part it's been a clean, well played half of ball.

[gacbacker]

Gustavus @ St. Thomas on Sunday....again.

Sure would be nice to get one of these championship games at Gus Young Court.

The Gusties have a much better chance to win this year though, than they have the past few years. Should be fun.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Supe & DP-- you both underestimate one VERY important thing. I will be dining @ Kim's to the tune of a half fried chicken dinner.

All I can say is NEVER underestimate the power of the chicken!!

Panic mode is about to set in tho, as Kim's doesn't open till 2 on Sunday. Maybe I can bribe them to open early for me?

[hazzben]

Nice win for UST. Scary how much quality play they get from underclassmen.

Difference in the game was 3 pt shooting down the stretch. Bethel shot an abismal 16.7% and DeBerg and co. shot 43.8%. That's a huge gap to make up. DeBerg in particular hit some really deep 3's at really critical points in the 2nd half. Seemed like every time Bethel was getting ready to pull within striking distance he'd hit another deep dagger. You just can't keep trading 2's for their 3's for an entire half.

Hall had a great game for Bethel, but I felt like they inexplicably stopped going to him late in the game. They had a stretch of 5-6 possessions late where he wasn't involved. No explanation for that.

Should be a good game in St. Peter. I'm picking the Tommies.

[miacsuperfan]

Supe & DP-- you both underestimate one VERY important thing. I will be dining @ Kim's to the tune of a half fried chicken dinner.

All I can say is NEVER underestimate the power of the chicken!!

Panic mode is about to set in tho, as Kim's doesn't open till 2 on Sunday. Maybe I can bribe them to open early for me?

i am going to have to start eating that stuff before i play golf on saturdays.   

great game at st. thomas.  deberg and hall were both monsters for their repsective teams.  nice call on the shooting percentages, drake.  i really thought that at the half the royals were going to make their big run.  but the tommies athleticism and shooting matched and surpassed the royals.  bethel was unable to exert the same pressure last night that they had on the lesser talented gusties and oles.

how about baah's block and hall's subsequent dunk going the other way in the first half!!  wow, that was amazing.  royal fan's nearly convulsed with joy!  it was a great second half of the season for the royals, as they have now clearly returned to the upper tier of the league where they had been for years.

tommorrow's game in st. paul should not be close, but the gusties will find a way to make a game out of it.  if kim's won't open early for you maniac, i might suggest leftovers from tonight.   

many of us await a report on the fan's behavior in st. peter last night.  any mr. burns sightings?   

[gacbacker]

miacsuperfan, your comment that tomorrow's game in St. Paul should not be close could qualify for Common Man's Preposterous Statement Tournament.

What evidence do you have that the game should not be close?! The two teams split regular season games that were both close. And St. Thomas needed a win and a Gustavus loss on the last day of the regular season to earn a tie of the regular season title. Gustavus has a veteran team, while St. Thomas relies much more heavily on several underclassmen. If Vegas was putting a line on this game it would probably be St. Thomas by 4 based solely on the home court advantage.

[gustie12]

Supe & DP-- you both underestimate one VERY important thing. I will be dining @ Kim's to the tune of a half fried chicken dinner.

All I can say is NEVER underestimate the power of the chicken!!

Panic mode is about to set in tho, as Kim's doesn't open till 2 on Sunday. Maybe I can bribe them to open early for me?

i am going to have to start eating that stuff before i play golf on saturdays.   

great game at st. thomas.  deberg and hall were both monsters for their repsective teams.  nice call on the shooting percentages, drake.  i really thought that at the half the royals were going to make their big run.  but the tommies athleticism and shooting matched and surpassed the royals.  bethel was unable to exert the same pressure last night that they had on the lesser talented gusties and oles.

how about baah's block and hall's subsequent dunk going the other way in the first half!!  wow, that was amazing.  royal fan's nearly convulsed with joy!  it was a great second half of the season for the royals, as they have now clearly returned to the upper tier of the league where they had been for years.

tommorrow's game in st. paul should not be close, but the gusties will find a way to make a game out of it.  if kim's won't open early for you maniac, i might suggest leftovers from tonight.   

many of us await a report on the fan's behavior in st. peter last night.  any mr. burns sightings?   

No Mr. Burns sightings last night at Gus Young....however, Andy Burns was seen bumping the shoulders of Gustie student fans as he walked into the locker room. The chants of "DUI, DUI, DUI!" and "Sober cab, sober cab, sober cab!" may have gotten to him....

The Gustie faithful was loud and proud last night as usual in these atmospheres....around 2000 people there total and easily 500+ students, maybe 750. They were creative and themed the game a "costume out" where the students dressed in their most bizarre and ridiculous costume they could find.

This Gustie squad is ready for the Tommies. Deep down though, they would have loved a shot at Bethel on their home court for the championship!

[miacsuperfan]

gustie 12, funny stuff.     i hope the kids are in costume again on sunday.

g-backer, i'm glad that i qualify for your tournament.     i would love to see the gusties challenge the big dogs, and i realize they have won 9 of their last 10 games.  but i fear that that the tommies are too quick and far too athletic for them.  my most recent looks at the gusties have left me (and others) wondering how they could possibly have won (tied) the MIAC conference championship.  you also have to remember, we could be dealing with the kim's chicken factor as well.      

[hazzben]

how about baah's block and hall's subsequent dunk going the other way in the first half!!  wow, that was amazing.  royal fan's nearly convulsed with joy!  it was a great second half of the season for the royals, as they have now clearly returned to the upper tier of the league where they had been for years.

That was just ridiculous! Baah just kept going up and up for that block and then the dunk on the other end was the perfect exclamation point. There was another monster block in front of the Bethel students a little later that was just as sick. Forget who it was, but the poor Tommie ended up plastered way behind the boards and at the feet of the giddy Bethel fans.

As crazy as they were on those big plays, DeBerg's sniper shots from deep were a pretty effective antidote. The range of a few of them was just incredible. One had to have been a good 5-6 feet behind the line with a hand right in his face. Nasty, cold blooded dagger.

[Drake Palmer]

how about baah's block and hall's subsequent dunk going the other way in the first half!!  wow, that was amazing.  royal fan's nearly convulsed with joy!  it was a great second half of the season for the royals, as they have now clearly returned to the upper tier of the league where they had been for years.

That was just ridiculous! Baah just kept going up and up for that block and then the dunk on the other end was the perfect exclamation point. There was another monster block in front of the Bethel students a little later that was just as sick. Forget who it was, but the poor Tommie ended up plastered way behind the boards and at the feet of the giddy Bethel fans.

As crazy as they were on those big plays, DeBerg's sniper shots from deep were a pretty effective antidote. The range of a few of them was just incredible. One had to have been a good 5-6 feet behind the line with a hand right in his face. Nasty, cold blooded dagger.

Hazzben - that only appeared liked 2 blocks.    I think you're describing the same one.  Baah blocked DeBerg's stuff over to Snelling avenue!  Nastiest block & non foul of the year! It really should have been a foul for body on the contact by Baah, but I think the refs were so impressed with the block they said - "a kid make that kinda move is ok in my book"  Outstanding!    UST''s Peter Leslie was blocked on another attempt, but he's always flopping around so that didn't rate nearly as high on the Wow factor. 

If Bethel can find a couple of guards & outside shooters to complement Taylor Hall, Kyle Zimmerman, & Greg Myers they'll be right in the hunt next season.  Hall was an absolute monster! The kid is finally starting to use all of his god given talent.  His breakaway dunk was nice, but that was a given.  Perhaps the bucket I was most impressed with was when he grabbed an offensive rebound, had a couple of Tommies draped over him,  muscled up a shot up while falling backwards to the floor and scored! Fantastic athleticism, strength, & desire.  Even though I was surrounded by people in purple, I had to jump up & give the big man props. Well done.  (There was another big man hooping it up too)

Tough stand by the Royals.  Gotta run, I'll chime in more later.

 

[hazzben]

how about baah's block and hall's subsequent dunk going the other way in the first half!!  wow, that was amazing.  royal fan's nearly convulsed with joy!  it was a great second half of the season for the royals, as they have now clearly returned to the upper tier of the league where they had been for years.

That was just ridiculous! Baah just kept going up and up for that block and then the dunk on the other end was the perfect exclamation point. There was another monster block in front of the Bethel students a little later that was just as sick. Forget who it was, but the poor Tommie ended up plastered way behind the boards and at the feet of the giddy Bethel fans.

As crazy as they were on those big plays, DeBerg's sniper shots from deep were a pretty effective antidote. The range of a few of them was just incredible. One had to have been a good 5-6 feet behind the line with a hand right in his face. Nasty, cold blooded dagger.

Hazzben - that only appeared liked 2 blocks.    I think you're describing the same one.  Baah blocked DeBerg's stuff over to Snelling avenue!  Nastiest block & non foul of the year! It really should have been a foul for body on the contact by Baah, but I think the refs were so impressed with the block they said - "a kid make that kinda move is ok in my book"  Outstanding!    UST''s Peter Leslie was blocked on another attempt, but he's always flopping around so that didn't rate nearly as high on the Wow factor. 

The first one was definitely more impressive. It was in the middle of lots of traffic and right in front of the UST students. Plus the dunk was nice icing on the cake.

The second was just a great hustle play to swat a sure fast break layup. But it was fun to see the Bethel students go nuts on the latter one right in front of em! 

Seemed like a great atmosphere. One bummer about watching online was that the point ticker was a good 15 seconds ahead of the video/audio. You always knew if the team would score or get a stop before you saw it...kinda kills the suspense. But, living in KC, I'll take that over nothing any day.

[nca11]

I agree that Sunday's tilt should be a close affair.  It will be interesting to see what UST does to slow Seth Anderson.  On another note, it's Greg Meyer, not Myers. 

[Drake Palmer]

I agree that Sunday's tilt should be a close affair.  It will be interesting to see what UST does to slow Seth Anderson.  On another note, it's Greg Meyer, not Myers. 

Yeah, yeah, whatever dude.    I realized that after I wrote it.  Thanks.

Is Tommy McDermott from Tonka or the Gray kid (?) from Benilde joining a MIAC school next year?

No disrespect to the Auggie & Johnnie teams & supporters, but last night's game between Bethel and St. Thomas was all that and then some.  Instead of just a good environment for a game, the Bethel-UST game had a great environment, plus it was an outstanding ball game. Woo-wee! Hard hat defense, timely stops, great athleticism, rainbow treys, ankle breaking, high flying blocks, dunks.  Sweet!

My hat's off to the Bethel Royals for their collective team effort & how much they matured & developed this season.  It's a world of difference from the team I saw step out on the floor back in November.  I'll admit, I've never particularly cared for their style of ball in the past, but this year's Royals showed great heart, hustle and tenacity, and my begrudging respect for them turned into genuine admiration. Plus, being a semi old school guy, I think it also helped when Taylor Hall dumped the NBA style headband & cut his hair back in December.    As I've noted in an earlier post, both Hall & Daniel Baah seemed to grow leaps & bounds this year.

On the other side of the court, Dr. Johnny Tauer kept mixing & matching like a chemistry professor, trying out different combination of players to get the right cast of players out on the court. Key statistic – UST had 8 basically careless TOs in the first half while Bethel had 4 TOs which resulted in 6 Royals points.  In the 2nd half UST basically cut their TOs in half & ended up with 5 TOs & Bethel had 7 TOs. Total Bethel points off UST TOs - 13

The way Taylor Hall was playing, I don't know if UST's Ike Rosefelt or former Gustavus defensive stalwart Doug Espenson could have slowed Hall down last night.  John Nance did a credible job, but I believe the energy he expended on the defensive side impacted his offense, although he did hit an early 2nd half triple which gave the Tommies some much needed breathing room.  Noah Kaiser was a steadying force during the first half as he played solid defense, hit a timely trey, & dropped off a couple of sweet interior assists. This is one area I don't believe UST get enough credit – their ball movement & interior passing.  The 30-1 UST team with the likes of B.J. Viau, Lonny Robinson, Al McCoy et al – those guys worked magic with the ball & they've passed it onto the next generation of Tomcats.

Is it any wonder the same two teams, Gustavus & UST are back in the championship game again?  Although they have different styles of play, they're both fundamentally sound, defend, share the ball, & generally shoot well. I think I read someplace that this is the 26th year that either UST or GAC have been in the title game.

Eric Tengwall was outstanding – 6 pts, 7 reb, 5 assists, 3 steals, no TOs.  FY Marcus Alipate came off the bench to provide a spark (although he got torched by Baah more than several times) and the Pella Moving Company – Josh Pella, provided some muscle in the interior.  As was previously mentioned, Will "DaMoney" DeBerg was ice. He seems to share a flair for the dramatic with his backcourt counterpart –Peter Leslie.  Instead of timely flops, and defensive stops, DeBerg makes the timely & dramatic triple.  On the inside, I think Tommie supporters saw a potential coming out party for FY post, Connor Nord. The kid was doing a solid old school impersonation, juking,feinting, showing the ball one direction, spinning back another, using the backboard as a shield, using his left hand.  7-9 FGA, 4-4 Fts, 18 pts, 4 rebs. Sweet!

It should be a dandy on Sunday afternoon.  I hope I can make it out. 

G12 Summit – well played by the students last night, & by the Gusties. I'm hoping you all break out the costumes & bring them up to St. Paul tomorrow.  It should be as the youngsters say – off the hook!!

P.S. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post before tomorrow but I think a key to the game will be TOs.  Whoever wins the TO battle will win the game. The Gusties use the more patient, probing style of offense, while the Tommies play a little more high risk attack. 

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

UST has won the last 5 playoff championship games it has played in, while GAC has lost the last 3 they've been in. Last Gustie championship win was also UST's last loss in championship game back in 2005.  Today is the 5th time UST & GAC have battled for the championship in the 6-team playoff format and the 4th time that meeting has been at UST. They have split the previous meetings 2-2. The Tommies are 2-1 at home vs the Gusties and have won the last 2 meetings.

all that aside, I am expecting a good hard-fought battle. The key will be Seth Anderson, as its been all season for GAC. If UST neturalizes him as they did in the W in December, the Tommies should cruise to a 12 point win. If they nearlly succeed at that but fail to completely seal him up (as was the case in the game at st peter) then it gets wild and wooly, and could end up in OT. If they cannot contain him at all, then the Gusties will be rushing the court, but without any Daddy Burns like anitcs.

Im expecting Nance to work his defensive magic and make the day miserable for SA. Watch out for Tengwall, who is quietly emerging as a force for UST. the Edina v Edina shootout should be fun to see, too...but Biewen doesnt match DeBerg for firepower. In the paint, things will get brutal. Prediction here-- UST 72  GAC 60

[gacbacker]

Great game today, the Gusties did not look very good the first 10 minutes of the game, but they got it together thanks to the play of Grey and Anderson.

I thought three key factors made the difference: offensive rebounds for the Tommies, turnovers at inopportune times for the Gusties, and the play of Zach Riedeman.

Riedeman made some big shots, none bigger than the three pointer with two minutes left in overtime which cut the Gusties lead from 5 to 2. That shot was the biggest shot of the afternoon in my opinion.

I'm hoping that the non-conference wins over Transylvania and Hardin-Simmons might give the Gusties a shot at a Pool C bid, but I wouldn't bet on it.