MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OldAuggie]

The Game in Northfield lived up to its billing-- and then some./ First off, it was a "white out" of Ole students, packing the gym with an attendance of over 3000-- the biggest crowd of the year for an MIAC game.

Great crowd, but I think attendance was probably closer to the 1945 listed on the box score on the Olaf website, considering there are only 2008 seats and it wasn't sold out.  Probably the biggest Olaf crowd in decades.  The student section looked great on the webcast.

Watched the STO vs UST game as well the AUG vs HAM game. STO atmosphere was great and the game was fun to watch. I don't pretend to know bball very well but I enjoyed watching Nielsen for Olaf and Alipate for U$T. Guys are good.

[AO]

I must be one of the few who likes the refs to err on the side of not blowing the whistle.

https://twitter.com/1500ESPN_Reusse/status/433795459732107265

[VOJ]

decent piece by Reusse, although his facts are slightly off....St. Olaf has won 3 MIAC titles, most recently in 1988-89 (but none under Koz):

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/245306211.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

Sure didn't take long for a commenter to come in and declare that St Thomas is too good and doesn't belong in the MIAC.

They can't leave, who would be the evil empire then?

[AO]

decent piece by Reusse, although his facts are slightly off....St. Olaf has won 3 MIAC titles, most recently in 1988-89 (but none under Koz):

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/245306211.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

Sure didn't take long for a commenter to come in and declare that St Thomas is too good and doesn't belong in the MIAC.

They can't leave, who would be the evil empire then?

St. Mary's has 5700 students....

[Retired Old Rat]

Butler has 4,902 students.  They should be forced to drop down to D3.  Or at least D2.

[Drake Palmer]

The salt mine had me locked up most of the day, so here's a Drake/Johnnie "come lately" reply to the Ole –Tommie recaps. 

Yeah, it was a great, loud, raucous environment for the Ole- Tommie game last night.  Huge props to the STO students for showing up en masse and making a ton of noise, especially when Nathan Kuck hit that huge, deep triple to pull the Oles within 2 points with 2:47 left in the game.  I thought the place was going to explode!  However, I still give the two thumbs up to the Bethel & Carleton students for being the most creative, plus GAC students in the non-metro area.

Game:
Regarding the game itself, it was a grinding, mano mano exciting ballgame between two talented, athletic, & disciplined teams. You sure can't say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Coach Koz stole a page from the Guy Kalland & UST coaches – Fritz & Tauer, & played a relentless, physical brand of ball that I didn't think the Oles were capable of playing.  STO kept tall, lanky players in & out & virtually shut down the UST interior game.  For the game, the springy, athletic Oles had five blocks & countless shot alterations. 

Officiating: 
Sucked.  The Trib's  Patrick Reusse had it right when he referred to the style of officiating last night as "full-contact officiating."  The refs called virtually nothing in the first half as the Tommies were called for 4 fouls & the Oles for 6 fouls.  In the 2nd half they must have decided to make up for their lack of whistles so they practically doubled the # of fouls called.  UST was called for 6 fouls & STO was penalized 13 times. 

I still find it comical for UST fans to complain about officiating.  For the past 5-6 + years the Tommies have relied on their innocent, "who me" choir boy looks & come out and basically out quicked, mugged, & robbed their opponents.    Somewhere in my computer archives I have a photo someone sent me of UST's Brett Tuma lying on the floor with his arms wrapped around Gustavus's Mike DesLauriers' leg, as he was trying to steal a ball. In the photo it also appeared that Tuma was trying to bit DesLauriers' leg.  Too funny! 

Players:
Connor Nord had a night he'd probably want to forget about as he was an ice cold 2-6 from the floor, but was 5-6 from the FT line to total 9 pts. Zach Riedeman was also 2-9 & a FT for 5 points, but was a MAN & played a heck of a defensive game.   

Connor Gunderson had a poor game for the Oles – 2-9 FGA, 1 FT for 5 pts , but Eric Tengwall for UST & Sterling Nielsen for the Oles were all that & then some. Nielsen scored 10 pts, but was nearly as effective defensively. Even when Nielsen was caught on switches & was forced to guard Nord or Riedeman he was up to the task.   SO Justin Pahl is another young bright spot for the Oles & his future looks very promising. 13 pts on 4-9 FGA, 2-4 3FGA, 3-3 FTA, & 3 steals.

Winning Team:
But when all was said & done the Tommies still had a few tricks up their sleeve.

1) They pounded the taller Oles on the boards 37-22.

2) Defensively, they took away Gunderson & forced STO to find someone else to beat them.  The Oles nearly did as their bench outscored the Tommie bench 18- 8.

3) Marcus Alipate had one of the best all-around games I've  seen him play in a while as he played excellent defense, took over the PG duties for a bit to let Tengwall play the 2G spot, scored 8 crucial points himself, & had 2 of the sweetest assists you would want to see.  In the first half, he drove into heavy traffic in the lane & dropped off a beautiful behind the back pass to Ryan Saarela for a vicious two-handed dunk.  Then late in the tighter 2nd half, he pulled out a classic UST defensive move.  He stripped the ball from an Ole guard in the backcourt, & then feed Erik Tengwall the ball for the layup and assist. Vintage. 

4)  Ahem, cough – in a game like this when points come at a premium, & the ball is to be valued, Taylor Montero had a nice steady game. 9 pts on 4-6 FGA, 2 rebs, 3 assists, 0 TOs.   

[John Gleich]

The Game in Northfield lived up to its billing-- and then some./ First off, it was a "white out" of Ole students, packing the gym with an attendance of over 3000-- the biggest crowd of the year for an MIAC game.

Great crowd, but I think attendance was probably closer to the 1945 listed on the box score on the Olaf website, considering there are only 2008 seats and it wasn't sold out.  Probably the biggest Olaf crowd in decades.  The student section looked great on the webcast.

that could be...but I got my info from the d3hoops game report:
http://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2013-14/contrib/20140212pismn8
"A crowd of 3,068 – a season high for MIAC attendance – watched St. Thomas (19-3 overall, 16-1 MIAC) open up a two-game lead atop the conference standings with three games to go."

and the d3hoops.com box score at the same link:
"Attendance: 3068
Time: 7:30 p.m."

The story was amended to match the STO box score

[Retired Old Rat]

I still find it comical for UST fans to complain about officiating.  For the past 5-6 + years the Tommies have relied on their innocent, "who me" choir boy looks & come out and basically out quicked, mugged, & robbed their opponents.    Somewhere in my computer archives I have a photo someone sent me of UST's Brett Tuma lying on the floor with his arms wrapped around Gustavus's Mike DesLauriers' leg, as he was trying to steal a ball. In the photo it also appeared that Tuma was trying to bit DesLauriers' leg.  Too funny! 

Only if he drew blood was a foul called on John Nance.  And he would still complain.

[Kilroy]

decent piece by Reusse, although his facts are slightly off....St. Olaf has won 3 MIAC titles, most recently in 1988-89 (but none under Koz):

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/245306211.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

Sure didn't take long for a commenter to come in and declare that St Thomas is too good and doesn't belong in the MIAC.

They can't leave, who would be the evil empire then?

St. Mary's has 5700 students....

SMU has around 5000 when you combine the Winona and Twin Cities campuses. 3700 of those students are in the graduate school based in Minneapolis, focused on adult education. There are just about 1200-1300 undergrads in Winona, definitely on the small end of the MIAC.

UST has 6,300 undergrads.

[Greek Tragedy]

If divisions were actually based on student size, the WIAC schools would be in Division 1. 

Not all is lost for the Oles. Despite their loss, they could jump Dubuque in next week's regional rankings as Dubuque also lost at home to Loras. Losing to St. Thomas is better than losing to Loras.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

If divisions were actually based on student size, the WIAC schools would be in Division 1. 

Not all is lost for the Oles. Despite their loss, they could jump Dubuque in next week's regional rankings as Dubuque also lost at home to Loras. Losing to St. Thomas is better than losing to Loras.

especially when Loras is coached by a UST Alum 

*********
it is official.. UST has clinched at worst a share of league title #9 in a row, while the Oles wrapped up the #2 seed and SJU secured a spot in the playoff field. Bethel, Carleton and Concordia have an interesting battle going on for the final spot.  it looks to me like GAC will host SJU in one quarterfinal, while Auggie hosts the survivor of the battle for 6th, but with a lot of games this week between playoff teams and contenders, it should be an exciting and fun week.
********
Memo to VOJ-- the red rodents will always be the Evil Empire 

[VOJ]

If divisions were actually based on student size, the WIAC schools would be in Division 1. 

Not all is lost for the Oles. Despite their loss, they could jump Dubuque in next week's regional rankings as Dubuque also lost at home to Loras. Losing to St. Thomas is better than losing to Loras.

especially when Loras is coached by a UST Alum 

*********
it is official.. UST has clinched at worst a share of league title #9 in a row, while the Oles wrapped up the #2 seed and SJU secured a spot in the playoff field. Bethel, Carleton and Concordia have an interesting battle going on for the final spot.  it looks to me like GAC will host SJU in one quarterfinal, while Auggie hosts the survivor of the battle for 6th, but with a lot of games this week between playoff teams and contenders, it should be an exciting and fun week.
********
Memo to VOJ-- the red rodents will always be the Evil Empire 

So says you with the purple shades...seems most share my opinion.  See you Saturday!!

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Hmmmm...final week of the season with much up in the air, and the board is dead?  While 5 of 6 playoff slots are secured, only the top two slots are nailed down. Bethel can claim the final spot with a win over St Olaf on Saturday or a loss by Carleton. The Knights need to sweep Augsburg and Mac and hope for an Ole win over BU to drop the Royals into a tie with the Knights, who hold the tiebreaker. (Concordia could conceivably join a 3 way tie but Carleton has the tiebreaker in a 3 way scenario). Gustavus needs  win tonight over UST to lock up 3rd place; a loss and they drop to 4th or even 5th, depending how SJU does. Augsburg should win its two games, assuring them of finishing no lower than 4th. SJU needs to win out and get a lot of help to tie for 3rd and (I believe) has the tiebreaker in that event.

[Retired Old Rat]

Johnnies win out, finish 3rd.

I plan on gracing St. Thomas with my red presence on Saturday.

[AO]

I'd say the team most likely to knock out Bethel is Concordia.  A bit easier (on paper) for the Cobbs to beat the Johnnies than for the Knights to beat the Auggies.

For tonight:
Concordia (+2.5) @ St. John's   
St. Thomas @ Gustavus (+6.5)
Carleton (+5.5) @ Augsburg

Home playoff games are still being fought for, so I think we can assume a typical home-court advantage.

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