MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

All you rushing to write off UST (glaring at Palmer)--- the road to the MIAC crown still runs through Schoenecker. Yes, the Toms are (by the lofty standards they have set the past decade) struggling a bit, but that was to be expected, given the losses from last season and the drop in experience level. Entering the season, I bet Boll and Shaeffer each played more minutes last season  than the rest of this year's roster combined. I figured 2-3 in non-conference, 7-3 first pass through the league and 9-1 second swing through (18-7), good for at least 2nd if not a tie with Bethel for the championship. As Tauer tries various cmobinations together, there might be some rough patches, but over time the SS Tommie will sail smoothly and UST will be the one team no one wants to play in the MIAC Playoffs.

I heard someone (glaring at Palmer again, but maybe it was Papa Hoops) repeatedly saying "UST's front line is weak, both defensively and offensively"--- yeah, maybe, but they still shut down SJU's bigs in the paint, esp Mr Wiess whom I recall Palmer touting as a MVP contender.   The Hamline loss baffles me, but after 36 years (and 38 games to UST + 1 to MAC)...Hamline was bound to win on the Tommie campus....even the blind squirrel finds a nut or two. And Hamline is not half as bad as some of you guys seem to consider them. Instead of touting Mac as a dark horse, I' look to the other end of Snelling or south to WInona for a sleeper.

Final standings will be
Bethel
UST (possibly a tie at the top)
Augs
SJU
Concordia
Olaf
SMU
Hamline
GAC
Carleton
Mac

playoff champ-- UST

NCAA tourney-- UST & BU

[Drake Palmer]

All you rushing to write off UST (glaring at Palmer)--- the road to the MIAC crown still runs through Schoenecker. Yes, the Toms are (by the lofty standards they have set the past decade) struggling a bit, but that was to be expected, given the losses from last season and the drop in experience level. Entering the season, I bet Boll and Shaeffer each played more minutes last season  than the rest of this year's roster combined. I figured 2-3 in non-conference, 7-3 first pass through the league and 9-1 second swing through (18-7), good for at least 2nd if not a tie with Bethel for the championship. As Tauer tries various cmobinations together, there might be some rough patches, but over time the SS Tommie will sail smoothly and UST will be the one team no one wants to play in the MIAC Playoffs.

I heard someone (glaring at Palmer again, but maybe it was Papa Hoops) repeatedly saying "UST's front line is weak, both defensively and offensively"--- yeah, maybe, but they still shut down SJU's bigs in the paint, esp Mr Wiess whom I recall Palmer touting as a MVP contender.   The Hamline loss baffles me, but after 36 years (and 38 games to UST + 1 to MAC)...Hamline was bound to win on the Tommie campus....even the blind squirrel finds a nut or two. And Hamline is not half as bad as some of you guys seem to consider them. Instead of touting Mac as a dark horse, I' look to the other end of Snelling or south to WInona for a sleeper.

Final standings will be
Bethel
UST (possibly a tie at the top)
Augs
SJU
Concordia
Olaf
SMU
Hamline
GAC
Carleton
Mac

playoff champ-- UST

NCAA tourney-- UST & BU

Doggone it Mose, be careful with all that glaring.  We wouldn't want to have you looking like the Vikings Mike Zimmer. But then again, the old eye patch might help you with those purple blinders. Perhaps eliminate that Tommie scotoma.   

[Drake Palmer]

On the topic of bigs, where's the likes of Tommy Conboy, Isaac Rosefelt, Mike Moberg, Tommy Shimek, the twins from SJU, Luke Linz - Cord, Sam Paulson - GAC?  sniff.   

So far, aside from Augsburg, the other teams in the league don't seem to be effectively and consistently utilizing their bigs. Or if they are, Carleton & Kevin Grow, they aren't winning yet.

Thus, this might be the year a guard type of player wins the conference MVP/POY.  In the last 10 years, there have only been three guards who have won the conference POY/MVP.  It really seems this is turning into a guards league.

MIAC POY

2007: Isaac Rosefelt – UST
2008: Luke Linz – Concordia
2009: Joe Scott – UST
2010: Tyler Nicolai – UST
2011: Carl Hipp – Hamline
2012: Seth Anderson – Gustavus
2013: Taylor Hall -Bethel
2014: Dan Kornbaum – Augsburg
2015: Kyle Zimmerman – Bethel
2016: Jordan Bolger – Concordia

Heads up to Grant Shaeffer, Brycen Wojta, Trevor Hall, Zach Smith, Dylan Alderman?

[GoldandBlueBU]

but over time the SS Tommie will sail smoothly and UST will be the one team no one wants to play in the MIAC Playoffs.

They have talent, and a couple of months to get things clicking, and I would bet that they'll make the MIAC playoffs and still be a team that nobody wants to play. 

Get your own material, Maniac! 

[Smitty Oom]

Hey guys I meant to post this a couple days ago but forgot... anyways I want to let you all know that Coach Glas (Cobber Bball Coach) won his 600th career game this past weekend with the Cobbers big home win against the Oles! He has been a great coach for quite a long time now, starting at Morris way back in the day and getting a bulk of those wins at UND. He has been a great mentor to a lot of players, coaches and people as a whole. This can be seen by this video, as he coached both Ben Jacobson, Greg McDermott and others as players and also helped those great coaches pave their own path in the coaching world. Congrats Coach Glas, a great accomplishment!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbsasjVFw18

[Smitty Oom]

Final standings will be
Bethel
UST (possibly a tie at the top)
Augs
SJU
Concordia
Olaf
SMU
Hamline
GAC
Carleton
Mac

playoff champ-- UST

NCAA tourney-- UST & BU

I have a couple of comments here.

1) Agree Bethel is the team to beat. Double agree that the Tommies will be tough come Jan and Feb and especially in the playoffs. Especially given their win tonight against the Pointers.
2) I don't think that Hamline is getting enough credit. A great start to the year thus far and if I were voting, Zach Smith is the early season MVP. I think they could fight for a final playoff spot. They also have a couple of key pieces around him, such as Betts, who has been playing pretty well! Anyone know were Connor Knuston went? He was really good last year but can't be found with a spot light these days. With that being said, I could also seeing them fall back to the pack, since it is Hamline.
3) MAC has been baaaad and depth is the issue. Wyatt Ferm hasn't been in the gym the past few games. Everyone I talk to doesn't know what happened there. We will have to keep tabs on that.
4) GREAT to see the cobbs getting love in your standings. I think they will make the playoffs as they have a pretty solid senior trio with Dylan Alderman, Austin Nelson and Zach Kinny. A lot of people thought they would be down last year after losing 8 senios but they are building a solid program up there on 94. Although I may be a little biased 
5) SMU has also been playing pretty well. Q Smith Pugh, Ferron and Romportl is another solid trio of players. I think I like this team more than Olaf right now, but there is a lot of ball yet to be played.

Love having MIAC basketball back in the swing of things!

[Smitty Oom]

oh, one last thing. How about GAC losing to North Central last night!? That is a bad loss. They are really down this year. New names and faces on that roster and I think Coach Hanson is still shuffling through trying to find the right mix.

[GoldandBlueBU]

After than starting the game down 4-0, BU regained the lead and never looked back, winning by 18 over Concordia St Paul tonight 87-69.

Thought they looked very good, especially defensively...Tusler had something like 22 points, 6 steals...looked very good.


Nice way to go into the break.

[fredfalcon]

What happened to the former MIAC poster pride? No post since Dec. 16?

[Drake Palmer]

What happened to the former MIAC poster pride? No post since Dec. 16?

No recent games Fred.  The few of us that are left will chime in again once conference play starts up the first of the year.  Several of us are thinking of making the trek over to Eau Claire or River Falls for some WIAC hoops next month.  It appears you all should have a hotly contested race this winter.

[tomt4525]

Burt Hedstrom from Minnetonka will play baseball and basketball at St Thomas.

[fredfalcon]

DP--hotly contested is right, except for WW. They look very good. A few teams, including RF, Point, Osh, Lax COULD beat them, at home, but will have to play their best on an off night for WW. I hope I'm wrong on this assessment, but I've watched WW streams 3-4 times. Wed. nite will be a revealing set of games.

[Drake Palmer]

DP--hotly contested is right, except for WW. They look very good. A few teams, including RF, Point, Osh, Lax COULD beat them, at home, but will have to play their best on an off night for WW. I hope I'm wrong on this assessment, but I've watched WW streams 3-4 times. Wed. nite will be a revealing set of games.

Fred, does the WIAC archive any of the webcasts of the teams? I've been hearing/reading a lot about this powerhouse that's reloading in Whitewater,  and would like to get a chance to take a look for myself.  If the home teams hold serve on Wednesday, I might be tempted to make the drive over to Eau-Claire to check out the #7 Blugolds and #11 WW Saturday afternoon.

[Pat Coleman]

DP--hotly contested is right, except for WW. They look very good. A few teams, including RF, Point, Osh, Lax COULD beat them, at home, but will have to play their best on an off night for WW. I hope I'm wrong on this assessment, but I've watched WW streams 3-4 times. Wed. nite will be a revealing set of games.

Fred, does the WIAC archive any of the webcasts of the teams? I've been hearing/reading a lot about this powerhouse that's reloading in Whitewater,  and would like to get a chance to take a look for myself.  If the home teams hold serve on Wednesday, I might be tempted to make the drive over to Eau-Claire to check out the #7 Blugolds and #11 WW Saturday afternoon.

The schools would archive them, not the conference. Best to check the school sites.

[Drake Palmer]

In MIAC news, a Shaeffer-less UST beat the young and struggling Gusties 83-65 in St. Peter. I heard Grant Shaeffer was out with a bum ankle.  Hopefully he's ready to go for Bethel on Wednesday.

The Royals narrowly escaped out of Northfield in OT over the Carlies with a 70-63 OT win.  Brycen Wojta also has a bum ankle but did manage to play.  Wojay had a miserable shooting night as he was 3-9 FGA, for 8 pts, but collared 8 rebs, & 4 assists. The rest of the starters for the Royals had an off night and were rescued by their freshmen duo in Jack Jenson 11pts,  and a strong pick for the mythical MIAC FOY, Granger Kingland.  Kingland had 27 pts on 7-10 fga, 6-8 3fga, 5 rebs, and made the last second clutch trey to send the game into OT.

Other contender for the mythical MIAC FOY is the Johnnies' Jubie Alade. Alade had 25 pts on 11-15 FGA to lead the Jays to a 7575 - 65 win over the Oles!   

Barnburner over at Hewitt Arenas as the Pipes narrowly escape SMU 89-86, led by Zach Smith with 19 pts and Jay Betts 16 pts, along with 3 other Pipers in double figures.  Redbirds are led by Wylie Ferron with 15 pts.

The Lutherans were raising a ruckus as well as the Dawgs knocked off the Cobbs 86-81.  Collin Olmscheid had a double- double with 27 pts and 13 rebs.  Dylan Alderman paced the Cobbs with 15 pts, 4 rebs, 3 assists.