MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[bball1122]

Some thoughts from last night:

UST is king until someone dethrones them, and it's looking more and more like that isn't happening yet again this year.  Shaeffer and Boll have been outstanding, Burich has become the rebounding/defensive presence they need, and when Hannon is hitting like he did last night, they're going to be tough to knock off. Bethel is still really talented, but will need to beat one of these top teams to make the NCAA tournament in a few weeks.

SJU came out on fire, making 67% of their shots in the first half, including 8 of 11 threes.  Stokman alone was 9 of 9 from the field, 6 of 6 from three for 24 points IN THE FIRST HALF! Hard to stop the Johnnies when they are hitting their outside shots.

MAC beats SMU in a heartbreaker for the Cards.  Three turnovers in the final 30 seconds took SMU from up 2 with the ball to a buzzer beating loss.  MAC is going to be a problem these last few weeks - Gutierrez, Ferm, and Ismail are a scary trio.  No Kevin Gleason last night for the Cards?

A head scratcher in Si Melby as GAC takes it to Augsburg.  Gusties jumped out to an early double digit lead and weren't really pushed the rest of the game.  Augsburg just hasn't found consistency after Olmscheid.  GAC keeps their playoff hopes alive, but they still have to play the top four teams, three of which are on the road.  If they somehow creep back into the playoff picture, they will have earned it.

Finally, big win for the Pipers over STO.  Zach Smith with another impressive performance - that pull up J is naaaasty.  Hamline is winning by not turning it over - only 6 last night, and only 8.9 per game in the league, which has to rank them somewhere near the top five in the nation.   Looked like Ole Ben Scheffley went down with a knee injury early in the second half - hopefully he's OK. 

Another big night Wednesday - Carleton/Bethel is the headliner, but SJU/STO and AUGS/CORD have huge playoff implications.  Should be another fun night of hoops!

[Smitty Oom]

Some thoughts from last night:

UST is king until someone dethrones them, and it's looking more and more like that isn't happening yet again this year.  Shaeffer and Boll have been outstanding, Burich has become the rebounding/defensive presence they need, and when Hannon is hitting like he did last night, they're going to be tough to knock off. Bethel is still really talented, but will need to beat one of these top teams to make the NCAA tournament in a few weeks.

SJU came out on fire, making 67% of their shots in the first half, including 8 of 11 threes.  Stokman alone was 9 of 9 from the field, 6 of 6 from three for 24 points IN THE FIRST HALF! Hard to stop the Johnnies when they are hitting their outside shots.

MAC beats SMU in a heartbreaker for the Cards.  Three turnovers in the final 30 seconds took SMU from up 2 with the ball to a buzzer beating loss.  MAC is going to be a problem these last few weeks - Gutierrez, Ferm, and Ismail are a scary trio.  No Kevin Gleason last night for the Cards?

A head scratcher in Si Melby as GAC takes it to Augsburg.  Gusties jumped out to an early double digit lead and weren't really pushed the rest of the game.  Augsburg just hasn't found consistency after Olmscheid.  GAC keeps their playoff hopes alive, but they still have to play the top four teams, three of which are on the road.  If they somehow creep back into the playoff picture, they will have earned it.

Finally, big win for the Pipers over STO.  Zach Smith with another impressive performance - that pull up J is naaaasty.  Hamline is winning by not turning it over - only 6 last night, and only 8.9 per game in the league, which has to rank them somewhere near the top five in the nation.   Looked like Ole Ben Scheffley went down with a knee injury early in the second half - hopefully he's OK. 

Another big night Wednesday - Carleton/Bethel is the headliner, but SJU/STO and AUGS/CORD have huge playoff implications.  Should be another fun night of hoops!

Gleason had a very scary looking injury a couple weekends ago in Moorhead, hasn't played since. We wish him well in rehabbing his injury. They did some new things with their starting lineup and playing the starters more, maybe the Cards will see more wins with the changes Coach R made.

Great stat with the Pipes bball! Zach Smith is ultra quick PG that is tough to stop. The depth for this team has gotten better and any given night someone new can be that second scoring option, as See-Rockers was last night.

McKiernen has been really good as of late but disappeared last night and Chuckie Smith can't be found with a search light since the xmas break.

As for the NCAA tourney... looks like UST is a lock to make it if they keep up their current run. They also received 3 votes for the most recent poll, I expect them to make it back into the top 25 very soon. If the Johnnies and Bethel both only lose one or two more games down the stretch here we could possibly see 2 Pool C teams from the MIAC which would be very fun... I'm sure Dave, Ryan or someone else could weigh in here with more info though. They are both sitting at only 5 loses and a +.700 WP currently. Although you rarely see those type of runs with the tough MIAC conference schedule, it does help both teams have played UST twice already.

[GoldandBlueBU]

Lastly - man, Grant Shaeffer takes the short shorts trend seriously.

At this point, the only things you can expect from the MIAC is Shaeffer rolling his shorts at least three times and Granger Kingland looking like a goon with that sweatband he wears.

Nice. +

Yes, he ditched the headband for like 2 or 3 games a week or two ago, but he apparently missed it and brought it back, unfortunately.

[AO]

As for the NCAA tourney... looks like UST is a lock to make it if they keep up their current run. They also received 3 votes for the most recent poll, I expect them to make it back into the top 25 very soon. If the Johnnies and Bethel both only lose one or two more games down the stretch here we could possibly see 2 Pool C teams from the MIAC which would be very fun... I'm sure Dave, Ryan or someone else could weigh in here with more info though. They are both sitting at only 5 loses and a +.700 WP currently. Although you rarely see those type of runs with the tough MIAC conference schedule, it does help both teams have played UST twice already.

I don't think UST is a lock to get a pool C if they lose another regular season game and St. John's/Bethel will be fortunate to be called a bubble team even if they win out.  Too many non-conference games against under .500 teams for the Johnnies and Royals. 

[Smitty Oom]

As for the NCAA tourney... looks like UST is a lock to make it if they keep up their current run. They also received 3 votes for the most recent poll, I expect them to make it back into the top 25 very soon. If the Johnnies and Bethel both only lose one or two more games down the stretch here we could possibly see 2 Pool C teams from the MIAC which would be very fun... I'm sure Dave, Ryan or someone else could weigh in here with more info though. They are both sitting at only 5 loses and a +.700 WP currently. Although you rarely see those type of runs with the tough MIAC conference schedule, it does help both teams have played UST twice already.

I don't think UST is a lock to get a pool C if they lose another regular season game and St. John's/Bethel will be fortunate to be called a bubble team even if they win out.  Too many non-conference games against under .500 teams for the Johnnies and Royals.

Thanks for your insight AO! Maybe I was just wishful thinking for getting multiple MIAC teams in.

[GoldandBlueBU]

As for the NCAA tourney... looks like UST is a lock to make it if they keep up their current run. They also received 3 votes for the most recent poll, I expect them to make it back into the top 25 very soon. If the Johnnies and Bethel both only lose one or two more games down the stretch here we could possibly see 2 Pool C teams from the MIAC which would be very fun... I'm sure Dave, Ryan or someone else could weigh in here with more info though. They are both sitting at only 5 loses and a +.700 WP currently. Although you rarely see those type of runs with the tough MIAC conference schedule, it does help both teams have played UST twice already.

I don't think UST is a lock to get a pool C if they lose another regular season game and St. John's/Bethel will be fortunate to be called a bubble team even if they win out.  Too many non-conference games against under .500 teams for the Johnnies and Royals.

Thanks for your insight AO! Maybe I was just wishful thinking for getting multiple MIAC teams in.

AO - would your guess be that the only way the MIAC gets two teams is by them winning the rest of the way, but losing in the MIAC tournament championship, meaning the tourney champ would get the auto bid, and then UST still getting a pool c?

[AO]

As for the NCAA tourney... looks like UST is a lock to make it if they keep up their current run. They also received 3 votes for the most recent poll, I expect them to make it back into the top 25 very soon. If the Johnnies and Bethel both only lose one or two more games down the stretch here we could possibly see 2 Pool C teams from the MIAC which would be very fun... I'm sure Dave, Ryan or someone else could weigh in here with more info though. They are both sitting at only 5 loses and a +.700 WP currently. Although you rarely see those type of runs with the tough MIAC conference schedule, it does help both teams have played UST twice already.

I don't think UST is a lock to get a pool C if they lose another regular season game and St. John's/Bethel will be fortunate to be called a bubble team even if they win out.  Too many non-conference games against under .500 teams for the Johnnies and Royals.

Thanks for your insight AO! Maybe I was just wishful thinking for getting multiple MIAC teams in.

AO - would your guess be that the only way the MIAC gets two teams is by them winning the rest of the way, but losing in the MIAC tournament championship, meaning the tourney champ would get the auto bid, and then UST still getting a pool c?

That's my guess.  St. John's would be 21-5 and Bethel 20-6 with one of the lower if the not the lowest SOS's on the bubble.  The SOS they use is highly flawed and it's working against the MIAC this year.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

As for the NCAA tourney... looks like UST is a lock to make it if they keep up their current run. They also received 3 votes for the most recent poll, I expect them to make it back into the top 25 very soon. If the Johnnies and Bethel both only lose one or two more games down the stretch here we could possibly see 2 Pool C teams from the MIAC which would be very fun... I'm sure Dave, Ryan or someone else could weigh in here with more info though. They are both sitting at only 5 loses and a +.700 WP currently. Although you rarely see those type of runs with the tough MIAC conference schedule, it does help both teams have played UST twice already.

I don't think UST is a lock to get a pool C if they lose another regular season game and St. John's/Bethel will be fortunate to be called a bubble team even if they win out.  Too many non-conference games against under .500 teams for the Johnnies and Royals.

Thanks for your insight AO! Maybe I was just wishful thinking for getting multiple MIAC teams in.

AO - would your guess be that the only way the MIAC gets two teams is by them winning the rest of the way, but losing in the MIAC tournament championship, meaning the tourney champ would get the auto bid, and then UST still getting a pool c?

That's my guess.  St. John's would be 21-5 and Bethel 20-6 with one of the lower if the not the lowest SOS's on the bubble.  The SOS they use is highly flawed and it's working against the MIAC this year.

Not sure why you say it is highly-flawed considering it is analyzed each and every year not to mention is also constantly scrutinized by coaches in Division III... who so far overwhelmingly approve it. Also not sure why you think it works against the MIAC?

[AO]

As for the NCAA tourney... looks like UST is a lock to make it if they keep up their current run. They also received 3 votes for the most recent poll, I expect them to make it back into the top 25 very soon. If the Johnnies and Bethel both only lose one or two more games down the stretch here we could possibly see 2 Pool C teams from the MIAC which would be very fun... I'm sure Dave, Ryan or someone else could weigh in here with more info though. They are both sitting at only 5 loses and a +.700 WP currently. Although you rarely see those type of runs with the tough MIAC conference schedule, it does help both teams have played UST twice already.

I don't think UST is a lock to get a pool C if they lose another regular season game and St. John's/Bethel will be fortunate to be called a bubble team even if they win out.  Too many non-conference games against under .500 teams for the Johnnies and Royals.

Thanks for your insight AO! Maybe I was just wishful thinking for getting multiple MIAC teams in.

AO - would your guess be that the only way the MIAC gets two teams is by them winning the rest of the way, but losing in the MIAC tournament championship, meaning the tourney champ would get the auto bid, and then UST still getting a pool c?

That's my guess.  St. John's would be 21-5 and Bethel 20-6 with one of the lower if the not the lowest SOS's on the bubble.  The SOS they use is highly flawed and it's working against the MIAC this year.

Not sure why you say it is highly-flawed considering it is analyzed each and every year not to mention is also constantly scrutinized by coaches in Division III... who so far overwhelmingly approve it. Also not sure why you think it works against the MIAC?

We've been through this up and down on the pool C board, but to sum it up for this board; it just doesn't do a good job of comparing teams from different regions since it doesn't include offensive/defensive efficiency or margin of victory.   It works against the MIAC because of the 20 game conference schedule and in favor of the NESCAC and their 10 game conference schedule.  It doesn't really matter how good the MIAC is in any particular year as the conference games will always bring everyone up or down to .500 meaning the 5 non-conference games are the only way to prove your difficult schedule.  Currently St. John's has the 37th toughest SoS according to Massey but according to the NCAA SoS their SoS will be in the 200s (EDIT: when I first calculated this I didn't realize Knightslappy only included the top 40 teams in the region by RPI where St. John's was 198th).  There's also the matter of the broken Home/Away multiplier that I'll believe is fixed when I see it. 

[Drake Palmer]

UST 59 - GAC 57:
After dribbling the ball for 8-10 seconds, General Grant Shaeffer coolly took his man toward the lane, pump faked, made a step through 12-foot jumper with 2 seconds left in the game to knock off the hard charging Gusties. Play of the Night!

CARL 69- BET 51:
Carleton is looking extremely dangerous and manhandled Bethel 69-51.  I believe Carleton led at the half in an extremely low scoring affair, 16 -13!  Gillespie & Grow are a dominating duo in the lane. The Carleton game with UST should be absolutely outstanding!

[txg]

STJ 78 - STO 71
The young Oles were missing two starters and were down 24 points with 13 minutes to go against St. John's.  They went to a small lineup and a zone and stormed back to cut it to 4.  Had a couple of opportunities to get closer but the shots wouldn't fall and the Johnnies hold on for the road win.

[Smitty Oom]

STJ 78 - STO 71
The young Oles were missing two starters and were down 24 points with 13 minutes to go against St. John's.  They went to a small lineup and a zone and stormed back to cut it to 4.  Had a couple of opportunities to get closer but the shots wouldn't fall and the Johnnies hold on for the road win.

Welcome to the boards txg! It will be good to get another common contributor the MIAC page, looks like you are an Oles fan besides being a MIAC fan? What are the injury reports for the Ole players?

[Smitty Oom]

UST 59 - GAC 57:
After dribbling the ball for 8-10 seconds, General Grant Shaeffer coolly took his man toward the lane, pump faked, made a step through 12-foot jumper with 2 seconds left in the game to knock off the hard charging Gusties. Play of the Night!

CARL 69- BET 51:
Carleton is looking extremely dangerous and manhandled Bethel 69-51.  I believe Carleton led at the half in an extremely low scoring affair, 16 -13!  Gillespie & Grow are a dominating duo in the lane. The Carleton game with UST should be absolutely outstanding!

This loss for BU basically puts them out of Pool C consideration in my estimation. They could go 0-3 this week with red the hot Johnnies coming their way Sat. Purely off of a MIAC into the NCAA tourney standpoint I hope the Johnnies can pull it out so they can stay alive for a possible pool C nod. They are a dangerous team that could make some noise in march if they hit their shots. One last note, if I was Novak I would tell Bridge Tusler to shoot no more than 2 3's per game. He is much better at attacking the rim and using his football strength in the lane against smaller guards. Shooting a couple 3s a game is good to keep defenders respecting it but 1-8 from three for Bridge is going to lose you games. GoldandBlue, you nailed it again on a down week for the Royals.

On the other side of this game... Oh what could have been for the Knights if they would have pulled out the two OT wins in this first go around against BU and UST. I enjoy watching them and respect the hell out of Guy Kalland, hope they make the playoffs! Did some box score watching for this one and thought my updates were off when I saw it was 16-13 at half. I think Freddie and Grow are almost locks for the Defensive team of the year at this time. Indeed, Knights vs. Tommies is going to be really fun!

[txg]

Welcome to the boards txg! It will be good to get another common contributor the MIAC page, looks like you are an Oles fan besides being a MIAC fan? What are the injury reports for the Ole players?

Thank you.  I don't know much about the injuries.  Delaney (center) hurt his wrist in the first half Saturday.  My sense is that he'll be back.  Sheffley (point guard) hurt his knee Monday and it didn't look good.  I would guess he's done for the year, but that is just conjecture.

I don't see any way Carleton doesn't make the playoffs.  They are burying teams - 7 straight wins none closer than 14 points.  I think they go 6-1 the rest of the way.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

when I saw that halftime score of 16-13, I thought it was from the 1950s and Drake and Papa were playing!  At UST, the General totally took over the game, but Burich dominated the glass  and had a few sweet blocks. GAC didn't look as overwhelmed as they did first meeting and played with a lot of heart. Made for a fun exciting game.

Planning to be in attendance Sat at BU for their must-win game with SJU. BU needs to get on a roll or could slide to 4th or lower in no time.