MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Gregory Sager]

https://twitter.com/RyanJamesMN/status/871438249767686145

HUGE MIAC NEWS!

Junior to be Freddie Gillespie, who was a big reason for the Knights strong finish last year, is transferring to Baylor. Big jump up for him from D3 to D1, but he is long and athletic so we will see what happens. In terms of what happens for the Knights I think they will be solid still, but this is a big blow for their chances at taking home a regular season crown or the MIAC AQ.

He's a solid player, but I guess he didn't strike me as having D1 athleticism, and wasn't exactly dominant in D3?  Clearly some folks who know more about it disagree.  Interesting.  Certainly hurts Carleton's chances next year.

I think we saw a few flashes of his athleticism last year.  Doesn't hurt that he's 6'9" with long arms either.
https://twitter.com/CarletonKnights/status/834128300192706561
https://twitter.com/CarletonKnights/status/831609549765410816

... except that, in the Big 12, 6'9 guys are a dime a dozen.

I don't see any information as to whether he has a scholarship or if he has just been promised a walk-on opportunity.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the detail that makes all the difference in the world. The gulf between a D1 scholie player and a D1 walk-on is vast.

[AO]

https://twitter.com/RyanJamesMN/status/871438249767686145

HUGE MIAC NEWS!

Junior to be Freddie Gillespie, who was a big reason for the Knights strong finish last year, is transferring to Baylor. Big jump up for him from D3 to D1, but he is long and athletic so we will see what happens. In terms of what happens for the Knights I think they will be solid still, but this is a big blow for their chances at taking home a regular season crown or the MIAC AQ.

He's a solid player, but I guess he didn't strike me as having D1 athleticism, and wasn't exactly dominant in D3?  Clearly some folks who know more about it disagree.  Interesting.  Certainly hurts Carleton's chances next year.

I think we saw a few flashes of his athleticism last year.  Doesn't hurt that he's 6'9" with long arms either.
https://twitter.com/CarletonKnights/status/834128300192706561
https://twitter.com/CarletonKnights/status/831609549765410816

... except that, in the Big 12, 6'9 guys are a dime a dozen.

I don't see any information as to whether he has a scholarship or if he has just been promised a walk-on opportunity.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the detail that makes all the difference in the world. The gulf between a D1 scholie player and a D1 walk-on is vast.

I doubt he goes to Baylor just to walk-on.  I agree the difference between the scholarship players and the walk-ons is big, but the walk-ons don't typically look like Gillespie.  They look like Darin Haugh, an undersized guard at Bethany Lutheran who transferred to the U to play with friends.  Haugh did get put on scholarship last year, but that was a pretty rare case. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Yeah - looks like a walk-on offer: http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/freddie-gillespie

[AO]

Yeah - looks like a walk-on offer: http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/freddie-gillespie

Interesting, though it might feel like a scholarship considering tuition is almost $20k less at Baylor. 

[GoldandBlueBU]

Yeah - looks like a walk-on offer: http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/freddie-gillespie

Interesting, though it might feel like a scholarship considering tuition is almost $20k less at Baylor.

Ha!

Plus, who wouldn't leap at the opportunity go to a school where they've developed such a great "culture" in their athletics dept?

[Smitty Oom]

I know that Freddie was a highly sought after recruit out of HS, primarily by a lot of schools at the d2 level. He had what I think was a bad knee injury and schools kind of stopped recruiting him, thus ending up at Carleton. His athleticism and length cannot be taught and is not your typical D3 athlete, but he lacks the offensive polish that would make him a force in a power d1 conference like the Big 12, where there are players and recruits that can outmatch his combo of athleticism and length. With that said, hopefully he stays determined and works at it, because I would love to see Freddie Gillespie logging minutes for the Baylor Bears in a NCAA tourney a couple years down the road!

PS: The one dunk against Concordia that AO linked earlier, I was present for that game. WOW, was it vicious. Not your normal D3 dunk that is for sure.

[Oleblue]

What is a normal d3 dunk? Asking for a friend.

[Smitty Oom]

What is a normal d3 dunk? Asking for a friend.

Not this.... https://twitter.com/CarletonKnights/status/831609549765410816

[Oleblue]

What is a normal d3 dunk? Asking for a friend.

Not this.... https://twitter.com/CarletonKnights/status/831609549765410816

Is there a d2 dunk for the sake of comparison???

[GoldandBlueBU]

Given that the BU football team is proving to be not worth following - I'm interested in preliminary MIAC basketball standings thoughts?

Johnnies finished well last year and bring back their leading scorers...Royals lose Wojta and Hall, but return Tusler, Magnusson, Kingland, Jenson and Hanson.

Tommies seem to find a way to always win the regular season title, but I know nothing about what their squad will look like.

Rest of the MIAC?

[GoldandBlueBU]

I felt certain that yesterday's post would scare up Drake Palmer.  Now I'm concerned for his wellbeing.   

[Smitty Oom]

Heard a rumor the Gutz (Michael Gutierrez) of MAC tore his ACL. Hope its not true, he is an exciting player and I want to see MAC make the playoffs. They have become more competitive and have some good talent on their roster.

[Smitty Oom]

Given that the BU football team is proving to be not worth following - I'm interested in preliminary MIAC basketball standings thoughts?

Johnnies finished well last year and bring back their leading scorers...Royals lose Wojta and Hall, but return Tusler, Magnusson, Kingland, Jenson and Hanson.

Tommies seem to find a way to always win the regular season title, but I know nothing about what their squad will look like.

Rest of the MIAC?

More and more I think about it, I think there are two tiers of teams in the top 4...

TIER 1
1. UST - Until proven otherwise after 12 years...
2. SJU - Stokman and Weiss is the best combo in the MIAC bar none. Great role players like Strom (great shooter), Goetz (Mr. everything) and Oliver (defensive/rebound/hustle machine). Commit to D everyonce and awhile and they are going to be Uber tough.

TIER 2
3. CARLETON - Losing Smit, Biewen and Peter BA is bigger than you would think. These guys gave them just enough of an outside dimension where you can't allow them too many open looks so the studly bigs could go to work. I think that they also caught a little bit of lightning in a bottle this year and would project them out at 13-7 range again for next year.
4. BETHEL - Hall makes this team go, it will be very hard to replace him and Wjota on a team that usually only goes 2 deep off the bench. Bridge, Magnuson and Kingland (Jenson showed flashes as well) is a great 3 players in this league but might be a learning curve after losing their 2 senior 4 year cornerstones of the Royal program.

Wrote the above directly after the regular season ended. Still going with it. I know SJU has added some good players, especially Lucas Walford who was at Augustana (D2 Souix Falls) last year as a freshman. If I were to rank the remaining teams I would go...


5. AUGSBURG - Collin Olmschied best pure scorer in the MIAC (has to be one of the best in the nation imo) and an absolute matchup nightmare for everyone.
6. HAMLINE - Always has a lot of moving parts but with Zach Smith still there they would get my last playoff spot. Seemed to have some solid role players step up last year with Betts and Brooks.
7. St. OLAF - Always long, athletic and solid on D. Might lack offensive firepower with Majeske gone but Trobroxen and fr. Nate Albers showed to be quite capable of scoring the rock.
8. GUSTAVUS - A wild card of sorts for me. The Gusties haven't been great recently, especially compared to their amazing run in the late 90s and early 2000's. Riley Sharbano should merit some more talk this year, a very good scorer for this team.
9. CONCORDIA - First year head coach Grant Hemmingsen has some work to do to get the Cobbers back to the playoff form they were in years past. They lose Nelson, Alderman and Kinny, their three most productive players.
10. St. MARY'S - Meh. Maybe they gut out some wins but they are not competing as much as last year without Smith-Pugh or Ferron.
11. MACALESTER - Without Gutz they cant score with teams in the league.

[bball1122]

Sounds like Bethel has added Riley Dearring, formerly of Minnetonka HS, Wisconsin (walk on), and Cal State Fullerton.  Believe he just has the one year left. 

[GoldandBlueBU]

Sounds like Bethel has added Riley Dearring, formerly of Minnetonka HS, Wisconsin (walk on), and Cal State Fullerton.  Believe he just has the one year left.

Wow.  Really?  I wonder what the back story is there.