MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[D3fanatic2017]

Haven't heard much about teams in MIAC and who they scrimmaged? Did any of the teams play any exhibition games? Tommies and Johnnies probably scrimmaged d2 teams right? Curious on thoughts on the how those two looked in their scrimmaged?

[Smitty Oom]

Haven't heard much about teams in MIAC and who they scrimmaged? Did any of the teams play any exhibition games? Tommies and Johnnies probably scrimmaged d2 teams right? Curious on thoughts on the how those two looked in their scrimmaged?

Welcome to the boards!! A real quick google search came up with not much for scrimmages or exhibitions for most MIAC teams. I did reference a Cobber vs. NDSU (D1) exhibition game a week or two ago. I know the Cobbs also scrimmaged Bemidji St. (D2), as they do every year.

If anyone else has any info on this I would be curious as well!

[D3fanatic2017]

Thanks Smitty! I have seen a lot of other teams in the West region scrimmage and play exhibition games, but there seems to be no word on MIAC teams. I am curious to see how the Tommies and Johnies have looked. I believe picking the Tommies preseason #3 is going to fill the fire for another regular season championship.

[Greek Tragedy]

Should be another exciting race in the MIAC this year. As an outsider, it's nice to see that it's not just St. Thomas and everyone else.

[Smitty Oom]

Should be another exciting race in the MIAC this year. As an outsider, it's nice to see that it's not just St. Thomas and everyone else.

It's game week!! A lot of teams get rolling this wednesday with a couple others starting on Friday. Hopefully the MIAC fares well in the non-conference games, always love seeing other MIAC teams with big non-conf Ws!

[PurpleReign]

The 2017-18 Tommies are going to be a very young team with just 3 Sr. and 4 Jr.  This looks to be one of the strongest Fy classes in quite some time and really looking forward to seeing how a number of them contribute and specifically Simeon Davis, JP Costello, Max Techau and Trey Mack.

Looking at the ht. listed, this looks to be the tallest Tommie roster in recent memory with 12 players listed at 6-4 and above.  I will make an early prediction that Erik Davis has a break out year and we will know a lot more about this team once the December 9th game against River Falls comes around.

Listed on the JV roster is football second team offensive guard Malcolm Lawson and third team defensive back Joe Hird.

As for the Palmer FY All Name Team, not much to pick from on the Tommie roster, but the Fy on the Bethel roster presents a goldmine of name.

[Drake Palmer]

Thanks PR (Purple Reign) for the notice/reminder regarding the Palmer All Name Team.

A little more background on this honor.  Although there are very few rules regarding nomination and selection to this highly prized and coveted award, the committee must remain firm on this one rule: Nominees and recipients of the Palmer All Name Team award must have earned a jersey number to be selected.

Unfortunately, this ruled out a bumper crop of great names that are on the Bethel roster. Names such as – Thunder Heyer (AWESOME Name!), Boston "More Than a Feeling" Mast, Sandin Skow, & "Raymond" Chandler Wellman. But fear not Bethel Royals, you shall not go unrepresented.

Also, before the awards are announced it should be noted that two of last year's Palmer awards recipients went on to earn recognition on the athletic merit based MIAC All Freshman team.  Wings Jubie Alade at St. Johns, and Granger Kingland at Bethel. (Fortunately, no one ever went back to check the record, but last year the Palmer committee misspelled Kingland's last name and referred to him as Kirkland.  Oops!  )  Which player from the Palmer list will go on to earn FY All MIAC award this season? The committee will list their predictions after the names are listed.

So without further ado:

2017-2018 Palmer Freshman MIAC All Name Team

Second Team

Dom Bledsoe – St. Olaf
Simeon Davis – St. Thomas
Sam DuBois – Gustavus
Keegan Greaney – Macalester
Max McNellis – Hamline

First Team

Zeke Carver-Bagley – Bethel
Big "O" Oakley "Tree" Baker – St Johns
Kareem "Abdul" Anthony-Bello – St Mary's
Zander Schmidt - Macalester

Co – PGs of the Year:

Trey Mack "Truck"- St. Thomas
Trey "Purple Rain", "In Trey we Trust" Prince – Hamline

Strictly guesses, but the committee thinks
*Big Tree Baker, or Oakley sunglasses will make a big splash at SJU this year.
*Sam Dubois at Gustavus;
*Trey Mack at UST might be the next generation of taller ( 6-3) D3 athletic PGs.

Non Palmer FY candidates who have a legitimate chance of making a name for themselves include:

*Ryan Lindberg at UST
*Matthew Stritzel at Carleton.  I've heard very good things about Stritzel's game.
*One of the FY bigs at UST should  make a favorable first impression as well.

In the transfer department, Riley Dearring & Matt Ambriz will get a lot of shine st Bethel,
but SO Booker Coplin at Augsburg earned a lot of minutes last year as a FY at WIAC league winner – UW River Falls.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Now that the DP All Name team has been announced, the season is officially ready to begin! (NOTE to Drake- you need to contact Dr Pepper about corporate sponsorship of your name team)... the non-conference games are tonight and the Conference season opener is just 10 days away, as grant Hemmingsen's coaching career at Concordia begins with his debut game at his alma mater, Augsburg. The rest of the gang starts play in earnest on the 29th-- just two weeks away!

For all the preseason hype, I stick with the contention that the road to the title runs through The Shoe, just like it has for the past dozen years . UST is just too damn deep, too  much talent and too well coached not to be considered the favorite.

But Bethel scares the crap out of me-- they have added some major talent. Couple that with brilliant coaching, and you have the team that could break UST's string. Bethel will miss its graduated senior leadership at guard. I rate this a toss up and am already looking forward to their Dec 6 meeting at BU.

Despite all the media attention, I don't see SJU winning the crown. They have a very good, veteran squad, but I just don't see them as at the level of BU and UST. But I do think they could be the MIC's third rep in the NCAAs if all goes well, and Stokman is a lock for Player of the Year barring injury.

The gap between the top three and the rest of the pack is big.  Had Freddie G not transferred out, Id move Carleton into the discussion for any of the top three places. Without him,  the Knights are a tad thin even by CC standards. Guy Kalland will work his usual wonders on the bench and the Knights will be a solid fourth, ready to move up should any of the Big Three falter.

After that its a crap shoot between Augsburg, Hamline and St Olaf for fifth through seventh, with GAC & Cord battling for 8th.

but for now....bring on the games!!!

[bball1122]

D3 hoops is back tonight!  Excited for another season of MIAC basketball.  My predicted order of finish:

1. St John's:   I think they are the favorite and have the talent to be playing the final weekend in March.  Stokman, Weiss, Alade are all studs, and I think Walford will be joining them in that category.  They should absolutely be thinking conference title.
2. Bethel:   Coach Novak has proven to be one of the best coaches in the league and the Royals are plenty talented.  Dearring should be a difference maker, and the returning trio of Tusler, Kingland, and Magnuson are very good.  I put them behind the Johnnies, but not far.
3.  St. Thomas:  I think this is the year the Tommies fall from the top.  Still very talented, but young.  Boll, Hannon, and Veil lead the way, but lots and lots of young talent behind them (SO Davis, Mussoke, and Hannah, FY Costello, Techau, Lindberg, Sowada, and Mack).  I think that if anyone wants to dethrone them, they had better do it this year.

I think the top 3 are clear, and I think the next three are clear as well:

4.  Hamline:  Surprise playoff team last year, they won't sneak up on anyone this season.  Bring everyone back, including one of the best players in the league in G Zach Smith.  If a couple of the newcomers can contribute, they'll be even deeper.
5.  Augsburg:  Wavered between them and Hamline at #4.  They also return one of the best players in the league in Collin Olmscheid.  McKiernan made a big jump last year and Coplin is a stud transfer.  Will be interesting to see what they get from James Lawson.
6.  Carleton:  Grow is a star and Hanson is very good, but the loss of Freddie hurts a lot.  Will need a guard to step up and score consistently to move up.  I am probably putting them too low, but lack of depth is always a concern for the Knights.

I think these next three are closely bunched:

7.  St. Olaf:  I think Albers becomes a top 10 scorer in the league this year, and Tobroxen is a nice piece.  Dom Bledsoe is a bulldog of a guard.  Not sure how deep they will be.
8.  Gustavus: Sharbono leads the way, and they bring back a fair amount of experience.  Really like CJ Woda.  I still don't think it's enough to get back to the playoffs.
9.  Concordia:  Lots of new faces and a new coach, so it's hard to predict, but I think they will be tough (no one likes the road trip to Moorhead).

Finally, I think these two are at the bottom:

10.  Saint Mary's:   Very young and not a lot of size.  Anthony-Bello and Rosner looked the part to me in their exhibition against Western Illinois.  Will shoot a ton of 3's - may pull off an upset or two when they get hot.
11. Macalester:  The loss of Mike Gutierrez is a killer.   No Kareem manning the middle either, which puts a lot of Wyatt Ferm's shoulders.  Will be interesting to see which of the young guys steps up. 

I really do feel like the top 3 are clear, and I will be surprised if any of the top 6 don't make the playoffs.  I'm sure I'll be wrong come the end of February.  Excited to be back in a gym tonight!

[GoldandBlueBU]

For all the preseason hype, I stick with the contention that the road to the title runs through The Shoe, just like it has for the past dozen years . UST is just too damn deep, too  much talent and too well coached not to be considered the favorite.

But Bethel scares the crap out of me-- they have added some major talent. Couple that with brilliant coaching, and you have the team that could break UST's string. Bethel will miss its graduated senior leadership at guard. I rate this a toss up and am already looking forward to their Dec 6 meeting at BU.

Despite all the media attention, I don't see SJU winning the crown. They have a very good, veteran squad, but I just don't see them as at the level of BU and UST.

Nice write up - I generally agree, but don't think that you're giving enough value to the cohesiveness that SJU brings into the year.

UST could very well still be top dog, but LAG (Life After Grant) could impact the early part of their season, as they figure out what exactly they need to do to become highly effective again.

BU is in the same boat...added some good talent, but I think it takes a bit of time before they hit high gear.  I've penciled their first matchup with SJU as a loss due to that.  The first game for UST - BU should be a good one, as you pointed out.

Stockman is a scoring machine, and Weiss is a top 2 post player (with Grow, IMO), and I think that the fact that they aren't really looking at replacing / adding anyone new is big for them.  Come January, SJU / UST / BU should be on equal footing,but if BU / UST stumble a bit in December and SJU doesn't, that might be the difference.

[Smitty Oom]

For all the preseason hype, I stick with the contention that the road to the title runs through The Shoe, just like it has for the past dozen years . UST is just too damn deep, too  much talent and too well coached not to be considered the favorite.

But Bethel scares the crap out of me-- they have added some major talent. Couple that with brilliant coaching, and you have the team that could break UST's string. Bethel will miss its graduated senior leadership at guard. I rate this a toss up and am already looking forward to their Dec 6 meeting at BU.

Despite all the media attention, I don't see SJU winning the crown. They have a very good, veteran squad, but I just don't see them as at the level of BU and UST.

Nice write up - I generally agree, but don't think that you're giving enough value to the cohesiveness that SJU brings into the year.

UST could very well still be top dog, but LAG (Life After Grant) could impact the early part of their season, as they figure out what exactly they need to do to become highly effective again.

BU is in the same boat...added some good talent, but I think it takes a bit of time before they hit high gear.  I've penciled their first matchup with SJU as a loss due to that.  The first game for UST - BU should be a good one, as you pointed out.

Stockman is a scoring machine, and Weiss is a top 2 post player (with Grow, IMO), and I think that the fact that they aren't really looking at replacing / adding anyone new is big for them.  Come January, SJU / UST / BU should be on equal footing,but if BU / UST stumble a bit in December and SJU doesn't, that might be the difference.

I agree BU. Stokman-Weiss is the best guard-post combo in the league. To go with an unbelievably solid stable of roll players (Goetz do it all bulldog of a guard; Strom the microwave sharp shooting specialist; JO one of the best one-on-one defenders; Alade a great bench scorer who is one year older; Bailey back up guard with some experience), AND the fact they didn't graduate anyone of on the court importance, AND they bring in a solid Freshman/recruiting class (Walford like mentioned above)... Too many "ifs" for BU and UST for me to put them at the top spot, but they definitely have the potential to be at the top of the standings come the end of Feb.

[WUPHF]

11. Macalester:  The loss of Mike Gutierrez is a killer.   No Kareem manning the middle either, which puts a lot of Wyatt Ferm's shoulders.  Will be interesting to see which of the young guys steps up. 

Wait, what?

He is still on the roster.  Is he out for the season?

Back to the drawing board for my fantasy league team...

[Smitty Oom]

11. Macalester:  The loss of Mike Gutierrez is a killer.   No Kareem manning the middle either, which puts a lot of Wyatt Ferm's shoulders.  Will be interesting to see which of the young guys steps up. 

Wait, what?

He is still on the roster.  Is he out for the season?

Back to the drawing board for my fantasy league team...

Torn ACL, out for the year  

[WUPHF]

Thanks for the update.

Tough break for Gutierrez and a tough loss for Coach Whittle.

[Drake Palmer]

Wow, nice opener for the MIAC as the league goes 5-0 on opening night.  4-0 against the UMAC, 1-0 against the WIAC.

St. Olaf 60 – UW Stevens Point 45
St. Marys 89 - Martin Luther 75
Augsburg 72 – Northland 44
Concordia 80 – Minn Morris 71

And the runaway of the night: Hamline pounded Northwestern who was narrowly edged out for first place in the UMAC preseason poll by St. Scholastica.

The Pipes shot out the lights as they blitzed NW 106 - 72.  Hamline shot 66.7% from the floor, 14-24 from behind the arc for a red hot 58.3% 3FGA. And what was perhaps the most improbable stat line of the game, JR Connor Knutson played a mere five minutes for 1 reb, 1 assist, 1 steal, 5-6 from the 3pt line for 15 pts!