MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Smitty Oom]

Is St. John's geographically eligible/resume worthy to host a pod this year? I know its pretty early, but they are just under 100 miles out of the Twin Cities. UMAC winner, all IIAC team(s) minus NWU, all MIAC teams, all of the WIAC schools are in that range of 400 miles. When you branch out to the CCIW/NACC/MWC most of those teams are over that 400 mile benchmark from Collegeville, MN. I know they do fly some teams, especially on the west coast, but I assume the CA team(s) and most likely the SCAC/TX teams will be going to Walla Walla for the first round.

Anybody with more knowledge and expertise on pod selection care to weigh in? Or is this way to early, considering we don't know the teams that will qualify yet...

[Mr. Ypsi]

WAY too early.  The benchmark is 500 miles, not 400.  IF they remain resume-worthy, nothing in their geography would disqualify them.

[Smitty Oom]

Just fun to speculate. I think they will stay resume-worthy for the remainder of the regular season. But easier said then done.

Bringing it to 500 miles does include a lot more teams, from my really brief Google Maps session! I don't know why I thought it was 400.

[txg]

Oles were clicking on all cylinders in a 98-62 romp over the Cobbers.  Made a school record 19 threes on 31 attempts.  A ridiculous 32 assists versus only 5 turnovers.  Nate Albers a perfect 6-6 from 3 off the bench.

Meanwhile across town Carleton's struggles continued.  Shot 2-11 from 3 and turned it over 21 times in losing to Bethel.

Oles host the Knights in a big game on Monday.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Just fun to speculate. I think they will stay resume-worthy for the remainder of the regular season. But easier said then done.

Bringing it to 500 miles does include a lot more teams, from my really brief Google Maps session! I don't know why I thought it was 400.

Agree that it is fun to speculate - I have been known to start WAY earlier than you did!*  Just saying that it is way to early for realistic debate - but speculate away!

*Back in 2005-06, I had commentary going from late December on the odds of IWU running the entire season (they were then undefeated and unanimously #1 in the poll).  I took a LOT of flak, and eventually ate a lot of crow (though they did make it to Salem, and were favored by Pat, et.al., to win it all - they didn't. )

[Smitty Oom]

Oles were clicking on all cylinders in a 98-62 romp over the Cobbers.  Made a school record 19 threes on 31 attempts.  A ridiculous 32 assists versus only 5 turnovers.  Nate Albers a perfect 6-6 from 3 off the bench.

Meanwhile across town Carleton's struggles continued.  Shot 2-11 from 3 and turned it over 21 times in losing to Bethel.

Oles host the Knights in a big game on Monday.

Cobbers defense has left a lot to be desired this year, transition to Coach Hemmingsen and a lot of youth playing big minutes contribute to that I'm sure. Still, kudos to Oles, thats some superb shooting.

I noticed the same thing looking at the Bethel-Carlies box score today. Now granted bethel loves to play aggressive defense, especially with their guards, but 21 turnovers and 2-11 from 3 won't win in todays MIAC/basketball. Grow has been spectacular this year but the guard play is very subpar. They still have enough talent and are well coached to control the tempo and run their stuff, but late in games I just don't like their odds.

Bethel saw a vintage Tusler game today, we haven't seen a lot of that this year so far. Think this team has the best chance of getting a Pool C bid (outside of SJU) so I am kinda rooting for them to keep rolling after starting conference play slow.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

FYI - geography wouldn't disqualify St. John's to host if they are eligible (and paperwork complete). The only ones that could lose hosting for those reasons are the "island" conferences and that is a case-by-case, weekend-by-weekend decision. The problem SJU would present is limiting some of the teams the committee could send them and thus setting up some tough matchups not only at SJU, but elsewhere because there are no other options.

But a lot of basketball to be played and a lot of regional rankings and discussions to come before we know anything.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Is St. John's geographically eligible/resume worthy to host a pod this year? I know its pretty early, but they are just under 100 miles out of the Twin Cities. UMAC winner, all IIAC team(s) minus NWU, all MIAC teams, all of the WIAC schools are in that range of 400 miles. When you branch out to the CCIW/NACC/MWC most of those teams are over that 400 mile benchmark from Collegeville, MN. I know they do fly some teams, especially on the west coast, but I assume the CA team(s) and most likely the SCAC/TX teams will be going to Walla Walla for the first round.

Anybody with more knowledge and expertise on pod selection care to weigh in? Or is this way to early, considering we don't know the teams that will qualify yet...

They should be in line for first weekend, no problem.  If they make second, it could work if the right teams come through.  They're driving distance from Augustana, but not IWU - likely, though, it'll be a flight thing.  If things stay the same, first weekend seems like a lock, but we'll have to see what the regional rankings say - the last couple years they've tried very hard to have the top two teams from each region host.

[Smitty Oom]

Before the game tonight, I will make a bold prediction here to get a little conversation going...

Augsburg will finish the second half of the MIAC schedule 8-2 or better and get the second bye in the playoffs. They are already 2-0 with wins at GAC and at MAC.

REASONING:
They have already played GAC and BU twice and don't need to play them again.
Their toughest games (minus the johnnies) are all at home. Olaf, UST, Carleton (tonight).
Remaining road games are Cobbs, Mary, MAC, Hamline.
The kicker is they have to go to SJU and play them, but I only said 8-2, so that can be one of their two losses!

We have 7 teams at 7-4 or better in the conference currently, some pretty solid teams. It will be interesting to see which one of these teams will miss out on the playoffs. I think it will be Olaf holding off GAC for the 6th and last spot.

Any other predictions??

[bball1122]

We're at the halfway point (actually, a bit past) for the MIAC schedule.   St John's seems to be the class of the league, and there are still 8 teams with playoff hopes alive.  The bottom of the league looks worse than it has been in some time.  Not much chatter about it, but some mid year award predictions:

Player of the Year:  I would say this is a three player race between Kevin Grow, Tyler Weiss, and Collin Olmscheid.   

Grow is 2nd in the MIAC in PPG at 18.8 (using conference stats only), 1st in rebounds at 10.4, 1st in blocks at 2.1, tied for 13th in steals at 1.1, and is throwing in 2 assists per game.  He's probably the single most dominant player in the league, but team success may hold him back from POY.

Weiss is having a phenomenal senior season for the Johnnies in what many (me included) thought would be David Stokman's turn as Saint John's POY canidate.  Weiss is 4th in scoring at 16.4 PPG, 5th in rebounding at 7.2, and is dishing out 2.4 assists per game.  He's having the best season on the best team in the league, a team that went undefeated in their first turn through and looks to be a top 5 to 10 team in the country.   

Olmscheid is a scoring machine, leading the league at 18.8 PPG.  A 41% shooter from 3, at his size, he's a matchup nightmare.  Augsburg is challenging to be the #2 seed in the conferenced tournament, and he is their undisputed best player.  However, he's not contributing a ton statistically other than his scoring, averaging just 4.7 rebounds per game to go along with 1.9 assists. 

Prediction:   I think Grow deserves it, but if Carleton falls out of the playoffs, I think it goes to Weiss.
Dark horse:  Stokman just had a huge game against St. Thomas, and with a big 2nd half could be in this conversation as well.

6th Man of the Year:   Lots of names in the mix, but this is always a tough category at this point because many of the best 6th men will be starting down the stretch.   If Jubie Alade continues to come off the bench for the Johnnies, I think it's his award to win.  Other names include Troy Diggins (STO), Matt Stritzel (CAR), Jackson Henningfield (MAC), Connor Bair (UST), Riley Dearring (BET)

Prediction:  Alade takes it, but Riley Dearring makes it interesting

Coach of the Year: At this point, it's Pat McKenzie's award to lose.  They are undefeated in the conference, and have only played 2 games that have been decided by a single digit point spread.  Aaron Greiss has done a great job at Augsburg, as has Mark Hanson at Gustavus, while Doug Novak has blended a lot of talent at Bethel, who seems to be making a run.

Prediction:  McKenzie.  The Johnnies are too good to drop more than a couple of games in the league, and should have the 1 seed locked up by early February with all the other teams behind them beating up on each other.

Non-existent, but still fun to talk about Freshman (First Year) of the Year:  I think this is Matt Stritzel's award to lose.  He's had a solid freshman season, averaging over 12 PPG and really being the only consistent guard scoring threat for the Knights.  Others having nice seasons include Burt Hedstrom (UST), Zach Bloemker (GAC), Dom Bledsoe (STO), Jackson Henningfield (MAC), and Sawyer Rosner and Jakob Bailey (SMU)

Prediction:  Stritzel.

Three key games tonight:

UST at GAC:   Huge for potential playoff seeding later on. UST won the first matchup by 13.
CAR at AUG:  Carleton has been struggling, Augsburg has looked good.  Carleton needs a win to keep up with the winner of UST/GAC
SJU at HAM:  Hamline is still alive in the playoff chase, but will need an upset or two along with taking care of business against the teams below them to stay in the mix.  They played the Johnnies very closely in their first matchup (3 point loss) - interested to see how this one turns out tonight.

[GoldandBlueBU]

Before the game tonight, I will make a bold prediction here to get a little conversation going...

Augsburg will finish the second half of the MIAC schedule 8-2 or better and get the second bye in the playoffs. They are already 2-0 with wins at GAC and at MAC.

REASONING:
They have already played GAC and BU twice and don't need to play them again.
Their toughest games (minus the johnnies) are all at home. Olaf, UST, Carleton (tonight).
Remaining road games are Cobbs, Mary, MAC, Hamline.
The kicker is they have to go to SJU and play them, but I only said 8-2, so that can be one of their two losses!

We have 7 teams at 7-4 or better in the conference currently, some pretty solid teams. It will be interesting to see which one of these teams will miss out on the playoffs. I think it will be Olaf holding off GAC for the 6th and last spot.

Any other predictions??

I think they're certainly capable of it...I think SJU and UST will likely make up those two losses.  Carleton seems to be on a downward swing lately...Olaf and Hamline would be the other two question marks.  I think Augsburg is likely the better team, but if Olmscheid has a bad night, they hurt in a big way as they don't have other big guns to lean on.

[txg]

I managed to catch the last minute of regulation plus OT of Carleton's win at Augsburg.  They really clamped down defensively to nab the victory.

Surprised to see GAC beat UST.  Huge win for them, and their game at St Olaf Saturday looms large.

Hamline couldn't pull the upset, and I just can't see a path for the Pipers to make the playoffs at this point.

The league below SJU and above the bottom three is really something.  Extremely competitive.

[Smitty Oom]

https://portal.stretchinternet.com/bethel/portal.htm?eventId=361174&streamType=video

Big game here, as BU and SJU is going to overtime! Stokman missed a three at the end which would have won it. Rimmed out....

If SJU ends up losing, I bet it it effects their national reputation more than it should. A game at BU who has been playing very well lately is anything but a bad loss. If SJU pulls out the win, it is a very good win on their resume. Hope national people realize that.



As for my Augsburg "bold prediction," they lost their first game after the post.... I apologize to the Auggie faithful for jinxing them.

[faunch]

https://portal.stretchinternet.com/bethel/portal.htm?eventId=361174&streamType=video

Big game here, as BU and SJU is going to overtime! Stokman missed a three at the end which would have won it. Rimmed out....

If SJU ends up losing, I bet it it effects their national reputation more than it should. A game at BU who has been playing very well lately is anything but a bad loss. If SJU pulls out the win, it is a very good win on their resume. Hope national people realize that.



As for my Augsburg "bold prediction," they lost their first game after the post.... I apologize to the Auggie faithful for jinxing them.

BU annoucers need to stop watching the NBA....timeout in the backcourt does not advance the throw in to the front court.

[faunch]

Beautiful technical by the the BU coach...scroll ahead to the 1:44:00 mark.
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/bethel/portal.htm?eventId=361174&streamType=video