MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The grind of conference play is in full gear. Nothing beats a team up or reveals how good one is like the grind of conference play.

Thursday night on Hoopsville we take a look at the grind and how teams are surviving, surprising, and even impressing as the holidays and the break quickly become a distant memory in the rear view mirror.

The first of the season's "WBCA Center Court" segments also debuts with the dedication of one coach off the court and with her family. UW-Platteville women's coach Megan Wilson talks about her daughter's battle with cancer and the decision to step away from coaching to help her daughter fight.

Hoopsville is presented by D3hoops.com and airs from the WBCA/NABC Studio. You can watch Thursday's show, LIVE, starting at 7:00 p.m. ET here: http://bit.ly/2D0Qd7t

If you have questions about Division III basketball, feel free to send them and we will answer them on a the show. Email them to hoopsville@d3hoops.com or use any of the social media options below.

Guests Schedule (order subject to change):
- Pat McKenzie, No. 11 St. John's men's coach
- Ben Stachowski, No. 20 Wabash men's senior guard
- Alyssa Polosky, No. 14 SUNY Geneseo women's head coach
- Megan Willson, UW-Platteville women's head coach (WBCA Center Court)
- Trevor Woodruff, No. 3 Scranton women's head coach

If you enjoy the show via the podcasts, choose your favorite avenue to listen and/or subscribe via the the following four avenues (click on the images when necessary):
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[Drake Palmer]

UST 112- Augsburg 105 (3OTs) 

One heck of a game broke out Saturday afternoon over at Si Melby. Augsburg was playing suffocating defense for 35+ minutes. In fact, the halftime score was Augsburg 32 – UST 26.

Suddenly, with about four minutes left in regulation, the lights got a little brighter, and somebody said – "Showtime" and one heck of an offensive outburst broke out between the Dawgs & Tommies!  Fun, fun, ballgame.  As a mostly neutral observer, I found myself cheering for both teams and players, and it really was too bad one team had to lose.

Augsburg's Booker Coplin should make somebody's All American team at the end of the year.  Everyone knows you must shut him down, and teams still can't contain Coplin.  I was also going to argue that UST's Mark Buri from the early 2000s was a better FY guard than Anders Nelson, but after seeing Nelson 2-3 times now, I might have to change my mind.

I very well may be wrong, but I still contend the road to the MIAC title runs through SJU.  The Jays have got too much balance, length, athletic wings/forwards  (Zach Hanson, Lucas Walford, Ethan Novancinski +) David Stokman, space the floor well, good D, etc.  However, it still should be a dandy next Monday night. 

[tomt4525]

Former Green Bay Notre Dame(WI) 6'7" Forward, Matthew Rader, is transferring from UW-Oshkosh to St Thomas.  He was a Freshman this year with Oshkosh.  St Thomas recruited him hard last year.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Former Green Bay Notre Dame(WI) 6'7" Forward, Matthew Rader, is transferring from UW-Oshkosh to St Thomas.  He was a Freshman this year with Oshkosh.  St Thomas recruited him hard last year.

I'm interested to know what precipitated this move.  Was it academic or campus issues?  I have to believe he was well aware he wouldn't be getting big minutes at Oshkosh this year.  UST can certainly used skilled big men and I'm sure he'll have a better chance of more minutes there.

[bball1122]

Former Green Bay Notre Dame(WI) 6'7" Forward, Matthew Rader, is transferring from UW-Oshkosh to St Thomas.  He was a Freshman this year with Oshkosh.  St Thomas recruited him hard last year.

I'm interested to know what precipitated this move.  Was it academic or campus issues?  I have to believe he was well aware he wouldn't be getting big minutes at Oshkosh this year.  UST can certainly used skilled big men and I'm sure he'll have a better chance of more minutes there.

My guess is that he committed to Oshkosh when Juckem was the coach (per Twitter, he committed April 8th), wanted to see what things were like with Lewis after Juckem left (which happened late April/early May), didn't enjoy it, and decided to head to the school that finished second in his recruiting. 

What a game at Si Melby.   Tough for Booker Coplin, committing an unnecessary foul late in OT2 that gave the Tommies a chance to tie it and send it to a third overtime.   Coplin was truly amazing throughout - Augsburg asks him to be a point guard offensively but a 4 man defensively.   Really incredible.  He played all 55 minutes too, which is even more amazing when you consider he was being pressed full court for most of the game.  Nelson was just OK through regulation, but hit some huge shots and basically took over in the final two overtimes.   Tommies going 5 in, 5 out was interesting to see - have they done much of that this year?

The rest of the Saturday results played out about as expected.  Hamline with a big home win over Carleton, Mac beating a depleted SMU at the buzzer, Bethel grinding out a win in Moorhead, and the Johnnies clubbing the Oles.   Next Monday should be a lot of fun between the top two teams.   

[jamtod]

Tommies going 5 in, 5 out was interesting to see - have they done much of that this year?

Most of what I have seen has been either subbing 5 for 5 or 4 in, 4 out.

[Smitty Oom]

Haven't got to watch a lot of the games this year unfortunately but I am planning on making a trip to the Shoe monday night. Very excited for the game!

[miac952]

I got to watch a heavy portion of the Toms game last night for the first time this year. Abundant depth for sure. It seems scoring opportunities come almost equally between that 1st and 2nd wave. Defensively, however that 2nd wave has match-up challenges. Part of that might have been some of the really nice sets Bethel was running.

Bethel's announcers were a doozy. The screeching and hooting can do a number on a tablets speakers.

Monday should be festive at UST. It will be interesting to see how the Freshman PG handles the emotional rivalry for the first time.

[faunch]

That West Gym at Carleton is cursed for the Johnnies. I don't ever recall them playing well in that building.

[Smitty Oom]

That West Gym at Carleton is cursed for the Johnnies. I don't ever recall them playing well in that building.

Yes for sure. It is a very tough place to play for a lot of teams! It doesn't help that Carleton is always so well coached and disciplined on both ends of the court.

Under 5 minutes at the Shoe and we have a 1 point game.... gonna be a great ending!

Also the cobbs are up one on the knights in Moorhead! Good night for some MLK MIAC hoops!

[faunch]

That West Gym at Carleton is cursed for the Johnnies. I don't ever recall them playing well in that building.

Yes for sure. It is a very tough place to play for a lot of teams! It doesn't help that Carleton is always so well coached and disciplined on both ends of the court.

Under 5 minutes at the Shoe and we have a 1 point game.... gonna be a great ending!

Also the cobbs are up one on the knights in Moorhead! Good night for some MLK MIAC hoops!

And U$T has the refs in their pocket on this one... horrible!

[faunch]

Anderson Nelson pushes off all the time!!!

[faunch]

If the refs called even half of the fouls that U$T commits they would have to empty their bench!

[Smitty Oom]

What a fun game to watch and I am excited for the rematch in Collegeville! Thought SJU could have got a better look both at the end of the regulation and end of the game but what they had wasn't awful. I was surprised that Stokman didn't take either of the shots, and even more surprised Freshman guard Colton Coudete took the final shot in OT from the top of the key.

[miac952]

A tradition old as time, Faunchy complaining about refs after getting handed an L. SJ2. Never mind UST getting called for triple the fouls in the 1st half.