MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[faunch]

Flop anyone?
https://twitter.com/nickledicklebb/status/1216211600639774720?s=21

[Smitty Oom]

Plombon played 9 minutes off the bench, 2-6 shooting for 4 points and a rebound. Will be interesting to see how much of a role he plays himself into this year. Will be tough to take Walford off the floor, he has been so impressive this year. Definitely gives them some more flexibility going forward, you definitely cannot have too many athletic big men.

[Gregory Sager]

Flop anyone?

https://twitter.com/nickledicklebb/status/1216211600639774720?s=21

I hope that the refs gave him a warning for that. Flopping is a new point of emphasis; like delay of game, the first time that the refs call you on it, you get a warning. The second time, you get a T.

[faunch]

Flop anyone?

https://twitter.com/nickledicklebb/status/1216211600639774720?s=21

I hope that the refs gave him a warning for that. Flopping is a new point of emphasis; like delay of game, the first time that the refs call you on it, you get a warning. The second time, you get a T.

Nope....the guard from Edina was given a warning in the first half for a flop...and then proceeded to complain about the transgression.

I'm also getting tired of shooters "drawing" contact and kicking out on shots. I think they altered the rule on that too. I wish refs would just call an offensive foul...that would put an end to the drama pretty quick.

[sjujohnnie]

Was fun to see St John's dominate St Thomas on the road! Is the basketball poll released on Sundays like the football poll was?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Was fun to see St John's dominate St Thomas on the road! Is the basketball poll released on Sundays like the football poll was?

Poll is on games thru Sunday - so does not come out until Monday early evening.

[Smitty Oom]

My guess is that Swat stays one and Witt remains at 2. I think Emory will stay above SJU but 4 is where they will settle in. The eagles from Georgia have a Better SOS to date and both lost to a top 25 team (for now anyways, Guilford May fall Out after a couple losses this week). It should be considered too, that Jubie was out for the early season game against NWU. Hopefully SJU Holds serve for The remainder of the season, as their vRRO and SOS may not be able to hold a good to great winning percentage come section time, they'll need an excellent winning percentage.

[Drake Palmer]

MIAC Standings: conference record followed by overall record

Gustavus (5-3) travels to Arden Hills to play Bethel (5-2).  The Gusties seem to have found gold on their bench in the form of seldom used Jr. sharpshooter Kaleb Freahn.  Freahn played in all of two games during the 2018-2019 season and didn't make an appearance this season in a game until the Gusties trip out west over the holidays.  Coming off the bench, Freahn has led or tied the Gusties in scoring in 4 out of five games since December 29 and is averaging 18.2ppg.  Anybody know anything about this kid?

Faehn is from Waseca and originally committed to NAIA Briar Cliff out of high school (went by Kaleb Nelson at the time).   Not sure if he ever played there.  Very good scorer,  maybe not so great defensively.   At this point, the offense must be outweighing the defense for the Gusties as he's been very effective for them.

Thanks BB1122.  I did some additional research myself and found out the same thing.  Looks like we both misspelled his last name.  Seems it's Feahn.  Not Freahn, or Faehn.

Figures, we'd discuss him and he was basically a non factor in the Gustie game on Saturday. Feahn & the Gusties came up just short in their game against the Royals 73-69.

[Drake Palmer]

Plombon played 9 minutes off the bench, 2-6 shooting for 4 points and a rebound. Will be interesting to see how much of a role he plays himself into this year. Will be tough to take Walford off the floor, he has been so impressive this year. Definitely gives them some more flexibility going forward, you definitely cannot have too many athletic big men.

Smitty, you're absolutely right about not having too many athletic bigs.  When the Tommies split the season series with the Johnnies last year, they basically neutralized SJU's size advantage with Connor Bair and to a certain extent, GT Johnson.  In the 74-72 OT win by UST over SJU in 2019, the rebounding edge was basically a push with the Jays pulling down 39 rebs to the Tommies' 36 rebs.  In the rematch up in Collegeville, the Jays ran away with the game and won 94-75 and nearly doubled them in the rebounding department, 36 rebs to 19 rebs.

In the first meeting of the season this year, the Jays bullied the Tommies on the boards 35 to 23 rebs and walked away with a very decisive 87-70 victory. Jays also dominated the smaller Tommies in the lane 60 – 34 pts. Yowch!

It seems a bit telling that none of the FY or underclass bigs from UST have yet to see significant playing time during conference play this season, while SJU looks like they've got another potential stud post in the making with Mitchell Plombon, and others.  Plus, it appears Plombon is a lefty like Lucas Walford which is a real nice advantage to have in the paint.

UST seems to have committed to spacing the floor and finding one of their open hot sharpshooters, while the Jays are taking the more conventional inside-out approach.  Tommies lead the conference in most 3 pt attempts with 359 and are knocking them down at a 38% clip.  The Jays have taken a more conservative approach to shooting the trey as they have taken just 262 shots on the year while averaging 38.9% on their triples. We'll have to see how the rest of the season unfolds to determine which approach will be the most successful this year. 

[faunch]

Jays shot 65.5% from the field...Tom$ shot a respectable 44.8%.
Jays were 46.2% from the 3 point strip...Tom$ we're 30.8%. U$T didn't get good many good looks.

St. Mary's worries me a little bit on Wednesday...hope the Jays don't have a letdown following a big win.

[Drake Palmer]

MIAC Standings – Wednesday January 15, 2020. Conference record followed by overall record

SJU: 8-0, 12-1
UST: 7-1, 11-2

AUG: 6-2, 10-3
BET: 6-2, 9-4

GAC: 5-4, 5-9
SMU: 4-4, 7-6

CARL: 4-5, 7-7
STO: 3-5, 6-7

MAC: 2-6, 5-8

CORD: 0-8, 2-11
HAM: 0-8, 2-11

Tonight's games:

GAC @ CORD (Gusties lose credibility if they lose this game to the desperate Cobbs)
HAM @ MAC (can the Pipers break through?)

SMU @ SJU (hmm, Jays by 15+?)
BET @ STO (this should be a good game)

UST @ CARL (sleeper choice of the night, Carleton biggs are good and athletic.)

[GoldandBlueBU]

Nice article in the Strib on Freddie Gillespie.

http://www.startribune.com/surprise-surprise-freddie-gillespie-s-leap-from-low-level-hoops-to-final-four-dreams/567063212/

I admittedly scoffed when I heard that he was going to Baylor, and didn't think that he was of that caliber, and just figured they must've been desperate for some size.  While that might have been the case, things clearly worked out well for both parties.  Going from two years in the MIAC to being a starter on a solid Big 12 team has to be a first, right?

Good for him.

[tomt4525]

St John's received a huge commitment from Eastview's 6'5" G/F, Ryan Thissen, this weekend.  He received plenty of D2 interest and I believe some offers before narrowing his list to St John's and St Thomas.  Good time to be a Johnnie fan.

[GoldandBlueBU]

Wow, good times indeed.  Success begets success. I thought (hoped!) that they would have a bit of a slowdown with Stokman graduating, but it seems like the opposite is true, if anything!

I wonder how (or if at all?) recruiting for sports differs while UST is in divisional limbo (purgatory?).

[faunch]

St John's received a huge commitment from Eastview's 6'5" G/F, Ryan Thissen, this weekend.  He received plenty of D2 interest and I believe some offers before narrowing his list to St John's and St Thomas.  Good time to be a Johnnie fan.

I watched some of his Hudl reel...looks like a kid that will play right away. Will be nice having him and Mitchell Plombom together for 3 years.