MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Cav-J]

SMU with the first win over Bethel in 8 years. Currently in the 5th spot.

[Kilroy]

Saint Mary's on the verge of an absolutely historic season. Fingers crossed, knocking on wood, etc. etc.

Something about following a program for a long time and watching so many depressing, demoralizing seasons makes this possibility absolutely tantalizing. Dear god, please.

[GoldandBlueBU]

Agreed - it is special to see a team that has been cannon fodder for so long become competitive!

RE: BU - not sure what Granger Kingland's status is - he's been out for a few weeks now, so it must be something relatively serious.  Bummer of a way to end your career. 

They're certainly a not on the SJU or even the UST level of competitiveness regardless, but without him, I don't think they have what it takes to even have a chance of keeping it competitive with them.

[Cav-J]

Heading into the last 2 weeks of the season..

Easiest Schedule:

Concordia    .291   [St. Olaf, Macalester, Hamline]
Carleton    .371   [SMU, St.Olaf, Hamline]
St. Olaf    .378   [Concordia, Carleton, UST, Macalester]
Augsburg    .400   [Hamline, Macalester, Bethel, GAC]
Hamline    .446   [Augsburg, SMU, Carleton, Concordia]
SMU    .474   [Carleton, Hamline, GAC, UST]

Macalester    .530    [SJU, Augsburg, Concordia, St. Olaf]
GAC    .526   [Bethel, SMU, Augsburg]
SJU    .625   [Macalester, UST, Bethel]
UST .   .662    [Bethel, SJU, St. Olaf, SMU]
Bethel    .773   [UST, GAC, Augsburg, SJU]

Hardest Schedule

February 6:

Easiest:

Carleton [.311]
Hamline [.387]
St. Olaf [.397]
Concordia [.426]
St. Thomas [.470]
Macalester [.500]
Augsburg [.525]
St. Mary's [.538]
Gustavus [.583]
St. John's [.650]
Bethel [.727]

Hardest

Cause I have infinity amount of time I calculated the winning percentage of each team's opponents the last games.

Easiest:

Carleton [.333]
Hamline [.411]
Concordia [.423]
St. Thomas [.471]
Augsburg [.490]
Macalester/St. Olaf [.500]
Gustavus [.535]
St. John's [.550]
St. Mary's [.558]
Bethel [.616]

Hardest

St. John's actual SoS isn't as bad as the flawed SoS with the broken home/away multiplier that the NCAA uses.  Massey ranks the Johnnies SoS 140th, and the NCAA has them at 266th.  The broken home/away multiplier punishes St. John's for playing Morris and Willamette on the road instead of at home.  If they played Morris and Willamette at home instead their NCAA SoS is easily over .500.   The Johnnies SoS will also get a nice boost towards the end of the season here since they're all done playing Concordia and Hamline.

[Cav-J]

Let's see if I can stimulate any conversation..

Standings Today:

1. SJU 17-0
2. UST 15-1
3. Augsburg 11-5
3. Bethel 11-5
5. SMU 8-8
6. GAC 8-9
7. St. Olaf 7-9
8. Carleton 6-11
9. Mac 4-12
10. Hamline 3-13
11. Concordia 0-17

Today's Predictions:

St. Olaf over Concordia [A frustrated SO should take it out on the Cobbers]
SJU over Macalester [Mac playing well but not SJU well]
Augsburg over Hamline [Probably closer than one would think. Hamline with a good win over SO last week]
SMU over Carleton [Closest game and hardest to predict. Going homer on this one]
UST over Bethel [Bethel is reeling. Not the game to get right. Hardest remaining schedule doesn't help the blu-gold either]

Thoughts?

Standings AFTER tonight

1. SJU 18-0
2. UST 16-1
3. Augsburg 12-5
4. Bethel 11-6
5. SMU 9-8
6. GAC 8-9
6. St. Olaf 8-9
8. Carleton 6-12
9. Mac 4-13
10. Hamline 3-14
11. Concordia 0-18

[Smitty Oom]

Huge game for SMU, this win would really help their playoff chances!

On the other side in this game, Carleton is usually fairly shallow but this year is crazy shallow, they have only played 6 guys the last couple games. Luckily they seem to have some stud freshman that will be able to carry more than their share of the load for Kallands squad in the next couple years.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

First Regional Rankings are out: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2020/02/men-regional-rankings-first

[jamtod]

Floated the idea of taking a trip up to Collegeville late Saturday morning for the game. We'll see how that shakes out.

[jamtod]

West Regional rankings present a serious to the transitive property, as St Thomas is ranked ahead of both SJU and Whitworth, the source of 2 losses. UST also beat Neb Wesleyan.
SJU's 1 loss is to NWU, but it was without Alade and SJU has a win over UST.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

West Regional rankings present a serious to the transitive property, as St Thomas is ranked ahead of both SJU and Whitworth, the source of 2 losses. UST also beat Neb Wesleyan.
SJU's 1 loss is to NWU, but it was without Alade and SJU has a win over UST.

They can't consider injuries in these.  What you've got is #1 beating #2 who beat #3.  Yes, #3 did beat #1, but the SOS difference is certainly enough to justify where they put them.  The vRRO, when it comes in next week, will serve as a good tiebreaker for some of these close decisions.

[jamtod]

West Regional rankings present a serious to the transitive property, as St Thomas is ranked ahead of both SJU and Whitworth, the source of 2 losses. UST also beat Neb Wesleyan.
SJU's 1 loss is to NWU, but it was without Alade and SJU has a win over UST.

They can't consider injuries in these.  What you've got is #1 beating #2 who beat #3.  Yes, #3 did beat #1, but the SOS difference is certainly enough to justify where they put them.  The vRRO, when it comes in next week, will serve as a good tiebreaker for some of these close decisions.

Aware of the injury bit for RR.
I'm looking at this more from the perspective that I fully expect SJU to handle UST again on Saturday, maybe by 10 or more again.
If not for the #2 vs #4 matchup and the possibility that a hot shooting UST can stay in it, I wouldn't feel too good about our chances Saturday.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

West Regional rankings present a serious to the transitive property, as St Thomas is ranked ahead of both SJU and Whitworth, the source of 2 losses. UST also beat Neb Wesleyan.
SJU's 1 loss is to NWU, but it was without Alade and SJU has a win over UST.

They can't consider injuries in these.  What you've got is #1 beating #2 who beat #3.  Yes, #3 did beat #1, but the SOS difference is certainly enough to justify where they put them.  The vRRO, when it comes in next week, will serve as a good tiebreaker for some of these close decisions.

Aware of the injury bit for RR.
I'm looking at this more from the perspective that I fully expect SJU to handle UST again on Saturday, maybe by 10 or more again.
If not for the #2 vs #4 matchup and the possibility that a hot shooting UST can stay in it, I wouldn't feel too good about our chances Saturday.

There's a lot of shake up in the next couple weeks.  These are still early.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

West Regional rankings present a serious to the transitive property, as St Thomas is ranked ahead of both SJU and Whitworth, the source of 2 losses. UST also beat Neb Wesleyan.
SJU's 1 loss is to NWU, but it was without Alade and SJU has a win over UST.

They can't consider injuries in these.  What you've got is #1 beating #2 who beat #3.  Yes, #3 did beat #1, but the SOS difference is certainly enough to justify where they put them.  The vRRO, when it comes in next week, will serve as a good tiebreaker for some of these close decisions.

Aware of the injury bit for RR.
I'm looking at this more from the perspective that I fully expect SJU to handle UST again on Saturday, maybe by 10 or more again.
If not for the #2 vs #4 matchup and the possibility that a hot shooting UST can stay in it, I wouldn't feel too good about our chances Saturday.

Being it is a rivalry game ... and one of the bigger ones in DIII ... I don't think anything should be "expected"

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

West Regional rankings present a serious to the transitive property, as St Thomas is ranked ahead of both SJU and Whitworth, the source of 2 losses. UST also beat Neb Wesleyan.
SJU's 1 loss is to NWU, but it was without Alade and SJU has a win over UST.

They can't consider injuries in these.  What you've got is #1 beating #2 who beat #3.  Yes, #3 did beat #1, but the SOS difference is certainly enough to justify where they put them.  The vRRO, when it comes in next week, will serve as a good tiebreaker for some of these close decisions.

Aware of the injury bit for RR.
I'm looking at this more from the perspective that I fully expect SJU to handle UST again on Saturday, maybe by 10 or more again.
If not for the #2 vs #4 matchup and the possibility that a hot shooting UST can stay in it, I wouldn't feel too good about our chances Saturday.

Being it is a rivalry game ... and one of the bigger ones in DIII ... I don't think anything should be "expected"

Not exactly true... having seen something north of 75 UST/SJU games, I know two things can be expected: (1) a good battle in an entertaining atmosphere; and (2) Expect the unexpected. Whether its 5'8" Sharon Storr dominating the center jumps vs 7' 2" Bob Rosier and leading the bottom-feeding Johnnies over the league champs, or the Tommies, on the heels of an embarrassing loss to an utterly putrid Augsburg squad (Griess' first year) shooting over 60% from the field & 3-point land to give Jim Smith the most lopsided loss to a non-D1 foe of his career,... the unexpected happens.

If the Toms shoot like that have been lately and play defense like they have been playing recently (D play was awful vs SJU first meet), I'm confident the Toms take home a win.

[Drake Palmer]

Well, with just over a 1.5 week to go, the MIAC is building up for its annual race to the regular season finish line, and playoffs.  At this point, it would seem a given that the top 2-3 teams will be SJU, UST, & Augsburg.  What will be fascinating is to see who the final three playoff teams will be.

Teams, current conference record, and my projected order of finish.

SJU (18-0): UST, - , @ BET  - 20-0/ 19-1
UST (16-1): @ SJU, @ STO, SMU – 18-2/ 19-1

AUG (12-5): @ MAC, BET, GAC – 15-5/14-6
BET (11-6): @ GAC, @ AUG, SJU - 12-8

SMU (9-8): HAM, @ GAC, UST – 11-9/10-10
STO (8-9): @ CARL, UST, MAC – 9-11

GAC (8-9): BET, SMU, @ AUG – 9-11

Random factoids or observations:

The last MIAC team to go undefeated in conference play was the 2008-2009 UST Tommies. Will SJU be able to pull off
the same feat this year?

Augsburg's Booker Coplin looks like he's rounding into post season form. Coach Griess had a great game plan for playing the Jays last Saturday and started 6-10 James Street along with 6-5 Carter Duncan to try to neutralize the Jays' size.

However, the Jays were just too big, & Zach Hanson was a man among boys. Alade did a great John Wick impersonation in the second half.  Ruthlessly efficient basketball. 😉

SJU's Zach Hanson & Jubie Alade are a formidable inside-outside punch. Throw in the threat of Lucas Walford, and you've got a scary good team.

UST – winning again with munchkins, mirrors, and talent. Another great coaching job by Coach Tauer and staff.

[b]Carleton'[/b]s lack of depth, and playing 3 FY & I SO in their top iron 6 has finally caught up with them as the long season begins to wind down.  A nice recruiting class next year and they should in the playoff mix. They've got a nice nucleus of talented, young players. Isaac Tessier needs to develop a consistent J for next year.
  Looks like Smitty already said this.   


Tough loss for the Bethel Royals to lose SR Granger Kinglund.  He could have helped in some of these close games the Royals have had. Like tonight against the Tommies.

Big props for the Redbirds. Fingers crossed, they should make the playoffs.  Shout out to Coach Joe Fano as well for developing these guys into a playoff caliber team.

STO has a very good shot at making the playoffs this year.

The Gusties are now on a season high five game losing streak.  They need to let go of that big rock they've been lugging around and get back to swimming if they plan on making the playoffs.