MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[jamtod]

What is the tie breaker to determine which is the higher seed for the playoffs?

The conference removed the point differential tiebreaker to discourage running up the score. In an instance where you have two teams who have split against each other and have beaten everyone else, it will come down to a coin flip.

Point differential in H2H, point differential against 3rd seed, what coach shot a higher FG% in college... anything but a coin flip!!

How was McKenzie's college career?

I did a little research and found that he had an impressive career, a lot of assists, but couldn't find a stat line.

[Cav-J]

With that said, at least one of SJU or UST will most likely be hosting for the first weekend, which makes me so happy! Selfishly I would like to see them at UST since that is just a couple miles from my current residence, but I have made the trip up to Collegeville for NCAA games before!

Maybe they'll both host if the Central region teams beat each other up enough.

It's very unlikely both with host - unless NWU loses in the conference tourney and St Johns wins the MIAC.  I don't see the Johnnies jumping to a Top 2 position without it, and geography does not play in St. John's favor.  I could always be wrong - the odd schedule this year is going to mess with bracketing quite a bit.  Very difficult to predict at this juncture.

How jumbled would this all get if a third team won the MIAC tournament..

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

St John's isn't a 100% Pool C lock with that SOS.  I think a three loss St. John's gets in, but it's not a shoe-in situation.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Week 2's Regional Rankings are out: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2020/02/men-regional-rankings-second

[bball1122]

Some big games tonight as we begin the final week of the regular season.

UST travels to STO in a massive game for both teams.  For the Tommies, they pulled even with the Johnnies on Saturday, but a slip up here would almost certainly result in a second place finish, lost homecourt in the final, and a semifinal matchup with an Augsburg team that has knocked them off a few times in the last couple of years.  For the Oles, a win would go a long way to securing a playoff spot.  A loss doesn't necessarily eliminate them, but it would hurt.

Bethel heads to Augsburg in a key matchup for the #3 seed.  A win by the Auggies secures the three spot while a Bethel win pushes this to the last game, where Bethel plays at SJU in a must win-game for the Johnnies.  Not a game I would want to need to win.

Hamline travels to Carleton.  For the Knights, it is their last regular season game.  To keep any hope alive, they need a win over the Pipers and losses by both Gustavus and St. Olaf.

Finally, SMU heads to Gustavus.  It's the biggest game SMU has played in years? Decades?   A win and they're in, and they can head to UST on Saturday seeking only a moral victory.  A loss means they need to beat the Tommies in a must win game for UST.  I'd put the odds of them winning that one at about .00001%.    For the Gusties, they need to stop their freefall.   Losers of six straight, a win gives them a shot at the playoffs.  A loss means needing to beat Augsburg at Augsburg Saturday while needing some help.    I'm excited to tune into this one - a huge test for Coach Fano and his team.   

[jamtod]

Oles keeping it close in Northfield against UST tonight. 56-55 UST with 10 to go.

Camerawork and PBP much improved over Saturday's experience.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Looks like I will be the first to congratulate  SMU on ending a 35 year drought and nail down the 5th seed in the upcoming MIAC Playoffs!  That is the only position locked down... UST and SJU have wrapped up the top two berths but the order of their finish is undetermined.  Same is true for 3/4 Augsburg/Bethel. A Bethel win over SJU on Saturday would give the Royals the 3 seed regardless of Augsburg's result vs. Gustavus. A BU win coupled with a UST win  over SMU would give the Tommies the outright title. All St Olaf has to do is beat Mac to secure the 6th seed. if they falter, things get complicated fast  but I think if Olaf AND GAc both lose, Carleton slips in as the 6th seed. Saturday should be a wild fun day for all.

[GoldandBlueBU]

Congratulations indeed to SMU!  I recall that Cav-J made the prediction after last year that they would make the playoffs this year...well done!

Glad to see Granger Kingland back on the court for BU.  Happy for him that he'll get to close out his career on the floor, and not injured on the sideline.

[Cav-J]

Made my way to St. Peter last night to watch this game. Such a fun game to watch. Neither team played super well but decent student section for GAC and both teams played hard knowing what was at stake.

Never really felt like GAC was going to pull this one out. GAC looked pretty tight and a bit robotic. SMU was active and scrappy. GAC went up 0-2 but never lead afterwards. Made it a bit closer than the game really was with 3, 3 pointers in the last 2 minutes but Cave hit a huge And-1 with less than :30 seconds and he and Chilson nailed 4 more free throws to ice things.

Congrats to coach Fano, coach Brown and SMU players. So fun for them, SMU MBB alum, and the school.

Pretty good for the MIAC as well.

Good luck Tuesday boys!

Looks like I will be the first to congratulate  SMU on ending a 35 year drought and nail down the 5th seed in the upcoming MIAC Playoffs!  That is the only position locked down... UST and SJU have wrapped up the top two berths but the order of their finish is undetermined.  Same is true for 3/4 Augsburg/Bethel. A Bethel win over SJU on Saturday would give the Royals the 3 seed regardless of Augsburg's result vs. Gustavus. A BU win coupled with a UST win  over SMU would give the Tommies the outright title. All St Olaf has to do is beat Mac to secure the 6th seed. if they falter, things get complicated fast  but I think if Olaf AND GAc both lose, Carleton slips in as the 6th seed. Saturday should be a wild fun day for all.

[Cav-J]

Congratulations indeed to SMU!  I recall that Cav-J made the prediction after last year that they would make the playoffs this year...well done!

Glad to see Granger Kingland back on the court for BU.  Happy for him that he'll get to close out his career on the floor, and not injured on the sideline.

Half wishful thinking half watching them develop last season. Funny because they still won only 4 conference games and finished last..

And agreed, very good to see all of the seniors being able to finish their season..

[GoldandBlueBU]

Congratulations indeed to SMU!  I recall that Cav-J made the prediction after last year that they would make the playoffs this year...well done!

Glad to see Granger Kingland back on the court for BU.  Happy for him that he'll get to close out his career on the floor, and not injured on the sideline.

Half wishful thinking half watching them develop last season. Funny because they still won only 4 conference games and finished last..

And agreed, very good to see all of the seniors being able to finish their season..

Yes - I remember thinking that was nuts when I first read your prediction because I was familiar with their W/L record, which as noted was terrible, but when I looked at how many close games they had, it didn't seem so out of line...

How exciting for those guys to join a program with a history of nothing but being bad for as long as they'd been alive to see it come to this!

[bball1122]

Kudos to the Cards.  It is hard to win in Winona. 

Not to toot my own horn, but I said the same thing about them last February.

I'll weigh in:  I think the top two teams this year are better than the top 2 last year.   I think the bottom two teams this year are better than the bottom two last year (though that's a low bar.  SMU and MAC were historically bad last year).  I think teams 3 and 4 are about the same.    And I think teams 5 through 9 are significantly worse this year than last.    All in all, I think the league is slightly down from last season.   

Tonight's slate of games is full of intrigue.  Of course Tommie/Johnnie is huge, but it may be much more important for the Johnnies than the Tommies.  A win for SJU catapults them off the bubble, in my humble opinion.

Concordia/Carleton, St. Olaf/Hamline, and Bethel/Gustavus all hold implications for the last spot.  A Concordia loss or a Hamline win eliminates the Cobbers from the playoff chase.    A Hamline win combined with a Gustavus loss puts the Pipers in the playoffs.   If both Hamline and Gustavus lose with a Cobber win, we have a really fun final Saturday shaping up.   

Augsburg needs to take care of business against MAC (which they barely did last time) to keep their push for the third seed alive.    Hopefully Coach Griess' squad isn't resting on their exciting win at Schoenecker last Saturday.

Final thought - barring significant attrition, Saint Mary's will be a playoff team next year.

It was pretty clear at the time they had the pieces to make a jump. Cave, Rosner, Anthony-Bello, Gleason, Freetly, and Chilson were solid returners, and Coach Fano brought in two solid juco guards (Martin and Pickford) and then a gem of a freshman in Raheem Anthony.  Those additions were what they needed to get to the next level.  I'll say it again - barring significant attrition this off-season, the Cards will be repeat playoff qualifiers next year.  They lose only Gleason from the rotation.

Tommies survive a scare, Bethel with a huge win, Carleton keeps hope alive, and Mac sends Concordia one step closer to a winless conference season.   Excited for the playoffs to begin!

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

If my calculations are right-- a Bethel win over SJU gives the Royals the 3-seed and UST the top seed regardless of its outcome vs. SMU. A BU loss, coupled with an Augsburg win means Auggie is the 3 and Bethel is the 4. If both Augs & BU lose, Augsburg is the 3 seed by virtue of their sweeping SMU vs BU's split with the Cardinals.

[Cav-J]

From the MIAC website.. [2020 MIAC Men's Basketball Playoff Scenarios]

https://www.miacathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2019-20/releases/20200220eib43x

If my calculations are right-- a Bethel win over SJU gives the Royals the 3-seed and UST the top seed regardless of its outcome vs. SMU. A BU loss, coupled with an Augsburg win means Auggie is the 3 and Bethel is the 4. If both Augs & BU lose, Augsburg is the 3 seed by virtue of their sweeping SMU vs BU's split with the Cardinals.

[GoldandBlueBU]

Stumbled across an interesting read.

https://www.si.com/college/2020/02/20/eric-demers-gordon-ncaa-leading-scorer