MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

St. Olaf is the worst road team in America, so don't get too excited.

That's entirely possible, but my perception of Bethel thusfar was that they were just terrible. Period. If they were going to win, I expected them to maybe eek out a win, not blow out Olaf by such a large margin.

It might actually be true.  I looked it up and St. Olaf, at four straight road losses, does have the longest road losing streak of any team with a record above .500.

[SagatagSam]

St. Olaf is the worst road team in America, so don't get too excited.

That's entirely possible, but my perception of Bethel thusfar was that they were just terrible. Period. If they were going to win, I expected them to maybe eek out a win, not blow out Olaf by such a large margin.

It might actually be true.  I looked it up and St. Olaf, at four straight road losses, does have the longest road losing streak of any team with a record above .500.

Perhaps St. Olaf is trending downward as the season progresses (or just everyone else is getting better and they are stagnant).

Either way, not a good look for the guys in Umm Ya Ya territory.

[txg]

As of tonight, St. Olaf is 6-0 against Massey top 100 teams, and 2-5 against the rest.  What a weird season.

[SagatagSam]

As of tonight, St. Olaf is 6-0 against Massey top 100 teams, and 2-5 against the rest.  What a weird season.

At high flying Carleton of all places! That gym should have been hopping. Unfortunately, the box score only reports 377 people in attendance.

[SagatagSam]

This weekend's games:

St. Mary's (T-6) at St. Scholastica (T-9). St. Mary's is hot right now, riding a four game win streak, including a win over then-conference leader St. John's on January 7. St. Scholastica, on the other hand, is on a six game skid. A win for the Cardinals would keep them in a tie for the final playoff spot.

Macalester (T-4) at Carleton (T-1). Carleton got stunned by St. Olaf at home and Macalester lost to Hamline on Wednesday night. Carleton needs the win to continue to control its own destiny for a regular season conference championship. Macalester needs the win here to stay away from the conference playoff cut line.

Bethel (11) at St. John's (T-1). The Johnnies lost its first conference game of 2023 at St. Mary's without top scorer Ryan Thissen, then rebounded with a gritty overtime win Wedensday night at home against Concordia without Thissen and another starter, Carson Schoeller. No word on whether Thissen or Schoeller will be back on Saturday. Bethel is coming off its biggest win of the season--both in terms of quality of opponent and margin of victory (24 points). The Royals will be coming into Collegeville with the most momentum they've had all season.

Concordia (8) at Hamline (T-4). Concordia is on a two game skid to start 2023 and needs to right the ship in order to keep the final playoff spot in sight. Meanwhile, Hamline has won its last two games, including a sizable defeat of Macalester by 16 points on Wednesday. Hamline needs the win to maintain its solid playoff status because a loss puts the Pipers at risk of falling into a potential three-way tie for the final playoff spot.

St. Olaf (T-6) at Augsburg (T-9). What St. Olaf team do we see in this one? It's been discussed here how they are terrible on the road. The Oles suffered a downright embarrassing loss at Bethel last Saturday, then came back and knocked off conference leader Carleton in the West Gym. It's been Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde lately, who we see on Saturday is anyone's guess. Augsburg's two conference wins have come against St. Scholastica (T-9) and Bethel (11).

Gustavus has the weekend off and returns to action Monday at Hamline.

[SagatagSam]

Here's how thing shook out over the weekend from a standings perspective:



It looks strange to have Macalester drop what looks like five spots in the standings, but in reality they only dropped two because they went from second place to a four-way tie for fourth. I think it will be another few weeks before we have this massive tie in the middle sorted out (hopefully).

[SagatagSam]

Monday night battle for the conference lead!

Carleton (T-1) travels to Saint John's (T-1) to decide who controls their own destiny for the foreseeable future in the regular season conference race. It's strength on strength as the Johnnies top ranked defense tries to slow down the Knights top ranked offense led by Jeremy Beckler (21.3 ppg, 2nd MIAC) and Luke Harris (17.5 ppg, 7th MIAC). Both teams have had recent stumbles--the Johnnies got tripped up at St. Mary's nine days ago, and the Knights got stunned at home by crosstown rival St. Olaf five days ago.

[carletonknights]

Monday night battle for the conference lead!

Carleton (T-1) travels to Saint John's (T-1) to decide who controls their own destiny for the foreseeable future in the regular season conference race. It's strength on strength as the Johnnies top ranked defense tries to slow down the Knights top ranked offense led by Jeremy Beckler (21.3 ppg, 2nd MIAC) and Luke Harris (17.5 ppg, 7th MIAC). Both teams have had recent stumbles--the Johnnies got tripped up at St. Mary's nine days ago, and the Knights got stunned at home by crosstown rival St. Olaf five days ago.

I think I'll tune in tonight for this one

[SagatagSam]

Monday night battle for the conference lead!

Carleton (T-1) travels to Saint John's (T-1) to decide who controls their own destiny for the foreseeable future in the regular season conference race. It's strength on strength as the Johnnies top ranked defense tries to slow down the Knights top ranked offense led by Jeremy Beckler (21.3 ppg, 2nd MIAC) and Luke Harris (17.5 ppg, 7th MIAC). Both teams have had recent stumbles--the Johnnies got tripped up at St. Mary's nine days ago, and the Knights got stunned at home by crosstown rival St. Olaf five days ago.

I think I'll tune in tonight for this one

Should be a good game and a solid atmosphere. It looks like they are promoting the game pretty hard to the students on campus. Hopefully, it will yield a nice turnout.

It's early enough in the semester that people can afford to push studying to another night, and there are no deadlines looming on term papers, exams, etc. right now.

[Retired Old Rat]

Attendance appears to be weak. Is J term still a thing?  Would explain low student turn out.

[bball1122]

2 and change left in Hutton Arena.  GAC up 1.  Bradley Cimperman with...45 for the Pipers!

[carletonknights]

That was a good game, I'm glad I tuned in. Beckler is good. I see now why his name keeps appearing on my Twitter feed. Those were some tough shots to hit over the 6'9" defender. I hope the Knights get revenge on St. Olaf later this month.

I saw Carleton was getting votes in the top 25 poll. Hope they can crack the next iteration.

[bball1122]

 Cimperman hits an impossible three with .5 left to give the Pipers the win!  51 points - one of the greatest individual performances I can recall.

[SagatagSam]

Attendance appears to be weak. Is J term still a thing?  Would explain low student turn out.

No J-Term, but the first day of class of the new semester starts today. That seems very late. Students were all back last night.

Attendance last night was super disappointing (722). Hardly any energy in the building for what could likely be the most important home game of the season.

[SagatagSam]

I saw Carleton was getting votes in the top 25 poll. Hope they can crack the next iteration.

Carleton looked like the real deal on Monday night. Beckler owned that game.

I saw they were getting votes, too, and that poll was released before the SJU game. However, I will say, it is difficult to claw your way into the top 25. Carleton's overall record at 13-2 passes the eye test to get consideration for votes. Eventually, especially later in the season, it becomes a question of quality of wins as well. I think the MIAC has more opportunities for quality wins as opposed to some other conferences, but a bad loss can bring you down real quick.

While I didn't like seeing SJU lose to Carleton, I always want to have as many MIAC schools in the national conversation as possible. It's better for the conference as a whole.

Best of luck over the next six games before we meet again in the West Gym.