MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

OAS - Had you not been so busy writing that terrible d3football.com preview and ignoring these boards, you may have picked up on the Keating story. I believe he's actually a D1 transfer and came back to play with some buddies at UST. I'm not sure if there's any more to it than that.

No, St. Michaer's in VT is DII... but the bottom line is Keating wasn't happy there, felt he'd be happier back home...not an uncommon story

[pacific rim]

concordia vs. gustavus:

who is the more likely match-up: phil sowden-luke linz, or trevor wittwer luke linz?  i get the feeling that sowden is a very aggressive and physical, though not incredibly sound technically defender.  His strength may serve him well against linz, but wittwer's length and agility may be more appropriate.

gac zealots, i await your replies.

[piperinsider]

WW-
What's the fastest way to St. Pete? I might come down next Wednesday. Especially if OAS is coming. Don't take the shortcut Adam.

Here's the stats of the day:
Girl's H.S. Basketball (sorry)
BOLD 22-52 free throw; 25-93 fgs, 67 total fouls, 4OT loss 78-77
30 missed free throws.

[columbianmaffia]

zanka...i mean funball ya dead "coolrunnings quote for those who dont get it"

i hope he didnt have a heart attack

[Drake Palmer]

Phew!  Glad I could post this before I felt the wrath of "Mr. P. Coleman"  (thanks Greg)

It's time for me to "man up" & admit I was wrong.  The correct number of teams that are eligible to play in the 06 NCAA touney is 59.  I did a little researching this morning & came up with this little reference gem for those who are inclined to use such items - Greg, Ferris, anyone?  As for me, I'll just rely on Mr. Sager's vast wealth of knowledge.  

Greg, since you seem to have a relationship with Mr. Coleman you might want to mention to him that he needs to update his "FAQ" so we won't wander too far astray.
 

NCAA D3 Basketball Handbook


P.S. For some reason, I couldn't get the link to format in the D3hoops format settings.  Hope the 2nd link works.


http://www.ncaa.org/library/handbooks/basketball/2006/2006_d3_m_basketball_handbook.pdf

[onearmedscot]

I know, I know, this is the Men's board but I pulled up the MAC Women's boxscore against Simpson from last night.  Yow!

They made Bethel's shooting performance on Wednesday look sweet!!

We'll see if Wednesday works.  Definitely never taking a shortcut to St. Peter ever again!

OneArmedScot

[kel_varnsen]

As long as Gustavus is in the conference, everybody else might as well play for the at-large berth.

[Willy Wonka]

Pac Rim - I don't know what Linz's game is all about (I saw the Cobbs play in an early game last year and am not even sure if Linz was playing yet), but - since Sowden starts and Wittwer doesn't - I would guess Philly will get the first crack at him. He guarded BVT as a frosh and is more than capable, so I'm not real worried about that. Wittwer can give anyone trouble with his length and jumping ability, but I know next to nothing about his position defense.

Hollerich vs. Eckhoff will be the matchup to watch.

Kel - Easy buddy. GAC may be undefeated and rated higher, but UST remains the team to beat thus far.

PI - I don't know if it's the fastest, but I always went 212 towards Glencoe and then went south to New Auburn and Gaylord on 22. After following the signs through Gaylord, you've gotta take a left about 10 miles out to stay with 22 and come in through the backside of St. Peter. Or you could always go south on 15 and then go through Lafayette and say hi to my aunt and uncle on the way over

[Russian Mig AK47]

Greg -- Your original retort, back on Nov. 20th, was in response to my comments on the UST/STOUT game and its overall purpose.  I was not attempting to downplay the significance of the matchup vs. Stout.  In fact, my initial gripe was that they lost the game because Fritz only played 6, with 3 of them playing 40+ minutes in the first game of the season.  My argument that non-conference games should be used to explore your bench was subordinate to that, but still present in my original Nov. 20th post.  That point was an integral part to explaining additionally why Fritz should have played more guys. Your ultimate goal is always to win the game, and I wasn't implying that they should recklassly play bench players in order to gain experience and sacrafice a chance to win the game or that Stout was not an important game to win.  Simply they would have had a better chance to win an important game by using their depth, resting their big guns, and at the very least gaining valuable experience for the players that will have to chip in for them to succeed..

The national scene taking care of itself is a paraphrased quote directly from Fritz.  He may say that to his players and the public because it is the PC thing to say, but I believe it holds true.  Doing well in conference play is not a relative phrase.  If you don't do well you won't finish near the top of the conference and you won't get an AL bid.  20 games or so are played in-conference and it is going to make up the majority of your overall record.  I understand that you were not trying to downplay conference play, and believe it to be 'paramount,' but even teams that get big regional non-conference wins have to finish near the top of the conference in order to make the national tournament.  Thus, taking care of business in conference allows the national scene to take care of itself.  However, I will acknowledge that regional games are a very important factor for AL bids, and above that momentum and how you finsih the season are equally as important.  In 2003, we won the conference and the regional games but lost to Gustavus by about 26 in the MIAC tournament championship and did not make the national tournament.  I do agree that the Stout game was very important, and if UST doesn't win the conference or conference tournament it will likely be the ultimate factor in excluding them from the national tournament.

Pipes -- I don't think I can make it to the game, I'll have to catch the rematch on Jan. 25th with you.

Columbianmaffia -- Those pictures are ridiculously outrageous, thank you!

[piperinsider]

OAS-
That was definitely one of my favorite OneArmed moments. You were so mad, you steamed up the windows. We even had a few minutes to spare to catch a bevie at Patty's!

Looking at buying a house sometime soon in the Cities, I think I still has TDT or Big Red's card.

[gustiesoaps]

PI~

Where are you coming from to get to St. pete?

Seeing the look on your face and OAS's was classic when you guys took that "short" cut!  One of the greatest D3hoops pre-game meetings ever!!!!!

[TommieHoops4Life]

Mig,

Basketball is the one sport at UST I was never WASTED for. I actually prefer to remember the events I attend, so other than a few football games where everyone was inebriated, I was always sober at the basketball games.

Is anyone making the trip to "The Cage" tomorrow for UST/Mac? I'll probably make the trip after I get done laying out my paper tonight. Also, who all is making the trip to St. Peter next week? Wednesday is probably the one day I can leave work early to make it on time for that matchup.

[Gregory Sager]

And the award for "Longest  reply to several quoted comments"  goes to...Gregory Sager!

I'd like to thank the members of the Academy, and all of the people who made this possible ....

Greg, since you seem to have a relationship with Mr. Coleman you might want to mention to him that he needs to update his "FAQ" so we won't wander too far astray.

My relationship with Pat is the same as all the other Posting Up regulars (Scottie from Monmouth excluded): Sycophantic toadying. 

Thanks for the link to the new handbook, Drake. I'm putting it in my bookmark file forthwith.

[Willy Wonka]

Soaps - He's coming from the Corn Capital of the World! Duh. It's a great place.

Gregory - Thanks for the info. We can get the nerd chant going at someone I'm sure. The Red Men are apparently withholding posting their players mugs until the new year so we can't get an advance scouting report like they did for Derek Nelson. You remember their crowd all having those printed off, OAS? Crazy.

PS - Can't you just call me Willy like everyone else?

[Gregory Sager]

Greg -- Your original retort, back on Nov. 20th, was in response to my comments on the UST/STOUT game and its overall purpose.

Not true. Not true at all, Russian Mig. You need to go back and reread our initial discussion, because it appears that you're conflating our discussion with one that you had with somebody else.

My original retort (post #627) was a manifestation of my compulsive tendency to correct anyone who refers to a non-conference regular-season game as "preseason". That's what you had done in post #616, dismissing the UST/UWS game as "preseason" and not a "real game". I corrected you, and you admitted the error in post #624, with the addendum, "I meant to say 'pre-conference season', since that is what teams play for -- conference play. The national scene will take care of itself." My second retort (post #632) disagreed strongly with this, on the grounds that the game was a West Region contest and thus had an intrinsic importance separate from a simple regular-season game due to the fact that it'll figure into the calculations of the D3 selection committee when the NCAA tournament field is chosen and seeded.

Nowhere in our discussion did the subject of Fritz's short bench in that game, or the necessity for a team to "explore the bench and prepare for conference play" in a non-conference game come up. As I said, you're mixing up the discussion you had with me with the discussion about the game's particulars that was carried on by other people in this room.

You can go on all you like about how many players Fritz should've used in that game. I have no opinion to offer in that discussion. I don't know St. Thomas's personnel, nor do I know anything about Fritz's coaching style. Every team, and every coach, is different.

On a different matter, "doing well in conference play" is a relative term, because the word "well" has an indefinite meaning. How high up the ladder do you have to finish to be defined as "doing well"? Fourth place? Third? First? And the basic premise that "the national scene will take care of itself" is in error as well. Only one team from the MIAC is guaranteed to be in the NCAAs this season, and that's the winner of the conference tournament. Any other team that aspires to play in March is going to have to make their case based upon the resume that they built up in the West Region -- not the resume that they built up in the MIAC. Yes, the MIAC double round-robin and conference tournament would account for 22 or 23 of the 25 or 26 West Region games that would be pertinent to a St. Thomas candidacy for a Pool C bid next March. Nevertheless, in the metaphorical smoke-filled room on Selection Monday, it'll be the regional games that matter, not the conference games per se.

Plus, there's the simple matter of having your fate in your own hands. Win games like the UW-Stout game, and the Tommies are in a commanding position on Selection Monday. Lose them, and you may find yourself at the mercy of what, say, Hampden-Sydney or Amherst or Sul Ross State does on the final weekend before the bids are handed out.

Gregory - Thanks for the info. We can get the nerd chant going at someone I'm sure.

Oh, yeah. The "nerd" chant. 

PS - Can't you just call me Willy like everyone else?

Sure, if you insist. But only if Kel Varnsen changes his name to "Oompa Loompa".