MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[gustiesoaps]

did the gusties pull one out of the Wisconsin Badger playbook?  Up HUGE early on, and end up winning only by 10?  I haven't seen the box score, but jumping out to an early lead like that I would have hoped for the Gusties to have a larger lead then 10 at the final horn.   

[localcoach]

Looking at the results/box scores from last night's games, there were no real major surprises. 

In what some posters dubbed "the game of the night," Saint Mary's defeated Hamline by eight points.  The first obvious comment I had when looking at the box score was the fact that Kyle Foster's name was absent for the Pipers.  I don't know why that would be.  Is he injured?  Does anyone know? 

Some other comments:

St. Thomas has now won their past three games by a total of 90 points.  Looks like they were a little upset after Augsburg got them.

As gustiesoaps mentioned, his team inched past the Oles last night.  I ask again, does anyone know what has happened in St. Peter? All of a sudden the Gusties actually look vulnerable.

A good win for Concordia.  Mark Dixon scores 20 points off the bench in only 24 minutes played.  How about Mr. Linz going 4 of 11 from the free-throw line.   

St. John's wins their first game of the new year, although Macalester made them fight for it.  10 for 22 as a team (Mr. Ohme was 4 of 10) from the free-throw line usually doesn't cut it when the score is this close.  Mr. Schafer with a productive 19 points and 10 rebounds. 

[BETHEL34]

BChoops...I was able to attend the BU/UST game last night. 

We came out of the gates playing well getting off to a 8-2 lead.  Then UST made a little run and we stayed within 3 until the 10 min mark.  Then same ole same ole, not smart coaching in my book.  Charlie is keeping us close.  In the first ten mins already has a couple big blocks, and playing good on offense.  Making some shots getting people open and just by far our best player on the court in the first ten mins.  He really was the reason why we were only down 3 at the time.  Then he picks up his 2nd foul with 10 mins left to play.  The score is 20-23 STU.  Jones is sitting next to me, and we looked at eachother and were like, welp, he's done for the half.  Then sure enough, coach takes him out for the rest of the half and  St Thomas goes on a 15-2 run to finish the Half.  Just like that we are down 16 going into the locker room.   I say play him until he has four fouls if it will keep us in the game.  Better to have a chance and be in the game AT St Thomas then sit him down because that is your system and then have to try dig your way out of a 16 pt hole.   We made a early second half run to cut it to 9, stromy had a pretty sick and one dunk.  Then Shnetler goes off and drains like 5 threes.  He is a great shooter, but let's be honest.  For some reason, BU was just letting him get wide open.  He was getting so open it was almost comical.  How hard is to just not help off the best three point shooter in the miac.  Do you see Tyson getting those type of looks, no because coaches know to not help off of him.   Even if your coach doesn't talk about not helping off someone, sometimes as a player you have to take things into your own hands.  

Overall, Tommies are very good, so many threats.  I can see why Keating is not putting up the numbers everyone thought he would this yr.  The whole offense revolves around Sweeny, Rosefelt, and Shnetler putting up any sort of shot he can get off.  Keating never gets a chance.  He made a couple nice shots, but you can just tell that Frits isn't telling him or looking for him to be a scorer.  And last night, St thomas played great D.  Bethel's shooting woe's was because of the Tommies D.  Maybe 5 open looks the whole night for Bethel.  There was always a hand up altering the shot in some way.  

[miacwatchmen]

I agree with sumander about the Johnnies not seeming hungry.I remember a few times during the first half of the game when there was a loose ball and a Scot would run after it and the Johnnies would all stand around a watch. In the second half they seemed to play with a little urgency and they managed to get a lead.  I think if the Johnnies get the ball inside to the Schafers and then kick it out to shoot threes they would be alot better off.  They seem to play alot better basketball when they get it inside and dont just settle for a long three right away.  Ohme,Leiser,and Westman are all great shooters but they are better when they have time to shoot and by passing it inside and kicking it out they all shoot better.

[BETHEL34]

oh yeah, Chuck finished with Two Fouls!  Go Figure!

[Drake Palmer]

Gustiesoaps - it's interesting that you mention the margin of victory & how a final game score can be a bit deceiving.  I also noticed when I looked at the boxscore that the Gusties were up by 21 points at one point during the first half.

It seems the Gusties win over the Oles was along the same lines of what Sumander saw from his Johnnies up in Collegeville.  Apparently, both the Johnnies & Gusties needed to have a greater sense of urgency in winning the game, & separating themselves from their respective opponents.  Sumander – I can tell you if the Johnnies were bothered by the Mac press, they're going to be real bothered by Hamline's press on Saturday. 

Racing out to huge leads must have been the basketball gods' request last night as the same thing happened in Moorhead, at Schoenecker arena, & in Winona.

At one point, SMU was up by 17 points on the Pipers in the 2nd half before Hamline came roaring back.  Yet, according to the SMU game announcers, it wasn't so much a case of the Cards playing bad, but Hamline making some tough shots to scramble back into the game.

You could tell the SMU student game announcers were really stoked by the win last night & I can't say that I blame them.  After so many years of being the absolute bottom feeders of the league they've got to be the feel good story of the year.  If the SMU basketball team has the same attitude as their announcers, the game with UST on Saturday could be a doozy.  The announcers were both marveling over the fact how SMU is all alone in 2nd place & just one game back of 1st place UST, with a chance to gain a share of first on Saturday.  I like the attitude, although I don't know if they'll walk out of UST with a W.  Good upps Redbirds!

[sumander]

I can tell you if the Johnnies were bothered by the Mac press, they're going to be real bothered by Hamline's press on Saturday. 

Drake, Does Ham typically press the whole game?

[MWCSID2005]

The Midwest Conference will webcast four contests with live audio and video free of charge on Friday, January 13.

The matchups feature Grinnell College at Lawrence University and Lake Forest College at Ripon College. The women's contests tip-off at 5:30 p.m. with the men's contests to follow at 7:30 p.m. Links to the webcast are available at www.midwestconference.org and on the athletic websites of each participating institution.

The release linked below gives more information on the webcast, as well as previews for each contest.

http://www.midwestconference.org/wbasketball/WebStreamJan12.pdf

[piperinsider]

(Get your flu shots. I've been in bed or on the couch for three straight days. Wow, that was a bad case of the flu.)

In the games I've seen the Pipers play this year(4 or 5), they have run very little press. Last year, they ran it nearly every made basket, but I think Wohler has definitely scaled it back.

Word out of Hamline is that Kyle Foster turned an ankle in practice on Tuesday and is day-to-day. For as much guff that Foster gets, and rightfully so, he does make an impact for the Pipers. He is their top rebounder and only threat in the post. Having a presence inside givews shooters like Thrasher and DeRock better looks outside.

You have to be impressed with SMU right now. 5-2 in conference. The next two games should tell us a bit more though, with them playing UST and CAR.

HAM plays SJU, BET and CON so finish the turn. They could easily be 7-3 or 4-6. These next three games should give us a clearer picture on whether the Pipers are a playoff team.

[Drake Palmer]

Sumander & Bethel34 – nice posts.  You guys ought to post more often.

B34 – on a couple of different levels, I think you were absolutely money with a couple of your comments with regard to Bethel & UST.  As much as it may appear I'm a Tommy booster, I'm not.  I'm a MIAC D3 ball fan or should I say "MiACwatchmen."  (Hmm, mebbe I should change my screen name  ) What I really want to see is the strongest team possible come out of the MIAC to rep the league once post season play begins.

This year, "appears" to be the year of the Tommy.  However, with 12 regular season games to go & the league tourney, anything is possible.  But in order for UST to make a decent post season run, I think there are a couple of things UST needs to do to become a better team.  One of my "nits" & potential fatal flaws about this year's version of the Tommies is their over reliance on the "home run" either from Rosefelt on the inside, or Schnettler & to a lesser extent Sweeney from the wing.  Last night it was Schnettler's' turn to hit the home run & he was more than glad to oblige.

Off the board, I've had a couple of conversations with other followers of the MIAC & we're more or less in agreement about the Tommies.  When I have more time, I'll go into more detail.  In the meantime, if someone is interested, compare Schnettler's' overall FG % & 3pt FGA% this year compared to where he was at last year. Prior to last night performance he was making treys around the 40% clip which is decent, but not blow your mind like he was last year.  I still say Eckhoff was the better shooter – sniff.

The Saturday MIAC games look so interesting I'm tempted to stick around rather than make my annual trip next door to watch a couple of the WIAC teams play.  By the way, UW-Stout was beaten by UW-River Falls last night 66-57 at Menomonie.  Stout is one of two WIAC teams to beat UST & is currently ranked 18th & was ranked as high as 10th.
_______________________________________________________________

Sumander – no the Pipers don't press the entire game, but they try to put heavy pressure on the ball & deny the passing lanes the entire game.  Check out the number of steals Foster, Wiener & DeRock etc have - it's a high risk, high reward type of approach. They gamble a lot in either the half court or full court setting.  That's one reason why a person usually sees so many names in the boxscore for Hamline.

I'm a little surprised your Johnnies seem to get rattled by a press, since they're fairly athletic, have good height & reasonably quick.  I also heard the Tommies threw a bit of a token press at them & they began to falter in their game with UST.

[bchoops]

B34...thanks for the game description.  I thought Chuck might have a good year, and it seems that lately he's been playing pretty well.  He's got a pretty good motor in him, so here's hoping he starts to get some more minutes as it sees we need him pretty  bad. 

By the way, for those of you thinking about grad school, avoid it at all costs.  I just finished finals week last night (which is to say in the wee hours of this morning).  Let's just say two pots of coffee a day for two weeks, and roughly three hours of sleep a night, all to write 60-70 pages of papers is, despite what they may tell you, not fun. 

[Drake Palmer]

By the way, for those of you thinking about grad school, avoid it at all costs.  I just finished finals week last night (which is to say in the wee hours of this morning).  Let's just say two pots of coffee a day for two weeks, and roughly three hours of sleep a night, all to write 60-70 pages of papers is, despite what they may tell you, not fun. 

But just think of that ching you'll be making in a few years.   O wait a minute, I can't remember which Bethel guy this is.  Aren't there two Bethel posters going to grad school back east  - BcHoops divinity school (?) MightRoyal grad school (?)  Or is it the other way around? Whatever, hang in there.  It will be worth it in the end!

When you get a second, let us/me know which D3 teams schools you're close to or teams you've seen play out there.   It would be interesting to get your perspective on the style of ball & caliber of players out east versus the MIAC.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Drake-
Schnettler is hitting 3s at a 44.9% clip thru last night, weighted down by his stinker game vs, Augs. Last year, he finished the year 49.3%. Relying on my memory, he's about even with LY, at this point of the season, as I seem to remember him coming into his won the 2nd time thru the league. Give him a few more games like last night to undo the damage of the Auggie fiasco and he's back where he was LY. But I agree Eckhoff is the better shooter, but that's like choosing between prime rib or filet mignon--- both are excellent.

nAnyone with comments on Ike's "half-fro"? I'd say it was freakiest 'do in the MIAC, all-time.....tops the Midrow-corn rows by a mile. its too bizarre to try to describe, but hopefully a one-night wonder.

[localcoach]

I echo Drake's comments.  Nice input Bethel34 and Sumander.  Those are the kinds of posts that I enjoy reading.  They give insight as to what happened in a game and they also provide some statements and opinions on why somebody won and somebody lost.

Piperinsider - Thanks for the information on Mr. Foster.  I figured he must be injured.  It sounds like they could have used him last night against SMU.  Looking at the box score the Cardinal post players seemed to have enjoyed success.
Any idea how long Mr. Foster will be out of action?  If he can't go on Saturday against St. John's that will be a tough matchup for the Pipers against Henrichs and the Schafer twins.  

BTW - Who keeps taking karma points away from me?  Drake?

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

For you Shimek bashers out there--- 0 fouls last night and a truly excellent defensive peformance to go with some nice moves in the paint. Trust me, the coaches will vote him on the all-conference squad... they love his defensive play.(I'd almost make a "sheep"ish comment guarenteeing it but after seeing oAs in that sheep suit in 2003, I'll hold back  )