MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[sumander]

A little birdie told me not be surprised if Hamline is where Nate Robertson from Forest Lake ends up. 

Local, Sounds like you have been reading Shooter's column lately!

[ustbumkneez]

FBB, what southern Wisco school is this potential Tommie from? I heard Sconnie, and my ears perked up. Perhaps he could continue the long line of successful, and program defining, Badger transplants to play for the Tommies. Were a rare breed. 

[Drake Palmer]

A little birdie told me not be surprised if Hamline is where Nate Robertson from Forest Lake ends up.

Local, Sounds like you have been reading Shooter's column lately!

Dang Zoo - you get around -- the Trib, PP, Fargo Foolem, the esteemed SCTimes etc.    I'm with you, thank goodness for Internet access eh?

Speaking of papers it sounds like the Press might have finally found a new owner. As much as I've bad-mouthed the Press in the past, I've come to enjoy it & would be disappointed if the Twin Cities became a one paper town. Based on the article I read in the Tribune  of the pending new ownership change, they plan on focusing more on the local news which I think should be, & is a good thing.  Who knows, we might even get better coverage of events at the small college and high school level.

What do our own board journalists think of the latest development regarding the pending Press sale & the renewed emphasis on local & regional coverage?  I too am doing my part to keep the hoops board alive.

Local - If your little birdie is correct - Robertson would be a very nice steal for the Pipes.

Back to journalism/posting  - I think I'm going to embed myself as a reporter/poster at Augsburg to attempt to get some news out of there.  I can't believe there is not even a peep, let alone a poster from the Augsburg campus.  If Coach Griess is rebuilding the Auggie program he must be doing it a vacuum.  So far there is no excitement or energy with their program as there was when Wohler took over at Hamline two years ago.  Course it helps to have a couple of active posters promoting the Pipes on the board.  

And it's local schools like Hamline, UST, Bethel etc that Augsburg is competing against.  I was at a number of metro high school games this past winter & if the game featured any notable talent at all, at minimum I saw the Hamline & UST coaching staff with the occasional Ole, Carl & GAC coaches around.  But I would be hard pressed to recall when I saw anyone from Augsburg.

[sumander]

Drake, My father, who wrote for the local paper for 50+ yrs instilled(inspired) a love of newspaper reading in me! The Internet is wonderful for fueling this fire.

My opinion on newspapers in general,  I don't want to pick up my local small town newspaper and read about the pro teams in the Cities! I want to read about the local high school kid who went off for 30 in Friday's game. I read the STRIB and Press for stories on the pros. It would be great if one of them started paying attention to small college and high schools in the metro area. For some of us outstate the are one of the few sources we have for finding out about the metro schools.

For what it's worth...I have been reading the Pioneer Press ever since they had the "peach" colored sports section!

[Drake Palmer]

Zoo - agreed.   What paper did your father write for?

Any word out of Spud town on the Big E - Keith Eckhoff?  Is he taking a medical redshirt & returning next year, or is he going to take his diploma & get a real job?

[sumander]

Sounds Like the diploma and real job are the option! Maniac is more informed on this situation but this was the last word I heard.

[sumander]

Drake, I sent you a PM.

[TommieHoops4Life]

PI,

If this new big man heading to Hamline can walk and chew gum at the same time, he'll already be a step ahead of Muenchow. That guy had all the potential in the world and never lived up to it.

As far as the PP goes, it's good that somebody took them over. It would make so sense for big cities like St. Paul and Mpls to only have one paper. There is definitely competition between the two to get stories. The Strib does a good job on high school sports as they have results from games and meets around the state. It seems that they only send reporters out to big-school games or state tournaments, but with a big paper that has main beats of pro sports, you can't ask for a lot of high school coverage. I do think they need to do a better job of small-college reporting. I don't remember seeing anything when UST and CAR were in the NCAA tournament. Other reporters will appreciate this, but I tried to lobby to my boss to have him send me to Carleton's first-round game in the ncaa tournament. Ddin't take long for that one to get denied and have to listen to it on the radio.

[miacwatchmen]

Zoo - agreed.   What paper did your father write for?

Any word out of Spud town on the Big E - Keith Eckhoff?  Is he taking a medical redshirt & returning next year, or is he going to take his diploma & get a real job?

Sorry to butt in on the question but rumor has it that Eckoff will be back based on the amount of academic aid he gets for next year. My prediction is that he isn't back next year but that is just a guess.

[funbballer]

FBB, what southern Wisco school is this potential Tommie from? I heard Sconnie, and my ears perked up. Perhaps he could continue the long line of successful, and program defining, Badger transplants to play for the Tommies. Were a rare breed. 

A high school in or near Madison.....think it was Edgewood or something like that?

[funbballer]

Funbb- Seems you like trying to stir something up with Willy over Tyler Kaus.  I think you'll find Willy gets a little closed mouth when it comes time to dishing anything that might be perceived as dirt on the Gustie program.  Willy was real quiet on the Jered Hokenson & Derek Dreifke transfer when I asked him about it a year ago, as he's been on Tyler Kaus whenever you've brought his name up.  IMO, I've always thought Kaus at 5-6 or 5-7 was a bit on the small side even for D3./quote]

Wasn't trying to stir anything up, but was curious if Kaus will fit into the rotation next year or if Hanson is just planning on sending him out to pasture like he did with Hokanson and Lien last year. I talked to a number of MIAC coaches that were shocked when Hanson cut Lien as they felt he was a pretty solid player.  There were rumors he was transferring....anybody confirm that?

I thought Kaus would be given more of a chance also, but I agree with you that he's pretty small even for D3 standards. Seems that if he wants to continue playing college basketball, he may transfer as well or he'll contnue to ride the pines. Hamline has plenty of guards, so that's probably out, but what about STO? As a friend told me, if you're a guard, why would you want to go to GAC anyway?

Have a good summer everyone!

[Willy Wonka]

Is there anything better than late night BET after a late night Perkins run where three cops have to be called in to split up a drunken argument/fight? Who knew Red Wing could be so fun at 2:30am?

As I said at the time, Hokenson just wasn't that good. He and Driefke are good dudes, if a bit strange (DD, mostly), but neither fit the GAC mold. DD could have, but did you ever see him shoot? He would have broken backboards had he stayed around. How can you argue with that? Hokenson's style would have been a much better fit at a school like Bethel - fun'n'gun where turnovers aren't an issue and defense is an afterthought (compared to GAC anyway). From what I saw, he wasn't inclined to change much.

Lien was in a tough situation. He's an average athlete with average/below average foot speed who also sports an above average offensive game. He could have provided another scoring threat from out past the 3-point line, but at what cost? I'm not sure whose minute he would have taken this year. Still, I feel for him. He put in a lot of work to make himself better.

However, Hanson has a track record of cutting talented juniors (Jesse Brekke comes to mind) who are borderline on earning minutes in favor of seasoning promising youngsters. Perhaps he's not always right, but I'm sure the decision-making process is not taken lightly. In fact, I know it kills Hans. It's not a position I envy for just that very reason.

I still can't figure out how Kaus fits in...given his sporatic playing time, I'm guessing I'm not the only one.

Is that honest enough for you Drake? Sheesh.

[Drake Palmer]

...Is that honest enough for you Drake? Sheesh.

Good post Willy, I knew you had it in you.  Sometimes it just takes a little friendly nudge to get you to reveal a glimpse behind the gold & black machine of the Gusties.   

I always thought that Hokenson should have gone to Hamline or Bethel since their style of play seemed to better suit his abilities. In fact wasn't Dan Perrel, the assistant head coach at Hamline coaching  Watertown Mayer when Hokenson was in high school?  Or who knows, maybe that's why he chose not to attend Hamline.

Dreiefke has an odd shooting motion but I know when he was senior in high school he was one of the metro leaders in 3 point shooting accuracy & shot a ton of treys if I recall.
_______________________________________________________________

On another note, if the White House can change staff personnel, certainly I can make minor changes to my posting persona eh?

Since this is the off-season, I think it's time to do a makeover on my signature line, & when I find the appropriate quote I'll switch. But my other question to the board is this --

Which sounds better -

Drake Palmer

or

Drake Parker

I'm developing a preference for "Parker" myself.  8)

[sumander]

Drake, Both Palmer and Parker conjure up images, Palmer being Arnold, Parker being Fess. I would stick with the man from Latrobe!

[Drake Palmer]

Dang Sumander - I guess that's what I get when I ask for honest opinions.   

Here  I was conjuring up images of myself as a suave, debonair Midwest Ivy league type, & you ruin it all by coming up with Fess Parker?!?  Didn't he play TV's version of a mountain man in a raccoon hat ala Daniel Boone & Davy Crockett!

I guess I'd better stick with Palmer or see if anyone else comes up with a better concept!