MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Drake Palmer]

So, is it too early to jump on the bandwagon this year, or should I wait until we win a game?

Fins -  I didn't know you hooped, or followed the game.   Your Johnnies should definitely be in the thick of things,  but the metro Catholics, Gusties, & Pipes might already be on the bandwagon & wearing boots, ready to kick off any "Johnnies come lately." 

[sumander]

Fins, If I remember you were driving the bandwagon down the stretch last year! Let's get it rolling early this year!

J's should be tough!

[finsleft]

Fins, If I remember you were driving the bandwagon down the stretch last year! Let's get it rolling early this year!

J's should be tough!

OK, here we go....TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT...TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT, TOOOOT, TOOOOT...all aboard...SJU express now boarding!!! Please have your tickets ready. Cold Hamm's available on the Bandwagon!!

[finsleft]

So, is it too early to jump on the bandwagon this year, or should I wait until we win a game?

Fins -  I didn't know you hooped, or followed the game.   Your Johnnies should definitely be in the thick of things,  but the metro Catholics, Gusties, & Pipes might already be on the bandwagon & wearing boots, ready to kick off any "Johnnies come lately." 

Don't know crap about the game. But anything SJU can dominate, I'm in!

[sumander]

So, is it too early to jump on the bandwagon this year, or should I wait until we win a game?

Fins -  I didn't know you hooped, or followed the game.   Your Johnnies should definitely be in the thick of things,  but the metro Catholics, Gusties, & Pipes might already be on the bandwagon & wearing boots, ready to kick off any "Johnnies come lately." 

Don't know crap about the game. But anything SJU can dominate, I'm in!

You don't need to Fins! You just drive and we will teach you as we go. I'm sure you are a quick study!

[Willy Wonka]

Hmm, this board and back up and running, huh? How's this for a post to start the season off right. Hopefully I'm not eating these words after another 40-point loss at Gus Young in a few months...

Check out the following link. It's relatively old news now, but I was awaiting confirmation of my suspicion before posting it. Unfortunately, the Powers That Be could not substantiate my inkling that UST's absence from these ranking was due to a certain well-hyped baller's, um, physique. HINT: Trading him straight up for Brendan Finn may have put UST in the Top 10 

http://www.mensfitness.com/college_rankings/79

How you like them apples, MM?

[Drake Palmer]

3 Knight Steps Forward, 1 Lead Pipe Step Back

In my weekly review of the MIAC websites, I noticed that Carleton has now updated their roster for the upcoming season.  The Knights added 3 FY to the mix – two twin cities area players in 6-6 Bryan Rosett from Park Cottage Grove, & Jeremy Sutherland from St. Bernards HS (private school) - St. Paul, & hometown of Eagan.

Rosett was the leading scorer on his team that played in the extremely tough Suburban East conference with the likes of Stillwater, Woodbury, & Cretin.  It's interesting to see that Carleton has Rosett listed as a guard.  He's certainly got range to play out on the perimeter, but I wouldn't consider him a guard at all.  As far as I know, throughout his HS career he played in the post.  IMO Tommy Drake has more guard like skills than Rosett currently has.

Jeremy Sutherland is a skilled guard that played on a very tough St. Bernards team that many "experts" were touting as the favorite to win State last year in Class A.  He's a good perimeter threat, athletic & has a "bit" of a chip on the shoulder.

Depending upon the success of the Knights this year, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Carleton continued their streak of placing a player on the ALL-MIAC FY team.  Although I don't believe either one of them will have the same first year impact as Zach Johnson, both of them can play ball.

The 3rd Carleton player I know nothing about, but if he pans out to be a PLAYA- he should be on everyone's All-Name team!  Posters - I proudly present from Chialquapin HS in Humble, TX, 6-2 guard Morris Nwogwugwu.  Awesome name -  how do you pronounce it? 
__________________________________________________________

At Hamline, Chris Gonsior, the kid I thought might be getting some of Charlie Goode's minutes – is no longer listed on the roster.  Anybody know what's going on with that?

[UST_LBOW]

What's up MIAC hoops?

Look for St. Thomas to come out of the gate strong this year.  They kick off the season in CA against a good Occidental team that lost to Puget Sound 89-81 in the NCAA tourney last year.  This will be a good test for a team that is looking to get back to the NCAA's after a tough loss at Lawrence.

They have a strong core back with 3 out of 5 starters returning.  This year's team is sure to have high expectations after getting a taste of the tourney last year.  They will be fun to watch!

[Drake Palmer]

What's up MIAC hoops?

Look for St. Thomas to come out of the gate strong this year.  They kick off the season in CA against a good Occidental team that lost to Puget Sound 89-81 in the NCAA tourney last year.  This will be a good test for a team that is looking to get back to the NCAA's after a tough loss at Lawrence.

They have a strong core back with 3 out of 5 starters returning.  This year's team is sure to have high expectations after getting a taste of the tourney last year.  They will be fun to watch!

Welcome aboard!  Are you related to USTBumKneez or Ak47 from last season?  If not, it's always good to add new posters to the mix.  Keep posting.   

[miacwatchmen]

What's up MIAC hoops?

Look for St. Thomas to come out of the gate strong this year.  They kick off the season in CA against a good Occidental team that lost to Puget Sound 89-81 in the NCAA tourney last year.  This will be a good test for a team that is looking to get back to the NCAA's after a tough loss at Lawrence.

They have a strong core back with 3 out of 5 starters returning.  This year's team is sure to have high expectations after getting a taste of the tourney last year.  They will be fun to watch!

The Tommies are going to be nasty good this year. I mean really nasty. Ike will wint he MVP and UST will win the regular season championship. In the playoffs though the J's will put up a fight. A Tommie v. Johnnie title tilt wouldn't be to far out of the question in my mind.

[Drake Palmer]

Mac's new roster is up.  They added 2 FY players – 6-5 Jerry Kraus of Chapparal, Co by way of Shenzhen, China, & a player mentioned earlier this year as a potential Mac recruit – 6-1 Paul Richie from Grand Rapids, MN.  Richie is supposed to be solid, and if this Kraus kid makes as big of a "Splash"        as the last Mac player from Colorado, the Scots might be alright.   Hopefully the Kraus kid or someone can provide some support on the inside. Since Brendan Bosman graduated,  it might get really tough for Tom Conboy to get much going in the blocks.   

Mac also picked up a junior transfer from UST, 5-7 Abe Woldeslassie.  After two years of JV ball at UST you'd think he'd stick around, especially with the graduation of Sean Sweeney.  But if I was to guess I'm thinking there was/is a log jam of taller PGs at UST – Andrew Dwyer, Brian Sames, etc. all chomping to take over the reins.  Abe's quick, extremely quick, but without much bulk & his height, it's tough playing PG.  I wish him well.

[Chica yea false identification]

how do you all think the standings will pan out?

[bethelguy]

I love this time of year!   Football is getting interesting and more importantly basketball will be tipping off real games before you know it.

Solid info by Drake (as usual), I wish I knew more about some of the incoming FY kids, but I'll take what you say as good info.  Here are my initial thoughts on the MIAC contenders this year (in NO particular order, this is not a prediction)...

UST - I think what they lost is greater than people realize.  Sweeney was the heart of that team last year and what little depth they had is gone (Schimek, Weaver, Peterson).  The Ike/BS combo is VERY good and Keating is good as well but questions at PG and even Fritz needs at least 1 competent sub.
Ham - this will be a very popular pick to challenge UST, as they should be.  These guys were in position to win a handful of games that they lost due to inexperience.  Their young guys from last year were the real deal and the Pipers should have their best year in recent memory.  Their biggest hurdle to overcome is not letting Foster become a distraction, he is the Randy Moss of this team.
Bet - there has been very little talk about the D1 transfer in the post.  BU lost a bunch of experienced SRs but this will open up some minutes for some very talented young guys in Vavra, Madsen, Laugen.  And of course do not forget Meadowcroft who has to be one of the few who may challenge Ike for POY. 
Car - Johnson and Drake will be a nice combo that will be tough to defend.  But it seems as though the Knigts graduate one good forward as they bring in someone new.  Beste out - Drake in, Forkrud out - Johnson in.  Their shot at winning the league depends on Phillips/Kootsikas in my opinion.
SJU - The johnnies only lose Henrichs, but that is a LOT and I don't think they can replace his rebounding.  They return a lot of playmakers, but Ohme needs to step up his game and really be the leader if they want to win the league.
GAC - you can never count out the Gusties from contention.  Sowden/Wittwer/Olson are solid and you know Hansen will have these guys ready to play.  TeBrake is a big loss but Wittwer is capable of stepping into his shoes and outperforming.
Con - has an outside shot at competing for the top spot, but the losses of Eckhoff/Miller/Dixon will be greater than any improvement from their young core of talent.  Without a Sr. on this year's roster 2006-07 might be preparation for a run in 2007-08.

I think that is 6, maybe 7 teams that actually have a legit shot at winning the MIAC this year.  I may be the only one who would put Bethel in that group (D1 post may be most significant newcomer in the league), but even 5 teams with a legit shot is more than most seasons.  Should be a very fun year of MIAC basketball.

STO, SMU, Mac all return most of their contributors and all have a shot at playoffs but going from 8,7 and 6 wins respectively to 17 or 18 conference wins is really hard and almost unheard of in the MIAC.  They are solid teams that are capable of winning a lot of games but I see their chances of winning the league as slim.  And Auggie may be better but they have no shot of finishing first.

[columbianmaffia]

 
Car -   Beste out - Drake in, Forkrud out - Johnson in. 

Drake was in for Beste last year, Beste graduated the year previous to last year. Forkrud is the only loss for CAR, a big loss too, but should still be good with all the rest of the experience returning from their co-MIAC championship last year

[UST_LBOW]

UST has a solid group of young players ready to step in.  Dwyer was a key in the playoff run last year and is ready to step up.  Don't forget about Lonnie Robinson who is about as fierce a defender that's in the league and he takes it to the rack like a man. 

Also look for BJ Viau, Grant Hennington, Tommy Shimek, Al McCoy to get some good pt.  After Dwyer at point there is Brian Sames (hurt) and Matt Zitlow, both young PG's.  After Dwyer and Lonnie there isn't much experience, but expect these young kids to adapt quickly under the leadership of the Big 3.