MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[UST_LBOW]

Drake -

Sam Betty from Occidental was nowhere near as physical as the Werner kid.  Betty was about the same size as Werner but their games are drastically different.  I was expecting him to be physical and try to pound Ike, but Ike just gave him the business.  I think the Werner kid was a lot better than Betty, but I've only seen them play twice. 

The UST vs. La Crosse game on the 21st will be an awesome matchup between Ike and Werner.  Last year you might say Werner got the upperhand with better stats and a W, but that game was messed up before it even started. UST arrived late to the game, barely got in a warmup and had just played a few games in a row. I'm not trying to make excuses for that game but I know Ike will be jacked to play that kid again.  That will definitely be a game worth attending.

[UST_LBOW]

  Braier was a good player, but he was more of a 4 than a true post.  He was an extremely hard worker and brought his hard hat and lunch pail to everygame but I wouldn't put him in the same position category as Ike or the Betty kid.

[BETHEL34]

Great start for Bethel this weekend...but when isn't it a great start for Bethel on the first weekend???  

They are definitely going to be a fun team to watch this year, great shooters, and some great big men.  Don't think the shot clock got under 15 secs the whole first half for Bethel.  Probably only got under 20 secs one or two times.  4 out of our first 5 pos to start the game was someone putting up a 3 in the first 10-15 secs of the shot clock.  I will say this though, with Laugen and Vavra at the point, they get the ball up the court very fast.  Is that the best way to play with these guys???  I guess we will see.  The coach's seem to think so.

Won't really know how good these guys will be until their first test at Hamline on DEC 2nd.  Dakota state, River Falls, Morris tomorrow, and Crown next Saturday don't have the defenses that you will see in Hamline and other MIAC foe's.  I expect the same type of run and gun, putting up close to 30 3's, and not letting the shot clock get under 15 secs type of game against Morris and Crown.  But, I would hope that will Bethel's size in Cook and Moberg, we would tend to slow up the game against an undersized Hamline and pound it inside.  If we get into the run and gun offense against Hamline, we are going to have to shoot really well to get a W from Hamline.

Nice start for the Tommies, I am excited for the Moberg/Rosefelt matchup.  Can't see Rosefelt going for 20 and 20 on us this year like he has the last four times he has played us!

[Drake Palmer]

Thanks for the info Bow.  That's about what I'd expected to hear.   By the way - where was Al McCoy this weekend? Unless, he was injured I can't believe he wouldn't even see any mop up duty in the game against La Verne.

[UST_LBOW]

 UST - La Verne

This game's end score is misleading.  UST could have beat them by 30 had the starters played a lot.  UST was in control from the opening jump (Ike vs. a 6'2 kid).  This is a game where the coaching staff gave a lot of guys an extended look.  I'm not sure how many questions were answered on the perimeter but the post guys off the bench looked good.

However, Ike was in foul trouble and if it had been a better team with a good post player it may have gotten interesting.  I'll be the first to say that some of the foul calls were pretty bad, a lot of hand checks and touch fouls.  Ike didn't get many touches, La Verne was in zone right away which lead to wide open 3's and short jumpers in the lane. Its a good thing Schnettler wasn't on fire otherwise it would have been a real long night.

Lonnie was more aggressive and looked good, a few nice mid range jump shots.

Not sure why Dwyer didn't play more, I didn't see him do anything wrong, he played the first 51 seconds in the second half and that's it. He needs to be on the floor more.

UST vs. St. Mary's next week should be fun to watch with an improved St. Mary's squad.



Drake -

Al McCoy didn't even travel he has been hurt and just started practicing again.  I think he's got a bad back but not sure...



How did Ohme play? I haven't heard anything about how he did.

[sumander]

How did Ohme play? I haven't heard anything about how he did.

LBow - Ohme had a "functional" game. 12pts, 3A, 2TO, 2Reb, 4S. I thought he shot the ball fairly well. He didn't try to force things too much on offense and played solid defense. All in all the type of game you need from the point. If he continues to improve from here the J's offense will be in capable hands.

[Drake Palmer]

A couple of opening weekend observations:

Teams who live by the sword (trey) die by the sword


Bethel
Bet34  - I appreciate your candor regarding your team's play.  I did manage to get over & watch the Royals play Saturday night.  Defensively they didn't look that bad, & I heard they played much better defensively than they had the previous night.  Repeat after me – "Defense is good, defense is good, defense is good."  If Westie can convince the team to buy into this concept, I think the team & the Bethel fans will all be able to stand up cheer when they make a nice defensive stop & kick the ball out to a fast breaking Strom to put the exclamation point on with a resounding dunk!  I heard he was 2-2 & had a dunk in both games this weekend.  I'll cut you all some slack since this was opening weekend, but you'd better get serious about trying to work the ball into the post if you want to sustain any long-term success.  The nonconference portion of the schedule is when a team usually tries to develop their offensive & defensive schemes & learn to trust each other.  Right now what I see is Moberg & Cook substituting with each other so they won't get worn out running up & down the floor as the Royal guards continue the usual fast break attack.

Mac – nice surprising win over the weekend led by UST transfer PG, Abe Woldelassie who had 13 points & 9 assists.  Typical Tom Conboy performance with 21 points & 13 boards, Brad Liddell marked his successful return back after an injury plagued 05-06 season & had 17 points, along with OAS's begrudgingly accepted marksman, Brian Ranwick who had a career high of 16 points.  Props to Jesse Hollander for his yeoman work in the trenches banging with the biggs & collecting 9 boards. Mac shot 13-24 from deep for 54% on the day.

Hamline – I think SJU4life summed it up best –- they could finish anywhere from 1st – 6th this year.  Although I doubt a first place is in the cards, they could certainly finish anywhere else.  Where was Joe Smock this weekend?
________________________________________________________________

GAC- It appears the Gusties are modeling themselves after their Lutheran cousins to the south, Luther College & playing a version of Smurf ball??   A starting backcourt of Andrew Olson 5-11 & Tyler Kramer at 5-10, hmm.  And where's prized D1 recruit Sam Paulson - he gets no clock?

STO- Willy, Funbb, have at it.

SJU- I think SJU's Obie Trice (Obball) was speaking a lil truth when he was debating the defensive skills of Ryan Lieser with Watch.  Lieser's a scorer, not a defender.  Westman used to be a guy who seemed to get after it, & the same with Ohme.  There's no question the Johnnies have an abundance of talent on the roster, it's what they will do with it this season.

[sjuforlife]

Oddball, for that being your first post, personally I think it was not a very good one.  To say morris didnt have any big guys and that fogt will be exposed in the miac to big men is wrong.  They started a kid at 6'6 230 and he scored 12 points and they had a 6'7 kid come off the bench and score 14 points.  How many miac teams are going to be much bigger then that?  I think 6'6 and 6'7 is pretty standard posts in the miac.  To say fogt is slow, has stonehands, and is uncordinated may be true but the schaefers are EQUALLY as slow, hands are probably worse then fogts and fogt is much more athletic then the schaefers.  I believe they have the worst vertical on the team.  Fogt is the best rebounder on the team.  Still with that said i dont see Fogt ever being being a starter nor does he deserve it.  Craig S. earned it last year when he led or finished near the top of field goal percentage in the Miac.  He is just more polished as of now in the post then Fogt.  The 4 position is and will be brinks by the end of the year but hopefully much sooner.  Brink is probably the most underrated player in the MIAC.  Fogt should be craigs sub during the game and scott should be brinks sub during the game and thats it.  Never should craig and fogt be on the floor at the same time.  That would be the slowest tandom in the league.

Quickly because i hate long posts ill talk about this defensive debate.  I think leisure is probably one of the best defenders on the team..(top 3) but he is undersized which hurts him.  He can guard anyone player in the 1 or 2 position btu not the 3 because he is to undersized.  Nick johnson is the exact same way , probably a little better but still undersized and thats why Brink all around is hands down the best defensive player on the team.  He is long, athletic, quick and can basically guard anyone on the floor.  ona  side note whoever said ohme used to "D" up and get after it is wrong, since the day he got here was the worst defensive player to be in the starting 5 rotation.

[Drake Palmer]

..ona  side note whoever said ohme used to "D" up and get after it is wrong, since the day he got here was the worst defensive player to be in the starting 5 rotation.

SJU4life - I'll let you Johnnies do your bickering, but it was me that said that Ohme "used to" play D.  Note I used past tense when I made that statement.  I'll stand by that statement as well as what I said in an earlier post in which I stated -- Ohme has not consistently lived up to the potential he showed when he arrived as a freshman 4 years ago.

[sjuforlife]

i would have to agree that he may have lived up to his full potential but......with the addition of Westman, leisure, and surprise of craig s. all being scoring threats I think it takes away chances for him to be the *special* player he could have been.  Now he just plays to win the game so if he needs to score then he will, if he needs to get westman or liesure the ball he'll do that and that may help SJU more then anything this year.

[sumander]

SJU4L,

I agree with your assessment of B Brink being underated. Although, I have not seen the entire MIAC yet so I will reserve judgement on that count. I think he brings an intangible to the court that not many others have. He has basketball "sense".  Don't ask me to explain what that is though.

What I saw last year from Ohme when he looked to score was a lot of forced shots and out of control drives to the hole! Hopefully he has accepted his role on this team. He just needs to distribute the ball not look to be a primary scoring threat.

[columbianmaffia]

You seriously think that Leiser can guard anyone at the 1, 2, or 3.  There is no way he could hang with Meadowcroft  or Derock.  You proved yourself wrong when you said he was SMALL.  He is quick and agile but, he cannot guard players bigger than him.  Brink is a much better defender than him because of his length and athleticism.  Also if you want a defender who is fast, small and agile Nick Johnson is a better defender than Leiser also.  Leiser is a scorer and a transition player.  He helps push the tempo. 

i watched Leiser play on an AAU team for an entire summer made up of mostly gaurds and watched him on many occassions gaurd 3 men without a problem...if SJU plays good team defense and a player tries to post him up he can just front...Leiser can gaurd the 1, 2 and 3s

[Chica yea false identification]

Cards looking to knock off defending D2 national champs and current number 1 Winona State on friday!! This could be a closer game than most of you think

[abominable_snowman]

From what I can tell, it looks like the MIAC had a better weekend than our neighbors across the river...

Superior puts up a couple losses to Finlandia (88-86) and St Scholastica...Finlandia was then smoked by Nebraska Weslyan (101-57).

Loras over LaCrosse
Illinois Wesleyan over Whitewater (ranked number 4 in top 25) in OT (probably a great game)
Bethel takes out River Falls by 30!!!
Manchester over Eau Claire

25th ranked Steven's Point looks to be the bright spot for the WIAC, they are up against 13th ranked Lawrence-(UST defeaters in last year's tournament) on Tuesday.

[Drake Palmer]

The Loras win over UW-L sorta surprises me.  From looking at the stats it seems the game was fairly close.  Lax had a better overall shooting %, shooting 50.8% to Loras's 45.6%.   On the other hand, the slightly smaller Loras squad out rebounded Lax 39-29, shot an impressive 87% from the FT line & knocked down 23-27 FTs. That's good shooting in any league.  Does anyone know who the favorites in the IIAC are this year?  Typically, it seems to be Buena Vista & Wartburg vying for top honors.

I saw UW-WW play & lose to Stout last year, & I wasn't overly impressed with their club.  I also thought they were ranked too high to begin this season.  Time will tell.  At one point early in the 2nd half I guess Ill Wesleyan was down by 21 points to Whitewater.

I don't know anything about Oshkosh's team other than the WIAC posters seem to think they always underachieve, but I'm thinking Stevens Point might be the sleeper in the WIAC this year.