MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Drake Palmer]

A little Monday quiz.  Anyone care to guess what the following numbers represent?

.629 in 04-05
.589 in 05-06
.389 in 06-07

UST LBow's field goal percentage? The MIAC web site says he was .628 in 04-05 and .588 in 05-06. Another blood is .789 this year. Just missed each three by a single digit.

Very clever, PI!  Pretty damn close with the numbers too.     However, think negative stat instead.

opponent shooting percentage?

You were heading there with your first guess.  Not a team number.

Ok Nites, cough it up.  Monday's about done. 

[piperinsider]

A little Monday quiz.  Anyone care to guess what the following numbers represent?

.629 in 04-05
.589 in 05-06
.389 in 06-07

Ouch. That would be free throw percentages for Mr. Tom Conboy. I'm fairly sure I could at least shoot 60%.

[Nites]

A little Monday quiz.  Anyone care to guess what the following numbers represent?

.629 in 04-05
.589 in 05-06
.389 in 06-07

Ouch. That would be free throw percentages for Mr. Tom Conboy. I'm fairly sure I could at least shoot 60%.

Bingo!  Sorry Drake, I was about to come clean with a post when PI beat me to it.

For a moment, I thought Mr. Conboy's nightmare was about to get worse because he will be spending the rest of the season as a visitor.  Then I discovered that he is remarkable model of consistency; he's 14-36 from the stripe at home and 14-36 on the road. 

Maybe SHAQ can give him a few pointers and he can get that percentage down into the 20th percentile by his senior season.   

That concludes the useless trivia for a slow Monday.  Bring on the games.  I jinxed the Royals by picking them for the upset tonight, so my apologies to the Royal followers.

PI - I loved the UST_LBOW guess.

[Drake Palmer]

Good digging PI!

Nites - I was trying to read your mind & figure out which player you were thinking of.  I had it narrowed down to a 3 year starter/player, so I was thinking seniors like Meadowcroft, Phillips, one of the Schafers, Ohme etc.  It never dawned on me that it was Conboy.   About a week ago I was thinking of doing a post on the shooting plight of Conboy & Carleton's Zach Johnson.  At the time  they were both averaging around 42% from the field. Then, I though the better of it.

[Nites]

Good digging PI!

Nites - I was trying to read your mind & figure out which player you were thinking of.  I had it narrowed down to a 3 year starter/player, so I was thinking seniors like Meadowcroft, Phillips, one of the Schafers, Ohme etc.  It never dawned on me that it was Conboy.   About a week ago I was thinking of doing a post on the shooting plight of Conboy & Carleton's Zach Johnson.  At the time  they were both averaging around 42% from the field. Then, I though the better of it.

I'm not familiar with Conboy's game, but the few times I watched him on the MAC webcast he was not very impressive.  In fact, he seemed extremely passive in the low post and when he shot it, he opted for quick flips and finger rolls instead of power moves.  That surprised me because he looks like a pretty big guy.  I kept expecting him to take it to the hole with authority, but he never did.  Is that his normal game or is he perhaps skittish that he might get hacked and have to go to the line?

Speaking of Johnson, his game has gotten pretty one-dimensional.  At least lately, he appears to grabbing a few more rebounds.  The Knights would probably be more successful if he would give the ball up more because when he is misfiring (which has been pretty frequent), the team has been pretty awful.

[Drake Palmer]

You'll get a few guffaws on his rather unorthodox release on his outside shot.  As far as his inside game is concerned,  I think the main challenge has been a lack of explosiveness or quick first step.  Talented - yes, Big- yes, Strong - yes, Explosive - no.

[piperinsider]

Who am I?
I averaged 13.7 points and had a 97-104 assist/turnover ration in an all-conference freshman year. This year I have slightly better numbers at 14.8 points a game and have a 47-45 assist/turnover ratio, yet people question that I am having a "Tommy Drake" sophomore slump.

BTW, SJU and UST clinched playoff spots a while ago.

[Nites]

Who am I?
I averaged 13.7 points and had a 97-104 assist/turnover ration in an all-conference freshman year. This year I have slightly better numbers at 14.8 points a game and have a 47-45 assist/turnover ratio, yet people question that I am having a "Tommy Drake" sophomore slump.

BTW, SJU and UST clinched playoff spots a while ago.

Who is John DeRock.

[Drake Palmer]

Who am I?
I averaged 13.7 points and had a 97-104 assist/turnover ration in an all-conference freshman year. This year I have slightly better numbers at 14.8 points a game and have a 47-45 assist/turnover ratio, yet people question that I am having a "Tommy Drake" sophomore slump.

BTW, SJU and UST clinched playoff spots a while ago.

I feel for you PI, but the stats don't tell the complete story.  Jon DeRock burst on the scene last year, & I know it wasn't just me that was gushing about his ability. Unfortunately, the way the Pipes have lost this year have completely overshadowed his solid "statistical" performance.  By any other player's standards, his numbers might be decent, but we're talking about a player some/many people thought could conceivably make All- MIAC 4 years straight.

In addition, he hasn't shown that knack for putting his team on his shoulders & willing them to victory as he did last year.  Plus, his outside shooting has really dropped off this year.  He's currently averaging a paltry 27% from beyond the arc compared to a decent 36% last year.  I still believe he has all the makings of an exceptional MIAC performer but...

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Who am I?
I averaged 13.7 points and had a 97-104 assist/turnover ration in an all-conference freshman year. This year I have slightly better numbers at 14.8 points a game and have a 47-45 assist/turnover ratio, yet people question that I am having a "Tommy Drake" sophomore slump.

BTW, SJU and UST clinched playoff spots a while ago.

SJU & UST are assured of finishing no lower than fourth and will each have at least one home playoff game. If either of them beats Bethel, they are assured a top two finish.

Amazingly, no teams have been mathematically eliminated--- yet.

[piperinsider]

As of right now, Tony Thrasher would be All-MIAC. DeRock would be left off because his team is in last place, and quite frankly, he hasn't had an all-conference season. I'd even go as far as saying I'd pick Foster over him if I had a ballot.

Great reply Drake. I totally agree with your assessment.

[miacwatchmen]

Big matchup in Arden Hills Tomorrow. Bethel on a 7 game streak and the Johnnies have won 9 of 10! Something has to break. Any thoughts?

[d3bballfollower]

Piper-  picking Foster for any post-season awards should be a no-no...at least when it comes to playing the game...Foster has nice stats this year, but as i mentioned earlier on this board, against Bethel he did the unthinkable and decided to act like a bad ass and try to show the crowd that they couldn't get to him at the free throw line by actually stopping his routine and looking over to the sidelines...i'm all for picking guys for how they play and not based on reputation or previous play, but doing something as idiotic as Foster did leaves me to wonder if Foster has his head in the right place with the Pipers struggling...and I would still put DeRock all-miac because even though Thrasher's stats are a little better I have seen Hamline play 4 times this year and DeRock is the guy that Hamline goes to in the clutch, at least in the games I've seen, and he is the man that makes that team go...I love Thrasher's game, but I still think that DeRock is the Piper's best player and that he has had a year deserving of an all-miac selection

[Willy Wonka]

...DeRock is the guy that Hamline goes to in the clutch, at least in the games I've seen, and he is the man that makes that team go...

If this is true, the only conclusions one can draw from this statement is DeRock has failed "in the clutch" repeatedly and he's making "that team go" into the ground.

Does every team need a rep? For being such a colossal disappointment, what are the chances the Pipes get no one? They are 3-11 and last in the league, when some people on here thought they'd be competing for the title.

Nites - My guess would have been the Carlies MIAC winning percentage over the last three years...but that's not quite right either, obviously

[diehardfan]

Wow.... I haven't read this board in an almost entire month... whoops. While I catch up on 20 pages of posts, I was wondering if anyone from the MIAC would be so kind as to compare and contrast this St. Thomas team to the top playoff contenders that have come out of this league, including, but not limited to the GA team that everyone always talks about? Even better, would you be willing to do it over on the Multi-Regional Top 25 board? There has been a whooole lot of discussion as to just how good this St. Thomas team is in comparison to their ranking on both the Top 25 and Poster Poll board, and I'm definitely curious as to how the home conference locals would analyze this squad in comparison to the teams that have grabbed national attention in the past. Thanks in advance!