MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[miacwatchmen]

I think the Tommies will be fine. They have a full week to prepare for SJU on Saturday and after that 3 more days until their second round home game. They will be rested up and ready to make a strong run into the NCAA tourney.

[Drake Palmer]

...my thouhgt is that Fritz has been around long enough to know how to handle late season struggles, and that the tommies will be running on all cylinders as the post season approaches.

For your sake & the league's sake, I hope you're right Snow. The Tommies will need to be running on 3-headed monster². 

*********************

Willy -  #3, for Hamline is Zev Kujolic.  He may not have a smooth all-around game, but the kid has got crazy hops.  I heard he followed up on a loose offensive rebound & flushed down a monstrous one hand putback dunk in the Gustie game!  Not to be outdone, I guess the Gusties' Bionic Man-Child, Andrew Doble answered a minute later with a one handed dunk of his own.

Which reminds me - who are the best dunkers in the league?  Obviously, Ike gets major props but that's a given.  Before his career is done, I still would like to see Ike dropstep & dunk on Craig Schafer with an And 1, & followed up with a block of Schafer's baby hook.  Just once, that's all I wanna see! 

Otherwise I guess I'd go with:

Bethel:  Meadowcroft & Steve Strom. 2 weeks ago Strom tried to dunk on Ike.  Of course Ike blocked him, but I give Stromie all kinds of credit for that feat.  I started howling up in the stands & almost switched team loyalties after that daring move!

Hamline: Most explosive - Zev Kujolic

Gusties: Effortless dunker – Wittwer & Bionic Man - Andrew Doble

[bethelguy]

I don't think UST suffers from fatigue.  I have been waiting for fatigue to have it's impact on the short UST bench for the last few seasons and it has yet to rear it's head.  I think UST suffers from disinterest.  They were cruising along, felt the hype of the hot Bethel squad, put the pedal down (for 1 half), then went back on cruise control and got tripped up by GAC (and nearly by Aug).  I think they are clearly looking ahead to the SJU rematch and conf tourney.

With that said, I wouldn't discount Bethel's ability to  beat the Tommies.  The Tommies are clearly the class of the league and Bethel will have to play well to beat them (but not perfect).  It isn't too far fetched to see a Royal W.  Remember that this season they have played virtually even for 3 halves and 2 OT periods.  The 1 half that UST dominated they had to shoot 70% to do it.  If UST can duplicate that, then stick a fork in the Royals, but if not it should be a fun game. 

[SJU09]

Any word if tickets will go on sale early for the Johnnie/Tommie game on Saturday?  Is a big crowd expected?

[abominable_snowman]

  I think UST suffers from disinterest. 

I could buy that argument.

But there is still gonna be one helluva battle at the end of the week.

Fins, howz your parralel parking skills?

DP- interesting vision you have of ike and shafer.  I would love to see it myself.  The "badooka" dunk-rejection combo is arguably the studliest post play.

[Willy Wonka]

Willy -  #3, for Hamline is Zev Kujolic.  He may not have a smooth all-around game, but the kid has got crazy hops.  I heard he followed up on a loose offensive rebound & flushed down a monstrous one hand putback dunk in the Gustie game!

Monsterous might be a little to powerful of a word, but it was nice — it came out of no where. However, jumping seemed to be his only discernable quality as a basketball player. Dude was like former Cobber Dixon — without the game and a much more blatant hack — but a clear agitator.

PI, help me out here. You were hating on him much more than I was from the stands.

[piperinsider]

Monsterous? If he had held on to the ball it may have been one of the best dunks in the MIAC. He came out of nowwhere, leaping out of the gym, but when he was dunking lost the ball and it kind of just fell in while he was holding the rim. It was a nice play tho.

His defense on Wittwer was as described thug-ish. He just grabbed him everytime he went across the lane, and when he picked up No. 4 he almost got a T. He literally had an arm around his neck.

I really wasn't that all impressed when he didn't have the ball in his hands.

On Keating:
At his age he's just tiring out, or saving some for the playoffs.

On Wittwer:
I haven't seen him play enough but I think he just doesn't know whether to be a shooting forward or driving forward. He may be skinny but he can use what he has to get into the lane.

[Nites]

Tommies fall to No. 8 in the latest D3 Hoops poll.

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/

[finsleft]

Fins, howz your parralel parking skills?

Mine are fine, just pull up to the spot and put it in "S" for "sideways".
But, alas, the bandwagon will be in the capable hands of Sumander who, no doubt, will be doing victory laps up and down Summit Avenue on Saturday night. I will be checking the margin of the SJU victory from the internet cafe on the marina in Cabo San Lucas, followed by a victory celebration at Slim's Elbow Room and El Squid Roe.

BTW, how did you fare on L'Homme dieu?

[miacfan55]

Long time reader first time poster. I've been following Bethel all this year and although they had a tough game against St. Thomas they responded well this past week winning all three of their games and putting themselves in a position to clinch the #3 seed. Some of you have been talking about Charles taking a step backward this year but you also have to realize with the emergence of Madson and Moberg, he was not going to be the only focal point of the offense. Which was what he was most of last year and was the reason that we made it into the playoffs. Charles is a 3 year starter and he's averaging about 14 or 15 poins and around 7 rebounds a game not bad numbers. It should be an interesting finish and playoffs couldn't come soon enough. Don't count out Carleton yet either. Although I don't see them contending for the tourney championship, they have enough weapons to be dangerous and most of them have been there before. It should be an exciting last week of the regular season.

[miacwatchmen]

Long time reader first time poster. I've been following Bethel all this year and although they had a tough game against St. Thomas they responded well this past week winning all three of their games and putting themselves in a position to clinch the #3 seed. Some of you have been talking about Charles taking a step backward this year but you also have to realize with the emergence of Madson and Moberg, he was not going to be the only focal point of the offense. Which was what he was most of last year and was the reason that we made it into the playoffs. Charles is a 3 year starter and he's averaging about 14 or 15 poins and around 7 rebounds a game not bad numbers. It should be an interesting finish and playoffs couldn't come soon enough. Don't count out Carleton yet either. Although I don't see them contending for the tourney championship, they have enough weapons to be dangerous and most of them have been there before. It should be an exciting last week of the regular season.

Everyone thought Charles needed to step up before the season. He was going to be there go to guy from the start.  Madson averaged 16 minutes a game and just under 7 PPG as a freshie last year. Those are respectable numbers but not eye popping. You couldn't expect him to emerge 30 minute 20 PPG monster he is now.  As far as Moberg is concerned he was getting pretty tough reviews from everyone I talked to. Very few people had seen him play so nobody really new what to expect of him. There is no way those two guys, coming into the season, were going to be expected to carry the load this year. Meadowcroft was the main man, he is having a down year.

[diehardfan]

When was Schnettler named an All-American?

Just because he hasn't been named one yet doesn't mean he isn't one or that he won't be.

The stats (found on the QOWI board thanks to our host, PC)

1   11.550   1   UW-Stevens Point   0.950 (19-1)   20-2
20   10.333   2   St. Thomas   0.875 (21-3)   21-3
22   10.300   3   St. John's   0.900 (18-2)   18-5
28   10.150   4   Whitworth   0.850 (17-3)   20-3
30   10.100   5   UW-Oshkosh   0.800 (16-4)   19-4
39   9.947   6   Loras   0.789 (15-4)   17-6
42   9.923   7   Occidental   0.769 (10-3)   15-5
54   9.684   8   UW-La Crosse   0.684 (13-6)   15-7
55   9.667   9   Coe   0.714 (15-6)   17-6
57   9.615   10   Redlands   0.769 (10-3)   14-6
67   9.400   11   Lewis and Clark   0.750 (12-4)   16-6
69   9.389   12   Puget Sound   0.778 (14-4)   17-5
73   9.235   13   Cal Lutheran   0.688 (11-5)   16-5

Not tooo much has changed, but I think Oxy drops a spot and Redlands may have a shot of sneaking in over Coe or La Crosse now that Puget Sound has dropped all the way to 9.389 in region. Redlands significantly better In-Region Win % might be enough to make up for their slightly lower QOWI.

I think St. John's gets ahead of St Thomas because they've beaten them and have a higher In-Region Win % despite a slightly lower QOWI.

The only hmmm... is that La Crosse's QOWI is pretty high, and they have 2 wins against ever increasing Oshkosh. I still think their In-Region Win % is too low to get the nod.

Here are my projections... lets see if I have a shot at being any where near as good this week as I was last week!

1) Point
2) St Johns
3) St Thomas
4) Whitworth
5) Oshkosh
6) Loras
7) Occidental
8 ) Redlands

[VOJ]

Which reminds me - who are the best dunkers in the league?  Obviously, Ike gets major props but that's a given.  Before his career is done, I still would like to see Ike dropstep & dunk on Craig Schafer with an And 1, & followed up with a block of Schafer's baby hook.  Just once, that's all I wanna see! 

Drake...from most of your posts I thought u were just a fan of MIAC hoops, now I see the "darkside" coming out...why the hatred for C Schaf?

With Thrasher back in the line up Johnnies need to keep focus on Ham, who for some reason is a tough matchup for the J's, maybe its style, maybe its in their head a little...but a win is needed tomorrow night to exercise the demons of last years playoff loss debacle...

[abominable_snowman]

Fins, howz your parralel parking skills?

Mine are fine, just pull up to the spot and put it in "S" for "sideways".
But, alas, the bandwagon will be in the capable hands of Sumander who, no doubt, will be doing victory laps up and down Summit Avenue on Saturday night. I will be checking the margin of the SJU victory from the internet cafe on the marina in Cabo San Lucas, followed by a victory celebration at Slim's Elbow Room and El Squid Roe.

BTW, how did you fare on L'Homme dieu?

The ice was cold, the fishing was colder, but the beverages kept us nice and toasty!

And you may want to make sure that Sumander is equipped with a NASCAR-esque pit crew.  Those vitcory laps will be impossible when the wagon gets completely dismantled. 

[UST_LBOW]

Fins ~ Make sure you check out the Love Shack in Cabo for sweet drink specials early in the night, $1 beers, not to mention a little Cabo Wabo later in the evening. 

I have a feeling your bandwagon wouldn't make it to far up and down Summit with the UST fans being schnockered for this game......