MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Drake Palmer]

Back from my meeting at the barn.  Willy – your boy Brady Soule & Lakeville South were in rare form as they routed Woodbury, 81 to 57.  If Soule wasn't on your team I could certainly see why he might rub a person the wrong way -- he is a bit exuberant.  If he wasn't playing football in college, he would make a nice, feisty, PG in the MIAC.

And from the sounds of it, I missed a thriller as Apple Valley knocked off Cole Aldrich & Bloomington Jefferson 68-66.

Sum – I did a little more digging around.  I hadn't checked the Cobb website for a few months, but they've re-loaded a number of previous years from the archives & put them back on their website under "history." Before they revamped their website several years ago, the Cobbs' site was a great resource for league stats & records, & complemented the MIAC website quite nicely.

Over the past 10 years, 1998 -2007, the Cobbs & Dawgs have evenly split with each other in conference standings.  Each school has finished ahead of the other school 5 different years.  But,  I think I would give the overall edge to Augsburg as they've won the league title outright twice in the last 10 years, along with a 2nd place finish, & two appearances in the NCAA tourney.  Augsburg has also won 13 conference championships, compared to only 3 conference titles for the Cobbs, & no NCAA tourney bids.

[TommieHoops4Life]

Aldrich completely ruined my plan to take off work tomorrow and take in the state tournament. He had 32 and 21 today in the loss, and I wanted to see him play once in person, but oh well. Congrats to Buffalo, they haven't been in the tournament for 70+ years and they win today. Nice article on them in the Strib. Sounds like the Cougars of Lakeville South have come out of the rubble at just the right time and saved their season.

[columbianmaffia]

Drake
you forgot to mention the 90 footer Soule hit at the buzzer to end the half that the ref waved off and he went running and jumping across the court like a little girl playin hop scotch while he cried to the ref that waved it off

apple valley/jefferson game was awesome...what a game....McGuiggian for apple valley was playing unbelievable and was all over the place...he also finished with over 30 but missed a layup down the stretch that gave jefferson a chance to tie it at the end...the lake conference is dominating this year and i think it will end up being lakeville south vs. valley for the ship

i think hintz from woodbury will make a nice miac player but he gets frusterated way too easy and loses his composure and starts to really force it...although that is only the first time ive seen him so i guess i cant really make that judgement off one game

i saw the armstrong andover game too...i have no idea how andover made it to state...probably the worst state tourny team i have ever seen...they didnt even have anyone that could really handle to ball...armstrong has a nice 3/4 man #33 i forgot his name that is recieving some interest from CAR

great day of hoops

now all i need is for my timberwolves to lose so they can get an extra ping pong ball

[sumander]

I caught the second half of the Winona St.  game last night! Nice 12-0 run mid way through the half seals the deal for them. Like the announcers said, sucks to be Bentley. Undefeated going into the tournament and run in to the only other undefeated team in the first round!

Sounds like Winona will have there hands full today against Central Missouri!

[Drake Palmer]

Drake
you forgot to mention the 90 footer Soule hit at the buzzer to end the half that the ref waved off and he went running and jumping across the court like a little girl playin hop scotch while he cried to the ref that waved it off.

Cmob – my favorite part of Soule's animated plea to the refs was when one of his teammates grabbed him from behind to restrain him from arguing too strongly.  Soule does a mock collapse in his teammate's arms as his teammate started to drag him off the court!  It reminded me of someone doing a cheap impersonation of soul icon James Brown when they used to drag him off the stage after one of his blistering hot performances! 

It was a funny bit, but I've seen kids get teed up for doing much, much less than what Soule did yesterday.  In fact, I read in the paper how Trevor Mbakwe of St. Bernards' got called for a technical for "popping" his jersey & mugging for the TV cameras after a monster dunk.  Where's the justice?!? 

Hintz is a better player than what he showed yesterday.  He was really struggling, but I think you can credit the Lakeville defense for that.  No one else seemed to step up & Woodbury's other leading scorer, Rob Pien, was in foul trouble throughout much of the game.  As I've said before, I don't know if Hintz is really a bona fide D2 prospect.  He would certainly look good in a MIAC uniform though.

*********************
#33 from Armstrong is Carter Biewen.  He was out when I saw Armstrong play earlier in the season, but last year I was very impressed with his game & I think he would do well at Carleton if that's where he ends up.  However, I've been semi-wrong on 2 other Armstrong wings. Brian Hosfield made all–state last year, but struggled to get clock on the JV program at SJU.  Mark Torell, a FY at STO was caught behind Mark Bergstom & Chad Norberg, but next year might be his break out year.  Arguably, Biewen is the best of the three, but he had an ankle injury back in December which slowed down his production this year.

What did you think of Armstrong's PG Alex Rubin?  I think he's a great PG, & love his game, but I don't think he's really a D1 PG.  He signed with Illinois State last year, but I guess he's re-thinking his decision since Ill. State fired their coach.  I've heard little Scotty Kaitz was also looking at MAC & CARL.
**************************
Sum- I caught the 2nd half of the Winona State game as well, & I sure hope they're at full speed for tonight's game.  It would be nice to claim, if even vicariously, a little basketball success for the state.

[concordia of the north]

does anyone know what aau teams these people play or played for?  it would be interesting to know how the talent is getting spread out and what vehicle these guys are using to put their faces out around the country.

[columbianmaffia]

Drake

What did you think of Armstrong's PG Alex Rubin?  I think he's a great PG, & love his game, but I don't think he's really a D1 PG.  He signed with Illinois State last year, but I guess he's re-thinking his decision since Ill. State fired their coach.  I've heard little Scotty Kaitz was also looking at MAC & CARL.

if thats the little lefty that im thinking of...he reminded me of a corey laugen type pg....but a better version as he was faster and his handles were quicker and he had a great spin move and cross over...he played at a very high speed but he was in control of what he was doing the whole time and made some great decisions and hit some big 3s in the second half

[Drake Palmer]

does anyone know what aau teams these people play or played for?  it would be interesting to know how the talent is getting spread out and what vehicle these guys are using to put their faces out around the country.

Mn Magic  - Soule, Nicolai, Drapcho, Krosschell, Brumm, Hoffarber, Aldrich, Carlson - Shakopee etc.
Mn Glory - Stommes of Rocori, Fairbanks Cass Lake Bena
Hoops 43 (Chris Carr -former T-wolf's group) - Kaitz, Hintz, Lundberg - Owatonna etc.

edit: I forgot to add the grandaddy of MN AAU teams -  Howard Pulley org.  They've got a long line of distinguished alumni that have played for them in the past. 

Cmob - yeah, Kaitz is the little lefty.

[concordia of the north]

so would you say that the Magic is holding the best cards of that 2007 deck?

do you remember anyone who did play for pulley?

[Willy Wonka]

On the plus side, at least Soule can't dunk so we don't have to see this from him if South wins the title.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RKoXNToOnk

[papahoops]

ustbumknees,
Regarding your interest in Leuer, I have seen him a few times and your initial impression is pretty accurate. Although he has some similarities to Briian Butch at that age, I would not put him anywhere near Butch's caliber. In my view, he definitely needs a year to bulk up a bit. With some other coaches, I would question whether he will make an impact in the Big 10, but Bo Ryan continues to amaze me with the way he get very good contributions out of average D1 talent. I will admit I may be unfairly negative on Leuer after seeing Royce White, a sophomore from DeLaSalle outplay him in the recent high school playoffs. Although White is a big time talent, Big Ten recruits don't usually get outplayed by sophomores. I also thought Leuer whined a lot and tried to blame refs for mistakes, which I don't like to see from quality players. that is my opinion for what is worth.

[miacwatchmen]

On the plus side, at least Soule can't dunk so we don't have to see this from him if South wins the title.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RKoXNToOnk

I love how he tosses the ball into the stands after that! What a cool move...... That was actually really stupid. I hope they kicked him out of the game. Tim Floyd really has no clue what he's getting himself intro next year with this kid.

papahoops- welcome to the board + K

[columbianmaffia]

TUBBY SMITH!!!!!!!!!

[Drake Palmer]

so would you say that the Magic is holding the best cards of that 2007 deck?

do you remember anyone who did play for pulley?

Based on one year, I might give a one year edge to Magic, but overall, I'd still say Howard Pulley. I'm not as close to the AAU scene as I've been in the past, but Howard Pulley is still probably the most recognized national program out of Minnesota.  They've had more D1 bound players play for them than the other organizations combined.

However, with that being said, the margin between them & the other groups has narrowed considerably the past few years.  There's a lot of "whoring" going on in the AAU recruitment scene.  On the other hand, there are also alot of kids who grew up playing spring ball with the Magic AAU program & remained loyal to them once they hit the 16s – Blake Hoffarber & Cole Aldrich come to mind.  Magic starts with teams around 8-9yrs old, Pulley teams don't start until the 16s.

The Pulley organization also gets flak from some of the other upstart AAU clubs for not playing local AAU tourneys, & last year I think a couple of them might have been able to knock off Pulley.  Last year I think the Pulley teams were stronger at the 16 year old level than the 17s.  Off the top of my head they had the two juniors from Benilde – PG Jordan Taylor (kid that signed with Wisconsin) & forward Armond Battle who's going to be a D1 player.  Xavier Reed, Osseo, Trevor Mbakwe St. Bernards.- Marquette, They also had Royce White, the player Papahoops mentioned.  He's  a bigtime prospect.

Check with the Ohmes. They were close with Ken Lien who used to run another AAU program called MN Select & still works closely with Rene Pulley.

[Drake Palmer]

WOW - I'm shocked STA beats Rocori 54-51!  I watched a bit at home over lunch & listened on the radio on the way back to work & it sounded like Rocori had the game well in hand.  Dang!

CMob - I'm semi-superstitious, (well, actually alot superstitious  ) after "Clem the Gem" I don't know if I want another coach from Kentucky.