MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[mnblaster]

Carlton played in the championship game this past summer at the league held at Jefferson. Is that a predictor of success in the regular season? How important is preseason league play?

The Jefferson league is 1 pass then shoot at best, no D, no set roster, just summer ball to keep some skills going until school starts.

[Gregory Sager]

Carlton played in the championship game this past summer at the league held at Jefferson. Is that a predictor of success in the regular season? How important is preseason league play?

it depends who is showing up for which team...summer is a busy time of the year...i have played in a MIAC summer league game before due to lack of players and im not very good

They should've let you play in your rollerskates.

[MiacLostProphet]

Summer league means very little for any indications of how a team will do.  The whole team rarely shows up, Mafia is right in that there is no D at all, and there isn't any coaching.  Guys just launch shots because its the summer, and so they can get some up before coaches start putting the clamps on them. 

Anyone have any news on some impact freshman in the MIAC this year?

[TommieHoops4Life]

D3bball,

You asked about college football upsets - I would love nothing more than to see the Tommies win up in Collegeville this weekend, although I have a better chance at winning the lottery and getting struck by lightning. I missed UST's homecoming and the throttling by the Cobbers, but I'm actually going to be in Johnnie land this weekend, with a Bennie no less

I'm curious to see how Nicolai and Scott will fit in at UST. Also don't forget about Teddy Archer. He was a shut-down defender at De La Salle. I know he got hurt last year, so hopefully he's healthy and ready to get back at it.

[columbianmaffia]

i like it...3 new people on the board!!!

Carlton played in the championship game this past summer at the league held at Jefferson. Is that a predictor of success in the regular season? How important is preseason league play?

it depends who is showing up for which team...summer is a busy time of the year...i have played in a MIAC summer league game before due to lack of players and im not very good

They should've let you play in your rollerskates.

i agree cuz then i could have put on my patrick ewing knee pads!!

[sumander]

i like it...3 new people on the board!!!

Carlton played in the championship game this past summer at the league held at Jefferson. Is that a predictor of success in the regular season? How important is preseason league play?

it depends who is showing up for which team...summer is a busy time of the year...i have played in a MIAC summer league game before due to lack of players and im not very good

They should've let you play in your rollerskates.

i agree cuz then i could have put on my patrick ewing knee pads!!

Cmob, You could only put on the knee pads, if you put on the short, tight trunks as well! None of this baggy stuff hanging down to the knees!

[miacwatchmen]

Watchman's Welcome Back Note

I'm back from a break and ready for the season. Good to see the old dust bags still at it Sum, Drake, Maniac! Also good to see a solid newbie turnout!

I'll quit stalling and make my predictions now.

1) Bethel-   No one can argue with Madson, Laugen, Moberg, baring injury, winning the MIAC this year. The best trio on any team in the MIAC this year and we get to see them/ have to deal with them for two more years!!

2) Gustavus- Solid with Doble inside and a healthy Wittwer running around. Solid junior class should help the two out this year.

3) Saint John's- Brink will make a run for MIAC MVP this year. The kid has skills. Fogt's skills have improved massively and he has the size to bang with Moberg. Johnson will begin his third year running the point and become possibly the best PG by years end.  A solid sleeper freshman class will do much for the Johnnies this year.

4) St. Thomas-   I only know this. It doesn't matter who plays for him Fritz just gets it done. The man can flat out coach. He will get them here by himself, if he has players they'll go higher!

5) St. Olaf-  I know I'm suprised I have them this high too. Haugen will mature and be a decent threat inside, Banick will run a decent point, Nordberg and Co. can scrap together a bucket here and there I think they can win in a down league. Oh yeah....Tucker Sheley....if he gets playing time...... SHOOTER! This all depends on Koz not blowing it all.

6) Concordia- I hate to put them here but they had a poor record last year because they had injury troubles. If Linz can stay healthy he can carry his team to wins against the weaker teams this year he's that good. Johnson in the post is a solid inside threat.  Baldwin, Dyshaw, Schulz, and Citterman makes a pretty good six.  Another big helper/pain in the butt is that LONG boring drive up I-94 to Moorhead.

7) Augsburg-  Krumweide/ Cassens are one year older. Femi will literally eat up the rebounds. Griess will lead them and they will continue their climb in the league and could contend for the playoffs in the MIAC this year.

8th) Saint Mary's- Sweeney and Rohr can't do it all. Only 6 Juniors or Seniors this year. Unless they have 2 or 3 solid freshman they will be a few games under .500 in the league again this year.

9) Macalester- Abe and Conboy are good players but they can't do much with their supporting cast. I for see another year on the bottem for the scots and their leader oAs.

10) Carleton- Tommy Drake and the always popular Zach "Zoro" Johnson lead a depleted Knights team this year. Don't see a whole lot to back them up. 

11) Hamline- Tony Thrasher, hard to play 1 on 5. This Whitmore guy seems like a winner but I think it will be at least 3 years before we see what he can do.

[papahoops]

Can't argue with most of miacwatchman's predictions. My only exception is that I believe MAC has the potential of finishing significantly higher than 9th if lead players stay healthy, but there are some key unknowns at this point. Have heard that MAC has several solid freshmen with some size and athletic ability that could develop and fill key roles to support Abe/Conboy as the season moves forward, so their development will be a key to MAC's success. Ranwick is also a returning outstanding 3 point shooter giving MAC a very good outside threat to complement the 2 returning all conference players. All the first year players are from outside Minnesota, so no one is really familiar with them, and it is understandable why people could be underestimating MAC's supporting cast. It is really hard to predict how this team will evolve, but they could surprise people. The depth issue and reliance on FY players to fill roles,however, makes any prediction a crapshoot.

[miacwatchmen]

Can't argue with most of miacwatchman's predictions. My only exception is that I believe MAC has the potential of finishing significantly higher than 9th if lead players stay healthy, but there are some key unknowns at this point. Have heard that MAC has several solid freshmen with some size and athletic ability that could develop and fill key roles to support Abe/Conboy as the season moves forward, so their development will be a key to MAC's success. Ranwick is also a returning outstanding 3 point shooter giving MAC a very good outside threat to complement the 2 returning all conference players. All the first year players are from outside Minnesota, so no one is really familiar with them, and it is understandable why people could be underestimating MAC's supporting cast. It is really hard to predict how this team will evolve, but they could surprise people. The depth issue and reliance on FY players to fill roles,however, makes any prediction a crapshoot.

It seems to me that MAC isn't the only team that may rely somewhat on Freshman this year. SJU has a big question mark after their top 4 or 5 players. How will the Tommies reload and which Freshman will break out and help Fritz.

[abominable_snowman]

Less than a month away will begin the start of the true tests for the MIAC teams. I did a mini-investigation for the tommies. I'm a little too lazy to do something similar for others.

It looks like they might have a chance against Wooster. UST and Wooster are similar because they are known for their success in their conference, and they also had significant players leave last year.  That is a fun gym to play in and a tough team as well.

Otterbein is another school at that tournament the tommies will face.  Haven't heard to much discussion over on the OAC board about them, except they have a guy on their team someone thinks deserves preseason all conference.

Lbow are you making the trek to Ohio this year?

Wooster has posted their 2007-2008 Season Outlook on their website: 

In the Backcourt, the top 4 players listed are James Cooper, Brandon Johnson, Devin Fulk and Dustin Geitgey.

In the Frontcourt, the top 4 players listed are Evan Will, Marty Bidwell, Craig Elam and Robert Melnick.  Rob Tenenini is the 5th player mentioned.

There are 7 freshmen on the 19 man roster.  From this group, the best candidate for early playing time is probably 6'5" Bryan Wickliffe from Columbus St. Charles.

The link to the season outlook is: http://athletics.wooster.edu/mb/outlook.php

The link to the 2007-2008 roster is: http://athletics.wooster.edu/mb/roster.php

GO SCOTS!

[Drake Palmer]

As I've said earlier, I'll wait to see the makeup of the rosters before I make my final predictions; but here are a couple of observations:

Watch – I think you're getting your Cobber seasons mixed up.  2005-2006 was the year of the freakish injuries, The Big E – Keith Eckhoff going down with the career ending knee injury, along with Mark "Sir fouls-a-lot " Dixon's shoulder injury (?) and Luke Linz's foot injury.  Last year, I suppose you could say the Cobbs suffered from a puzzling season long hand injury called - "Perimeter-post fumble-itis." Commonly known as  "Poor-decision making rash"  I believe they lead the MIAC, if not the western hemisphere in turnovers!    Hopefully, another year of seasoning will improve the ball handling & passing skills of the PGs & rest of the team.

MAC note - Barring any injuries, Tom Conboy could end up as Mac's all-time leading scorer & surpass the legendary Ben van Thorre.  BVT has 1,707 points & Conboy currently has 1,369 points.  If Conboy maintains his career scoring average of around 17-18 ppg, he could be looking to break the record sometime in the last couple weeks of the season.

Snow - fine, fine, fine about the  teams out in Ohio.  What we really wanna know is -  how are the Tommies looking? 

[localcoach]

So I did my due diligence again today but no additional MIAC rosters have been posted.  Com'on SID's!!  Only Carleton, STO, and SMU.  Carleton is up to 12 guys though.  One is from NYC??? 

watchmen - Good to hear from you.  A few comments on your predictions.

- You're right....Fritz can coach and the Tommies will make the playoffs.  What spot I don't know
- I would be shocked if Auggie doesn't finisher higher than the Cobbs.  Concordia is still one of the bottom 3 teams IMO
- Hamline will finish higher than 11.  Whitmore will surprise some people with his style of play.  The discipline though is the key.  I think HU will finish somewhere between 7-10.
- Watch out for the Oles this year.  They could be a top 4 team

[miacwatchmen]

So I did my due diligence again today but no additional MIAC rosters have been posted.  Com'on SID's!!  Only Carleton, STO, and SMU.  Carleton is up to 12 guys though.  One is from NYC??? 

watchmen - Good to hear from you.  A few comments on your predictions.

- You're right....Fritz can coach and the Tommies will make the playoffs.  What spot I don't know
- I would be shocked if Auggie doesn't finisher higher than the Cobbs.  Concordia is still one of the bottom 3 teams IMO
- Hamline will finish higher than 11.  Whitmore will surprise some people with his style of play.  The discipline though is the key.  I think HU will finish somewhere between 7-10.
- Watch out for the Oles this year.  They could be a top 4 team

Local- Whitmore can only do so much for his team.  If he doesn't have players theres not alot he can do. You're right they may suprise someone or some people in the league but 7th place last year had 8 wins and 8th place had 7 wins. I just don't see the pipers suprising that many teams this year.


Drake- Thanks for having my back. I've been away for too long! Maybe I should take a day from work to sharpen my MIAC basketball knowledge!

[Drake Palmer]

While we're still waiting on the media hype for our part of the hoops universe, I thought I'd toss out this item.

I caught this commercial on tv last night.  I'm not sure if this will be a marketing flash in the pan for T-wolves, or if they'll be able to generate some decent hype using this ad campaign  Sweetwater Jones Click on the Youtube link.

[columbianmaffia]

in my best trent tucker voice *remember to read slowly in Double T time*

timberwolf are trading Ricky Avis becuase there is no D in Davis...this is a good trade because he does not play timberwolf basketball