MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[thefightingscots]

smu
the cards finally picked up a win.  I didn't get a chance to see the game but i wish i would have, i heard they controlled the entire game.  Wright is playing like a man possessed he dropped 31 pts.  and i heard Carr onyl got limited time coming off an injury not to mention his two game suspension, but whats the deal with the injury?? if anyone has connections with the smu ball club i'd be interested to hear about it.  It's also nice to see josh knights finally had a decent game with 11 pts which i think is a season high.  4 players in double digits is another positive.  Hopefully they will carry the momentum into the game against the gusties monday night.. Goodluck and Go Cards

I heard my ulma lost tonight against Concordia by 20.  Shake it off you'll bounce back for sure.

[Drake Palmer]

You must have been checking as frequently as me.  When I checked last, the Js didn't even have the game archived.  So while I was listening to it,  the boxscore was loaded.

Both teams shoot poorly

Js 38%
Royals 33%

Fogt goes for the dub-dub 17 points 12 boards
Lieser with 20 points
Schwartz pops in 12 & Brink only scores 6.

Madson gets 25points  on 10-25  shooting.

I figured it's better to miss MIAC games earlier in the season than later, so I slide on over to River Falls to watch UW-Whitewater beat UWRF in OT.  Good game, but I wished I would have stuck around.

[miacwatchmen]

Big win for the J's tonight. 66-57 in Arden Hills. Leiser leads the way with 20 and Fogt follows with 17 pts and 12 reb. I see the J's finishing in the top three for sure following this win. Brink had a sub-par performance though with only 6 pts and 6 rebs in 27 minutes. Maybe an injury?? Madson was the only Royal to shoot the ball more than 6 times.....and he shot it 25 times!!!! 

Why didn't Laugen start tonight for the Royals?

[Drake Palmer]

...Why didn't Laugen start tonight for the Royals?

Watch - I'm guessing it has do with Laugen recovering from his injury he had back in December.  He had missed the last 2 Bethel games - Carleton & North Central.

[PTPer35]

Very physical game today at the Shoe as maniac mentioned. McCoy got away with alot of subtle pushing in the post and Zorro couldn't get back into a rhythm after losing a tooth or two. (Sutherland may have broken his hand on the same play). Johnson opened up the game with two 'and 1s' and hit both free throws but only made one free throw the rest of the game.

CAR committed 24 TOs and sorely missed Rodney Kuhl who quit the team over break because of back problems. It will be interesting to see who fills in now that Sutherland will likely miss some time. FY Jason Weischedel handled the ball very well at the end of the game and could see more PT.

Other thoughts/comments:

1. Teddy Archer tried to cram in the 2nd half so he could flex his muscles but Morris Nwogwogwo hustled back and had an acrobatic block. Unfortunately the stripes called a foul.

2. Don't give Nicoli any space.

3. Kudos to St. Thomas' defense. Carleton didn't look comfortable in their offense at all after the first 5 minutes.

4. UST's depth killed CAR today. CAR will need more depth or remain completely healthy to do anything in March.

[piperinsider]

Who's back in first place?

Hamline.....Pipers (insert Piper clap)

Bethel, dead. St. Olaf, dead.

[abominable_snowman]

Serious....not one post this afternoon.

HAM 80, AUG 79
* No box yet
SMU 89, STO 75
* Will Wright 31
* http://www.saintmaryssports.com/News/mbball/2008/1/5/mbbstolaf1508.asp?path=mbball
CON 90, MAC 78
* Siverson factor - Linz for 30, Erik Lien had 26; Conboy had 22
UST 90, CAR 80
* Scott 17, McCoy 16
* http://www.tommiesports.com/mbb/news/20080105Carleton.html

Gotta love blown expectations.  The floodgates were open in the Shoe and the Toms put up 90 against the carlies!

Auggies have stuck to their season plan of just falling short.  But close wins like these will be the difference for the playoff spot.  Kudos to Hamline.

Concordia puts a glitch in the Mac-wagon.

Bethel needs to win urgently to get something going.  Meanwhile, Hamline, Mac, UST, Carleton will cruise on and not look back.

[miacwatchmen]

I am a little suprised that no one has commented any further on the game in Moorhead last night. 90-73 Cobbs put a licking on the Scots. I think the 40-9 bench scoring margin may have played a factor in this one. Also a +16 rebound margin helps too. MAC attempted 34 threes!!

Linz goes for a career high 30 on 12-18 shooting with 8 ribbies and 7 dimes. Freshman Erik Lein pours in 26 on 10-12 shooting in 25 minutes off the bench!!

If Linz can get support like this I like the Cobbers chances of knocking off a few teams after the long trek to the North country.

EDIT: I think everyone needs to go to the Cobbers website and look the photo for last nights game story. The caption is "Players struggle for position" but it appears Conboy is getting whacked across the face with a forearm!!

[papahoops]

Although I would like forget yesterday entirely, I will try to give an "impartial" viewpoint of MAC's dismal performance in Moorhead yestertday, since I was one the understandably few non-Cobber fans attending the game.

An early key to the game were two very questionable quick calls on Conboy. Although he remained in the game and his minutes were not affected, it forced MAC to play a zone to protect him which ended up being very soft and ineffective. MAC also missed several early threes that allowed the Cobbers to sit in the paint. The comfort of the home court and  ineffective MAC zone defense resulted in an outstanding offensive shooting performance by the Cobbers and 90 points. I expected Luke Linz to score, but MAC made Erik Lien look like he was all world (10-12 from field and 4-4 from 3 point land). Once got Cobbers got in a rythym, MAC was not able to right the ship. On the rare occasions that they missed shots, the Cobbers also played excellent transition defense to neutralize Abe's quickness advantage at the point position. There is no question the refs did nothing to help the MAC cause, as they allowed the home team to play more "aggressive" defense, as evidenced by the photo Miacwatchmen referenced in his earlier post on the Cobber web site (note this photo did not result in a foul call). 

All in all, this game demonstrated what we all know about the balanced MIAC this year...any team is capable on a given day of beating anybody. My hats off to the Cobbers on a nice win. The good news about a loss in January is you get to play another game in a few days.

[piperinsider]

Took a look at the BET/SJU box:

* The Johnnies have no bench. Besides Aaron Burtzel's 31 minutes and seven points, the other players combined for 0 points, 0 shots and 13 minutes.

* Cory Laugen came off the bench for the Royals and finished 1-for-6 with five points and 22 minutes.

* Bethel shot 33 percent for the game - Madson made 10 shots, but missed 15.

* How disappointing has Mike Moberg been? 7 points, 10 rebounds, 5 TOs. Than again he is averaging 13 and 10.

I'd love to hear some Bethel posters and their thoughts on what is going on there. Did we just over evaluate the Royals talents?

[HarryDH]

From my vantage point watching the bethel/sju game yesterday and a couple of the other previous bethel games is that the Royals offense isn't able to find a way to get easy scores.  Almost all of their shots are contested pull up jumpers.  There is little screening that allows shooters to get open, and there are not enough entries in to the post that could make the defense collapse.  Overall, the game was very frustrating to watch.  The defense has improved from the first few games I watched early in the season, but the offense appears to have regressed.  Somebody needs to step up and fire the team up or its gonna be a long season.

[TommieHoops4Life]

I was at the first half of the Oles and Cardinals yesterday. I can't believe that team hadn't won game yet. They absolutely blitzed St. Olaf from the opening tip and never looked back. They established a feverish pace early, forcing the Oles into several turnovers out of their press. It also helped that they were making a lot of shots. They played with a lot of emotion. Wright was solid, and their close-out D was outstanding. They had three or four blocks on consecutive possessions on jumpers.

Haven't looked at the box, but this was the first time I've seen Banick out of whack. Christensen didn't play at all in the first half, I was intrigued by that.

Nice win for the Tommies... 90-80??? Those two teams combined for 101 points in the MIAC title game a few years back. It's amazing what happens when the ball goes in the basket.

[concordia of the north]

went to the bethel/sju game:

-no one is allowed to rag fogt for the rest of the season.  he is such a good contributor.  even if he only scores 8-10 pts, he's just one of those pieces that makes a team better. solid.

-no one should doubt moberg. he started the game strong hitting a couple midrange post touch shots.  bethel did the worst job of post-entry passing I have seen in years. all the passes were shoulder high, gently thrown, and from the worst angles.  in the second half over the course of maybe three minutes Moberg had Fogt (who may be the conference's most physically capable post roadblock) totally sealed into the middle of the lane over the top.  Instead of passing to the wing and rolling a bounce pass in on the baseline side, bethel tried to babyfart a post entry in from above the elbow.  they must have had 5-7 turnovers just on post-entries.  that's 8-10 pts for moberg with the kind of position he had. unbelievable.

-P.S. Go cobbs.  Go Linz.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Nice win for the Tommies... 90-80??? Those two teams combined for 101 points in the MIAC title game a few years back. It's amazing what happens when the ball goes in the basket.

No it was 81-71...still high-scoring for UST/CC

[thefightingscots]

what are the predictions from everyone from all games tomrrow night?