MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[TommieHoops4Life]

I'm a MIAC fan when NCAA time comes like everyone else on here. When the Knights play the Oles, I could care less who wins. My job is to get the story, and usually that's no problem because Koz and Kalland are classy guys. Koz did, however, make me wait forever after the loss at St. Thomas last year in the MIAC semis. Between talking to parents, recruits and taking photos with his seniors, must have been a half hour.

[VOJ]

Madson for MVP...without him this team would be 3-7 at best. 

Moberg gets 10 shots, but shoots no free throws...he must go stronger to the rim.  However, Bethel has done a much better job of making sure that he gets more touches as of late.  He needs 15 shots a game and at least 6 Free Throw Attempts a game.  Moberg will be the KEY to how deep Bethel goes in the playoffs.   

Bethel has a +2 rebounding edge...should have been +10 against a much smaller team. 



Bethel will finish 12-8 in the conference at worst (they get GAC, UST, CARL, & CORD all at home the second time through!).  They will be playing at UST in the "Shoe" for the conference championship...Mark it down.   

BNB...I have to take issue with some of the things you wrote...first in this league if you are not on a winning team you should not be up for MVP...5-5 won't cut it...also look at all the shots he took against SJU to get his 20+ points...if that is standard then all he is is a gunner on a team with not enough options.

I don't think Moberg likes contact...he is content to shoot J's his game is not about driving to the hoop...other posters have made observations they don't get him the ball enough, but does he seal off well?  He is big...but does he play big? He averages 9 rebounds a game, which is good...but could it be better?

Which brings me to my next point...Femi S. is a pretty good rebounder, that might be a reason why the Auggy's held their own on the boards last night...

Bethel playing for the MIAC title huh?  Well correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think this group of guys is as good as last years, they have not caught fire like last years team, only to burn out in the first round of the conference tourney at home...the young guys are not meshing with the vets and they are way too inconsistent...at best they are the 6th seed, at worst they are hitting the recruiting trail earlier than they want to.

[Drake Palmer]

AAh, I love this time of year!

Part 1.

TH4L and C of N — Annually, the Gusties are hardly worthy of a second look from those expecting a flashy performance. Some call their style boring and rarely do they dominate or overwhelm an opponent. But they continue to win, as they did last night on the road against what was/is the third best team in the league....

What's my point? Whether you were impressed with individual players or not isn't particularly relevant. The sum has, and always be, greater than the whole at Gustavus.

If you need further evidence, ask Drake how super-slow-footed Kane happened to sneak his way onto his All-Defensive Team

A bone, Willy, a bone.   8) If the season ended today, with the Gusties & Tommies tied for the league championship, you know there would be a great hue & outcry from the Gustie camp if Wittwer was the only GAC player to make any of the post season awards teams.  So factoring in this element, I wet my finger, stuck it up in the air & so it came to pass, Kane Sivesind made the DP Mid-season All MIAC Defense team.

Actually, Sivesind along with the rest of the Gusties are having a good defensive year.  I have other pressing hoop matters  so I don't have the time to do my research, but I believe the conference stats will bear this out.  Thus, Sivesind was the best Gustie representative I could think of.  Besides, at the rate Trevor Wittwer is going he could set a record for most times fouled out of a game in a season.  What's he at 3 – 4 times so far this season?  One side benefit of this is that it affords the opportunity for some of his teammates to shine – entrance stage right - Mr. Kane Sivesind. 

An aside, what's wrong with your boy Man-Child Doble?  He's definitely not a Defensive team candidate,but in a Gustie world he is Mr. Instant Offense.  Doble's minutes seem to be down this year.

[concordia of the north]

1) VOJ: moberg is a stud when it comes to sealing in the post.  he puts himself in terrific positions to score.

2) Wittwer is getting dangerously close to tying or breaking my 2005 record for foul outs!  He will never touch my season mark of 85 fouls, or my average of 3.5 per game.

http://gustavus.edu/athletics/mbb/archives/2007-08/stats/teamcume.htm#TEAM.LDR

http://www.cord.edu/dept/sports/sportsbackup/mb05stat.html#TEAM.LDR

I hope my status changes with this 100th post.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

  The Jays didn't muster anything close to a comeback as I kept expecting them to do.

That would be at least 4 games in a row at the Schoe that the J's rolled over and played dead after a big UST run!

Actually, SJU is now 2-16 at the Shoe in the past 14 years. Only SMU and HU have fared worse at the Shoe. Smitty should make a LARGE donation to UST if they go thru with the rumored plans of levelling the Shoe.

So does Joe Scott molest everyone he guards?  He better hope he does not get a crew that calls everything, he could end up next to Fritz instead of on the floor.

The Tommies have a great team they move well, the shoot well, they even rebounded well last night,  I was hoping the J's would hold them off the boards but that did not happen. 

J's will re-group and go to Concordia and give a great effort tomorrow night against surging Concordia...it should be a great game...Sum you gonna make it over for that one?  IF so say hello, would have been nice if Drake would have introduced himself last night or any other poster who was at the Shoe...

I think you mean does Joe Scott stop tolerating getting molested on every play. Midget (#4) was pawing him like it was a date at a drive in movie  (of course, we were viewing the game from opposite sides of the court, you with your red blinders on, me with my purple ones  )

Did  Lieser develop a phobia about shooting in the Shoe? Fewer shots, but still, nothing falls in.

[Drake Palmer]

I love this time of Year Part 2

I've been saying this for the last week or so – in a variation of the old poem

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

A Trey, a Trey, for the loss of a Trey, a playoff spot was lost for the Macalester Scots. 

On a team with as little depth as MAC, they could ill-afford to lose a live-body in the middle that the first semester FY wunderkund Trey Mullen filled for MAC.  Having his presence allowed Tom Conboy to show some of the discipline in his game that had been missing in the past.

Now after the holiday break, we're starting to see some of those bad habits creep back into TCons' game – the forced shots, ill-advised treys & slow to develop kick-outs when he feels the double-teams coming.  Conboy's game has progressed a lot from the time he first stepped foot on the Mac campus 4 years ago.  It's too bad Macalester couldn't recruit & retain one more high-quality post player to ride coach with him and Abe this season.  The Scots could have been contendas.

[Willy Wonka]

Let's break this down old school OAS-style for Mr. TH4L.

I was at the Carleton/GAC match-up, and the two away from the ball calls were actually good calls.

Gacbacker says they were terrible calls. The Carleton announcers — who are homers, like most MIAC radio guys — didn't like the calls, despite how they gave the Knights a chance to win or tie. Hanson apparently spoke out on the radio about the calls. Forgive me if I believe those guys.

I've been hearing a lot about Paulson on here, and he was virtually non-existent tonight. ...Overall, I wasn't impressed at all with him.

He's gotten a lot of time on here, but in what manner has he been discussed? No one has ever called him a world beater. Drake put him on his most improved list based simply on the fact that he went from benchwarmer to starter on, arguably, the best team in the league. That's worth something, even if his stats (2 and 4) last night weren't.

Gusties looked god awful very early.

Isn't this ripping them? Last I checked, they led at halftime and the deficit never reached double figures...on the road against a quality opponent, no less.

DesLauriers runs the game well at the point and rarely makes a mistake, but I'd like to see him look to score more.

DLo was 2-for-6 with 6 points and 9 assists. He's shooting 38% on the year, which is second worst among the 10 Gusties who see at least 5 minutes per game. As a team, Gustavus is shooting 49.3%, which I've got to believe is one of the highest in the nation (The NCAA hasn't updated its stats site since last May, as far as I can tell). Last night he more than doubled his average assist numbers (4.2), so I've got to think Hanson and the Gusties are just fine with his decision making.

Any other questions?

[sumander]

Did  Lieser develop a phobia about shooting in the Shoe? Fewer shots, but still, nothing falls in.

No I think he inherited it from Westman!.

VOJ, Need to try and clear something from my calendar in order to get over to Moorhead and see the J's. If I can get it done I will be sure and introduce myself.

[Drake Palmer]

So does Joe Scott molest everyone he guards?  He better hope he does not get a crew that calls everything, he could end up next to Fritz instead of on the floor.

The Tommies have a great team they move well, the shoot well, they even rebounded well last night,  I was hoping the J's would hold them off the boards but that did not happen. 

J's will re-group and go to Concordia and give a great effort tomorrow night against surging Concordia...it should be a great game...Sum you gonna make it over for that one?  IF so say hello, would have been nice if Drake would have introduced himself last night or any other poster who was at the Shoe...

I think you mean does Joe Scott stop tolerating getting molested on every play. Midget (#4) was pawing him like it was a date at a drive in movie  (of course, we were viewing the game from opposite sides of the court, you with your red blinders on, me with my purple ones  )

Did  Lieser develop a phobia about shooting in the Shoe? Fewer shots, but still, nothing falls in.

+ K for the rest of the week,  I just about fell out of chair laughing my eyes out.  Oops, I'd bette re-think this plus k for the rest of the day! That's funny as heck!!   

Regarding Lieser, it's the Tyler Westman curse.   .

One of my personal favorites from last year's 2nd Js & Ts game.   As I was walking to my seat during the pre-game warmups, Lieser airballed a jumper on the northside of the gym.  The Tommie fans on the north bleachers began the airball chant.  Lieser good naturedy smiled & tried to laugh it off. Little did he realize that he & his backcourt running mate Tyler Westman would have one of the worst shooting performances of their careers.

[VOJ]

  The Jays didn't muster anything close to a comeback as I kept expecting them to do.

That would be at least 4 games in a row at the Schoe that the J's rolled over and played dead after a big UST run!

Actually, SJU is now 2-16 at the Shoe in the past 14 years. Only SMU and HU have fared worse at the Shoe. Smitty should make a LARGE donation to UST if they go thru with the rumored plans of levelling the Shoe.

So does Joe Scott molest everyone he guards?  He better hope he does not get a crew that calls everything, he could end up next to Fritz instead of on the floor.

The Tommies have a great team they move well, the shoot well, they even rebounded well last night,  I was hoping the J's would hold them off the boards but that did not happen. 

J's will re-group and go to Concordia and give a great effort tomorrow night against surging Concordia...it should be a great game...Sum you gonna make it over for that one?  IF so say hello, would have been nice if Drake would have introduced himself last night or any other poster who was at the Shoe...

I think you mean does Joe Scott stop tolerating getting molested on every play. Midget (#4) was pawing him like it was a date at a drive in movie  (of course, we were viewing the game from opposite sides of the court, you with your red blinders on, me with my purple ones  )

Did  Lieser develop a phobia about shooting in the Shoe? Fewer shots, but still, nothing falls in.

Agreed my blinders are red, no doubt about it...as for  Lieser, he never found the groove last night...the real issue for the Js' was Schwartz with two quick fouls, in games the J's have won, he has gotten off to a good start...now he has started ok in games they have lost, but when he does well, things go better.  You are wrong about Scott...good thing Yurkovich was on the game, J's have not won a game he has reffed since the first Bush administration...George the father, not the son.

[Drake Palmer]

I love this time of year Part 3

Proof positive that undersized (read height), athletic, yet bulky post players, can be effective at D3, look no further west than to the corner of Summit & Cretin.  Here you'll find the home of a certain Al "The Real" McCoy.  After last night's performance, I'll definitely have to re-think my nomination & move him from honorable Mention status, to heavy consideration for Posters' Sixth man of the Year Award.  He & fellow Tommie, Teddy Archer must be the leading candidates at this point.

Talk about being a leader on the court – McCoy was everywhere.  In 19 minutes of play here's a few highlights:  Grabbing offensive & defensive rebounds (7), playing in your face suffocating defense, & then he had an absolutely sweet up & under move in the first half that made me (usually Mark Hanson like stoic exterior) jump up out of my seat! 13 points, 5-6 FGA, 3-4 FTA.

And then, in the 2nd half, with a majestic flourish, he became the Barry White of the basketball court.  McCoy was the Midway Maestro and directing the Love Unlimited Orchestra i.e. the Tommie basketball team & dropped off 3 sweet assists.  The highlight assist of the night came on this play:  McCoy was being closely guarded with the ball in the baseline corner. Out of the corner of his eye he sees FY Anders Halvorsen coming weak-side across the lane, McCoy passes Halvorsen the ball & Halvorsen drop steps, turns & sends home a 2-handed dunk! Absolutely, positively one of the dunk highlight plays of the year!

I don't know what happened after that. I must have blacked out from the excitement!  When I woke up there was a large circle of people on the court & they were presenting Coach Fritz a ball with 500 written on it. When I attend games in the future, in addition to my cane, I now must carry a respirator and inhaler in my game kit. 

[thefightingscots]

word on the street is smu had some subtractions to the team i guess a couple of players either quit or got kicked off, im not sure as to who they are i guess we will see come the St. Thomas game tomorrow.  any speculations as to who got the boot from the Cardinal squad?

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

word on the street is smu had some subtractions to the team i guess a couple of players either quit or got kicked off, im not sure as to who they are i guess we will see come the St. Thomas game tomorrow.  any speculations as to who got the boot from the Cardinal squad?

uhm....this got considerable airtime on here yesterday    But I will take a stab in the dark and say that Rohr either quit or got booted and tyhatCormier either got booted or a haircut   

[columbianmaffia]

Gacbacker, I was just pointing out the fact that you and I care a little more about the outcome of the game than. TH4L is a Tommie and thats why I said he was more like Switzerland. Nothing you said was insanely biased but it had a little black n gold slant to it...thats all.

watchman - I once had my hand bitten off by a goose when I was trying to feed it at a golf course. In return, I stole his eyeball.

if anyone ever gives you a present make sure you dont stand next to a window or a cliff when you open it....because if it is a GOOSE IN THE BOX you might fall to your death when it scares you

[thefightingscots]

smu - wouldn't it be something...2 senior captains leave the cardinals and they turn their season around??? could this be what was needed??? im not saying it will help at all but heck it couldn't hurt right we'll see if they look improved at St thomas i'll be making the trip to find out first hand