MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Drake Palmer]

CON- Why am I reminded of the phrase,  nah-nah, nah-nah, boo-boo.

Alright, since we can't discuss dunks, nah wait a minute.  Seriously CON – how many made alley oops dunks do we see in the MIAC, or in D3 for that matter -  seriously? If we're lucky, one a year.  This Tommie team is causing me to compile a dunk scrapbook.  And it isn't like I haven't seen the other teams in the league play.

PT - I'd give the dunk contest award to Mr. Viau. The one-handed tomahawk dunk is tough, but to arch back, & toss down a tomahawk with your off-hand...that's S-W-E-ET!  Any Tommie fans know if B.J. is ambidextrous?  Cuz that was an impressive feat.  I had no idea the boy had upps like that.
*******************
But moving along....as another Tommie poster so aptly pointed out, the Cobbs have a less than stellar road record this year.  They're 3-7, & those 3 wins have come against teams with losing records – Hamline, Macalester & St. Mary's.  So CON tell me, how are Coaches Siverson, Odegaard & Whartnaby going to exhort their Cobbers to victory against those disgruntled Royals this Saturday evening?
******************
In spite of other's protests, I knew there was something fishy going on in Winona.  And at the rate things are going,  there might be more angst over at Snelling & Hewitt before things start to improve.
*************
And next week, we'll get a chance to see to the first official regional rankings.
***********
And why no reports out of Collegeville?

[TommieHoops4Life]

Wow, I make one little comment about the useless critiquing a made basket and all of the sudden I'm attacking somebody?? Ease up. I wasn't even there to see it with my own two eyes, but like DP said, how often does that happen in D-3?

I always thought of Redick as one of the most misunderstood players in the ACC. He did his fair share of taunting, but he always had the game to back it up. He hustled, gave 100 percent and was one of the better shooters that ever existed in college basketball. Some of the crap he had to deal with was unbelievable. I think back to when he played at Maryland, and the fans there would chant "F- you J.J." and there was one sign that said "Hey J.J., I f'd your sister." That's crossing the line.

I can definitely see how Paulus could get under your skin, but he does less jawing from what I've seen. He plays tenacious defense, has recovered from a miserable 2006-07 season where he was hurt and has hit big shot after big shot this year. I couldn't be happier for him. Henderson's elbow was rough, but if he really wanted to hurt Hansbrough, he would've given him a right cross and gotten ejected.

Speaking of fighting, did anyone catch Brock Lesnar in his ultimate fighting debut? Dude got 4.2 million and lost in less than two minutes. He pummeled the guy with punch after punch, and after one bad move, was about to have his leg/ankle broken and he succumbed. Tough one.

Looking forward to some intriguing match-ups on Saturday, even though I'll be getting my fix through a high school game, followed by a pair of D-2 games at Concordia with my better half.

[Willy Wonka]

Henderson's elbow was rough, but if he really wanted to hurt Hansbrough, he would've given him a right cross and gotten ejected.

So...if a Gustie smacks Scott with a blatant elbow to the face with 18 seconds left in a 14 point loss, breaking his nose and spurting blood in a 5 foot radius...it's a fair play this Saturday (nevermind that Henderson *did* get suspended for it)? I expect to hear no complaints from you if this actually happens.

To paraphrase a quote I heard attributed to Psycho T...I don't hate Duke. I just hate all their players, coaches and fans.

[VOJ]

Duke sucks.

Yeah...I hate teams that play smarter than their opponents, have players who don't feel the need to pound their chests after every made basket, and players who tend to stay in school for four years.

Yeah...Duke really sucks.

Not to get involved in a GAC civil war(should we call this Gutie on Gustie crime?)...anyway, didn't Luol Deng leave early...how about Elton Brand, and Josh McRoberts ring a bell?  Oh how about William Avery...washout guard with the Wolves?  Those are off the top of my head...should I go look for a few more?   As for chest thumping...every program has at least one guy if not more who does that crap...

Duke...no titles since 2000-01...hope that trend continues...oh and you can lump Notre Dame in with Duke...although Mike Brey might be the lone Coach K disciple who has done anything...but that is not saying much...Its more the Notre Dame FB that I am not a fan of...

VOJ- Of course Duke has had players leave early, that's why I said they have players who TEND to stay in school for four years. You know like Laettner, Hurley, Grant Hill, Duhon, Battier, Redick, Sheldon Williams. Not surprisingly those players were rewarded with a lot of success. Under Coach K, 61 of 65 players who played all four years of eligibility went to at least one final four.

Hate on Duke all you want, they are still the classiest, most successful program of our lifetime, not to mention the fact that they play their home games in the greatest atmosphere in all of college athletics.

Alaa Abdelnaby stepping on a Kentucky player...oh and he stayed all four years and graduated really classy...oh yea...

[VOJ]

CON- Why am I reminded of the phrase,  nah-nah, nah-nah, boo-boo.

Alright, since we can't discuss dunks, nah wait a minute.  Seriously CON – how many made alley oops dunks do we see in the MIAC, or in D3 for that matter -  seriously? If we're lucky, one a year.  This Tommie team is causing me to compile a dunk scrapbook.  And it isn't like I haven't seen the other teams in the league play.

PT - I'd give the dunk contest award to Mr. Viau. The one-handed tomahawk dunk is tough, but to arch back, & toss down a tomahawk with your off-hand...that's S-W-E-ET!  Any Tommie fans know if B.J. is ambidextrous?  Cuz that was an impressive feat.  I had no idea the boy had upps like that.
*******************
But moving along....as another Tommie poster so aptly pointed out, the Cobbs have a less than stellar road record this year.  They're 3-7, & those 3 wins have come against teams with losing records – Hamline, Macalester & St. Mary's.  So CON tell me, how are Coaches Siverson, Odegaard & Whartnaby going to exhort their Cobbers to victory against those disgruntled Royals this Saturday evening?
******************
In spite of other's protests, I knew there was something fishy going on in Winona.  And at the rate things are going,  there might be more angst over at Snelling & Hewitt before things start to improve.
*************
And next week, we'll get a chance to see to the first official regional rankings.
***********
And why no reports out of Collegeville?

Drake...what do you want to know...St. Olaf's team is depeleted because Torrell has mono and Christensen and another player have the flu...the Johnnies came out pissed because they let one slip away in St. Peter and decided to make up for the poor showing in Northfield earlier this year...Koz called two timeouts in the first 8 minutes roughly to stem the tide but it was not enough...no answer for Brady...who if you saw the game he had last night you would say he is in the top 3 for MIAC MVP...

Big matchup with the Auggies on Saturday...hope we carry the same intensity to the floor...

[concordia of the north]

i don't know about other teams, but concordia had 2 or 3 plays and sets designed for backscreen, backdoor, alley-oop dunks.  i would say we completed 60-70% of the time.

concordia needs to attack bethel's perimeter ball pressure.  instead of moving laterally, when shane or cory gets out there belly to belly 32 feet from the hoop, karl olson, darrin olmscheid, ryan johnson, and others need to get on a hard line for the lane.  that's it.  good things happen for the cobbers when they get to the lane.  even if they just throw up garbage shots, they have 4 6'5 and taller guys that know how to board.  when you have darrin, linz, james baldwin, and ryan johnson/fraase in there, you have a very strong offensive rebounding unit.

[gacbacker]

Alaa Abdelnaby stepping on a Kentucky player...oh and he stayed all four years and graduated really classy...oh yea...

Wow, the best you could do was come up with something from 1986? 22 years ago! Ha! Great investigative work though.

To paraphrase a quote I heard attributed to Psycho T...I don't hate Duke. I just hate all their players, coaches and fans.

You hate all their players, coches and fans? I'm not a fan of UNC, and I've even hated some of their players like Rasheed Wallace for example. But when you blanket the whole program and say you hate them all, that doesn't do much for your credibility in my opinion. Do you hate sophomore forward Steve Johnson?

[Sparticus-dttyd]

I know that its still a few days away, but how big is the showdown coming on saturday at UST? The first meeting was arguably the best game in the miac so far this year and the winner takes the conference in this matchup. Any predictions? If gac wins they would hold the tie-breaker and if UST wins it separates them from gac by two games which I wouldn't see UST giving up with only three games left after saturday. This matchup also holds the fact that these two teams have been the most successful teams in the miac over the last ten years, and its only fitting that it comes down to these two teams at UST where they haven't lost in over thirty games. UST has the revenge factor goin for them but GAC has the underdog factor going and its been a couple of years since they won the conference so there is a little more motivation. Feel free to let the speculation begin. I think that GAC will win in another tight game.

P.S. GAC is the only team to hold UST to under 70 points all season where they held them to 58. Just food for thought.

[Chica yea false identification]

Skibbity - Wonka was in the house. Didn't you see him looking for skeletons in the closet?

haha I missed that....perhaps my vision was blocked for the brown paper bag I had over my head. 

[big_shocker]

Look, that Henderson elbow was on purpose, because, if you watch the video, it looks more like he smacks him with his hand.

Hansbrough is just as much of a jerk.

Teddy Archer should watch out, or he might one day get an elbow in the face, such as after he air-kissed the GAC crowd earlier this season. Papa Shocker would say, "That guy's cruisin' for a bruisin'."

What I'm trying to say is that both teams have demeaning traits. I'm only hoping there is just as intense a rivalry for the GAC/UST game on Saturday.

[columbianmaffia]

this indiana illinois game is tight

[nkwest]

Teddy Archer should watch out, or he might one day get an elbow in the face, such as after he air-kissed the GAC crowd earlier this season.

It didn't take long for karma to catch up with him there.  If I recall correctly, with UST up by 1 it was Archer that missed the front end of a one-and-one and the ensuing Kaus layup put GAC ahead with 1.4 seconds remaining.

He actually has already taken an elbow to the face this season courtesy of Bethel's Tim Madson during the first UST/BU match up of the season, though I think that had more to do with frustration from the stifling defense that Robinson, and then Archer, were playing on him than any particular antics.

[VOJ]

I know the Gusty-UST matchup will be the highlight of tomorrow's action, but the Johnnies-Auggies matchup looks like a big one too...Auggies making a run, while the J's are looking for the 3rd seed at a minimum in the MIAC playoffs...same thing for the Bethel and Concordia throwdown in Arden Hills...with the 6 pm start time for that one...MIAC fans could have a doubleheader...

one more comment on Duke...yes they win, and for the most part they play with class, but generalizations that were made by gacbacker allow for holes to be poked through them...I had forgotten about the Henderson incident, but it was dirty, he should have been ejected immediately and done for the year...other than that I am sure he is an upstanding young man and fine human being.

[concordia of the north]

voj...do you mean 3rd place at best? the very best i think sju could do is 3rd, and i'm not sure that's in the cards.

if bethel wins, things steer back towards more open grounds for all those middle of the pack playoff teams.  but, if concordia wins, that starts to move them towards a 3rd or 4th seed, in my opinion.  10-6 is a long way from 8-8 with 4 games left and SMU being one of them.

[abominable_snowman]

Speaking of fighting, did anyone catch Brock Lesnar in his ultimate fighting debut? Dude got 4.2 million and lost in less than two minutes. He pummeled the guy with punch after punch, and after one bad move, was about to have his leg/ankle broken and he succumbed. Tough one.

I caught the fight.

Had Brock not gone up against former a former UFC champ who specialized in jujitsu, especially when he is on his back, the fight's a different story. But Lesnar obviously has a lot to learn about defending himself.  I think he has lots of potential in UFC, but it could be a few years before he is championship material.  Definitely loved his juggernaut style pummel the opponent with machine gun fists approach.

***********

Defintiely lokoing forward to the GAC/UST matchup on Saturday.  Possibly a preview of MIAC championship game. It would be nice to see a stron UST crowd show up.