MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Willy Wonka]

Interesting developments Willy. The mystery freshman player from Mpls North is not on the Gusties' roster, at least not the varsity roster.  Preliminary (?) 08-09 Gustavus roster

My info was coming after two days of tryouts. Projections based on sloppy 5v5 games can be tricky, to say the least.

Plus, work and a surprising GAC football renaissance has kept me busy the last few weekends so I haven't been able to get any updates, which appear to be badly needed...

[abominable_snowman]

yeeehaw!  just got the first email score alert of the season.   sw minn 90 st olaf 70...or something like that.   B.Fong 16 points.

IT HAS BEGUN

[Drake Palmer]

yeeehaw!  just got the first email score alert of the season.   sw minn 90 st olaf 70...or something like that.   B.Fong 16 points.

IT HAS BEGUN

Nice heads up Snow!  I'd totally forgotten the Oles were kicking off the season last night with an exhibition game against Southwest State.  It's interesting to note that the Oles were outrebounded by Southwest by nearly 20 boards, 42-23, in spite of starting 6-6 Mitch Haugen & 6-8 Brady McMahon.  McMahon 1 board in 20 minutes against his old high school teammate Nick Dale ??

Nice collegiate debut by frosh Bobby "Flay" Fong.  If he keeps up this kind of scoring output, he might be serving me a tasty side of barbequed crow to eat by the holiday break. 

[abominable_snowman]

quick schedule question -

it looks like there is a ham v sto game on 11/18:

is this the first official conference game of the year?  then nothing  until december?  i don't remember this ever happening before.

also, keep you eyes on the pick'em board.  I may put together a pre-season game for thrills.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

quick schedule question -

it looks like there is a ham v sto game on 11/18:

is this the first official conference game of the year?  then nothing  until december?  i don't remember this ever happening before.

also, keep you eyes on the pick'em board.  I may put together a pre-season game for thrills.

Yeah, I noticed that too...it is correct-- they open the season with a conference game and the rest of the league starts 2 weeks later.

You must be psychic AS...I was just going to ask you about the pick-ems....count me in for it

[Drake Palmer]

Redbirds roster is up

If they limited the height of the players in the MIAC to  6-1' and shorter, SMU could be in the thick of the conference race. Out of seven newcomers to the roster, one player is 6-3, another is 6-2, one 6-1 and the remaining 4 players are 6-0 or shorter. 

[localcoach]

I made my way over to Hutton Arena on Friday night (or should I say early Saturday morning) for the Pipers scrimmage against Lakehead University of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. 

A few quick observations.  Coach Whitmore's team came out of the gates fast.  If memory serves me correctly, the Pipers starting 5 was a newcomer from California at PG (quick and a good passer); Tony Thrasher; Tanner Anderson; Bobby Morrow (transfer from St. Cloud State); and Carl Hipp.  Morrow is apparently still recovering from a bum ankle, although I didn't notice any residual effects. 

The starting group had their way with the Canadian foe.  Once Coach Whitmore started substituting, Lakehead made a run.  Overall it looked like the Pipers will have good balance on the inside and the key will likely again be their ability to make perimeter jump shots, and the ability or potential inability of the HU point guards to make plays and steady the ship.  (Plus adding SW Minn. State transfer Stoddard Barnhill at semester break will help out).  Size will be an advantage that they shall have against most MIAC teams, with another 6-10 player in Erik Gusaas, who again IMHO, has vastly improved, coming off the bench. 

The final score was somewhere in the neighborhood of a 10-12 point victory for HU.  I obviously have not seen the other MIAC opponents at this juncture, but based on this early look, I think the Pipers will be a playoff caliber team this season.

On another note - Pick'em is just around the corner.  I will get you this year Drake! 

[Drake Palmer]

Off to a meeting but the  Mac roster is up. http://athletics.macalester.edu/roster.aspx?path=mbball&

comments later...

[TearDrop]

Redbirds roster is up

If they limited the height of the players in the MIAC to  6-1' and shorter, SMU could be in the thick of the conference race. Out of seven newcomers to the roster, one player is 6-3, another is 6-2, one 6-1 and the remaining 4 players are 6-0 or shorter. 

With not very much time to work with I am impressed that the new coaching staff brought in 5 new faces. Two of the newcomers have actually been at SMU for a while. I believe the former staff cut one of them last year and one of them was a student assistant type guy. I hear that the Jackson kid is pretty good and could see some time right away. To go against history, I am going to say that the Redbirds will not finish in the basement this year. They have arguably two of the best guards in the conference in Holland and Wright. And although the birds are very short as a team, the Knights brothers are not small guys. I think they might be the only guys on the team that ever lift  I am excited to see where this program goes in the next couple years.

Off subject from the birds, has a first year poster ever won the pick'em board???

[Willy Wonka]

Really? Loco is on the Hamline bandwagon? Again?

Who would have thunk it! 

[abominable_snowman]

PICKEM TEASER POSTED!
Feel free to check out the new, LEAN  Pick'em page.  Sign up for Pick'em games over there.

[Drake Palmer]

Several comments...

SMU - Yes, it is commendable that the Birds were able to attract 5 freshmen & a couple of upperclassmen to join the SMU team this year.  It just seems they've been stuck in a rebuilding mode for at least the past 20 years.  League historians – when was the last time SMU made the playoffs or have they ever made the playoffs?

Macalester – I didn't have time to do an exhaustive search, but as an outside observer, it seems the best recruits the Scots have this year are their in-state recruits with Jackson Wright (New London Spicer) and Patrick Piepkorn (Sauk Rapids).  As near as I could tell, none of their out-state players appear to be immediate impact players ala Trey Mullen & Kyle Hamblett last season.  That being said, once again the Scots will have a number of strong candidates for the Palmer All-MIAC FY Name team.  Jackson "Pollock" Wright?? Sweet! I hope to see the kid paint several masterpieces on the court. 

Hamline – While I appreciate Local's optimism, we're talking about a Canadian college – Lakehead University (Thunder Bay) team that went 8-14 last season.   The other D3 teams they played in the past few days weren't exactly at the top of their respective leagues last year.  St. Scholastica from the UMAC was 9-5 in conference/ 11-15 overall & UW-Stout was 4-12 conference/ 7-19 overall.  For the Pipers, it's interesting to note that at least for this exhibition game, Bobby Morrow seemed to have replaced All-MIAC FY Eric Clute in the starting lineup. I've heard Morrow's ankle is still bunged up and his J is still suspect. 

My crystal ball hasn't quite come into focus yet, but this year I think the 2nd division teams will be HAM, STO, CORD, SMU & MAC.   I also think there could be a fierce battle for the 6th & final MIAC playoff spot. The teams that will just barely nose above this group might be AUGS, GAC & SJU. It's going to real interesting to watch these young teams develop this season.  IMO, outside of the top 2-3 teams in the league, I think there's a good possibility this basketball season could mirror the current MIAC football season – topsy turvy.

[columbianmaffia]

my random final standings prediction without much knowledge on the teams in the league this year.

1-T CAR
1-T UST
3 - GAC
4 - SJU
5 - BET
6 - AUG
7 - STO
8 - CON
9 - HAM
10 - SMU

i dont think CAR will go on another epic 18 game win streak to tie for the conference title like they did 3 years ago when FORK was leading the team but i think ZORO is slippery fast and will slide past defenders and lead CAR to a tie for 1st place

i do think that in the anual MIAC baked bean eating contest CON will be the dark horse and win that event

HONK HONK HONK!!

I HEAR A GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!!!

Where's MAC?

is that a trick question?

[oldskool]

Does anyone know what will happen up at Concordia this year? Nobody has said much about them, so I thought I would chime in, and see what everyone thinks!! Considering they hired a so-called "big-time" coach, one would think they have some high expectations up there. What do people think of the hiring of Glas? Is he going to make the Cobbs contenders?

[Drake Palmer]

SMU Preview is Up

Good luck coach & team.