WBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[LA RAMS]

Gacbacker, I can go along w/your top 10 list; pretty accurate.

I was at the Concordia-UST game the other night.  I have to admit it was a bit shocking to see Concordia lay the hammer down on the Tommies the way they did.  UST just had no offensive synch at all it seemed like.  I suspect Sinn may have some backcourt issues, particularly at PG, as she continues to tinker with her line-up.  Whether the Tommies can recover from this beatdown in their own crib remains to be seen.

One more day before the crosstown showdown with those clowns from South Central.  How incredibly generous of the "Humanitarian" himself, Cheatey Petey, to decide unilaterally that $C would wear their home jerseys in the Rose Bowl w/o consulting Rick Neuheisel first.  Pom Pom - the great humanitarian.  Yeah.  Whatever.   

[gacbacker]

Gusties beat the Cobbers 71-60. Lets just say the Gusties have a keeper in freshman Molly Geske. This could be a fun year.

[Nites]

Politely speaking, Carleton is sure struggling this year.  2+ minutes to go in the first  half against Concordia and the Knights trail 36-17, largely on the strength of their 13 turnovers.

[Nites]

Ouch - 42-21 at half against CC.  Carleton with 15 turnovers to go with 38.5% shooting.

[gacbacker]

Knights lose again to drop to 0-3 in the conference. Ouch.

Gusties currently leading St. Mary's by 18 at the half.

[gacbacker]

Gustavus, St. Ben's and......yep Macalester tied atop the conference at 3-0!

Close games tonight:

St. Thomas 52-46 over Augsburg (whats up in Tommie Land?)
St. Ben's squeaks by St. Kate's 66-59
Macalester beats Bethel (Really nice to see Mac 3-0)

[LA RAMS]

I was at the CSB - St. Kate's game last night.  CSB simply did the right things coming down the stretch when they had to although MIAC officiating is already starting to sink to the level of Pac-10 referees which is DEFINITELY not a good thing. 

Not surprised at all that Mac is on something of a roll right now.  They had that one tough, 4 point loss to Whitman at home (which many have picked to win the NWC).  Guess we'll find out more about them when they take on CSB up at St. Joe.

Biggest disappointments so far:  UST which squeaked by Augsburg last night and Carleton which is in a total free fall right now.

[PRF07]

CSB is off to a good start....They are definitely still working on getting a solid player rotation.  They have so many players that can compete every night that it has been tough to find that one person that separates themself from the pack and shows they really belong.  The starting 5 seems to be very solid with addition of Stifter and Frank putting up some good outings so far from the sophomore class.

Hope to see a solid win #500 Durbin and send this team into break on a high note tomorrow night.

[Nites]

Carleton out rebounded by St. Olaf 45-25 and tries desparately to go 0-4 in conference, but somehow manages to pull out a 62-61 win.

[gacbacker]

St. Ben's and Gustavus squeak out victories over Macalester and Augsburg to remain undefeated in conference play.

Bennies by 5 over MAC, Gusties by 2 over Augsburg. I think its fair to say that the perennial bad teams are closing the gap a little bit, except for St. Mary's perhaps. They lost 102-40 tonight to St. Thomas who apparently figured some things out tonight.

[BBTommie]

Just for the heck of it, so this thread doesn't go 30 days without a post, I want to give out some props to the Tommie Girls Team for an outstanding game yesterday against Simpson. 

In addition to the outstanding play, my favorite moment was in the last 30 seconds during a time out, watching a Simpson Dad, standing with his arms folded,  trying to stare down the older lady ref, slowly shaking his head back and forth during the entire time-out. 

[LA RAMS]

Wow, Gusties somehow snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in their own crib against an always dangerous St. Kate's squad.  How GAC overcame horrendous shooting to pull that one off I'll never know.  Looks like they're trying to emulate my UCLA Bruins of '05 who had more come from behind victories in the last few seconds or overtime than you'll ever see.  But that stuff always catches up with you (see a$$ kicking defeats against both 'Zona and USC that season).

Elsewhere, UST looks as solid as ever now in handling Mac over at Schoenecker.  Has Carleton finally turned things around with their stomp-job on Hamline today?  And Concordia still appears to be one of the upper echelon teams with their home win vs. Bethel.

Wanting to stay close to home today with the weather in mind I did take in the St. Olaf - Augsburg clash which the Oles won 76-63.  Elyse Erickson and Jamie Erdahl both had monster games in this one.

Should be an interesting game Monday night between the Gusties and Mac.  But it's high time the Gusties start bringing their "A" game into conference play.

[LA RAMS]

Rough, rough night for the Gusties as they got throttled last night at Macalester 88-71.  Not sure where to start harping on this one other than to say that GAC looked timid, helpless, and at times, utterly pathetic.  Mac, on the other hand, I have to give a lot of credit where credit is due.  Here is a programs that was struggling to just survive only a few years ago.  Now they've completely turned it around and are a team to be reckoned with.  If they can hold serve at home and win a few games on the road that they're not supposed to, look out.

Elsewhere, looks like CSB, Concordia, and Hamline took care of business.  Carleton survives down in Winona. 

Not that I expected that GAC would contend for the title this year BUT they clearly mailed it in last night.  That won't work anymore in the MIAC.  How long it takes them to recover from this latest roadie beatdown is anyone's guess. 

[BBTommie]

Tommie girls also struggled last night against St Kates zone and inside game.  Fell behind by 18 midway through the 2nd half and then went with a smaller lineup and brought in FR Ali Johnson, who for the second time this season quickly went 4-5 from 3 pt land.  Too little and maybe a bit too late as they never got closer than 5 and lost by 6.  Expect to see much more PT from MS Johnson in the future.

[gottaluvhoops]

It looks like St. Benedict is by far the best team in the league this year.  Who do you think will challenge them?