WBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Korn Lover · November 20, 2006, 12:50:09 AM

Back for another exciting MIAC season, should be fun! Caught the Cobbers in VA this weekend, impressive first win, but not much of a test. The second win looked much like a MIAC conference game, physical and close until the end. Hagmeman and Keely looked in mid-season form. Some young talent showed early promise.

scorekeeper · November 20, 2006, 12:25:39 PM

I made the trip to Boston to get some R and R and check out the Blazers. Darby was eligible to play, but she had not practiced in the pre-season so Durbin held her out of the lineup. I believe she will make her debut against Crown College on Tuesday.

Tauer struggled a bit in her first game, but she was one of the lone bright spots versus Salve Regina with 11 points and 18 rebounds in a losing effort. Props to O'Neil and Falvey for their performances in game one.

After what I saw in the first two games I just hope St. Ben's can hang in and make the MIAC playoffs this year. Maybe they can improve over the course of the season, find their shooting touch and make a run at the end. The defense was very solid, but it didn't transfer into enough scoring.

Somebody on this team needs to step up and risk being the goat with the chance of being a hero. Until that happens the Blazers will be searching for an identitiy.

I remember thinking Concordia wouldn't be any good last year after losing by 30 at CSB, so perhaps my eyes deceive me.

Ghost of MIAC Past · November 20, 2006, 04:33:50 PM

Very suprised by the Tommies and Blazers struggles. Not surprised by Concordia at all, and not a lot suprised with STO. Looks like SMU might be better than everyone thinks, but they will need to learn how to score to win. Big games coming up this Tuesday. We'll see how they go.

unBiased Blazer · November 21, 2006, 09:07:34 AM

Looking forward to some good MIAC bball. Tonight I will turn off the sound on the Gopher game and listen to the stellar call of the Blazers.
From those who were at Boston this weekend with the Blazers sounds like they were looking for someone to take charge on O. They certainly have plenty of options and with a long season ahead I am still confident. I suspect tonight they will crack the magical 70 total so I can head to the fridge for some Rocky Road.
Hate to say..........but first live MIAC action for me may involve the Tommies this weekend.

Collegeville Magic · November 21, 2006, 10:02:17 AM

Welcome unBiased! It's good to know that somebody has taken on the name that all of us embody here on the board. (pause for booing, jeers, and sarcastic comments from the peanut gallery...)

This neutral fan is looking forward to the first home game of the new season, and hoping for a Darby Noreen sighting on court to help solve the scoring woes of the weekend.

realistic · November 21, 2006, 12:00:20 PM

Quote from: scorekeeper on November 20, 2006, 12:25:39 PM
I made the trip to Boston to get some R and R and check out the Blazers. Darby was eligible to play, but she had not practiced in the pre-season so Durbin held her out of the lineup. I believe she will make her debut against Crown College on Tuesday.

Tauer struggled a bit in her first game, but she was one of the lone bright spots versus Salve Regina with 11 points and 18 rebounds in a losing effort. Props to O'Neil and Falvey for their performances in game one.

After what I saw in the first two games I just hope St. Ben's can hang in and make the MIAC playoffs this year. Maybe they can improve over the course of the season, find their shooting touch and make a run at the end. The defense was very solid, but it didn't transfer into enough scoring.

Somebody on this team needs to step up and risk being the goat with the chance of being a hero. Until that happens the Blazers will be searching for an identitiy.

I remember thinking Concordia wouldn't be any good last year after losing by 30 at CSB, so perhaps my eyes deceive me.

I didn't see Sundays game but I thought the Blazers were hot and cold saturday but played well for the first time out....especially against a quality oppoent. Agreed that Falvey and O'Neil were bright spots. Too bad to start the season 0-2 but I really thought the Blazers had a shot down the stretch there in game 1.

BVHawk · November 21, 2006, 02:22:08 PM

What can BV expect out of St. Olaf tonight?

BVHawk · November 21, 2006, 02:26:26 PM

BV lost it's opener vs Wittenberg 88-71 and then came back to thump Kalamazoo 83-52 at the Midway Classic out in Chicago.

Hampton U SID · November 21, 2006, 02:56:31 PM

Concordia put on a good show in VA last weekend. Class bunch. Even brought a few fans to southeastern Va. Best of luck this year
Hageman and Keeley were on fire all weekend. 20 lead changes in the final..made for a heck of a 35 minute game...the last five was all cobber nation

blazerguy · November 21, 2006, 05:09:28 PM

Quote from: unBiased Blazer on November 21, 2006, 09:07:34 AM
Looking forward to some good MIAC bball. Tonight I will turn off the sound on the Gopher game and listen to the stellar call of the Blazers.
From those who were at Boston this weekend with the Blazers sounds like they were looking for someone to take charge on O. They certainly have plenty of options and with a long season ahead I am still confident. I suspect tonight they will crack the magical 70 total so I can head to the fridge for some Rocky Road.
Hate to say..........but first live MIAC action for me may involve the Tommies this weekend.

Welcome to another unbiased blazer fan! Hopefully we can take care of the dreaded team from Crown College tonight.

gacbacker · November 22, 2006, 01:13:36 AM

Gustavus 60 Wartburg 45

The Gusties showed some rust in the first half, but ironed things out to win comfortably in the second half. Wartburg really focused on taking Monahan away and so Vadnais went off for 21 points. Monahan took just six shots and finished with 9 points.

Solid contributions from three freshman for the Gusties - two of them were in the starting line-up. The defense looked the same to the tune of 27 forced turnovers.

Hopefully they can keep it up to get two wins in Colorado.

Willy Wonka · November 22, 2006, 03:08:01 AM

Ugh. Just lost a long post and I'm not going to retype it out at 2am.

Suffice it to say I don't exactly agree with gacbacker, though I like where his heart is. The game was ugly to the tune of GAC scoring 11 points through 16 minutes. Had Vadnais not have gotten hot, scoring like 15 straight in the second half, the outcome could easily have been an embarrassing home loss.

The defense, which I was worried about, wasn't a problem. It forced 36% shooting and 27 turnovers against a very, very bad Wartburg team. The offense looked borderline brutal, with Monahan struggling to get touches and everyone's shooting touch being, roughly, a foot off. Hopefully things get corrected for the trip to Colorado this weekend.

The CSB assistant coach had to have been smiling her whole drive back up HWY 15.

Collegeville Magic · November 22, 2006, 09:54:01 AM

Sounds like the MIAC is having a fit of early-season-itis. Although the 71-32 final score over a HORRENDOUS Crown College team last night looked decent, that included a 29-16 halftime score.

I agree with Scorekeeper that CSB needs a leader to step forward on offense. The Blazers have created over 80 turnovers in their first three games, but the fans in St. Joseph aren't used to watching defensively minded teams.

Once the Blazers started scoring in transition more often (against a team with only 2 subs, with player #8 turning an ankle), the shooting percentage rose to respectable levels.

The Cobs-Blazers battle next Wednesday could be interesting! We'll see which team can set an early tone and I'm hoping it's CSB.

gacbacker · November 22, 2006, 12:24:13 PM

Willy's take is pretty accurate, however I wouldn't say it was the offense that was brutal, it was the shooting that was brutal. The offense created shots, the girls just weren't hitting them.

You also have to keep in mind that the Gusties didn't run a single set play last night...they ran motion the entire game which somewhat explains why Monahan had so few touches.

blazerguy · November 22, 2006, 07:02:24 PM

I thought the Blazers looked like a team trying to find its identity. Without Anna as a go to scorer and Darby working her way back into shape, the play was very ragged. They looked much better in the second half and actually started hitting a few outside shots but then the game got out of hand and the 3rd string saw most of the action in the latter part of the game. I look for this years team to do more running and gunning than most blazer teams in the past. It should be interesting.