MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

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Smitty Oom

Quote from: Cav-J on February 13, 2019, 05:49:56 PM
Good evening, long time creeper but finally joined the board. Thanks for all of the good information and insight.

So my first question is.. what criteria do you think should be used in choosing the all conference picks.

How much should the following be weighed?

Eyeball test
Team success
Comparison stats [and then which stats?]
Year in school
Past awards

Are there other criteria that I am forgetting that should be mentioned?

I plan on following the board and some games online tonight.

Go Cards!

Great to have you up here posting, Cav-J! We needed a SMU insider  ;D ;)

It is tough for me to say what each coach prioritizes when they vote for post season awards, since they each approach it differently. Personally, if I had to guess what the average would be... a players stats are going to be the most important of all "criteria." Points/reb/ast/shooting percentages all are important. Eyeball/watching the film/how they preform against their own team probably weighs in a little bit as well. Lastly, team success is a very good tie breaker of sorts if a players stats are comparable. SJU and UST should have more honorees this year than MAC and SMU.

I hope that past awards and year in school do not play too much of a role in coaches decisions for post-season awards but it is hard to get some of these biases out of heads when making decisions so I would not be surprised if they factor in a little.

Cav-J

Quote from: Smitty Oom on February 14, 2019, 12:39:10 AM
Quote from: Cav-J on February 13, 2019, 05:49:56 PM
Good evening, long time creeper but finally joined the board. Thanks for all of the good information and insight.

So my first question is.. what criteria do you think should be used in choosing the all conference picks.

How much should the following be weighed?

Eyeball test
Team success
Comparison stats [and then which stats?]
Year in school
Past awards

Are there other criteria that I am forgetting that should be mentioned?

I plan on following the board and some games online tonight.

Go Cards!

Great to have you up here posting, Cav-J! We needed a SMU insider  ;D ;)

It is tough for me to say what each coach prioritizes when they vote for post season awards, since they each approach it differently. Personally, if I had to guess what the average would be... a players stats are going to be the most important of all "criteria." Points/reb/ast/shooting percentages all are important. Eyeball/watching the film/how they preform against their own team probably weighs in a little bit as well. Lastly, team success is a very good tie breaker of sorts if a players stats are comparable. SJU and UST should have more honorees this year than MAC and SMU.

I hope that past awards and year in school do not play too much of a role in coaches decisions for post-season awards but it is hard to get some of these biases out of heads when making decisions so I would not be surprised if they factor in a little.

I regret I will not be able to give you much insight that you all don't have already. I played another sport at SMC back in the day.

I'm not sure where I stand with the quality of team as a factor. I mean, of course UST or SJU deserve a pretty good share of picks. I'am conflicted on a couple of details though..

A: SJU & UST gets to play a bottom team twice. Those players have 2 more games against a bottom team to perform well. The players on MAC/SMU.. has to play against SJU or UST and don't get the 'luxury' of playing against themselves.

BUT

B: Players on a top team don't play as much as the players on a bottom team [except for Booker the players with the most minutes come from the bottom 1/2 of the conference]. Of course their stats are going to be lower. Maybe look at points/40 minutes? Or are they on a better team and maybe not as good as a individual player? Is that still a reason to vote or not vote a player AC? IDK.

C. What about coaching? Do the MAC and SMU coaches get considered for COY because they are working with programs that have not been competitive consistently for a while? 4-5 wins as opposed to 0-2 wins is pretty good. Or do the top team coaches get considered because they have won more or are ranked higher? But are they the COY if they have the best players [if one chooses to maintain that the top teams deserve more AC picks..]. But does COY take into account recruiting? Then I guess the top team coaches, with the best players, deserve COY. But then you may have to factor in the draw of the school itself... [sorry, it's like take the linoleum off my bathroom floor.. Just uncovered a whole bunch of stuff..]

Thoughts?
Go Cards.

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)


My experience has been that coaches vote for players they 1) have the hardest time prepping to play or 2) would most want to coach.  I've found all-conference teams are usually better predictors of talent than straight numbers.
Lead Columnist for D3hoops.com
@ryanalanscott just about anywhere

bball1122

This year will be interesting,  because I think each of the bottom three teams has a worthy All-Conference player (Hanson, Cave, Ferm (shoot, even Henningfield)).    If those four make it, it leaves only 11 spots for the other 8 teams.  That squeezes some of the teams deserving two players, and will leave some without any.  Here's who I would have as my All-Conference this year.  I'm not going to break them out by 1st, 2nd, 3rd team:

UST -  Connor Bair, Anders Nelson
SJU -  David Stokman, Lucas Walford, Jubie Alade
BET -  Granger Kingland, Derek Magnuson
AUG - Booker Coplin, Matt Carik
STO -  Austin Korba
HAM -  Isaac Brooks
GAC -  None
CORD - None
CAR-  Kent Hanson
SMU - Eli Cave
MAC - Wyatt Ferm, Jackson Henningfield

I'm sure I'll get heat for MAC getting two, but both of those players are all-conference level and had the seasons to back it up.  It's not their fault that there is very little talent around them.    Both GAC and CORD didn't have anyone stand out- each had 3-4 guys with solid seasons.  I wouldn't be surprised to see Riley Sharbono from GAC or Thomas Schyma from CORD make it.     

I think Booker is the clear POY as I've shared previously.   He really is having an incredible season.  Anders Nelson is FOY without question.   Both of those guys will be winning national awards/making national teams.   


Cav-J

So I decided to try to make this as concrete as possible. What I did was take each of the players listed below and looked at their ranking for the following stats [PPG-Reb-Asst-Blocks-Steals-A/TO ratio-FG%-3FG%-FT%] and added the ranks up. Then I came up with an average [some players didn't have rankings in a certain area].

Here is what I came up with:

Rank    Player     School     Average rank     Awards
1.        Coplin      [Augs]           10               POW x3, TOM x3
2.        Stockman [SJU]            11               POW
3.        Kingman  [Beth]            14
4.        Carik       [Augs]            15
4.        Cave        [SMU]            15              POW, TOW

6.        Ferm        [MAC]            18              POW
6.        Walford     [SJU]            18
8.        Nelson      [UST]            19               POW, TOW
9.        Bair           [UST]           22                POW
10.      Alade         [SJU]           23
10.      Schyma     [Con]            23

12.     Korba        [StO]             24     
13.     Brooks       [Ham]           28
14.     Magnuson  [Bet]             29
15.     Hanson      [Car]             30          POWx2, TOW
15.     Henningsfeld [MAC]         30          POW

17.     Sharbo        [GAC]          37
18.     Ambriz        [Beth]          40           POW

I am not saying this should be the order or the teams. Just one way to look at data/stats and start of conversation. I also know this is not how things go but interesting to look at. This could be weighted depending on what stats one finds most important [does PPG get more weight than A/TO ratio, etc..]

Goes to show there is some much abstract, optics that has to be done by the coaches..

Thoughts?


Quote from: bball1122 on February 14, 2019, 02:16:44 PM
This year will be interesting,  because I think each of the bottom three teams has a worthy All-Conference player (Hanson, Cave, Ferm (shoot, even Henningfield)).    If those four make it, it leaves only 11 spots for the other 8 teams.  That squeezes some of the teams deserving two players, and will leave some without any.  Here's who I would have as my All-Conference this year.  I'm not going to break them out by 1st, 2nd, 3rd team:

UST -  Connor Bair, Anders Nelson
SJU -  David Stokman, Lucas Walford, Jubie Alade
BET -  Granger Kingland, Derek Magnuson
AUG - Booker Coplin, Matt Carik
STO -  Austin Korba
HAM -  Isaac Brooks
GAC -  None
CORD - None
CAR-  Kent Hanson
SMU - Eli Cave
MAC - Wyatt Ferm, Jackson Henningfield

I'm sure I'll get heat for MAC getting two, but both of those players are all-conference level and had the seasons to back it up.  It's not their fault that there is very little talent around them.    Both GAC and CORD didn't have anyone stand out- each had 3-4 guys with solid seasons.  I wouldn't be surprised to see Riley Sharbono from GAC or Thomas Schyma from CORD make it.     

I think Booker is the clear POY as I've shared previously.   He really is having an incredible season.  Anders Nelson is FOY without question.   Both of those guys will be winning national awards/making national teams.
Go Cards.

Smitty Oom

Quote from: bball1122 on February 14, 2019, 02:16:44 PM
This year will be interesting,  because I think each of the bottom three teams has a worthy All-Conference player (Hanson, Cave, Ferm (shoot, even Henningfield)).    If those four make it, it leaves only 11 spots for the other 8 teams.  That squeezes some of the teams deserving two players, and will leave some without any.  Here's who I would have as my All-Conference this year.  I'm not going to break them out by 1st, 2nd, 3rd team:

UST -  Connor Bair, Anders Nelson
SJU -  David Stokman, Lucas Walford, Jubie Alade
BET -  Granger Kingland, Derek Magnuson
AUG - Booker Coplin, Matt Carik
STO -  Austin Korba
HAM -  Isaac Brooks
GAC -  None
CORD - None
CAR-  Kent Hanson
SMU - Eli Cave
MAC - Wyatt Ferm, Jackson Henningfield

I'm sure I'll get heat for MAC getting two, but both of those players are all-conference level and had the seasons to back it up.  It's not their fault that there is very little talent around them. 
  Both GAC and CORD didn't have anyone stand out- each had 3-4 guys with solid seasons.  I wouldn't be surprised to see Riley Sharbono from GAC or Thomas Schyma from CORD make it.     

I think Booker is the clear POY as I've shared previously.   He really is having an incredible season.  Anders Nelson is FOY without question.   Both of those guys will be winning national awards/making national teams.

This is very true bball... I too have a tough time putting the same amount of MaC players on the awards team as the Tommies, but like you said both are very talented, have had big games versus good teams and have the stats/numbers to back it up.

Does anyone have a standout for 6th man of the year? Nate Albee's for St. Olaf? Martin Mitchell if Augburg? He has had some really big games for Auggies but he is very hit or miss. Burt Hedstrom or Elijah Hanna of league champ UST? Tommies are so deep it's tough to pin down just one bench player since they cannablaize each other's production quite a bit.

Smitty Oom

Quote from: Cav-J on February 14, 2019, 09:09:37 PM
So I decided to try to make this as concrete as possible. What I did was take each of the players listed below and looked at their ranking for the following stats [PPG-Reb-Asst-Blocks-Steals-A/TO ratio-FG%-3FG%-FT%] and added the ranks up. Then I came up with an average [some players didn't have rankings in a certain area].

Here is what I came up with:

Rank    Player     School     Average rank     Awards
1.        Coplin      [Augs]           10               POW x3, TOM x3
2.        Stockman [SJU]            11               POW
3.        Kingman  [Beth]            14
4.        Carik       [Augs]            15
4.        Cave        [SMU]            15              POW, TOW

6.        Ferm        [MAC]            18              POW
6.        Walford     [SJU]            18
8.        Nelson      [UST]            19               POW, TOW
9.        Bair           [UST]           22                POW
10.      Alade         [SJU]           23
10.      Schyma     [Con]            23

12.     Korba        [StO]             24     
13.     Brooks       [Ham]           28
14.     Magnuson  [Bet]             29
15.     Hanson      [Car]             30          POWx2, TOW
15.     Henningsfeld [MAC]         30          POW

17.     Sharbo        [GAC]          37
18.     Ambriz        [Beth]          40           POW

I am not saying this should be the order or the teams. Just one way to look at data/stats and start of conversation. I also know this is not how things go but interesting to look at. This could be weighted depending on what stats one finds most important [does PPG get more weight than A/TO ratio, etc..]

Goes to show there is some much abstract, optics that has to be done by the coaches..

Thoughts?


Quote from: bball1122 on February 14, 2019, 02:16:44 PM
This year will be interesting,  because I think each of the bottom three teams has a worthy All-Conference player (Hanson, Cave, Ferm (shoot, even Henningfield)).    If those four make it, it leaves only 11 spots for the other 8 teams.  That squeezes some of the teams deserving two players, and will leave some without any.  Here's who I would have as my All-Conference this year.  I'm not going to break them out by 1st, 2nd, 3rd team:

UST -  Connor Bair, Anders Nelson
SJU -  David Stokman, Lucas Walford, Jubie Alade
BET -  Granger Kingland, Derek Magnuson
AUG - Booker Coplin, Matt Carik
STO -  Austin Korba
HAM -  Isaac Brooks
GAC -  None
CORD - None
CAR-  Kent Hanson
SMU - Eli Cave
MAC - Wyatt Ferm, Jackson Henningfield

I'm sure I'll get heat for MAC getting two, but both of those players are all-conference level and had the seasons to back it up.  It's not their fault that there is very little talent around them.    Both GAC and CORD didn't have anyone stand out- each had 3-4 guys with solid seasons.  I wouldn't be surprised to see Riley Sharbono from GAC or Thomas Schyma from CORD make it.     

I think Booker is the clear POY as I've shared previously.   He really is having an incredible season.  Anders Nelson is FOY without question.   Both of those guys will be winning national awards/making national teams.

Matt Carik has really been overshadowed by Coplin this year, but he has had an amazing year for the Auggies as well. 10.7/6/5 and overall good court play. The couple of times I have watched Augsburg he has been instrumental in their offense.

Thanks for all that work Cav-J. Really enjoyed taking a look at that. Like you said it would be interesting to weight categories differently for different positions or to weight a high ranking more if they are quite a bit ahead (ie Coplin in scoring).

Drake Palmer

Man, tough week.   :)

A couple of days late to the post game summaries.

Wow, exciting ballgame at Collegeville with a great atmosphere for a D3 game between two archrivals on Wednesday night.  The quality of the spotty webcast notwithstanding.  Although I've lived many years in the St. Paul area, and might be partial to the metro colleges, there's no denying the talent SJU has assembled on their basketball team this year.

I think the overall length of the Jays was the Tommies' eventual undoing – Zach Hanson, 22pts/5 rebs; Lucas Walford 14 pts/ 9 rebs;Jubie Alade 12 pts, & key 3 pt shooting from David Stokman 4/4 3fga 16pts, and 2-2 3fga, 11 pts from FY PG Colton Codute.  Jays Coach McKenzie who tends to typically play a pretty tight bench of 6-7 players, took a gamble and rotated in one forward after another who made timely contributions, Ethan Larson 5-7 fga, 10 pts/ 3 rebs; & Kyle Sorenson 2-2 fga 5 pts. The Jays also pounded the Tommies on the boards 36 -19. In their previous meeting which was an OT win by the Tommies in St. Paul - the boards were a little more evenly balanced with the Jays collecting 39 rebs and the Tommies 36 rebs.
   
On the other side, I think the Tommies got away from their game plan a bit in the second half and tried to spread the floor and drive to the basket as the Johnnies began to pile up fouls. But the strategy backfired as their shooting percentage dropped off from a white hot 63% in the first half to a pedestrian  40%.  The Jays never cooled off and shot an outstanding 64.4% for the game.

If both teams keep their noses clean and meet again in the MIAC playoff finals, I'm sure the Jays & Tommies part 3 will be a dandy.  Home court advantage will also play a huge role in the game much as it did in the season series split between these two teams.  The Tommies will need to channel the junkyard dog style defense of previously successful UST teams to make a serious post season run.

Also, going forward, it seems like there could be a real nice rivalry shaping up between two talented PGs over the next three years with UST's Ander Nelson & the 6th man for this years' Jays, Colton Codute. Both of those guys seem to have intense competitive motors. Should be good basketball. Mebbe even next week.  ;)

__________________________

* Bb1122 nice call on the Augsburg letdown against Macalester. +K

*Watch out for the Bethel Royals as they might be peaking at the right time of the year. Currently on a 9 game win streak.

__________________________


*Post Season Awards – I tend to agree with everyone's choices. I might also suggest these other names for 6th man of the Year Award:

Hudson Urbanus – Bethel
Martin Mitchell – Augsburg
Colton Codute – St. Johns'

FY Team

Nolan Malo – Gustavus
Caden Freetly – SMU
Colton Codute – SJU
Riley Miller – UST
Anders Nelson – UST
"If anything here offends, I beg your pardon. I come in peace, I depart in gratitude." ;)

Drake Palmer

Who would have thought watching UST play SMU would make for compelling basketball on Saturday afternoon, but it did.  The Cobb -Gustavus webcast was replaced by a Concordia hockey game, SJU was crushing Carleton at home, and the same held true for Bethel thumping Hamline.  So that left either the SMU UST game, or Augsburg STO game.

Bball1122, I think your assessment of the Redbirds was correct. If they don't lose any of their current underclassmen, and can have a decent recruiting class, they have the looks of a solid playoff team in 2019-2020.

After a much closer than expected first half, the Tommies managed to pull away from SMU to win the game 94-81, and clinch the regular season MIAC title.  Anders Nelson was saddled with foul trouble for much of the game.

MIAC Playoffs

#1 UST: If you're a Tommies fan, it must be a bit alarming to watch UST give up an average of 85.25 ppg in their last four regular season games.  The playoff week ahead should give everyone a good idea if the young Tommies are for real.  Are they aspiring to be "Whitman Midwest," or can they conjure up the spirits of tough-minded defensive UST teams from the recent past? 

#2 SJU: is starting to gather some serious momentum as they head into the playoffs.  After the last second miracle win over the Cobbs with the walkoff trey by David Stokman 1.5 weeks ago, the Jays have gone back to kicking butt and taking names. Their last four games they've held opponents to an average of 60.25 ppg, while they've averaged 79 ppg. Plus, the bench has started to make some nice contributions.

#3 Bethel: The Royals are another team that came on very strong at the end of the season.  After an OT win over Hamline back in January, they've gone on a 10-game winning streak to slip by a gimpy Augsburg team to slide into the 3rd seed. The Royals seem to be playing with a lot of composure, aren't getting rattled by the score and game situation. Foul trouble could potentially limit Bethel as they  only go 6-7 players deep.

#4 Augsburg: For most of second half of the season it appeared the Dawgs had third place locked up for the playoffs, especially after they knocked off UST.  But a late season loss to Macalester, and a defeat by St. Olaf at home on Saturday had them fall into fourth place.  Anybody have any idea why Matt Carik didn't play on Saturday?  Despite the other worldly play of Booker Coplin, Augsburg won't go far in the playoffs without Carik in the lineup.

Or maybe, the Dawgs didn't want to tip their hand to 5th place St. Olaf as these two teams square off again on Tuesday.  :)

#5 St. Olaf: After lofty preseason expectations, a preseason D3 Top 25 ranking,  and 5-6 returning players who played significant minutes last year, the Oles began the year with a very tough schedule and started 0-5.  They bounced back and won five straight and have been one or two steps above the .500 mark the rest of the season.  Austin Korba is a nice player but it seems the Oles couldn't develop a consistent second scoring threat to complement Korba on a nightly basis.

#6 Gustavus:  I've only seen bits and pieces of the Gusties play this season, so I'm not the best judge of their ability. However, from having watched them play the last several seasons, it seems their talent level is not quite at the same level as the top 3-4 teams in the league. Their defense will keep them in most games but points can be difficult to come by.
"If anything here offends, I beg your pardon. I come in peace, I depart in gratitude." ;)

txg

Quote from: Drake Palmer on February 18, 2019, 12:51:19 AM

#4 Augsburg: For most of second half of the season it appeared the Dawgs had third place locked up for the playoffs, especially after they knocked off UST.  But a late season loss to Macalester, and a defeat by St. Olaf at home on Saturday had them fall into fourth place.  Anybody have any idea why Matt Carik didn't play on Saturday?  Despite the other worldly play of Booker Coplin, Augsburg won't go far in the playoffs without Carik in the lineup.

Or maybe, the Dawgs didn't want to tip their hand to 5th place St. Olaf as these two teams square off again on Tuesday.  :)

#5 St. Olaf: After lofty preseason expectations, a preseason D3 Top 25 ranking,  and 5-6 returning players who played significant minutes last year, the Oles began the year with a very tough schedule and started 0-5.  They bounced back and won five straight and have been one or two steps above the .500 mark the rest of the season.  Austin Korba is a nice player but it seems the Oles couldn't develop a consistent second scoring threat to complement Korba on a nightly basis.


Thanks for the great review.  Re Carik, I believe the announcers said Saturday that he has a back injury but should be okay for tomorrow.

The Oles have shown flashes of better offensive basketball the last couple of weeks.  They looked really good on Saturday, 24 assists on 31 FGs if memory serves.  I don't think they are deep enough or consistent enough to go too far though.

Here's a remarkable stat.  The last 4 minutes of the last 5 games (20 minutes total) they were outscored 63-17.  Lost two winnable games (Bethel and St Thomas) and almost squandered two big leads (Hamline and Augsburg).

I'll take the Oles and Bethel tomorrow, Tommies and Johnnies on Thursday, and Johnnies to cut down the nets.

Smitty Oom

#19570
Quote from: Drake Palmer on February 18, 2019, 12:51:19 AM
Anybody have any idea why Matt Carik didn't play on Saturday?  Despite the other worldly play of Booker Coplin, Augsburg won't go far in the playoffs without Carik in the lineup.

Or maybe, the Dawgs didn't want to tip their hand to 5th place St. Olaf as these two teams square off again on Tuesday.  :)

#5 St. Olaf: After lofty preseason expectations, a preseason D3 Top 25 ranking,  and 5-6 returning players who played significant minutes last year, the Oles began the year with a very tough schedule and started 0-5.  They bounced back and won five straight and have been one or two steps above the .500 mark the rest of the season.  Austin Korba is a nice player but it seems the Oles couldn't develop a consistent second scoring threat to complement Korba on a nightly basis.

Great post, Drake. I too was very curious about Carik. If he is unable to go in the quarters it will be another tough game for the Dawgs against the Oles.

Very much agree about St. Olaf. Spot on.

Excited to see the tourney unfold. I'm rooting for BU or Augsburg to win so we can get 3 MIAC teams in the NCAAs, as UST and SJU are near locks at this point.

Drake Palmer

Quote from: Smitty Oom on February 18, 2019, 10:32:45 AM
Quote from: Drake Palmer on February 18, 2019, 12:51:19 AM
Anybody have any idea why Matt Carik didn't play on Saturday?  Despite the other worldly play of Booker Coplin, Augsburg won't go far in the playoffs without Carik in the lineup.

Or maybe, the Dawgs didn't want to tip their hand to 5th place St. Olaf as these two teams square off again on Tuesday.  :)

#5 St. Olaf: After lofty preseason expectations, a preseason D3 Top 25 ranking,  and 5-6 returning players who played significant minutes last year, the Oles began the year with a very tough schedule and started 0-5.  They bounced back and won five straight and have been one or two steps above the .500 mark the rest of the season.  Austin Korba is a nice player but it seems the Oles couldn't develop a consistent second scoring threat to complement Korba on a nightly basis.

Very good post, Drake. I too was very curious about Carik. If he is unable to go in the quarters it will be another tough game for the Dawgs against the Oles.

Very much agree about St. Olaf. Spot on.

Very excited to see the tourney unfold. I'm rooting for BU or Augsburg to win so we can get 3 MIAC teams in the NCAAs, as UST and SJU are near locks at this point.

In a fantasy D3 bracket, it would be great to see Augsburg make the Big Dance and get paired against Wheaton College. Man, to watch Booker Coplin and Aston Francis duel against each other. That would be a D3 hoops lover dream matchup!
"If anything here offends, I beg your pardon. I come in peace, I depart in gratitude." ;)

Cav-J

So, even though UST beat SMU by 13 it was 4 points with 5 minutes left. UST just had too much and SMU was both gassed [a few guys played 37+minutes] and youth and inexperience hurt SMU.

After seeing UST in person 3 times this year I would have to say that lack of size will hurt them. Bair hurt SMU in the paint [SMU is young and skinny] but I feel like unless UST shoots lights out and turn over SJU with their press, SJU has a leg up.

I'm biased but SMU will not only make playoffs next year they will win a game in said playoffs.

SMU will compete for 3rd in two seasons.

I'm thinking Bethel has a bit of momentum. Augsburg is struggling. I feel that if Bethel was playing UST they would have a chance to play SJU in the 'ship. Just don't think they can beat SJU. [If I am reading the bracket correctly].

Bethel & SJU
Augsburg & UST

UST & SJU

SJU.
Go Cards.

Pat Coleman

Quote from: Drake Palmer on February 18, 2019, 10:45:28 AM
Quote from: Smitty Oom on February 18, 2019, 10:32:45 AM
Quote from: Drake Palmer on February 18, 2019, 12:51:19 AM
Anybody have any idea why Matt Carik didn't play on Saturday?  Despite the other worldly play of Booker Coplin, Augsburg won't go far in the playoffs without Carik in the lineup.

Or maybe, the Dawgs didn't want to tip their hand to 5th place St. Olaf as these two teams square off again on Tuesday.  :)

#5 St. Olaf: After lofty preseason expectations, a preseason D3 Top 25 ranking,  and 5-6 returning players who played significant minutes last year, the Oles began the year with a very tough schedule and started 0-5.  They bounced back and won five straight and have been one or two steps above the .500 mark the rest of the season.  Austin Korba is a nice player but it seems the Oles couldn't develop a consistent second scoring threat to complement Korba on a nightly basis.

Very good post, Drake. I too was very curious about Carik. If he is unable to go in the quarters it will be another tough game for the Dawgs against the Oles.

Very much agree about St. Olaf. Spot on.

Very excited to see the tourney unfold. I'm rooting for BU or Augsburg to win so we can get 3 MIAC teams in the NCAAs, as UST and SJU are near locks at this point.

In a fantasy D3 bracket, it would be great to see Augsburg make the Big Dance and get paired against Wheaton College. Man, to watch Booker Coplin and Aston Francis duel against each other. That would be a D3 hoops lover dream matchup!

That's a reasonable first-round matchup in many ways -- it works from a geography and a competitiveness standpoint. Would be a great neutral-site first-round game.
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Anybody have any idea why Matt Carik didn't play on Saturday?  Despite the other worldly play of Booker Coplin, Augsburg won't go far in the playoffs without Carik in the lineup.

Or maybe, the Dawgs didn't want to tip their hand to 5th place St. Olaf as these two teams square off again on Tuesday.  :)

#5 St. Olaf: After lofty preseason expectations, a preseason D3 Top 25 ranking,  and 5-6 returning players who played significant minutes last year, the Oles began the year with a very tough schedule and started 0-5.  They bounced back and won five straight and have been one or two steps above the .500 mark the rest of the season.  Austin Korba is a nice player but it seems the Oles couldn't develop a consistent second scoring threat to complement Korba on a nightly basis.

Very good post, Drake. I too was very curious about Carik. If he is unable to go in the quarters it will be another tough game for the Dawgs against the Oles.

Very much agree about St. Olaf. Spot on.

Very excited to see the tourney unfold. I'm rooting for BU or Augsburg to win so we can get 3 MIAC teams in the NCAAs, as UST and SJU are near locks at this point.

In a fantasy D3 bracket, it would be great to see Augsburg make the Big Dance and get paired against Wheaton College. Man, to watch Booker Coplin and Aston Francis duel against each other. That would be a D3 hoops lover dream matchup!

That's a reasonable first-round matchup in many ways -- it works from a geography and a competitiveness standpoint. Would be a great neutral-site first-round game.

Wheaton would be a "2nd Seed," especially if they make it to the CCIW final. Augsburg would be an ideal "3rd Seed," solid team from a solid conference that has decent enough primary criteria (WP/SOS/vRRO).

In terms of other teams in this dream pod, host at NWU and add the UMAC/SLIAC team as the fourth seed and all teams are within 500 miles and would be competitively balanced. Augsburg or Wheaton vs NWU would also be a fun game to see who makes the Sweet Sixteen.