It's been a long time since I've seen it, but apparently I saw my version of the Batsignal come up on the board- just making sure no one was trying to contact me.

Weather in Minneapolis- 5 degrees

Weather in Durham- 64 degrees

I cannot wait for this weekend.

Looking at that above list, I realized that I was alright with it, even though my bias points me to Wittwer as MVP. I then thought that no matter who gets the big awards, this season has been full of so much parity that there cannot be a bad pick for MVP.

Must've been a pretty competitive year when you realize that three or four guys have a shot at MVP, and none of them are on UST, the regular and tournament champs.

Sigh, I don't post for a few days and get called out for being a moron? How long have I been away?

Now, my criticism of Archer goes towards what I see on the court. That is how he represents himself, as far as I can tell. Don't tell me how to make my own observations, all I can do is report on what I see. To me, the kid is a clown, ever since he blew a kiss to the GAC crowd back in their first meeting.

New guy- give me a break. If you want to debate, fine. Let's just not insult. You did little to incite any feelings of judgment or class with your first post. Sorry, this was late, but I just needed to get it out.

On UST in the tournament. I won't claim to know anything, because when GAC made it to the national championship, there was no way they were the favorite in any of the last four games, although they outplayed every one of those higher ranked teams. UST was a powerful force last year that looked better than that finals GAC team on paper, yet didn't go as far.

I guess my point is, although UST is not as stacked as they have been in the past, Scott could get hot and make every 27-foot three he shoots, and McCoy could do his little back down (apparently he can get it up over anyone a foot taller than him) all day. The tournament is so unpredictable that I will only go so far as to say UST shouldn't make it out of the first two rounds, but they have the capabilities to get hot and then the sky's the limit.

Congrats to the GAC women on making the tournament. I wouldn't have guessed it from the beginning of the season, but they really came on toward the end. Hope they really turn some heads in the tournament.

I will admit, the GAC fans left much to be desired. The pre-game chants were pretty awful, and it's been awhile since I've heard any crowd give good chants. As one of my buddies said, you can only use the "you suck" chant so much. Come on, everyone, come up with something better!

Plus, maybe this is just my own individual experience, but some UST fan was taunting my lady-friend, who was sitting a few seats away from me. He was doing the shirt pull (where he shows you where he's from), and constantly giving her grief. I didn't find out about this until after the game, which is good for that kid, or else he would've had a Chuck Norris-style roundhouse kick to the face waiting for him.

So it's not like GAC had a monopoly on unclassy fan support. It just don't seems like they cheer the way they used to.

To reference an earlier point I made, I suggested that last night's game was like Celtics/ Lakers. Great matchup, classic rivalry. Now imagine that Larry Bird only played half of the game due to ticky-tack fouls. As a Celtics fan, you would be pretty angry. All I'm saying is that thanks to these questionable calls, GAC lost the chance to have a full roster.

I think what WW is mad about is how could that one guy be responsible for reffing the title game. It just seemed like he was operating on a completely different wavelength than other officials.

MAybe there was some contact on the elbow late in the game, but the UST player nearly did a complete backflip on the ensuing flop. It was such a sad play that the UST guy flopped that much and that the official fell for it.

Also, to touch on WW's point, Fritz was getting angry at ARcher all game, and Teddy was not in at the end, when it mattered, once again. Just seems to me like you'd focus on winning the game instead of pulling your antics in the MIAC championship. I mean, Zach Johnson does not have many fans on this board because of some of his antics, yet I didn't hear many negative antics from him during the playoffs.

Oh, and I agree about the attendance. It was packed where I was sitting. I just wish someone would have cleared all the UST fans out of the aisle. I had a UST guy standing in the aisle next to me, and he was a little too close for comfort. I had to ask my cohorts to make sure the kid wasn't trying to take my wallet:) We were packed way too tight down there to make me think there was any room left in the place.

I think perhaps the main problem with calling fouls in today's game is that there are two games on the floor- ones on the inside and ones on the outside. No official is going to call a hack on the perimeter the same as on a putback. Where is the boundary? WHo knows? There is so much contact inside, and so much less contact to make a foul on the outside, it is tough. I will give officials that.

However, tonight's game was just SO inconsistent, it's tough to feel sorry for them.

It's just like Coach Hanson did after Wittwer got his forth foul: he just shrugged as Wittwer came out. You can't do anything about it, even if nothing is going your way. You have to give it up to GAC to give everything they had without their star player tonight.

Alright, I remember my next points:

1) UST was the biggest bunch of whiners I've seen in a long time. First, they flop on every play. I didn't know UST was known as a theater arts school. Also, they cried about every call, especially the obvious ones. Lonnie hammers a GACer down low, getting both wrists, then whines to the officials. Kane gets fouled on a three-pointer, an obvious call, and then two USTers whine to the officials, and then most of the assistant coaches.

2) Archer has got to be the most annoying guy in the conference. He cries on every call. He flops at the sight of possible contact. He was even talking to the scorestable about something (to which the officials just laughed). Plus, while Wittwer is on the bench in foul trouble, because of UST flopping, Archer takes time to taunt him on the GAC bench. Then, when Wittwer gets back in the game, Archer fails to do anything with him. He is a punk to the Nth degree. Plus, he isn't even their best player. Or second best. Or third best. Or, well, you get the idea.

3) What a great game, once again. GAC came to play this time in a big way, considering their best player was on the bench for the majority of the game. Great job MIAC officials- keeping the best player on GAC off the floor. You know that's exactly what kind of game everyone came to see.

4) It's too bad the game was so well-played, but the referees just had to help decide it at the end. I know these guys are just trying to do their best, but this was not the ideal crew to have on the floor.

Points from the MIAC championship:

1) What a game. I think the largest lead of the game was six points, and it was in the first half. Always close, every possession counting. It was the sort of game where every pass and shot seemed to hang up in the air for a few seconds longer than it should.

2)  UST did not have a great game from the outside. Scott didn't shoot well- hell, no one really did. Their two posts, McCoy and #40 (can't remember me name, and my program was history five minutes into the game) made nearly every shot, free throws included. GAC just didn't have any response to them.

3) The atmosphere was really good. Lots of gold and black made it north. It was loud from both sides. Only real problem: a curse word chant in pre-game by the GAC crowd. Just pure embarrassment from a GAC alum. The F word should never be part of a chant. Bad form on some of the other GAC fans for routinely going out onto the floor. However, after that, very good crowds on both sides.

4) Now, for the bad: The refs were quite poor. They made some terrible calls. Wittwer had two fouls in the first five minutes: one, a ridiculous offensive foul  mile away from the ball, the second one a tough blocking foul. So, he sat for much of the half. In the second half, he got called for two questionable offensive fouls and fouled out with seven minutes left on a cheapie tripping foul. What a joke. The kid's an MVP candidate and he gets called for three offensive fouls, all of which were not obvious. What a terrible way to go out. Plus, the same ref called every foul on Wittwer, almost as if the guy wanted to get him on the bench.

5) Reffing gaff #2: with 1:30 left in the game and UST up by a point (I think), the refs call an unbelievably weak flop in the backcourt. I forget which Gustie was called, but it was for an elbow, which did not touch the UST guy, who made a pro-wrestling type flop. As one of my cohorts said, there were three other times a UST guy flopped that hard and no call was made. It was a poor time to make that call for the first time. After that, UST got a few free throws, GAC took a few bad shots in the last few possessions, and the rest is history.

There's probably more to recap, but I need a break and a tall, cool Budweiser.

Quick stats from the GAC page:

This is the 14th time in the 24 year history of the MIAC conference tournament that GAC is in the finals. It is the 13th year for UST.

This is the sixth time the two teams have met in the championship game.

Could this be the MIAC version of Celtics/Lakers?

I think based on recored, strength of schedule, all that sort of statistical what-have-you, UST will get in no matter what. Some people might point to the UST snub in 2003, when GAC upset UST in St. Paul, because UST was not invited to the dance, but correct me if I'm wrong, but the records of the two teams were much closer, and UST didn't have nearly as high of a national ranking or RPI (or, however they decide regional rankings).

Flat out, UST was the dominant team in the MIAC record wise. They had the conference title sewn up with what, two weeks left in the season? GAC needs to win in order to get to the tournament.

It ain't gonna be easy.

Nothing like a classic MIAC championship matchup.

It's still a great playoff matchup. UST/BU- the preseason #1 and the postseason #1. GAC/CAR- a rematch of less than a week ago.

I agree with the idea that Wittwer will come out smoking. Watch out, I think he will have a big game.

Here's to hoping the GAC crowd comes out in force. Get is fired up in there, Gus Young!