A Quick Update
As if 0-for-4 wasn't bad enough, now 2 of the teams that helped to embarrass Minnesota's D3 contingent have gone down to defeat as well.
Anderson (Indiana) beat nationally rated St. Thomas by 2 on Saturday, then got clobbered 76-58 on Sunday by Carthage (Wisconsin). And Wisconsin-Whitewater did the same to the Tommies women 91-73, then they too lost to Carthage 79-74.
Meanwhile the Wisconsin-Stevens Point men and women, who beat Carleton and Minnesota-Morris, respectively, both defeated St. Norbert on Sunday. The Pointer brothers won 63-48, while the Pointer sisters won 71-58.
Zero-for-Four
Wow. That was quick.
At a few minutes after 7 p.m. Wisconsin-Stevens Point had finished with the Minnesota-Morris women 86-64.
About 30 minutes later Anderson (Indiana) finished off the St. Thomas men 73-71.
A couple hours later the St. Thomas women joined the men on the sideline courtesy of Wisconsin-Whitewater 91-73.
And just a minute or two later, Wisconsin-Stevens Point hit a pair of free throws at 0:05 to beat Carleton 59-58.
Four up, four down. Bing bang boom bash. See ya next year.
The gutsiest performance of the 4 was Carleton's, on the home court of the #5 rated Pointers. The Knights fell behind 14-5 and 29-18 early, but battled back to within 32-24 at the half. Carter Biewen hit 3 3s early in the 2nd half to key a 24-11 run across the intermission, and Carleton led for the 1st time in the game 42-40. The Knights must have relaxed a bit, however, because Point scored 8 points in a row. But, still Carleton came back to lead 54-52 on another Biewen basket at 2:27. Point tied it up. The Knights made it 56-54, and this time Point went ahead with a 3 ball at 0:37. Seth Jonker responded with his 4th basket of the 2nd half, including 3 of the 4 shots that put Carleton into the lead. The 4th came off the offensive glass at 0:07. But Point came all the way down court and drew a shooting foul on Jonker at 0:05. Matt Moses converted both throws for the 59-58 final score.
The St. Thomas men also kept it close, losing to Anderson (Indiana) 73-71 in a see-saw battle. There were 11 lead changes and 4 ties in the 1st half alone. The Tommies once led 28-21 but Anderson came right back to tie it up at 28. St. Thomas led 33-32 at half-time. But Anderson took a 7 point lead of its own at 44-37 in the 2nd half. The Tommies came back to tie it up at 56 and 58, but never again led after 35-34. And, from 58-58 it was Anderson scoring the next 3 buckets. St. Thomas only had the ball with a chance to tie once after that, and that was on a Tyler Nicolai 3 at 0:01. Alex Healy scored 26 points and added 6 assists for the Tommies.
The Tommie women didn't fare nearly as well, falling behind 9-4 and 11-6. They took their 2nd lead (after 2-0) at 16-15 and, from there, the lead changed hands 11 times with 4 ties in the 1st half alone (yes, exactly the same as the men). Whitewater pulled out to a 7-point lead early in the 2nd half but St. Thomas again caught up and took the lead at 61-60 and 64-63. The promptly were out-scored 13-2, which Whitewater extended out to 28-9 by the final buzzer. Having taken the lead at 9:52, the Tommies turned the ball over on 8 of their last 12 possessions from 9:11 on. Rachel Booth led the Tommies with 21 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Finally, Minnesota-Morris shocked #23 Wisconsin-Stevens Point, leading by as much as 15-6 and as late as 39-36 at 1:30 of the 1st half. But the Pointers scored the last 6 points of the 1st half and the first 4 of the 2nd. By 11:00 of the 2nd half, Point was completing a 27-7 run to a 63-46 lead. Point won the 2nd half 44-25.
4 Minnesota Teams Invited to NCAA D3 Tournament
The MIAC post-season champions, the Carleton men and the St. Thomas women, plus the St. Thomas men, who won the regular season championship, received invitations to the NCAA D3 tournament today. They are joined by a surprise entry, the Minnesota-Morris women, who won the UMAC regular season title with a 13-1 record before losing to Presentation in the playoff semi-finals 63-42.
All 4 teams will open play next Friday, March 5, and all 4 will be traveling to Wisconsin for 1st and 2nd round action.
Men
Carleton (19-9) gets to play Wisconsin-Stevens Point (23-4) on the Pointers' home court. If victorious, the Knights would get either Hope (Michigan) (21-7) or St. Norbert's (Wisconsin) (22-3).
St. Thomas (22-3) opens with Anderson (Indiana) (22-5) at Kenosha, WI. A 2nd round match-up with the host team, Carthage (22-5), or Aurora (Illinois) (18-10) awaits.
Women
St. Thomas (21-7) travels to Wisconsin-Whitewater (20-7). Carthage (22-4) and Northland (18-8), located in Ashland, WI, await the winner of that game.
Minnesota-Morris (19-7) gets Wisconsin-Stevens Point (21-6) at DePere, WI. The host team, St. Norbert's (22-3), or Calvin (Michigan) (24-4) awaits.
The Cougar women received an at-large bid ahead of MIAC regular season co-champions Gustavus (20-6) and St. Ben's (21-6). Cougar coach Tim Grove was named the UMAC women's coach of the year as his team won the regular season title and won 14 games in a row leading right up to the Presentation loss. The Cougar men won the post-season title after finishing 2nd in the regular season, but the UMAC will not have an automatic NCAA tournament bid until next year. So, for now, the Cougar women (19-7) are moving on while the men (16-11) are hanging up their togs for the season.
Just for the record, UM-M beat Bethel 68-56 at home in its only game against an MIAC opponent. St. Ben's beat Bethel by 15 and 14 points, and St. Thomas beat Bethel by 24 and 18. There was only one other MIAC-UMAC match-up, in which Concordia (Moorhead) defeated St. Scholastica 90-51. UM-M defeat Scholastica 56-48 and 58-51. There were no other common opponents, but it's also true the UM-M made up for its presumably weaker UMAC schedule (compared to the MIAC) by playing 2 games against D2 opponents while the Bennies and Tommies did not play any D2 opponents.
The Prognosis
MIAC teams have had a tough time in post-season since the St. Thomas women (2001) and the Gustavus men (2003) went to the D3 Final Four. There's too much parity in the MIAC right now. No one program is getting all the best talent. Which makes for an exciting regular season, but also means that nobody has the overwhelming talent needed to contest for national honors.
Still, maybe this will be the year for the Tommie men. They've gotten a favorable draw. I mean, I'd rather play Carthage on their home court in Kenosha, WI, than Wisconsin-Stevens Point or Whitewater, which is what the other 3 Minnesota teams will all have to do to get to the Sweet Sixteen. So I'll predict:
Tommie men win 2
Tommie women win 1
Carleton men 0
Minnesota-Morris women 0
Finals
Carleton men 78 Gustavus 71 (ot)
St. Thomas women 65 St. Ben's 62 (ot)
The 4th and 5th-seeds, the Carleton men and St. Thomas women, respectively, both needed OT to complete their surprising runs to MIAC play-off titles.
Carleton fell behind Gustavus 21-15 and 27-22, but caught up at 28-27 and tied it up at half-time, 32-32, on a pair of Seth Jonker FT. The Knights got the first bucket of the 2nd half on a Blaise Davis 3, and led by as many as 8 at 48-40 at 13:36. The Gusties promptly reeled off 11 straight points and eventually led by as many as 4 at 57-53 at 5:15, and again at 59-55 at 3:49. Carleton took the lead again at 63-61 on a Bryan Rosett 3 at 1:54, and Gustavus tied it up exactly a minute later on a lay-up by Paul Blacklock after an offensive board by Jesse Van Sickle. Each team missed 1 shot before the end of regulation.
The Knights scored the 1st 7 points of OT on a pair of Jeremy Sutherland lay-ups and a 2+1 by Davis. The Gusties got within 3 at 74-71 at 0:39, but missed their last 4 FG attempts while Carleton was making 4-of-6 throws.
Gustavus dominated the possession game with 10 extra offensive boards (15-to-5) and 4 fewer turnovers (just 4 to Carleton's 8). But the Knights shot 53 percent from the floor, while the Gusties shot 44 and only got to the FT line for 3 attempts, making 1. Sutherland led the way for the Knights with 22 points and 5 assists, while Rosett contributed 19 and 8 boards. Phil Wirtjes scored 22 for the Gusties.
Tournament MVP: Jeremy Sutherland, Carleton
The St. Thomas women fell behind St. Ben's 11-1 and 17-7, but caught up at 17 at 8:12, and never again trailed by more than 2. The Tommies largest lead was at 41-36 at 11:29 on just Rachel Booth's 10th 3 of the season, but they also needed a Sara Smith jumper at 0:08, on a pass from Booth, to tie it up at 55 and force the OT.
The Bennies led once in OT, 57-56, on a Laura Canton bucket, but the Tommies responded with a Booth 2, and then a Jordyn Sears 2+1 after an offensive board by Jazmin Townsend. St. Ben's got within 1 at 63-62 at 0:47 on a Heather Gillund 2. St. Thomas missed their last 3 FG attempts to give the Bennies a chance, but Heather Gillund missed the front end of a 1-and-1 at 1:23 and then a FG attempt at 0:09. Smith hit 2 FT at 0:07 for the final margin.
The Tommies went big against the Blazers. 6-foot sophomore back-up post Smith, who averages 16 minutes a game, played 32, some of them in place of Booth but most of them beside her. And, she came up huge with 20 points including the Tommies' last 2 points of both regulation and in overtime. Booth had her usual stellar game with 20 points, and a game-high 10 boards, 3 assists and 3 blocks.
Neither team shot well, the Tommies 34 percent and St. Ben's 30 percent. The possession game was pretty even, but in OT St. Thomas got the only offensive board and St. Ben's the only turnover. The offensive board at 3:33 led to Sears' 2+1, which gave the Tommies a 4-point lead,and they never trailed again.
Tournament MVP: Rachel Booth, St. Thomas
Men's Semi-Finals
Carleton 73 St. Thomas 67
Gustavus 59 Augsburg 57
Two weeks ago I noted that the St. Thomas women and the Carleton men were the hottest teams in the MIAC. The Knights were in 4th place and the Tommies in 5th at the time. I followed my heart and picked the Tommies to win the women's post-season title and, indeed, they'll be playing on Saturday afternoon for that honor.
But I couldn't see anybody knocking off the top-seeded Tommie men. Wrong.
Carleton won for the 11th time in 12 games, avenging their only loss since January 18, shocking St. Thomas with a close but convincing 73-67 win. But it was more convincing than close. The Knights led by 15 at 3:02. That's convincing. The Tommies threw everything they had at Carleton with a late 11-0 run, getting within 66-62 at 1:25. And still, the Knights came through. That's close, but convincing.
Carleton served notice that it would not go down quietly by erasing a 17-13 St. Thomas lead at 8:09 of the 1st half. Carter Biewen hit a 3, then immediately contributed a block and a rebound on the defensive end, and later scored on a put-back. The Knights ended the 1st half on a 17-7 run to take a surprising 30-24 lead.
The Knights extended their lead to 10 points at 18:33 and 11 at 16:00. St. Thomas cut it to 4 at 13:15, but Carleton pushed it back to 12 at 10:53 and 13 at 10:05. They made it 14 at 7:55 and 15 at 3:02. An 8-0 run from 43-39 at 13:15 to 51-39 at 10:53 was decisive, as the Tommies didn't cut the lead below double figures until 2:12. Too little, too late.
St. Thomas dominated the possession game, getting 6 extra offensive boards and 4 fewer turnovers. But they shot "only" 47 percent from the field, while the Knights shot 60 percent including 52 percent (9-of-17) from beyond the arc. Carleton also got to the line for 15 FT attempts, the Tommies just 6.
Jeremy Sutherland (20 points/3 assists/2 steals) and Seth Jonker (19/8 rebounds) led the way for the Knights.
Augsburg pushed the host Gusties down to the wire. They didn't lead after 19-18 at 9:33 of the 1st half, but tied the game 3 times in the 2nd (at 37, 39 and finally at 57 at 1:38). But 5 times in the 2nd half, Augsburg had the ball with the score tied, and all 5 times the Auggies came up dry. There was a Seth Anderson steal at 13:45, then a missed 3 pointer by the Auggies. Then, inside of 2:00, there were a pair of missed shots by the Auggies. Then, with 0:10 left and the score tied at 59, the Gusties Phil Wirtjes stole an Augsburg in-bound pass and took it coast-to-coast for a lay-up at 0:04. Anderson got another steal at the final buzzer to prevent a game-winning 3 point attempt.
Gustavus will host Carleton on Saturday night for the MIAC play-off championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA D3 tournament. Who wouldn't want to bet on the host Gusties, the 2nd most successful MIAC program with 16 regular season and 3 post-season titles through the years? But, on the other hand, who would want to bet against the Carleton Knights, the way they've been playing? Not me.
Women's Semi-Finals
St. Thomas 63 Gustavus 60
St. Ben's 69 St. Catherine 61 (ot)
The surprises just keep on coming in the MIAC women's playoffs. And, no, I'm not talking about St. Thomas. The Tommies won their second road play-off game but neither one is really an upset, as I told you a week or two ago.
But St. Catherine, now, that's another story. St. Cate's took it to #1 seeded St. Ben's, leading 35-23 at the half, 44-30 at about 15:00 of the 2nd half, and 46-39 at about 10:00. But the Bennies mounted a charge--a 15-0 charge, in fact--to take their first lead since 20-18. They never again trailed, though the game was tied again at 58 and 60. In fact, when Heather Gillund missed a pair of throws at 0:02, that 58-all tie called for an overtime to settle the issue.
St. Ben's scored 1st in OT but the Cates tied it up at 60. But from there it was all Bennies all the time as Gillund scored 6 of her 25 points and St. Cate's missed their last 6 FG attempts.
It was a game of runs. St. Cate's took charge by finishing up the 1st half with a 19-3 run during which Laura Kalbfell contributed 8 points and 5 boards. St. Ben's responded with that 15-0 run--part of a larger 27-4 run--in which Laura Canton scored 8 points. An Amy Battey 3 at 0:17 forced the OT. But the Bennies got the last laugh, blitzing the Cates 11-3 in OT.
Meanwhile, neither the Tommies nor the Gusties ever led the other by more than 5 points. The Tommies' biggest leads were at 8-3 and 61-56, the Gusties' at 49-44. You can do the math. From 44-49 (at about the 10:00 mark) to 61-56 (inside of a minute), St. Thomas out-scored the Gusties 17-7 as Jazmin Townsend scored 7, Booth 6 and Sara Smith 4 points. In the end, the Tommies were able to hold on when Brianna Radtke missed a 3 at 0:01.
Now it's traditional rivals St. Thomas at St. Ben's. Oddly enough, both teams lost the possession game last night. St. Ben's had 4 more turnovers and 5 fewer offensive boards than St. Cate's. And, the Tommies had 5 more turnovers and 6 fewer offensive boards than Gustavus. One of them will do better on those parameters on Saturday night, and on the season's record it should be St. Ben's on turnovers and the Tommies on the offensive glass. The Bennies averaged 13.7 turnovers and 8.9 offensive boards, the Tommies 19.9 and 10.9. Still, I've ridden with St. Thomas so far, and I think they'll win on Saturday. After all, the last time these 2 teams played at St. Ben's, the Tommies prevailed 66-65. (Of course, the Bennies won in St. Paul 60-51).
Men's 1st Round
Augsburg 86 St. John's 75
Carleton 71 Hamline 63
February 23, 2010
There were no upsets this time, unless it was Hamline's Ray Brown finishing his college career with just 2 field goals and 9 points in the Pipers 71-63 loss at the Carleton Knights. Junior center Carl Hipp made the most of just 19 minutes of playing time as the only Piper in double figures with 26 points, while also adding 7 rebounds and 4 blocks. But Hipp made just 6-of-14 free throws.
Hamline led by as many as 7 (16-9) and as late as 10:14 of the 2nd half (42-41). But Carleton went on a 14-4 run with the last 8 of those 14 points coming on an 8-0 run, all with Hipp on the bench with 4 fouls. Hipp promptly returned and over the final 6:37 he hit 6-of-7 FG but only 2-of-4 FT, plus a defensive rebound and a pair of blocks. Still, the Pipers never got closer than 4. Trailing 62-58 at 1:52, Hipp missed a free throw and then Brandon Rieg turned it over. Finally at 1:01 Carleton scored off of the offensive glass.
That put-back was among Seth Jonker's 26 points for the Knights.
The Augsburg-St. John's contest followed a similar script to a point. The visiting Johnnies led by as many as 7 (14-7 and 16-9) and as late as 8:19 of the 1st half (27-24). But in this case the home team took the lead for good at 7:08 of the 1st, and led by 5 at the half and as many as 17 in the 2nd.
David Olson led Augsburg with 18 points, 5 boards and 3 steals, and Matt Quammen came off the bench to hit 5 3s. Aaron Burtzel led the Johnnies as usual with 22 points and 7 boards.
The MIAC Player of the Year completed his season tonight, it's just a question of whether that is Burtzel or Hipp. And as a result of this 1st round action, #3 seed Augsburg will visit #2 Gustavus in Thursday's semi, while the Tommies will host #4 Carleton.
Women's 1st Round
St. Thomas 60 Macalester 52
St. Catherine's 79 Concordia (Moorhead) 65
February 22, 2010
The lower seeds won both games, but only St. Cate's won an upset.
St. Thomas continued its excellent late-season play, falling behind 7-0 but promptly putting together a 24-6 run. The Tommies led 28-21 at the half, and the Lady Scots never got closer than 6. Macalester's senior bigs, Ann Baltzer and Trina PaStarr, combined for 29 points and 18 boards, but didn't get enough help. The Lady Scots shot just 25 percent from the field. Meanwhile, Tommies' post Rachel Booth led everybody with 20 points and 15 boards.
St. Cate's broke away from a 46-46 tie in the 2nd half. A 20-9 run put the Wildcats ahead 66-55 with 3:20 to go, and they ultimately extended the lead to 79-62. Junior Laura Kalbfell led the MIAC in scoring at 17.5 points per regular season game, and tonight she led all scorers with 23 and her team with 7 boards. St. Cate's shot 54.6 percent from the field, including 7-for-9 during their game-winning surge.
As a result of St. Cate's upset, they will travel to St. Ben's, while St. Thomas will visit Gustavus, both on Thursday. I'm still picking the arch-rival Tommies and Bennies to advance.
Playoff Preview
February 21, 2010
Women Start Monday February 22
The great story of this MIAC season has been the performance of the Macalester Lady Scots, whose program was suspended as recently as 5 years ago for lack of enough healthy bodies to put out there on the court. Coach Ellen Thompson and a senior class led by Trina PaStarr and Ann Baltzer have brought the Scots all the way back to legitimate contention for an MIAC title. The regular season title didn't quite happen, as Macalester finished 2 games behind co-champions Gustavus and St. Ben's in 4th place. But they, and 4 other teams, can be considered to have a chance at the post-season title for 2010.
The featured 1st round game, then, is St. Thomas (15-7, 18-7) at Macalester (16-6, 16-9). St. Thomas is trying to bounce back, too, though they've got a higher standard with 11 MIAC titles, 4 NCAA D3 Final 4s, and a national championship in 1991. Center Rachel Booth, who transferred in from D2 St. Cloud State, where she was the NSIC post-season MVP last year, is a legitimate MIAC Player of the Year candidate, though it took awhile for coach Ruth Sinn to get all of the pieces integrated. Just when it looked as if that had happened, the Tommies faltered a bit, losing 2 of their last 3 games.
The Lady Scots, meanwhile, won their last 5 after a bit of a January swoon, and have 2 Player of the Year candidates in Baltzer and PaStarr.
The other 1st round game has St. Catherine's (10-12, 11-14) at Concordia (Moorhead) (17-5, 18-7) in a game that the hosts should win fairly easily. Laura Kalbfell of St. Cate's led the MIAC in scoring at 17.5 ppg, and St. Cate's stayed within 76-71 at Concordia just last week, so who knows?
I'm picking St. Thomas and Concordia to advance, which would mean that the Tommies would visit Gustavus, and Concordia would take on St. Ben's in the semi-finals on Thursday. If those are the match-ups, I like St. Thomas and St. Ben's, and so the 2 arch-rivals would square off at St. Joseph, MN, on Saturday afternoon. Even I can't figure out who would win that one.
Men Start Tuesday February 23
The big news here was an all-time MIAC record 32 straight conference wins by, well, I doubt that I have to tell you who did that. If you find that and 5 straight regular season conference titles to be a bit boring, well, you can get in line. But, I'll tell you what. If coach Steve Fritz and the Tommies can translate all of that into some post-season NCAA D3 noise, all will be forgiven.
The Tommies, of course, get a 1st round bye. They should probably get a 2nd round bye as well, what with a 6 game margin over 2nd place in the final regular season standings. So, the featured 1st round attraction is Hamline (11-9, 15-10) at Carleton (12-8, 16-9). The news here is that Carleton is in the play-offs at all, much less opening on their home court. The Carls struggled throughout the early going after losing superstar Zach Johnson from last year's squad to graduation. But, after a 3-7 start in the conference, the Knights finished 9-1, losing only to the 1st place Tommies, and only 58-55 at that just 2 weeks ago. Guard Jeremy Sutherland leads the Carls' balanced attack with 13 points and 4 assists per game.
Hamline counters with surely 2 of the MIAC's 5 best players--post Carl Hipp (3rd in the conference with 17.2 ppg) and guard Ray Brown (2nd at 17.7). But after a big win over Gustavus, the Pipers lost their last 3 games of the regular season.
The other 1st round game has St. John's (11-9, 14-11) at Augsburg (13-7, 18-7). The Johnnies' Aaron Burtzel is another of the conference's top performers with 13 points, 10 rebounds and a league-leading 5 assists per game, plus a league-leading 63 percent shooting percentage. But Augsburg would appear to have more weapons.
So Augsburg join Carleton as favorites in these 1st round match-ups, which means it would be Carleton at St. Thomas and Augsburg at Gustavus in the semis. The home teams should win again, and nobody is going to beat St. Thomas in the final no matter where they play that one.
Players of the Year
My picks would be Ann Baltzer of Macalester, and Aaron Burtzel of St. John's.
The first 5 among the women are Baltzer, Booth, Nord (Concordia), PaStarr, Stifter (St. Ben's).
Men: Burtzel, Brown, Hipp, Healy and Nicolai (the latter 2 being the Tommies' guards).
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