My apologies for letting a few cobwebs get on my blog but have been incredibly busy as of late. Throw in my alma mater, Iowa, getting into the semifinals of the B1G Men's Basketball Tournament (and then getting smoked by Oregon in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament 😭 ), the Iowa women who have battled their way into a Sweet 16 showdown with UConn and Ms Paige Bueckers tomorrow, and my employer, Canadian Pacific Railway; shocking the railroad and transportation world with its announced acquisition of Kansas City Southern this last weekend, I've had a lot going on. But at least wanted to write a bit of a wrap-up on the MIAC season and my thoughts on it.
The GAC - Bethel game that I watched online on Monday (3-8) was not the last game played lest anyone be confused here. Late that same week on Friday (3-12), a young and up-and-coming Concordia team traveled down to St Joe and made the home finale for CSB a disappointing one as the Cobbers would come out on top 71-62. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's only a matter of time before Concordia battles their way into the thick of things in this conference again. This is a time you definitely want to keep your eye on next season. The next week; on Tuesday (3-16), St. Kate's and St. Olaf got a game in with the Wildcats topping the Oles 68-64. That weekend, St. Kate's would mix it up with neighborhood rival Macalester with the Scots taking both games - 62-58 on Friday (3-19) and then 73-64 on Sunday (3-21).
Going into this season, I had a lot of mixed feelings. Yes, I was glad that the student-athletes of the participating teams got a chance to compete and do what they love to do. At the same time, I also had to ask myself, "Is it worth it?" The fact that both Hamline and SMU were forced to curtail their seasons early is one thing but even more so, the fact that there was no reward at the end for the conference champion or anyone else. It was just "that's it" and "thanks for coming". That aspect of it I didn't like. In some ways, I wish the the MIAC could have at least had a postseason conference tournament like the neighboring WIAC, ARC and UMAC did. For me, it was good to see action - even if I had to follow it online but the end result was a lot like falling off a cliff. You come to the end and that's it. But I suppose the most important thing in all this is that the student-athletes did get a chance to compete and I'll give the MIAC credit for laying out all the groundwork for making it happen in this environment. Not an easy thing to do.
And I'd be amiss not to mention that Northwestern definitely made the most out of their abbreviated season. After getting dumped by rival Bethany Lutheran in the UMAC semifinals, the Eagles participated in the NCCAA Tournament and in their quarterfinal game, they scored a convincing 65-30 victory over Columbia International before falling to Alice Lloyd last Saturday in Winona Lake, IN. So congrats to Northwestern on a nice run and, of course, to UMAC Champ Bethany Lutheran as well.
Well, tomorrow (Saturday 3-27) is definitely going to be an exciting day for women's college basketball as my alma mater, Iowa, will be taking on perennial powerhouse UConn in one of the Sweet 16 matchups in the NCAA Tournament. This is, IMHO, really a big moment - not only for women's college basketball but for women's sports in general because this game will feature two of the best freshmen in the game today - Caitlin Clark of Iowa and former Hopkins star Paige Bueckers going head-to-head. Without question, this is going to be fun and although I think UConn will have too much for the Hawkeyes in the long run, you can bet that Clark will be doing everything she can to keep her team in the hunt. You won't want to miss this!
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