MIAC Allows CSB,SJU to Keep Basketball Format

St. Cloud Times Jan. 27, 2005

by Frank Rajkowski

St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict will not have to worry about scheduling the bulk of their home basketball games head-to-head next season after all.

The MIAC is changing its scheduling format for basketball next season, adopting a system in which a school's men's and women's teams will play home doubleheaders — with the women's game beginning at 5:30 p.m. and the men's game beginning at 7:30 — instead of one team being home and one team being away on the same night as it has been.

Because St. John's and St. Benedict are separate institutions with separate home courts, officials at both institutions had worried that the bulk of the Johnnies and Blazers home games would end up being scheduled simultaneously. But like this season, St. John's will be at home when St. Benedict is on the road and vice versa.

"Certainly, there were concerns in Collegeville and St. Joseph in regard to if there were two games going on the same night, who would play first and where the games would be played," MIAC executive director Carlyle Carter said. "It was a situation we didn't want to get into. As a result, we treated them as separate institutions which, in fact, they are. It's how we handled all single-gender institutions. We handled St. Catherine the same way. They won't be paired with anyone either."

St. John's athletic director Fr. Tim Backous and St. Benedict athletic director Carol Howe-Veenstra expressed delight at the decision.

"It's wonderful for us," Backous said. "Both the Blazers and Johnnies will play on their home floors, as it should be. It really was kind of worrying us, trying to figure out how to make the whole process work for both schools. Because when it really comes down to it, we are two different programs with our own needs."

"This is really good news," Howe-Veenstra said. "It would have been very difficult for us to handle 5:30 games. Because we don't have the concerns over sports information directors and trainers that other schools (who have trainers and SIDs that have to work both the men's and women's games) do, it was hard for us to validate the 5:30 start time. Plus, we have a strong JV program and we don't want to compromise that. But we didn't want to go at the same time and force our students to make a choice either. So we're happy."

Mac will be back

Carter also said Macalester, which suspended its women's basketball season in December because of low numbers, will return in a limited fashion next season. The Scots will play each member of the conference once, during the second half of the MIAC season.

Those games will be counted as non-conference games. Schools will have to find an additional nonconference game to make up for the hole Macalester's absence will leave in the first half of the MIAC schedule.

"This will give Macalester the opportunity to continue to recruit and rebuild their program, while at the same time allowing them the opportunity to participate in one half of the MIAC season," said Carter, who added it was a one-year arrangement.

"At the same time, it will lessen the burden on our other members, who will only have to find one additional game now," he said.

Athletic Department
College of Saint Benedict
37 South College Avenue
St. Joseph, MN 56374
320-363-5301
Fax 320-363-6098