Owen Varnado has entered the transfer portal as a graduate student -- he is set to complete his degree in three years.

Kean and NJCU are proposing a merger (NJCU into Kean) that would also combine athletics programs

https://www.kean.edu/media/kean-jersey-city-proposal

(Athletics Pg 41)

QuoteComprehensive Realignment of Athletics
The merger brings together two vibrant athletic traditions under the umbrella of Kean University Athletics & Recreation.
• Unified Entity
• Combines 23 NCAA athletics programs with expanded club sports and intramural activities

Headquarters and Campus Reach
• Union campus as the central hub for athletics
• Recreational, intramural and club sports offerings on
the Jersey City campus tailored to student needs

Program Expansion
• Inclusion of NJCU's Men's and Women's Wrestling, Women's Cross Country and eSports
• Introduction of new activities like Women's Flag Football and Pickleball

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on February 26, 2025, 05:39:24 PMCalvin is one of the hottest teams lately, so whomever they play, I don't see them losing in the semis. If Hope wins tonight, they'll play at Trine, where they got killed...although they did split the season series.

The potential Hope-Trine semifinal would be played at Calvin on Friday, so the Dutchmen wouldn't have to travel far.

Quote from: Happy Calvin Guy on February 26, 2025, 09:53:53 AM

Quote from: Dark Knight on February 26, 2025, 07:40:18 AMHmmm. I hadn't really thought about the fact that that there is a tradeoff between going for steals and solid defense, that a high number of steals may also result in a higher opponent field goal percentage. Nice observation.

Maybe we need some combination stat that includes both factors. Or would that just be defensive efficiency? From D3Datacast, Calvin 86.3 (#4), Trine 89.7 (#15).

Calvin's opponents' points per game:
First 7 games: 78.0 ppg
Next 18 games: 57.9 ppg

It would be interesting to see how Calvin ranks nationally in defensive efficiency during the 18-game win streak.

This is somewhat inexact, but if I remove Calvin's first 7 games from their data, their adjusted defensive efficiency improves from 86.4 (#4) to 84.0 (tied #2). (This also excludes Grace Bible as my ratings only include D3 vs. D3 games).

Offensively they would improve from 108.3 (#93) to 109.3 (#78). Overall they would be something like #10 in my ratings; they are currently #16.

(My ratings do begin to devalue games played earlier in the season, so already some of those games are getting less than 100% weight).

Taking a quick stab at All-MIAA selections. Several others in the mix for 2nd team. Would like to get Kretschman on there and/or someone from Albion. Could put one of Hope's guys on the 1st team rather than two from Olivet.

1st Team
Uchenna Egekeze, Calvin (MVP, DPOY)
Owen Varnado, Calvin
Drew Moore, Trine
Nate Tucker, Trine
Conner Schipper, Olivet
Nathan Richardson, Olivet

2nd Team
Parker Hovey, Hope
Marcus Wourman, Hope
Gabe Quillan, Hope
Nick Seifert, Adrian
Lukas Broadsword, Kalamazoo
Trevin Winkle, Calvin

I didn't spend a ton of time here, so I would appreciate other thoughts if anyone wants to chime in.

Seems like C is most likely.

Quote from: HupHolland on February 22, 2025, 09:31:52 AMMaybe I'm reading too much into this Twitter (X)  post https://x.com/hope_basketball/status/1893305417838506227?s=46&t=78thgC6hYc-cDhR-hoc3dg

Is Hope honoring Wourman and Mims as seniors today too? If true, you thought this season was not great for Hope?... hooo boy

Is Wourman graduating early? I thought he was a true Junior.

The intention with the multiplier is to count conference tournament games as conference games.

Quote from: KnightSlappy on February 20, 2025, 12:14:31 PMIt looks like the UEC Tournament games from last night are all marked as non-conference in the NCAA NPI numbers. I have reached out to someone regarding this.

It sounds like this will be corrected (hopefully tomorrow).

Quote from: ziggy on February 19, 2025, 09:34:48 PM

Quote from: Ralph Turner on February 19, 2025, 07:28:35 PMHmmm.  What is the C2C item on the agenda?

My first thought is something related to the status of their automatic qualifier because I don't believe their new members in the provisional pipeline will be coming soon without a gap between the grace period and being back to "full strength" - however that may be more of a Championships Committee issue.

Perhaps they're going to bat for Regent and J&W NC to skip a year or otherwise expedite?

It looks like the UEC Tournament games from last night are all marked as non-conference in the NCAA NPI numbers. I have reached out to someone regarding this.

The D3Datacast people will probably wait until tomorrow morning at this point.

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on February 19, 2025, 11:26:48 AMSo conference tournament games are considered conference games in terms of being weighted?

Yes, the will be weighted 0.9 / 1.0 / 1.1

I think there are two big differences in NPI:

(1) Beating the #7 (last ranked spot) in a region vs. the #8 team in a region was a HUGE deal in the old system because you would get a "result versus regionally ranked opponent". Now both games are good; the "#7 team" gives you a very marginally higher Quality Win Bonus, but not much difference.

(2) Finding relatively mediocre teams with good records could help your SOS in the old system, but NPI is better tuned closer to team quality. For example, UW-Oshkosh (12-11 record) is one spot higher than Washington and Jefferson (18-6) in Monday's NPI run, and would be (very marginally) better for your NPI strength of schedule (just don't lose to them twice, probably  ).

To me, the scheduling takeaway remains: play good teams and beat good teams. And it's now probably more important that you actually win some of those really tough games than it was in the past. I would tell coaches to schedule teams that are near them in quality. It doesn't really help you to schedule a really tough game you can't win, and it doesn't really help you to beat up on a team you can easily beat.

Calvin, Trine, and Hope should be playing teams in the national mix with many of their non-conference games. The rest of the league should be mostly hunting wins for their non-conference schedule.

Quote from: oldknight on February 05, 2025, 09:30:30 PMAfter a miserable first half with Calvin shooting 22%, committing 12 turnovers, and trailing 32-23, the Knights turn on the jets the last 20 minutes and win at Alma, 74-52. Varnado led with 26 and Egekeze added 16. Given Hope's surprisingly comfortable 79-71 win over Trine in Holland, Calvin is now the clear favorite to win the regular season title and host the conference tournament.

Trevin Winkle and Daane Harvey both sat out for Calvin after tweaking ankles in game vs. Hope on Saturday. Hopefully both are able to return soon. In the meantime, Parker Swartz stepped into the starting lineup, Trip Riemersma saw his minutes return, and Mike Morris entered the playing rotation.