Well said, Pointlem!  It's tough to see it end but they went out with class and both teams played well enough to win.  The seniors will be missed but there is a good nucleus of returning players to make next year a fun team to watch as well.  Congrats to both teams for a spectacular performance!

Great game today!  Both teams were outstanding on defense and with very few open looks for either team.  Hope seemed a little flat in the first half but picked things up in the second half and overtime to pull out the win.  Adrian would give a lot of teams in the NCAA trouble and it's unfortunate they won't get the chance.

This was a great test for Hope in the upcoming tournament.  I find it hard to believe there will be many better defensive clubs than the Bulldogs. They are probably one or two players short of being a great team and could have easily pulled out a victory today with a little better guard play at the end.  Congrats to both teams on a great tournament.

I've been impressed with Peter's overall play this year.  He does have that bad habit of trying to take a little more difficult shot than he needs and shooting on the way down on his jump shot.  I've been most impressed, however, with his willingness to defer to DK and Snuggs on offense and doing the dirty things like playing solid defense and rebounding that this team needs.  That's not easy for a player that two years ago was relied on to provide more in the way of offense.

I still think that before this year is done, Peter is going to step up and win a game down the stretch with either a big shot or key free throws.  It's a great problem to have when you have a player of Peter's ability be the third or fourth option in an offensive set.

I'm just happy that at least one of the teams tried to set some screens, legal or not!   

Just as big was the offensive rebound difference of 21-10.  Very difficult to win with that large of a difference in a close game.

Quote from: Flying Dutch Fan on December 28, 2011, 08:02:31 AM

Quote from: knights2000 on December 27, 2011, 10:02:31 PM

Quote from: hoopdreams on December 27, 2011, 07:45:28 PM
Hope in the running for another D1 transfer with family ties to school?  Word just broke that Rockford grad, Ryan Majerle transfered out of Toledo.  Will Hope try to top Adrian's new pick-up .  Played AAU with NVA I believe....

Majerle also played high school ball with Calvin's Brent Henry and former Knight Jake Greene, if that means anything...

And his mother works in admissions at Alma...

True....but also a Hope grad.

Now that would be fun to watch.  As quickly as those guys could move and pass the ball around, it would be difficult for any team to stop them on the offensive side...defensively it might be a little different when they ran up against a taller squad like Augustana but it would still be a "dream" line up for the fans to watch.

Well said by HopeConvert and pointlem!  This team faced a great deal of adversity and I've  been incredibly proud to watch this group of young men come together and succeed.  This is a group of kids  that kept working and put together a great season.   They lost to one of the better teams in D-3 in overtime with a huge height advantage and a 10 point deficit at halftime.  To come back and have that game decided in the last 5 seconds is reflective of this teams abilty to come back in the second half all season.

Coach Neil and his staff did a great job in getting this team ready to play throughout the season.  Great year by all but cudo's go out to the seniors playing their last game at Hope:  Bowser, Tanis, Dickerson & Venema.  These gentleman are a great tribute to Hope College and it was great to see them develop into fine leaders and basketball players over the years.  There is a great nucleous of players coming back and no reason to think Hope shouldn't continue to make their presence felt both in the MIAA but the NCAA tournament.  I'm ready for November to come and start the season again!