Quote from: sac on April 04, 2013, 09:58:36 AM
Stat of the Day:

Adrian was ranked #407 in assists per game

That stat is an indictment of Adrian's offense, something that I talked a lot about throughout the year.  I think the players also have a hand in this, but the offense seemed so stale.  I know Adrian is a defensive minded team, but do they completely ignore the offense?

Ugh!  Did exactly what they should not have done...took the shot with no time left to do anything with a miss.  Powell did get a nice shot though, but still.

Also, I know Powell was on fire, but why don't teams actually RUN A FREAKING PLAY!  Pick and roll anyone?  Drive and kick?  Something.   If that was a good scoring play why don't you just run it every time down?  Because it's not!

Great game!  Calvin currently down 1 with 20 seconds.  IMO, you have to take this shot around 7 or 8 seconds because you can board or foul a miss.  Also, Thommies have no timeouts, so no time to set anything up.

P.S.  Announcer just asked if they should foul?!?  Calvin's in the bonus goofball.

Is this announcer trying to be Gus Johnson?  Or is he a former wrestling announcer?  Either way, I do prefer him over announcers who are too droll (or Dan Dokich).

Quote from: ziggy on March 11, 2013, 06:45:45 PM

Quote from: sac on March 11, 2013, 06:31:25 PM
If you haven't seen it.......Brandon Knight needs to make better decisions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1_rKW3HL9GE


Love his twitter response though...
Brandon E Knight ‏@BrandonKnight07

It wasn't in the scouting reports that the clippers threw lobs lol

I thought this was a really interesting take on the play (and the reaction to it) from Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--basketball-s-backward-culture-makes-punch-line-of-brandon-knight-for-trying-to-stop-deandre-jordan-s-dunk-174058736.html
I highly recommend the read as it really says more about the game in general than the play in specific.

Great post Ziggy (and if I could, +++K)!

I was going to post this article if someone had not done it already.  As a teacher and coach nowadays, the current young NBA fan culture that I experience is terrible in so many ways.  Much respect to Adrian Wojnarowski for the article and for any Piston that's playing hard through tough times.  And as a Piston fan, I like Drummond, Monroe, Knight (sometimes), our future cap space, and hopefully, our future NBA draft picks (and Singler coming off the bench).

By the way, almost no Piston fans in my last 2 schools.  What happened to cheering for the home team?  The bandwagon-ness of the kids makes me so mad.

Go Bulldogs!

There are A LOT of Bulldog fans that post on this forum, but they are normally Hope or Calvin fans that are cheering for us to beat the other when it helps them.

In all seriousness, I think history plays a huge deal in that.  When I look at the MIAA championship records, Hope and Calvin show their tradition.  Would love for Adrian get that 1st one, then maybe some more will join.

This one is over...Calvin dominating Hope right now 58 to 38 with 12 minutes left in the game.  Calvin's D is just so good.

And as always, good luck to the MIAA!

I always cheer for our representatives in the tournament.  I always worked my hardest to beat the top teams like Hope and Calvin (Albion was very good too), but I actually respected and even liked a lot of the players on those teams so it was always easy to cheer for them in the tournament.

I actually want Hope to win in the championship in hopes of having 2 representatives.  With this in mind, I will now break down the top 37 keys for this to happen using Massey, RPI, BPI, CGI, D & D, and WAR.  1...on second thought, I'll leave this to those more knowledgable than myself and let the chips fall where they may.

Go _____________ !

Quote from: oldknight on February 21, 2013, 10:28:38 PM

Quote from: Adrian Bulldawg Alum on February 21, 2013, 09:07:44 PM
What's going on in Calvin right now is despicable!  They have given up...

Adrian inbounded a ball from underneath their hoop with 3 seconds on the shot clock.  An Adrian player (Gallant) got the ball, held it, made no move, after 2 seconds, passed it to a teammate who had 1 second, takes a dribble?!?  Neither was aware of time and/or situation.  That wasn't what made me upset though...

I first noticed it when an Adrian player made a bad pass up top and it went past him and it should've been just an over-and-back violation, but the Adrian guard started jogging and the Calvin player hustled, dove on the floor and got it, and then passed it to a teammate for (another) lay up.  I saw 2 other plays where Adrian players just gave up.  Instead of playing with pride, I saw gutlessness.

I don't say that lately.  I like Adrian,  I cheer for my alma matar, I like Mark White, but I saw what I saw.

I understand your frustration. I can't remember ever seeing a Mark White team actually look beaten but that's what happened tonight. The over and back play exemplified the difference in competitive juices between the two squads. Calvin played about as complete a game as we've seen this year. When the Knights repeatedly get the ball in the blocks to Tyler Kruis, the game just seems to get a lot easier for them. The offense just opens up for everyone. An interesting dynamic played out with Snikkers who--apparently chastened by last week's 11 turnovers--simply refused to try and press the action when there didn't seem to be an opening. Instead, he took what the defense gave him, moved the ball around, and led the team with 6 assists and 0 turnovers. Even if Tom only takes four shots as he did tonight, he can still be a leader by playmaking and rebounding as we observed against the Bulldogs.

Calvin's defense was outstanding, forcing Adrian into being little more than a jump shooting team. Sean Gallant is a very fine post player but I felt sorry for him. Against a team like Calvin he suffered the most from the loss of Adam Meier (who I'm told has a torn ACL) and simply found it impossible to get a shot off inside 15 feet for the first 30 minutes of play. With the Knights also able to hound Barnes and Lewis into 4-17 shooting, Adrian simply had no chance in this one.

I have settled down a little from last night, and though I'm still disappointed, I can reflect on some more things from last night.

First and foremost, congrats and good luck to the Bulldogs who played in their final game last night: Sean Gallant and Cody Barnes.  They both had their ups and downs, but overall, they were 2 of Adrian's most important players and will be missed next year.  I have talked to them both and they were both seemingly good guys.  Barnes averaged 12 points this year and Gallant, with a MIAA player of the week late in the year, averaged 8.6 and 7.  Not bad, especially on the boards.

Gallant did have a tough night.  Calvin's just one of those matchups that is rough for him.  He actually did pretty solidly in the 2nd half after a very rough 1st half.

Tough blow for Adam Meier if he did tear his ACL.  Hopefully it's something he can come back strong from.  Adrian will definetly need him next year.  My first key to a Bulldog's victory was having him in the lineup and him out of it seemed to make Calvin's size advantage insurmountable.

Hopefully Adrian can find some stability, find some chemistry on offense, and work on their shooting ability (sorry, the game last night still has me thinking about consistently missing jump shots).

On the game side, Calvin (obviously) won 71 to 44.

Those terrible shooting stats that I wrote after the first half (26 FG, 29 Three's, 50 FT)  ACTUALLY went down (  ) in each category.  Some of this was due was to Calvin's strong defense, but as I said earlier, Adrian just couldn't hit shots.  I also thought that besides Lewis, Adrian couldn't offensively create good opportunities.

Looks like another Hope vs. Calvin MIAA championship game (yawn...  )

What's going on in Calvin right now is despicable!  They have given up...

Adrian inbounded a ball from underneath their hoop with 3 seconds on the shot clock.  An Adrian player (Gallant) got the ball, held it, made no move, after 2 seconds, passed it to a teammate who had 1 second, takes a dribble?!?  Neither was aware of time and/or situation.  That wasn't what made me upset though...

I first noticed it when an Adrian player made a bad pass up top and it went past him and it should've been just an over-and-back violation, but the Adrian guard started jogging and the Calvin player hustled, dove on the floor and got it, and then passed it to a teammate for (another) lay up.  I saw 2 other plays where Adrian players just gave up.  Instead of playing with pride, I saw gutlessness.

I don't say that lately.  I like Adrian,  I cheer for my alma matar, I like Mark White, but I saw what I saw.

Quote from: Adrian Bulldawg Alum on February 21, 2013, 06:35:21 PM
Bulldogs face a huge challenge tonight vs. a better Calvin team.

Adrian will need 3 things to win:
1. Adam Meier - Calvin is much bigger as it is, and if they lack the 6'5" big guy, I think Calvin will have a field day in the paint.

2. A big + in the Turnover column - We know Adrian is going to have a high defensive intensity, but I think they need to create turnovers and at the same time, protect the ball.  Something around 15 to 5 would be good.

3. Lewis and Barnes to go for about 40.  I was going to say shoot very well from 3's, but I went with this.

Calvin is a big favorite in my opinion.  I know the last 2 games were win by only 6 and 3, but they seem to be teams going in opposite directions.  Hopefully Adrian comes to play and Calvin is a bit down, though I think the final score will be 60 to 50, Calvin...but...

GO BULLDOGS!!!

Adrian down 35 to 23 at the half.  Seems my 3 keys are not going well.

1.  No Adam Meier and Adrian can't do anything inside (offensively or defensively).

2.  Though Adrian is protecting the ball, they have only caused 4 turnovers.  If you can't be bigger, you need to be quicker and get some steals.

3.  Barnes and Lewis only combine for 10.

Watching the game, you can see Calvin really contesting Adrian's shots, but even when the Bulldogs are free for shots, they are horrendously off.  You can tell with all their shooting percentages...26% FG, 29% from 3, and a terrible 5 of 10 from the stripe.  A sad combo of a big Calvin team outplaying Adrian.

(And Calvin shooting 52% doesn't help either)

MAKE A COMEBACK PLEASE!

Bulldogs face a huge challenge tonight vs. a better Calvin team.

Adrian will need 3 things to win:
1. Adam Meier - Calvin is much bigger as it is, and if they lack the 6'5" big guy, I think Calvin will have a field day in the paint.

2. A big + in the Turnover column - We know Adrian is going to have a high defensive intensity, but I think they need to create turnovers and at the same time, protect the ball.  Something around 15 to 5 would be good.

3. Lewis and Barnes to go for about 40.  I was going to say shoot very well from 3's, but I went with this.

Calvin is a big favorite in my opinion.  I know the last 2 games were win by only 6 and 3, but they seem to be teams going in opposite directions.  Hopefully Adrian comes to play and Calvin is a bit down, though I think the final score will be 60 to 50, Calvin...but...

GO BULLDOGS!!!

Saturday, Feb. 16

Adrian - 4
Calvin - 3
Hope - 2
Kalamazoo - 1

Quote from: hoopdreams on February 13, 2013, 08:37:41 PM
Adrian getting lit up by K-zoo...the bulldogs will forever be second class citizens in the MIAA....unless they make a huge comeback of course, then they're gritty and tough!  Newsflash....try keeping a roster for the entire season and build some continuity within your program and stop bringing in kids who have already enrolled in 12 different schools, unless they make a huge comeback, then you're well coached and hardnosed! BLAH........

Come on baby, make me eat my words! (think I picked Adrian for 4, thankfully, they were heavily picked)...here we go....down to 15 points......

Did I say Adrian?  I meant ALMA.....this is what happens when I verbalize my emotions....stupid therapist

I dislike this comment for it's "forever be second class citizens" remark, but it's hard to disprove.  Sadly, Adrian hasn't been able to advance beyond an MIAA season.  And even though I focus on Adrian, I think all teams not named Hope and Calvin are mostly 2nd class citizens (Is this an overstatement?)

The 2nd part of your statement is something I somewhat agree with.  Adrian shouldn't carry players like Brandon Romane.  Perhaps Mark White thinks he can help a kid who seems like he has talent but is lost mentally.  But overall, this Adrian team's continuity has been fine.  Lewis, Barnes, and Gallant are all returners and they get the most playing time.  I would also be fine with 2 year players/transfers because of my memories of Brandon Crawford.

I also noticed Adam Meier not playing last night (which I believe is Adrian's most important big guy because of his strength).  Does anyone know why?

Finally, good job to Eric Lewis for continuing some really solid play and Sean Gallant for his 3rd straight double-double.  With his size, I thought he had underachieved, but he now seems to playing very well.  Now, Adrian needs to get their heads out their ass and beat Albion at home and hope to Olivet loses.