Lot of spot on comments here from you guys. FDF, that Kalonji comment was one of the ones that I for sure noticed. A few others that drew my ire was talking about how NC needed to blow them out to rest starters, and also announcing the game to over at the 9:56 point...it was an 11 point game. And I had a slight laugh when he talked about being 11 and 0 on Saturday's. Reminded me of some the play-by-play from Bob Uecher in Major League.

Sac, your statistics and mentioning of NC's smart move to guard Harris with 6'4" Meredith is also spot on. And even when Harris got open in the 2nd half, he seemed gun shy.

And Adrian overall, was disappointing, largely due to just not looking like they were into it the entire game. Maybe frustration set in with the struggles, and it's hard to say partially due seeing the game on a feed that wasn't the best (a little far from the court maybe?). Also made it hard to recognize NC's skill, because they honestly didn't impress me too much. I mean, they were very solid and definitely didn't make many mistakes, but hard to tell how good they were without being there.

But I won't let my disappointment get in the way of my pride for this team that made history for the program. Thanks to them and hopefully they take confidence into next season. Go Bulldawgs!

Rough first half for Adrian as they trail by 11 (37 to 26, I believe).

NC was in the bonus perhaps faster than I've ever seen. Maybe 5 minutes in? And then they were shooting 2 with maybe 7 or 8 minutes left.

I don't have the numbers in front of me, but it would say that Adrian is lucky to be just down 11. NC is hitting 3's, or did for a stretch, and Adrian, specifically Harris, are not hitting their 3's, and they are forcing a bit.

Also not having a good game are these announcers. I know it's small school stuff, but it's rough. But perhaps I was spoiled by the Albion broadcast which was fantastic.

I really like NC's offense. Lots of replacements and every movement is towards the basket. Adrian is a bit on their heels.

They're going to need to get a run early and make this a manageable deficit, because if this stays in double digits too long, they likely won't have a run in them to overtake North Central.

Quote from: Flying Dutch Fan on March 03, 2020, 12:43:12 PM
Quick Adrian @ North Central comparison. 

Offense	% 2pt	% 3pt	% FT
Adrian	50.7	38	74.8
North Central	55.9	36.8	76
------
Defense	% 2pt	% 3pt
Adrian	48.7	37.9
North Central	47.1	33.9
------
Rebounding	Team	Opp	Margin
Adrian	34.4	35.4	-1
North Central	34.6	32.2	2.4
------
Scoring	Team	Opp	Margin
Adrian	77.6	77.1	0.5
North Central	75.3	65.2	10.1
------
3 point shooting	Made/game
Adrian	9
North Central	9.3
------
Ball Control	Stl/game	TO/Game	OppTO/Game
Adrian	4	12	11.9
North Central	4.7	11.9	13.2
------
Ball Control	Asst/game	A/TO	Blks/game
Adrian	12.1	1.01	2.8
North Central	16.6	1.39	2.1
------
	vRRO	In-Div SOS	Massey Predicts
Adrian	3 - 1	0.507	63
North Central	2 - 3	0.546	75

Thank you for the breakdown.

Very excited to see what happens. I don't think Adrian will just be happy to be there. I feel like they have an attitude about them, they'll have 2 of the best players on the court, and they'll play the role they've commonly played for the last 2 months in the majority of their games; as the underdawg.

Go Bulldawgs, and subsequently, Go MIAA!

Quote from: sac on March 01, 2020, 12:06:37 PM

Quote from: Bulldog30 on March 01, 2020, 11:28:54 AM
Looking at the stats, there isn't one thing that jumps out as why Adrian won.

1. Winning the rebounds battle. Adrian is not usually the best rebounding team, but they were 36 to 31, 9 to 5 offensively, leading to 14 to 6 second chance points. The biggest of those was by Kalonji with about a minute left that may have sealed it.

2. Free throws. Not as big a disparity as vs Calvin in the semis, but you can lose games from the line, but Adrian went 16 of 19 led by Kalonji's 9 for 9, and Jordan Harris 4-4, some of which were clutch one-and-ones at the end.

3. Adrian's best players were better than than Trine's best players. Kalonji and Harris were awesome. Combined stats: 16 of 36, 8 of 19 from 3, 13 of 13 from the line, 16 rebounds, and 77 of 80 minutes played. Kendall Bellamy also played well, but these were the guys. For Trine, Maurice Hunter's foul trouble caused to him to only play 25 minutes which hurt because he was an offensive weapon they sorely missed. Marcus Winters hit some big 3's and Langston Johnson played well, but didn't control the game like Kalonji and Harris.

I think it's Kalonji and especially Harris that make them a dangerous opponent in the tournament, although I'm sure they'll be an underdawg in any game they play, starting in round 1. Any theories from people like Sac as to who they'll play? (Completely uneducated guess...John Carrol...don't even know if they're in the tourney).

In a tight game like that, it really came down to 3-point shooting.  Adrian was better last night.  Also thought their defense was very good the middle half of the 2nd half, at least one shot clock violation and 2 near misses, one of those Johnson hit a silky 3 at the buzzer.


As far as where for Adrian.  Host sites around us under 500 miles for Adrian are probably.....

Mt. Union
Wittenberg
Platteville
Wash. U/Elmhurst/North Central---maybe two of them
Brockport


I'll wait for the rest of the field to become more clear for opponents.

If you believe that tourney design likes interesting matchups, then Adrian at Mt. Union makes sense.

Looking at the stats, there isn't one thing that jumps out as why Adrian won.

1. Winning the rebounds battle. Adrian is not usually the best rebounding team, but they were 36 to 31, 9 to 5 offensively, leading to 14 to 6 second chance points. The biggest of those was by Kalonji with about a minute left that may have sealed it.

2. Free throws. Not as big a disparity as vs Calvin in the semis, but you can lose games from the line, but Adrian went 16 of 19 led by Kalonji's 9 for 9, and Jordan Harris 4-4, some of which were clutch one-and-ones at the end.

3. Adrian's best players were better than than Trine's best players. Kalonji and Harris were awesome. Combined stats: 16 of 36, 8 of 19 from 3, 13 of 13 from the line, 16 rebounds, and 77 of 80 minutes played. Kendall Bellamy also played well, but these were the guys. For Trine, Maurice Hunter's foul trouble caused to him to only play 25 minutes which hurt because he was an offensive weapon they sorely missed. Marcus Winters hit some big 3's and Langston Johnson played well, but didn't control the game like Kalonji and Harris.

I think it's Kalonji and especially Harris that make them a dangerous opponent in the tournament, although I'm sure they'll be an underdawg in any game they play, starting in round 1. Any theories from people like Sac as to who they'll play? (Completely uneducated guess...John Carrol...don't even know if they're in the tourney).

Emotions flowing through as Adrian College wins its first MIAA championship...I'm shocked, not at this win, but just the entirety of it all. Amazing.

Quote from: Bulldog30 on February 29, 2020, 02:52:29 PM
Really feel like it's a toss up tonight. They split in the regular season, though Adrian is much improved from January. Both teams had to push for their wins and I feel like Adrian's win was extra emotional after Coach's double tech, along with some very tough/big shots down the stretch.

Side note...didn't know Warrick got up that high. Nice one.

Always curious about the decision at the end of the game to foul or not foul when up 3. I'm sure I could look up some analytics that say which is better overall, but I think what's best is whatever works (hindsight).

I'll take a guess that the team that's hotter from 3 wins the game. Go Bulldawgs! You'd be doing what so many teams of the past couldn't achieve. We are all cheering for you.

Well, a toss up for sure. Two 16 and 11 teams, tied at 29. Adrian got up 10 early, then Trine was the better team while Adrian's offense couldn't get very good shots. And then it got a little sloppy late. It's a nailbiter.

Really feel like it's a toss up tonight. They split in the regular season, though Adrian is much improved from January. Both teams had to push for their wins and I feel like Adrian's win was extra emotional after Coach's double tech, along with some very tough/big shots down the stretch.

Side note...didn't know Warrick got up that high. Nice one.

Always curious about the decision at the end of the game to foul or not foul when up 3. I'm sure I could look up some analytics that say which is better overall, but I think what's best is whatever works (hindsight).

I'll take a guess that the team that's hotter from 3 wins the game. Go Bulldawgs! You'd be doing what so many teams of the past couldn't achieve. We are all cheering for you.

Bulldawgs to the MIAA championship! What a comeback! All heart.

Go Bulldawgs! Beat Calvin tonight!

Thanks Sac, Hup, and Winifred. I'll follow a few.

Quote from: Winifred Durfee on March 01, 2018, 10:27:17 AM
Bulldog30, I found one kid via twitter (https://twitter.com/blackwell_03/status/947235983925436416) and then went and found this link:

http://www.ncsasports.org/mens-basketball-recruiting/indiana/shelbyville/shelbyville-senior-high-school/brock-blackwell

Brock Blackwell- 6'3" G from Shelbyville, IN: appears to shoot fairly well, and that is nice size at the guard spot. Hard to see much on him, however.

Watch out MIAA!!! In all seriousness, the highlight videos from...how should I put this...secondary players always make me laugh. Gotta love a great slow-mo shot of a underneath bounce pass for a lay up. But perhaps I shouldn't joke as I would love a highlight video of me in high school showing my one-handed bounce passes, and-ones, and that one sorta-dunk I had my senior year.

I would definitely give some Adrian information in terms of recruiting, if I had some. Based on your knowledge of Hope recruits, how would you suggest I find information on future Adrian Bulldogs? Do any of you (Sac?) have any information on Adrian recruits?

One last note about Adrian...

I worry about them for next year. Justin Webster is a first teamer, and it obviously hurts, but I think it especially hurts because Adrian already lacked size and rebounding.

So, who steps in? The 6th and 7th man (Kenyon Rainey and Cortez Buckner) are both guards. The next forward to get time was Ke'Shaun Wyatt-Morris who averaged 7.7 minutes per game with 0.7 points per game...ouch! Could he be starting next year???

Now Adrian did have a huge (and surprising) turnaround this year that not many people expected this year, so maybe they can get some solid recruits and improve themselves. But if they are a guard heavy team (and even Jeremy Kalonji plays like a guard with his shooting and the fact he is the 5th place rebounder on the team), they need to gameplan like a guard heavy team.

(Remember last week when Hope played Adrian???)

I sadly didn't get to see the Hope/Adrian game, but the result was a sign of Hope's rise through the conference season with Adrian's fall. A 16 point loss sadly makes sense, although I was shocked to see Adrian had a 14 point lead early.

I said that Adrian needed to have either domination from Webster, but more importantly, needed strong offense from their guards. Sam Colbert delivered going 5 of 8 from 3, but besides that, Adrian shot 2 of 16 from 3.

Of course, Adrian got dominated on the boards which has seem to be a killer for them lately. 43 to 27. 11 offensive boards while also shooting 47% is a recipe for disaster.

Hope also shot 20 of 26 (mostly shot by Hope's guards by the way) from the FT line to Adrian's 8 of 15.

Once again, Adrian and Hope only had 2 fastbreak points each. Adrian's team (at least with their top 7) seems well suited to play a more aggressive style that could fast break, but they've been a half court team for years now, and I feel like that's strange to me. I'm not a college coach, so perhaps I'm off here, but I feel like Adrian could add some pressure and pushing to their planning next season. And I think that makes even more sense without the large presence in the middle next season.

I was slightly cheering for Olivet in the title game, but now that Hope has won, hopefully they represent the MIAA well in the playoffs. Good luck.

Congratulations to the Adrian bigs, Justin Webster and Jeremy Kalonji.

Justin definitely earned that 1st team position with his strong play throughout the year. Extremely consistent on a team that has needed more of that. If the guards don't shoot well this weekend, then he will have to be a beast in the paint.

Jeremy has a lot of talent and he's still only a sophomore. His shot was way better than I expected (44% from 3) and he showed high level athleticism at times. I'll talk more about him whenever the season ends for Adrian. Hopefully not soon.

Go Bulldogs this weekend!