WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[sac]

I saw her name in the box score.  Calvin could not win with her in street clothes, and if she is even at 50 or 75% not sure even with a perfect game they can get it done.

She was dressed for the Calvin game.......

[realist]

Thanks for the correction Sac.  (Now that you mention it I recall someone may have posted that info).   Perhaps her mere presence on the floor dressed to play accounts for the severe case of the hebe-jebe's that Calvin had.    Unless Calvin can do something to correct their problem with t.o's I think their season will end short of any goals they may have set.  Tonight vs. SM they turned it over 23 times.
For some reason both the womens and mens teams at Calvin have a real problem with t.o's.  My only thought is the Calvin coaches do not stress going for the steals like some teams do so when a team plays the ball aggressively the players don't respond well.  Than again that would make sense early in the year, but not after 15 or 16 games.

[Dark Knight]

Thanks for the correction Sac.  (Now that you mention it I recall someone may have posted that info).   Perhaps her mere presence on the floor dressed to play accounts for the severe case of the hebe-jebe's that Calvin had.    Unless Calvin can do something to correct their problem with t.o's I think their season will end short of any goals they may have set.  Tonight vs. SM they turned it over 23 times.
For some reason both the womens and mens teams at Calvin have a real problem with t.o's.  My only thought is the Calvin coaches do not stress going for the steals like some teams do so when a team plays the ball aggressively the players don't respond well.  Than again that would make sense early in the year, but not after 15 or 16 games.

I didn't see the game, but as I recall Calvin made some adjustments and had the TOs down to a much more acceptable level in the second half -- and in fact outscored Hope. My take would have been that the return match at the VNA would have been pretty much a toss-up without Snikkers.

[realist]

Yes, Calvin did adjust, and the t.o.'s did come down, but Hope is hard enough to beat as it is without spotting them a big lead at the start.
If Calvin can come out strong at the start, and keep the game close it will be interesting to see how Hope responds to that.  I think Hope is a great team, but I also think Calvin is capable of beating them, but only if they play really smart ball.

[sac]

Carrie Snikkers was back in the starting lineup tonight for Hope, 10 pts 7rbs.........but her brother was better today.


Hope has held its last 5 opponents to 18, 12, 21, 18 and 22 points in the first half.

[Erm Schmigget]

Carrie Snikkers was back in the starting lineup tonight for Hope, 10 pts 7rbs.........but her brother was better today.


Hope has held its last 5 opponents to 18, 12, 21, 18 and 22 points in the first half.

  good one.

[sac]

New poll is out  http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/

#4 Hope vs #9 Calvin Wednesday night.

[Erm Schmigget]

Wow.  Rivalry game tonight, and oth teams are in the top 10 of multiple national polls.  Where's the chatter?   

[realist]

At this point in time about the only thing that really matters is the two teams on the floor.  I expect a classic game, but these don't always turn out as we expect.  Last time I really expected Calvin to make more of a game of it, but give Hope the credit they got Calvin on their heels early on, and never let up.  I think it is possible for Calvin to win, but they need to have a minimum of t/o's, and make f.t's.  With Snikkers back it is going to take the perfect game for Calvin to prevail.

[sac]

I wasn't there so I don't know if it met the criteria for 'classic'...........1 point game with 5 to go usually does.

http://www.miaa.org/wbb/stats/0910/0203cahp.htm

Not much doubt Carrie was a big factor in the game and maybe the difference.....or maybe Liz Ellis and her 8 points in the deciding minutes.

[jspiii]

I wasn't there so I don't know if it met the criteria for 'classic'...........1 point game with 5 to go usually does.

http://www.miaa.org/wbb/stats/0910/0203cahp.htm

Not much doubt Carrie was a big factor in the game and maybe the difference.....or maybe Liz Ellis and her 8 points in the deciding minutes.

Liz was a big contributor in the last part of the game, 2 for 2 from 3 and 2 free throws. She had a big contingent in the stands.

On the other side, Calvin, leading 50-49 with 5:35 to go, didn't score the rest of the way, going 0-9 from the field and missing the front end of a 1-1.

Verkaik has an awesome hook shot, I think going 4-4 with it, that I didn't see at the first Hope-Calvin game.

[KnightSlappy]

I had the great displeasure  of sitting in a crowd of Hope fans for tonight's game, all of whom cried for traveling every time Carissa made a move in the post.

Her general move was to pivot to face the basket, and then jump off of her non-pivot foot (lifting her pivot) to shoot. I've often heard complaining when people see this happen in the men's game as well, so let's all educate ourselves a bit. It does look like traveling (the refs even called it once), but it's expressly allowed in the rules:

Rule 4, Section 68, Art. 4.
After coming to a stop and establishing the pivot foot:
a. The pivot foot may be lifted, but not returned to the playing court, before the ball is released on a pass or try for goal;

[realist]

The word classic is perhaps over used at times.  As I mentioned yesterday Calvin had to control their turn overs, and with 28 they obviously did not do that.  One stupid pass attempt after another into traffic resulting in a turnover, and an easy lay up on the other end.  Calvin did a better job forcing Hope into more turnovers than I've seen them make in some time.
Calvin was in the game, and had a chance at 50-49.  Give Hope the credit.  When the pressure was the greatest they responded like the great team they are.   
It was fun watching Snikkers and Verkaik.  Some diffferences in style, and I was impressed with Snikkers, and her drive to the basket.  I think she has played ball with heer brothers a time or two.
I wonder why we don't see that hook shot more often.

[GoKnights68]

Snikkers probably coulda/shoulda scored more.  Calvin wasn't really ever double-teaming her like they should have.   Didn't matter though because Hope dominated the last 5 minutes.

[WWWRHH]

While I think last year's game at the Van Nord was a better played game and more exciting down the stretch, I was not disappointed that I made the trip to GR for this match up.

I thought that Ross did a great job of putting his team in position to win the game.  It seemed to me that he mixed his rotation up a little; often matching Verkaik and another starter against Hope's second rotation.  Usually there is not much difference in the productivity of Hope's bench and the starters.  But last night was the roughest overall performance I have ever seen from the bench.  A lot of this may have been the result of the matchups that the Knights were able to engineer.

Morehouse basically prefers to rotate his "lines" about every five minutes, with the starters perhaps getting a couple of extra minutes per game.  Hopefully last night was just an off night for some of the players, otherwise I believe Morehouse will have to think hard about the post-season rotation.

On the other hand, I don't know if I have seen the starters play as well as a unit since the 2006 championship run.

Last night proved the Dutch cannot take the Knights for granted when they meet for the MIAA tournament championship.

Regarding the traveling calls:  I agree with KnightSlappy that traveling rules are often mis understood.  A lot of refs watch the upper body rather than the feet and make ay too many calls.  VerKaik's step through move is maybe the best I've seen.  It is so effective because she pushes the rule to the limits and that makes it difficult to execute as well as defend.  I did think the ref called traveling improperly once, but I also think she got away with a couple.  But the groans from my fellow fans were usually misplaced.

On the other hand, I thought one of the foul calls against Carrie was pretty weak and the final one was bogus, but perhaps I also have orange colored galsses.