WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[Enginerd]

Will be intriguing to see what the 3rd edition of the Great Lakes Regional Rankings look like when they are released on Wednesday. Hope was 3rd, Trine 6th, and my alma mater, RHIT, 5th, when Round 2 came out last week. With the exception of Hope's wins over Wheaton and UWSP, all of both Hope and Trine's RRO's are MIAA schools. Hope moved up to 3rd last week after Depauw's loss to Kenyon, so will be interesting to see how the committee views Trine's win over Hope balanced against their #257 SOS at .491. There are only 5 other teams across all regions with an SOS under .500, and one of those is Calvin at #284 at .484. The regional committee might look past Trine's poor SOS and move them ahead of BOTH Hope and RHIT, but I think it's likely that Hope and Depauw will just switch places, as will Trine and RHIT.

Last year, RHIT's SOS was #228 @ .506 after a loss in the HCAC Championship game and a final record of 23-4. I'm told that the fact that RHIT did not play anyone regionally ranked outside their conference (1-2 vs. Bluffton, who was ranked 5th in-region) hurt them pretty badly - but it was the fact that Ohio Northern AND Denison both lost in their respective conference tournaments, that really sunk RHIT's chances. If Trine's SOS is still hovering around the .500 mark, they could be in jeopardy.

Trine and RHIT have a LOT of similarities, very nasty on defense (Rose #4 nationally and Trine in Top-15 I believe), both have exhibition wins over D-I schools (Trine over IPFW and RHIT over Eastern Illinois), and both largely overlooked and underappreciated (Trine before this season and Rose even now). I think Trine will benefit from it's conference affiliation and might still be at the table if it loses to Hope in the MIAA Champsionship game. RHIT gets absolutely zero respect, despite having beaten a conference champion (Texas-Dallas) and one of the two UAA schools playing this weekend for all the marbles (Chicago).

I hope neither Trine nor Rose get left out of the dance, but it could happen, depending on what shakes out in other leagues over the weekend.

[bballfan13]

I was playing with my predicted rankings for the Great Lakes today and have it this way:

1. Thomas More
2. Ohio Northern
3. DePauw
4. Hope
5. Rose-Hulman
6. Trine
7. Carnegie Mellon
8. Calvin
9. Baldwin Wallace

I have Thomas More 1 even though they have a worse SOS (.522 vs .524) than Ohio Northern.  All other stats between the 2 are the same but the committee flipped them last week for some unknown reason so I'll just keep them that way. 

DePauw flips with Hope due to the loss by Hope to Trine. 

I kept Rose-Hulman above Trine due to SOS as that has been emphasized in the past.  Rose is 2-2 vs regionally ranked opponents and Trine is 3-2 with the win over Hope.  These could flip, but this is where I have them.

Question for the committee is what do they do with Carnegie Mellon, Calvin and Baldwin Wallace.  They had Carnegie Mellon above them both last week due to a great SOS (.608 now).  But they lost this past week and now have 3 more losses than Calvin and Baldwin Wallace.  For now I have them above both Calvin and Baldwin Wallace, but I could easily see that changing.

Moving forward, if #1 seeds win their tournaments then that would put in:
Thomas More
Ohio Northern
DePauw
Rose-Hulman
Trine

I think Trine and Rose-Hulman have the best chance to not win their conference tournaments, but let's assume they do.

This leaves:
Hope
Carnegie Mellon
Calvin
Baldwin Wallace

Hope gets in with an at-large.  If they leave Carnegie Mellon in front of Calvin and Baldwin Wallace then I don't see them getting to the table as I think Carnegie Mellon blocks them.  Even if Carnegie Mellon somehow gets into the tournament, I would think it's not until the last 2 or 3 rounds of selection and therefore leaving out Calvin / Baldwin Wallace.

So all of these thoughts will probably be wrong after the regional rankings come out Wednesday and conference tournaments shake things up, but this is my first stab at it.  I'll be back with more later in the week.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Ohio Northern's two wins in vRRO were against the same team which was located at the bottom of the rankings. Thomas More's victories were against much higher ranked teams. I highly suspect Thomas More got the nod because their vRRO was more substantial.

[bballforever]

Hope verses Calvin on Friday at a neutral site!!!

Any strong thoughts on the winner??

[Roundball999]

Hope verses Calvin on Friday at a neutral site!!!

Any strong thoughts on the winner??

Hope wins big at Devos, ekes out a win in overtime at VNA.  That might suggest a solid Hope win at a neutral site and indeed Massey has this as an 8 point win for the Dutch.  But given how both teams have looked recently, I think this is a toss up.

[sac]

Good shot at 2 making the NCAA field, decent shot at 3 if Calvin beats Hope and Trine but Calvin won't get above Carnegie and their massive SOS of .607 so at large bid seems difficult for them.


GREAT LAKES                     
1   Thomas More   24-0   25-0            
2   Ohio Northern   25-0   25-0            
3   Hope   20-3   22-3            
4   DePauw   23-2   23-2            
5   Trine   22-2   22-2            
6   Rose-Hulman   21-3   22-3            
7   Carnegie Mellon   17-7   17-7            
8   Calvin   19-4   21-4            
9   Baldwin Wallace   21-4   21-4

A little surprised Hope stayed ahead of DePauw, RRO advantage maybe? Hope 4-2 DeP 2-1

[Mr. Ypsi]

I realize this is not really the board to comment on Thomas More, but it's the ONLY women's board in the GL region with any activity!  I knew that TM was not JUST Sydney Moss (NO player is gifted enough to win back-to-back titles without a good surrounding cast), but I am stunned that they could go 25-0 the very season after Moss graduated!  I obviously was not giving ENOUGH credit to her teammates.

[Roundball999]

I realize this is not really the board to comment on Thomas More, but it's the ONLY women's board in the GL region with any activity!  I knew that TM was not JUST Sydney More (NO player is gifted enough to win back-to-back titles without a good surrounding cast), but I am stunned that they could go 25-0 the very season after Moss graduated!  I obviously was not giving ENOUGH credit to her teammates.

Agreed, it is an incredible accomplishment to run the table during the season with and especially without Moss.  I guess they don't get more love due weak league.  Most of their league games were blowouts but they did post a couple of close non-league wins vs quality opponents (IWU and Wilmington). 

[sac]

Thomas More had two unbeaten regular seasons pre-Moss, they've lost a total of 3 conference game in 10 full seasons of PAC play.

[TUAngola]

Can't wait for the tournament this weekend, of course I am biased because it's in my own backyard this year.  I think Hope wins Friday in the first game, but should be close for the most part.  Calvin's starting 5 I feel is as talented as Hope or Trine's starters, they just don't have the depth of those teams.  If Calvin stays out of foul trouble, and uses their timeouts wisely to give girls a breather, they have a decent shot of pulling off the upset.

In the second game on paper Trine should handle Albion, but Albion is a dangerous team with their 3 point shooting, you can't afford to give them open looks.  We've defended Curry well in both of the games this year against Albion, but if she scores close to 20 that will make it difficult for Trine.  I believe with the home court advantage, Trine gets that 3rd win against Albion, which is a difficult thing to do.

I wonder if the 3 visiting teams will have the fan support for the tournament being in Angola.  Hope and Calvin are a good 2.5 hour drive, Albion isn't too bad, maybe an hour or so?  Weather is going to be warm Friday with chance of showers, then turning colder on Saturday with chance of snow.

[bballfan13]

I realize this is not really the board to comment on Thomas More, but it's the ONLY women's board in the GL region with any activity!  I knew that TM was not JUST Sydney More (NO player is gifted enough to win back-to-back titles without a good surrounding cast), but I am stunned that they could go 25-0 the very season after Moss graduated!  I obviously was not giving ENOUGH credit to her teammates.

Agreed, it is an incredible accomplishment to run the table during the season with and especially without Moss.  I guess they don't get more love due weak league.  Most of their league games were blowouts but they did post a couple of close non-league wins vs quality opponents (IWU and Wilmington).

Thomas More was much more than just Sydney Moss.  Yes, she was phenomenal and deserves a ton of credit, but her teammates are really good as well.  When Calvin played them last year it was evident it was a full team of really good players.  They have one of the best, if not the best, point guards in D3 in Abby Owings.  And Nikki Kiernan is one of the top post players as well.

They have had an incredible run and seem to keep it going.  It is always hard to judge them before the tournament (at least in years without Moss) because they play 18 conference games in a weak conference.  The last couple of years they have played a tougher non conference schedule, which has helped to see how good they are.  They also won big against Maryville this year which won their conference and looks to make the NCAAs.

I've been down to Thomas More a few times when Calvin has played there in the past and it's always a tough environment to play in.  They are well supported by their fans.  The last time Calvin played down there was in the 2012-13 season.  Calvin came back from down 9 with 1:30 to go and tied it to go to OT and win.  It was Thomas More's only regular season loss that year.

All that said, Thomas More looks to be a really tough out this year again in the tournament (something no one was able to do the last 2 years).  I also think Thomas More would have won 3 in a row if Moss hadn't torn her ACL in the Elite 8 3 years ago.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

From the MIAA website:

On Thursday, the MIAA announced the following student-athletes as all-MIAA performers in women's basketball for the 2016-17 season:


All-MIAA First Team

Francesca Buchanan, Hope

Oreyana Curry, Albion

Brandi Dawson, Trine

Hayley Martin, Trine

Ali Spayde, Calvin

Anna Timmer, Calvin



All-MIAA Second Team

Emily Bernas, Albion

Angelique Gaddy, Hope

Sadia Johnson, Adrian

Bre Luurtsema, Calvin

Mandy Traversa, Hope

Kelsey Wolffis, Alma



Most Valuable Player

Brandi Dawson, Trine


Defensive Player of the Year

Hayley Martin, Trine

[TUAngola]

Semifinal scores:  Calvin 67 Hope 65 and Trine 57 Albion 42

Hope came out with lots of energy in the first game and shot out to a 12 pt lead at one point.  Calvin was struggling just to get some open shots as Hope's defense was very active.  Then in the 2nd qtr Calvin gained a lot of confidence by knocking down shots but Hope still maintained a slim lead going in at half.  The second half was just a dogfight back and forth.  Timmer from Calvin was huge, she consistently got to the rim and finished, she definitely wanted this game.  But still Hope had the ball with a chance to tie or win at the end, but coming out of 2 timeouts, one by each team, it was just a not very well designed final play drawn up.  Hope did get a shot from 3 but it was way off.  So Calvin pulls the upset and heads to the championship. 

The final score in the second game is very misleading as Albion played Trine very tough.  Much like in the first, Trine shot out too a big lead only to see Albion battle back to within 6 pts at half.  Trine's D dug in the 3rd quarter, as it had to play with Haley Martin on the bench in foul trouble, and opened up a 11 pt cushion at the end of 3.  In the fourth Albion had a great push to get it down to 4 points with 5 minutes to go, they definitely had the momentum on their side, but Haley Martin hit a couple big shots to stretch out the lead and Albion never recovered.  Trine struggled mightily on offense tonight, but their one constant all season has been defense and that is what propelled them to the win.  I was impressed with Albion, they lose Curry to graduation but will return a lot of good young players next year.

Good job by the university as hosts.  Lower stands were full, big turnout by the Trine students, and they were loud too which makes for a great atmosphere.

[TUAngola]

Championship Saturday...Trine vs Calvin

Trine won 2 close games over Calvin this year.  However, Calvin is playing extremely well right now, and Trine looked sloppy on offense last night.  If Trine finds a way to finish at the rim then I think they win.  If Trine struggles making shots again tonight then Calvin will win if Timmer and Spayde play like they did last night against Hope.  Dawson looked out of sorts last night against Albion, noticed her knee was taped up, she didn't look as fluid as she normally does, she may be banged up a bit.  But at this time of year I'm sure a lot of gals are playing hurt to a certain extent.

So if Calvin wins...does the NCAA take 3 MIAA teams to the dance?  Or is that not likely to happen due to not many at large berths?  Is Hope a lock or are they on the bubble?  Is Trine on the bubble if they lose tonight?  Would love to hear your thoughts from you MIAA womens posters. 

[Roundball999]

Championship Saturday...Trine vs Calvin

Trine won 2 close games over Calvin this year.  However, Calvin is playing extremely well right now, and Trine looked sloppy on offense last night.  If Trine finds a way to finish at the rim then I think they win.  If Trine struggles making shots again tonight then Calvin will win if Timmer and Spayde play like they did last night against Hope.  Dawson looked out of sorts last night against Albion, noticed her knee was taped up, she didn't look as fluid as she normally does, she may be banged up a bit.  But at this time of year I'm sure a lot of gals are playing hurt to a certain extent.

So if Calvin wins...does the NCAA take 3 MIAA teams to the dance?  Or is that not likely to happen due to not many at large berths?  Is Hope a lock or are they on the bubble?  Is Trine on the bubble if they lose tonight?  Would love to hear your thoughts from you MIAA womens posters. 

With Trine playing on their home court, I'd have to say they're a solid favorite over Calvin.

In the last regional rankings, Hope was #3, Trine was #5 and Calvin #8.  That was before Hope lost to both Trine and Calvin.  I haven't done the math but I'd have to say that Trine is a lock win or lose today.  Calvin very much on the bubble unless of course they win today.  D3Hoops made a comment about Hope looking solid for an at large despite the loss last night, but I'm not sure that considered the possibility of Calvin winning the AQ.  Bottom line, I think if Trine wins then Hope is in and Calvin on very shaky ground due to low SoS.  If Calvin wins, Trine is still in and Hope has a chance but certainly not a lock.