WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[DrDutchman]

Muller rumored to have a knee injury in practice. Didn't hear if surgery is needed

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Reviewing the box score from the Hope Albion game on Wednesday, I noted an oddity.

1st half, Hope goes 6-17 from the FT line.  That's an awful shooting percentage, and a lot of FTs, but that's not the oddity.

2nd half Hope is 0-0 from the line.  Don't think I have ever seen that much difference in FT attempts between halves.

[pointlem]

Muller rumored to have a knee injury in practice. Didn't hear if surgery is needed

Please just a sprain . . . losing her (both her offense and her defense) would deal a blow to Hope's post-season dreams . . . and be a personal misfortune for her as well.

[Dutchfan]

Muller rumored to have a knee injury in practice. Didn't hear if surgery is needed

I heard that she tore her ACL. Can anyone confirm that?

[Roundball999]

Can't confirm but that would be such a shame if true.  The Dutch would be better able to deal with the loss of their leading scorer than most teams due to their depth and balance, but she's a great player and come post season you need all your weapons.

[Roundball999]

Any further news on Hope's Sydney Muller?

At this point it looks likely that any remaining MIAA drama will probably be on the last day of the regular season when Trine plays at Hope.  If everything goes to form until then, that game would mean either an outright championship for Hope or co-champions with a Trine win.  Trine does have to get past Albion at Albion this coming Wednesday, no easy feat, but the Thunder have won 9 in a row and seem to be playing really well.

[Roundball999]

Hope now #1 in D3 in three statistical categories:

- Scoring defense @ 40.3 ppg which is 5 ppg better than #2 Amherst; Trine is #3 and just a tick behind Amherst
- Field goal % defense @ 29.3 %
- Scoring margin @ 36.5 ppg, a full 10.3 ppg better than #2 Trinity (TX).  Hope's entire roster of 15 averages between 7-22 minutes per game

Turnover margin is #4 and rebounding margin is #10.

Offensive stats are more modest but still very good.  Come postseason I'm hoping the old adage "defense travels" applies here!

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Women's first Regional Rankings released.

https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2020/02/women-regional-rankings-first

[Dutchfan]

Hope now #1 in D3 in three statistical categories:

- Scoring defense @ 40.3 ppg which is 5 ppg better than #2 Amherst; Trine is #3 and just a tick behind Amherst
- Field goal % defense @ 29.3 %
- Scoring margin @ 36.5 ppg, a full 10.3 ppg better than #2 Trinity (TX).  Hope's entire roster of 15 averages between 7-22 minutes per game

Turnover margin is #4 and rebounding margin is #10.

Offensive stats are more modest but still very good.  Come postseason I'm hoping the old adage "defense travels" applies here!

Hopefully the defense (and offense) won't be doing much traveling at all.

[Roundball999]

Hope now #1 in D3 in three statistical categories:

- Scoring defense @ 40.3 ppg which is 5 ppg better than #2 Amherst; Trine is #3 and just a tick behind Amherst
- Field goal % defense @ 29.3 %
- Scoring margin @ 36.5 ppg, a full 10.3 ppg better than #2 Trinity (TX).  Hope's entire roster of 15 averages between 7-22 minutes per game

Turnover margin is #4 and rebounding margin is #10.

Offensive stats are more modest but still very good.  Come postseason I'm hoping the old adage "defense travels" applies here!

Hopefully the defense (and offense) won't be doing much traveling at all.

Cheers to that!

[Roundball999]

Congratulations to Trine's Tara Bieniewicz for MIAA player of the week honors.  She had a really strong week, averaging 19 pts on lights out shooting but what is really impressive is 51 minutes played with no turnovers!

[gordonmann]

She and her teammates have a spiffy new Top 25 ranking, just in time for Saturday's big game.

https://www.d3hoops.com/top25/women/2019-20/week11

[Roundball999]

She and her teammates have a spiffy new Top 25 ranking, just in time for Saturday's big game.

https://www.d3hoops.com/top25/women/2019-20/week11

A ranking is well-deserved I think.  The Thunder have won 11 in a row and their only losses this year have been:

#2 Hope after leading in the 4th
at #12 B-W in a tight game
at #21 Chicago in OT after leading most of the game
Ohio Wesleyan, not a bad team on the 1st weekend of the season.

That's a pretty strong resume and they seem to be getting stronger as the season wears on.

[TUAngola]

She and her teammates have a spiffy new Top 25 ranking, just in time for Saturday's big game.

https://www.d3hoops.com/top25/women/2019-20/week11

A ranking is well-deserved I think.  The Thunder have won 11 in a row and their only losses this year have been:

#2 Hope after leading in the 4th
at #12 B-W in a tight game
at #21 Chicago in OT after leading most of the game
Ohio Wesleyan, not a bad team on the 1st weekend of the season.

That's a pretty strong resume and they seem to be getting stronger as the season wears on.

This is well deserved recognition for this young Trine team.  After losing 3 starters and 4 of the top 6 scorers from last year it was a "re-tooling" for these girls this year.  Brandi was tough to defend over her career at Trine and could do so much on the court, losing that production along with Cassidy, who was the vocal leader, meant some girls needed to really step up this year.

I've watched every home Trine game this year other than 1 game.  I think we've gotten better, but we've also had some real "offensive stinkers" too.  The gal that makes us go is senior point guard Katy Steers (the only senior on this team).  She is tough as nails.  She doesn't have to score as she is adept at getting the ball to our shooters, but will take you off the dribble or shoot the 3 when needed.  If we shoot the ball well from outside we are a tough team to beat.  Tara has been the most consistent, she can be a star in this league in the next 2 years.  Kayla had been in a shooting slump but is starting to find her touch.

What makes this team good is they just get after it defensively (just like Hope does).  I listened to an interview with Tara after the Adrian game last Saturday and she says it is typical that in a 2 hour practice they will spend around 1.5 hrs sharpening their defense.  I wish our mens team played with the same defensive intensity that the gals do. 

The games we've lost, as mentioned before, are to 3 other teams in the top 25, and to an OWU squad where they hit everything in sight in the 2nd half.  What we need is a "signature win" to help with post season seeding (if we get there).  We'll more than likely have 2 opportunities in the next couple weeks against Hope.  I'd sure like to see us get 1 "W" against the Dutch.  I mean you don't want to go into the NCAA tournament undefeated do you? 

[Roundball999]

Well, I wouldn't mind if the Dutch ran the table in conference play, it would certainly help with prospects for hosting for a while in the NCAAs

That said, it really is remarkable how fast Trine has rebuilt after losing so much.  Effort and defense can go a long way, the top teams are always at risk of having a bad game offensively but defense can still win the day.

In any case, it's good that Trine and Hope can test each other, much better to prep for the post season.