WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[Jester1390]

Dutch blow outs would affect percentages immensely. If Hope was in lets say 75 percent nail biters i would think those numbers would change

[scottiedawg]

Trine moves from 4th to 5th in the latest D3Hoops.com poll.

Hope and Albion's vote totals remain unchanged.

Calvin garners a single 25th place vote

[Roundball999]

Noticed that Hope has been leading the nation in team 3 pt % for most of the season, currently at 40.22% which more than 2% higher than 2nd place Simpson.  7 players are averaging over 40% from deep, led by Kate Majerus at 52.9%.  However the minutes and attempts are spread around so much that none of them have enough attempts to qualify as individual leaders.  With this Dutch team, it really is pick your poison...

[scottiedawg]

That's why I think it was a big deal to get Muller and DeSmit back shooting 3s last game. Before that, if I had to design a defense against Hope, I'd dare one of Muller/DeSmit/Voskuil to shoot from 3 (esp Voskuil, so she can't offensive board). It's still a design likely to fail, but I don't want Schoonveld or Majerus shooting 3s.

The worst matchup for Hope is a team that doesn't need a large turnover margin to win, and that puts Hope in a slow, halfcourt game. (in my verrrrry amateur opinion). Not sure if that team exists.

[TUAngola]

Round two of Hope vs Trine tomorrow night at DeVos.  I'll be watching from home.  Massey has Hope winning 73-61, Massey ranks Hope 1 (no brainer) and Trine 2.  D3Hoops has Hope 1 (again no brainer) and Trine 4.  Bieniewicz and Wilder have to score for us to have a chance.  Hope is the best team at denying Tara from getting any open looks from 3.  I'd like to see her drive to the basket a little more.  Kayla has been shooting better as of late too.  Also need big games from the second unit; Rachel Stewart and Sam Underhill need to look for their shots more.  I'd like a hard-fought close game with the Thunder finally getting a W over their nemesis, but that is wishful thinking. Hope has so many weapons and Kenedy can take over a game if she needs to just like she did in December in Angola.   

Dress warmly for those traveling to the game, forecast is for bitter cold here in NE Indiana, so I'm sure it will be the same in Holland. 

[Roundball999]

Round two of Hope vs Trine tomorrow night at DeVos.  I'll be watching from home.  Massey has Hope winning 73-61, Massey ranks Hope 1 (no brainer) and Trine 2.  D3Hoops has Hope 1 (again no brainer) and Trine 4.  Bieniewicz and Wilder have to score for us to have a chance.  Hope is the best team at denying Tara from getting any open looks from 3.  I'd like to see her drive to the basket a little more.  Kayla has been shooting better as of late too.  Also need big games from the second unit; Rachel Stewart and Sam Underhill need to look for their shots more.  I'd like a hard-fought close game with the Thunder finally getting a W over their nemesis, but that is wishful thinking. Hope has so many weapons and Kenedy can take over a game if she needs to just like she did in December in Angola.   

Dress warmly for those traveling to the game, forecast is for bitter cold here in NE Indiana, so I'm sure it will be the same in Holland. 

Wish I could go but will catch it online.  Maybe Trine is due?  Tall order at Devos but Trine is just the kind of team scottiedawg describes.  Hope has won a few in a row over the Thunder but every game has been a battle.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

That's why I think it was a big deal to get Muller and DeSmit back shooting 3s last game. Before that, if I had to design a defense against Hope, I'd dare one of Muller/DeSmit/Voskuil to shoot from 3 (esp Voskuil, so she can't offensive board). It's still a design likely to fail, but I don't want Schoonveld or Majerus shooting 3s.

Sorry scottie, but that does not at all reflect this team, nor the shooting percentages of the individuals.  At this point in the season, Kennedy actually has the lowest 3pt % of the starting 5.  Additionally, DeSmit has attempted more 3pt shots than any other Hope player.  Here they are in order based on shooting percentage

Kate Majerus - 27-51 - .529
Olivia Voskuil - 7-15 - .467
Kasey DeSmit - 24-56 - .429
Sydney Muller - 8-19 - .421
Kenedy Schoonveld - 19-47 - .404

So the starting 5 is actually shooting .451 from 3. 

Will also be watching online tomorrow, and I fully expect another war between two great teams.  Hope has won 7 in a row, but they have been close games until late and the largest margin of victory has been 10 points (last years MIAA tournament final).

[scottiedawg]

Since Coach Mo has not deviated from this pattern when playing Trine the last couple of years, it's not likely he does it in the tournament. This team is defensive intensity 1st and foremost, which comes from the absolute non stop high energy from fresh legs via the existing substitution patterns.

Not sure why you want or expect a change, they've only won 60 in a row, and Coach Mo only has something like a .875 winning percentage.

Coach totally chose McKinney and Feenstra over DeSmit and Majerus tonight.

[scottiedawg]

Sorry scottie, but that does not at all reflect this team, nor the shooting percentages of the individuals.  At this point in the season, Kennedy actually has the lowest 3pt % of the starting 5.  Additionally, DeSmit has attempted more 3pt shots than any other Hope player.  Here they are in order based on shooting percentage

Kate Majerus - 27-51 - .529
Olivia Voskuil - 7-15 - .467
Kasey DeSmit - 24-56 - .429
Sydney Muller - 8-19 - .421
Kenedy Schoonveld - 19-47 - .404

So the starting 5 is actually shooting .451 from 3. 

Very fair. I had no idea DeSmit (1) had attempted that many, (2) at that solid clip.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Since Coach Mo has not deviated from this pattern when playing Trine the last couple of years, it's not likely he does it in the tournament. This team is defensive intensity 1st and foremost, which comes from the absolute non stop high energy from fresh legs via the existing substitution patterns.

Not sure why you want or expect a change, they've only won 60 in a row, and Coach Mo only has something like a .875 winning percentage.

Coach totally chose McKinney and Feenstra over DeSmit and Majerus tonight.

Yep - the correct in-game adjustment based in n the situation and how the players were performing in this game.

[TUAngola]

Trine 70 Hope 62

Congrats to the Thunder on the big win.  Hope's furious comeback fell just a little short in the 4th quarter.

Random thoughts:

Tara with probably her best game against Hope as the Dutch usually find a way to limit her touches.  Tonight she was able to get some open looks which rarely happens.  Kayla and Rachel were also very effective which we absolutely needed, and I thought Alyssa played well as a spot starter tonight.

Our bench was very thin tonight.  Neither of the Sloneker twins played; one was in street clothes on the bench and the other dressed but didn't play.  Not sure if they are both battling recent injuries or illness.  We basically played 8 the whole game and it showed in the 4th quarter as we looked very tired and turned the ball over a ton.  But the short bench may have been an advantage on the offensive end to get Tara, Rachel, Kayla and Alyssa more minutes than they usually get as they all got between 25-35 minutes tonight.   

Congrats to Hope on their accomplishments with the 61 game win streak.  You never really want to lose, but this loss may help the team re-focus on the task at hand...winning the national championship.  Just a tough shooting night for the Dutch, but the effort was outstanding.  Hope just pounds the offensive boards so much, we had no answer in blocking them out.  Feenstra was an animal on the glass, actually Hope's whole second unit seems more aggressive defensively than the first unit.  I think this team is more dangerous when they full court pressure you on defense and drive to the hoop and crash the boards on offense.  You can't always rely on your 3 point shooting, especially against teams like a Trine who play very good defense too.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Pretty impressive performance by Trine tonight on both ends of the floor. They clearly won this game on both ends of the floor. The one weakness they showed was the 25 offensive rebounds they allowed Hope to grab, but the Dutch shooting tonight was not good - most often because the Thunder defense recovered well.

From a Hope perspective, I sensed a lack of energy from the starting 5. The second 5 certainly kept Hope in this game bringing good defensive pressure. Coach Mo obviously saw that as well, as 4 of the second 5 logged over 20 minutes.

Lots to learn from this I'm sure (like defending the back door cuts), and no easy game coming on Saturday at Albion. I'm hoping they can use this to make them even better and more well prepared for what is yet to come this season.

[pointlem]

Excellent analyses by both TUAngola and FDF. When Hope's past national championship caliber teams have lost, it has been on nights where they had a lid on the basket. And such was tonight, with Hope's nation-leading 3-point shooters combining for but 3 of 20, and missing 13 free throws. Their shooting was so cold tonight--27% for the game--that they seemed to lose confidence and pass up wide open 3's, often with forced shots or turnovers following. But of course, Trine's stellar defense was part of that. Their double teams underneath gave Hope few of its usual easy layups.

I wouldn't attribute Hope's loss to lack of effort. They forced Trine into 6 more turnovers, grabbed 12 more rebounds, and attempted 12 more shots and 23 more free throws--all of which would normally predict a victory . . . and (speaking as a Hope fan) hopefully will favor Hope on a likely third meeting . . . which, if neither loses again, would be played where? (Decided by a coin toss?)

So sorry to see the fun of the streak ended. But if they had to have one cold-shooting night this season, it's better now than later. And it's a tribute to this team that they could shoot that badly against a top 4 team and still be one missed 3-point shot in the last minute away from a tie game.

[sac]

Trine played a really great game, start to finish a deserved victory in every way.  Hope to its credit really put the screws to them in the 4th Q, and made Trine execute under a little pressure.  Hope just let to many small opportunities get away starting with a very poor 4Q at the foul line, one or two possessions that could have cut it to 1 or tie went empty.


Key thing missed in the hoopla is that Trine now holds the tie-breaker for hosting the MIAA semi-finals. 

[Dutchfan]

From my observations last night there were two key factors to Trine defeating Hope.

1. Quality of shots. Trine had much better shoot selection than Hope did. This was of course due in large part to Trine's defense. It really showed in the shooting percentages for each team.

2. Coaching. Brian Morehouse is a great coach and I'm a huge fan of his. That being said, he waited WAY too long to abandon his platooning scheme and go with a mixed lineup. As soon as he did, Hope closed the gap and made a game of it. If he had made that adjustment at halftime rather than the fourth quarter, Hope may have won the game.