WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[sac]

Not only are there 16 on the varsity for Hope, but TEN of them are Soph or Freshman.  And they still have 6 women with a ring.

Thats an odd comibition of youth and experience.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Not only are there 16 on the varsity for Hope, but TEN of them are Soph or Freshman.  And they still have 6 women with a ring.

Thats an odd comibition of youth and experience.

An odd combination, that shoudl yield some great learning for the younger ones.

[WWWRHH]

Oval:  Hope women usually have a pre-season scrimmage against GVSU.  While it is my understanding that the scimmage is held under game conditions and is competitive, I am not sure the primary objective is to win as opposed to trying out various combinations.

In terms of the non-conference schedule it looks like Ohio Northern may prove to be the toughest challenge.  They have a solid program and beat some good teams last year.  Based on recent performances Oberlin, Rochester and Defiance do not look like strong competors and Hanover is very weak.  (A review of last years results indicates that at the Hanover holiday tournament Hope beat Illinois College by 40 the day after IC beat Hanover).  Even Wheaton might not present the same level of competition as in the past since according to the CCIW board (and confirmed by a check of the Wheaton web site) All American center Jill Trenz is not playing and has transfered to another school.

So it looks like the strongest opponent will be Calvin assuming that Brummel and Harris are (hopefully) fully recovered and the Knight's  can adequately fill Winkle and Willet's (?) positions.  Albion and St. Mary's also have the ability and talent to provide a real contest, but the rest of the MIAA is relatively weak.

So it looks like Hope should win a lot of games and should probably be favored to win the conference.  However, a more difficult schedule would be better preparation for the post season.  But regional scheduling and the obligations of the conference schedule are hard to work around.

[Cowman]

I believe their stiffest tests will come from the also nationally ranked and equally as good Calvin Knights, probably on 3 or 4 occassions.

Oh my .... are you implying this season's Knights are on par with this season's Dutch?

[Flea]

Not only are there 16 on the varsity for Hope, but TEN of them are Soph or Freshman.  And they still have 6 women with a ring.

Thats an odd comibition of youth and experience.

Very frightening.  I doubt Calvin will have a long unbeaten run in the Van Noord like Hope did in the DeVos.  Ross is going to have to do some creative recuriting in far away places to catch-up.

[sac]

Oh my .... are you implying this season's Knights are on par with this season's Dutch?

Well I'm hardly an expert on women's basketball (nor men's) but it seems both the Dutch and Knights lost fairly equal cogs in their machines.  Correct me if I'm wrong of course.  I thought Hope and Calvin were pretty much on equal terms last season, and I did actually manage to catch two games one at each gym, and each won on the others floor.  They didn't look very different to me.

I don't think a gap has opened between the two from last year to this year.  I fully expect the women's race to come down to Hope and Calvin.

[Grutte Dirk]

Oh my .... are you implying this season's Knights are on par with this season's Dutch?

Well I'm hardly an expert on women's basketball (nor men's) but it seems both the Dutch and Knights lost fairly equal cogs in their machines.  Correct me if I'm wrong of course.  I thought Hope and Calvin were pretty much on equal terms last season, and I did actually manage to catch two games one at each gym, and each won on the other's floor.  They didn't look very different to me.

I don't think a gap has opened between the two from last year to this year.  I fully expect the women's race to come down to Hope and Calvin.

Winkle gone = huge gap.  Do you see anyone from last year's Hope team close to Winkle in terms of play and leadership?  Could be, but who?

That, along with a slow return from Calvin's injuries and a small recruiting class makes the gap even larger considering Hope's great recruiting class.  What is unknown is how many women dropped the sport at Hope or Calvin.  A few key Dutch losses could level the field a but I still see the 2007-2008 Hope squad on their way to the NCAA title, not just the MIAA title.

[Grutte Dirk]

The Knights almost loose another one.  With this approach they go nowhere in the NCAAs, if they even get there.

Calvin 3, Kalamazoo 2 (30-20, 26-30, 27-30, 30-11, 15-10)

K'zoo is 5-10 in the MIAA.

[oldknight]

I don't think a gap has opened between the two from last year to this year.  I fully expect the women's race to come down to Hope and Calvin.

I agree that this year's race comes down to Hope and Calvin but I also agree with Bilk that there is a gap that didn't exist last year. The two squads were essentially even last year but Calvin's loss of Winkle (who isn't really being replaced) combined with Hope's returning players and outstanding freshmen class puts the Lady Dutch in the driver's seat for the current season. Calvin is certainly good enough to beat Hope but over the course of a long season I expect Hope will have too many talented basketball players to not win the conference and make a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

[hope1]

i thiink it will come down to hope and calvin to  with both in the ncaa and maybe hope going to the final 4 

[Oval]

The Knights almost loose another one.  With this approach they go nowhere in the NCAAs, if they even get there.

Calvin 3, Kalamazoo 2 (30-20, 26-30, 27-30, 30-11, 15-10)

K'zoo is 5-10 in the MIAA.

Someone woke-up for this match :

Saturday
Calvin d. Albion 30-21, 30-12, 30-7 ouch
Hope d. Kalamazoo 30-23, 30-12, 30-24
Tri-State d. Saint Mary's 30-26, 30-23, 27-30, 30-22

[WWWRHH]

http://blogs.hollandsentinel.com/dan/

Dan D'Addona of the Holland Sentinel has some good comments regarding Calvin's roster and the Knight's lack of size and shortage of experienced post players.  I think the conclusions he draws about the the difficulty this will cause matching up with the Dutch are correct.

Since most of the posters on this board seem to be most familar of with the Calvinist teams, we may be overlooking the Wesleyans .  Last year Albion was very inconsistent, but played very good at times and won some big games.  They also have some size and experience.  Is this the year the Britons could break the Hope / Calvin duopoly?

[sac]

You can read about the Briton's here

http://www.albion.edu/sports/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2104&Itemid=933

They lost their leading scorer Jessica Babcock, but otherwise seem to be mostly intact from last season.

Lots of FR on the varsity.


By the way Hope has to replace Ellen Wood, her vocal leadership on the floor will be difficult to replace.  (if you saw the Hope women, you know what I mean )

Hope is going for its 10th consecutive 20 win season, that would be an outstanding accomplishment.

[WWWRHH]

Ellen will be hard to replace.  She worked hard throughout her career and really came into her own last year.

However, in Knox and / or Snikkers (maybe both if Morehouse wants to go really big) , Hope has legitimate canditates to fill that spot in the rotation - and that does not even include the freshman that are basically unknown commodities at this point.  (I am assuming that Hope remains with basically a ten player rotation and Lange starts at center).

The front line succession planning at Calvin does not seem as orderly.

[oldknight]

  Is this the year the Britons could break the Hope / Calvin duopoly?

No, Hope will win the conference this year, probably quite comfortably.

Hope is going for its 10th consecutive 20 win season, that would be an outstanding accomplishment.

20 wins is a given. The only question I have is "Can the Lady Dutch win 30?"

Ellen will be hard to replace.  She worked hard throughout her career and really came into her own last year.

I saw Ellen Wood play. She was a nice player who worked hard to become an effective post by the time she was a senior. I mean no disrepect to her when I say that she will not be hard to replace--at least not as far as her talent level is concerned. If you've never seen Snikkers play then let me tell you, there is no comparison in skill level between Wood and Snikkers. I seriously doubt that there is an entering female freshmen at the D3 level with her combination of athletic ability and size. She's not only 6'3", she's an outstanding passer and 3 point shooter. In fact, she is likely to lead Hope in 3 point per centage this year. Snikkers is also a presence on defense and has the best pair of hands of any female player I've ever seen. They're like velcro when she puts her mitts on the ball. Combined with an excellent and experienced supporting cast, and other talented freshmen on the roster, Hope is primed for a run that might not end until Hope finishes hosting the Final Four at DeVos on March 22, 2008.