WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[Flying Dutch Fan]

So for the first time (I think) Hope will be opening MIAA play with back to back conference games.  Tonight at Trine (the twice postponed game in Angola) followed by a home game tomorrow night against Olivet.  Hope should win both of these games, but I'm sure back to back adds a little extra work for the Dutch.

[Dark Knight]

The Knights won a hard-fought 64-58 victory against St Mary's, who defeated Calvin three times last year. The game was close until about half way through the second half, when Calvin went on a 10-0 run and started to take control. Calvin's lead was as much as 15 with 1:42 left, and then St Mary's made a run. The got a couple of steals, a couple of treys, and made the game interesting at the end.

Carissa had a double-double, with 15 points and 20 rebounds. In fact, she almost had a rare triple double involving blocks, as she also stuffed 9 shots. St Marys played a physical, aggressive game and Calvin had a little trouble getting the ball in to Carissa -- she took only 9 shots. Hence the "small" number of points.

In fact, St Mary's has their own answer to Elizabeth Lambert, who decked a Knight with an elbow to the head so hard that she was unable to hear out of that ear for a while. Later, this bell-ringing Belle decked another Calvin player with a similar elbow to the head.

Calvin turned the ball over 32 times to St Mary's 19, but it didn't look as bad as it sounds. Several of Calvin's turnovers were long lead passes, passes into a crowd, etc -- aggressive play that they could tone down if they wanted to.

[scottiedawg]

I've been quite impressed by Carissa Verkaik's stat lines, so I did some number crunching against Carrie based off minutes played.  The results:

PTS per min
Carrie-0.695
Carissa-0.674

REB per min
Carrie-0.414
Carissa-0.442

AST per min
Carrie-0.023
Carissa-0.058

STL per min
Carrie-0.094
Carissa-0.021

BLK per min
Carrie-0.203
Carissa-0.140

TO per min
Carrie-0.094
Carissa-0.124

FOUL per min
Carrie-0.078
Carissa-0.087

Extrapolated to 30 minutes played in a game:
Name-PTS, REB, AST, STL, BLK, TO, FOUL
Carrie-20.9, 12.4, 0.7, 2.81, 6.09, 2.81, 2.34
Carissa-20.2, 13.3, 1.74, 0.62, 4.21, 3.72, 2.6

Pretty even I'd say.  Maybe a slight edge to Carrie?  If you sum the positives and subtract the negatives you get 37 for Carrie and 33 for Carissa.

[Dark Knight]

Pretty even I'd say.  Maybe a slight edge to Carrie?  If you sum the positives and subtract the negatives you get 37 for Carrie and 33 for Carissa.

Give Carissa some time to adjust to college ball. She's only played 10 games so far. 

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Pretty even I'd say.  Maybe a slight edge to Carrie?  If you sum the positives and subtract the negatives you get 37 for Carrie and 33 for Carissa.

Give Carissa some time to adjust to college ball. She's only played 10 games so far. 

January 19 can't come soon enough

[WWWRHH]

I am also looking forward to the Hope Calvin matchup in January.  I expect it to be a great game.

However, I think we should be cautious about projecting numbers based on stats achieved so far this season.  If you recall last year's final match between these two was a real barn burner.  The Knights probably played their best game of the season, Harris had recently returned from injury with some big games and Hope's post players had been dominant most of the season.  I expected the game to be one or lost in the post.

As it turned out the post players (Snikkers, Knox, Bruinsma for Hope vs. VanEck and Harris for Calvin) all had fine games, but for the most part held each other below their season averages. Snikkers / Knox did not generally face other posts with the shooting and ball handling skills of the Knight's duo, but VanEck and Harris did not usually face big players with the size, mobility and skills of the Dutch posts.

As I recall Cowen was the star for the Dutch, and Brummel and several other perimeter players kept the Knights in the game.

And so it may play out this time....basketball is a team game and the "supporting cast" are never more important than when each team's stars are matched up head to head.

It is too bad so many MIAA teams are so weak that the top teams face only a handful of challenging matchups each season.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

WWWRHH - Nicely said, and I agree.  Hopefully Hope will have a few challenging games yet this month.  This weekend they have a potential Saturday matchup with #21 Chicago.  Then on the 28th, they will face #22 Carthage in Atlanta. The following day, a possible game with Oglethorpe. 

[realist]

I would not be so quick to dismiss several of the other MIAA teams.  Do they equal Calvin or Hope on talent perhaps not, but they are more than capable of taking either team to the wire should circumstances play to their advantage.

[sac]

Depends on what you call being taken to the wire.........last year Hope beat every MIAA opponent by double-digits except 1......the previously mentioned Hope/Calvin game to finish the regular season.

[WWWRHH]

I would not be so quick to dismiss several of the other MIAA teams.  Do they equal Calvin or Hope on talent perhaps not, but they are more than capable of taking either team to the wire should circumstances play to their advantage.

Being taken to the wire under the right circumstances is a lot different than being challenged most of the time.  Actually the best circumstances most teams in the conference can wish for is to catch the Dutch over confident and bored.

The last three years it has been difficult for Morehouse to put his starters on the floor a reasonable number of minutes.  Where else would a talent like Snikkers struggle to get twenty minutes a game.

Overall this is not a good situation.   It does not prepare the best teams for the challenge of tougher non-conference opponents (like those coming up) and it makes it very difficult for the MIAA to place two teams in the tournament due to strength of schedule concerns.
 

[oldknight]

Other than Calvin, I don't believe there is a team in the MIAA that has a realistic chance of keeping their game close with Hope this season, much less beating them. The conference is simply not competitive once you get past the first two teams. Last year's finale at VanNoord was as exciting as any hoops game I watched last season, at any level of competition. It would be nice to see the Lady Knights duplicate the effort this year, absent the loss.

[WWWRHH]

oldknight I have to agree with most of your comment.  Last year's final was exciting....and not just because it was close.  The game was generally well played with great intensity by both teams and there were some very interesting matchups between good competitors with skill sets that took players out of their comfort zone (for instance I am sure Van Eck and Harris forced Knox and Snikkers to play defense farther away from the basket than either would have preferred).  In hindsight it was a lot of fun....

However, while I can intellectually grasp the statistical probability that the Lady Knights will someday defeat the Dutch again....I just don't want it to be anytime soon.

[Dark Knight]

However, while I can intellectually grasp the statistical probability that the Lady Knights will someday defeat the Dutch again....I just don't want it to be anytime soon.

At a recent interview, coach Ross said that he hasn't had quite the point production out of the guards yet that he was hoping for. And, a quick check of the stats shows that the team is shooting .316 on 3-point percentage, 4.3 per game, compared to .334 (6.4 per game) last year. In fact, in Calvin's loss to Carthage, they shot just .217 (5/23) 3-pointers.

I think that for Calvin to be a truly outstanding team they are going to need both a solid post game (which they have) and a dangerous perimeter game (which they have the potential for, but which hasn't always been there). If the guards play well in the Hope game they might be able to give Hope a run for their money.

[realist]

Going to the wire to me means being in a position in the last 30 seconds or less to win the game.  Granted the odds of this happening to Hope are probably less than it happening to Calvin, but in neither case would I say it couldn't happen.  I've seen too many key players get in foul trouble or get hurt etc. to rule out the possibility of an upset.

[Dark Knight]

The NCAA stats page has been updated for DIII. Some individuals and teams are making a good showing in DIII:

Kaplan (Kalamazoo): #18 in treys/game (3)
Shaw (Albion): #7 in steals/game, 4.9
Snikkers (Hope): #7 in blocked shots per game, 3.7
Van Eck (Calvin): #29 in FT%, 91.4
Verkaik (Calvin): #6 in blocked shots per game, 3.8; #22 in rebounds/game, 11.9
Wade (St Mary's): #19 in assists per game (5.6); #28 in steals per game (3.9)

Also some notable individual performances:
Senf (Trine): steals in a game, #9 (9)
Verkaik (Calvin): Rebounds in a game, #3 (23)
Verkaik (Calvin): blocked shots in a game, #2 (9)
Verkaik (Calvin): points in a game (not listed, but her 39-point game looks like it should be #1)

Hope is #1 in shots blocked per game, with 8
Calvin is #9, with 6.1

St Mary's is #6 in steals/game (17), #9 in turnover margin (+8.9)