WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[Roundball999]

The "top" ranked teams that Calvin beat early are losing and fading fast

I think the recent slide by St. Thomas is a little surprising but a little expected.  Their season definitely is not turning out the way they expected it to.  All-American Taylor Young sat out quite a few games with and injury early on and their starting center is out for the year with a foot injury suffered late in the game against Calvin.  Steven's Point is still having a good season with a big win in their conference this weekend.  The WIAC is much harder than the MIAA so you always expect the top teams in that conference to drop a few.  Thomas More hasn't lost since their loss to Calvin and are ranked #10, so I'd say they are still doing well.

So I wouldn't necessarily say they are "fading fast".

I would agree.  According to Massey, St. Thomas has played the 10th toughest schedule in the country so a loss here or there isn't a big slide in my book.  Thomas More is still rated 19th by Massey, nothing to sneeze at.  And as others have pointed out, Calvin played that early schedule without Julie Hilbrands, a returning 1st team all-MIAA player.  Calvin is much stronger now.  Their ranking is well deserved.

[Calvinhoops]

The "top" ranked teams that Calvin beat early are losing and fading fast

The St. Thomas center was a key piece for them.  Very athletic and thick.  She pushed CV around with her body and made it tough on her(as tough as you can make it on her )  Wisc St. Pt probably has the best or second best(CV) player in the country in Barber.  And if you saw the game, Thomas More is the real deal.  Can't believe they aren't higher in the rankings.  They only lost to Calvin in OT after Calvin hit a three at the buzzer of regulation to tie it.  They remind me of Hope with better shooters.

[bballforever]

Love the anology..........."Thomas Moor reminds you of Hope with better shooters"  Hope does struggle to shoot but when you hold your opponents to <40 points per game you don't have to shoot the ball extremenly well to still win. 

[Roundball999]

Love the anology..........."Thomas Moor reminds you of Hope with better shooters"  Hope does struggle to shoot but when you hold your opponents to <40 points per game you don't have to shoot the ball extremenly well to still win. 

Seems like Hope always struggles to shoot at Calvin and that may sway perception.  The season shooting percentage is less than 2 points different in both FG and 3pt between Hope and TM.

DePauw 45% and Calvin 47% are the real exceptions from a FG % standpoint.  The rest of the top teams are pretty close; Hope 41%, Amherst 40%, Ohio Northern 44%, Wash U 41%, Tufts 39%, etc.

But getting a lot more shots than the opponent can do wonders.  The Hope defense has led to one of the best turnover margins in the country (#4), and together with a huge offensive rebounding margin (86% higher than opponents) has resulted in Hope having an incredible 40% more shot attempts than their opponents this season (1221 to 869).

Still, when the Flying Dutch lose you can usually see a FG% on the 30% range or lower.

[Calvinhoops]

I didn't mean it as a put down.  Thomas More has hit 156 threes at a .341 clip, Hope has hit 114 at a .328 clip.   TM also shoots 42.6 compared to 40.8 fg % do Hope.    Close but better.  Calvin is better than both with a 46.9 fg% and a 36.7% 3pt %.  My real point is that Thomas More is really good.  We already know Hope is!

[Roundball999]

Understood.  I didn't take it as a put-down, it just prompted me to look at the numbers and they were quite interesting.  It was my impression that Hope doesn't shoot that well but was surprised to find they were near the middle among most of the top teams.  The eye opener was how well Calvin shoots.  Not a real surprise, but seeing the numbers really highlights how well they shoot it. 

[realist]

The FG% numbers get even more interesting when you take it down to the individual player level.  It really helps Calvin that their high scorer is at .588.
Hope's top FG% is .489 for players seeing +10 mpg.
Calvin has a player coming off the bench shooting .563.
The hard part is getting the ball in your best shooters hands as often as you can.

[oldtimer1937]

Wow,Calvin up 50plus and hiking up 3 after 3 against kalamazoo.

[Roundball999]

Hope 75-29 over Adrian.

[Calvinhoops]

OK, I`m awake now! Sorry Calvin faithful DEFENSE wins championships Hope 65  Calvin 55

Good to have you back!

[sac]

Stole this from miaa.org

   
Olivet's Campbell Breaks MIAA Assist Record

Olivet guard Kelsey Campbell broke the MIAA single-game assist record in women's basketball Wednesday as she dished out 16 assists in the Comets' 79-66 victory over Alma at the Cutler Event Center.

Campbell, a junior from Olivet (Olivet HS), broke the previous single-game mark of 15 that had been set by Albion's Autumn Charnley in a January 2007 game against Hope. She now leads the MIAA in assists with 73 in 12 conference games for a 6.1 average per contest.

[bballforever]

Congrats to Kelsey and Olivet, both having great seasons!!

[realist]

Just got an e-mail advising Sat's game versus Trine has been postponed.  No new date yet.

[bballfan13]

The Calvin vs Trine game will be played Monday at 7:30pm now.

[sflzman]

Wanted to mention that Alma wore the jerseys from that the 1982 national championship team wore today...I think all of the magic has worn out 

All joking aside though. Hope is a very good team. It will be interesting to see how the season series against Calvin ends up in 3 games.