WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[Roundball999]

North Central plays the Grinnell "system" I'm pretty sure. Looks like it backfired tonight.

Was at the game, could have been much worse.  First time I've seen a system team, can't see how it would ever work against a team with decent players and good coaching.  Hard to tell too much from the Dutch's opening weekend other than they are very balanced and quite deep.

How would you compare them to last year from what you have seen already?

Really hard to compare to last year and also hard to draw too many conclusions from this weekend, but I think the Dutch will be very good.  How good compared to last year I don't know, but that would be hard for any team to match.  Some observations:

- No replacing Liz Ellis at PG, especially her defensive intensity and ability to disrupt the opponents offense from even being started.  But frosh Angelique Gaddy started at point and was very good.  A few freshman mistakes but not many.  She handled North Central's system pressure well, led the team in assists and displayed generally good decision making.  If she keeps working she's going to be VERY good before she's done.

- Anna Kaufmann returned after a year off and looks much improved, leading Hope in scoring the first game.  The guard position was a question mark in my mind going into the season but with the emergence of Gaddy and Kaufmann added to two already excellent guards in captains Kelley and Berry, the guard position appears to be deep and solid.

- There's probably no one that can create a shot or instant offense like Kust could do last year, but if anything I think this year's team is more balanced and deeper than last.  Six footers Llorens, Doell and McAfee all seem improved after being starters or key contributors last year.   Heck, if you can bring a player like Doell off the bench, you have some depth.

The Dutch didn't play anyone this weekend with a real post game, so the interior defense has not been tested yet.  Lange from Olivet will surely do that and I'm sure Calvin will as well even without Carissa.

Overall, the Dutch performed at a higher level than I expected for opening weekend.  How that translates to the rest of the season?  They will clearly be very good, maybe elite but I need to see more.

[Roundball999]

Anyone see Calvin or Olivet this weekend and have any thoughts?  I'm sure Calvin is solid as usual and Olivet is looking more and more like a title contender too, with a monster weekend from Lange coupled with very capable Campbell.  With two MIAA POY type players, one inside and one outside, on paper Olivet is looking very tough.

[bballforever]

Looked at all teams stats and "where is the defense?"

[oldknight]

North Central plays the Grinnell "system" I'm pretty sure. Looks like it backfired tonight.

Was at the game, could have been much worse.  First time I've seen a system team, can't see how it would ever work against a team with decent players and good coaching.  Hard to tell too much from the Dutch's opening weekend other than they are very balanced and quite deep.

How would you compare them to last year from what you have seen already?

Really hard to compare to last year and also hard to draw too many conclusions from this weekend, but I think the Dutch will be very good.  How good compared to last year I don't know, but that would be hard for any team to match.  Some observations:

- No replacing Liz Ellis at PG, especially her defensive intensity and ability to disrupt the opponents offense from even being started.  But frosh Angelique Gaddy started at point and was very good.   A few freshman mistakes but not many.  She handled North Central's system pressure well, led the team in assists and displayed generally good decision making.  If she keeps working she's going to be VERY good before she's done.

I saw Gaddy play a couple of times in high school and when I learned she was going to Hope, I knew the Flying Dutch had their replacement at point. I have a lot of respect for Ellis who was a wonderful player, but I think Gaddy will quickly prove to be at least her equal.

[Roundball999]

I saw Gaddy play a couple of times in high school and when I learned she was going to Hope, I knew the Flying Dutch had their replacement at point. I have a lot of respect for Ellis who was a wonderful player, but I think Gaddy will quickly prove to be at least her equal.

Agreed, she seems to have all the tools.  Ellis had unmatched, sustained defensive intensity and played at a very high speed, but Gaddy is still brand new to the college game.  Watch out when she has a little more experience....

[realist]

Anyone see Calvin or Olivet this weekend and have any thoughts?  I'm sure Calvin is solid as usual and Olivet is looking more and more like a title contender too, with a monster weekend from Lange coupled with very capable Campbell.  With two MIAA POY type players, one inside and one outside, on paper Olivet is looking very tough.

I did not see the game.  In his post game comments Ross mentioned the "new" full court pressing defense Calvin is implementing this year.  This is a major change, and one I think will pay dividends in the future.  Calvin has struggled against teams that used pressing or pressure defense, and I always thought if we played or practiced that we would respond better when opponents hit us with it.  Time will tell.

[Roundball999]

Looked at all teams stats and "where is the defense?"

Can't speak for the others, but I think Hope's defense is at its usual high level.  They gave up 59 to Bluffton, seems a little high but the game was over early and the end of the bench was playing in the first half and the entire roster played between 7-19 minutes.  The Dutch then gave up a very low 56 to "system" team North Central while making 32 steals and forcing 51 turnovers.

[bballfan13]

Looked at all teams stats and "where is the defense?"

Can't speak for the others, but I think Hope's defense is at its usual high level.  They gave up 59 to Bluffton, seems a little high but the game was over early and the end of the bench was playing in the first half and the entire roster played between 7-19 minutes.  The Dutch then gave up a very low 56 to "system" team North Central while making 32 steals and forcing 51 turnovers.

I would also think that Calvin is not included in this thought.  Only gave up 45 points on the road.  Very good.

[Roundball999]

Looked at all teams stats and "where is the defense?"

Can't speak for the others, but I think Hope's defense is at its usual high level.  They gave up 59 to Bluffton, seems a little high but the game was over early and the end of the bench was playing in the first half and the entire roster played between 7-19 minutes.  The Dutch then gave up a very low 56 to "system" team North Central while making 32 steals and forcing 51 turnovers.

I would also think that Calvin is not included in this thought.  Only gave up 45 points on the road.  Very good.

Yes, looks like the new style mentioned by Realist worked very nicely!

[oldknight]

Looked at all teams stats and "where is the defense?"

Can't speak for the others, but I think Hope's defense is at its usual high level.  They gave up 59 to Bluffton, seems a little high but the game was over early and the end of the bench was playing in the first half and the entire roster played between 7-19 minutes.  The Dutch then gave up a very low 56 to "system" team North Central while making 32 steals and forcing 51 turnovers.

I would also think that Calvin is not included in this thought.  Only gave up 45 points on the road.  Very good.

Yes, looks like the new style mentioned by Realist worked very nicely!

During the preseason gathering of winter sports coaches earlier this month, Coach Ross spoke at length about the new look he was going to sport with this year's team. The change is driven by the fact that for the first time since he began coaching at Calvin, Ross does not have a dominant post scorer. Previously he had such players that included Winkle, Harris and Verkaik, and having talented post scorers required that Calvin's offense accommodate their talents. This year's team required that he reconsider his approach to Calvin basketball. The reason the Lady Knights only gave up 45 to Lakeland is because Calvin forced an impressive 35 turnovers. However, Coach Ross was disappointed that Calvin could only score 65 and said his team needed to finish better for their pressure to be truly effective. We shall see how well a full court game works against Hope who I believe is far superior to Lakeland. I have my doubts that at this early stage in its development, that Calvin's new look will do as much damage to Hope as it did to Lakeland. In fact, Hope may actually like the up tempo approach tomorrow night.

[bballforever]

Hope vs Calvin tonight.  Kind of sucks that it is so early but maybe one team can take the other by surprise. 

[Roundball999]

Hope vs Calvin tonight.  Kind of sucks that it is so early but maybe one team can take the other by surprise. 

Agree, I don't like that it's so early.  Not enough build up and not enough time to have much of an opinion or prediction of how it will go.  But it is Hope/Calvin so I'm sure it will be competitive and hard fought in any case....

[NACfan215]

I was at the Calvin v LC game, yes it was a 20 point game at the end, however it was a much closer game than it ended up, only an 8 point lead at halftime.  Calvin did run a fullcourt press for the entire game creating a 35-16 turnover differential. However, that was against an LC team that is playing young and inexperienced gaurds, particularly the PG with starting a freshman and having a sophomore as a backup.  Calvin scored 31 points off of the 35 TO's, you cut those TO's down and take away half the points off TO's and this is a couple possession game at the end.  If any team they face has experienced ball handlers and can easily break the press then Calvin will struggle to win, their halfcourt D is not as good and their Offense was suspect at best (again against a team who is also weak on defense).  I believe if this game was a half court only game then LC would have had the advantage.  With that said, if Hope is as good as people anticipate, then I believe they win by 20+ tonight.  I would find it hard to believe that Calvin remains a top 25 team for the remainder of the year... but I have been known to be wrong before, lol.  Hopefully that gives a little insight from someone who saw some live action last weekend.  Good luck to both teams the rest of the year.

[bballfan13]

I was at the Calvin v LC game, yes it was a 20 point game at the end, however it was a much closer game than it ended up, only an 8 point lead at halftime.  Calvin did run a fullcourt press for the entire game creating a 35-16 turnover differential. However, that was against an LC team that is playing young and inexperienced gaurds, particularly the PG with starting a freshman and having a sophomore as a backup.  Calvin scored 31 points off of the 35 TO's, you cut those TO's down and take away half the points off TO's and this is a couple possession game at the end.  If any team they face has experienced ball handlers and can easily break the press then Calvin will struggle to win, their halfcourt D is not as good and their Offense was suspect at best (again against a team who is also weak on defense).  I believe if this game was a half court only game then LC would have had the advantage.  With that said, if Hope is as good as people anticipate, then I believe they win by 20+ tonight.  I would find it hard to believe that Calvin remains a top 25 team for the remainder of the year... but I have been known to be wrong before, lol.  Hopefully that gives a little insight from someone who saw some live action last weekend.  Good luck to both teams the rest of the year.

I was at the game as well and didn't see it exactly the same way as you.  But let's be honest, I was wearing my Calvin glasses and it sounds like you might have been wearing your Lakeland glasses   

I think the end result was reasonable to how the game went.  Yes, if LC cuts down those turnovers then Calvin doesn't get as many points off of them, but that is what the full-court press is designed to do.  Calvin accomplished the goal of winning the turnover battle and did it impressively.  Now the season is still extremely young and being the first game for both teams can play into the result as well.  Both teams definitely have things to improve on and that is expected.  Calvin is far from a finished product as they have changed their whole system.  I thought the press looked good for being their first game and only really practicing it for a few weeks.  It is completely different than anything Calvin has run under Coach Ross.  Their offense is also new this year as they do not have the dominate post play this year as they have had in the past.  Calvin missed their first 7 shots the other night and it kept the game close at the beginning.  Their shots started to fall but nothing was consistent.  Their shooting percentage won't be as high as it has been the past few years because they won't generate as many points in the paint.  But I think the percentage will go up from the other night.

I thought Lakeland was a young team that has things to improve on just like Calvin, but I think the better team won by the margin that showed. 

That being said, Lakeland College were great hosts and the fans and people around the college and towns were great!

As for the Calvin vs Hope matchup tonight I think Hope has a slight edge.  They looked impressive when they should have last weekend in the game against Bluffton.  From my perspective you almost have to throw out the game against North Central due to the system they run.  Don't get me wrong and think I'm discounting the way and margin by which they won the game, it is just more of an outlier for comparison IMHO.  They did what they had to in that game, but it really isn't the same.  Both teams still have things to improve on but I think Calvin has a bit more due to the big changes they have made.  As a fan of the Rivalry I wish the game was being played a little further into the season to have more polished teams, but you have to be ready for any game in the season.  Here's to wishing for a great game being played tonight!

[oldknight]

Lady Knights take an early 18-3 lead over Hope less than 6 minutes in. Thus far, Hope seems to be struggling to adjust to the new look, helter-skelter style Calvin has adopted.