WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[Roundball999]

I think the rankings are right on after being at the Calvin/Hope game this week and watching Hope performance.  They looked far from a tourney team and probably will drop even lower now.

I guess that means you thought Calvin was not a tourney team after the 1st game?

??

My comment was inelegant, apologies.  I simply thought the OP about tournament readiness based on one game was quite dismissive of a body of work that included only losses to a couple of top nationally ranked teams including taking Calvin to the wire in the first game.

[sac]

I saw Hope play Kzoo and they looked kind of meh.   A few weeks later I saw them play at Albion and they looked like Brian Morehouse's best team. 

[Roundball999]

I saw Hope play Kzoo and they looked kind of meh.   A few weeks later I saw them play at Albion and they looked like Brian Morehouse's best team. 

Agree.  I posted prior to the Calvin game that Hope was less consistent and it sure bit them at Calvin.  Nonetheless, they have beaten everyone they're "supposed" to beat including some nice non-league wins, with their only losses coming against top nationally ranked teams.

[Dark Knight]

I saw Hope play Kzoo and they looked kind of meh.   A few weeks later I saw them play at Albion and they looked like Brian Morehouse's best team. 

Agree.  I posted prior to the Calvin game that Hope was less consistent and it sure bit them at Calvin.  Nonetheless, they have beaten everyone they're "supposed" to beat including some nice non-league wins, with their only losses coming against top nationally ranked teams.

Well, I suppose, except that Hope was ranked higher than Calvin Early in the season and was "supposed to" beat them. The only reason they are not "supposed to" any more is that they lost to them.

[Roundball999]

I saw Hope play Kzoo and they looked kind of meh.   A few weeks later I saw them play at Albion and they looked like Brian Morehouse's best team. 

Agree.  I posted prior to the Calvin game that Hope was less consistent and it sure bit them at Calvin.  Nonetheless, they have beaten everyone they're "supposed" to beat including some nice non-league wins, with their only losses coming against top nationally ranked teams.

Well, I suppose, except that Hope was ranked higher than Calvin Early in the season and was "supposed to" beat them. The only reason they are not "supposed to" any more is that they lost to them.

I guess, if you're motivated by splitting hairs.

At the time of the first game, Hope was ranked 3 spots higher than Calvin.  Massey had it as a 1 point game.  Maybe some think that means Hope was "supposed to" beat Calvin; I call that pretty much a toss up which is how it played out.   Hope was ranked a bit higher at the beginning of the season, but losing your starting point guard to an ACL followed by a loss to a fine Wheaton team will tend to knock you down a few spots.

Perhaps it would have been clearer if I said my point was Hope had no bad losses to teams when there was a clear expectation of a win?

Anyway, congrats to Calvin on an exceptional season so far.  I will be pulling for them in the NCAAs unless they ever meet up with Hope.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

I saw Hope play Kzoo and they looked kind of meh.   A few weeks later I saw them play at Albion and they looked like Brian Morehouse's best team. 

Agree.  I posted prior to the Calvin game that Hope was less consistent and it sure bit them at Calvin.  Nonetheless, they have beaten everyone they're "supposed" to beat including some nice non-league wins, with their only losses coming against top nationally ranked teams.

Well, I suppose, except that Hope was ranked higher than Calvin Early in the season and was "supposed to" beat them. The only reason they are not "supposed to" any more is that they lost to them.

An early ranking (preseason) that was based on the anticipation of a team that included Agelique Gaddy.

[bballfan13]

I saw Hope play Kzoo and they looked kind of meh.   A few weeks later I saw them play at Albion and they looked like Brian Morehouse's best team. 

Agree.  I posted prior to the Calvin game that Hope was less consistent and it sure bit them at Calvin.  Nonetheless, they have beaten everyone they're "supposed" to beat including some nice non-league wins, with their only losses coming against top nationally ranked teams.

Well, I suppose, except that Hope was ranked higher than Calvin Early in the season and was "supposed to" beat them. The only reason they are not "supposed to" any more is that they lost to them.

An early ranking (preseason) that was based on the anticipation of a team that included Agelique Gaddy.

If you want to call the January 11th, Week 6 poll the preseason, ok.   

[Flying Dutch Fan]

I saw Hope play Kzoo and they looked kind of meh.   A few weeks later I saw them play at Albion and they looked like Brian Morehouse's best team. 

Agree.  I posted prior to the Calvin game that Hope was less consistent and it sure bit them at Calvin.  Nonetheless, they have beaten everyone they're "supposed" to beat including some nice non-league wins, with their only losses coming against top nationally ranked teams.

Well, I suppose, except that Hope was ranked higher than Calvin Early in the season and was "supposed to" beat them. The only reason they are not "supposed to" any more is that they lost to them.

An early ranking (preseason) that was based on the anticipation of a team that included Agelique Gaddy.

If you want to call the January 11th, Week 6 poll the preseason, ok.   

I wasn't. The point I was making is that Hope was ranked high in the preseason, and then did nothing to cause a large fall in the poll. The single loss to another ranked team was not seen as a bad loss. DKs assertion that because Hope was ranked higher they were "supposed" to win is faulty in my opinion when you consider how Hope ended up ranked as they were. All that being said, the first rivalry game was basically a dead heat.

[realist]

IMHO Hope is never "supposed" to win.      Only grugingly will I admit that sometimes Hope may be favored to win.

Before the Jan. game in Holland I will concede that Hope was favored to win.  Heck, before that game they had only lost 4 times on that floor so anytime the game is played at Hope they deseerve the "favored" tag. 

[Dark Knight]

I wasn't. The point I was making is that Hope was ranked high in the preseason, and then did nothing to cause a large fall in the poll. The single loss to another ranked team was not seen as a bad loss. DKs assertion that because Hope was ranked higher they were "supposed" to win is faulty in my opinion when you consider how Hope ended up ranked as they were. All that being said, the first rivalry game was basically a dead heat.

My point was that it's a little odd to say that Hope won all the games they were supposed to win according the polls -- the polls simply summarize the year's result to date. It's a little like looking at your driving record, which, say, shows two speeding tickets in the last year, and then saying you only got the speeding tickets you were supposed to get because you get about two a year.

I think I know what Roundball meant, though -- that Hope was consistent, only lost to highly ranked teams, and is having an excellent season, especially considering injuries. All true.

[bballfan13]

I saw Hope play Kzoo and they looked kind of meh.   A few weeks later I saw them play at Albion and they looked like Brian Morehouse's best team. 

Agree.  I posted prior to the Calvin game that Hope was less consistent and it sure bit them at Calvin.  Nonetheless, they have beaten everyone they're "supposed" to beat including some nice non-league wins, with their only losses coming against top nationally ranked teams.

Well, I suppose, except that Hope was ranked higher than Calvin Early in the season and was "supposed to" beat them. The only reason they are not "supposed to" any more is that they lost to them.

An early ranking (preseason) that was based on the anticipation of a team that included Agelique Gaddy.

If you want to call the January 11th, Week 6 poll the preseason, ok.   

I wasn't. The point I was making is that Hope was ranked high in the preseason, and then did nothing to cause a large fall in the poll. The single loss to another ranked team was not seen as a bad loss. DKs assertion that because Hope was ranked higher they were "supposed" to win is faulty in my opinion when you consider how Hope ended up ranked as they were. All that being said, the first rivalry game was basically a dead heat.

Couldn't agree more with the bolded statement above.  A game as exciting as that one and 2 lead changes in the last 10 seconds is dead even to me.

And I have to agree with realist on Hope being favored at home.  They have earned that right to be favored there for a long time.

[bballfan13]

The 3rd and final "released" rankings are out. Calvin stays at #2 and Hope drops to #6.

Great Lakes:
1. Thomas More
2. Calvin
3. DePauw
4. John Carroll
5. Transylvania
6. Hope
7. Ohio Northern
8. St. Vincent
9. Baldwin Wallace

With Hope dropping to 6, if they lose in the MIAA championship there's a small chance they get left out. I really can't believe I just wrote that but as you get further down in the rankings it's not a good thing. It would be a mistake to leave them out and let's hope that doesn't happen. Someone correct me if my thinking is wrong here.

The teams above Hope are the #1 seeds in their conference tournaments so if they win that will help Hope. The OAC will be the conference tournament to keep an eye on.

[sac]

The 3rd and final "released" rankings are out. Calvin stays at #2 and Hope drops to #6.

Great Lakes:
1. Thomas More
2. Calvin
3. DePauw
4. John Carroll
5. Transylvania
6. Hope
7. Ohio Northern
8. St. Vincent
9. Baldwin Wallace

With Hope dropping to 6, if they lose in the MIAA championship there's a small chance they get left out. I really can't believe I just wrote that but as you get further down in the rankings it's not a good thing. It would be a mistake to leave them out and let's hope that doesn't happen. Someone correct me if my thinking is wrong here.

The teams above Hope are the #1 seeds in their conference tournaments so if they win that will help Hope. The OAC will be the conference tournament to keep an eye on.

Its really about what Pool C position you're in.  In this case if the rankings stayed the exact same on selection Sunday Hope would be behind 5 teams from 5 different conferences.  If all those teams won their respective AQ's Hope would be 1st from the Great Lakes at the Pool C table.

All five of those teams ahead of Hope look safe for a Pool C if they needed one.  Unless tournament chaos happens Hope should be one of the first two teams from the Great Lakes at the table pretty early in the process.  Lots of great records out there though.

Hope was left home in 2012 with a 22-5 record.

[sac]

Hope wins 62-48 which is just about the most deceiving score of all-time.

Kzoo shot 3-33 in the first halft and at one point Kzoo were 6-50 from the field.  They finished the game making 9 of their last 15 shots to close the gap.  Hope didn't shoot it all that great themselves which resulted in 102 rebound opportunities in the game.

[Dark Knight]

The Knights were great on both sides of the court, leading Olivet 72-27 six minutes into the second half. Olivet didn't give up, though, and made up some ground by the end of the game. Calvin ended up winning 88-54. The Knights hit 60% of their shots including 15 of 26 three-pointers.

Last year the Knights had trouble getting the ball inside with Lang there, and it was still difficult last night, but they pass well enough and quickly enough that they worked it inside a few times and ended up with 18 points in the paint.

Reid and Lang finished terrific careers for Olivet, with Lang ending up as their all-time leading shot blocker (109), second in scoring (1208), and third in rebounding (772).

This year's Calvin squad is fun to watch because they pass so dang well in addition to pressing and running the whole game. They keep passing it around until someone has a high-percentage shot. They're leading the nation in assists per game.