WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[TUAngola]

Have to give Trine the nod in this one.  Hope is undefeated, but a lot of tight wins including some against teams that are not great.  Trine is veteran and very solid, Hope quite young especially in backcourt.  Hope has lost the rebounding battle and turnover margin in several games this year, very uncharacteristic.  Trine by 10 tonight, but Hope will get them at Devos.

Oh I think it will be much closer than a 10 pt game.  Trine has only practiced 3x in the new gym, it's not like the old familiarity of Hershey Hall.  I think we'll struggle making shots as the site lines will be a lot different at MTI Center.  The one thing Hope has in their favor, they are a better offensively balanced team than Trine.  Dawson struggled with hitting shots in the trip to Vegas, will need her to play well for us to have a shot.  Buchanan scares me the most, she matches up well with Martin.  Staying out of foul trouble between those 2 will be key.  I will report back after the game.   

[TUAngola]

Hope 57 Trine 46

First off I want to comment on the MTI Center.  Trine hit a home run with this new facility.  It is a gem for the University.  The scoreboard/videoboard is sweet, sound system killer.  Not many glitches with the first game, it did start about 15 minutes late, only thing I could think of was maybe the Hope bus was tardy arriving?

The game, well, my prediction in the post before the game was right on target.  I was worried about a few things 1) new building with only 3 practices 2) we have trouble making shots 3) Hope's balance and shooting.  They all played out.  Hope got off to a terrific start, they hit a lot of 3's the 1st qtr, you leave Geers free she will make you pay.  I mentioned I was worried about the Buchanan matchup, well she was in street clothes with a walking boot. Did she get hurt in a previous game or practice?  Turns out Hope didn't need her.  Your team is blessed with a couple of Freshman bigs who are pretty talented in Voskuil and Thomas.  I thought they were terrific.  After the first quarter Trine really never made a serious run in the game, they maybe got it to 4 pts, but Hope always had an answer at the opportune time.  I thought after the first qtr Trine's defense was good for the most part.  We missed too many easy ones and free throws early.  Then we chunked up a bunch of 3 pointers in the second half trying to get back in the game, which didn't work at all.

I am not throwing in the towel over this loss.  Hope is good, deep, can rotate 12 gals.  Our bugaboo isn't defense or hustle.  We just aren't a good offensive team right now.  Dawson carried us in the 1st half to keep it close, then Hope started to double her in the 2nd half and dared us to beat them shooting jump shots.  That was the right coaching move.  Going forward I hope our recruiting focuses on girls that can shoot.  Yes defense is key, but you can't win either if you don't score.     

[Roundball999]

Hope 57 Trine 46

First off I want to comment on the MTI Center.  Trine hit a home run with this new facility.  It is a gem for the University.  The scoreboard/videoboard is sweet, sound system killer.  Not many glitches with the first game, it did start about 15 minutes late, only thing I could think of was maybe the Hope bus was tardy arriving?

The game, well, my prediction in the post before the game was right on target.  I was worried about a few things 1) new building with only 3 practices 2) we have trouble making shots 3) Hope's balance and shooting.  They all played out.  Hope got off to a terrific start, they hit a lot of 3's the 1st qtr, you leave Geers free she will make you pay.  I mentioned I was worried about the Buchanan matchup, well she was in street clothes with a walking boot. Did she get hurt in a previous game or practice?  Turns out Hope didn't need her.  Your team is blessed with a couple of Freshman bigs who are pretty talented in Voskuil and Thomas.  I thought they were terrific.  After the first quarter Trine really never made a serious run in the game, they maybe got it to 4 pts, but Hope always had an answer at the opportune time.  I thought after the first qtr Trine's defense was good for the most part.  We missed too many easy ones and free throws early.  Then we chunked up a bunch of 3 pointers in the second half trying to get back in the game, which didn't work at all.

I am not throwing in the towel over this loss.  Hope is good, deep, can rotate 12 gals.  Our bugaboo isn't defense or hustle.  We just aren't a good offensive team right now.  Dawson carried us in the 1st half to keep it close, then Hope started to double her in the 2nd half and dared us to beat them shooting jump shots.  That was the right coaching move.  Going forward I hope our recruiting focuses on girls that can shoot.  Yes defense is key, but you can't win either if you don't score.     

Must admit I'm a bit surprised how this played out, especially with Buchanan out (sprained ankle in practice Tuesday).  As you point out, Freshman bigs Voskuil and Thomas really played well.  I figured they were going to be very good but didn't expect that kind of performance until next year.  It was the difference and bodes very well for the coming 3 years.  Geers has also stepped up her level the last few games after a somewhat slow start to the year.  Hope protected the ball better than in many recent games and also won the rebounding battle, both areas of concern to me.  All in all, Hope played very well while Trine had some trouble putting the ball in the hole especially from three.  If they hit just 25% of those and they're right in that game.

[Roundball999]

The Hope women continue to improve, with 6'2" Thomas and 6'3" Voskuil looking more solid every game and the two starting freshman guards looking good too.  Against Kzoo Saturday, Celina King had something of a breakout game, hitting 5/6 from three and leading the team with 17 points.  While she's a sophomore, she missed almost all of last year so is still learning the college game pace.  Throw in junior 6' All American Buchanan, Swift and a few other very good underclassmen and I kind of thought next year would be Hope's year.  But if the young players continue to develop at this pace, Hope may be able to make some real noise this year.

[bballforever]

Big week for Calvin, verses Albion and Hope.
They seemed tired against Alma, I was there and did not see a ton of fire.  Maybe all those minutes catching up with them.

[Roundball999]

Big week for Calvin, verses Albion and Hope.
They seemed tired against Alma, I was there and did not see a ton of fire.  Maybe all those minutes catching up with them.

Calvin probably has one of the best starting fives in the league.  Spayde is arguably front runner for POY though arguments could be made for Dawson of Trine and Buchanan of Hope; both score much less but take about 8 shots/pg less.  So I could see them knocking off Hope or Trine somewhere along the way.  But their top 5 all play more than 25 mpg with the top 3 playing more than 30 mpg with Spayde playing 37.  I'm not sure if that's sustainable with consistency and makes them very vulnerable to injury.  Also makes post season tough when you have Fri/Sat games with demands for sustained defensive intensity against quality teams.  But I like watching them and suspect they'll have something to say about the MIAA race, as witnessed by the first game at a really good Trine team's gym.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Big week for Calvin, verses Albion and Hope.
They seemed tired against Alma, I was there and did not see a ton of fire.  Maybe all those minutes catching up with them.

Calvin probably has one of the best starting fives in the league.  Spayde is arguably front runner for POY though arguments could be made for Dawson of Trine and Buchanan of Hope; both score much less but take about 8 shots/pg less.  So I could see them knocking off Hope or Trine somewhere along the way.  But their top 5 all play more than 25 mpg with the top 3 playing more than 30 mpg with Spayde playing 37.  I'm not sure if that's sustainable with consistency and makes them very vulnerable to injury.  Also makes post season tough when you have Fri/Sat games with demands for sustained defensive intensity against quality teams.  But I like watching them and suspect they'll have something to say about the MIAA race, as witnessed by the first game at a really good Trine team's gym.

Always hard to compare players when their minutes per game vary so greatly.  Took a shot to compare those mentioned in points and rebounds per 40 minutes

A. Spayde - 22.3pts - 5.5 reb
F. Buchanan - 23.0 pts - 15.6 reb
B. Dawson - 18.6 pts - 8.6 reb

[TUAngola]

Trine with a not very pretty 51-31 win over Saint Mary's on Saturday.  Just not a very fluid team offensively this year.  We look slow.  Poor decision making. Unforced turnovers.  Missing too many free throws, we even had 2 consecutive air ball free throws Saturday, you don't see that very often.  Lacking confidence in shot making or even taking open shots.  I don't know how many times we passed up an open 10-15 ft jump shot and try to take it to the hoop against double coverage.  It would be ok if we finished at the hoop or drew a foul, but we end up taking circus shots that have no chance of going in.  I hope we break out of our funk soon as we play against a very good Albion squad on the road Wednesday.  Defensively we are playing very well.  But not enough offense has bit us twice already, against Amherst and Hope, where we played well enough in each defensively to win.  My expectations were maybe a bit too high with this team from last year's tournament run.  But then again we aren't sneaking up on anyone anymore either.  I hope Coach is focusing his practices on offense and free throw shooting this week.       

[Roundball999]

Trine with a not very pretty 51-31 win over Saint Mary's on Saturday.  Just not a very fluid team offensively this year.  We look slow.  Poor decision making. Unforced turnovers.  Missing too many free throws, we even had 2 consecutive air ball free throws Saturday, you don't see that very often.  Lacking confidence in shot making or even taking open shots.  I don't know how many times we passed up an open 10-15 ft jump shot and try to take it to the hoop against double coverage.  It would be ok if we finished at the hoop or drew a foul, but we end up taking circus shots that have no chance of going in.  I hope we break out of our funk soon as we play against a very good Albion squad on the road Wednesday.  Defensively we are playing very well.  But not enough offense has bit us twice already, against Amherst and Hope, where we played well enough in each defensively to win.  My expectations were maybe a bit too high with this team from last year's tournament run.  But then again we aren't sneaking up on anyone anymore either.  I hope Coach is focusing his practices on offense and free throw shooting this week.       

Holding your opponent to 31 is very pretty to my eyes.  Offense may come and go but when the team plays defense like that, you should be in good shape most of the time.

[bballforever]

Question for the experts on the Hope/Calvin game.  Why the low number of assists for both teams?

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Question for the experts on the Hope/Calvin game.  Why the low number of assists for both teams?

No way those numbers are correct - or at the very least, the official scorer has a very different understanding of an assist than I do.  Frankie Buchanan alone had at least 6 baskets where she was assisted - they have Hope with a total of 4. 

[bballforever]

Calvin verses Trine this week.  Any thoughts?

[Roundball999]

Calvin verses Trine this week.  Any thoughts?

Hard to figure this one.  Calvin played both Trine and Hope very tough at their own gyms.  Then they barely squeak out a win in OT against St Mary's, which Hope had just demolished by 58 on the same floor.

I guess I'd say this one goes much like the first game. fairly tight most of the way, but don't think Trine will need to make a big shot at the end to win.

[TUAngola]

Calvin verses Trine this week.  Any thoughts?

Hard to figure this one.  Calvin played both Trine and Hope very tough at their own gyms.  Then they barely squeak out a win in OT against St Mary's, which Hope had just demolished by 58 on the same floor.

I guess I'd say this one goes much like the first game. fairly tight most of the way, but don't think Trine will need to make a big shot at the end to win.

2 big games on the road this week for Trine, at Calvin tonight and at Hope Saturday.  I'd be happy with a split.  Calvin outplayed Trine in the first meeting this year, if not for a big 4th qtr and a 3 pointer at the end Trine would have lost.  Hope thoroughly outplayed Trine in their matchup earlier this month, and that was without Buchanan.  I don't see Hope losing at home.  They deserve their #2 ranking.  So deep and talented, especially in the post.  Most D3 teams don't get quality bigs, they usually are snatched up by bigger schools.  Hope always seems to get talented post players, including the 2 freshmen they have this year.

Trine just not playing as well as last year.  Defense has been good, offense painful to watch.  Trine is a little dinged up, a starter and key reserve may both be out.  We'll see. 

 

[TUAngola]

Trine at Hope today.  With Hope win they will have essentially wrapped up the regular season crown and will host the MIAA playoff rounds.  A Trine win will even the season series and put each team with 1 loss in the league.  I think Hope will win easily today, they are a better rounded and deeper team than Trine right now.  For Trine to keep it close Brandi Dawson will have to put the team on her back offensively, and Haley Martin will need some help guarding the post, and someone else will have to step up and help out offensively, maybe Kayla Freeman who is getting more playing time recently.