WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[sac]

Winner of the MIAA might get a shot at hosting if its Trine or Hope depending on what happens with Transylvania.  At the moment both are looking at being on the road in the first round. 

Potential sites right now look like Thomas More, Transylvania, Chicago, UW-Oshkosh or Wartburg.  Should be interesting how that shakes out.

[TUAngola]

Congratulations to Brandi Dawson and Cassidy Williams of Trine for being named 1st team MIAA.  Also to Brandi for being league MVP for 3 straight years.

Here is the complete list: https://www.miaa.org/sports/wbkb/2018-19/releases/AllMIAA2019

Really no surprises on 1st team, that is how I would have selected them as well.  Of those on the 2nd team I think Giovanna Paradiso of Saint Mary's could have been considered for 1st.  She had a nice year, and I was impressed with her game in the matchup at Trine. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The new NCAA Division III women's basketball regional rankings are posted: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2019/02/women-regional-rankings-third

[pointlem]

Kudos to Trine for a league championship, a tournament championship, and three victories over Hope. Last night they demonstrated that they are much more than MVP Brandi Dawson. Here's wishing them a long tournament run—on the opposite side of the bracket from Hope.

Quick observations:
1)   Hope's young team, with four soph starters, have done better each Trine match-up. . . which hopefully bodes well for the tournament and a possible repeat match-up.
2)   On a night when Dawson was held in check, Trine's team defense was impenetrable—packing the paint to shut down Frankie and drives to the basket (albeit with many puppy shots missed on a frustrating night), yet quickly rotating to limit open 3's. And 23 Hope turnovers (albeit many unforced)! Hope's defense likewise was outstanding—keeping Hope in the game. Olivia Voskuil's defending Dawson seemed a great defensive coaching move.
3)   Speaking of Olivia, her development these past two years bodes well for the future. Her shooting, agility with the ball, and seeming self-confidence have all increased. And her defense! (Trine was surely happy to have her on the bench when it scored its end-of-game winning baskets from in close.)

[TUAngola]

Kudos to Trine for a league championship, a tournament championship, and three victories over Hope. Last night they demonstrated that they are much more than MVP Brandi Dawson. Here's wishing them a long tournament run—on the opposite side of the bracket from Hope.

Quick observations:
1)   Hope's young team, with four soph starters, have done better each Trine match-up. . . which hopefully bodes well for the tournament and a possible repeat match-up.
2)   On a night when Dawson was held in check, Trine's team defense was impenetrable—packing the paint to shut down Frankie and drives to the basket (albeit with many puppy shots missed on a frustrating night), yet quickly rotating to limit open 3's. And 23 Hope turnovers (albeit many unforced)! Hope's defense likewise was outstanding—keeping Hope in the game. Olivia Voskuil's defending Dawson seemed a great defensive coaching move.
3)   Speaking of Olivia, her development these past two years bodes well for the future. Her shooting, agility with the ball, and seeming self-confidence have all increased. And her defense! (Trine was surely happy to have her on the bench when it scored its end-of-game winning baskets from in close.)

Congratulations to Trine for winning the MIAA tournament championship last night.  What a game.  It wasn't pretty, but that was to be expected somewhat.  Both of these teams know each other's games so well, the defenses on both sides I thought was just phenominal.  I know that is what seperates Hope and Trine from the rest of the league, is that their defenses are far superior to the rest of the MIAA.  Yes there was a lot of turnovers by both teams, but the defenses were responsible for the majority of them.  Cassidy Williams played very well on a night that Brandi Dawson was held on check by Voskuil.  Dawson had 2 quick fouls in the 2nd quarter and sat out the rest of the half.  I thought at that time that Hope had to really build up a decent lead while she was out, if they didn't I thought the second half would favor Trine.  Credit to Trine for clawing back in it at the end of the 2nd quarter.  The second half was back and forth, Dawson went out again in the 4th when she apparently tweaked an ankle during a scuffle under the basket for a rebound.  Freshman Kelsey Taylor really stepped up and played some very good minutes off the bench.  She was very physical with Buchanan.  Trine's defense on Buchanan was instrumental in the win, we really did a good job of collapsing on her when she got the ball in the post.  Trine eventually had a couple end of game and end of 1st OT shots to win but they both rimmed out (that 1st OT session was pretty ugly).  Then at the end of the 2nd OT Montana Martin hit a huge +1 bucket on a drive to the hoop.  Both teams left a lot of points off the scoreboard with some ugly FT shooting down the stretch, but there was a lot of pressure, plus the girls had to be running on empty with the length of the game. 

Congratulations to Hope, your team is going to go deep in the tournament.  Good combo of nice guard and interior play, not very many teams can match your length.  Congratulations to Trine and Coach Rang and staff on an excellent season especially after the fall camp change in the coaching leadership.  Trine should get to host a regional next weekend.  If they don't it will be a huge travesty.       

[sac]

Congratulations to Hope, your team is going to go deep in the tournament.  Good combo of nice guard and interior play, not very many teams can match your length.  Congratulations to Trine and Coach Rang and staff on an excellent season especially after the fall camp change in the coaching leadership.  Trine should get to host a regional next weekend.  If they don't it will be a huge travesty.     

Transylvania won the HCAC they were in a better position to host after last weeks ranking.  Travesty? no, just the frustrating imbalance of powers within womens D3 basketball that puts teams with great records on the road in the NCAA tournament.

[pointlem]

So Hope and Trine fans can root for each other's teams all the way to a fantasy repeat of Saturday night's game for a national championship. 

But tough draw for Trine to be in the Thomas More first weekend bracket. TUAngola, Hope supporters will, I suspect, all be pulling for Thunder rolls.

[Roundball999]

So Hope and Trine fans can root for each other's teams all the way to a fantasy repeat of Saturday night's game for a national championship. 

But tough draw for Trine to be in the Thomas More first weekend bracket. TUAngola, Hope supporters will, I suspect, all be pulling for Thunder rolls.

To clarify, we'll be pulling for Trine Thunder - but certainly not Wheaton Thunder!

[HOPEful]

Ouch, very harsh sending Trine to Thomas More. Hope's draw feels much more kind, . To be clear, Wheaton, Wartburg, DePauw, and OshKosh are all solid teams very capable of beating the Dutch, but Hope has to be pretty ecstatic to avoid Thomas More and Trine until the Championship game and not have to play a top 10 team until the elite 8.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I never imagined our terrible mock bracket would actually be that much better than what the committee came up with.  I don't think their bracket is bad, but I do think there was room for improvement.  I always marvel at how coaches look at things so much differently from outsiders to the process.

[Roundball999]

I never imagined our terrible mock bracket would actually be that much better than what the committee came up with.  I don't think their bracket is bad, but I do think there was room for improvement.  I always marvel at how coaches look at things so much differently from outsiders to the process.

I think you're being polite, Trine got hosed

Us MIAA fans can only hope for a repeat of two years ago when an MIAA team (Hope in that case) knocked off defending national champ and unbeaten Thomas More in the 2nd round, also on Thomas More's home court.  Go Trine!

[TUAngola]

I never imagined our terrible mock bracket would actually be that much better than what the committee came up with.  I don't think their bracket is bad, but I do think there was room for improvement.  I always marvel at how coaches look at things so much differently from outsiders to the process.

I think you're being polite, Trine got hosed

Us MIAA fans can only hope for a repeat of two years ago when an MIAA team (Hope in that case) knocked off defending national champ and unbeaten Thomas More in the 2nd round, also on Thomas More's home court.  Go Trine!

I thought that after last years brutally tough bracket for Trine there is absolutely no way they would get the shaft again from the D3 Selection Committee would they?  D3 says YES INDEED!! LET'SEE HOW MUCH WE CAN MESS WITH TRINE AGAIN!!  For your number 5 ranking Trine, you not only don't get to host the first round, you get to go to Thomas More for a potential round of 32 game, which should have been more like a round of 8 game.  Most mock brackets had Trine hosting...WRONG.  D3 says I'll think we'll let teams ranked in the 20s and 30s host some games instead...yeah that's the ticket!!  I don't know what else a team has to do.  Yes we lost to Transy in a Holiday tournament at their place, but did the committee know we were shorthanded that game?  Probably not.  The DePauw loss at home early in November by 2, did that ding us a lot?  Guess so.  This is just so unbelievable...could not fathom a draw being any worse for our gals.  It is what it is though.  To get to the final weekend you got to go thru TMU at some point.  But before that got to focus on the first game against Emory.  Don't know anything about their team.  Good luck this weekend gals!!       

Hope got a tough draw too...3 of the 4 teams in their bracket are ranked in the top 20...sorta like last year with IWU, DePauw and Trine.  I love this Hope team, go make some noise this weekend and kick some butt!! 

 

[pointlem]

Yes, a tough first weekend for Trine . . . but, if you place any stock in the D3Hoops top 25, if they can survive they would face no bigger challenge before a national championship game . . . while Hope's side of the bracket would potentially include, next weekend, #3 St. Thomas which has lost only one game--by 20 points, to . . . Wartburg. And then #1 Bowdoin.

So not an easy path for either team. Best to them both.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I never imagined our terrible mock bracket would actually be that much better than what the committee came up with.  I don't think their bracket is bad, but I do think there was room for improvement.  I always marvel at how coaches look at things so much differently from outsiders to the process.

I think you're being polite, Trine got hosed

Us MIAA fans can only hope for a repeat of two years ago when an MIAA team (Hope in that case) knocked off defending national champ and unbeaten Thomas More in the 2nd round, also on Thomas More's home court.  Go Trine!

I thought that after last years brutally tough bracket for Trine there is absolutely no way they would get the shaft again from the D3 Selection Committee would they?  D3 says YES INDEED!! LET'SEE HOW MUCH WE CAN MESS WITH TRINE AGAIN!!  For your number 5 ranking Trine, you not only don't get to host the first round, you get to go to Thomas More for a potential round of 32 game, which should have been more like a round of 8 game.  Most mock brackets had Trine hosting...WRONG.  D3 says I'll think we'll let teams ranked in the 20s and 30s host some games instead...yeah that's the ticket!!  I don't know what else a team has to do.  Yes we lost to Transy in a Holiday tournament at their place, but did the committee know we were shorthanded that game?  Probably not.  The DePauw loss at home early in November by 2, did that ding us a lot?  Guess so.  This is just so unbelievable...could not fathom a draw being any worse for our gals.  It is what it is though.  To get to the final weekend you got to go thru TMU at some point.  But before that got to focus on the first game against Emory.  Don't know anything about their team.  Good luck this weekend gals!!       

Hope got a tough draw too...3 of the 4 teams in their bracket are ranked in the top 20...sorta like last year with IWU, DePauw and Trine.  I love this Hope team, go make some noise this weekend and kick some butt!! 

My question, though, as always, is "what would I change."  I'd definitely not want Trine there, but where should they be?  With the geography this year, that's not an easy answer.

You could switch Chicago and Trine, but that only disadvantages another major conference champion and #2 regionally ranked team.

Maybe you could send Trine to WashU and fly George Fox to TMU?  That would be better and more fair, but maybe they didn't see it that way?

RIT can't get to TMU.  Hartwick can't get to TMU.  Haverford can't get to TMU.  It's a tough bracket for geography.

[HOPEful]

I never imagined our terrible mock bracket would actually be that much better than what the committee came up with.  I don't think their bracket is bad, but I do think there was room for improvement.  I always marvel at how coaches look at things so much differently from outsiders to the process.

I think you're being polite, Trine got hosed

Us MIAA fans can only hope for a repeat of two years ago when an MIAA team (Hope in that case) knocked off defending national champ and unbeaten Thomas More in the 2nd round, also on Thomas More's home court.  Go Trine!

You could also make and argument that Thomas More got hosed too! Neither team should be forced to play a legitimate title contender in the first weekend!