WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh · February 19, 2020, 03:06:52 PM

The second week Regional Rankings are out: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2020/02/women-regional-rankings-second

Dutchfan · February 19, 2020, 07:48:15 PM

Does anyone know what happened to Ashleigh Thomas for Hope?

jspiii · February 19, 2020, 10:13:46 PM

Ashleigh Thomas came out on the court after the game wearing a boot on her left foot. She was walking on it without crutches. Watching the replay at home, her leg got tangled with a Olivet's player. On replay looked like the knee, but dodged that bullet. Hopefully, it's not long term. I'd be surprised if she was ready for Saturday's Trine game. But maybe it's only a precaution.

Roundball999 · February 20, 2020, 05:28:14 AM

Quote from: jspiii on February 19, 2020, 10:13:46 PM
Ashleigh Thomas came out on the court after the game wearing a boot on her left foot. She was walking on it without crutches. Watching the replay at home, her leg got tangled with a Olivet's player. On replay looked like the knee, but dodged that bullet. Hopefully, it's not long term. I'd be surprised if she was ready for Saturday's Trine game. But maybe it's only a precaution.

That would be a shame if Thomas couldn't go vs Trine. Taking on the Thunder down two starters would be a tough task. Muller and Thomas contributed 36% of the pts and 25% of the rebs in the earlier tight win vs Trine. Hope has been able to give its bench a lot of PT this year, that can only help....

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh · February 20, 2020, 04:27:47 PM

Just FYI - the "boot" is used for so many things now it is crazy. If it existed in a large sense back when I played collegiate soccer, I probably would have been wearing it nearly every day of the season ... just because if you roll an ankle, now, they put you in the boot to be careful.

Edit: I meant to add, it was around when I played, but it was for very serious injuries. We got ace bandaged wrapped or a aircast like thing if we were lucky for anything but a major injury.

It used to automatically mean someone has a serious injury and is going to miss a lot of time. Now, I've seen baseball players in the majors play an entire game in the infield including plenty of running around the bases and go home in a boot - not because they injured themselves, but because they had an injury and the boot is to keep them safe off the field.

It has become a bit of a misdirection when it comes to injuries.

I have no idea in this case what is going on, but the boot might not be really telling the whole story. It could be minor and she will be back soon.

Roundball999 · February 20, 2020, 04:59:07 PM

Good point Dave, thanks. Here's to hoping it's just precautionary!

Roundball999 · February 21, 2020, 05:33:06 AM

I did read confirmation in the Holland newspaper that Sydney Muller is out for the season, rumors of ACL I guess were true. She was leading in scoring and MVP of all three early season tournaments so surely a big loss. On the other hand, Hope is deep and she's been out for weeks now so Hope has had some time to adjust before the post season. Best wishes to Ms. Muller for a full recovery for her senior season next year.

jspiii · February 21, 2020, 10:37:04 AM

Quote from: Roundball999 on February 21, 2020, 05:33:06 AM
I did read confirmation in the Holland newspaper that Sydney Muller is out for the season, rumors of ACL I guess were true. She was leading in scoring and MVP of all three early season tournaments so surely a big loss. On the other hand, Hope is deep and she's been out for weeks now so Hope has had some time to adjust before the post season. Best wishes to Ms. Muller for a full recovery for her senior season next year.

Yes, she was not at Wed. Feb 12th home game, so I presume she had her surgery sometime around then. She was at this Wednesday's home game with her leg encased in a brace and on crutches. Hopefully, she'll be ready for the beginning of next season.

Natalee Kott is off her crutches (from a pre-season knee injury) but still walking somewhat gingerly.

TUAngola · February 22, 2020, 10:04:03 AM

Quote from: jspiii on February 21, 2020, 10:37:04 AM
Quote from: Roundball999 on February 21, 2020, 05:33:06 AM
I did read confirmation in the Holland newspaper that Sydney Muller is out for the season, rumors of ACL I guess were true. She was leading in scoring and MVP of all three early season tournaments so surely a big loss. On the other hand, Hope is deep and she's been out for weeks now so Hope has had some time to adjust before the post season. Best wishes to Ms. Muller for a full recovery for her senior season next year.

Yes, she was not at Wed. Feb 12th home game, so I presume she had her surgery sometime around then. She was at this Wednesday's home game with her leg encased in a brace and on crutches. Hopefully, she'll be ready for the beginning of next season.

Natalee Kott is off her crutches (from a pre-season knee injury) but still walking somewhat gingerly.

Sorry to hear the news about Sydney Muller, hate to see anyone have their season end due to injury. Wishing her a speedy recovery so she can come back strong next season. Also hoping that Ashleigh Thomas injury isn't severe. Ashleigh always plays well against Trine in the games I've seen in Angola, she is a thorn in our side.

You never want to go into tournament play not being at full strength. However, with Hope's impressive team depth you should be able to "plug and play" most anyone into the starting lineup and not lose much at all.

I think it's time for Kenedy Schoonveld to put this team on her back. I was so impressed with her the first time I saw her play against Trine a few years ago as a freshman, and in the games since. She hasn't had to take on much of the scoring load because most of your games have been blowouts and all the starters rarely play more than 20 minutes a game. She has the capability to create her own offense when needed though.

Should be a great atmosphere at DeVos today. Senior Day and I hear there are promotions for gift card giveaways to students attending, and the first 500 fans get free popcorn and a Hope foam finger. Hopefully Trine can play well enough to make it a close game. Wish I was in Holland today, but will be at MTI watching the Thunder men take on the Flying Dutch men.

Maybe next weekend if Trine makes it to the championship game I'll make the trek up there.

Roundball999 · February 22, 2020, 11:57:11 AM

Muller is a big loss, she has a full package of offense, defense and toughness that is just a step above the others IMO. But Hope IS blessed with depth and Coach Mo has always played at least 8-10 deep even in the tightest games, so the team is in as good a position as could be expected given the loss of a key player. It happens to most teams at one time or another, just have to move on.

Massey has Hope as a pretty solid favorite. I don't really see it that way and expect the same kind of tight game we've seen between these two over the past couple of years.

"the first 500 fans get free popcorn and a Hope foam finger"

Tempted to make some joke about showing up and being given the finger, but I won't

TUAngola · February 22, 2020, 01:09:20 PM

Massey has Hope winning 60-47. If Trine only scores 47 pts there is a 99.9% chance we'll lose. We have to score in the 60's to win and Hope would have to have an off shooting day.

Please give you analysis after the game Roundball. The 'giving the finger' joke would be a little cliché.

Roundball999 · February 22, 2020, 01:25:58 PM

Quote from: TUAngola on February 22, 2020, 01:09:20 PM
Massey has Hope winning 60-47. If Trine only scores 47 pts there is a 99.9% chance we'll lose. We have to score in the 60's to win and Hope would have to have an off shooting day.

Please give you analysis after the game Roundball. The 'giving the finger' joke would be a little cliché.

Guilty. Cliché, corny, etc.

Not 100% sure I'll be back online in time to catch the game but will give my thoughts if I see it.

Dutchfan · February 22, 2020, 02:21:08 PM

Good news for Hope, Ashleigh Thomas is dressed and warming up. We'll have to wait for game time to be sure, but it looks like she is good to go.

Flying Dutch Fan · February 23, 2020, 09:26:25 AM

Another great game between Hope and Trine with a fantastic crowd (listed at 2079 but it looked to be much closer to 3000 based on the video feed and some photos). Tight first half with Trine leading 26-25 at halftime. Hope played a strong 3rd quarter to lead 46-41 heading to the 4th. Midway through the fourth a couple of big 3s by Hope got the lead to 11 but the Thunder kept fighting, and had the lead down to 5 with 22 sec left. Hope ball but Trine allowed Hope to run the clock down to 8 sec before fouling. They had many opportunities to foul but were obviously told not to foul. I just don’t get that. Schoonveld made the two FT with 8 sec left to put Hope up 59-52 and that was the final score.

Congrats to both teams on excellent seasons. Expect we see a third battle between these two next Saturday, and I expect them both to make the NCAA tourney as well.

Roundball999 · February 23, 2020, 09:33:14 AM

I wasn't able to watch the game but I noticed based on the box score that statistically the teams played a pretty evenly matched game. The thing that jumped out that seemed to be the difference was that Hope had 15 more shots - apparently a result of a few more offensive rebounds by Hope and 9 more turnovers by Trine. Everything else seemed close.