MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[hornet fan]

As a JV member of the Hornet team in 1995-96, and an attendee of that 1st round game, I was witness to a great game.  It was disappointing because of the Hornet loss, but a great game nonetheless.  That d$nmed Joel Holstege...

The Hornets did notice that Hope had a fairly easy run up to Witt, and were possibly playing the "woulda, coulda, shoulda" game.

[MIdoubleA]

40-20 Albion @ the half.

A poor shooting performance by the Dutchmen is probably a generous accusation. Likewise, Albion seems to have everything together. Hopefully the Dutchmen will come out second half ready to play a little more.

[NW Hope Fan]

As a JV member of the Hornet team in 1995-96, and an attendee of that 1st round game, I was witness to a great game.  It was disappointing because of the Hornet loss, but a great game nonetheless.  That d$nmed Joel Holstege...

The Hornets did notice that Hope had a fairly easy run up to Witt, and were possibly playing the "woulda, coulda, shoulda" game.

I think Joel didn't want to end the '96 season like they did the '95 season. He was a machine most of the tournament, especially the national championship game, where he would have won that game himself if he could of. I also remember the end of that game, where a K football player tried to pick a fight with a Hope cheerleader and got tossed by the cops... Made me smile!

[NW Hope Fan]

Albion wins by 18. Ouch! Hope was fairly cold and Albion Hot. Crawford was held below his averages, but the rest of the team picked up the slack. I think we'll see a very motivated Hope team on Sat. Good game Brits!

[MIdoubleA]

Cool post Sbell, now I have high school teams to follow up on other than my own 

So about Hope vs. Albion on wednesday, what do you think it wil take for each team to win?

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Let's see:

Hope
* Shut down Crawford (obviously) **Check**
* Shut down the rest of the team if they can't stop Crawford
* Play some good defense (kinda goes along with the previous two)
* FREE-THROWS DOWN THE STRETCH

Albion
* Keep Crawford out of foul trouble **Check**
* Find out who the Dutchmen can't stop (Crawford, Silas, Way?) **Check**
* Out-rebound the Dutchmen **Check**
* Keep turnovers to a minimum **Check**
(The last two are things the Dutchmen are quietly good at, and denying them doing so could be a big factor)

Let me know what you think, and feel free to add (or subtract  ) to my list.

[Briton Backer]

I think we can all agree, we saw the best team in the country tonight at Kresge.  Hope was just truly outclassed as the Britons take them to the woodshed, leading by 20 at the half and controlling the entire game.

Sac, FDF, Civic Minded, for all those who weren't lucky enough to see it, please let them know how much the Brits dominated.

On another note, clearly Vanderhiede is the best newcomer in the league.  Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for the Dutchies tonight.

Crawford is dominating this league like no one has for years, even in a game he is held below his average.  He is truly impressive.  

Go Brits!

[MIdoubleA]

I think we can all agree, we saw the best team in the country tonight at Kresge.  Hope was just truly outclassed as the Britons take them to the woodshed, leading by 20 at the half and controlling the entire game.

Sac, FDF, Civic Minded, for all those who weren't lucky enough to see it, please let them know how much the Brits dominated.

On another note, clearly Vanderhiede is the best newcomer in the league.  Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for the Dutchies tonight.

Crawford is dominating this league like no one has for years, even in a game he is held below his average.  He is truly impressive.  

Go Brits!

You didn't need to be there to hear how much the Dutchmen struggled and how well the Brits played - it was VERY apparent, even over the radio. To be quite honest, I didn't know how good the Brits really were, but they definitely proved themselves tonight. However, I do feel bad for Calvin - the Dutchmen are going to be quite vengeful Saturday, especially at home.

I'd like to end with this letter.


Dear Andy Phillips,

Please come back. We like having you around, really.

Sincerely,
MIdoubleA

[Stinger]

MIdoubleA , Phillips was the only kid that played with some heart tonight. Everyone else looked like they had no business being on the court, nor on the sidelines. Phillips was the only one that looked like he wanted to be there. GVW coached as bad as his MI double-breasted SportcoaT looked.

Hope was totally out of sync on both ends of the floor.  Albion had huge help from Bailey, Gibbons, and Way. I've seen the ALB play 4 times this year, and Gibbons has never shot it like that.  Bottom line was that Hope wasn't ready to play tonight. 

btw, Crawford went for 20 and 10.  No one checked him. He was able to do whatever the hell he wanted to tonight, much like every game he has played this year.

[Stinger]

Hornets with a nice win over Alma tonight, 77-73.  Don't have many details, just heard that last 2 minutes.  Being that Lost was on tonight, not sure if Midline made it over to the Rolla Dome tonight. Were you there buddy ro?

Great day to be a Hornet and a Spartan.

[MIdoubleA]

MIdoubleA , Phillips was the only kid that played with some heart tonight. Everyone else looked like they had no business being on the court, nor on the sidelines. Phillips was the only one that looked like he wanted to be there. GVW coached as bad as his MI double-breasted SportcoaT looked.

You couldn't tell from the radio, thanks for clearing that up. All I could hear from the radio was that he missed a few layups and easy baskets. I don't know why such a trivial thing is haunting him this season, but I hope it changes - and fast.

Grats to tonights winners!

[Roughrider]

Hope vs Albion--several posters have pointed out the recent history of road-teams winning.  I predict that to continue this season, road team winning both games in this match-up.

Adrian vs Calvin--I predict the Bulldogs will sweep the Knights for the regular season in this match-up.

I could be wrong.     Time will tell.  If necessary, I'll eat my words.  Maybe with some of that DeVos Heinz catsup and mustard.   

Albion 76, Hope 58 . . . that's one wrong.
Calvin 82, Adrian 68 . . . that's two wrong.
Heinz spells it with a "k" . . . that's three wrong in one post.  Roughrider whiffs tonight.

Would somebody pass the ketchup please!     

[ziggy]

Looks like the season awards are already wrapped up.  With four player of the week honors already this season, Brandon Crawford looks to follow in the shoes of Travis DePree as MIAA MVP.  Elsewhere, Jeff "That Jokovich is Brokovich" Nokovich certainly made his case for whining cry baby of the year tonight at Knollcrest.

[midline]

I did NOT make it to see the Hornets W tonight, but I was able to listen to some of it on the radio....K was up 3 at the half, won by 4 in the end. Not sure if it came down to the wire, the K website was brief. From what I heard, it sounded as though Alma was trying to push it upcourt a lot and K held the advantage as long as they could keep it a half court game.

Very balanced attack again from the Hornets. They need solid games from 3-4 guys each game in order to win this year, and they have had it for the last two games, each W's. Excellent opportunity to start out 3-1 as they visit Tri-State on Sat.

Surprising loss by the Dutch. You figure Albion would hold their court, but you would also think Hope would at least show up to play.

Caught a little of the chatter regarding Hope v. K in the tourney in '96, nearly 10 years ago now. Despite the outcome, that was one helleva game. Still cannot believe that junk from Holstege went in at the end....

[sac]

Albion 76 Hope 58

There are times whatching the game of basketball that you can just tell 2 minutes into a game who will win.  Tonight was one of them.

Albion just simply out-hustled, out-defended and purely out-played the Dutchmen.

Very, very impressive game for Albion, as I said to a couple people at the game it looks like the Britons don't want to give up that MIAA Championship easy.  Tonight I saw a Hope team do things they haven't done all year and the Britons were 100% responsible for that.

Game ball goes to Mike Bailey who Hope is still trying to catchup too.  He controlled everything tonight and broke down the Hope D too many times to count.  But it wasn't just Bailey, at times it looked like every guy in white knew where the guys in Orange would be and where the ball needed to go.  More times than not Albion nailed the open jumpers.  Some nights a team just feels it from the outside.  Throw in a pretty dominant inside game that Hope couldn't match and Hope was toast from the tip.

Hope just looked a step slow all night, but it wasn't as if Hope didn't play good D, they did, just not great D and Albion hit all the open shots.

Offensively Hope  had one guy who looked confident in his shot and that was VanderHeide.  But again Albion's D was tremendous, they straight-up outplayed Hope man-to-man.

I'll sum it up in two sentences........

My dad who watches exactly one maybe two D3 games a year said "How do you explain that........maybe it was  desire"

Most common phrase I heard after the game ".....not in my wildest dreams"
.......mine either.

Big props to the Britons tonight for defending the home court.  

[goodknight]

One question: How in heaven's name did Albion lose to UM-Dearborn, a dismal NAIA II program?

Congrats to the Brits, and thanks ever so much for stirring up the Dutchmen in time for Saturday afternoon.

The Knights played a very nice first half against Adrian, and then coasted until the Bulldogs went on a mini-run about midway through the second half to make the final score more respectable.

Veldhouse made a case for freshman of the year today, with 22 points and very, very heady play against Adrian.  Trewhella contributed 18 and Draayer 13.  Tyler Zoerhof gave Calvin a terrific spark in the first half with a hesitation dribble drive on the baseline and a breathtakingly sweet and swift dunk over a stunned defender.

We'll need a lot of contributors and a full-out effort on Saturday to slay the still-formidable, and now snarling, Dutchmen.