MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[devossed]

Got word tonight that Hope managed to shoehorn in their last recruit I'm aware of.   A 6-5 F from the East side of the state, was offered a scholarship to Hillsdale.  Nice addition to an already solid class, at least on paper it looks equal to or better than the 2002 class with Immink, Spaman, Griffeth, Klunder and Kleersnyder.  They are now done........?


.......at least I think they're done.

Not totally sure, but I think he is Doug Sharples of Romeo, who visited during one of the Calvin games, and who is pretty highly rated on a few ranking sites.

And not sure they're done either--so of the notables confirmed by posters on this board, that's Carter, Bowser, Tanis, Carroll, Sharples, Vandermeer that had been mentioned...still could be a few out there to fill the 14+/- on JV (depending on how many of those make varsity).

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Nice addition to an already solid class, at least on paper it looks equal to or better than the 2002 class with Immink, Spaman, Griffeth, Klunder and Kleersnyder.  They are now done........?

Now lets hope this class plays with a more consistent passion than was often displayed by the non-point guard members of the 2001-2005 class mentioned above.

Technically 2006 since Immink was hurt his senior year and came back after red-shirting.

[sac]

It is Doug Sharples from Romeo.

Sorry for being so cryptic I was hoping to find something online about it today, but no dice.

Sharples is a 6-5 F, averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds for a good Romeo team.  His teammate Blake Cushingberry will be mentioned in the Mr. Basketball discussions next season, and a D1 recruit.  So Sharples wasn't option #1.  Sounds like a nice athlete, he's on the Romeo track team as a high jumper.

A couple random quotes from Stephen Bell's weblog on Mlive from last fall.

"Cushingberry makes up one-third of Romeo's tough front line.  6-5 senior Doug Sharples is very aggressive inside or attacking the hoop. He'll definitely dunk on you."

"Five standouts at Aim High scrimmages
--Doug Sharples 6-5 Sr Romeo: He was the best athlete on the court, against Detroit Redford no less."

..........this one is a bit amusing to me since Mr. Basketball himself Corperryale Harris played for Redford.  But hey nothing like a little hype.


I think Hope got another good one and Hope fans should be excited to see him in the Orange and Blue.

Hard to say whether Hope is done, last year there was prescious little info and they ended up with 7 freshman from out-of-state.  So who knows.


All I know is the fairways will seem greener, the putts will roll more true and the wind won't seem to blow quite as hard this summer. 8)

[sac]

Off topic but small college related

Spring Arbor has an nice class coming in as well, Ryan Cottingham is building a really nice program down there.


DJ Baisden - Guard - Jackson Christian High School
Dirail Flenorl - Wing - Kalamazoo Valley Community College (Portage Northern High School)
Wille Pickvet - Wing - Pinconning High School
Eric Westbrook - Center - Saranac High School
Kevin Ludwig - Guard - Kalamazoo Valley Community College (West Ottawa High School)
Brandon Jones - Forward - Kingston High School

Baisden was spoken about very highly around the Lansing area.........a couple of these kids are 6-6 and 6-8.  Mix these kids in with his good class from last year.  Pretty promising.

Spring Arbor went 17-15, struggled in their tough NAIA conference but they beat every Michigan team they faced including Cornerstone and Albion.  SAU might be one to watch the next couple years.


sidenote-------Ludwig was interested in transferring to Hope, and up untill I saw this I thought he was going to Hope. 

[hope1]

sac  i also think that hope has a lot of really good players  coming in next   year they could be really good i think   

[sac]

Albion gets Tyler Newsom 6-6 F, Rochester Adams.

Free Press Metro-North 3rd Team, Free Press Class A Honorable Mention. 

Stephen Bell had him ranked in the pre-season top 20 forwards in the state.


Newsome visited Hope early in the season.

[Knightmare]

A lot of chatter here on who Hope has coming in next year, and it sounds like a very promising class, but does anyone with their ear to the ground know what is happening with Calvin's recruit situation?  There is a lot in the cupboard but never hurts to add more for some quality depth and to build upon for seamless transitions from graduating year to graduating year.

So anyone hear or know anything?

[realist]

It sure does sound like Hope had another solid year with all the names being mentioned here.  Calvin has been even more low key about who they think might be coming next year than they typically have been under KVS.  Sac sort of nailed it by saying several recruits they would have liked to have gotten have opted to take atlethic scholarships elsewhere, but that seems to happen every year.  The only conclusion this leaves is any player coming in is going to have to earn playing time. 

[oldknight]

A lot of chatter here on who Hope has coming in next year, and it sounds like a very promising class, but does anyone with their ear to the ground know what is happening with Calvin's recruit situation?  There is a lot in the cupboard but never hurts to add more for some quality depth and to build upon for seamless transitions from graduating year to graduating year.

So anyone hear or know anything?

This year's class isn't as deep as the talent Calvin has gotten the last two years. Locally the only two players of note I can confirm are Sytsma (Unity Christian) and Van Harn (GR Christian). This could be the first year in a while that Calvin won't have a freshman on varsity. IMHO the overall talent level for D3 hoops was down in the West Michigan market this year but since Calvin still has several talented underclassmen on their varsity a down year depth wise isn't entirely a bad thing--as long as you don't have two years in a row like that. A coach can still only play five at a time and if you recruit great classes every year you wind up with several talented but disgruntled players at the end of your bench and that doesn't do much to help team morale. Successful teams need role players who are low maintenance and who are willing to accept the fact that they won't play as much as they did when they were one of the stars of their high school team. I do think that the Sytsma kid  is likely to be more than just a role player in a couple of years. He was overlooked by a lot of people and averaged 16 points on a team that had several offensive options and a system that shuns featuring one high scoring player. Scoring 16 points a game for Scott Soodsma is liking scoring 20 for almost anyone else. Sytsma has a great touch--both inside and out--has exceptionally strong hands and the kind of body frame that could easily put on 20 pounds without any loss of speed. I think he'll be a starter at some point in his career.

[hoopdreams]

In reference to a couple of previous posts- this Hope class in comparison could be the strongest ever, with 3 class A all-state caliber guards, 3 athletic wings 6'4-6-6', . They are also "most likely" getting a guard from minnesota and a biggie from north Carolina.  a decent guard from Byron center is coming as well. 

Ludwig was all set to come to hope until he heard they picked up tanis.

there is no comparison to the group of immink, griffith, kleersnyder, etc.... based on hs careers, the incoming class is superior. will they develop into great MIAA players??? that remains to be seen.

[hopefan]

Adrian's schedule is up on their website, but has only 23 games.....  Anybody close enough to the program to know if the slots are to be filled, or if someone just erred two games out??

[ziggy]

Guess we're in the dead of summer already...

Does anyone on here do Protrade.com?  It's a pretty sweet site that lets you buy and sell (and short) NBA, MLB, NFL, and NCAA (DI) Basketball teams and players like stocks.  It's completely free and you can use your gains for prizes.  If anyone is interested, send me your email in a private message and I'll send you a referral link.

On a more relevant note, Calvin's new fieldhouse construction is getting underway now that the kiddie's are gone for the summer.  A master plan in action is a beautiful thing!
http://www.calvin.edu/admin/physicalplant/projects/2007/spoelhof-fieldhouse/

[realist]

Ziggy: amen on the masterplan.     The arena etc. have all changed  since the original announcement last fall.  Much will depend on the bids which opened in the last few days as to how much gets done, and how fast it gets done.  Last I heard the new arena will be able to have all 4  b-ball teams practicing at the same time on separate regulation size courts. 

[almcguirejr]

The proposal to the move the 3 point line back one foot was approved.  There will be an extra line painted on that beautiful Devos Floor (soon to be known as "Van Wieren Floor.") Some of the earlier comments by Hope posters on this site lead me to believe there could be a cancellation of season tickets by some fans if they are forced to look at a court all muddied up by new lines.

Another rule change was the elimination of the spot closest to the basket during a foul shot. 

[oldknight]

I see the rule change is only on the men's side--the women's line will remain at 19'9"--and will go into effect starting with the 2008-09 season, the same year Calvin opens its new arena. Sounds like a Knight plot to me.