MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[John Gleich]

It would be interesting to see what kind of response there would be if the bball games were at 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays. 

Speaking as a follower of a conference whose members have always played men's games on Saturday nights, I would scream long and loud if anyone ever tried to move them to Saturday afternoons. Afternoon basketball just doesn't have the same vibe as evening basketball; it feels less like an "event". Of course, the matchup is what's paramount, not the time of day, but I think that evening basketball has it all over afternoon basketball.

(Grumble, grumble)  The WIAC has switched to Saturday "Double headers" with both the men and the women playing in what has turned out to be afternoon games.  This has caused the entire atmosphere at lots of these games to be less electric than in years past for the Saturday night game... especially when there ARE plenty of things going on in the afternoon.  Fans are being forced to choose between different events (and there are quite a few communities, like Stevens Point, where the community makes up a HUGE portion of the crowd), and attendance has suffered.  Now, the big games are still going to have relatively big crowds, but the crowds would be bigger on ALL nights if the games were still at 7:00 on Saturday night like they historically had been.  This also screws up a player's routine... though, I guess, if you get to Salem, the games won't be at the same time anyway....

[gohope]

Next Monday, October 15th is the first "legal" day for practice/try-outs.

Yeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!   It seems like forever since last season!

[ChicagoHopeNut]

In the spirit of the first practice and because I am admittedly not as up to date as I ought to be I am wondering for thoughts on Hope's starting five.

Here is what I think but I have no idea if one of the incoming freshmen could make a run at either SG or C/3rd Forward.

PG: DVS (Lock)
SG: Tyler Wolfe (Seems to be the most logical returning player for this spot)
SF: Jesse Reimink (I wonder if under the right conditions we might see Jesse as the second guard though, he is only 6-4. Either way he started every game last year and I am sure he will again.)
PF: Marcus VanderHeide (Once again, this is a lock.)
C: Ryan Klein (I think, Dan Holt is the only returning player listed as a center but I don't see him starting over Klein)

So I guess I wonder if anyone thinks a freshman could break into the starting line-up at the 2 or 3 assuming Reimink can play either role. Thoughts?

Any other thoughts, particularly related to center as that is the only other position that does not return a starter.



Of course I'd be interested in thoughts on the other MIAA teams but I am not qualified to register a guess to begin conversation on any other team.

[hoopdreams]

DVS is going to be pushed at the 1 position, though not necessarily at the beginning.  Truthfully i'm not real impressed with his playmaking, and would probably be better off spoting up on the perimeter on kickouts.  Jessie does not handle the ball well enough to play on the perimeter (unless teams are packing a zone, then he is another 3pt threat. AND more importantly, they are going to need him to be a key rebounder with his strength and tenacity.  Wolfe will most likely start a SG but needs to be able to create off the dribble and defend much better than past years.  You are going to see a lot of minutes going to the frosh guards and will probabl see lots of 3 guard sets.

[GoKnights68]

With "midnight madness" less than a week away, any early season predictions on league MVP?  Derek Griffin is an obvious choice, and I guess you'd have to throw Veldhouse in there.

[wolverinekeith]

In the spirit of the first practice and because I am admittedly not as up to date as I ought to be I am wondering for thoughts on Hope's starting five.

Here is what I think but I have no idea if one of the incoming freshmen could make a run at either SG or C/3rd Forward.

PG: DVS (Lock)
SG: Tyler Wolfe (Seems to be the most logical returning player for this spot)
SF: Jesse Reimink (I wonder if under the right conditions we might see Jesse as the second guard though, he is only 6-4. Either way he started every game last year and I am sure he will again.)
PF: Marcus VanderHeide (Once again, this is a lock.)
C: Ryan Klein (I think, Dan Holt is the only returning player listed as a center but I don't see him starting over Klein)

So I guess I wonder if anyone thinks a freshman could break into the starting line-up at the 2 or 3 assuming Reimink can play either role. Thoughts?

Any other thoughts, particularly related to center as that is the only other position that does not return a starter.



Of course I'd be interested in thoughts on the other MIAA teams but I am not qualified to register a guess to begin conversation on any other team.

Ty Tanis at the 2G?  Or the PG and DVS at the 2? 

Tanis might be a little rough at first, but I tend to think he's going to be driving me crazy by the time he's a sophomore. 

[KnightSlappy]

With "midnight madness" less than a week away, any early season predictions on league MVP?  Derek Griffin is an obvious choice, and I guess you'd have to throw Veldhouse in there.

John Mantel is my MVP choice.  I think he will give most of the league fits inside.  He was really the only Calvin player who had a good game in the loss to Hope at Aurora.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

DVS is going to be pushed at the 1 position, though not necessarily at the beginning. 

Interestingly enough on the All Americans thread under the Multi-Region Topics page there is a post from the Sporting News on the 07-08 preview that lists DVS as an honorable mention pre-season All-American.

I think there are things about DVS' game that frustrate Hope fans but overall he is a solid player and if one of the freshmen is legitimately pushing him for playing time I think Hope is going to have an incredible year.

[wolverinekeith]

With "midnight madness" less than a week away, any early season predictions on league MVP?  Derek Griffin is an obvious choice, and I guess you'd have to throw Veldhouse in there.

John Mantel is my MVP choice.  I think he will give most of the league fits inside.  He was really the only Calvin player who had a good game in the loss to Hope at Aurora.

Calvin really needs JM to step up this year and be a major inside presence.  I'd be happy if he could do 13 & 9.  If he can be a legit league MVP candidate (and hence, 18 & 10) I'd be ecstatic. 

I'm not worried about Veldhouse or Griffin or Mantel, but Calvin is going to need to get a couple more solid guys to step up from a wide variety of options. 

[KnightSlappy]

Just some more thoughts I have on Calvin's upcoming team:

My Projected Starting 5:
Caleb Veldhouse - JR - Caleb needs to show that he can be a consistent scorer in the MIAA.  Caleb needs to improve his FG% by taking better shots.  His FT% also needs to come up from last year.  A LOT is expected from this kid this year.

Derek Griffin - SR - I thought he could have been the MVP last year.  Derek seemed a bit rattled in the first of the conference meetings against the Dutchmen but he came up big down the stretch for the Knights.  Derek can get into the lane or spot up a three.  He is also a very good rebounding guard.

Matt Veltema - SO - Matt showed promise last year and I think he will be even better this year.  Matt needs to get better at creating for himself on the offensive side and he needs to improve his defensive game.  He could end up with Draayer's career three point record by the time he is done at Calvin.

Tim Katt - JR - Tim is a hustle guy.  Not very much is expected offensively from Katt but I think he will with decent numbers.  Tim has good strength and should be excellent on the boards.

John Mantel - SO - John is my dark horse MVP pick for this season.  If he can lay off of the three pointers and stay down low he should end up with great numbers.  John showed good size and strength for a freshman last year and I look for that to improve this year.  Not very many teams will have a good match-up against John.

Sixth Man:
Dustin Smith - JR - Dustin showed great improvement in control last year.  His numbers won't dazzle but he has great energy and always seems to hit a big shot. (Maybe it's just me but that shot always seems to be right in front of Hope's student section)

Enigmas:
Tyler Zoerhof
Micah Chappell

[GoKnights68]

With "midnight madness" less than a week away, any early season predictions on league MVP?  Derek Griffin is an obvious choice, and I guess you'd have to throw Veldhouse in there.

John Mantel is my MVP choice.  I think he will give most of the league fits inside.  He was really the only Calvin player who had a good game in the loss to Hope at Aurora.

Calvin really needs JM to step up this year and be a major inside presence.  I'd be happy if he could do 13 & 9.  If he can be a legit league MVP candidate (and hence, 18 & 10) I'd be ecstatic. 

I'm not worried about Veldhouse or Griffin or Mantel, but Calvin is going to need to get a couple more solid guys to step up from a wide variety of options. 

I think Veltema will be one of those guys that will step it up big.  He already made a huge impact on the team as a freshmen.

Anyways, Mantel will definitely be "the man" for Calvin down low.  As in, with Meckes and Snoeyink gone, Mantel will get a ton of playing-time.  I just hope that some of the newer players can provide depth at the center position behind Mantel.

[oldknight]

Matt Veltema - SO - Matt showed promise last year and I think he will be even better this year.  Matt needs to get better at creating for himself on the offensive side and he needs to improve his defensive game.  He could end up with Draayer's career three point record by the time he is done at Calvin.

He's already built a pretty nice lead on Draayer's record. Matt made 30 from beyond the arc his freshmen year--Andy made 2 his first year.

[bulldogalum]

3 suggestions for league MVP so far, and all three of them Knights.  Boy, from the looks of it, we really shouldn't even bother showing up to the Fieldhouse this season.

On the upside for Calvin, if they really have 3 players capable of being league MVP, they should have quite a season.  On the downside for the players vying for MVP, with such talent surrounding them, it might be tougher to stnd out as the best player, and teammates might wind up stealing votes from one another.

Any guesses on where the Knights might be ranked to start the year?

[oldknight]

Any guesses on where the Knights might be ranked to start the year?

I don't expect the Knights will be ranked at all in the preseason rankings and, in my judgment, they shouldn't be. They have to beat a few of the D3 teams on their non-conference schedule first. Calvin will play either ONU or Wash U in Calvin's opening tournament, as well as Wheaton and Carthage in the annual MIAA/CCIW challenge. During the holidays the Knights play in New Jersey in a tournament featuring Montclair State, Keene State, and Salem State. I like the fact that Calvin is playing some pretty decent out-of-conference D3 foes this year and, obviously, whether they are ranked in January largely depends on how they do in these games.

[bulldogalum]

Certainly with a schedule like that, if Calvin can make it to January with a good record, they should be considered quite a formidable team on a national level.