MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Gregory Sager]

Further, based on the accounts of the Wheaton game tonight, I fully expect Wheaton to play considerably better tomorrow.

If Wheaton doesn't have Andy Wiele available, what you fully expect will most likely not be what you get. Wheaton just isn't very deep, and Wiele is too crucial a part of that team for Wheaton to simply make do in his absence. While he certainly wouldn't have turned the game around had he been healthy -- from the sound of it, Wheaton probably would've needed three or four Andy Wieles to turn tonight's debacle in its favor -- I can't imagine Wheaton ever being 40 points down to another D3 team if he's healthy and on the floor.

If Wiele doesn't suit up against Calvin, Saturday could be a reprise of Friday for the suddenly-beleagured Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance.

[sac]

----Carthage was a lot smaller than I remember from last season, no Schlemm in the middle made this a completely different team.  I think Carthage is going to struggle in the CCIW, as will Wheaton I'm affraid.  Djurickovic the player just looked intimidated with all of Calvin's big people, who just came in waves at him all night.  Trey Bowens really held the fort down and kept Carthage surprisingly in touch.  I thought the only reason it was close was Calvin seemed to have a 6 or 7 minute stretch early in the 2nd where they went cold.  Haven't checked the box, but thats what it felt like.  After that it really was only a matter of time.  Englesma was very impressive tonight.

----I would be surprised if either game is really close tommorrow, but stranger things have happend.  I can't see Wiele back in the lineup for Wheaton, he could barely put weight on the leg during 2nd half warmups, even if he plays he won't be 100%.  Hope will have some defensive matchups that will be tough as it will be 2 Fwds defending guards, maybe we'll see that 3 guards offense from Hope some.  3rd game in 4 nights for the CCIW'ers, that will be tough against the deeper MIAA teams.


----Hope and Wheaton have met 4 times now in this 4 team get together, its now Hope 2 Wheaton 2.  Surprisingly only 1 games has been close last years 73-70 Wheaton win.  In 2005 Wheaton won by 19, in 2006 Hope won by 26 and tonight Hope wins by 30.......which is now the most lopsided game in the MIAA/CCIW Challenge.


SAC's Tip of the Week  Chapter 2.

There's always a 2nd deer.  Oh Deer!

(No animals were harmed during the realization of this tip, though a human did nearly have a heart attack.)

[Mr. Ypsi]

sac,

I'm assuming that was a driving tip, not a hunting tip?   I discovered that the hard way almost 40 years ago in northern Wisconsin.  Ironically, it was the first deer I hit, while swerving to avoid the second one!  A very kind forest ranger calmed me down (and said he had already damaged 3 vehicles that season!); while I never found out for sure, I suspect the deer did not get off as lightly as just my leaking radiator.

But that is mere 'child's play' - I've had 'close encounters' with moose in both Maine and Ontario, and had a herd of buffalo race past both ends of my car in South Dakota - that caused heart palpitations!

[Gregory Sager]

----I would be surprised if either game is really close tommorrow, but stranger things have happend.  I can't see Wiele back in the lineup for Wheaton, he could barely put weight on the leg during 2nd half warmups, even if he plays he won't be 100%.  Hope will have some defensive matchups that will be tough as it will be 2 Fwds defending guards, maybe we'll see that 3 guards offense from Hope some.  3rd game in 4 nights for the CCIW'ers, that will be tough against the deeper MIAA teams.

I also wonder if Kent Raymond was at 100% this evening. He was suffering from stomach flu on Wednesday, and it was really noticeable in Wheaton's narrow win over Chicago. I was at that game, and he simply didn't play with his usual energy. Not that that, or Wiele's absence, is any kind of an excuse for the pasting that the Wheaties were dealt tonight by Hope. That's as much to Hope's credit -- and to Wheaton's shame -- as it is to the absence of Wiele and the (possible) ill health of Raymond.

[KnightSlappy]

I also wonder if Kent Raymond was at 100% this evening. He was suffering from stomach flu on Wednesday, and it was really noticeable in Wheaton's narrow win over Chicago. I was at that game, and he simply didn't play with his usual energy. Not that that, or Wiele's absence, is any kind of an excuse for the pasting that the Wheaties were dealt tonight by Hope. That's as much to Hope's credit -- and to Wheaton's shame -- as it is to the absence of Wiele and the (possible) ill health of Raymond.

I don't know if he was 100% healthy but it seemed like he wanted to take 100% of Wheaton's shots.  It seemed like Wheaton came out in the 2nd half totally willing to play 5 on 1 basketball.

[Gregory Sager]

Yeah, several of us CCIW Chat regulars have commented at length in our league's room that both Wheaton and Carthage have problems with diversifying their scoring. You probably witnessed Carthage's lack of points distribution for yourself this evening, as Bowens and Djurickovic combined for 40 of Carthage's 63 points against Calvin. That's not too far off the mark from how the Red Men's scoring has gone all season. They can certainly use Sean Fendley, if he's healthy enough to start seeing regular minutes now (he got into tonight's game for one minute; it was his 2007-08 debut).

Wheaton is, if anything, even more lopsided in its scoring. Raymond, Wiele, and Ben Panner took 80% of Wheaton's shots on Wednesday against Chicago, and they had taken 73% of Wheaton's shots between them coming into tonight's game. Raymond isn't really an Iverson-style ballhog by nature; he simply tries to give Wheaton what he thinks is its best chance at a good shot on every possession, and all-too-often that means taking that shot himself -- whether it's a jumper or a drive to the basket. Without Wiele, the distribution of shots becomes even more lopsided. No wonder it looked like a 1-on-5 game. Wheaton simply needs more weapons on offense; there's no two ways about it.

[northb]

But that is mere 'child's play' - I've had 'close encounters' with moose in both Maine and Ontario, and had a herd of buffalo race past both ends of my car in South Dakota - that caused heart palpitations!

South Dakotans can do that to ya!

http://www.houndbite.com/?houndbite=1080

[oldknight]

I entered the Fieldhouse last night about mid-way of the first half of the Hope/Wheaton contest. A couple of thoughts on the two games.

I didn't realize at first that Wiele was sidelined for the rest of the game and it became quickly evident that the Thunder simply didn't have the horses to compete inside with Hope's big guys. In fact it looked a lot like a game between a varsity and JV team and was actually painful to watch. Wheaton had that "deer in the headlights" look and became more and more discouraged as the game progressed. The last five minutes of the first half clearly showed that Wheaton's players had simply given up. I've seen Raymond play before and he is a very, very good D3 hoopster, but he made an unbelievable number of bad decisions in the first half, repeatedly dribbling into the teeth of Hope's defense. I attribute a lot of that to Raymond's desire to try and shoulder the scoring burden with Wiele out of the game. Kent played much better in the second half and when his defender didn't get help Raymond didn't have much trouble scoring. He's still an outstanding player--he just had a bad night. I also think the officiating really bothered Wheaton. There was a lot of contact last night that wasn't called (too much for my taste) and Wheaton didn't seem able to adjust to that reality. I think that fact is part of the reason the Thunder players seemed to give up.

I thought Calvin's game was a bit uneven with the Knights playing very well at times, but they also displayed some indifferent and uninspired play. The offense seemed to bog down at times with some slower ball movement. Part of that perceived sluggishness may be because I had just seen Hope dismantle Wheaton with a lot of quick scores off of turnovers. Calvin's two post players had nice games and I thought Schuster showed for the first time what he can do for the Knights. His first half energy on both ends of the floor was outstanding and he displayed a nice shooting touch both inside and out. 7 points, 7 boards and 2 blocks in only 8 minutes of PT is a very good stat line. He has quick feet for a man who is 6' 10" with one of his blocks coming on a Carthage attempt from the arc. Every year during a Calvin/Hope game we wonder who will be the player off the bench who might be that "X" factor, the one who steps up and makes the difference in a surprising and unexpected way. Last year it was Veltema who buried Hope in a flurry of treys in Hope's first ever  loss at DeVos. Could Schuster be a difference maker in this year's edition of the greatest ever D3 rivalry?

[hope1]

hope played a good game yesterday  but to see if they pllay the same way today

[Flying Dutch Fan]

A quick question about Calvins new fieldhouse/arena.  When is it due to open? 

I thought I had heard that Calvin would be playing there next year, but if that's the case it would seem construction is way behind.  As a point of reference, the walls were up and the steel trusses started going up 13 months before Hope hosted their first game at DeVos.

[ziggy]

I am very interested to see the box score.  It seemed like Calvin and John Mantel in particular had a ton of blocks.

9 for the team.  Zoerhof actually led the team with 3, 2 for Big John, 2 for Schuster, and 1 apiece for Veldhouse and Veltema.  If the Knights were able to swat 9, there must have been numerous other shots that were drastically affected by the fear of a block or a big hand in the face.

What I find impressive is the 9 blocks against only 13 personal fouls.  Seems like fouls often rack up when defenders are going for the block.  Defense is all about playing under control.

[ziggy]

A quick question about Calvins new fieldhouse/arena.  When is it due to open? 

I thought I had heard that Calvin would be playing there next year, but if that's the case it would seem construction is way behind.  As a point of reference, the walls were up and the steel trusses started going up 13 months before Hope hosted their first game at DeVos.

As far as I know construction is actually somewhat ahead of schedule due to the mild fall weather.

[oldknight]

A quick question about Calvins new fieldhouse/arena.  When is it due to open? 

I thought I had heard that Calvin would be playing there next year, but if that's the case it would seem construction is way behind.  As a point of reference, the walls were up and the steel trusses started going up 13 months before Hope hosted their first game at DeVos.

Construction is one week ahead of schedule but the new arena will not open for its first game until January, 2009. I was told by a team parent last night that the Fieldhouse renovations will begin sometime next year and thus will not be available for play next November and December. Obviously this means the Knights will have to play all their games--before the Arena opens--on the road or at neutral site. The Trinity game would be in Chicago next year so that isn't an issue and playing the traditional Aquinas game could be at their gym as well but I don't know where the Tip-Off Tournament might be played. This parent didn't know either and we both speculated on Cornerstone as a possible venue for the traditional opening weekend of Calvin's season opening tournament. Now wouldn't that be ironic?

[ziggy]

Construction is one week ahead of schedule but the new arena will not open for its first game until January, 2009. I was told by a team parent last night that the Fieldhouse renovations will begin sometime next year and thus will not be available for play next November and December. Obviously this means the Knights will have to play all their games--before the Arena opens--on the road or at neutral site. The Trinity game would be in Chicago next year so that isn't an issue and playing the traditional Aquinas game could be at their gym as well but I don't know where the Tip-Off Tournament might be played. This parent didn't know either and we both speculated on Cornerstone as a possible venue for the traditional opening weekend of Calvin's season opening tournament. Now wouldn't that be ironic?

Ok, so take an Ohio tour and rack up some in region games.

This year completes the CCIW/MIAA rotation with each team hosting once.  Has anything been decided with doing a new rotation or switching up the teams?

[oldknight]

This year completes the CCIW/MIAA rotation with each team hosting once.  Has anything been decided with doing a new rotation or switching up the teams?

The team parent and I both mentioned that too and neither one of us know whether these conference challenge games will continue and, if so, with the same or different teams. I hope this series does continue (with Calvin a part of it) because I like the experience it affords against opponents with traditionally strong D3 hoops programs.