MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[hope1]

i pick hope over albion by   12


maybe they will take 3 teams to the ncaa 

[RastaRob]

I completely agree with your point about the Dew Crew. I was at the K-College game on Saturday and honestly as a former Dew Crew member I was embarrased. While at Hope I went to four games at K-College and all were well attended. And honestly we were no where near as good as the team is this year. But we still had a good 30-40 students at the game. We would always give the stingers a run for their money. On Saturday the Dew Crew was embarrassed and honestly I believe their awful showings as countless games this year is the real reason the DeVos fieldhouse hasnt been that tough to play in. The Dew Crew has been a non factor in every game that I attended this year, both home and away. The only time I saw a decent Dew Crew was at the Calvin game while I sat at watched it from home on my T.V. That is sad!!

[bulldogalum]

Now is the winter of my discontent.

[sac]

HOPE 75 Olivet 61

Only the second time this MIAA season Hope hasn't led an opponent by 20 at some point, the other was Albion.

Hope started out fairly strong and it sure seemed like they were poised for another easy MIAA victory.  Hope started getting a little sloppy with the ball while Olivet started hitting 3's left and right.  A very comfortable double digit lead was cut to 10 at the half 38-28.

Andy Phillips had a solid first half, scoring 10 with numerous RB's at the break.

The trouble for Hope started with a poor start to the 2nd half with 3 empty trips.......basically they gave Olivet a big lift.  Over the next few minutes the Comets played the best defense they would all night.  While Hope struggled to score the Comets chipped away to make 44-40.

But the next two minutes were a great example of how dangerous Hope can be.  After a much need TO Hope came out with a better purpose and 2 minutes later Hope led by 15 again.  Two minutes!........from there it never got closer than 10 and Hope controlled it the whole way.

Gerald Dozie was a tough load for Hope tonight and if were a more polished finisher he would have had 40 easy.  Hope struggled with him all night.  Even more impressive though was that Dozie got foul #3 with 15 min to go and stayed on the floor before fouling out in the final minutes.

Once again, amazing score sheet.  Immink was pretty much corralled all night and the other guys just step up.  Cramer Phillips, Vander Heide had nice games.  The absolutely do not rely on a single player to win.

All in all I think Hope can be pleased tonight since they sorely needed a game they had to play 40 minutes to win and they got just that.  The last one was probably Lakeland or John Carroll.  Plus I think the coaches (all 8 of them  ) will have some ammo for practice the next couple days.  They can certainly play better.

Saturday should be a fun day in DeVos.  Get there early.

[MIdoubleA]

Could we get a Pat Coleman synopsis on the possibility of having 3 MIAA's in the tourney?

What needs to happen, when does it need to happen, etc.

[sac]

Some random thoughts

*  Olivet seems to have some good talented players, but they seem to be lacking in the weight room.  They didn't look like a well conditioned team.

*  Observation on shorts length.

  When someone refers to your shorts a "clam diggers"  or you need to pull your shorts up to tie your shoes......its time to start rethinking that fashion statement.

*  What kind of night was it at DeVos?.   #3 for Olviet was listed at 5-9 but 5-11 Greg Immink had 5 inches on him at least.  He missed a wide open uncontested layup, got the rebound and missed the uncontested put back..........doink!

  A few minutes latter Gerald Dozie doinked a two hand dunk off the back iron

 A few minutes latter Steve Cramer doinked a two hand driving dunk..........got back to midcourt and pick pocketed the Olivet gaurd, and had nothing but open court in front of him.  A sure Steve Cramer dunk special.........whistle, foul, reachin on Olivet.

The fans was robbed  


* Dew Crew---I have to admit that this is one of the weakest student sections Hope's had in quite awhile.  The guys in the goofy outfits and clothes try hard but they just don't have the support behind them.  If I had counted it would have been around 50,   Most D3 schools would love 50 students to show up, but at Hope this in on the weak side.  I guess free orange shirts and pop don't cut it anymore.  Hopefully they'll have a big turnout Saturday.  They'll need it.  Maybe they're just bored, afterall we haven't exactly had a lot of barn burners in the new place.


*  Nice to see the Calvin "faithful" notice they have a basketball team.  Welcome back  

[sac]

Could we get a Pat Coleman synopsis on the possibility of having 3 MIAA's in the tourney?

What needs to happen, when does it need to happen, etc.

My recommendation is just to enjoy the next 2 weeks of basketball.  There's just too much that can happen between now and the end of the season that can affect those sorts of things.

[KnightSlappy]

My recommendation is just to enjoy the next 2 weeks of basketball.  There's just too much that can happen between now and the end of the season that can affect those sorts of things.

Amen.  Just because Albion dropped a game to TSU doesn't mean they are a garbage team.  This is the same team that demolished the Dutchmen.  Albion still has a shot at the regular season crown and an MIAA tournament crown.  Hope and Calvin also shouldn't look past teams like Olivet, Kzoo and TSU because if a team gets hot and they aren't prepared they could find themselves down by 5 at the final buzzer.  There is still a lot of basketball to be played and I would not be surprised if NO ONE wins out.  Let's just hope that the NCAA tounament selection crew realize that the MIAA has three solid teams deserving to be in the tournament.  Furthermore maybe they will realize that the Great Lakes Region is stacked and they should move a team or five to different regions for the tourney.

[sac]

Could we get a Pat Coleman synopsis on the possibility of having 3 MIAA's in the tourney?

What needs to happen, when does it need to happen, etc.

Okay, I decided to take a stab at this bare with me.

Its important to note that the TSU games essentially are considered the same as playing a non D3 team this year since they are still a D3 provisional team.

Currnetly the In-Region records of Hope, Albion and Calvin are Hope 11-1, Calvin 6-1, Albion 8-1,

If we assume from here on out no upsets, and only these 3 teams beat each other.  The worst possible record for each  including an MIAA tournament loss with 3 games played in said tournament woudl be

Hope 15-4
Calvin 10-4
Albion 13-4

All 3 of those records should be good enough to gain a bid I'd think although Calvin's is shakey, and these are the worst case scenario for a single team losing all 3 remaining matchups vs the others.  

The best case scenario would be some combination of different teams winning the matchups.

The key of course in no upsets, but we're in February and everybody is about as good as they'll get and the difference in teams is much tighter.

Furthermore maybe they will realize that the Great Lakes Region is stacked and they should move a team or five to different regions for the tourney.

They will, the Orange and Blue will go West just as they did 2 and 3 years ago and Calvin did last year.

[ziggy]

Furthermore maybe they will realize that the Great Lakes Region is stacked and they should move a team or five to different regions for the tourney.

It would be nice to avoid having a team like York last year at the final four

[Roughrider]

Food for thought (can't stop thinking about those DeVos hot dogs    ):

Could the Dutchmen and the Britons have been looking too much at the rankings, and looking ahead, past the lower half, to the tremendous top ten tilt?  Did the Dutchmen get their wake-up call just in time, after the Comets made their run late in the first and early in the second, and then kick it into gear to finish?  And did the wake-up call come too late for the Britons?

Congrats to Gerald Dozie of Olivet for an outstanding game.  Dutchmen never did figure out how to stop him, except by calling a TO after three straight lay-ups.  I dare say Coach VW must not have been a happy camper during that TO.

Also congrats to Tri-State.  I'm guessing it was more Tri-State played an outstanding game than Albion played poorly.  And I did say in last Sunday's Pick 'Em Trivia that TSU proved they're the best of the rest.

Fact:  the first round-robin of the big three had two blow-outs and one close one (Calvin over Albion).
Opinion:  the blow-outs will not be repeated.  Hope is not as bad as they looked the first time against the Britons.  Calvin is not as bad as they looked the first time against the Dutchmen.  Both of Hope's next games will be much closer.  Saturday's game at the DeVos is gonna be a classic.  Hold onto your seats, MIAA fans.  Second half of the season is shaping up to be really fun to watch.   

Roughrider

[KnightSlappy]

Furthermore maybe they will realize that the Great Lakes Region is stacked and they should move a team or five to different regions for the tourney.

They will, the Orange and Blue will go West just as they did 2 and 3 years ago and Calvin did last year.

I mean more like Move Wooster out east and put hope or calvin or albion west

[Flea]

[A. Drayer is] Still 0'fer ... any ideas why?  What's the problem with him?

Draayer has been suffering the effects of a nagging hamstring injury for some time now.  The physical limitations now appear to be compounded by a loss of confidence in his shot.

From the Calvin web site:

Over his last three games, Draayer is shooting 53.6 percent (15 of 28) from beyond the three-point arc.

Looks like he's all better (he also had a team high eight rebounds).

[ziggy]

Currnetly the In-Region records of Hope, Albion and Calvin are Hope 11-1, Calvin 6-1, Albion 8-1,

If we assume from here on out no upsets, and only these 3 teams beat each other.  The worst possible record for each  including an MIAA tournament loss with 3 games played in said tournament woudl be

Hope 15-4
Calvin 10-4
Albion 13-4

All 3 of those records should be good enough to gain a bid I'd think although Calvin's is shakey, and these are the worst case scenario for a single team losing all 3 remaining matchups vs the others.

Thats where the 200 mile rule really hurts the Knights.  The two wins against Wheaton and Carthage would do a lot of good.  Hope gets them in and Calvin doesn't.  Put those in and Calvin goes to 12-4, nearly the same as Albion.

[Flea]

Brandon Crawford's night . . .

- 10 of 11 field goals
- 6 of 12 from the line
- 7 offensive rebounds
- 14 defensive rebounds
- in 34 minutes

What a beast.