MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[wiz]

i can hear the dew crew saying to calvin fans wed  night you can not fill the gym  i all they were be saying   

Seriously misunderstood...

[sac]

NCAA Team stat leaders in the top 75

Scoring Margin
Hope #68

Three Point FG's
Trine #61

Three Point FG%
Calvin #52

FT %
Olivet #10
Hope #17
Calvin #66

Rebounding Margin
Calvin #11

Assists
Olivet #21

Assist Turnover Ratio
Hope #28
Olivet #29
Adrian #58
Albion #59

Blocked Shots per game
Olivet #27
Hope #67

Turnovers per game
Albion #11
Hope #21
Adrian #43
Calvin #46

Turnover Margin
Albion #42
Kalamazoo #47
Hope #61

Personal Fouls
Calvin #43

[GoKnights68]

Not a lot of talk about tomorrow night's game in terms of predictions and keys to the game, so I'll take a stab at it.

Keys for Calvin:

-Make your lay-ups.  May seem like an easy one, but Calvin can miss their easy shots too often.

-If (now this is a big if because it could easily be vice versa) Calvin gets off to a lead such as 5 or 10 points, they cannot let up.  Seems to be a problem with the Knights all year.

-Need fast-break plays.  Get the crowd going.  A key when you are playing a young team like Hope.

-Use back-door cuts more.   Mantel could do that well I can see....

-I say this before every Hope-Calvin game...but defend the perimeter.  Everyone knows Hope won't shoot like last time from 3-point land.



I am sure after getting a taste of the rivalry, a lot of Hope's new players are eager for revenge.  They are obviously going to be fired up for this, and should be less nervous than last time.

I will refrain from a prediction like last Calvin/Hope game  

[sac]

NCAA Individual State leaders in the top 75

Scoring
Jesse Reimink, Hope #14
Desmond Young, Adrian #33

3 pt. FG's per game
Wes Weir, Trine #10

3pt FG %
Wes Weir, Trine #19

FT %
Peter Bunn, Hope #23
Caleb Veldhouse, Calvin #49

Rebounds
Michael McClary, Olivet #39

Assists per game
Michael Staley, Adrian #23
Deon Thompson, Trine #53

Blocked Shots
Michael McClary, Olivet #55

Assist Turnover Ratio
Joe Post, Olivet #43
David Krombeen #59
Michael Staley #71

[devossed]

The Vegas-Line just came in for Wednesday's Calvin-Hope game.  Calvin is a 3.5 favorite.

over/under came in at 130.

considering the mandatory 3.0 house edge always given to the home team, i'd say we're gonna need plenty of hudsonville ice cream to get through this one...

[GoKnights68]

With all that being said about lack of student participation among Calvin and other student sections in the MIAA (which I agree with most of what was said btw), I hear Calvin student section tickets have been sold out about a week and a half now.  A lot of students that went abroad for interim came back from their trip not being able to get a ticket.  I know a lot of students have been asking around all last week and this week to see if anyone has an extra ticket.  Usually in past years, they don't get sold out until a few days before the game.  Calvin students usually are loud for this game, but it seems their has been a pretty big buzz around campus about this game more than usual, with flyers all around campus about a "pre-game bash" inside the new tennis faculty at the new spoelhof complex.

One reason I bring this up is Hope has such a young team, and it seems the only 2 games they have played so far that had a legit opposing student section (Calvin and Albion) have been losses.  It will be interesting how it affects the newer players as they haven't faced as large as an opposing student section (or opposing crowd for that matter) all year. 

I know this doesn't seem like a big deal, but sometimes opposing "noise levels" can affect young players more than some people think imo.


That being all said, I touched on it in my last post, but I am sure having one rivalry game under their belts for the young Dutchmen will help a lot.  They will probably come out more confident than the last Calvin/Hope game, but we'll see...

[almcguirejr]

Lee Lambert's thoughts on tonight's game.

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/sports/x1819729479/Hope-Calvin-round-2

http://blogs.hollandsentinel.com/lee/

[ChicagoHopeNut]

I think Hope has a chance to win this game but everything out there seems to point to Calvin coming out ahead. The extra energy and emotion of playing the first Rivalry game in the new arena really is something that should not be underscored.  Plus I think Calvin may just be the better team but a slim margin anyways.

I think Hope has to win tonight to have any chance at a Pool C bid and even then I am beginning to think the MIAA is a one bid team this year. I just don't see either Hope or Calvin getting a Pool C bid at this point in the season.

[dumezrules]

With all that being said about lack of student participation among Calvin and other student sections in the MIAA (which I agree with most of what was said btw), I hear Calvin student section tickets have been sold out about a week and a half now.  A lot of students that went abroad for interim came back from their trip not being able to get a ticket.  I know a lot of students have been asking around all last week and this week to see if anyone has an extra ticket.  Usually in past years, they don't get sold out until a few days before the game.  Calvin students usually are loud for this game, but it seems their has been a pretty big buzz around campus about this game more than usual, with flyers all around campus about a "pre-game bash" inside the new tennis faculty at the new spoelhof complex.

One reason I bring this up is Hope has such a young team, and it seems the only 2 games they have played so far that had a legit opposing student section (Calvin and Albion) have been losses.  It will be interesting how it affects the newer players as they haven't faced as large as an opposing student section (or opposing crowd for that matter) all year. 

I know this doesn't seem like a big deal, but sometimes opposing "noise levels" can affect young players more than some people think imo.


That being all said, I touched on it in my last post, but I am sure having one rivalry game under their belts for the young Dutchmen will help a lot.  They will probably come out more confident than the last Calvin/Hope game, but we'll see...

Do student sections really win games???   I think crowd noise etc. is one of the most overrated things in bball.....most players and coaches really dont notice it during a game....(unless your name is called and/or your mother insulted  

[knightmoves]

I am all for legalized scalping if it gets me 2 tickets to tonights game to surprise my wife for her birthday!!!
Can anyone out there help me???
Certainly there has to be someone reading these posts who has a ticket or two they need to unload???

[sac]

One reason I bring this up is Hope has such a young team, and it seems the only 2 games they have played so far that had a legit opposing student section (Calvin and Albion) have been losses.  It will be interesting how it affects the newer players as they haven't faced as large as an opposing student section (or opposing crowd for that matter) all year. 

While its true Albion had at least 30 students at the game and thats better than most in the MIAA, I would neither call the Albion crowd intimidating or loud that day.  The total attendence was listed as 534 and about 2 minutes before tip, there were no students in the building.   That was a very late arriving crowd. 

.....and yes, all of those things you brought up are a concern.   Having one of these games under the belt will help.    Add in Calvin's construction last year which kept the crowd size down, its been two years since Hope played in front of a large Calvin crowd, only Reimink and Osburn have experienced what that is.

[hope_hoops1]

After seeing Sac's compilation of DIII team rankings, I'm even more concerned with Calvin's rebounding.  Hope can't afford to be down much in the rebounding battle as it can fuel the transition game and provide some easy second chance points.   I think another key will be how Veldhouse has recovered from the ankle injury.  He was a huge difference at the start of the last game and if the ankle is taking a while to warm up, Hope may get the early confidence booster that they need.

I think both teams come out with even more energy than the last game.  The new arena will be huge motivation for both (Calvin not wanting to drop the first one and Hope wanting some payback for Calvin breaking the undefeated streak at the DeVos).   Look for some uncharacteristic early turnovers and potentially some careless fouls (hopefully not as I'd like to see both teams trading punches with the heavyweights as opposed to the welterweights).

I'm also predicting a monstrous game from Reimink.  The pain of missing the shot against Calvin last game has only added more fuel to his fire.  He wills his team to victory tonight as Hope wins by 4 and opens up the 'Noord in style. 

[almcguirejr]

I think both teams come out with even more energy than the last game.  The new arena will be huge motivation for both (Calvin not wanting to drop the first one and Hope wanting some payback for Calvin breaking the undefeated streak at the DeVos).   Look for some uncharacteristic early turnovers and potentially some careless fouls (hopefully not as I'd like to see both teams trading punches with the heavyweights as opposed to the welterweights).

I agree with your paragraph above.  I don't think this will be a pretty game to watch.  I think we will see a game similar to the UM-MSU game that was on tv last night.  That was an ugly game.  Neither Calvin or Hope have set the world on fire shooting the ball.  Your analogy of teams trading punches (figuratively speaking) seems on the money to me.

[oldknight]

After seeing Sac's compilation of DIII team rankings, I'm even more concerned with Calvin's rebounding.  Hope can't afford to be down much in the rebounding battle as it can fuel the transition game and provide some easy second chance points.   I think another key will be how Veldhouse has recovered from the ankle injury.  He was a huge difference at the start of the last game and if the ankle is taking a while to warm up, Hope may get the early confidence booster that they need.

Some good thoughts from hh1. Calvin's rebounding prowess really solidified at the same time Zwier moved into the starting lineup and Dustin Smith moved into the starting 2 guard spot. These seemed likely minor adjustments at the time but I don't think it's an accident that Calvin has outrebounded every opponent--sometimes by wide margins--since these changes were made. Smith in particular has been terrific in gobbling up misses. At 5'9", he's 7th in league play averaging 6.2 rebounds per game, right behind Bowser and Reimink.

As for Caleb, I'm pretty sure his ankle injury explains his shooting woes. His shot has seemed flatter than normal, a sure sign that elevation is missing when going up. My gut tells me Caleb--and the Knights--are due to finally have a good shooting game at the new arena. No team yet has come close to 50% in a game at VanNoord. If someone does tonight, that team might win with more comfort than we expect.

[Dark Knight]

Interesting trend thats developed as we've passed into the 2nd half of league play.  All of these games involve a significant point turnaround from the first matchup

Adrian/Albion   AD win by 3/ Albion win by 16    19 point difference
Adrian/Calvin   Cal win by 31/Calvin win by 4    28 point difference
Albion/Hope     Hope by 25/Albion win by 2       27 point difference
Albion/Olivet    Albion by 2/Albion win by 16      14 point difference
Alma/Kzoo       Kzoo by 4/Kzoo by 28                 24 point difference
Alma/Trine       Alma by 12/Trine by 18               30 point difference
Olivet/Trine     Olivet by 2/Olivet by 22               20 point difference

So of the 12 games, over half (7) have had significantly different point swings than the first meeting.  Of the twelve series, we've had 4 splits.   Adrian/Albion, Albion/Hope, Alma, Trine, Adrian/Kzoo

Interesting, but how unusual?

Difference in outcome for two regular-season games between the same two teams, same season, MIAA 2009: 16.9 pts.

....for WIAC, 2008 (sample): 20.8 points
....for WHAC, 2009 (sample): 15.0 points

Looks like the big swings are pretty normal.  These figures also match up reasonably well with how far off predictions are from computer ranking systems compared to actual game outcomes.  Massey's standard deviation for predicting game outcomes is something like 11.5 points.

Tonight's Calvin-Hope game may (or may not) be somewhere in the range of a 19 point win for Calvin to a 15 point win for Hope. In fact, there is a 50% chance it will be outside that range, according to the pattern established so far in the MIAA.