MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[OC_SID]

MHSAA streamed the girls' semis and finals last weekend, too ... I didn't have a productive day last Thursday afternoon at work -- watched the Olivet High School girls semifinal and then watched the NCAA games.

[gohope]

http://highschoolsports.mlive.com/news/article/747142696/coach-mike-thomas-calm-confident-demeanor-helps-kalamazoo-central-basketball-reach-the-next-level/

Nice article about Michael Thomas, which oddly doesn't mention Albion.

SAC - It did mention that Michael Thomas played for Albion and was an ALL-MIAA player as well as record maker for Albion in the paper copy, but not the on-line copy.

[sac]

Hope put up a brief season recap on its  website, a link from that article takes you to a list of Hope all-americans.  Which got me thinking about what a unique period of time these last 4 years have been for the Hope basketball teams, men's and women's.
http://www.hope.edu/pr/athletics/mbb/

Hope's had 7 different individuals named all-american in the last 4 years.  Pretty amazing.

2006 Greg Immink second team
2007 Stephen Cramer third team
2008 Marcus Vanderheide first team
2009 Jesse Reimink first team

2006 Bria Ebels fourth team
2008 Jordyn Boles first team
2009 Carrie Snikkers first team

[Ralph Turner]

http://www.doubleazone.com/2009/02/best_college_basketball_rivalry_duke_north_carolina.php

I found the NCAA's poll on the best rivalry in the NCAA.

Calvin Hope (as they have it listed) is #2 to Duke- NC.

Vote early, vote often!

[sac]

Mr. Basketball announced

http://freep.com/article/20090323/HSS/90323034/Pershing+s+Derrick+Nix+named+Mr.+Basketball

The BCAM has some 'splainin to do. 

[sac]

Found this snippet from Lansing TV sports anchor Tim Staudt in his weekly musings on sports in the Lansing State Journal.

Coaching Honors

Congratulations to former Albion College men's basketball coach Mike Turner.  He'll be presented the 13th annual Outstanding Service Award for Division III from the National Association of Basketball Coaches on Saturday in Detroit.

Honorees are selected for their service "inside and outside the lines of coaching that have distinguished them as valuable members of their communities."

Turner often recruited Lansing-area players for his succesful Briton teams.  He is now retired.

[RFMichigan]

Mr. Basketball announced

http://freep.com/article/20090323/HSS/90323034/Pershing+s+Derrick+Nix+named+Mr.+Basketball

The BCAM has some 'splainin to do. 

I happened to "drop in" for the MHSAA class A final yesterday, and . . . well, yes they do.

Here is the question that I have: Exactly how many dI basketball recruits are there in the state of Michigan this year? (Class of 2009) After looking at the finals program rosters, there couldn't have been more than three or four.

I heard some grumbling last year when Brad Redford won the award, but then it was pointed out that last year was a "down year" for senior basketball players.  (As it turns out, Redford was a feared 3 point shooter on a sweet 16 team and Green is now contributing at MSU.) Well, if LAST YEAR was down, what about this year?

The reason why I bring this up in this forum is that are we seeing players that were in the past considered solid dIII players accepting DII, dI, or NAIA offers and thereby "watering down" the depth of dIII rosters?

You folks on this forum probably see alot more basketball on the dIII level than I do, and I'd like to hear your opinion on this topic.

[sac]

Quite a few Michigan D1 recruits actually, most mid to low D1

Derrick Nix 6-9 Detroit Pershing --Michigan State
Da'shonte Riley 6-11 Birmingham Country Day --Syracuse
Matt Balkema 6-10 Warren Cousino --Eastern Michigan
Kevin McCarthy 6-9 Warren De La Salle --Lehigh (prep school)
Shayne Whittington 6-10 Lawrence --Western Michigan
James Still 6-9 Detroit Community --Providence
Donnavan Kirk 6-8 Birmingham Country Day --Miami-FL
Jordan Morgan 6-8 Detroit U-D Jesuit --Michigan
John Hoskins 6-9 Warren Conner Creek West --Detroit
Holden Greiner 6-8 Traverse City St. Francis --Lehigh
Kallante Miller 6-5 Oak Park Central --Michigan
Ben Simons 6-7 Cadillac --Drake
Drew Valentine 6-4 Lansing Sexton --Oakland
Jordan Dumars 6-6 Birmingham Country Day --South Florida
Eso Akunne 6-3 Ann Arbor Richard --Michigan (walk-on)
Ausin Harper 6-2 Grand Haven --Western Michigan
Duke Mondy 6-3 Grand Rapids Catholic Central --Providence
Alex Marcotullio 6-3 Warren De La Salle --Northwestern
Willie Cruz 6-3 Macomb L'anse Creuse --Eastern Kentucky


What is true is that the Big 10 has generally stayed away, I don't even think any of the guys headed to Michigan and Michigan State will see much action next year.  At least on the surface there appear to be no can't miss prospects this year like a Shane Battier or Chris Weber, Jason Richardson etc.

Doug Anderson from Kalamazoo Central would certainly be a D1 recruit if he had the grades, probably headed to Prep school next year.

Nix and Riley are ranked in the top 150 nationally.

....and I thought the 3 best players I saw yesterday and in the games I saw earlier were Jr's and So's.  Keith Appling, Detroit Pershing, Devin Oliver, Kzoo Central and Patrick Lucas-Perry, Flint Powers.  Along with Jr. Cole Darling, Holt.......those guys will all be D1 players probably.

[RFMichigan]

Thanks for the update! Two things strike me:
1) Half of the players you listed (and there will probably be more late signers) are 6'8" or taller - where basketball "skill" may simply be being tall! (No shame in that.)

2) Nobody from Flint or Saginaw?!? And only a few from Detroit.

From the looks of it there were only two - Nix and Whittington - who played in the semis or finals. And I would agree that there is some "star college talent" in the soph. or junior classes.

My question still stands - has the depth of talent at the dIII level been effected in the last few years? 

[Pat Coleman]

Found this snippet from Lansing TV sports anchor Tim Staudt in his weekly musings on sports in the Lansing State Journal.

Coaching Honors

Congratulations to former Albion College men's basketball coach Mike Turner.  He'll be presented the 13th annual Outstanding Service Award for Division III from the National Association of Basketball Coaches on Saturday in Detroit.

Honorees are selected for their service "inside and outside the lines of coaching that have distinguished them as valuable members of their communities."

Turner often recruited Lansing-area players for his succesful Briton teams.  He is now retired.

More about this in Notables:

http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2009/03/25/ryan-turner-smith-win-nabc-service-award.html

[oldknight]

Mr. Basketball announced

http://freep.com/article/20090323/HSS/90323034/Pershing+s+Derrick+Nix+named+Mr.+Basketball

The BCAM has some 'splainin to do. 

That's the truth. Nix looked awful. Even though his teammate was ineligible for the award because he's a junior, there have to be several more deserving choices than Nix for Mr. Basketball. They say Nix has dropped 50 pounds since last year and he needs to drop about another 30. Those famed 3 hour Izzo practices are going to be hell for this kid.

I saw both the A and B finals yesterday and there was an awful lot of athletic talent on the floor. The 49 I saw Appling score yesterday was the most spectacular one man show I've personally witnessed since Honderd dropped 61 on Kalmazoo. The amazing thing is that Appling only needed 24 shots to score his points. My son correctly observed that it was the quietest 49 he's ever seen. Appling is the full package too, dishing 5 assists, grabbing 7 boards, and showing me he has excellent defensive skills. Appling is going to make Izzo a happy man in two years when he shows up on campus as heir apparent to Kalin Lucas. The following article argues that despite next year's loaded class of high school senior hoopsters, Mr. Appling is the clear favorite for Mr. Basketball in 2010.

http://blog.mlive.com/ganggreen/2009/03/future_spartan_breaks_state_ch.html

I'm not so sure I agree with sac about Doug Anderson. He needs more skills than his spectacular leaping skills. I've seen a lot of good leapers and in a game loaded with high flyers, Anderson was the high-flyingest of them all. But he needs a lot of work on his shooting and ball handling skills to be effective DI player. I admit, Anderson will be quite a bonus to whatever JUCO school gets their hands on him next year.

As for the B final, Lucas-Perry was a revelation. Only a sophomore, he clearly outplayed VanDussen who had an off shooting night. Maybe the sight of VanWieren and Davelaar at the end of the Zeeland bench was a distraction for Kory. I was again impressed with the play of Snuggerud who was the best big player in the game at the B final. He does everything well and will be an excellent player at the D3 or NAIA level.

[HopeConvert]

Mr. Basketball announced

http://freep.com/article/20090323/HSS/90323034/Pershing+s+Derrick+Nix+named+Mr.+Basketball

The BCAM has some 'splainin to do. 

That's the truth. Nix looked awful. Even though his teammate was ineligible for the award because he's a junior, there have to be several more deserving choices than Nix for Mr. Basketball. They say Nix has dropped 50 pounds since last year and he needs to drop about another 30. Those famed 3 hour Izzo practices are going to be hell for this kid.

I saw both the A and B finals yesterday and there was an awful lot of athletic talent on the floor. The 49 I saw Appling score yesterday was the most spectacular one man show I've personally witnessed since Honderd dropped 61 on Kalmazoo. The amazing thing is that Appling only needed 24 shots to score his points. My son correctly observed that it was the quietest 49 he's ever seen. Appling is the full package too, dishing 5 assists, grabbing 7 boards, and showing me he has excellent defensive skills. Appling is going to make Izzo a happy man in two years when he shows up on campus as heir apparent to Kalin Lucas. The following article argues that despite next year's loaded class of high school senior hoopsters, Mr. Appling is the clear favorite for next year's Mr. Basketball.

http://blog.mlive.com/ganggreen/2009/03/future_spartan_breaks_state_ch.html

I'm not so sure I agree with sac about Doug Anderson. He needs more skills than his spectacular leaping skills. I've seen a lot of good leapers and in a game loaded with high flyers, Anderson was the high-flyingest of them all. But he needs a lot of work on his shooting and ball handling skills to be effective DI player. I admit, Anderson will be quite a bonus to whatever JUCO school gets their hands on him next year.

As for the B final, Lucas-Perry was a revelation. Only a sophomore, he clearly outplayed VanDussen who had an off shooting night. Maybe the sight of VanWieren and Davelaar at the end of the Zeeland bench was a distraction for Kory. I was again impressed with the play of Snuggerud who was the best big player in the game at the B final. He does everything well and will be an excellent player at the D3 or NAIA level.

Greedy!   

[realist]

RFM:  We have idscussed the issue of potential MIAA players winding up at NAIA, and d2 schools.  Like it or not one has to acknowledge the harsh reality of the current economic situation.  Yes, some good players have been attracted away by the money.  However, when I look at that list of All-Americans (at Hope) that Sac posted a few days ago, and it is hard to make a case for "watered down" talent. 
Did anyone else watch the D11 finals?  A kid for Findlay hits a 3 pt. shot with the bell sounding in overtime for a 56-53 win.  Findlay 36-0 for the year.

[almcguirejr]

I attended the MHSAA Class A and B Semi-Finals Friday and all the Finals on Saturday.  I think Derrick Nix won the Mr. Basketball because he signed with MSU.  He couldn't play more than 4 minutes in a stretch either Friday or Saturday.  His conditioning is poor and he lacks basketball skill.

I saw KVS, GVW,(in his coach's uniform Fri minus the tie) Jody May, Gene Gifford on Friday.  Terry Smith, Matt Neill on Sat.

Zeeland East and Korey VD looked great Friday night.  Flint Powers did a great job Sat night as OK has already pointed out.  Al Sr used to say "if you cut off the head the body will die" and that's what Powers did to Zeeland East.  They played VanDussen to go to his left and he could not beat them off the dribble moving to his left.  Snuggerud had 2-3 silly fouls Friday night but he played well both nights.

West Michigan Christian has a couple kids that maybe players.  Evan Bruinsma, a 6'5" junior, plays similar to a Matt Veltema, had a very good game Sat.  London Burris, a sophomore point guard, also had a good game.

Keith Appling was phenomenal.

Doug Anderson puts you on the edge of your seat.

[HopeConvert]

I attended the MHSAA Class A and B Semi-Finals Friday and all the Finals on Saturday.  I think Derrick Nix won the Mr. Basketball because he signed with MSU.  He couldn't play more than 4 minutes in a stretch either Friday or Saturday.  His conditioning is poor and he lacks basketball skill.

I saw KVS, GVW,(in his coach's uniform Fri minus the tie) Jody May, Gene Gifford on Friday.  Terry Smith, Matt Neill on Sat.

Zeeland East and Korey VD looked great Friday night.  Flint Powers did a great job Sat night as OK has already pointed out.  Al Sr used to say "if you cut off the head the body will die" and that's what Powers did to Zeeland East.  They played VanDussen to go to his left and he could not beat them off the dribble moving to his left.  Snuggerud had 2-3 silly fouls Friday night but he played well both nights.

West Michigan Christian has a couple kids that maybe players.  Evan Bruinsma, a 6'5" junior, plays similar to a Matt Veltema, had a very good game Sat.  London Burris, a sophomore point guard, also had a good game.

Keith Appling was phenomenal.

Doug Anderson puts you on the edge of your seat.

Evan Bruinsma comes from good Frisian basketball genes. Seasoned observers such as OK may remember Evan's uncle Sid Bruinsma who was a star for Holland Christian in the early 70's, later went on to be an all-american at GVSU and subsequently a star for the Dutch National basketball team. Evan's brother Nate starred for last year's team and is now playing college ball. Trinity Christian maybe?