MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Stinger]

Great win for the Hornets last night.   I am really looking forward to Saturday's game against Albion.  pregame sting at Burdicks.

So, Calvin shoots 38% for the game, Hope 40%.  The final was 59-58, sounds like a great game to me.  SAC, Calvin fans have always seemed the most fair-weathered in the league. It's amazing that for how many people they have in there, how quiet it can get.

Hornet Fan, thank you for reminding Hope fans that they've had their fair share of karma come their way.  Hope fan complaining about the refs? I love it.  Maybe you guys should've had Calvin request Ernie and Hoffman for a another reunion tour. 

[NW Hope Fan]

Barring any other upsets (although Calvin can lose one before the tournament  ), will this be the first time in MIAA history to have 3 teams win 20+ games. 
The MIAA website only goes back through 96-97, so it will take a litle more time to figure it out. Wondering if anyone has the answer, straight up?

[AndersDY]

Hope fan complaining about the refs? I love it.  Maybe you guys should've had Calvin request Ernie and Hoffman for a another reunion tour.

Given the quality of MIAA refs, I can walk out of almost any Hope game with several beefs about the officiating, but for almost the entire game yesterday I was impressed with the refs. The only calls I can point to as questionable against Hope were the baseline save and a foul by Voisin on a Meckes shot late in the second half where it appeared to me that Voisin either got a tiny bit of ball or nothing entirely. As for the critical baseline call, I only saw enough to seriously question it, had no proof watching live that it was wrong. The play I saw had to have been either a) out of bounds and incorrectly called or b) an amazing play by Meckes to get the ball where he got it from without somehow touching out of bounds. If there is proof it isn't option a), then props to Meckes for that one. Did anyone get a TIVO or something of the game that could somehow link footage of that baseline play online?

The biggest thing on the positive side which I saw with the refs was that I agreed with every call in a charging/blocking/no-call situation that occurred last night. Those are often the first plays to get controversial, but I didn't see any that were easy to argue with in those scenarios.

As far as officiating complaints, I monitor the NCAC board as well and if you pay attention there, it seems to be accepted that any officials in that conference can be counted on to screw up. They may not pick on single calls as often as occurs here, but as an overall, they sound like they may be dealing with worse general officiating. I suppose as long as we're small-time D3 hoops, we can plan on lower level refs. Though of course accepting that fact doesn't mean we have to like it.

[Carl Yastrzemski]

Looks like the stay at the Holiday Inn didn't work for Alma. Great night again for Crawford based on the stats, 24 mins played 22 points 11 boards I believe.

Knightslappy, You mentioned about the possibility of Meckes toenail being on the line. Unlike you, I do not have a tape of the game and I find it hard to believe Meckes would be playing a basketball game sockless and in sandals but I have seen crazier things happen before in sports, (a short skinny white guy running the 400m hurdles in cornrows and smoking everyone in the field.)

For the Calvin vs school out west rivalry as being one of the greatest all time. I watched Sports Center for 2.5 hours today and did not see one mention or clip of the game. Hey last month they were showing shome lady spin a bunch of plates on her body.

Last week during signing day, the University of Michigan landed a big time recruit out of CA. This kid went undefeated as a 3 year starter on Varsity, and his high school has the current longest winning streak in the nation. He even beat the Great Matt Leinart in the High School match-up of the century. Look for this guy to be a four year starter no problem.

[Flea]

Given the quality of MIAA refs, I can walk out of almost any Hope game with several beefs about the officiating

In my experience, I have never seen a well officiated game ... because I don't know much about officiating basketball. 

They missed this and missed that.  Why call this and why call that?  I just have to realize it's part of the game.

[David Collinge]

I assume both schools will have internet radio broadcasts of the game.  Can I get an unbiased opinion as to which one is the better broadcast for an impartial fan who wants to tune in?  Taking into account all factors such as broadcast quality, professionalism of announcers, etc. 

David (and anyone else who had no dog in the Calvin/Hope fight): Now that you have listened to Doug Wentworth's play by play did you find him to be reasonably professional and informative or was he too biased for your tastes?

I only got to listen to the second half (I was occupied with Wooster's 129-67 nailbiter over Hiram), and I thought the broadcast was just fine.  I was doing other things (i.e. posting) at the time, and so not paying the closest of attention; and I had to spend an inordinate amount of time sifting through all those Dutch-sounding names to figure out which team had the ball at any given moment, but no I didn't notice any bias.  Of course, I may have missed some biased announcing whille making all of those trips to the kitchen for more ice cream! 

[ziggy]

From the GR Press: "Coach says we have to improve every day in practice or it's wasted day," Veldhouse said. "That's something we really believe."

Can anyone make an argument for someone other than KVS being MIAA coach of the year?  If you can, try it with a straight face next time.

[mustywetdog]

GVW cant coach.  There is no way that this years Calvin squad should be within 15 points of Hope.  Hope is bigger, stronger and more athletic but are led by a coach with no clue.  If KVS had Hope's roster  they would dominate the MIAA.   He can coach, GVW cant.   

[oldknight]

I assume both schools will have internet radio broadcasts of the game.  Can I get an unbiased opinion as to which one is the better broadcast for an impartial fan who wants to tune in?  Taking into account all factors such as broadcast quality, professionalism of announcers, etc. 

David (and anyone else who had no dog in the Calvin/Hope fight): Now that you have listened to Doug Wentworth's play by play did you find him to be reasonably professional and informative or was he too biased for your tastes?

I only got to listen to the second half (I was occupied with Wooster's 129-67 nailbiter over Hiram), and I thought the broadcast was just fine.  I was doing other things (i.e. posting) at the time, and so not paying the closest of attention; and I had to spend an inordinate amount of time sifting through all those Dutch-sounding names to figure out which team had the ball at any given moment, but no I didn't notice any bias.  Of course, I may have missed some biased announcing whille making all of those trips to the kitchen for more ice cream! 

OK David, now disclose the answer to the 2 most important questions from last night. What flavor did you go with and was it from the the round pack or the square pack?

[AndersDY]

GVW cant coach.  There is no way that this years Calvin squad should be within 15 points of Hope.  Hope is bigger, stronger and more athletic but are led by a coach with no clue.  If KVS had Hope's roster  they would dominate the MIAA.   He can coach, GVW cant.   

I've heard this complaint on GVW occasionally, usually in regard to a Calvin game. I won't pretend to know how to compare the X's and O's work by two coaches, but is there some basis for this argument? As an outsider, I certainly would think the discussion in the final huddle for Hope would be "alright, you can hand them a two-point shot on a platter, but nothing outside the arc at all." Of course on the court, Immink gets faked out once (though maybe the plan was to use the spare foul all along) and then on the second try bites hook, line, sinker on the drive fake allowing Veldhouse to step back for the winner.

Does anyone more knowledgable see him having issues in critical situations like that? My memory of 15 or 16 years of Hope Calvin games does seem to be that all clutch scores to win a game in the end come in Calvin's wins while Hope just has to pull away and hang on in their wins. For full 40 minute strategies, I certainly see Glenn making adjustments that work and substitutions which make sense, so he certainly can coach, but might there be some basis for saying he gets out-coached? Not sure I feel right questioning a guy who has coached a pretty successful team since I was nothing but an afterthought of my parents, but that is an interesting question to raise to explain last night's horror.

[oldknight]

Knights win 69-66. I HOPE you Hopesters are happy now. Veldhouse comes up big again down the stretch. This kid is special.

With apologies to all you sad Hope fans, I'm sorry but I just couldn't resist reprising that post.  

[mustywetdog]

Well, take last night for example.  Hope got a chance to see exactly what play Calvin was going to run...almost step for step.  All they have to do is play them tight behind the arc and they win.  Its not the final few minutes I'm talking about though.  Hope should have a double digit lead by that point.  Their roster is stacked.  GVW is the best recruiter out there, but on the court he just doesn't hack it.  Its no surprise Hope fields a good team that wins alot of games...they have a ton of talent, every year...but they get beat by teams who dont have the same skills.  Its the coaching, anybody could win a few games with a roster like that. 

[John Rusnak]

I've been saying it all season long, but nobody wants to listen...Calvin is a legitimate team that is severely underranked because of the way they started the season.  Everybody dropped them off the radar and assumed they were dead...guess again.

With that said, it's amazing how much chatter ensues even though this was a one point victory at the buzzer.  If the shot is one inch to the left or right then Hope wins and everybody talks about how they are going straight through to Salem.

It's a rivarly, a great one, but it's just one game.  Both teams are still national contenders and both have a great shot to go far.

...with that said, nobody should blow a game when you are up 4 with 50 seconds left...OT, maybe, but not a loss.

[KnightSlappy]

I dont think that Hope fans should argue about the Meckes play.  There was a very obvious travel on VanderHeide earlier in the play.  Immink passed the ball to VanderHeide who was guarded by Draayer.  Vanderheide pivoted and then slid his pivot foot once (quite noticeably) and then twice more (not as prominant) he then drove inside and lost the ball the Meckes saved.  You could watch the tape once and realize that Marcus traveld and 99 more times and not know if Josh was in or out.

[NYKnight]

Hey all - First time in a long time posting. Funny how some things quicken the pulse. My wife is about to have our second child, so I spent last night checking the live scoreboard of C V. H and monitoring contractions - both very exciting events. I managed to hear the last minute of Dougy Fresh and the Wiffer broadcast over the internet, and dang if that didn't make my heart thump a bit. After the final buzzer I gave my wife a broad grin and told her it was fine to go to the hospital now. The stars were lining up.

Alas, we were sent home after a "false alarm" - NY doctors don't seem to want to get out of bed at 1 am to do an early C-section - but the night wasn't a total loss.

Anyway, what I really wanted to respond to was the KVS vs. GVW posts.
I had the priveledge of getting to know KVS through some gym classes at Calvin and covering some games for The Chimes while I was at Calvin.  I also covered the Hope team for the 2003-04 season for the Grand Rapids Press Lakeshore Edition, so I got to know GVW a bit as well.

I found both coaches likeable men, and good, maybe even great, coaches. Both could coach at higher levels easily, but both are committed to the concepts and ideals of D3 and student-athletics. And I think, rosters reversed, they would probably end up with the same results. As a former college athlete myself, and a former youth league coach, I know that there are some things that cannot be coached. Team chemistry is one of those, and often a team with less talent will outhustle and beat a team that looks more talented on paper.

When a team has superior talent - ands I'll go back to 99-00 Calvin for an example - they relax a bit and have some scares. Alma nearly shocked Calvin in the MIAA's that year - at Knollcrest! Whether a team is prepared to weather the occasional closer-than-it-shoud-be game is less a factor of coaching than it is the mental toughness of the talent on the floor.

GVS can adapt to an opposing team's strategies as well, if not better than the next guy. So can KVS. So can Mike Turner. Their teams are prepared, but the coaches aren't on the hardwood.

I'm sure any of the Dutchmen will tell you that last night they didn't execute the gameplan. They let Calvin slow the pace and make it a perimeter game. And that was their downfall, not GVW.

As they say... Any Given Sunday... er, I mean Wednesday and Saturday.