MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[goodknight]

Under a minute to go, all tied up at 63.

[goodknight]

Mike VanDenend and Dave Baatenburg are calling the game tonight and describe it as a Calvin-Albion slugfest.
Veltema hits a long three and Calvin's up 66-63 in the final minute.

[goodknight]

Final from Phoenix, in OT

Calvin 70
ONU 67

Calvin's finally to that .500 mark. 
Period.  Exclamation point!

[goodknight]

Calvin was led by Matt Veltema with 15. John Mantel added 13 (to tally 1,012 for his Calvin career).  Danny Rodts and Brad Schnyders each contributed 12 points.

[sac]

DePauw beat Adrian 58-46 in Defiance, Oh.......Adrian will play OSU-Lima tomorrow who were beaten by Defiance 114-51

Wittenberg 55 Olivet 49

Trine 70 Shenandoah 68


Hope is tied with Madonna at 30 at the half and continuing to struggle mightily from the floor making just 1 of their first 11 shots and shooting under 30% for the half.

[sac]

Wooster 70 Kzoo 41........Kzoo will play Washington Univ tomorrow.....fun!

[sac]

Lake Superior State 72 Albion 57.........LSSU had lost to Aquinas earlier this year.

[wiz]

Hope subdues Madonna and advances to the championship game at 8:00pm tomorrow night against Davenport, a team they handily defeated in this tournament a year ago by 27 points!

[sac]

Hope 72 Madonna 68

Nelis 16, Bowser 13, Bunn 11.......Logan Neil probably had his best production as a varsity player with 9 pts, 5 rbs and a couple steals.

Hope made some shots down the stretch to pull this one out, thats  the good news.  The bad news is they nearly blew a 13 point 2nd half lead and needed those shots to avoid what would have been a pretty embarassing loss.   Madonna is 2-11 on the year and will probably finish at the bottom of the WHAC.

They'll play Davenport tomorrow night, the Panthers are 12-4 and hold a win over Olivet.  Hope's going to need to play better. 

[Erm Schmigget]

Norovirus, swine flu, and now "some illness." Doesn't anyone on that campus wash their hands?

I know, let's get everyone in the world to wash their hands at exactly the same time, and we'll eradicate all illness from the face of the earth!   

Well, they looked pretty sick in the first half, but must have had some orange juice or chicken broth at half time.  Hope came out strong to start the 2nd half, looking like they had some sense of purpose to their game.  They built a nice lead in the first few minutes, but Madonna did everything they could to stay in it. 

Oddly, this Hope team seems to me the antithesis of what I'm used to: strong 1st half, week after halftime, and a strong finish.  Tonight, Hope was nearly outplayed in the 1st half, strong after halftime, and barely hung on to win by 4.  At times, I thought the bench looked better than the starters.  They have to get some confidence in themselves before league play starts, or this could be an ugly season.

Nice to see Hope and Calvin getting the non-conference wins this week...sure would like to see some other MIAA schools boost the conference's credibility.

[realist]

A week or so ago someone asked about Calvin's 1,000 point club.  It now stands at 19.


Calvin 2,000-point Club
1.  Steve Honderd (1993)    2,469
2.  Mark Veenstra (1977)    2,251
3.  Bill Sall (1990)    2,063

Calvin 1,000-point Club
4.  Jeremy Veenstra (2003)  1,947
5.  Aaron Winkle (2000) 1,802
6.  Chris Knoester (1994)   1,756
7. Caleb Veldhouse (2009)   1,627
8.  Tom Newhof (1958)   1,372
9.  Mickey Phelps (1970)    1,365
10.  Chris Prins (2004) 1,355
11.  Duane Rosendahl (1952) 1,330
12.  Kyle VanderBrug (1985) 1,130
13.  Dan Davis (1989)   1,121
14. Jim Timmer Jr.  (1990)  1,097
15. Kim Campbell (1967) 1,095
16.  Kevin Broene (2004)    1,043
17. Bill Wolterstorff (1961)    1,015
18. John Mantel (2010)  1,012
19. Dan Aultman (2005)  1,005

If memory serves correctly #19, Aultman, and #13 Davis may have done the 1,000  in just two years.  I am not sure exactly when fr. were not eligible, but I think #9 Phelps may be the only one impacted by that, but please don't hold me to that.  Some of these guys made the numbers without the advantage of the longer season thanks to MIAA tournament, not to mention NCAA games.  
The game has changed over the years, but I think M. Veenstra, and Mr. Brady from Hope would dominate the MIAA today.

[realist]

Quoting E.S. "Nice to see Hope and Calvin getting the non-conference wins this week...sure would like to see some other MIAA schools boost the conference's credibility."
I agree, but also acknowledge we need to support teams willing to play some of the opponents they have like Wooster, J C, and Wittenberg that historically have been trouble for MIAA teams.  As much as I like the MIAA/CCIW challenge idea we would be much better off if we had MIAA/OAC, and MIAA/NCAC challeneges.

[realist]

Calvin's opponent for Wed. Loras out of the IIAC lost to Benedictince something like 85 to 63 today.  Have not been able to get a box score for the game.  My take on Loras was they really like the long ball.  Take lots of 3's, and do reasonably well doing so.  They are now 5-6 on the year.
Will be interesting to see how Calvin does with it's 3rd game in 3 days.  Several of the guys sounded tired at times today, but they hung on to get the W which is big as it should be "in region" opponent
Sometimes these games away from home really help a team to learn to rely on each other.  I am encouraged by what I have heard, and more optimistic going into the MIAA.

[Erm Schmigget]

I agree, but also acknowledge we need to support teams willing to play some of the opponents they have like Wooster, J C, and Wittenberg that historically have been trouble for MIAA teams.  As much as I like the MIAA/CCIW challenge idea we would be much better off if we had MIAA/OAC, and MIAA/NCAC challeneges.

What do you make of the notion that the OAC and NCAC teams would rather prey on the weaker MIAA teams than schedule games vs. Hope or Calvin?  What kind of effort, that you know of, have Hope and Calvin put into scheduling OAC and NCAC opponents in the pre-conference season? 

Witt, Woo, and Kenyon have beaten Kzoo and Olivet this season, whereas, Albion won both of their NCAC match-ups (will Woo and OH Wesleyan shy away from Albion next year?).  The OAC has had a smattering of games with MIAA opponents this season, but even then some were at neutral sites, like ONU v. Calvin tonight in Phoenix.

[sac]

The MIAA came into today with an outside shot at finishing above .500 in non-conference play.....with tonights 3-4 record the league falls to 33-45, with just 9 games remaining.  This clinches the 3rd straight depressing year of sub .500 non-conference play.