MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Carl Yastrzemski]

Not once have I ever come on here and blamed an official or a coach for a loss by Albion, or any team for that matter. For a very simple reason, the actual impact an official has on the game is very small. Several other factors play a larger role than that of the official. The players are the ones on the court taking the shots.  

With a big post presence (Brandon Crawford) I would expect to see a big FT difference. In the last game, K-Zoo fould Crawford everytime he got the ball in the post. In fact, only 2 Albion players scored from the field during the first half of the K-Zoo game. So if K-Zoo had any offense at all why couldn't they have put the game away in the first half. Only Silas and Bailey scored from the field (not 100% sure about that but pretty close).

Albion gets the ball inside and they have a great player that gets good post position. They are going to get their free throw attempts. In league games, Crawford has att 30+ FT than any other player in the league. For the season, Crawford has att almost as many FT as their opponents have shot. Based on the evidence the FT #'s were lopsided for both games shows the officials were pretty much even for both games.

Feel free to check out my award winning speech in the New York Times. Many have said it rivals that of many Golden Globe winners. Logic is easy- no call in the K-Zoo game directly resulted in the outcome of the game. The game only ended once. Hence K-Zoo had 40 minutes to overcome any and all calls made by the officials. Logic is plain and simple. No real reason to blame the officials for two losses to the same team when #'s are pretty much consistent for two games.

What happened to the third person?

There is a great WR in Ohio, this kid is only a So, but he is about 6-6 with unreal physical abilities.There is no doubt he will be in the NFL, the only thing that could hold him back is the large amount of time he wastes by playing basketball. He has absolutely no future in this sport.

[Carl Yastrzemski]

Hopefully nobody reads the mess above this post. My posting conditioning is well below what it should be. As true with most people when they become fatigued mistakes will be made. Towards the end of that post I felt like I was 22 miles into a marathon. Sac I have that much more respect for you now.

I apoligize to everyone who actually read my last post.

In a stunning move shocking even Peter Gammons himself, Joe Torre decides to let one Aaron Boone play against the Boston Red Sox. Being a mid season addition to the Yankees, Joe Torre was torn between playing him and making him sit for the rest of the season. Torre's decision paid off as Boone nails an 11th inning HR to send the Yankees to the World Series.

[kakaty]

Well, just to be clear, I am not blaming the losses entirely on the refs - just arguing that it is certainly reasonable to look at the free throw discrepancies and think that the refereeing had an impact.  

Albion is a nationally ranked basketball team, with a great player in Crawford.  The Hornets are going to finish somewhere squarely in the middle of the conference.  Clearly, the talent level of the two teams played a large part in each game - neither game was "stolen" from the Hornets.

I think I acknowledged earlier that Crawford's presence would explain some of the disparity - it's just my opinion that it doesn't explain all of it.  In games that are relatively close (4 and 6 points), one team getting 20 additional free chances per game is alot to overcome - despite the fact that you're given 40 minutes to do it.  

I did read your article in the Times, and it has changed my entire outlook on life.

As for the third person, it's a day to day decision that depends on Kakaty's mood.

[AndersDY]

It's hard to not give #1 to Wooster, even though we don't really know how good they are.

There are unknowns with every team, but what more does Wooster need to do? They've suffered one loss to a clearly very talented team while demolishing all unworthy competition and thus far being the only team to knock Wittenberg off (twice in convincing fashion).

We could really say we don't know enough about any of the best in the region, but to me Wooster's run thus far and BW's standing far above the rest of the OAC certainly define their cases. Without everyone playing everyone, we won't know prior to the tournament who the best team is. Is Calvin the outright MIAA champ or the team Hope spanked in the first meeting? Is Albion solid or a team that caught Hope on their worst night of the year? Can Wittenberg beat any teams better than OWU or Wabash, seeing as how they haven't gotten over the Wooster hump? Does CMU even belong at the top of the rankings?

I do like your idea to move as many Great Lakes teams east or west as possible, but it could be hard since then what appears to be a very strong team is probably punished with a road game instead of forcing three out of region schools to drive to the Great Lakes region site. It's probably a safe assumption that what makes sense to us doesn't make sense to the NCAA though, so I guess we'll find out in a couple weeks.

I just got back from watching a couple of University of Colorado spring practices. They look like they have a good squad, however I would bet the farm that Kordell Stewart couldn't throw a football more than 40 yards in the air. For some reason he doesn't have a good long ball. Great runner just not a great passer.

Yaz, good gosh man, you have to stop bringing up the traumatic moments of my life. While you're at it, just throw in the Webber's non-timeout and Baldwin Wallace and DePree's last .001 second free throws and Spartan Bob... AHHH I guess you're lucky I don't have the ability to smite posts.

Knock it down, Ty, knock the ball down!!!

[sac]

Time again for the 2006 MIAA Fan Poll

Vote for your MVP,........First, Second and Third choice.
3 points for 1st, 2 for 2nd, 1 for third

Vote for your All-MIAA team........Select 8 players for your first team and 8 players for your second team

Coach of the the Year........Select a single coach of the year

Freshman of the Year........Same as MVP

Upset of the Year.......pick the MIAA upset game of the year

Game of the Year.......pick the MIAA game of the year.

Send your ballots to MIAAFanpoll@aol.com, I'll take them right up to the Monday before the MIAA tournament begins.

Use MIAA.org as reference.........and have fun with your picks.

[sac]

As an honorary member of the Albion College History Department I thought I'd bring out the Calvin/Albion matchups of the last couple years.  Home team in italics and bold.

03 Albion 76 Calvin 64
03 Albion 77 Calvin 69
04 Albion 77 Calvin 71
04 Calvin 100 Albion 65 ......woops
04 Calvin 74 Albion 61 ....at Hope, MIAA Semi
05 Albion 68 Calvin 65
05 Albion 78 Calvin 76 OT
05 Calvin 59 Albion 53  ---MIAA Tournament Championship
05 Calvin 60 Albion 52 ----NCAA Sectional Final
06 Calvin 69 Albion 66

Almost as equally amazing as the Hope/Albion series has been........really only the one blowout in 04.  All equall at 5-5 with home teams winning 4 of the 9.

at Albion its 3-3
at Calvin its 2-1 to Albion
Neutral 1-0 to Calvin

Interesting to note that in the last 5 regular season games at Calvin its 4-1 to Albion.

Should be another good close game tommorrow night.

[AndersDY]

An entertaining link of completely off topic origins, but it's slightly MIAA related and I thought you guys might enjoy:

http://howdyourdaygo.blogspot.com/2006/02/bode-miller-experiment-part-ii.html

Hope grads go on to undertake important research in the quest for learning.

[hornet fan]

I believe Midline only said that the Tech was out of line.  He said nothing about the FT discrepancy, though it was enteraining to read everyone's interpretation of that.  From my sources close to the program, if the same standard  is used for every other incident as was used in the Herman Tech, a lot of MIAA games would have 4 or 5 Ts.  A bad decision by the official...

As for game 1, I felt that Albion was rewarded with its aggressiveness in the 1st half, that happens.

I do agree that K matches up better with Albion than it does Hope or Calvin...

Olivet will be a tough opponent for the Hornets.  Though they are playing better, Olivet is as well.  Dozie is a load, so Kellogg, Weaver, and McCain will have to play tough with him...

[Briton Backer]

Just a quick response to the K complaints about the game last week

If a coach decides to foul Crawford everytime he touches the ball (which is a valid strategy, just not very effective) then there is no room to complain about the free throw discrepancy.  Very early in the game essentially everyone in the Albion section realized that RP was going to make Crawford earn his points at the line, and fortunately for the Brits he did.

Back when NBA teams used to pull that on Shaq, it's not like they could complain about how much he went to the line.

[John Rusnak]

The problem I have with Wooster is that they have only played 2 real teams this year.  They lost to BW, who we know is good.  Other than that, the only team they really beat is Wittenberg, which leads me to...

How good is Witt?  They haven't played anybody this year, other than beating Ohio Northern early in the year.  They have two losses to Wooster, which may or may not mean something.

So, if these two teams are great, then yes, of course Wooster is legit at #1.  But if both of these teams are average, then we really don't know because neither team has really played anybody besides themselves.

I just think a #1 ranking is a lot for a team that doesn't have much to show...and wasn't in Salem last year.  Given their early (on a relative basis) exits that last two years, I can argue why they don't deserve it.

With that said, we will soon know how good they really are...or are not.

[John Rusnak]

Here's a novel idea...

Front the post, put somebody at the midline, or even one step in the paint.  Don't let Crawford catch the ball.

Let them skip the ball to the weak side and shoot the three...who's going to hit it enough to beat you?  Answer: nobody.

You could even drop a man off from the top of the key so if they want to swing it, fine, and if somebody penetrates, the weak side man can step up and the man guarding at the top can rotate down so they can't dish to Crawford...again, if they want to kick up to the top, why stop it?

[midline]

Funny how things spin out of control like this.....

Hornet Fan is right, I only mentioned the T on Herman. K was not allowing Crawford to score inside without contact, hence the FT discrepency. A solid game plan considering K was on the verge of the upset when the T was made. The tech on Herman was an AWFUL call that changed the course of the game. That call does not happen and K very likely holds their momentum they had been building that entire half. They were frustrating Albion, who was clearly out of flow (59 total points). You could almost SEE Albion tightening up ("Are we going to loose AGAIN!?").

Yaz, you will have to take my word for it that I RARELY blame the stripes for an outcome. Too many other factors come into the game. I can only think of a few other games in the 10+ years I have been following MIAA hoops where, in my opinion, the refs determined the final. Sat's K/Albion game was the exception.

[bulldogalum]

Here's a novel idea...

Front the post, put somebody at the midline, or even one step in the paint.  Don't let Crawford catch the ball.

Let them skip the ball to the weak side and shoot the three...who's going to hit it enough to beat you?  Answer: nobody.

You could even drop a man off from the top of the key so if they want to swing it, fine, and if somebody penetrates, the weak side man can step up and the man guarding at the top can rotate down so they can't dish to Crawford...again, if they want to kick up to the top, why stop it?

Teams have tried the whole "shut down Crawford and make the other guys beat you approach" a few times, and it's been more successful than other options.  The problem is, even if you force them to shoot from the perimeter, Crawford is still going to be a force on the boards.  He'll still get plenty of garbage points off the misses.  Moreover, it's pretty much impossible to play a full game without a few defensive breakdowns.  Bottom line, it's a good gameplan, but it's going to be hard to stop Crawford no matter what you do.

[MIdoubleA]

Teams have tried the whole "shut down Crawford and make the other guys beat you approach" a few times, and it's been more successful than other options.  The problem is, even if you force them to shoot from the perimeter, Crawford is still going to be a force on the boards.  He'll still get plenty of garbage points off the misses.  Moreover, it's pretty much impossible to play a full game without a few defensive breakdowns.  Bottom line, it's a good gameplan, but it's going to be hard to stop Crawford no matter what you do.

See Hope game 1 where this strategy didn't work and see Hope game 2 when it did.

[realist]

Allfirst: First a history lesson.  With the exception of Albion in 78 the MIAA did not do very well against the Ohio schools in the late70/80's.  In fact, the Ohio schools repeatedly stopped the MIAA in the NCAA's .  Read the history book see Witt in 80's,  ONU in 93 and 01, and BW in 95.  You would also do well to review the transfer pattern of teams in the NCAA tourney.  With a few exceptions the GL region (esp. the MIAA) has gone west or south many more times than it has gone east.  If you look at a map where the D3 schools are located you will notice they tend to be heavily stacked to the EAST coast.  So, DUH, those guys don't want to see any team from OHIO, MI or WI, or IL before they have too, and the deck is stacked in their favor like it or not. 
KS: If memory serves me correctly the D3 national champion the last two years came from where?  Gee, out west/midwest.  So how can out west/midwest be easier than going east?   In 92 Calvin won the WEST regional playing a team from MN (in MN), and a team from OHIO named Otterbein (which had beaten them several times before in the NCAA).  So Hope, Albion or Calvin had better figure they will get a chance to see the Buckeye state at some point like it or not.  Only option is be #1 like Calvin in 00.