MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

I was only able to watch about 5 minutes of the Hope game, and it must have been the worst 5 minutes Hope played.  I saw a 17-3 Carthage run, had to leave and figured I'd come back to see Hope lost.

I was happy to see it was a 1 point loss with a shot at winning it, and pretty disappointed to see an 8 point lead was squandered.  Carthage doesn't seem to be quite up to the level of their lofty pre-season rankings just yet, but its still a quality opponent on the road, and the fact that a short-handed Hope could stay close enough to have a chance to win is pretty encouraging.

Wheaton will be a tougher test, or at least appears that way, and of course the more important of the two games for Hope.  This one being in-region.  Some who have seen Wheaton in person have been impressed, others not so much.  I would think a 22 point win over a Calvin team that played well last weekend might have the Dutchmen's attention.

[sac]

The Saturday lineup


Alma at Western Michigan, 2 p.m.

The whole reason for the poll up above was this game right here.  It makes no sense to me, especially from WMU's perspective.   I'm sure the Alma's guys will enjoy the experience, not many D3's get to play in a D1 arena let alone vs a D1 opponent.  University Arena isn't exactly Breslin and WMU only drew 4500 for Illinois.

WMU beat Kzoo 93-35 and that was an exhibition.....expect a similar result.




Hope vs. Wheaton, Ill. at Carthage, Wis. (MIAA-CCIW Challenge), 2 p.m.

In-region, the important one of the weekend.  Quick turnaround from last night's late game.



Kalamazoo at Kenyon, Ohio, 3 p.m.

Kenyon is 3-3 and hung tough with Albion a couple weeks ago.  Kenyon probably has to be the favorite vs the winless Hornets.

I'd like to see the SAT/ACT and GPA's of everyone involved.




Calvin at Carthage, Wis. (MIAA-CCIW Challenge), 4 p.m.

Another chance for Calvin to progress, for some reason I've always felt Calvin played better vs Carthage than Wheaton. 




Notre Dame, Ohio at Adrian, 7 p.m.

ND-Ohio is 2-4, their two wins coming vs Kuyper and Westminster, losses include Sienna Heights and Concordia(MI).  This seems winnable

ND-Ohio is supposed to be a provisional D2 program, but they appear to be still affiliated with the same NAIA conference they have been, and have almost no D2's on the schedule.




Trine at North Park, Ill., 8:30 p.m.

This one comes in under the 200 mile rule, making it in-region.  Both programs seem to be on the rise from recent seasons.  Trine is 5-1, North Park 3-1

[gohope]

"Alma at Western Michigan, 2 p.m.

The whole reason for the poll up above was this game right here.  It makes no sense to me, especially from WMU's perspective.   I'm sure the Alma's guys will enjoy the experience, not many D3's get to play in a D1 arena let alone vs a D1 opponent.  University Arena isn't exactly Breslin and WMU only drew 4500 for Illinois.

WMU beat Kzoo 93-35 and that was an exhibition.....expect a similar result."


I still don't get this match-up and WMU's AD is a HOPE grad?!!!!!   

[sac]

When the schedules came out last summer, I recall Alma also playing Oakland U in a real game in December.  That game no longer appears on either teams schedule, and Alma has just 10 non-conference games.

[oldknight]

I watched the second half of both games last night by video. I don't know that I've ever seen a team take a game from 2 down to 31 down as quickly and decisively as did Calvin against Wheaton.  In just over 12 minutes the Knights were outscored 39-10 by the Thunder and Calvin looked totally noncompetitive. I know Wheaton shot lights out from the arc but let's be honest, most of the shots they took were completely uncontested and they killed Calvin in transition too. Wheaton's scoring didn't come strictly from the perimeter either. Spencer Schultze (a Grand Rapids Christian High product) is certainly a decent D3 player but the Knights made him look like an All-American, going 10-12 from the floor. A tough lesson against against a good team. It would be nice if Snikkers can stay out of foul trouble and play more than 19 minutes against Carthage.

You have to be impressed by Hope's resilience in the face of major injury losses and an early 15 point deficit. Even without a potential conference MVP, their primary post scorer and a important sub, the Dutch should have won against a team that features the likely D3 Player of the Year. My respect for Stevey D knows few bounds but I don't think that much of his supporting cast. Last year when I saw his club at DeVos I thought he didn't have enough talent collected around him to make a serious run at Salem, and the admittedly small amount I saw last night hasn't changed my mind.

[realist]

At this point the best thing both Hope and Calvin can do is forget yesterday, and give it their best shots today.  One suspects that Calvin made Wheaton look better than they really may be, and Hope clearly showed that Carthage is human (except perhaps Stevie D.).   Wheaton played 4 of the starters for over 30 minutes which seemed strange when by the 15:00 minute point in the 2nd half it was pretty obvious "the hay was in the barn".  From that point on it is also obvious that KVS is using the opportunity to give some guys some more game experience.

[realist]

Good win for Hope.

[sac]

Hope 80 Wheaton 74

Very big win for the Dutchmen

On a scale of 1-10 for early season victories this one rates as a 10!  1-0 In-region with a couple more to go in Florida.

David Krombeen 17, Logan Neil 14, Will Bowser 13, Ty Tanis 10, Adam Dickerson 10

Tim McCrary 22 pts, 14 rebs, Andrew Jahns 21 pts for Wheaton.

Look forward to hearing some details from those in attendance.

[realist]

First win for Hope in the challenge on that side of the lake.  Now if Calvin can just follow the example.  I just had the feeling it would happen last night, but I knew the MIAA is good enough not to get swept.

[sac]

Western Michigan 109 Alma 50

[realist]

Not one point from the bench, and not controlling the boards either.
45-32 Calvin.

[doc]

A lot of offensive boards for Carthage--errgggh.

At least we could watch the "Red Hots" at halftime.  When we were there 4 years ago, the student halftime routine was more interesting on Friday night when they seemed a little "lubricated".

[sac]

Kenyon 65 Kzoo 60

Prepolec 22, Clark 10

[oldknight]

Calvin's 88-80 loss was fueled almost entirely by a stretch of play in the first half after the Knights took a 21-20 lead when they simply refused to rebound on the defensive glass. Carthage had repeated second, third and fourth chances which allowed them to put points on the board after Calvin had stopped the Red Men. Calvin played a solid second half led by Snikkers who had a spectacular double-double with 33 points and 12 boards. With that performance it would be easy to overlook the contributions of Matt DeBoer who scored 9 second half points and grabbed 5 rebounds. After Calvin cut the lead to two points with under 2 minutes left the triple Kelly hit for Carthage was a game saver for them. Kudos to Carthage for providing a quality internet connection along with game commentary. Both their announcers came away very impressed with Snikkers as was Bosko in his post game comments.

[KnightSlappy]

Someone needs to tell Wheaton's coach to take like 100,000 chill pills. He was out of control during the Hope game.

The good is that Hope won their regional game.

I wouldn't put too much stock in the big loss to Wheaton. The Thunder got spanked by Hope last year in Holland, but then came back and beat Calvin. I think this is a similar situation. All four teams are probably pretty close, but I'm willing to admit that Calvin has the most work still to do.

I like Calvin's chances at home for next year's classic.