MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Gregory Sager]

Sick game. Hope played better the whole game, then tried giving it away down the stretch.

You're not giving Wheaton enough credit. The Wheaties fought back hard to cut that Hope lead down and then go up themselves in the waning minutes. Hope didn't give it away; Wheaton worked its way back.

Hope made the plays in the last thirty seconds or so, and that's what matters.

[Gregory Sager]

How wrong is it that there's a kid from the Netherlands in the Carthage @ Calvin game -- and he's wearing a Carthage uniform?

[Gregory Sager]

Calvin 71
Carthage 68

Another very entertaining game that went right down to the wire, although the level of play was somewhat lower for both teams than it was in the first CCIW/MIAA Challenge matchup today. Mal Kelly, who led the Red Men with 28 points, had an open look from downtown with seven seconds left that would've put the Red Men up by one, but it rimmed out.

Mitch Thompson added 11 for Carthage. Calvin had two scorers in double figures as well, as Matt DeBoer and Tom Snikkers each had 15.

Calvin outrebounded Carthage, 33-28, had four fewer turnovers than the Red Men, and outshot the visitors from the field to boot, 50% to 45%. The reason why Carthage was in the game until the final buzzer was because of the FT line; the Red Men were a sparkling 93% from the charity stripe (13-14), while Calvin was a horrendous 57% (13-23). The Knights missed two of four FTs in the game's final half-minute, which is why Kelly had a chance to redeem himself by tying it with a desperation shot at the horn that turned out to be off-target.

One of those classic mystifying rotations tonight by Bosko Djurickovic, who played some guys a lot of minutes early who never saw the floor in the second half, and a couple of guys went all the way down the stretch (Ryan Chapman and Pace Bennett) who never even saw the floor in the first half. Bosko used fourteen players tonight. He had everybody but John "the Voice of the Red Men" Weiser take the floor for his team.

I'm not quite sure what to think of Calvin yet.

[gohope]

Hope 79
Wheaton 78


Whooohooo!!  That means Pizza Puffs for all!!   

[Knightmare]

In soccer news, Calvin up by a score of 3-1 at halftime in the national semi-finals.  Hold on for the win and they'll be playing for a national championship for the 2nd time in 3 years (lost in the previous trip).

Let's have 2 Calvin wins this evening!

[sac]

Hope 79
Wheaton 78

Whooohooo!!  That means Pizza Puffs for all!!   

I got a rock!   Actually it was a picture of a random couple in Baldwin-Wallace garb.   It will never die.

[calvin_grad]

In soccer news, Calvin up by a score of 3-1 at halftime in the national semi-finals.  Hold on for the win and they'll be playing for a national championship for the 2nd time in 3 years (lost in the previous trip).

Let's have 2 Calvin wins this evening!

KNIGHTS slay the Dragons 4-2!!  They face Ohio Wesleyan for the National Championship tomorrow.   

[Dark Knight]

Let's have 2 Calvin wins this evening!

The knights slew the dragons 4-2 tonight. Next up -- the bishops!

[goodknight]

Let's have 2 Calvin wins this evening!

The knights slew the dragons 4-2 tonight. Next up -- the bishops!

Defrock the Bishops, shall we?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Interesting coincidence: Wheaton plays at Calvin tomorrow; meanwhile the Calvin men play for the national soccer title, while the Wheaton women do the same.

One or the other may be doubly happy!

[goodknight]

I'm not quite sure what to think of Calvin yet.

No one knows what to think of Calvin, Gregory.
Join the befuddled masses.
Where were you sitting tonight? oldknight and I speculated on whether you would be in the house, but we couldn't spot you.

[oldknight]

After watching an exciting Hope/Wheaton opener, Calvin fans settled down to watch the visitors from Carthage play a weak opening 20 minutes. As it turned out, a weak first half was all the Red Men needed to take a 33-28 lead into the locker room because the Knights looked awful. They only had 9 points in the first 12+ minutes of play. Calvin's first half was amazingly passionless (they didn't get whistled for their second team foul until the 2:20 mark) and the Knights looked lost--especially on offense. I can't remember the last half I saw played where neither team got into the bonus.

The second half was better with Snikkers and DeBoer (Calvin's steadiest player) leading the way as Calvin shot 15-24 from the field. Unfortunately, Tyler Kruis appeared to be less than 100%, wearing a bracing on one knee and playing more gingerly than we had been seeing this year. I don't like the look of this injury. Losing Kruis would be huge, though Nate VanEck did play a pretty decent second half.

[sac]

Two entertaining games that both came down to being able to inbound the ball.  Wheaton didn't, Calvin did, and there's your two outcomes.


Hope/Wheaton

Man Hope was good in the first half.  Wheaton had a really tough time with Hope's movement, as the game wore on Wheaton was able to find their footing on defense a little bit and really by the last 10 minutes or so I thought their defense had reached a point where it just became really really tough for Hope to score.   Hope's last FG came with 4 minutes to go, an epic battle on the baseline which you had to see to believe.  Otherwise, yes it did kind of feel like Hope was throwing it away by not executing an offense with results, either points or trips to the line.  Wheaton's defense had a lot to do with that.

Part of Hope's offensive struggles was Peter Bunn having to sit on the bench for so long, I really don't know the total minutes but I'm sure Hope prefers Bunn and Krombeen on the floor together and that just didn't happen much tonight.  The movement was much better with those two on the floor.   It was noted Hope had only 4 assists in the 2nd half, after 10 in the first.  Those back doors and cuts to the basket just weren't there as often.  Also noted 3 of Hope's starting 5 played less than 20 minutes, the bench really came up big in this one.  (Overway, Neil, Ray, DeMaagd)

Krombeen was unbelievable for parts of this game, and really kind of carried Hope while they struggled with foul trouble.  The only disappointing part of the game for me was seeing Hope's Peter Bunn and Wheaton's Aaron Garriot have to sit out so much of the game with foul trouble.   Garriot is quick and smooth, I think Hope would have had a really tough time if he had been able to play the full minutes.

Overall the guard play was excellent for both teams, in fact I sort of eluded to it this afternoon.....the scoreline was Hope's starting guards 42 points, Wheaton 42.  Maybe the difference was Hope having a guy like Coltan Overway who came off the bench and played an outstanding game and finished with 14 points while leading the offense.

Really can't mention bench play without giving a big pat on the back to Chris Ray and Chase DeMaagd.  Chris knocked down a couple really big mid range jumpers early in the 2nd half, and Chase was just Mr. Hustle on a few plays.  Pretty good minutes from those two guys, probably about 5 or 6 minutes more than was planned for each.

This was a high quality game, probably two teams that will be playing for conference titles and to get in the NCAA's at the years end.   The ending was both thrilling and unbelievable for many reasons.


Calvin/Carthage

Didn't know what to think at the start, Calvin looked lethargic and lost.  By the end, Carthage looked lethargic and lost.  I think its a good win for Calvin and it's roster of 417 forwards and centers.  Calvin will continue to have fits of trouble until the PG spot or ball handling duties is settled.  I saw a few minutes of good guard play but not much consistency, and between the two teams more bad passes than can be counted by a reasonably intelligent human being who isn't near sighted.


All I can figure is Bosko was unhappy with a couple players, he threw at least two guys into the fray in the last 8 minutes who hadn't played a minute in the game.  Strange indeed.



It would seem Hope and Wheaton should be solid favorites Saturday, but this little get together hasn't always gone to form or turned out the way the 'experts' predicted.



**Pro Tip ----  Running a red light is less of a good idea with a Grand Rapids or Kentwood Police cruiser directly behind you.   I was a witness, not a participant just to keep things clear.

[sac]

Wheaton vs Hope @ Calvin  ---  hooray for live video.  Calvin is providing live video tonight, link on the miaa.org page.

Wheaton is 5-0, Hope 4-1, has to be considered the marquee game of the 4 if for no other reason than its the only 'in-region' game.  Hope has won 3 of the last 4 meetings, actually 4 of the last 5 if we include the NCAA game in '08

I'd like to take this opportunity to express what unfortunately is a nearly annual disappointment in the number of non-MIAA in-region games Hope plays. If Hope gets a Pool A bid it won't matter but if they don't this could be a reason why.

Just to clarify, the Hope/Wheaton game is the only one of this weekend's four games that counts as in-region.  Hope will play Marietta latter this month. 

[Dark Knight]

Hope has an interesting team--a team of extremes. Terrific guard play. League-leading shooting percentage but league-trailing three-point shooting percentage, by a wide margin. 6'-10" D-I transfer center but not much of an inside game.

What happens if Hope runs into a team that can defend their guards?