MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

Also, game time tonight is 7 pm despite what the tickets say.

Yeah, pass that on to your Calvin friends, I don't think they noticed untill after the Hope game.

7PM tipoff.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Hope / Calvin IV

I think I must have played this game about a hundred times in my sleep last night. 

It's the tournament, and anything can happen, but I like our chances.  Hope has looked really focused since we got "Veldhoused".  It just makes me nervouse to hear knight fans agreeing that Hope has the upper hand.

Gotta go find something to occupy my day or this is (as sac said) gonna be one long day!

[albinomascot19]

Though it is such a great rivalry....Calvin has two NCAA championships....and Hope looking for this to be the year for their first....however the Knights...have Veldhouse and company..trying to be the first team to beat the Dutchmen at the Devos Fieldhouse.

[Facenorth]

History nothin.  

I've heard time and time again that Calvin haunts Hope in the NCAA tournament.  Call me crazy but I just don't see the ghosts of Calvin bball past coming in and aiding them tonight in the DeVos Fieldhouse.  You can say everything goes out the window in a game like this, much like a Michigan/Ohio St football game but the truth of the matter is Hope is a better team playing in their friendly confines.  Yes, it's difficult to beat a good team three times in the same season but reflecting on what I have heard about the three games is that Hope dominated two of the three and didn't close out the third that they were in control of.  If Calvin wants any chance to win tonight they need to come out on fire like Marcus VanderHeide and the Flying Dutchman did last night and hope to hold on because once the superior team catches their stride, there's no slowing them down.

Hope by double digits.

[bulldogalum]

Well, unable to score a ticket to the big game today, I had to settle for the second biggest game in the state...Michigan v. Indiana.  Hopefully big blue can send the seniors off with a win, and I can make it back in time to listen to the Hope/Calvin broadcast online.  They don't sell Hudsonville Ice Cream over here, at least not anywhere I've looked, but I have some mighty fine Stroh's Ice Cream to snack on during the game.

[northb]

Hope dominated two of the three and didn't close out the third that they were in control of.  If Calvin wants any chance to win tonight they need to come out on fire like Marcus VanderHeide and the Flying Dutchman did last night and hope to hold on because once the superior team catches their stride, there's no slowing them down.

Hope by double digits.

You seem to contradict yourself--isn't what Calvin did in the "Veldhouse Game" exactly that, took the "superior team" out of their stride?

[Shareef23]

sac, no offense but any game involving a team that has lost to Grace Bible College can not be viewed as the main event.  
Anyway, I believe I took more flack for wearing an orange sweater in the Dick from my Calvin friends than I have taken for anything in my life.
The reffing in the first half of the Calvin game was rough, but the second half was one of the best I have seen all season.
The hat incident. You know stealing things is always kind of low, but I think it was done in good fun. And seeing it was only in the Dew Crew's hands for what five min. I'll chaulk it down as borrowing. It's not like she took the hat from the little kid or something. I think a college student should be able to keep his hands on his own hat anyway.

[realist]

All logic would seem to say that Hope has a decided edge for tonights game.
My head tells me the same thing, however my heart thinks things look even better for Calvin than they did before the first game at Knollcrest.  In that game it felt like Hope had been caught reading their own press clippings, and they only had to show up to win.  When Calvin didn't rollover and play dead Hope (both coaches, and players) seemed to tighten up and their play got very tentative.  Calvin did some of this last Sat. as well.
Tonight we see a Calvin team that can come in with nothing to lose.  If they can shake last weeks performance, and come in and have fun, and let the ball fly they have a shot.  In this game Hope needs to control tempo and really play defense.  If Calvin hangs around or gets a hot streak Hope may really tighten up.  I bet they all know that D3.com has picked them to go all the way.  They didn't need that extra pressure, and that makes one tentative.  Calvin by 3.
Few Hope fans had enough confidence in their team to predict last nights blowout.  I said 22.  I also said triple digits, but I really expected Hope's deep bench to perform better.

[Shareef23]

Wow, I'm up to -5. I recieved my first positve Karma ever.

[knightmoves]

Calvin by 2 in 5 OTs, with Mekkes hitting a desperation 3 with .5 seconds left.
Everyone is entitled to dream. Of course, all the people over 50 would be dead by the end of the game.

[oldknight]

A couple of non basketball thoughts.

The hat incident was something I certainly wouldn't encourage as a parent but it isn't the worst thing that has happened in the history of The Rivalry either. It beats defacing the garage of Hope's president that's for sure. That one was just downright malicious. I guess with hat the incident we are assuring that another generation of Calvin/Hope is getting "properly" introduced into the intensity of each school's passions thereby guaranteeing at least another half century of pransterism between the two communities. My son thought the hat incident was funny but that's only because he lacks the maturity level of his father.  Or is that of his mother?

Does anyone know why Doug Wentworth didn't do the call for the second game last night? I know he is Calvin's basketball announcer but he does do Hope football in the fall and he was there anyway so why wouldn't he do the Hope game too? When I left at the half of the Hope game, my son saw Doug seated at a table in the media room eating something. He couldn't see what was being consumed but I would assume it was a bowl of Hudsonville Ice Cream.

[MIdoubleA]

I really expected Hope's deep bench to perform better.

What do you mean? When the starters left they were up by 30. When the second string left they were up by 35, when the game was done they won by 42. Not only did our deep bench play WITH them, they built the lead up! Sure it was sloppy basketball at times... but they nonetheless continued to beat on Wisc-Luth.

And by the way, where is our Wisconsin friend that was commenting on a sure upset? I'd like to know what he thought of the game  

[Pat Coleman]

A couple of other thoughts from last night.

I was expecting more from the Wisconsin teams. I expected Hope to win by a comfortable margin but 42 points? That's embarrassing.

Did you look at who Hope was playing? You don't get to be a third-place finisher in the Lake Michigan Conference by being a great team.

[oldknight]

A couple of other thoughts from last night.

I was expecting more from the Wisconsin teams. I expected Hope to win by a comfortable margin but 42 points? That's embarrassing.

Did you look at who Hope was playing? You don't get to be a third-place finisher in the Lake Michigan Conference by being a great team.

I know, I know, but the margin still surprised me.

[dren]

excited, confident and nauseous