MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[hope1]

final  hope  73  elhurst  53   good game for hope phillips with   22

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Hope 70 Elmhurst 53

Hope was up by 10 at the half (31-21).  Opened the 2nd half with a little run to be up 39-24.  Elmhurst then caught fire and went on a 14-0 run.  The lead then changed back and forth with each team leading by 1 point several times.  With about 9 minutes or so left, the game was tied at 47.  From that point on Hope outscored Elmhurst 23 - 6. The Hope defense was awesome (in the first half anf the last 9 minutes) holding a pretty impressive team to 53 points. 

The two pre-season All-Americans showed why they were picked.  Chris Martin had some awesome moves to the hoop, and can shoot the 3.  I must say he has a bit of a temper, and was involved in 2 extremely hard fouls (one of which was intentional).

Andy Phillips was in fine form - looking like the sophomore that was the league MVP.  22 points - 7 reb - 3 ast - 2 stls - 1 turnover in 34 minutes.

Greg Immink was equally impressive - great to have him back.  He played 35 minutes, and really had control when in the game.  His 11 first half points lead both teams.

The Fieldhouse was awesome, and rocking.  Hug Dew Crew section - I would guess about 350.  Intro of the players was like an NBA game - lights go down - spots on the players as they are introduced.  Just a really impressive place.

[ScotsFan]

You heard it here first, the first game for Hope WILL NOT be at the DeVos, unless there is a miracle.

So I take it Hope pulled some strings with the big guy upstairs to get that game in tonight?

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Either that, or "a guy" is actually a Calvin Student   

[Civic Minded]

goodknight -- always glad to give credit where credit is due! 

tniem -- how the heck are ya?  Where are ya?  Sure do miss you here.  Had to go introduce ourselves to brand new Dew Crew guys (well, new to us).  Weird and sad.  But they seem nice enough, and will probably grow on us!   

Anyone know why my screen name is the abbreviation (cvc) instead of my full, grand and glorious Civic Minded?

The pregame bruhaha was simply over the top.  Two swirling spotlights, a real sound system, you'll think you're at a Piston's game.  But since its for "my" team, I guess I'll just enjoy it.  I'm sure there will be detractors any day now.

FDF covered the game highlights.  I would just add that Carlson is faster than I ever remember (soccer conditioning seems to have served him well), and Cramer can jump through the ceiling.  Gotta love it!

Draayer and Meckes were in the house.  Wonder what they thought...

[Civic Minded]

Nevermind on the name thing...looks like I figured out how to change it after all.   

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Couple more thoughts from last night - Carlson (as Civic Minded mentioned) looked great.  I'm sure the soccer conditioning has paid huge dividends for him in basketball - not to mention he's pretty good soccer player.  He seems to finally be fully recovered from his knee injury from 2 seasons ago.  He played great D on Martin.

VanderHeide looks to be the biggest impact from a new comer - having a 6'7" guy who can move well and take care of the ball at the 3 just makes Phillips at the 4 that much tougher to guard.

Cramer - 4 assists - 10 points - and can still jump out of the gym.  Great for him to have the first dunk in the new place - a break away 2-handed 180.

Love the picture on the front page - I'm actually in it (well the back of my orange hat covered head is).

2 games in (for everyone but Hope) and everyone but Hope & Calvin with a loss.  I'm a little surprised.

And to show you how Civic Minded is the perfect name for a certain poster - yesterday CM commented about stopping for something on the way to the Civic!!

[goodknight]

Well, CM, I can't assert any special powers of prognostication, but I was eerily close to calling the final score of yesterday's Calvin-Whitworth championship tilt, as well.  Just before the opening tip, my cousin Randy leaned over and asked for a prediction and I blurted out, "82-63, the Knights."

He arched both eyebrows immediately in astonishment -- not that I'd picked the Knights to win (I'm a homer, too!), but that I had them scoring more than 80 points when they only mustered 71 against Grace Bible's defense.

Whitworth looks to be a middle-tier MIAA team with three very strong players in the starting lineup, and not too much beyond that.  Calvin was looking like a lower-tier MIAA squad until KVS called a timeout after a 14-3 Whitworth run to open the second half put the Knights in a 55-43 hole.

Providentially, the Whitworth coach decided it was time to take the air out of the ball and run some clock -- at which point the Pirates lost their flow and Calvin came scrapping back.  The Knights played inspired defense -- Dustin Smith was a dervish -- and both Trewhella and Draayer stepped up with 25 and 20 points, respectively.

I'm expecting that Ferris State on Tuesday will be a very, very big challenge for the young Knights.  FSU has opened with two road losses after a preseason ranking in the Top 20 of NCAA D2. and they are likely to be snarling.

As for the thoughts of Mr. Draayer and Mr. Meckes at the DeVos,  I can only speculate that they were thinking that it would be grand fun to open up a giant jar of whoopass on the Flying Dutchman the first time they suit up against the orange and blue in DeVos Fieldhouse.  But I wasn't there.

[hopefan]

Actually, Goodknight, I hypothesize they were rooting for the Dutchmen - what would be better than UNDEFEATED Calvin vs UNDEFEATED Hope in January

[tniem]

tniem -- how the heck are ya?  Where are ya?  Sure do miss you here.  Had to go introduce ourselves to brand new Dew Crew guys (well, new to us).  Weird and sad.  But they seem nice enough, and will probably grow on us!   

Civic,  I am living just south of Washington D.C. with my wife.  I work for a government affairs office of a national health membership organization.  Been a big change but lots of fun.  And I will be back in Holland for the games over Christmas (Dec 28/29th).  Not quite as fun as during school with the Dew Crew but hopefully I will at least get to see the stadium and a lot of friends.


Re: the Game: Sounds like a successful first game.  Did it appear that Elmhurst lived up to their ranking or were they overrated in the early season?  And most importantly, how loud does it get in DeVos?

[NW Hope Fan]

hopefan,

I have a feeling Hope and Calvin will meet this weekend in GR. If that is the case Calvin will come to Holland in January with at least one loss

[goodknight]

Actually, Goodknight, I hypothesize they were rooting for the Dutchmen - what would be better than UNDEFEATED Calvin vs UNDEFEATED Hope in January

That's a fantasy scenario... and so far, so good. 8)
I really like Hope's chances of getting past Andrews this week, but the Knights will probably need both Hoekstra and Roelofs -- and maybe Veenstra -- to suit up to hang with the Bulldogs of Ferris State on Tuesday.

[oldknight]

My impressions of the 2005-06 Knights (based entirely on seeing the Whitworth matchup):

1. The Knights will struggle this year. The loss of an interior player who can create his own shot (i.e., Aultman) was a replacement challenge the moment the consolation game ended in Salem.  But the "retirement" of Hoekstra and Roelofs was a fatal blow to the Knights' chances to be a serious challenger for the MIAA title. A 9-5 record and a third place finish would be a good season for this team. They simply have no interior player who can be expected to score consistently, no one who can be given the ball and score on his own when their offense is struggling. The Knights' perimeter shooting is very good but you don't win championships strictly by shooting the 3. Goodnight is right that Whitworth is basically a mid-tier MIAA team--and the Knights' struggled at home with them even while shooting the 3 very well. In fact, I think the Knights would have lost except for the most mystifying (and worst) coaching move I have seen in a long time. Whitworth was in the process of running Calvin right out of the gym when they chose to slow the game down, totally changing the feel and momentum of the game.

2. Calvin's 2 new guards (Veldhouse and Smith) are keepers. Smith is lightening quick and both handle the ball very well. I wouldn' be surprised to see Veldhouse played some 2 guard after Trewhella graduates. Calvin seems set at the guard position for a while.

[sac]

For those who were wondering:  Barcelona 3 Real Madrid 0


The last time Albion gave up 88 points, other than to a team named Tri-State was 2 year ago in the memorable 100-65 thrashing at the hands of Calvin. 

UMD shot 56% in both halves against the Brits, looks like the inside D was MIA.  Thats a shocking loss to me, UMD's 4 losses don't look like they were to good teams either, although granted I know nothing of Cumberland, Travecca Nazerine, Notre Dame (the NAIA school) or Walsh.


Have to congratulate my Dutchmen for the IMPRESSIVE win over a highly touted Elmhurst squad....at least on the CCIW page.  The Bluejays are picked 2nd or 3rd by most in their conference and in the CCIW thats saying something.  We'll see where Elmhurst finishes the season as pre-season top 25 teams are notorious for being overated after the #10 spot.  Hope has had a pretty lousy record outside the conference vs top 25 D3 teams as of late, so this is a nice little hurdle to clear in the first game.


When I left the scrimmage last week I was very confident Hope had the fire power to win the MIAA on offense, but the scrimmage showed nothing to me on defense.  Sounds like the D will be just fine and that makes me happy.

Question for the Hope'ers who were at the game.....any reason Tyler Wolfe didn't play? 

I'll get my first live game action Tuesday against the previously mentioned Andrews, hopefully, I have a busy week.

  For the poster who asked about whether Andrews was any good........in 2004 the 11-15 Comets beat Andrews 105-48 so it looks like Andrews has improved.

Andrews is a small college in Berrien Springs whose athletic program is no more than 3 or 4 years old I think.    They'll have played 9 games by Tuesday and I'm certain they'll be looking for win #1.

The last score update for their site lists a 111-35 drubbing by Robert Morris of NAIA.  By the time they suit up against Hope it will be their 4th game in 5 nights and coming off a Monday night game against Dubuque University.  Also, if your wondeing if the JV squad could beat Andrews we'll find out since they play the Hope and Olivet JV squads later this year.

...oh yeah and did I mention their talest player appears to be 6-2. 

With the "bank sponsor of the year" classic coming up next weekend I don't think we're going to see a whole lot of the starting 5.

[sac]

WARNING: Gratuitous arena pictures, view only if you have no aversion to things Hope or Orange!

http://hollandsentinel.com/images/112005/20512_512.jpg

http://hollandsentinel.com/images/112005/20513_512.jpg


Thats an impressive place when decked out.