MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[bballfan13]

The lack of Hope student support at the game was odd to see.  I understand the game started at 6pm but for a student I don't see how that is an issue for 200 of them.  Most college classes end by 5pm unless you are taking a night class (in which you wouldn't be able to attend either way).

Hope usually has an excellent student section throughout the year, it could just be a down year for them as a student section.  It might have been this way even if the game was at 7:30pm.

[TUAngola]

Final from sunny, balmy Angola  ...Trine 72-Kalamazoo 60.  Kzoo came out and punched us in the face right from the get go.  I don't know if we were overconfident from the blowout when we played up there or what.  It was 13-3 before we started to get going.  The Hornets played with a lot of confidence.  We didn't rebound very well on the defensive glass, Kzoo got a lot of 2nd and 3rd shots it seems.  Even though we shot the ball fairly well, the crispness to the offense wasn't there for the 2nd straight game.  12 turnovers which is very un-Trine-like.  Kzoo kept the game close for 35 minutes before Trine had a couple nice runs in the 2nd half to put them up by 19 and then essentially played keep away the rest of the game.  One thing you need to know about Trine, keep them off the free throw line.  They shoot lights out.  Holmquist again was solid, Dixon played a good 2nd half, hit some big shots to get some separation from Kzoo.

Next stretch of games will be brutal for the Thunder.  Alma, Calvin and Albion all on the road.  Are the heavy minutes from the starters going to catch up with the guys going into this next week and a half?  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.  GO TRINE! 

[MaroonKnighty]

The lack of Hope student support at the game was odd to see.  I understand the game started at 6pm but for a student I don't see how that is an issue for 200 of them.  Most college classes end by 5pm unless you are taking a night class (in which you wouldn't be able to attend either way).

Hope usually has an excellent student section throughout the year, it could just be a down year for them as a student section.  It might have been this way even if the game was at 7:30pm.

This isn't grade school.  Attending classes is optional.  Priorities folks!

[MaroonKnighty]

Close game at Kresge

[MaroonKnighty]

Why isn't Vander Brug a starter?

[oldknight]

Calvin had an excellent 10 minute stretch of first half basketball to go from down by 4 points to up by 14. They never could duplicate that period of extended quality play but it was enough to keep Adrian at bay the second half. It's just hard in league play to win comfortably over most opponents who know the Knights so well and know what they have to do to keep the score close. One of the things a Calvin opponent has to do is not let Jordan Brink beat them. Like the game last month at Merillat, Mark White assigned one defender with one simple task--never, ever leave Brink alone under any circumstances, deny the ball as best you can, and when Brink does get the ball have a second defender double immediately to try and force Jordan to pick up his dribble. That kind of defense requires that one or more of Brink's teammates step up and hit shots and two of them did. Both VanderBrug and Parks were up to the task and led the Knights with 17 and 14 respectively. I thought Adrian played a very nice game and I came away very impressed with both Justin Webster and Rickey Jackson--but Webster in particular. The hard working 6'5" sophomore has a future in this league and a reliable and mostly unstoppable baby hook in the lane that helped keep the score close. Calvin shot well from the arc (10-22) but "meh" from the free throw line (15-24) and was particularly poor the second frame hitting only 8-16 to keep the final margin closer than it seemed it should have been. Other game notes:

--Jordan Brink was held to 11 points but only got off 6 floor shots, doing most of his scoring damage from the stripe (7-8). However his impact on the game was substantial and not just because of the fact that all the attention he got freed up teammates for open looks. His willingness to accept the fact that he just wasn't going to be able to score 27 like he did Wednesday allowed him to look for and find teammates who could contribute to the scoring line and that was key to Knights' offense. In addition to dishing 3 assists, Jordan blocked 3 shots grabbed 5 rebounds and suffered zero turnovers in 33 minutes of action. He also made life generally miserable for whatever Adrian player he was guarding. If the MIAA had separate offensive and defensive All-Conference teams he would be on both of them.

--VanderBrug not only saw a bump in minutes played (21), he was on the floor down the stretch with the game on the line. It appears the coaching staff is getting more comfortable with CVB on the floor at critical moments and rightly so. This afternoon he not only shot the ball well; Connor also made a lot of good floor decisions that made him look more veteran like. The youngster has really good hands and it's just easy to deliver the ball to him. Teammates love a relief valve when defensive pressure is up--a guard's best friend.

--Former Hope player, Jordan Denham, played a very nice game for the Bulldogs, logging 34 minutes off the bench and scoring 10.

--A Drew Neitzel sighting at the game today. The former MSU star was seated behind the Calvin bench with the Visser family.

[pointlem]

Nice to see Steve Wittenbach get more minutes--and be a difference-maker--in today's Hope v. Albion game.  Steve is a great 3-point shooter who also rebounds above the rim.  In fact, he's Hope's 2nd leading rebounder (minutes of play per rebound), after Brock Benson.

[sac]

Hope 70  Albion 64

A lot of poise showed by Hope today dealing with a tough opponent and environment at Albion today.  Strong 2nd half from Gardner, Benson and Wittenbach.  Witt hit a pair of 3's that finally gave Hope the lead and a little cushion they played with most of the way.  That's still not the same Albion team I saw beat Elmhurst but it was much better than the one that played in Holland.

Hope doesn't shoot well at Albion very often but they did today, mostly due to great shot selection and pounding the ball in to Benson.  It was probably Hope's defense and a little better 2nd half rebounding effort that gave them the chance to win this one.



Officiating is worth a mention.  I've always felt one of the toughest games to officiate in this league is the Hope at Albion game.  Maybe you have to experience how different it is when Hope plays there but its different and a very tough, passionate environment.  Today's crew were just brutal and all in attendance on both sides probably agree with that assessment.  I've been watching this league 25 years now and cannot remember any game I thought was more poorly officiated overall than this one.   That includes a game where a guy counted a basket that didn't even go in and a game where it was clear Wallace Whitfield just wanted to go home after 2 overtimes and didn't want a third and in the same game, a tournament game, Bill Bradish allowed a team to warm-up for the second half with the freaking game ball.

One of tonight's officials has done 3 games I've watched this year and he's been awful each time.


Anyway, good to get a win at Kresge, always.  Great efforts by both teams.  I have some kind of amazing list of great games I've seen there.

[sac]

+1 or road win, -1 for home loss
Calvin   8-2    +2
Trine     8-2    +2
Hope     7-3    +3
Adrian   5-5    0
Alma     5-5    +1
Albion   3-7    -2
Kzoo     2-8    -3
Olivet    2-8    -3

Remaining games:
Adrian:    Albion, Kzoo, @Alma, @Hope
Albion:    @Adrian, @Olivet, Trine, Calvin
Alma:      Trine, Hope, Adrian, @Kzoo
Calvin:    @Kzoo, Trine, @Olivet, @Albion
Hope:     Olivet, @Alma, Kzoo, Adrian
Kzoo:      Calvin, @Adrian, @Hope, Alma
Olivet:     @Hope, Calvin, @Albion, @Trine
Trine:      @Alma, @Calvin, @Albion, Olivet


Wednesday:
Albion @ Adrian  6pm
Calvin @ Kalamazoo  6pm
Olivet @ Hope 7:30pm
Trine @ Alma  7:30pm

Two really important games on Wednesday with regards to the potential 4 seed.
Albion at Adrian and Trine at Alma.   For Albion its an elimination game really, an 8th loss would put them 3 back of Adrian and with Adrian and Alma yet to play a second time it would be really difficult, but not impossible for Albion to catch either one and win a tie-breaker.  Right now Alma holds the current tie-breaker over Albion by beating Calvin, Adrian holds the current tie-breaker over Albion with a head-to-head win plus a win over Trine.

Nothing else really changed:
Trine and Calvin both control their destiny with the current tie-breaker going to Trine on head-to-head.
Hope improved its #3 positioning by gaining a two game lead over Adrian and Alma

[oldknight]

In what may have been the ugliest game in D3 this season, Carthage lost to Augustana last night, 60-29, their lowest scoring output since 1945. The Red Men were 6-45 from the floor, committed 21 turnovers, and didn't make their first field goal of the game until 2:17 of the first half. Carthage had more points from the free throw line (15) than the field (14). That's hard to do.

[sac]

Offensive foul at Albion Saturday.

[GoKnights68]

Brink named MIAA player of the week

http://www.miaa.org/sports/mbkb/2014-15/index

[wiz]

Offensive foul at Albion Saturday.

Clearly!

[BogeyMan]

My eye sight is going bad.  I should start officiating.  Hope would never foul a Calvin player like that!

[Knight2Day]

A KVS twitter account has started to make an appearance. Quite funny