MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[iwumichigander]

This week Alma officially made a joke of their pre-season predicted fourth place finish. Hope has their work cut out for themselves if they expect to win the regular season conference championship. The Scots combine a suffocating half court trapping zone on defense with a terrific transition game and quick ball movement on offense. Calvin was bedeviled by the same style last year but it was obvious from the opening tip that the Knights had no confidence in their ability to solve it. Calvin was lucky to be down 7 at the break but a miserable shooting second half (8-28 overall, 0-10 from the arc) fueled the rout. Truth be told though, it seemed most of Calvin's shots were rushed as Alma almost appeared to have six defenders on the floor at all times. I was surprised to see Calvin only made 13 turnovers but most of them turned into quick and easy buckets on the other end as Alma made 19 points off turnovers vs. two for Calvin. This is the best Alma team I have seen since the 70's. This isn't the Alma team of even a couple of years ago when DJ Beckman had to play well to give them a shot at winning. DJ is still an important player but he looks more like one of several good players as Sammy Hargraves has a well balanced team with size, quickness, depth and great ball handlers. One of the best passing teams in the MIAA in some time.

We have the debate (almost every year) debating the merits of a conference tournament.  This maybe one season Hope fans will be happy to have a conference tournament?

[arena]

Alma over Calvin 86-64.  When the time comes for a new coach at Calvin (whenever that might be), I have a suggestion for the list of candidates.

ttoo bad he'll be on to bigger things and bigger schools.

[arena]

I'm kinda wondering if Alma just had the single best week in MIAA history?  By eleven (at home) over #4 Hope, then a total demolition of Calvin in Grand Rapids.   (It's true that Calvin seems somewhat down this year, but still....)

i don't expect Calvin yo make the MIAA tourny

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'm kinda wondering if Alma just had the single best week in MIAA history?  By eleven (at home) over #4 Hope, then a total demolition of Calvin in Grand Rapids.   (It's true that Calvin seems somewhat down this year, but still....)

i don't expect Calvin yo make the MIAA tourny

I'll assume you view Hope, Alma, and Trine as the top three (pick your order).  Who do you see as #4 knocking out Calvin?  Albion?  Adrian?  (I assume not Olivet or Kazoo ).

[oldknight]

Pretty ragged game at DeVos, though Hope looks good by comparison as Trine has been awful all night long--28 turnovers for the game. Flying Dutchmen had nearly a 30 point lead. 74-51 final. After years of headshaking you gotta give props to Hope's IT Department. Video looks great and they even feature instant replays. Don't know any other schools that do that.

[oldknight]

Mitchell shortened his bench tonight--a lot. Does that mean he has now decided on a rotation? Blackledge is out of the dog house, starting and playing 31 minutes. Otto and Eidson were the only non-starters who played double digit minutes at 18 and 12. Stuive only got 5 minutes. Interesting.

[sac]

Hope's defense was outstanding tonight.  Held Trine w/o a fg for almost 13 minutes.

Trine will be better in Angola for sure

[HopeConvert]

Alma over Calvin 86-64.  When the time comes for a new coach at Calvin (whenever that might be), I have a suggestion for the list of candidates.

ttoo bad he'll be on to bigger things and bigger schools.

I don't disagree.

[HopeConvert]

Mitchell shortened his bench tonight--a lot. Does that mean he has now decided on a rotation? Blackledge is out of the dog house, starting and playing 31 minutes. Otto and Eidson were the only non-starters who played double digit minutes at 18 and 12. Stuive only got 5 minutes. Interesting.

He started a three-guard line-up, with Otto the odd man out.  Struive, as noted, got a lot less floor time, and Blackledge had a nice game, which he (and the team) needed.  Defense was much better than it has been. 

A lot of shots were in and out for Hope in the first half, but that didn't affect their defensive effort. They started dropping in the second half. Carlson's three point shooting was again valuable tonight, especially its timing.

I find it interesting that Mitch is still experimenting with line-ups this late into the season.  One way to think about it would be that he has so ions that he can adjust to his opponent.  I doubt that's it, however. In general, it's not reassuring that the rotation is not yet set. That's my view, at least.

[Winifred Durfee]

Pretty ragged game at DeVos, though Hope looks good by comparison as Trine has been awful all night long--28 turnovers for the game. Flying Dutchmen had nearly a 30 point lead. 74-51 final. After years of headshaking you gotta give props to Hope's IT Department. Video looks great and they even feature instant replays. Don't know any other schools that do that.

As a member of the Hope broadcast team, thank you! We got a new system recently and it's been long overdue. I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the broadcast. We have a good crew that works hard to deliver quality content and we will only continue to improve!

[sac]

Mitchell shortened his bench tonight--a lot. Does that mean he has now decided on a rotation? Blackledge is out of the dog house, starting and playing 31 minutes. Otto and Eidson were the only non-starters who played double digit minutes at 18 and 12. Stuive only got 5 minutes. Interesting.

He started a three-guard line-up, with Otto the odd man out.  Struive, as noted, got a lot less floor time, and Blackledge had a nice game, which he (and the team) needed.  Defense was much better than it has been. 

A lot of shots were in and out for Hope in the first half, but that didn't affect their defensive effort. They started dropping in the second half. Carlson's three point shooting was again valuable tonight, especially its timing.

I find it interesting that Mitch is still experimenting with line-ups this late into the season.  One way to think about it would be that he has so ions that he can adjust to his opponent.  I doubt that's it, however. In general, it's not reassuring that the rotation is not yet set. That's my view, at least.

Hope played an 8 man rotation Wednesday.  They played 10 guys in the first half last night.  That's not a shorter bench by my math.

There is no set rotation and won't really be with this team because he doesn't really have a lot of like for like substitutions.  Trine also went with a smaller lineup tonight, so Hope matched it.  Mitch is, imo, about match-ups and game situation, usually but not limited to the defensive end of things.

[sac]

Trine has been one of the best ball control teams not just in the MIAA but in all of D3 since Brooks Miller arrived in 2011-12.  Driving home I was most curious about this:

Most turnovers for Trine under Brooks Miller:
vs Hope last night                   28
vs Chatham 2015-16               21
vs Aurora  2011-12                 18  (first game coaching Trine)
vs Alma     2012-13                 18
vs Ohio Wesleyan  2014-15   18
vs Indiana Tech 2014-15        17
vs Kalamazoo 2014-15           17
vs MSOE    2012-13                16
vs Calvin   2012-13                 16
vs Heidelberg   2012-13         16

In 3 games vs Hope last year Trine committed a total of 26 turnovers.



This game produced what might become one of my favorite moments watching basketball.  In the second half Coach Miller became so tired of his teams performance he benched all 5 guys and threw 5 new guys on the floor including a couple who had not played yet.   Hope's 5 guys on the floor went crazy, clapping and high five'ing.  But the best part was Brooks Miller didn't say one word to those 5 guys on the bench, didn't look at them, didn't acknowledge them.  Just let them sit there and stew about it.  I loved what Miller did, message sent, probably received.

The return trip to Angola should be super fun.

[TUAngola]

Trine has been one of the best ball control teams not just in the MIAA but in all of D3 since Brooks Miller arrived in 2011-12. 

Didn't watch the video feed of the Trine-Hope game, but caught the game score on my phone a few times.  28 turnovers...all I can say is WOW.  Surprised Hope didn't win by 40 with those type of numbers  As I've mentioned in a few posts commenting on the Trine games I've seen this year, the turnover bug has bitten this team big time, which is so unlike a Brooks Miller coached team.  Will be gut check time in Angola with a red hot Alma team coming in on Wednesday.  If they don't get it figured out this week in practice, it could be another ugly night for the Thunder... 

[arena]

I'm kinda wondering if Alma just had the single best week in MIAA history?  By eleven (at home) over #4 Hope, then a total demolition of Calvin in Grand Rapids.   (It's true that Calvin seems somewhat down this year, but still....)

i don't expect Calvin yo make the MIAA tourny

I'll assume you view Hope, Alma, and Trine as the top three (pick your order).  Who do you see as #4 knocking out Calvin?  Albion?  Adrian?  (I assume not Olivet or Kazoo ).

who beat Calvin Wednesday would be my pick.

[HopeConvert]

This game produced what might become one of my favorite moments watching basketball.  In the second half Coach Miller became so tired of his teams performance he benched all 5 guys and threw 5 new guys on the floor including a couple who had not played yet.   Hope's 5 guys on the floor went crazy, clapping and high five'ing.  But the best part was Brooks Miller didn't say one word to those 5 guys on the bench, didn't look at them, didn't acknowledge them.  Just let them sit there and stew about it.  I loved what Miller did, message sent, probably received.

The return trip to Angola should be super fun.

That was pretty interesting. As I recall, Hope didn't do much with that opportunity, however. But you could see it fire up the Dutchmen.

Hope had 16 turnovers itself, and played a pretty ragged first half. The game was still in doubt at halftime, but Hope "began" the second half on an 18-4 run.

I think Mitch does seem very willing, obviously, to alter his line-ups based on match-ups, but I don't think that's the only thing going on. Coach Davs mentioned in his post-game interview that Otto did a good job accepting his "new role" as a bench player. I think Mitch is still searching for a starting five, one that will give him the defensive effort like they got tonight. And that's pretty atypical this deep into a season.