MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[HopeConvert]

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.

Apparently the video quality must be very good, because I received a text from OK during the second half instructing me to pass his greetings to the behatted gentlemen sitting next to me, who happened to be OK's middle school basketball coach. I introduced myself, and he and I enjoyed a nice conversation about the rivalry, Hope basketball, and perhaps a joke or two at OK's expense.

[HOPEful]

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.

My wife missed the game due to not feeling well but watched at home. I received multiple texted during the action how amazing the broadcast was. She said, "I know you think UWSP has the best live stream in D3, but Hope's tonight is way better!"

[goodknight]

Friends and family members of legendary Knight Mark Veenstra are urgently requesting prayers for his health. Veenstra, a gentle giant of a man who helped Calvin dominate the MIAA and everyone else in the mid-1970s before becoming an orthopedic surgeon, is battling prostate cancer that has spread alarmingly. If inclined, please join me in offering prayers for comfort and healing for Mark and those who love him.

[oldknight]

A few more thoughts from yesterday's Alma/Calvin game:

--It was a big game--a huge game really--for both teams, with an atmosphere somewhat like a Calvin/Hope game. The Knights looked tentative throughout, almost as if they were the road team feeling intimidated by a hostile crowd. Tentativeness is the natural fruit of uncertainty and several of Calvin's key players have never played an important role in a big game. They need to learn from it, not feel sorry for themselves.

--Alma looked like a team that expected to win. The Scots are not just talented, they're pretty veteran too, very composed and confident, and never showed one bit of uncertainty. Their confidence in a game as big as yesterday's bodes well for their postseason possibilities.

--Very nice crowd at VNA with 2275 attending. Part of that was supplemented by an excellent showing from Alma as they filled the stands behind their bench and spilled over into end zone seating. Other than Hope, I can't remember another visiting team doing that.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

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!

I am a fan of the upgrade with Hope over the years as well... but can you guys do us pros a favor? Stop switching camera shots in the middle of the play and never go to the close-up shot during the flow of the play/on offense.

I offer you a piece of advice and a suggestion:
   - Advice: watch college sports done by ESPN, CBS, NBC, etc. Don't get distracted by all the bells and whistles, but notice when they go to close up shots and when they leave well enough alone. Take notes and practice them. Just because you have the bells and whistles doesn't mean you use them as often as you possibly can.
   - Suggestion: I am happy to have a quick conversation with whomever wants it to answer some basic questions or pass on advice. I consult and oversee several video productions at colleges as my actual job... coming from a long TV production background. I would be happy to give some of my thoughts away for free - without going so far my wife wonders why I am not paying the bills with the advice.

[sac]

Due to my past postings related to Hope's long winding road to video, would it be ungrateful of me to start requesting video archives?   Too soon?

[GreatScot!?]

Big game Wednesday in Angola as the Scots travel south to play Trine. Wondering how Trines performance Saturday is going to effect them? They could come angry wanting vengeance or maybe they unravel a little more. My biased hopes are with the latter, but will be interesting nonetheless. In other news it was nice to see the Scots win at Calvin for the first time since '99! Thought Calvin actually made some tough shots in the first, while Alma missed some good ones, especially Jason Beckman going 1-5 on open 3 pointers. Maybe he's finally regressing to his statistical mean. Calvin looked more tentative in the second half and the Scots capitalized to make it a 22 point victory. Alma's archives do not go back very far and I was wondering if the Scots have ever started their conference schedule 4-0? I was told the new SID is going to buff up the archives this spring!

[KnightSlappy]

A few more thoughts from yesterday's Alma/Calvin game:

--It was a big game--a huge game really--for both teams, with an atmosphere somewhat like a Calvin/Hope game. The Knights looked tentative throughout, almost as if they were the road team feeling intimidated by a hostile crowd. Tentativeness is the natural fruit of uncertainty and several of Calvin's key players have never played an important role in a big game. They need to learn from it, not feel sorry for themselves.

--Alma looked like a team that expected to win. The Scots are not just talented, they're pretty veteran too, very composed and confident, and never showed one bit of uncertainty. Their confidence in a game as big as yesterday's bodes well for their postseason possibilities.

--Very nice crowd at VNA with 2275 attending. Part of that was supplemented by an excellent showing from Alma as they filled the stands behind their bench and spilled over into end zone seating. Other than Hope, I can't remember another visiting team doing that.

Alma can flat-out score the ball. They pass well, and it seems everyone can shoot from outside. Going back to our points per weighted shot discussion from a few days ago, the Scots are leading the MIAA with 1.27 points per attempt to score this season . Hope and Trine are tied for the next best at 1.09 and Calvin is 4th at 1.07.

Alma is basically scoring like they're a team full of Jordan Brinks.

[sac]

It would be interesting to see how that team would change if they were asked to play man-to-man defense.  The 2-3 zone and its variations works very well for them.

[HopeConvert]

It will also be interesting to see how team's adjust to Alma the second time through the league. They are talented in addition to being well-coached. Bradfield was something of a revelation against Hope. DJ Beckman, if I remember right, only scored 7 against us. They have a lot of guys who can play. Trevor Gernaat? Yep, as it turns out.

Hope's zone helped with the high ball screen, but Alma is a good outside shooting team. I'm trying to remember how many, but Nikodemski had more than a few 18 footers with a hand in his face. If he's going to hit those low-efficiency shots, they're tough to beat.

[sac]

Big game Wednesday in Angola as the Scots travel south to play Trine. Wondering how Trines performance Saturday is going to effect them? They could come angry wanting vengeance or maybe they unravel a little more. My biased hopes are with the latter, but will be interesting nonetheless. In other news it was nice to see the Scots win at Calvin for the first time since '99! Thought Calvin actually made some tough shots in the first, while Alma missed some good ones, especially Jason Beckman going 1-5 on open 3 pointers. Maybe he's finally regressing to his statistical mean. Calvin looked more tentative in the second half and the Scots capitalized to make it a 22 point victory. Alma's archives do not go back very far and I was wondering if the Scots have ever started their conference schedule 4-0? I was told the new SID is going to buff up the archives this spring!

If you feel like sifting through a lot of archives,  MIAA.org now has 'season reviews' online going back to the late 1950's. 
http://miaa.org/sports/mbkb/webarchives

I can tell you the Scots last won the MIAA in 1978 when they shared it with Albion.  Alma started 5-0 as did Adrian, I really doubt they've had any season that started that well since, at least I can't recall one and my memory goes back to around 1991.
http://static.psbin.com/p/n/3f1mos7l4gue9o/mbb78.pdf


As an aside, in that 1978 season Alma beat Albion in the first game 76-65, a few weeks later they met with Albion trailing the Scots and probably Adrian by one game in the standings.  Albion defeated Alma 102-101 in 4 OT's.  If anyone can remember that game I'd sure like to hear about it.

Interesting thing is both would lose 1 more game each, to Hope of all teams who had accumulated 6  league losses at the time of their back-to-back wins over the league leaders.  In a great twist of modern irony, it was Hope that denied Albion the outright title by beating the Britons twice that year.  Alma defeated Adrian on the final day to win their own share of the title and deny Adrian.   Looks like a pretty interesting season.

[GreatScot!?]

Big game Wednesday in Angola as the Scots travel south to play Trine. Wondering how Trines performance Saturday is going to effect them? They could come angry wanting vengeance or maybe they unravel a little more. My biased hopes are with the latter, but will be interesting nonetheless. In other news it was nice to see the Scots win at Calvin for the first time since '99! Thought Calvin actually made some tough shots in the first, while Alma missed some good ones, especially Jason Beckman going 1-5 on open 3 pointers. Maybe he's finally regressing to his statistical mean. Calvin looked more tentative in the second half and the Scots capitalized to make it a 22 point victory. Alma's archives do not go back very far and I was wondering if the Scots have ever started their conference schedule 4-0? I was told the new SID is going to buff up the archives this spring!

If you feel like sifting through a lot of archives,  MIAA.org now has 'season reviews' online going back to the late 1950's. 
http://miaa.org/sports/mbkb/webarchives

I can tell you the Scots last won the MIAA in 1978 when they shared it with Albion.  Alma started 5-0 as did Adrian, I really doubt they've had any season that started that well since, at least I can't recall one and my memory goes back to around 1991.
http://static.psbin.com/p/n/3f1mos7l4gue9o/mbb78.pdf


As an aside, in that 1978 season Alma beat Albion in the first game 76-65, a few weeks later they met with Albion trailing the Scots and probably Adrian by one game in the standings.  Albion defeated Alma 102-101 in 4 OT's.  If anyone can remember that game I'd sure like to hear about it.

Interesting thing is both would lose 1 more game each, to Hope of all teams who had accumulated 6  league losses at the time of their back-to-back wins over the league leaders.  In a great twist of modern irony, it was Hope that denied Albion the outright title by beating the Britons twice that year.  Alma defeated Adrian on the final day to win their own share of the title and deny Adrian.   Looks like a pretty interesting season.

Your memory going back to 1991 is better than my going back to 2012 haha! I figured it had been a long time since the Scots started off this well. Thanks for doing some digging for me. The '78 season sounds like it was a doozy!

After seeing how the team defended in the beginning of last season in man defense, Hargraves smartly made the switch to the 2-3 based on the personnel. Offensively there are just so many weapons and not every one needs to have a great game to get a win. As noted, it will be interesting to see how teams play the Scots after making some adjustments. I have some suggestions, but not going to put them on here!

[sac]

Mlive article on the Beckman family.
http://highschoolsports.mlive.com/news/article/-4989158627773267189/small-town-family-in-shelby-cranks-out-big-time-basketball-talent/#incart_river_home

[GreatScot!?]

Mlive article on the Beckman family.
http://highschoolsports.mlive.com/news/article/-4989158627773267189/small-town-family-in-shelby-cranks-out-big-time-basketball-talent/#incart_river_home

So glad I have the blessing of knowing the family and be friends with the two oldest sons!

[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!

I am a fan of the upgrade with Hope over the years as well... but can you guys do us pros a favor? Stop switching camera shots in the middle of the play and never go to the close-up shot during the flow of the play/on offense.

I offer you a piece of advice and a suggestion:
   - Advice: watch college sports done by ESPN, CBS, NBC, etc. Don't get distracted by all the bells and whistles, but notice when they go to close up shots and when they leave well enough alone. Take notes and practice them. Just because you have the bells and whistles doesn't mean you use them as often as you possibly can.
   - Suggestion: I am happy to have a quick conversation with whomever wants it to answer some basic questions or pass on advice. I consult and oversee several video productions at colleges as my actual job... coming from a long TV production background. I would be happy to give some of my thoughts away for free - without going so far my wife wonders why I am not paying the bills with the advice.

Dave, thanks for the input. I have shared the same frustration at times with the camera work for the past couple years that I've been calling games. We'll keep improving.