MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[SKOT]

two quick points....

1. the posts following the two even numbered rivalry games have shown us who the more mature posters are and who the less mature posters are.  for better or worse, you learn a lot about others when they are faced with adverse situations.  

2. we need someone to start taking away karma for TERRIBLE grammar.  the last 4 or 5 pages represent some of the worst English i have ever seen out of adults.  it just makes it that much harder to read the huge mass of post-game posts!

[sac]

You spelled grammer wrong SKOT. 

[dothedew]

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

me think sac shlold get have lot karmas 4 his posted.

[sac]

Wow look at this

Minutes played

Calvin
Veldhouse 29
Draayer 27
Trewhella 28
Snoeyink 23
Meckes 24

Hope
Immink 34
Cramer 33
Phillips 29
VanderHeide 23
Voisin 31

I thought Hope looked exhausted in the last few minutes.  Calvin got 17 more minutes out of their bench.

[flash96]

I didn't hear too many negative taunts during the game, never heard what the nine year old children were saying.  I was paying more attention to the game than the fans.  I didn't hear the Calvin cheer that KVS put a stop to.  All I heard from the Calvin side was a bunch of noise.  I was sitting behind the student section and everything was a roar during the game.  At one point I made a comment to my friend and I had to yell it, in order to be heard.

When is the Sectional site announced today?

[SKOT]

the only time grammar has an E in it is when you are talking about the actor Kelsey Grammer.  and i dont think anyone has noticed that he has existed for a good 10 years now!   

[Flying Dutch Fan]

If we won't be playing at home (which I doubt will happen), I HOPE we go to Wittenberg.  Their arena seats 3000, while Transy's seats 1200.  In other words, at Witt Hope gets about 500 tickets, at Transy about 200 (unless they clear the gym between games).  Location wise, Transy makes more sense - but it's still 600+ miles from Clinton, Mississippi.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

the only time grammar has an E in it is when you are talking about the actor Kelsey Grammer.  and i dont think anyone has noticed that he has existed for a good 10 years now!   

True - but the letter i is always capitalized when referring to ones self.

[dothedew]

so um yeah...i guess i get neg karma...for not thinking of the spelling myself...

WE NEED TO GET BACK TO BASKETBALL.

[kcrest]

Playing with heart is an overused sports axiom, and its often given to the underdogs that over perform more so than the expected winner.

I thought both Hope and Calvin played tough gritty basketball last night.  If you want an example of Hope playing with heart you need look no further than the 3 or 4 offensive rebounds in a row that gave Hope the ball in the final 3 minutes.  That was all effort and a "thats MY ball" attitude.


I think its funny some people expected Hope to roll over Calvin...........that almost never happens in this rivalry.  Somehow Hope's not a good team because they couldn't beat the conference champs by a wider margin. 

I saw two of D3's better teams last night.

I think Hope pretty much rolled over Calvin in two of the first three games this year, including a hammer job at DeVos the first time.  But I would not say that Hope is not a good team b/c they didn't smoke Calvin last night.  I predicted they would but I was hoping they wouldn't (obviously).  Sometimes it's easier to think the worst!

I do think that top to bottom Hope has more talent than Calvin.  Someone said they didn't think Calvin had a single player who would start for Hope and I'm inclined to agree with that.

Also, Hope posters on this board earlier this season said they didn't think Hope had what it would take to get to Salem.  One poster said they were missing that "spark."  The arrival of DVS was said to be a good thing b/c it might add that intangible.

I guess I would still wonder whether Hope has that spark, that intangible.  That's a tough thing to asess.  T

he other thing I worry about with Hope is the inside game.  Voisin seems to be unsure about whether or not he wants to be a 5 or a 3.  In my experience at the Final Four - and I've been to four of them with Calvin - you need a strong post player to win it all.  Come crunch time it's not a luxury, but a necessity to be able to get the ball deep and get the tough inside hoop.  So, time will tell whether Hope can muster up something from the 5 spot or whether they defy the odds and go all the way with a 5 who likes to spot up and hit the 3-ball.

If Hope goes to Witt that's a tough place to play.  Calvin went down there in 1990 and shocked Witt.  And then of course the Knights won their first title at Witt in 1992.  It's a big gym with great sightlines.  It'd be a fun trip for the Hope faithful.  Not much to do in Springfield though.  Good luck Dutch!

[EC Knight]

My post last night was far too long as it was, but I did not included everything I wanted to say. My next point:

Great job Hope on an incredible facility. I was in Hawaii on Interim for Calvin/Hope I, so I did not make it to the Devos until Friday night. I was amazed, and shame on anyone who puts it down. There are plenty of seats in there in my opinion. Maybe not for a game like Calvin/Hope IV, but that kind of game comes along about once a decade it seems....

dothedew: Sorry for the length of my first post. I want you to know that I intend it to be the first of many. Over time, I hope that I prove my judgment worthy as other respected posters have. That said, I will question the heart of everyone on that team that disappeared in crunch time last night. So in other words, everyone but Immink and Cramer. The team did well on their free throws and their press confused our point guards. Their press will not confuse other veteran point guards as easily, nor will they get as many free throws when they run into a crew that makes the players play the whole game. Then they will have to get in done another way. Here's to Immink and Cramer making it happen.

Yeah, "heart" may be an overused axiom in sports, but that is because of its importance to be the last one standing among equally and extremely talented competitors. I saw a Calvin team last year get further then they should because of heart. I saw a Hope team last year that underproduced because of the lack of it. This year, the same happened for Calvin, and I hope the same does not to Hope, but I fear it will.

From here on out, I will try to limit myself to one paragraph for at least the next 5 or so posts.  

[kcrest]

Wow look at this

Minutes played

Calvin
Veldhouse 29
Draayer 27
Trewhella 28
Snoeyink 23
Meckes 24

Hope
Immink 34
Cramer 33
Phillips 29
VanderHeide 23
Voisin 31

I thought Hope looked exhausted in the last few minutes.  Calvin got 17 more minutes out of their bench.

I think one of the reasons Calvin won a lot of close games this year was b/c of the strength of the bench.  A lot of teams seemed tired the last five playing against Calvin.  I also think every one of those bench guys got better from November to March (says a lot about KVS in my opinion that guys invariably improve like crazy in his system).  Look at the work of Zoerhof this weekend vs where he was at the VanAndel Arena tourney. 

[kcrest]

Since Dren hasn't begun d3hockey.com yet let me note that according to Calvin SID Jeff Febus' sports report the Knights took third at the ACHA Division III Tournament with a 7-3 victory over Penn State-Berks in the consolation final Saturday afternoon.  Calvin closes out its season with a 25-5-1 overall record.  The third-place finish is the second in the last four years as the Knights were third in 2003 then captured the national title in 2004.

Closing out their careers on Saturday were Calvin seniors Dan DeKorne (Grand Rapids Christian HS), Matt Evans (New Alexandra, PA), Nate Heuker (South Christian HS), Max Sieplinga (Grand Rapids Christian HS), Dave Veeneman (Grand Rapids Christian HS) and Nick VerKuyl (Whitby, ON).

Now back to basketball.   

[Shareef23]

There was a weak call on Phillips on an inbounds for his fourth.

This call was made on an inbounds play following a fould call. At that point in the game the team fouls were something like 10-2. I think the refs realized this and made to ticky tack calls. As Phillips did the exact same thing when Calvin inbounded the ball to Meckes in the same fashion as the play before.

[dothedew]

Hope is headed to Witt...according to hope.edu


The Flying Dutchmen will travel to Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio for the NCAA Division III Sectional Tournament next Friday, the NCAA has announced. Hope (28-2) will play the host Tigers (27-3) in the second game of Friday's doubleheader at a time to be announced. The first game will pit Mississippi College (28-1) against Transylvania, Ky. (26-4). Friday's winners will meet on Saturday at a time to be announced.



one game at a time...GO HOPE!