MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[RastaRob]

Shareef,

You really are opinionated about everything. It is "nice" to see that you are willing to bad mouth anyone and everyone. Even a player that used to be one of yours. Calvin lost. I'm sorry. Please, can you hibernate until next November. Thanks.

[TigerFan_1973]

A couple more Witt coaches that went on to D1, Bob Hamilton who went on to coach at Navy and  Eldon Miller that went on to coach at Ohio State.

Eldon Miller also played on the team that won the Small College title in 1961.  Ray Mears was the coach of that team and he went on to coach at Tennessee.  Mears stayed one more year at Witt and Miller got the job when Mears left.

[kcrest]

There's a sharp twinge of envy here, too, kcrest -- and a very fond memory of a triumphant March weekend in Springfield in 1992.  
Of course, I wish we were making the trip to Wittenberg on Friday, but this may well be Hope's year to get back to the Final Four -- and even get that elusive banner to hang in the DeVos.
Hey, 23-7 ... and an MIAA championship ... and a couple of NCAA tourney games is far more than ANY Calvin fans dared to expect out of this team back in November.  It was a surprising and really fun ride -- and KVS's best coaching performance during his 10 years with Calvin, IMO.
I like what he's doing -- and if he can somehow convince a couple of his top recruits to spurn the C'stone money and come to Calvin, well, I think we'll be making a deeper run in the NCAA tournament in the next few years.
In the meantime, Hopesters, enjoy the opportunity.  You've got a great chance to snag the walnut and bronze.

Yep the cupboard is not bare for next year!    Could be a couple of decent seasons ahead.  My lasting memory of 1992 is Hondo throwing the baseball pass at the end for a Lodewyk dunk to end the win vs Rochester!   

[calvin_grad]

Yep the cupboard is not bare for next year! Could be a couple of decent seasons ahead. My lasting memory of 1992 is Hondo throwing the baseball pass at the end for a Lodewyk dunk to end the win vs Rochester!

I remember that vividly as well.  A two handed double-pump reverse if I remember correctly!! 

My biggest memory may have been getting caught in a snowstorm on the way back to Michigan and watching the car in front of us do a 180 in the middle of the interstate.  We got hit, but luckily the speeds were slow enough that no one was hurt.  We did spend the night at some hotel in the middle of nowhere.

Good luck to Hope and drive safely!

[AndersDY]

Good luck to Hope and drive safely!

Nice to know the Calvin fans return the Dew Crew's concerns about driver safety

[John Rusnak]

Ok, so what is Hope's game plan to beat Wittenberg on Friday?  I think this is going to be a very interesting matchup, but one that Hope can win....curious to know what people think.

[AndersDY]

I don't know that Witt's two bigs are particularly similar to Brandon Crawford (they're taller while Craword is wider), but the Albion games were the big games this year where Hope knew that their focus had to be on a dominant post player. I didn't see the loss down in Albion, but did see the two victories. It appeared that they decided the way to be successful wasn't to try to defend Crawford's moves but defend the passes to prevent him from ever getting to the ball. Seeing as how Voison is the only player who won't be at a size disadvantage to Russ and Borchers, I would imagine that the remaining interior defenders will have a better shot at blocking the passing lanes than trying to stop one of those two once he has the ball. Will immediately doubling down on the post be a dangerous invitation to some 3-point shooting for Witt?

Given there will be two trees to split in the lane, I'm sure Hope's outside shooting needs to return from its 20 minute vacation on Saturday. Cramer and Immink keep showing their quickness in slicing to the basket, but we've also seen Cramer split the entire defense only to find a shot blocker waiting for him at the hoop. I'm guessing we can't plan on too many wide open chances to drive, though the strategy might be to challenge Russ and Borchers in that way and see if some fouls can be drawn.

I haven't seen Witt play in multiple years, so I'm really just throwing out ideas I would expect are brought up when knowing you're playing a team with an inside presence like Witt has. Are any of my suggestions laughably ill-advised, Witt fans? While I'm asking questions, I've never known how I'm supposed to pronouce Borchers, how is that? My Russian isn't so good... 

[MIdoubleA]

Ok, so what is Hope's game plan to beat Wittenberg on Friday?  I think this is going to be a very interesting matchup, but one that Hope can win....curious to know what people think.

With Witt's big men, I'm guessing our inside game isn't going to be a major factor. I wouldn't be suprised to see our big men get rotated quite often in order to defend better, but who knows. Rebounding is going to be a major factor!

Offensively, I think it's going to rely a lot on our 1-3 players, with our shooters really heating up from outside  8)
I can see Cramer having a big game with his ability to penetrate, and I am guessing this is going to be the type of game that's decided at the line down the stretch - for better or worse.

[John Rusnak]

I always call him Borchers, just as it sounds....like Porchers, but I guess that isn't a word either, lol.

I am curious to see what Hope does because I think they will try to play straight up, but I don't think it will work.

IMHO, the best option is to immediately double the post and force their guards, who don't really score, to shoot the ball.  I'd even let them penetrate and take my chances on their ability to finish.

There is no question that Hope's guards are stronger and need to shoot well and penetrate and finish.  They also can hopefully draw some fouls down low, which would definitely shift the game.  I would actually say that Hope could be better off with Russ and Borchers in the game.  If they were on the bench, Witt would have to get more creative and dangerous things happen in those situations.  You're better off having those two in the game and figuring out how to stop them.

Fronting the post isn't a bad idea, but Hope's lack of size makes it easy to lob one of the two guys, but it's worth a shot.  Double teaming is the way to go.

The other option, which I know GVW won't do at first (and maybe at all) is to play a 2-3 or even a 1-3-1 against this team.  Some game film would be nice, but I would bet that a 1-3-1 would be very effective against Witt.

[Civic Minded]

Sheesh, it's only Monday and I'm already having trouble remembering to breathe!     Can't wait for this weekend -- here's HOPEing the Dutchmen bring their best to the table.

Funny moment from the Hoops Club luncheon today.  GVW was showing game film from Hope/Calvin IV, and seriously, nearly the whole room was holding their collective breath as the final seconds played out.  FDF broke the tension by announcing "It's okay, folks, we win."  Hysterical.  It seemed that everyone at once let out a sigh and remembered that we weren't actually currently playing the game.  Funny! 

Question about Witt -- do their guards not score because they aren't talented in that regard, or because they just don't need to with their big men?  Curious...

[AndersDY]

Civic Minded, I know the horse is dead and buried now, but I forgot the Hoops Club luncheon might feature some replay of Saturday's footage. Was assessment made by any in attendace about the voracity of the big offensive foul (if it was shown)? I'm genuinely curious if it looked as solid a hit as I saw or if Immink really did act his way into a gift for Hope.

[sac]

Ok, so what is Hope's game plan to beat Wittenberg on Friday?  I think this is going to be a very interesting matchup, but one that Hope can win....curious to know what people think.

The best option is to try and score more points. 

But seriously, GVW throws some zones out there, I thought we'd see the 1-3-1 more often this year but its been in the bag most of the MIAA season.  Maybe it just isn't affective against Turner and KVS........and lets face it, you don't have to do too much fancy stuff to beat the other 5 MIAA clubs with Hope's groupl

I think this will be a great matchup.......two questions 

1) Has Wittenberg faced a team that plays defense as well as Hope does?

2) Has Hope faced a team that  plays defense as well as Wittenberg does?

I think it will really come down to that.

[Civic Minded]

Civic Minded, I know the horse is dead and buried now, but I forgot the Hoops Club luncheon might feature some replay of Saturday's footage. Was assessment made by any in attendace about the voracity of the big offensive foul (if it was shown)? I'm genuinely curious if it looked as solid a hit as I saw or if Immink really did act his way into a gift for Hope.

From the angle of the Hope camera, it looked even worse than I remembered -- Greg went flying at an angle that would be difficult to "impersonate" in a flop.  (Haven't asked him about it directly though -- he could deserve an Oscar, i don't know.)

It wasn't really discussed, but I did find it interesting that GVW called it a charge, vs. what I saw and assumed was a push-off.  But then again, after seeing today's tape, I could understand the call being a charge.  

As to Sac's question about defense...GVS stated today that Witt plays the best defense in the country.  Now, I assume that's half hype/half truth (coach-speak), but still in all....this will be an intersesting game!

[wiz]

## SUMMARY              GP-GS   Min   FG%  3PT%   FT%  R/G  A/G STL BLK PTS/G
32 Derek Van Solkema...  8-0    9.0  .273  .154 1.000  1.4  0.8   9   0   2.0

Is this the DVS that everyone has been talking about?  Very impressive stats!

Gary, you should think about telling GVW that your son needs more minutes.

[AndersDY]

It sounds like Wooster was not a great defensive team this year. Witt has now also played BW and Transylvania at some point, either of those solid defensive squads? The loss to Wabash was apparently low scoring, but that may not mean the mini-Giants are known for defense since it sounds like it is Witt themselves that prefer the low scores.

I'm sure Calvin and Albion were the toughest defenses that Hope has seen recently. I would be surprised if either of those was quite as tough as Witt, but hopefully they are close enough that Hope will be ready.

And now with #200, I.... have... the power!!!  8)