MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Flying Dutch Fan]

An anomaly in Menomonie

Tee hee, tee hee hee...

[GreatScot!?]

They just honored last year's Alma team at Smith Arena prior to the tipoff of tonight's Augustana @ Alma contest, and when Jason Beckman was introduced in absentia there were scattered boos from the crowd.

Not very classy ... but I'm sure not unexpected either.

I was at the game and didn't hear any boos. Not a whole lot of applause, but maybe it just depended on where you sat. I would say that Alma as a whole is over the issue and wishes Jason the best.

[arena]

This Calvin team is bad. Talent gap with Augustana was enormous. I'm not looking forward to the MIAA season.

[maroonandgold]

This Calvin team is bad. Talent gap with Augustana was enormous. I'm not looking forward to the MIAA season.

I'm not sure that I agree.  Augustana made the Knights look bad in the second half, but was barely able to get the lead by halftime.  Calvin played solid defense and decent offense for one half, fell behind by 5(?) on a prayer as the clock ran out, and really dropped behind when everything Augustana shot dropped in the second half.  They finally lost 79 to 60 and it was not that close.  But Calvin's defense played well much of the game.  Their biggest problem in the first half was free throw misses, and shooting overall is any issue.  For this game especially the coach made a really good move by starting Kronemeyer in place of Trewhella, who will be good but just needs some time to adjust, and Augustana was definitely not the  team to play against without more experience.  Welch really played well with rebounds, defense, and  some nice scoring moves.  He was the first one make some free throws.  I do believe the team will be better in a couple years as the inexperienced players take over.  But right now they have enough rebounding, defense, and size to compete with most teams.  Did you notice that Alma lost to Finlandia, the team that Calvin beat handily?  I still have trouble with believing that.

[arena]

We'll see. I am not at all confident.  Maybe a couple years and new head coach.

[realist]

This Calvin team is bad. Talent gap with Augustana was enormous. I'm not looking forward to the MIAA season.

I'm not sure that I agree. Augustana made the Knights look bad in the second half, but was barely able to get the lead by halftime.  Calvin played solid defense and decent offense for one half, fell behind by 5(?) on a prayer as the clock ran out, and really dropped behind when everything Augustana shot dropped in the second half.  They finally lost 79 to 60 and it was not that close.  But Calvin's defense played well much of the game.  Their biggest problem in the first half was free throw misses, and shooting overall is any issue.  For this game especially the coach made a really good move by starting Kronemeyer in place of Trewhella, who will be good but just needs some time to adjust, and Augustana was definitely not the  team to play against without more experience.  Welch really played well with rebounds, defense, and  some nice scoring moves.  He was the first one make some free throws.  I do believe the team will be better in a couple years as the inexperienced players take over.  But right now they have enough rebounding, defense, and size to compete with most teams.  Did you notice that Alma lost to Finlandia, the team that Calvin beat handily?  I still have trouble with believing that.

Sorry.   The game I watched Calvin made Calvin look bad.     Augustana is good, and the reason they are good is they don't turn the ball over, and every trip down the court is important.  Please, watch the tape, and tell me how Calvin "played defense well".

[arena]

You saw the same game I saw. Bad Bad, Bad.

[realist]

You saw the same game I saw. Bad Bad, Bad.

Well it is a good thing us Calvin fans have the women's volleyball team that will be playing for the national championship in few hours.
Fifth final game (for them) since the men's bball last played in one.
Not to mention the men's soccer program that looks like they will be going to their 4th final four since the men's bball team last went.

[Gregory Sager]

Holy cow! Alma really did lose to Finlandia! And at home, even!

The Scots blew a 21-point second-half lead in this one.

Is this the first time that Finlandia has beaten an MIAA team?

Suomi säännöt kovapuusta!

[oldknight]

This Calvin team is bad. Talent gap with Augustana was enormous. I'm not looking forward to the MIAA season.

Whether you know it or not, that's hyperbole. Augustana has more weapons than Calvin, no doubt about that, but Augustana has more weapons than almost everyone else in D3 too. TitanQ is a pretty close observer of all things CCIW and he flatly stated earlier this week that the current Vikings squad has more talent than last season's. Mighty high praise when you realize Augie was as good as anyone last year--and the year before that too. The team I saw beat Calvin today looked better than anyone who showed up at VNA last year.

[maroonandgold]

This Calvin team is bad. Talent gap with Augustana was enormous. I'm not looking forward to the MIAA season.

Whether you know it or not, that's hyperbole. Augustana has more weapons than Calvin, no doubt about that, but Augustana has more weapons than almost everyone else in D3 too. TitanQ is a pretty close observer of all things CCIW and he flatly stated earlier this week that the current Vikings squad has more talent than last season's. Mighty high praise when you realize Augie was as good as anyone last year--and the year before that too. The team I saw beat Calvin today looked better than anyone who showed up at VNA last year.

I have to agree, which is why I think Calvin showed quite a bit just by fighting so evenly for most of a half.  Not only that, but they lost the rebounding battle by one one rebound.  Their biggest problem was multiple turnovers in the second half and outside shooting is a definite problem for them unless they are able to get some of the younger players more shots.  Whatever games they win in the league contests are more likely to come from close shots than from outside shooting.  Drews is very accurate if he has time and Wilks has good range and touch, but their inside game is better right now.  They do have weaknesses, but there are a lot of teams struggling right now with all of the turnover of players.

[oldknight]

Holy cow! Alma really did lose to Finlandia! And at home, even!

The Scots blew a 21-point second-half lead in this one.

Is this the first time that Finlandia has beaten an MIAA team?

Suomi säännöt kovapuusta!

That has to be concerning in Scotland. Most amazing to me is that Finlandia outrebounded Alma 36-28. Last night, Calvin ruled the boards 54-37 and the gap didn't seem that close.

[sac]

Finlandia beat Alma in back-to-back years in 2010 and 2011.   Mostly its been double-digit losses to MIAA teams (also mostly Calvin) but not necessarily the white washes people think they've been.  One year they played Calvin within 6 or 8.



Edit  Actually Finlandia beat Alma 4 out of 5 years.

[sac]

Trine 72 Kenyon 64.

Another ugly win for the Thunder, but I'd rather win ugly than lose ugly.  Thankfully Kenyon shot the ball a little worse than we did for the game.  Offensively the first half was lousy for both sides, the shooting did get better in the 2nd half.  Dixon played pretty well, Copeland and Langston both had good games off the bench.  I was praising Cummings for the first game, but this one he never did get involved.  Kenyon did a good job of collapsing on him, something Defiance didn't do.  Late in the 1st half Cummings stepped on a Kenyon player's foot awkwardly and twisted his ankle.  He hobbled noticeably the rest of the game and was pretty much a nonfactor on both ends of the court.  Kreglow was awful in the first half, but to his credit played much much better in the 2nd.  The team had way too many silly fouls, too many careless turnovers, Coach Miller has a lot of work to do with this team. 

As hard as it was to watch the 2nd game, the first game between Ohio Wesleyan and Albion had much better flow, much better shooting. Ohio Wesleyan is very impressive, Trine will have to play way better to hang with them tomorrow.  I thought Albion was pretty good too, they look better than Trine right now.  Fordham is a tough kid, very skilled.  Albion has a couple freshmen bigs who are impressive too.  I won't be at tomorrow's games, prior out of town commitment, so won't have a report for the board, which might be a good thing as OWU is the real deal.

I was at Friday's games

Ohio Wesleyan
...is really good and it was a pleasure to see such a good basketball team this early in the year.
No one from the MIAA has to worry about them until the post-season

Kenyon
They were picked 9th in the NCAC and that's very plausible after losing to Albion today they are now 0-3 with a loss to Muskingum.  But they looked better than that to me.


Albion
...was somewhat surprising to me.  You mentioned their rebuilt front-line of Freshmen, but that's only partially true.  Albion's front-line of Ebeling, Burks, Rubio, Douglas and Davis is actually 2 Freshmen (Burks and Ebeling) and 2 transfers(Rubio, Douglas) and Davis who's been around but hasn't played much.

In Friday's game Ebeling was pretty impressive to me and showed 2 or 3 really good post moves and a nice soft touch around the rim.  Burks is a load, he was able to get low a few times in the first half but couldn't convert.  Rubio probably struggled more than the others and only played 2 min. in the 2nd half but he too looks like a pretty good player.  Unlike the other guys Douglas is rail thin and very long, he didn't make much impact on this game other than one really impressive left handed drive from the top +1 but his turnovers and fouls stuck out.  Davis played all of 1 minute in the first half, started the 2nd and gave Albion a smaller option on defense against OWU's spread the floor offense I imagine.

Front-line depth was Albion's question in the off-season and they really did a nice job filling some pretty big and obvious holes.

Albion came in to this year loaded at guard and managed to add yet another small, quick dude in 5-8 Darius Branch from Chicago.  Robert Ryan started, only played 6 minutes, didn't play the 2nd half, and didn't play today so perhaps he picked up an injury I didn't notice.  Arshawn Parker and Dylan Bennett give nice relief minutes but the stars are clearly Corey Wheeler and Jaylin Fordham.  Wheeler has a enough goodwill with me that I know what he can do, he's just a tough kid who can blow up sometimes but doesn't always play consistent at either end.  Fordham was outstanding Friday tieing his career high 27 points which he set last January in DeVos, BUT alot of his points Friday came moments after his coach was yelling at him to move the ball.  Jaylin's response was to jack up a shot which fortunately for him and his playing time went in.  I don't think there's any conflict between coach and player its just the way Jaylin is man.   When Jaylin has his head screwed on right he might be the most talented guard in the MIAA.  He looks poised to have a really good year, but he also might end up being an enigma like Wheeler.

Bigger picture is I think Albion has some guys to work with, they might only be at or around .500 but that's pretty much been Albion for awhile.  I think it is important to note their downfall from graduation probably isn't going to be as great as some might have feared, or hoped.  I sure think they look like a team that is going to be in contention for a tournament spot.



Trine

I came away impressed by a couple of the Freshmen, Herrington and Johnson with the Sophomore Dishop playing some nice minutes.  I did note I think Trine might have the potential for a touch more depth this year, but if Miller cuts his bench way down like he has in the past he has a couple tough decisions to make.  The big "revelation", for lack of better word, to me was just how young the Thunder will be this year.    After Dixon and Cummings its all So and Fr., good ones but still really young.

Same tough man to man system, but there will be growing pains with so many young guys.  Offensively maybe some more motion and crisp ball movement this year with fewer pauses like when Holmquist would catch and hold.  Less total reliance on Dixon for offense than first thought, but still he's going to shoot it a lot and he probably should.


Hard to slot any of the teams I've seen thus far with any degree of confidence.  Might be a fun year again.

[sac]

Olivet gets its first win over Robert Morris-Peoria 99-89

Eric Ewing had 34 on 24 shots.