MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

I don't think its a news flash that Cornerstone is good, they've been good for awhile now.

I wasn't there to see how Cornerstone lost to Spring Arbor in the first game of the year but I'm going to guess Spring Arbor shot the ball well, had some kind of serviceable low post game, and had starting guard production somewhere around 43 points rather than 3.



Should be a good match-up with Cornerstone and Hope tomorrow night, Hope let last years game slip away in the last 10 minutes and lost by 6.  AQ/Calvin is a better match-up for Calvin as AQ doesn't have a great low-post game, but if they try to out-shoot AQ, or anyone, AQ will beat them.

[NW Hope Fan]

I see Alma is visiting Oregon next month. I think we have a family trip planned to Seattle, otherwise I'd make the trip to Salem.
Wonder if I could put a bug in Coach Mitchell's ear to do a NW swing some day...
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

[HOPEful]

It is unfortunate that the rise in NAIA $$ has taken talent away from the MIAA the past few years.

And a nationwide lack of parent commitment to academics and the intellectual growth of their child.

Because the decision to go to Cornerstone over Calvin, based at least in part by financial motives, shows a "lack of parent commitment to academics and intellectual growth"?

[realist]

CU   83  Calvin: 55     Is there really any need to say anything?

Well, if the answer to that question is no, then don't bother to read the remainder of this post.

Other than a 54 point second half explosion over a completely overmatched Finlandia quintet, Calvin has shown not a shred of offense this year. There is simply a dearth of scorers. Only Michael Welch (5-6 from the floor in 14 minutes) put any pressure Golden Eagle defenders tonight, and Michael has never been a serious threat on the offensive side of the ball. I had a good half time chat with the Best Man in my wedding of long ago, he a former all conference performer at Calvin. He noted two things, one that has long bothered me, and the other a point I had not considered before. Calvin frequently tries to enter the ball into the post from up top, always a tougher pass to successfully complete. By contrast, Cornerstone almost always made the entry pass from below the free throw line, a more favorable angle that much favors the team with the ball in my estimation. The other comment noted that while Calvin works on posting up pretty much any player on the team, Cornerstone pretty much limited their low post touches to two players--Steigenga and VanderSluis. Everyone else reacted to those two players' low post presence. It's an old fashioned way to run your offense but simpler to run. Of course, Cornerstone has perimeter players who can hit the three. Calvin has . . . .

Other game notes:

--Austin Bykerk hit a triple on Calvin's first possession. He then pretty much disappeared until making four meaningless free throws late in the game. Austin only took three shots in 22 minutes and that dog won't hunt. I don't get it.

--Mike Siegel was the most recent experiment at the 2 guard spot. He went 1-7 in 20 minutes. No one seems to want to play that position this year. Your two guard needs to be one of the most dangerous players on the floor and Calvin seems to have no one on the roster who can play that position.

--Kyle Steigenga's uncle and former Spartan great, Matt Steigenga, was in the house. He's a bigger man than I remember him being.

You use the term "old fashioned" while most of us would use "common sense".  Common sense would say if you have tall athletic players with inside moves use them down in the post, not running around shooting 3's out on the perimeter.
Reminds me of the saying:  "common sense"  isn't that common

[Grutte Dirk]

At least we've got volleyball and soccer. 

And Cross Country

[Grutte Dirk]

It is unfortunate that the rise in NAIA $$ has taken talent away from the MIAA the past few years.

And a nationwide lack of parent commitment to academics and the intellectual growth of their child.

Because the decision to go to Cornerstone over Calvin, based at least in part by financial motives, shows a "lack of parent commitment to academics and intellectual growth"?

For example, I cannot think of one academic discipline where Cornerstone University is close to what is offered at Hope College. Parents are shorting their child's option when finances, in some cases a small amount of dollars, are the deciding factor.

[Gregory Sager]

It is unfortunate that the rise in NAIA $$ has taken talent away from the MIAA the past few years.

And a nationwide lack of parent commitment to academics and the intellectual growth of their child.

Because the decision to go to Cornerstone over Calvin, based at least in part by financial motives, shows a "lack of parent commitment to academics and intellectual growth"?

For example, I cannot think of one academic discipline where Cornerstone University is close to what is offered at Hope College. Parents are shorting their child's option when finances, in some cases a small amount of dollars, are the deciding factor.

There's something to be said for that. A lot of fans would be surprised to learn just how small an amount an NAIA scholarship can be. Every NAIA program of which I'm aware divvies up its scholarships into partials, and the amount doled out in some of those partials can be extremely small. I've known of NAIA players who've been on scholarships that totaled as little as $750 per semester.

Two things need to be said in conjunction with that, however: 1) Not all, but many NAIA schools are cheaper in terms of tuition and r&b than their D3 counterparts; and 2) the prestige involved in being able to tell friends and family (and impressionable young women  ) that you're on a basketball scholarship should not be discounted as a motivating factor for choosing an NAIA school over a D3 school. After all, why should you disclose that the scholarship is only worth $1,000 per semester if nobody asks?

[sac]

Albion 73  Mt. Union 72

Not insignificant in the bigger picture of regional rankings.  Good win for everybody.

[realist]

Calvin  34  Aquinas  48     wait for it ............................................................................................

[realist]

Calvin 86  AQ 94   

[maroonandgold]

Calvin 86  AQ 94

An interesting game to analyze.  Calvin played well in most aspects of the game and matched or outplayed Aquinas in rebounding, turnovers, and percentages in most categories.  But Aquinas out shot Calvin by 12 on threes and hit 65% of them!  That is 36 points right there.  There is no question that Calvin is hurting for scoring from the guards.  At least they were shooting more and played more minutes with DeWitt who has a good history of outside shooting.  Was the three point shooting by Aquinas poor defense, good ball movement, or just great shooting.  I think the ball movement was a big factor since Aquinas had so  many more assists.  Cavlin scoring was again so heavily the result of the big men.  All three starting big men scored well in the double figures and even Welch scored 10.   

[oldknight]

Calvin 86  AQ 94

An interesting game to analyze.  Calvin played well in most aspects of the game and matched or outplayed Aquinas in rebounding, turnovers, and percentages in most categories.  But Aquinas out shot Calvin by 12 on threes and hit 65% of them!  That is 36 points right there.  There is no question that Calvin is hurting for scoring from the guards.  At least they were shooting more and played more minutes with DeWitt who has a good history of outside shooting. Was the three point shooting by Aquinas poor defense, good ball movement, or just great shooting?  I think the ball movement was a big factor since Aquinas had so  many more assists.  Cavlin scoring was again so heavily the result of the big men.  All three starting big men scored well in the double figures and even Welch scored 10.

Yes.

In what was actually a rather sloppily played affair (18 turnovers for each team), Calvin somehow managed to scored 86 points despite yet again demonstrating no ability to score from the perimeter. Except for two late triples by Michael Wilks--who was very good tonight--the Knights were again miserable from the arc hitting only 5-19 from outside. It's obvious that Calvin is desperate for outside help. Tony DeWitte made an early entrance and played 17 minutes. For the season, Calvin is shooting 17-70 from three point land, while Aquinas made 16 tonight!--on only 27 attempts. There were times when Aquinas simply didn't bother to guard the man with the ball at the arc, particularly on inbounds plays. I gotta give props to Welch, Denney, and Wilks for repeatedly taking the ball to the hole the second half to force some unSaintly fouls. Free throws was the only thing that kept Calvin in the game. Cam can bag the three point shot. He was 1-8 from the arc and 5-7 elsewhere and Calvin's offense became much more dangerous when he started taking the ball to the basket, getting to the line 5 times. Once he and Welch started attacking the basket, the Saints' defense get set back on its heals a bit, with two Aquinas big guys fouling out.

[Knight2Day]

It is unfortunate that the rise in NAIA $$ has taken talent away from the MIAA the past few years.

And a nationwide lack of parent commitment to academics and the intellectual growth of their child.

Because the decision to go to Cornerstone over Calvin, based at least in part by financial motives, shows a "lack of parent commitment to academics and intellectual growth"?

For example, I cannot think of one academic discipline where Cornerstone University is close to what is offered at Hope College. Parents are shorting their child's option when finances, in some cases a small amount of dollars, are the deciding factor.

From an academic standard, Cornerstone isn't in the same stratosphere let alone the same arena as Calvin and Hope

[wiz]

Calvin looking for outside shooting but not a minute of playing time for Nate Drews.

[almcguirejr]

Cornerstone's Kyle Stegenga scored 56 points this weekend.  He was 18-19 (1-1 from 3) from the floor and 19-22 from the line.