MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[KnightSlappy]

Here are the Massey win probabilities for the two MIAA pods, with Massey rank in parenthesis:

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
(  6) Marietta     91%      78%
( 72) Calvin       10%      4%
( 33) Guilford     77%      17%
(147) Thomas More  23%      2%

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
( 23) Hope         40%      23%
(  9) UW-Oshkosh   60%      41%
( 11) Wash U       65%      26%
( 44) Ripon        36%      10%


Hope's pod looks rather wide open.

As a Marietta fan, I'd be asking the question as to why Calvin and Guilford are not playing the first game Friday. I understand the regional rankings and all of that but having watched both Calvin and Thomas More this season...Thomas More seems to me to be the 4 of the group.

You ask a very perceptive question to which I have no answer. While Thomas More's record is 22-6, the Saints have a lousy strength of schedule (#356) and Massey gives them a 147 rating, well behind Calvin who Massey ranks at 72 with a #79 SOS. Even Trine (at 126) is rated ahead of Thomas More.

KVS was on Hoopsville yesterday and hinted that he thought "someone else" in the pod should play Marietta but didn't feel right about chiming up and influencing his own team's position as the committee chair.

Calvin finished with a .667 WP, .514 SOS, and 2-3 record versus regionally ranked opponents (Carthage fell out of the final rankings).
Thomas More finished with a .778 WP, .504 SOS, and a 1-0 record versus regionally ranked opponents (They beat MSJ).

Thomas More finished in the 9th and final spot in the GL Rankings. Calvin was probably unranked at No. 10 or 11. Thomas More gets the edge by NCAA criteria, even if Calvin is probably a better team (with more "better" wins).

[oldknight]

Here are the Massey win probabilities for the two MIAA pods, with Massey rank in parenthesis:

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
(  6) Marietta     91%      78%
( 72) Calvin       10%      4%
( 33) Guilford     77%      17%
(147) Thomas More  23%      2%

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
( 23) Hope         40%      23%
(  9) UW-Oshkosh   60%      41%
( 11) Wash U       65%      26%
( 44) Ripon        36%      10%


Hope's pod looks rather wide open.

As a Marietta fan, I'd be asking the question as to why Calvin and Guilford are not playing the first game Friday. I understand the regional rankings and all of that but having watched both Calvin and Thomas More this season...Thomas More seems to me to be the 4 of the group.

You ask a very perceptive question to which I have no answer. While Thomas More's record is 22-6, the Saints have a lousy strength of schedule (#356) and Massey gives them a 147 rating, well behind Calvin who Massey ranks at 72 with a #79 SOS. Even Trine (at 126) is rated ahead of Thomas More.

KVS was on Hoopsville yesterday and hinted that he thought "someone else" in the pod should play Marietta but didn't feel right about chiming up and influencing his own team's position as the committee chair.

Calvin finished with a .667 WP, .514 SOS, and 2-3 record versus regionally ranked opponents (Carthage fell out of the final rankings).
Thomas More finished with a .778 WP, .504 SOS, and a 1-0 record versus regionally ranked opponents (They beat MSJ).

Thomas More finished in the 9th and final spot in the GL Rankings. Calvin was probably unranked at No. 10 or 11. Thomas More gets the edge by NCAA criteria, even if Calvin is probably a better team (with more "better" wins).

It's true the committee doesn't use Massey when making matchups (KVS hinted at that in his discussion with Dave McHugh), but I'm pretty sure Jon VanderWal wishes the committee chair had been able to influence the decision. While Marietta is the clear favorite over Calvin, if I'm in VanderWal's shoes, I would rather be preparing for a Friday night game with Thomas More than an improved Knights quintet.

[Fifth and Putnam]

Here are the Massey win probabilities for the two MIAA pods, with Massey rank in parenthesis:

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
(  6) Marietta     91%      78%
( 72) Calvin       10%      4%
( 33) Guilford     77%      17%
(147) Thomas More  23%      2%

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
( 23) Hope         40%      23%
(  9) UW-Oshkosh   60%      41%
( 11) Wash U       65%      26%
( 44) Ripon        36%      10%


Hope's pod looks rather wide open.

As a Marietta fan, I'd be asking the question as to why Calvin and Guilford are not playing the first game Friday. I understand the regional rankings and all of that but having watched both Calvin and Thomas More this season...Thomas More seems to me to be the 4 of the group.

You ask a very perceptive question to which I have no answer. While Thomas More's record is 22-6, the Saints have a lousy strength of schedule (#356) and Massey gives them a 147 rating, well behind Calvin who Massey ranks at 72 with a #79 SOS. Even Trine (at 126) is rated ahead of Thomas More.

KVS was on Hoopsville yesterday and hinted that he thought "someone else" in the pod should play Marietta but didn't feel right about chiming up and influencing his own team's position as the committee chair.

Calvin finished with a .667 WP, .514 SOS, and 2-3 record versus regionally ranked opponents (Carthage fell out of the final rankings).
Thomas More finished with a .778 WP, .504 SOS, and a 1-0 record versus regionally ranked opponents (They beat MSJ).

Thomas More finished in the 9th and final spot in the GL Rankings. Calvin was probably unranked at No. 10 or 11. Thomas More gets the edge by NCAA criteria, even if Calvin is probably a better team (with more "better" wins).

Yea, I get the Thomas More having the better criteria at the end of the day. I wasn't sure if the committee was locked into criteria when building a bracket or if they could have outside discussion around that different from the Pool C selection which I assume almost assuredly ONLY focuses on the numbers and criteria.

[oldknight]

Calvin's first-round opponent, Marietta, is coached by a Dutch Reformed kid from Cadillac, MI, and a 2001 Albion College grad, Jon VanderWal.
Jon played for Mike Turner at Albion, and he's building a strong national reputation since he arrived at Marietta in 2007, after an assistant coaching stint at Ohio Wesleyan.

In my opinion, if he played for Mike Turner he had the best education to be a coach that one could get.  Mike Turner did more with less than any of the MIAA coaches I had the pleasure to experience,

At whatever point KVS decides it's time to retire, VanderWal would have to get serious consideration for the post at Calvin. He's on my short list, I can tell you that. Not sure if he would ever consider it, but I understand he and his wife have family in West Michigan.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Here are the Massey win probabilities for the two MIAA pods, with Massey rank in parenthesis:

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
(  6) Marietta     91%      78%
( 72) Calvin       10%      4%
( 33) Guilford     77%      17%
(147) Thomas More  23%      2%

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
( 23) Hope         40%      23%
(  9) UW-Oshkosh   60%      41%
( 11) Wash U       65%      26%
( 44) Ripon        36%      10%


Hope's pod looks rather wide open.

As a Marietta fan, I'd be asking the question as to why Calvin and Guilford are not playing the first game Friday. I understand the regional rankings and all of that but having watched both Calvin and Thomas More this season...Thomas More seems to me to be the 4 of the group.

You ask a very perceptive question to which I have no answer. While Thomas More's record is 22-6, the Saints have a lousy strength of schedule (#356) and Massey gives them a 147 rating, well behind Calvin who Massey ranks at 72 with a #79 SOS. Even Trine (at 126) is rated ahead of Thomas More.

KVS was on Hoopsville yesterday and hinted that he thought "someone else" in the pod should play Marietta but didn't feel right about chiming up and influencing his own team's position as the committee chair.

Calvin finished with a .667 WP, .514 SOS, and 2-3 record versus regionally ranked opponents (Carthage fell out of the final rankings).
Thomas More finished with a .778 WP, .504 SOS, and a 1-0 record versus regionally ranked opponents (They beat MSJ).

Thomas More finished in the 9th and final spot in the GL Rankings. Calvin was probably unranked at No. 10 or 11. Thomas More gets the edge by NCAA criteria, even if Calvin is probably a better team (with more "better" wins).

It's true the committee doesn't use Massey when making matchups (KVS hinted at that in his discussion with Dave McHugh), but I'm pretty sure Jon VanderWal wishes the committee chair had been able to influence the decision. While Marietta is the clear favorite over Calvin, if I'm in VanderWal's shoes, I would rather be preparing for a Friday night game with Thomas More than an improved Knights quintet.

Based on what I saw the last two weekends, he better prepare for more than just a quintet.

[KnightSlappy]

Michael Welch was named MIAA Player of the Week in men's basketball.

http://www.miaa.org/potw/2016-17/MIAA_POTW2017_0227

[HopeConvert]

Michael Welch was named MIAA Player of the Week in men's basketball.

http://www.miaa.org/potw/2016-17/MIAA_POTW2017_0227

Interesting what can happen when you don't put a player on the bench just because he picked up a foul more than you would like.

[Gregory Sager]

Here are the Massey win probabilities for the two MIAA pods, with Massey rank in parenthesis:

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
(  6) Marietta     91%      78%
( 72) Calvin       10%      4%
( 33) Guilford     77%      17%
(147) Thomas More  23%      2%

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
( 23) Hope         40%      23%
(  9) UW-Oshkosh   60%      41%
( 11) Wash U       65%      26%
( 44) Ripon        36%      10%


Hope's pod looks rather wide open.

Matt, where are you finding this info on the Massey site? None of the individual teams are showing upcoming scheduled games, and the playoff section of the Massey site doesn't include the 2017 D3 men's basketball tournament.

[sac]

Here's Ripon's Ty Sabin 53 point game earlier this year against Loras
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgkJYGBHkxk

15-22, 5-8, 18-22

[KnightSlappy]

Here are the Massey win probabilities for the two MIAA pods, with Massey rank in parenthesis:

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
(  6) Marietta     91%      78%
( 72) Calvin       10%      4%
( 33) Guilford     77%      17%
(147) Thomas More  23%      2%

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
( 23) Hope         40%      23%
(  9) UW-Oshkosh   60%      41%
( 11) Wash U       65%      26%
( 44) Ripon        36%      10%


Hope's pod looks rather wide open.

Matt, where are you finding this info on the Massey site? None of the individual teams are showing upcoming scheduled games, and the playoff section of the Massey site doesn't include the 2017 D3 men's basketball tournament.

If you click on 'matchup' you can pair any two teams.

http://masseyratings.com/game.php?s0=292154&t0=duke&h=-1&s1=292154&t1=North+Park

[oldknight]

Michael Welch was named MIAA Player of the Week in men's basketball.

http://www.miaa.org/potw/2016-17/MIAA_POTW2017_0227

Interesting what can happen when you don't put a player on the bench just because he picked up a foul more than you would like.

At its core, basketball is a simple game, yet I find the sport endlessly fascinating to watch. This is largely because I find it interesting to see how teams, players and coaches respond to the ebb and flow of a game. Every game is different and presents different challenges as players and coaches alike must respond to the varied frustrations of how well they are playing, the opposing team and its style of play, and the officiating which changes not only from game to game, but within each game. Seeing the choices made is part of what helps us understand what leads to victory and defeat. I think we can look at that without judging players and coaches too harshly, even while we recognize how those decisions influenced the final outcome. With that as backdrop, let's briefly look at what transpired the second half of Saturday's conference final.

Welch was whistled for his fourth foul with 16:33 left in the  game, yet still logged 14 minutes the second half. Mike played all of the last 9+ minutes of the game.  Canonie got his fourth foul with 5:06 left but KVS judged he needed his starting point guard and let him play the remainder of the game. Blackledge got his fourth with 6:38 left and sat for three minutes. I understand why Mitchell removed him at the time (I might have chosen the same) but I was more than happy to see the bruiser sit for a while.

Of all these decisions, that involving Welch was the most critical one made. The last nine minutes of PT Mike went 5-5 from the floor and 1-1 from the stripe, thereby earning his well justified Player of the Week honors. On a side note, Michael Wilkes got two fouls the first 67 seconds of the game, was removed at that time, never recorded another foul, and played 13 minutes each half. He made all 10 of his free throws, including four straight pressure packed tosses the final 16 seconds.

Like I said, endlessly fascinating.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Did some comparison work on Hope vs. UWO.  Nice to find that they shared 5 common opponents this year, so I calculated stats between the two based solely on the games with those common opponents, which I've shared below. 

Hope - 7 games of data - 1 each with UW Stout, UWRF, UWLAX, and UWSP, and 3 games with Calvin
UWO - 10 games of data - 1 with Calvin, 2 each with UW Stout, UWLAX, and UWSP, and 3 games with UWRF

Offense	% 2pt	% 3pt	% FT
Hope	52.5	34.0	68.3
UWO	50.3	34.9	72.8
------
Defense	% 2pt	% 3pt
Hope	45.3	32.1
UWO	47.4	34.1
------
Rebounding	Team	Opp	Margin
Hope	31.4	38.1	-6.7
UWO	32.7	30.1	2.6
------
Scoring	Team	Opp	Margin
Hope	77.7	71.1	6.6
UWO	65.6	64.2	1.4
------
3 point shooting	Made/game
Hope	7.7
UWO	7.4
------
Ball Control	Blks/game	Stl/game	TO/Game
Hope	2.9	6.9	9.9
UWO	2.2	5.5	12.2
------
Assists	Per Game	A/TO
Hope	15.1	1.54
UWO	10.7	0.88
------
Vs. Opponents	Calvin	UWRF	UWSP
Hope	1 - 2	1 - 0	0 - 1
UWO	1 - 0	1 - 2	1 - 1
------
Vs. Opponents	UWLAX	UW Stout
Hope	1 - 0	1 - 0
UWO	1 - 1	1 - 1
------
Record vs common
Hope	4 - 3
UWO	5 - 5

[Gregory Sager]

Here are the Massey win probabilities for the two MIAA pods, with Massey rank in parenthesis:

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
(  6) Marietta     91%      78%
( 72) Calvin       10%      4%
( 33) Guilford     77%      17%
(147) Thomas More  23%      2%

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
( 23) Hope         40%      23%
(  9) UW-Oshkosh   60%      41%
( 11) Wash U       65%      26%
( 44) Ripon        36%      10%


Hope's pod looks rather wide open.

Matt, where are you finding this info on the Massey site? None of the individual teams are showing upcoming scheduled games, and the playoff section of the Massey site doesn't include the 2017 D3 men's basketball tournament.

If you click on 'matchup' you can pair any two teams.

http://masseyratings.com/game.php?s0=292154&t0=duke&h=-1&s1=292154&t1=North+Park

LOL! Thanks!

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Harrison Blackledge follows in his father's footsteps as a CoSida Academic All American. He is also a Jostens Trophy nominee.

http://athletics.hope.edu/sports/mbkb/2016-17/releases/20170228ow7pdq

[KnightSlappy]

Here are the Massey win probabilities for the two MIAA pods, with Massey rank in parenthesis:

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
(  6) Marietta     91%      78%
( 72) Calvin       10%      4%
( 33) Guilford     77%      17%
(147) Thomas More  23%      2%

                   1st Rd   2nd Rd
( 23) Hope         40%      23%
(  9) UW-Oshkosh   60%      41%
( 11) Wash U       65%      26%
( 44) Ripon        36%      10%


Hope's pod looks rather wide open.

Matt, where are you finding this info on the Massey site? None of the individual teams are showing upcoming scheduled games, and the playoff section of the Massey site doesn't include the 2017 D3 men's basketball tournament.

If you click on 'matchup' you can pair any two teams.

http://masseyratings.com/game.php?s0=292154&t0=duke&h=-1&s1=292154&t1=North+Park

LOL! Thanks!

The full tournament bracket is now up on the Massey Ratings site.

http://www.masseyratings.com/tourn.php?t=832

(women too: http://www.masseyratings.com/tourn.php?t=833)