MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

+1 for road win
-1 for home loss

Olivet    7-3    +3    (ALM, ADR, HPE, @Cal)
Hope     7-3    +2    (ADR, @Alm, @Oli, ALB)
Adrian   7-3    +1    (@Hpe, @OLI, ALM, @KZO)
Trine      5-5   +0    (CAL, @Alb, KZO, @Alm)
Alma     5-5      0     (@Oli, HPE, @Adr, TRN)
Albion    4-6     0     (KZO, TRN, CAL, @Hpe)
Calvin    4-6     -1     (@Trn, KZO, @Alb, OLI)
Kazoo    1-9    -5     (@Alb, @Cal, @Trn, ADR)   

Next 3 game days are pretty much the championship with all 3 first place teams playing each other and all 3 teams having to play Alma in the same time frame.  The Scots could be very prominent figures in this.

A lot going on for 4th. 

I believe Kalamazoo was eliminated today

[sac]

Here's how the 6 match-ups between Olivet, Hope, Adrian and Alma went the first time

Adrian 74  Hope 63
Olivet 89  Alma 88


Olivet 65  Adrian 62
Hope 99  Alma 88


Hope 87  Olivet 84
Alma 73  Adrian 66

[Bulldog30]

Trine 67 Adrian 70

Another close win in a back and forth game against Trine, but unfortunately I didn't get to see this one and I couldn't track it down online.

In the final minute, Justin Webster came up huge with a steal, basket to put Adrian up 3, and the final rebound. He ended up with 22 and 10 on 9-15 shooting and 4-4 from the line. Sam Colbert was the other strong performance shooting 5-8 from 3 and finishing with 19.

Without much context besides stats, Adrian's guards struggled from the field (again), but Trine's guards struggled too, except for Pete Smith who went 6 for 11 from 3 and finished with a game high 24. But Tra'shon Heard did get 4 offensive rebounds, but that's nothing compared to Maurice Hunter's 8 offensive rebounds (finished with 15 boards). That's strong.

Looking at the team stats, each statistic was extremely close. No surprise at such a close game. Who's gonna come out on top in the league???

Go Bulldogs!

[GreatScot!?]

Ryan Stevens had 14 assists yesterday vs. Albion, that's the most since the 1988-89 season, which I believe was Steve Ernst . Kevin Scheibert also had 20 points. Will be interesting to see how the end of the season shakes out!

[jspiii]

The Calvin game was the first time in the last 12 games, Hope has won the "points in the paint" team stats category.

[HopeConvert]

As far as I know OK has been at work all day today and we still haven't gotten his game analysis. I can't be the only one waiting for it.

[sac]

Hope



Calvin


#analysis

[realist]

Hope



Calvin


#analysis

+ K  Nailed it!!!!   However, some might say Calvin, clearly, never made it up on the trampoline.

[knightvision]

As far as I know OK has been at work all day today and we still haven't gotten his game analysis. I can't be the only one waiting for it.

"all day" to OK might mean something a little more European (with a lengthy siesta thrown in for good measure ).  Guessing he either just hasn't had the time given his work schedule or he has his mom's "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" admonitions ringing in his head and can't bring himself to hit send? 

[KnightSlappy]

So tomorrow's Calvin at Trine game is going to be pretty important.

[Bulldog30]

Big game for Hope and Adrian tonight, this time @ Hope.

Adrian played very solid in the last match up winning 74 to 63. The teams were very even in most categories except for field goal and 3 point percentage (Hope: 41 and 32 percent - Adrian: 48 and 56 percent). Obviously Hope needs to defend the perimeter better than last game.

For Adrian, as I've said several times, this team is great when the guards shoot well. We know they can play defense and they don't make too many mistakes (usually), but their shooting has been inconsistent. Sam Colbert has been definitely the top shooter, but Jordan Harris and Tra'shon Heard haven't had great percentages shooting. If all 3, or even just 2 of the 3, shoot well, Adrian will be really tough to beat.

But, Hope has been playing better than the beginning of the league and Adrian have plateaud a little bit, and with this game @ Hope, I think Hope has a slight edge.  ****fully, I'm wrong.

Go Bulldogs!

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Men's first regional rankings this season: http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2018/02/men-regional-rankings-first

[Jameswys]

For those of you who caught the Olivet video tonight, the Olivet Pep Band was unknowingly Mic'd up for the game. It was quite funny to listen to the various things they said during the late second half. As for the game, I only caught the final 5 minutes or so, and by that time the game was leaning to Olivet's favor. The probable league MVP Jalen Adams put up 25pts and 15 boards in another monster night.

[Bulldog30]

Adrian 77
Hope 95

This game was exemplified by the 1st 5 minutes. Hope had a really strong energy that's Adrian never fully matched and they didn't miss much and got the lead into double digits.

Earlier I posted the FG/3pt splits for Adrian's win, and it was basically the same in this one, but in Hope's favor, though the numbers were even more so in Hope's favor (hence the 18 point win instead of an 11 point win).

As an Adrian guy, the biggest worry about this game (combined with the big loss against Calvin) showed that there might be a game plan against Adrian's matchup D. Tons of assists, moving Adrian around, hitting some hi-lows...just made it look pretty easy. Also didn't hurt that Hawkins and Beckman (and Teddy Ray) didn't miss. Just kidding...they missed some...only 12 of 18 from 3.  But I feel Adrian needs to get some variation in their strategies.

This is going to sound weird, and the stats won't support this too much, but I thought Adrian played decently. Hope hit a lot of shots with some pressure on them, and besides the typical amount of forced 3's from Adrian, I liked them at some spots. Webster led the way with 20 points, but Kalonji and Colbert also did well offensively, and I liked Heard's aggressiveness early to try to keep Adrian in it early.

And big time credit to their heart. Hope was cruising, up 26 in the 2nd half, and Adrian actually clawed back to within 8 with a decent amount of time left in the game (around 7 minutes). I honestly was a little bit in shock, but it takes a lot of energy to make that type of comeback.

Lastly, I feel like the size deficiencies for Adrian are showing a bit more. Hope and Calvin seemed to use that well to their advantage.

Adrian needs to refocus and get ready for another big game at Olivet Saturday.

[TUAngola]

Final from Angola:  Myles Copeland...er...Trine 75 Calvin 68 in OT

Career high for Myles, 41 pts, really about the only guy on either team who shot the ball well.  Everything else was pretty ugly offensively for both teams.  I thought Trine's overall defense was really good tonight. but even when it wasn't good Calvin didn't hit their open shots when they had them.  Calvin's perimeter guys play great defense as well, Smith and Johnson rarely sniffed an open look, Canonie is a really good defender, he really got into Pete's head.  But oddly Calvin elected to never double Copeland when you knew in the second half almost every possession Trine was looking for him.  He put Trine on his back the 2nd half.  Big time performance. 

Curious officiating call towards the end of regulation.  With about 25 seconds or so left on the clock and Trine up by 2, Calvin misses a shot and in the ensuing fight for a rebound the ball goes off Calvin and the official under the basket calls Trine basketball.  But then the outside ref near the half court line comes running in to talk to the ref who made the call and they get into a discussion which then leads to a reversal and the ball out to Calvin.  I understand calls get reversed, not arguing that, but when a guy under the basket has the call right in front of him and the ref from 40 ft away comes flying in to change the call, I have a hard time with that.  And on top of that, Trine's reply video clearly shows ball off of Calvin, but no reviews at this level.  Calvin subsequently scores tying bucket, Trine misses a couple shots and we go to another OT...Trine's 3rd in last 5 games.