MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

goodknight · March 11, 2006, 12:56:31 AM

Sounds like a tough night for Hope.
Just looked at the box score and was really surprised to see that Voisen was scoreless on 4 shots and he had no boards in 30 minutes of play. Witt's big men must have had him tied up and boxed out all night.

formerd3db · March 11, 2006, 03:37:28 AM

I did not attend the game. Nonetheless, I have to hand it to those who predicted the lower score - they were right on. Congrats to Witt on their victory but congrats to Hope on a very fine season. I will admit it is still disappointing that Hope has been to the national championship game twice and now once again, is not able to advance past the early rounds. Just proves that anything can happen i.e. any team that makes the tourney has a decent chance of winning but also a team needs a little luck and things to go just the right way to make it to the final. It also proves even more what an accomplishment Calvin's two national bb championships are (not to forget the Hope and Alma women's titles also). Hopefully, the Hope women can go all the way. Again, congrats to Hope on a very good season.

Dark Knight · March 11, 2006, 05:06:00 AM

Very tough loss for Hope. I think that if the game had been played at the DeVos, Hope would have won.

I still think the Dutchwomen have a pretty good shot at a national championship. They sounded dominant against Wash U for the first part of that game.

arena · March 11, 2006, 07:19:04 AM

Quote from: sac on March 11, 2006, 12:11:16 AM
Hey if your ever in Jackson County be sure to say hello to my new friend Sgt Long of the Jackson County Sherriff's department. He was nice enough to write down for me the merits driving 55 in a 55 mph zone, and even told me how I could learn more about this phenomenon with special hearings set aside just for me in Jackson County.

What a nice gentleman.

I would imagine he wouldn't be a fan of Sammy Haggar.

arena · March 11, 2006, 07:21:06 AM

Quote from: formerd3db on March 11, 2006, 03:37:28 AM
I did not attend the game. Nonetheless, I have to hand it to those who predicted the lower score - they were right on. Congrats to Witt on their victory but congrats to Hope on a very fine season. I will admit it is still disappointing that Hope has been to the national championship game twice and now once again, is not able to advance past the early rounds. Just proves that anything can happen i.e. any team that makes the tourney has a decent chance of winning but also a team needs a little luck and things to go just the right way to make it to the final. It also proves even more what an accomplishment Calvin's two national bb championships are (not to forget the Hope and Alma women's titles also). Hopefully, the Hope women can go all the way. Again, congrats to Hope on a very good season.

I've been to a couple tourny games in Ohio in the past. Its a tough state to play in. How tight did Hope appear in warmups?

arena · March 11, 2006, 07:30:04 AM

All in all, it was a great comeback. That streak of made threes during the run was tough to watch. Not because I didn't want to see a comeback, but because the video feed became really choppy at that point.

northb · March 11, 2006, 07:50:11 AM

Quote from: sac on March 11, 2006, 12:11:16 AM
Hey if your ever in Jackson County be sure to say hello to my new friend Sgt Long of the Jackson County Sherriff's department. He was nice enough to write down for me the merits driving 55 in a 55 mph zone, and even told me how I could learn more about this phenomenon with special hearings set aside just for me in Jackson County.

What a nice gentleman.

I feel for your pain, SAC--I had the same experience in VA last year (only a little further in the tournament

). Talk about adding insult to injury.

goodknight · March 11, 2006, 08:06:16 AM

Congrats to Hope on a fine, fine season -- and especially to their two very classy seniors, Phillips and Immink.

oldknight · March 11, 2006, 08:18:59 AM

Quote from: oldknight on March 04, 2006, 09:47:23 PM
But if Hope expects to have a banner year they simply must perform better down the stretch of close games. The Dutch have only had 2 close games all year and in both games they did not perform well with some of their key players looking lost.

I hesitate to offer an opinion on a game I didn't attend but being who I am I'll do it anyway. There are things that stand out when listening to a radio broadcast that might escape notice while watching the game live. For me it was how Hope twice failed to convert after the Dutch called timeouts in the last 8 minutes of the game. In both cases, Hope committed turnovers coming out of those timeouts, something championship teams don't do in the last 8 minutes of ballgames with the season on the line. I'm really disappointed that Hope didn't appear to perform up to the level their talent should have brought them. To modify the above quote "The Dutch have only had [3] close games all year and in [all 3] games they did not perform well with some of their key players looking lost."

Of course it's tough to win when your 6'9", 235 lb post player gets 30 minutes on the floor and ends the game with the same number of rebounds as me--and I never left west Michigan. To play that many minutes in the post and not get one rebound in a game of that magnitude is incredible. I am sure Wittenberg has a fine team but it sounds like Hope came up short in a game that was quite winable.

To demonstrate the difference in how the teams performed after timeouts and how it influenced the game I looked at the written play-by-play that's up on the Wittenberg website. Hope called timeout at 8:22 when they were down 43-39 and Cramer committed a turnover 17 seconds later. Hope called another timeout at 6:18 with the score 43-42 and Phillips turned it over at 6:04.

By contrast, Wittenberg called a timeout at 3:23 with the game tied at 45. Just 12 seconds later Brady hit a 2 point basket. The Tigers called their next time out at 1:15 still clinging to that 47-45 lead and Borchers hit a layup while being fouled by Voison to give Wittenberg a 50-45 lead with 1:05 left.

That's the difference between a championship level team and not. Talent alone doesn't do it.

oldknight · March 11, 2006, 08:31:20 AM

Quote from: oldknight on March 05, 2006, 02:00:28 PM
I agree with kcrest on Voison--Hope needs his consistent presence down low if the Dutch expect to win it all. Glenn should give Voison a tape of the game he played in the MIAA tourney final when he totally dominated the paint on both ends of the floor and make him watch it every day.

Apparently he didn't look at the tape.

almcguirejr · March 11, 2006, 08:32:39 AM

One statistic that stands out is that Hope only attempted 18 2 point shots. They made 8. They were very impatient and settled for 3's.

pointlem · March 11, 2006, 08:35:50 AM

Hmmm. . . Hope has a 28-3 season, and the coach plots a defense that forces Wittenberg turnover after turnover and shuts down their two post players. Alas, the players miss free throws and open 3's and have several shots rim out. Even so, they play one of the nation's top teams to virtual draw on their home court. And after all this (not to mention having coached two previous teams that made it to the national championship game in a division that has almost 400 teams competing) there is a fairweather, short-memoried Hope fan that wants to trash the coach?

Well, at least no one is complaining about the refereeing!

Imagine Derek VS's last 3-point shot attempt that went in-and-out had stayed down, giving Hope the lead. That would be a credit to Derek (who looks to be a terrific key player on next year's team, btw) not the coach. But there would also be kudos for the coaching that brought them back. Or imagine that Veldhouse winning shot hadn't happened and that this sectional game had been played at the friendlier DeVos . . . .

But those things do happen. It's a game that involves luck and bounces and near misses and narrow escapes. When the ball drops, it's not the coach that made it. And when it's down and out, or when the free throws that would have made the difference don't fall, it's not the coach that misses them. Coaches assemble the team and can help get you to a certain point. (And every team's fans are impressed with the prowress of their own players, which individually may seem better in their eyes than the opposition's. I'll wager that Tiger Fan wouldn't trade Russ, Borchers, and Brady for any of Hope's talent.)

All said, if we're going to judge a coach and team, let's look at the big picture, which for Hope this year is 28-3, a 17-point average victory margin, no losses at home, winning their league's tournament on the opposition's home floor, and a run in a tournament in which 58 of 59 teams will end up on the losing side. All in all, I'm with Sac . . . a great year. I tip my hat to the players, first, and also to the coaches. And to some super fans, including those contributing to this board, as well!

goodknight · March 11, 2006, 08:59:32 AM

I thought this might be Hope's year, but after seeing what happened at Larry U last night

, maybe it's time for a return of the Titans.

goodknight · March 11, 2006, 09:07:07 AM

Quote from: almcguirejr on March 11, 2006, 08:32:39 AM
One statistic that stands out is that Hope only attempted 18 2 point shots. They made 8. They were very impatient and settled for 3's.

Now we're talking harmonic convergence: If you put goodknight and almcguirejr together at this moment in time, you would have no karma. 8)

miaafan2 · March 11, 2006, 09:21:28 AM

First of all, congratulations to Hope College on a remarkable season. No matter when your season ends, it is always a sad day. They exhibited a significant amount of heart last night in making the game close when I really didn't expect a comeback.

Second, I don't believe that I've read anything on this board thanking Andy Phillips for sacrificing so much this season. I am incredibly impressed with his humility this year, all for the sake of his TEAM. Being a senior and captain on the team, he certainly could have demanded to be the focus of the offense and made sure that his season statistics were more impressive. Add the dynamic that with all the "extra" chemistry issues, he could have had even more reasons to justify being the top dog. But that is not something he chose to do, and I'm sure that he had to be very intentional about it. I would also expect that he had to re-committ himself to this several (many?) times during the season.

Thanks for a wonderful season Andy! Thanks also for being a great leader in a very humble way!