MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Coach Ernst with some uhhh... interesting comments on Twitter

https://twitter.com/coachsteveernst/status/965248840780734464

A lot of leagues will suspend coaches for insinuating such a thing publicly.

Exactly what I was wondering - does the MIAA have any policy on coaches public comments on officiating?  This is not the first time he has made these kind of comments this season. I know there are fans (including myself) who will blame a loss on officials from time to time but a coach doing so is unacceptable from my perspective. Way to demonstrate accountability to your players...

[Jameswys]

Fwiw
Mitchell is 81-29  .736 win % overall,  46-10  .821 win % in conference with 2 outright championships and a co-championship.

I'm happy having a coach who's 24-26 overall and 15-13 in conference with a co championship. I cannot imangine what it's like to have a record like Mitchell and the jury to still be out.

[wiz]

Fwiw
Mitchell is 81-29  .736 win % overall,  46-10  .821 win % in conference with 2 outright championships and a co-championship.

I'm happy having a coach who's 24-26 overall and 15-13 in conference with a co championship. I cannot imangine what it's like to have a record like Mitchell and the jury to still be out.

Greg Mitchell has a good record.  I think the comment of the jury being out is in reference to the fact he is still coaching the recruits of coaches Neil and Hargraves.  In a couple years we'll see how successful his own homegrown program is.

[sac]

Fwiw
Mitchell is 81-29  .736 win % overall,  46-10  .821 win % in conference with 2 outright championships and a co-championship.

I'm happy having a coach who's 24-26 overall and 15-13 in conference with a co championship. I cannot imangine what it's like to have a record like Mitchell and the jury to still be out.

Greg Mitchell has a good record.  I think the comment of the jury being out is in reference to the fact he is still coaching the recruits of coaches Neil and Hargraves.  In a couple years we'll see how successful his own homegrown program is.

Dreyer and Hawkins are the last two Neil recruits in the program, he's coached them both all 4 years they've attended Hope.  Beckman has been at Hope two years, the same number he was at Alma. 

[devossed]

----There were 51 fouls called in the game.........Wallace Whitfield called 110 of them.   Wally you're a better ref than that!

----The intentional foul on Voisin was perhaps the worst call I've ever seen from the upper level at the far end of the Fieldhouse.   There had to be more to it than what I saw.

A few more thoughts from last night's game--

The T called on Glenn was interesting. As Draayer passed by the Hope bench on his way to setting up the 3 ball he shot and made, Glenn was standing on the floor (just barely) and pointing--presumably to his players. Glenn's hand or finger inadvertantly brushed Draayer as he went by, the shot went in, and the trailing ref never hesitated
in blowing his whistle and pointing to Glenn while making the call. I think Glenn's argument was essentially that he touched Draayer before Draayer ever shot the ball and therefore the T call should nullify the field goal attempt. That's actually a pretty good argument but the ref didn't buy it and it turned into a 5 point play for Calvin.

The intentional foul call on Voison was, I think, a preventative measure on the part of the official. The game was pretty physical and I think the ref made a conscious decision to head off trouble at the pass and send a message to the players. I think that's a good officiating strategy, especially in a game where it was obvious Hope was going to win anyway.

If you'll recall back to my post about the good/bad referees in this league, I wasn't high on Wallace to begin with--but now he's solidified his status on the "worst of all" list. I arrived at the arena just before tip, and "luckily" snagged a seat near the scorer's table. From that spot I think I had as decent a view as anybody on these 2 issues.

First, the Technical. I had no problem with the call. Glenn clearly "touched" Draayer, in an absent-minded and non-aware state that has become more the norm for him the last few years. It wasn't malicious, nor was he even on the court by much (which is one more evidence that Draayer's three-bomb range is so amazing, right Greg Sager?) but it did happen, while the ball was being passed to Draayer, before he took the shot. It was as if Glenn was telling his team to "get him because he's so open." The problem (and the central theme to Glenn's argument) was that Wallace REFUSED to acknowledge it came before the shot. This would've stopped play right away and nullified Draayer's attempt. He was adamant that Glenn touched Draayer after the shot, on his way up the floor. Wallace wouldn't even listen to anything to the contrary, knowing in his own mind he was right. But if that were the case, and it came AFTER the shot, then Calvin should've retained possession on the Tech after the free throws. But they awarded Hope the ball, which inherently signaled that the Tech came before the shot!!!

The 2nd issue is the flagarent foul: I don't think it should've been called, but can see the logic behind why it happened. But if that's the case, then he should've been consistent and called one in the second half when Immink was decked and sent into the pep band.

The 3rd problem I had with him was during the middle of the 1st half, when DVS relieved Immink. He threw a pass from the left wing to the baseline which was clearly deflected and changed direction. (Hope only had 2 turnovers in the whole half, so it's not suprising that this play be remembered) However, Wallace again refused to look for help, sure in his mind that the call should go against Hope. Even Chad Palmer wasn't sure what to say when Glenn questioned him on his way up the floor.

I can also cite a few calls he made against Calvin that were clearly bad calls, but the ones against Hope yesterday were more critical to the flow of the game.

I just think he has a personal vendetta against the "name schools" of Hope and Calvin (or more specifically, GVW and his arguing/foot stomping or KVS and his yelling/facial gestures) that propels him to make the "big call" and take away momentum. This is something I've noticed multiple occasions and in multiple venues over the last few seasons. It's one of the reasons I cringe when I see him almost as badly as I do when I see Geerlings take the floor.

All this talk made me want to solidify my list. Please feel free to add/subtract/move them around based on your experiences this/previous years. I welcome your comments and your input (especially those Kzoo/Albion fans who've say they've gotten some raw deals over the last few years)...

OK-to-GOOD MIAA REFS (may have a bad game here and there, but generally call it fair, don't take away from the flow much)
Kevin Kooiker, Mark Ditsworth, Dave Joppie, Ryan Huber, Jim Schipper, John Creek, Chad Palmer, Ray "Don't Call Me Greg" Kelser


Not-so-good-to-BAD MIAA REFS (ticky-tack, inconsistent, baffling calls, need to spend time learning the definitions of "hand-checking" and "illegal screens")
Mike Conlin, Jeff Spedoske, Todd Geerlings


YOU SHOULD BE DOING FRESHMAN GIRLS' GAMES (self-explanatory)
Tommy Bray, Dante Favors, Mike Smith, Wallace Whitfield

Yep.

[devossed]

Devossed---I was surprised to see Whitfield in the Championship game.  But I was particularly frustrated with the way he tried to make every single call.  Palmer and Creek seemed to be willing to let the kids play, in fact did Creek  even have a whistle..?

Whitfield seemed to want to control the game and that resulted in a lot of erratic calls between the 3 officials.

Thankfully I didn't feel it made a difference in the outcome but it made it a  much more painfull final 20 minutes of watching 30 seconds and a foul call.

You'll get no arguments about the T of Glenn, thats an auto-matic call everytime.  But the fact Hope received the ball afterwards raised an eyebrow.

Yep.

[devossed]

Enjoy watching Sac's body language when he thinks the officials are giving Hope bad calls.  Albion is closer than they should be.  8 turnovers for Hope is too many.

I'm a weird dude when it comes to officials lately, usually it doesn't bother me but the last 3 games it has, but sometimes my reaction might be a "what the heck was that" to a Hope player not necessarily the official.  So you never know.

I've worn glasses for 2 years now and I'm probably due for a check-up.  It's clear I do not possess the laser vision of Wallace Whitfield who has an uncanny ability to see fouls from 35 feet away that mere mortals cannot.  He usually doesn't bother me but for some reason today was the day.

Also Albion going 17 minutes of the first half before getting their 3rd foul doesn't compute, ever.  I have to get used to this Hope is the most physical team in the MIAA thing.



Speaking of weird dudes......I rolled home through my hometown and the sign at my old church said "Do you have your money, or does your money have you?"

It's been a good week for the church sign guy.

Yep.

[devossed]

Yep. Seems like every 6 years, we're due for a Wallace Whitfield spectacular, and especially one where he refuses to listen to logic or reason from others in attendance, nor will he seek input from others on the crew. By my count, he made 3 HORRIBLY bad calls against Hope yesterday (the two travels on Dante - WHAT??)...and probably 2-3 even more questionable ones against Albion.

So I guess at least he was consistent. And thus didn't impact the eventual outcome?

[KnightSlappy]

I think officiating in the MIAA is now a huge problem. This game had what I felt was a lot of blown calls at both ends and then, just as problematically, a switch to a quick whistle at both ends. Olivet was already into the bonus with 15:42 to play in the second, then Calvin proceeded to commit three fouls the rest of the way. Likewise Olivet had 1 (maybe two, I cannot remember when the bench picked up the 2nd via a Tech) at that same point and quickly got Calvin to the bonus as well. It was a game where I think both teams fans were left scratching their head as to what the heck is and isn't going to be called.

One of my favorite moments in the game happened around this time. With second-half fouls in Olivet's favor 10-6, an OC supporter yelled "Olivet has not gotten one call all game". 

[Knight2Day]

What a great game at Calvin.   The knights played with a lot heart and took down the league leading comets.  Everybody played well.  Seniors Canonie and Wilks left it all out on the court with great play on both ends of the court.  Canonie severly rolled his ankle, had to leave the game for exam and retape, and came back limping but finished with a team leading 36 minutes.  The fans and his teammates appreciated the effort.  Calvin will be very tough next year with all of the returning players.

This guy with the jokes.

[Knight2Day]

The jury is still out on Mitchell.

This isn't necessarily directed at you, just a general comment, people are certainly entitled to their opinion or takes but.....


I'm not sure what people's expectations of Hope or Calvin are anymore, but they seem to be that Hope and Calvin should be able to run roughshod over the league with impunity the way they were perceived to have for a long 30 plus year stretch.  Those days are over.  All it takes is an injury or two, or a recruiting class miss and you will struggle to finish in the top half of this league now.

Sorry not sorry, but Calvin and hope SHOULD run roughshod through MOST of their league games. The amount of donor money that has gone into their respective programs, the amount each school and program offers, not to mention the best basketball facilities in division 3, anything less than 17 wins a year at a school like Calvin is an utter disappointment.

When you have the biggest arena in division 3 and it is closer to a morgue than a athletic venue, you know you've lost the ship. The amount of recruits Calvin has lost and the amount of quality players who have quit because of KVS is laughable. He's the men's version of John Ross. Hope to get a Brink, Snikkers, Veenstra,
Winkle every few years so you can make a tourney run to satisfy the alum. The problem is that it has finally run out and now you have a 10 win season.

10 wins isn't going to cut it, not at a school like Calvin and that is evidenced by the complete lack of support for the program in its current state.

If you're going to use the excuse of "Calvin is more expensive and there are more institutions offering competitive athletics," then how in the good hell do Coach Warners, Coach Diemer, and Coach Souders do it year after year?

I'm expecting that KS will spout off about KVS win % and how players loved him like he somehow was in the know when he was getting picked last for intramurals and trying to find a way to sit near the scorers table at games, wiz will make a comment about me being an ass, sac will talk about the parody in the MIAA and how this is the best league we've seen all the while wearing his Hope undies, and the hope fans will talk about overinflated expectations (we get it, you love KVS bexause you win against him).

From the looks of the arena, I'm not the only Calvin fan who's sick of it. The ones with their head in the sand can keep it there, just turn off the lights when you leave.

[Jameswys]

I was honestly really surprised by how quiet Van Noord was yesterday. There was a point when Olivet tied it up that I thought the Olivet crowd was in control of the arena, only to have a stoppage in play take the wind out of our sails. The other weird thing was when Olivet was shooting a Free Throw the building was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Cutler doesn't get that quiet when Olivet shoots a free throw.

[GoKnights68]

I was honestly really surprised by how quiet Van Noord was yesterday. There was a point when Olivet tied it up that I thought the Olivet crowd was in control of the arena, only to have a stoppage in play take the wind out of our sails. The other weird thing was when Olivet was shooting a Free Throw the building was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Cutler doesn't get that quiet when Olivet shoots a free throw.

It’s pretty sad .  I remember going to Knollcrest on Saturdays in the winter as a kid in the late 1990’s and early 2000s,  and the place would have a rocking atmosphere even against non-Hope opponents .

[Bulldog30]

Are there any K-Zoo fans on here that we're at the instant classic Adrian vs Kalamazoo game Saturday? There's no video and I feel like I need some context.

Adrian losing the game isn't a big deal to me. I was hoping they play the bench and rest the top 6, and without much PT, I figure the K starters could win that matchup. But the stats are confusing in some ways.

First, why did Tra'shonr Heard only play 5 minutes? That seems injury related.

Why did Jordan Harris play 31 minutes? I do think Jordan has struggled lately, so maybe this was to get him back on track?

Everything else seemed normal (in terms of a game that meant nothing), but I would've liked to have seen 2 things: the starters play well in the time that they had, and someone outside the top 7 step up and challenge for some playing time with the time they got. Didn't seem like it happened.

[sac]

I'm expecting that KS will spout off about KVS win % and how players loved him like he somehow was in the know when he was getting picked last for intramurals and trying to find a way to sit near the scorers table at games, wiz will make a comment about me being an ass, sac will talk about the parody in the MIAA and how this is the best league we've seen all the while wearing his Hope undies, and the hope fans will talk about overinflated expectations (we get it, you love KVS bexause you win against him).

Parody, yes that's what I'm hoping this is.


I've asked at least once probably twice or more to be left out of your personal diatribes.  There's no need to include me here I get it, you have no ability to reason or be thought provoking in your posts or any willingness to step outside your bubble and see that things aren't the way they used to be.  I haven't singled you out here that I'm aware of, or "called you out" in one of my posts as the kids call it.   If I have apologies for getting older and not remembering things.  This kind of stuff gets tiring after awhile.

And just to straighten out my thoughts on the leagues parity.  I think the league probably had its best parity 1 thru 7 its ever had, that does not in any way mean I think this is the best the league has ever been.