MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[almcguirejr]

Hope needed a lot of help to win this one. And boy did they get it. Wow. Credit to Hope for making a lot of shots but...

Is your last name Ernst?

[Jameswys]

Honestly the officiating was really bad again tonight. Neither team had a huge benefit from the calls (other than Jalen Adams getting a questionable 4th foul). The first Olivet 3 of the game was clearly a long 2. I saw it with no problem. 22 for Hope picked up a foul for getting pushed twice by Olivet players, though he got a push in between the two from Olivet. And Hope clearly stepped out in front of the Olivet bench during an Olivet trap. Those were the worst calls I can remember but there were plenty to go around. Clearly the MIAA has an official shortage, as does the MHSAA, but we need to find a way to get quality officiating next year.

This isn't to take anything away from Hope, congrats to them on the NCAA berth. They got crushed 10 days ago in Cutler and came out tonight and played a great game. 

[Jameswys]

Olivet played 3 guys for 40 min and 1 for 39 in today's win. It looks like second half defense is a major problem for Olivet. Mt. Union put up 68, John Caroll put up 60 and IPFW dropped 55 in the second half.

This was my first post on here. In December. Hope dropped 60 in the second half tonight.

[Winifred Durfee]

-k me all you want, I couldn't resist.

[Dutch_Man]

What a game! Or should I say, what a game... This had to have been the longest second half I have ever witnessed. Dante picked up 3 fouls in the first minute and 20 seconds. Jalen Adams fouled out with 10 minutes to play. It felt like every posession ended in a foul. I struggle to know how to unpack what the game was... do I blame the refs for calling so many fouls or do I blame the defenses for playing to aggressive? Oliver's full court press was aggressive and... aggressive. Olivets offensevie plan was to attack the hoop, more times than not, this resulted in a Hope foul. What might have been the most mind boggling was the fact that Olivet put one of the best free throw shoots in the d3 ball at the line 22 times... Were there bad calls tonight? Absolutely. Did both teams play aggressive defense? Absolutely.

I'm just glad the game is over. Olivet was a great host for the MIAA Tourney. They were polite, helpful and energetic. I will say that there is something special about cutting down the nets on the road in front of a rowdy crowd! Well done Dutchmen!

[HupHolland]

Thought the officiating was not bad until Olivet started to bring the pressure in the 2nd Half. Both Adams and Dante fouled out on questionable charge calls. The Dante one is still making me scratch my head. Officiating aside, the big difference was Hope's shooting. It felt like almost every 3 Hope got was pretty wide open. Riley Lewis reminding us of his first Olivet performance at DeVos.

[sac]

Hope 106  Olivet 94

Thoroughly "entertaining", aggravating, annoying, pulsating, electric etc etc.  One of the hardest games to officiate I've probably ever seen.

Hope had to do many things better tonight than last Wed but I thought keeping turnovers down, rebounding and shooting better than 1-17 from 3 were the big ones and Hope was better at all of those this week.  Unlike last Wed. they were also aggressive yet patient, if that makes sense.  Couple blips against Olivet's inevitable second half pressure but otherwise turnovers were at their season average.   Really think where Hope won this was rebounding, they were sensational getting at the glass, much better than at any point I can remember this season.

I've seen both these teams play more than a few times this year, I can say with a lot of confidence both coaches were forced to play lineups they weren't familiar with because of what was frankly pretty poor overall officiating, but I'll again stress difficult.

Hope:  Beckman 32, Lewis 21, Ray 13, Granger 11
Olivet:  Edmond 36, Adams 17, Mason 17


Pretty proud of this Hope team for what they accomplished this year facing a pretty daunting schedule in a very obvious rebuilding year.   Much thanks and gratitude to the players and coaches who makes this enjoyable for me.  I get a real kick seeing teams develop over the course of a season and all the small and big hurdles they have to face.  Hope is better today than they were in November and it was such sweet satisfaction to see them cut down those particular nets. 

--Thank you Hope

[sac]

My initial gut feeling says Hope will be playing at Wittenberg, no science behind that.  But they could be playing at any of the Great Lakes or Central host sites.  I think they're still a borderline 3 seed and could easily be a 4 in the 4 team pod.   I'll take a look at things better tomorrow.



Fun to draw Hanover at WashU right?  Cause that's out there.

[sac]

Also need to thank Olivet for a very well managed event from tickets to seating and everything in between everything seemed to go smoothly.    For a moment there in the second half, Cutler was about as loud as it can get with that many people in there.  Great atmosphere all weekend.

[realist]

Hope 106  Olivet 94

Pretty proud of this Hope team for what they accomplished this year facing a pretty daunting schedule in a very obvious rebuilding year.   Much thanks and gratitude to the players and coaches who makes this enjoyable for me.  I get a real kick seeing teams develop over the course of a season and all the small and big hurdles they have to face.  Hope is better today than they were in November and it was such sweet satisfaction to see them cut down those particular nets. 

--Thank you Hope

Congrats to Hope for doing a great job in getting a piece of the MIAA title, and for then winning the conference tournament..

"I get a real kick seeing teams develop over the course of a season......"   I put this line in bold type above, because for one Calvin fan it is probably the best way to express the frustration many  of us Calvin fans feel once again this year.   10-15 in the 2015-16 season followed by a 17-11 campaign in 2016-17, and now another 10-15 season.

Sadly, unlike Hope, Calvin never really did develop over the season.  Granted we saw some flashes of a very talented, and capable team, but as the record painfully shows they never really developed into a team that was consistently able to play at a respectable level.   
At this point I find very little reason to expect next year's Calvin team to be all that much better than what we saw this year.   Calvin men's basketball has gotten very stale and predictable over the years, and expecting improvement without a change at the top is folly.

[sac]

Morning thoughts on host sites and Hope opponents.

Hosts:  I always look at the Great Lakes/Central/West as one big region, teams will get shuffled in and out a bit but for the most part its kind of a bubble.

I'm not as confident in these as I have been in recent years, thinking of seeding pods 1, 2, 3, 4 these are your #1's
Locks to host
Augustana
Wittenberg
Whitman

Likely to host
JCU or Wooster
Platteville or WashU
St. John's

I count as few as 22 teams, as many as 26/27 depending on how the final Pool C slots work out.

We could have as few as 5 pods or as many as 7, with seven I think you're looking at either Platteville or WashU being that extra pod.  D3 has been bracketing teams pretty close to the same process for about 12 years or more, historically when Hope hasn't hosted we've been sent to our West.   So Augustana, Platteville, WashU seem more probable than Wittenberg or JCU/Wooster.



For Hope's seeding, its tricky.  I have Hope as a #3 but the line between a 3 or 4 is either in front or behind them and I think it involves 4 teams and how the national committee would stack them up. 

Hope               16-8           .667/.555/1-4       
Hanover           20-6          .769/.492/3-3
Thomas More   22-5         .815/.481/0-1
Monmouth       20-7          .741/.533/0-1

The last two regional rankings had Hope ahead of Hanover and Thomas More, Monmouth from the Central would probably be ahead of them.   Hope also has the highest non-conf SOS in the new secondary criteria.  It will be interesting how these 4 teams are paired and where.  FWIW my #3/#4 line is between Hope/Hanover.  But that's pretty flexible.

Whether Hope is a #3 or gets pushed to #4 could also depend on if Illinois Wesleyan and/or North Central receive Pool C bids, if River Falls wins the WIAC or if Augsburg loses in the MIAC title.  Any of those teams would push Hope closer to the line between #3/#4


Opponents:

If Hope's a #4, potential opponents are the host schools
Augustana
Wittenberg
JCU or Wooster
Platteville or WashU

St. John's--would require a flight
Whitman--would require a flight

St. John's is probably out due to the flight. 
Whitman would be a maybe since someone has to fly out there to complete that pod and I think the committee might be looking for a #3 seed to fill that one out and a weak #3 like Hope might be perfect.

If Hope's a #4 they'd be a strong 4 in which case you look for the weakest #1.  That would be probably St. John's which is out due to the flight, after that it might be whoever gets that potential 7th pod, Platteville or Washu. 



If Hope is a #3
JCU --if no host
Wooster  -- if no host
Marietta
Stevens Point
WashU--if no host
Whitworth--- long shot, requires flight
Neb. Wesleyan
-------------------------------------   line between #2 and #3 seed
River Falls--- need to win WIAC
Oshkosh--Pool C
Illinois Wesleyan---Pool C, bubble
North Central---Pool C, bubble
St. Olaf ---Pool C
Augsburg ----Win MIAC or Pool C bubble

The line between #2 and #3 seeds will move based on who gets the final Pool C slots and we won't know that for sure until Monday.


If Hope is sent to Wittenberg or JCU/Wooster there are a handful of teams outside the GL/Cent/West bubble that Hope could face.  More so at JCU/Wooster than Wittenberg. 

Because of geography the committee isn't always able to seed teams properly as 1, 2, 3 or 4's.  Sometimes they have to fidget it a little to makes the brackets work.  So a weird matchup like Hope vs Monmouth, Hanover or Thomas More might happen but probably not very likely



FWIW I think Hope will end up a #3

[NW Hope Fan]

Morning thoughts on host sites and Hope opponents.

Hosts:  I always look at the Great Lakes/Central/West as one big region, teams will get shuffled in and out a bit but for the most part its kind of a bubble.

I'm not as confident in these as I have been in recent years, thinking of seeding pods 1, 2, 3, 4 these are your #1's
Locks to host
Augustana
Wittenberg
Whitman

Likely to host
JCU or Wooster
Platteville or WashU
St. John's

I count as few as 22 teams, as many as 26/27 depending on how the final Pool C slots work out.

We could have as few as 5 pods or as many as 7, with seven I think you're looking at either Platteville or WashU being that extra pod.  D3 has been bracketing teams pretty close to the same process for about 12 years or more, historically when Hope hasn't hosted we've been sent to our West.   So Augustana, Platteville, WashU seem more probable than Wittenberg or JCU/Wooster.



For Hope's seeding, its tricky.  I have Hope as a #3 but the line between a 3 or 4 is either in front or behind them and I think it involves 4 teams and how the national committee would stack them up. 

Hope               16-8           .667/.555/1-4       
Hanover           20-6          .769/.492/3-3
Thomas More   22-5         .815/.481/0-1
Monmouth       20-7          .741/.533/0-1

The last two regional rankings had Hope ahead of Hanover and Thomas More, Monmouth from the Central would probably be ahead of them.   Hope also has the highest non-conf SOS in the new secondary criteria.  It will be interesting how these 4 teams are paired and where.  FWIW my #3/#4 line is between Hope/Hanover.  But that's pretty flexible.

Whether Hope is a #3 or gets pushed to #4 could also depend on if Illinois Wesleyan and/or North Central receive Pool C bids, if River Falls wins the WIAC or if Augsburg loses in the MIAC title.  Any of those teams would push Hope closer to the line between #3/#4


Opponents:

If Hope's a #4, potential opponents are the host schools
Augustana
Wittenberg
JCU or Wooster
Platteville or WashU

St. John's--would require a flight
Whitman--would require a flight

St. John's is probably out due to the flight. 
Whitman would be a maybe since someone has to fly out there to complete that pod and I think the committee might be looking for a #3 seed to fill that one out and a weak #3 like Hope might be perfect.

If Hope's a #4 they'd be a strong 4 in which case you look for the weakest #1.  That would be probably St. John's which is out due to the flight, after that it might be whoever gets that potential 7th pod, Platteville or Washu. 



If Hope is a #3
JCU --if no host
Wooster  -- if no host
Marietta
Stevens Point
WashU--if no host
Whitworth--- long shot, requires flight
Neb. Wesleyan
-------------------------------------   line between #2 and #3 seed
River Falls--- need to win WIAC
Oshkosh--Pool C
Illinois Wesleyan---Pool C, bubble
North Central---Pool C, bubble
St. Olaf ---Pool C
Augsburg ----Win MIAC or Pool C bubble

The line between #2 and #3 seeds will move based on who gets the final Pool C slots and we won't know that for sure until Monday.


If Hope is sent to Wittenberg or JCU/Wooster there are a handful of teams outside the GL/Cent/West bubble that Hope could face.  More so at JCU/Wooster than Wittenberg. 

Because of geography the committee isn't always able to seed teams properly as 1, 2, 3 or 4's.  Sometimes they have to fidget it a little to makes the brackets work.  So a weird matchup like Hope vs Monmouth, Hanover or Thomas More might happen but probably not very likely



FWIW I think Hope will end up a #3

I'm probably the only one on here that hopes for a Hope flight to the PNW...   

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Our mock bracket is out.  I had Hope heading to Wisconsin, but this is all really a crapshoot.

http://www.d3hoops.com/playoffs/men/2018/projected-mens-bracket

Hope's a quintessential 3 seed for the first weekend.

[HopeConvert]

Rock Island it is.

Facing Augsburg and Augustana doesn't augur well for an august school such as Hope trying to augment its tournament record. It's a bad augury. Plus: Lutherans.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Plus we will have the opportunity to watch a "system" team in Greenville vs. the hosts.