MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Flying Dutch Fan]

And that amazing finish by Albion was #3 on ESPN Sportscenter Top 10 today!!  First such "honor" for the MIAA?

[TUAngola]

Anyone with a link to the SportsCenter top 10?

Well I took in all 4 games yesterday (got there at 12:30 and got home at 10pm, a very long day).  The men's games were by far the most exciting.  In women's basketball Trine and Hope are so far above anyone else in the league right now it was a foregone conclusion that they'd meet tonight in the championship.

Albion vs Olivet.  Gallant comeback by the Comets thwarted by an answered prayer halfcout shot by Jamezell Davis at the buzzer.  Albion controlled 3/4 of the game.  I think Albion tried to run out the clock too early instead of being aggressive on offense.  It got them out of their rythmn and Olivet took advantage.  Edmond played outstanding the second half and continually got to the basket and scored or drew fouls.  Manuel, McAdoo and Brocker all hit big shots too.  It would have been heartbreaking for Albion if they had lost.  Olivet really stepped up their defense in the last 10 minutes, if they would have pressured Albion from the get go it would have been a different ending. 

Trine vs Calvin.  Trine played from ahead most of the game, but never comfortably ahead.  Calvin clawed back and went ahead briefly in the second half, then Trine pulled out in front and kept Calvin at bay the rest of the game.  Calvin's DeVries and Shymanski with good games.  In the first game against Trine at MTI, we played very good defense on DeVries and he wasn't a factor, and Shymanksi wasn't either.  Calvin went with a "big" lineup the second half and it was very effective, it created a lot of mismatches for Trine on defense.  Calvin only played a point guard, DeVries as a 2 guard, then rotated a whole bunch of bodies at 3, 4, and 5.  Meulenberg must like MTI, he has had really good games here.  For Trine, Ellis Cummings was very good today, especially the second half.  He continually got the ball deep on the post and can raise high enough to get shots over defenders.  Myles Copeland also played well.  We had to get strong inside play as Calvin was very good at defending the 3ball.  Johnson had a few open looks early but couldn't convert.  Smith didn't take many 3s today, but he couldn't get free very often.  I love watching Marcus Winters play.  He is such a good defender, and is one of our leading rebounders...at 5'11!!  He has great leaping ability.  You should watch some of his dunks in warm up, love watching a little guy get up.

So it comes down to the matchup of Trine vs Albion later today.  Trine with comeback wins in the previous 2.  Should be a heck of a game.   

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOnEiVlX-jA&ab_channel=SportsComplex

I think that Demar Derozen 360 layup was probably the best of the night, though.

[Bball fan123]

For all those unaware,
1) the supervisor of league officials apparently contacted a Hope coach to apologize on end for the missed call the next day.
2) one of the officials from this game contacted a Hope player to discuss the play, and missed call, further.
So, "clearly" those in the know recognize a foul should have been called.

[HOPEful]

With the game about to start there are about 100 people in MTI. I know this because I could quickly count them. It's absurd that the MIAA went with 1/3/5/7 game times.

I agree. If one school hosts both guys and girls, they really should try to go Tue/Thr/Sat, Wed/Fri/Sat

I believe that in the case of a school winning the conference championship in both men's and women's basketball that the school should decide which team they want to host and the second place team hosts the tournament that isn't chosen.

This would go against established Title IX rules. They could continue the even/odd year pattern on who gets priority, but the Tue/Thr/Sat and Wed/Fri/Sat schedule just makes so much more sense. Both Trine teams earned the right to host. Neither should have to give that up and travel to Hope/Albion. Neither should have to play a day game on a Friday either. Why not 2 games Thursday night, 2 games Friday night, and 2 games Saturday?

[Jameswys]

With the game about to start there are about 100 people in MTI. I know this because I could quickly count them. It's absurd that the MIAA went with 1/3/5/7 game times.

I agree. If one school hosts both guys and girls, they really should try to go Tue/Thr/Sat, Wed/Fri/Sat

I believe that in the case of a school winning the conference championship in both men's and women's basketball that the school should decide which team they want to host and the second place team hosts the tournament that isn't chosen.

This would go against established Title IX rules. They could continue the even/odd year pattern on who gets priority, but the Tue/Thr/Sat and Wed/Fri/Sat schedule just makes so much more sense. Both Trine teams earned the right to host. Neither should have to give that up and travel to Hope/Albion. Neither should have to play a day game on a Friday either. Why not 2 games Thursday night, 2 games Friday night, and 2 games Saturday?

I am a fan of 5/7pm Friday with 7pm champs Saturday and 3/5pm Saturday with 3pm Sunday champs.

[KnightSlappy]

With the game about to start there are about 100 people in MTI. I know this because I could quickly count them. It's absurd that the MIAA went with 1/3/5/7 game times.

I agree. If one school hosts both guys and girls, they really should try to go Tue/Thr/Sat, Wed/Fri/Sat

I believe that in the case of a school winning the conference championship in both men's and women's basketball that the school should decide which team they want to host and the second place team hosts the tournament that isn't chosen.

This would go against established Title IX rules. They could continue the even/odd year pattern on who gets priority, but the Tue/Thr/Sat and Wed/Fri/Sat schedule just makes so much more sense. Both Trine teams earned the right to host. Neither should have to give that up and travel to Hope/Albion. Neither should have to play a day game on a Friday either. Why not 2 games Thursday night, 2 games Friday night, and 2 games Saturday?

I am a fan of 5/7pm Friday with 7pm champs Saturday and 3/5pm Saturday with 3pm Sunday champs.

The MIAA would not do this as Calvin and Hope have institutional policies not to compete on Sundays.

[Jameswys]

With the game about to start there are about 100 people in MTI. I know this because I could quickly count them. It's absurd that the MIAA went with 1/3/5/7 game times.

I agree. If one school hosts both guys and girls, they really should try to go Tue/Thr/Sat, Wed/Fri/Sat

I believe that in the case of a school winning the conference championship in both men's and women's basketball that the school should decide which team they want to host and the second place team hosts the tournament that isn't chosen.

This would go against established Title IX rules. They could continue the even/odd year pattern on who gets priority, but the Tue/Thr/Sat and Wed/Fri/Sat schedule just makes so much more sense. Both Trine teams earned the right to host. Neither should have to give that up and travel to Hope/Albion. Neither should have to play a day game on a Friday either. Why not 2 games Thursday night, 2 games Friday night, and 2 games Saturday?

I am a fan of 5/7pm Friday with 7pm champs Saturday and 3/5pm Saturday with 3pm Sunday champs.

The MIAA would not do this as Calvin and Hope have institutional policies not to compete on Sundays.

I didn't know that, thanks for the info! So much for that idea.

[wiz]

Congrats to Albion.  May the Brits have a long NCAA tournament run.  This year's tournament was hosted well by Trine and all three games at MTI were exciting.  Next year, let's bring all 8 teams to the tournament.

[sac]

Great game between Trine/Albion today.  Fascinating chess match with answers and counters from both teams.  Really fun to watch.

Jamezell Davis had quite a weekend, a non-factor for most of the game being guarded by Marcus Winters comes up with 8 points in the final few minutes to get  Albion over the finish line.

Congrats to the Britons and to Jody May.  It's been to long since they've been in the NCAA.

[TUAngola]

Congratulations to both Albion MBB and Trine WBB for winning MIAA championships yesterday at the MTI Center on the campus of Trine University.  Both were exciting games.  Atmosphere was terrific, Albion had a lot of fans and were very vocal.  It was a back and forth game, lots of spurts by both teams.  Player of the game was Quinton Armstrong of Albion.  He was terrific, we just couldn't figure out a way to stop him.  Our post defense let both Armstrong and Ebeling catch the ball too deep, when that happens it's either a bucket or a foul.  When both Armstrong and Ebeling are on the floor at the same time is when Albion is at its best.  Some huge buckets by reserve Zachary Winston down the stretch too for Albion including a couple 3s.  I didn't like our play selection coming out of timeouts the last 2 possessions.  The one where were down 1pt with 13 seconds to go we inbound to Copeland who puts up a contested shot right away.  We had time to probe the defense a little more, see if we could have gotten a better shot.  Our best creators are Johnson, Winters and Smith, they should have had the ball and made something happen.  Then after the Britons get the rebound and hit 2 FTs, we again had plenty of time to inbound the ball to a guard to create a good shot.  But, I can't complain about the effort by the guys for the entire game.  Glad for Albion and Coach May, have always liked they way they play, they do things the right way just like Trine.  It would have been huge for Trine and Coach Miller's program to get to the dance, so disappointed.  But it was a fantastic season.  Congrats to seniors Smith, Copeland, Cummings, Dishop and Corcoran.  Best of luck in your careers after school.   

[Knight2Day]

For all those unaware,
1) the supervisor of league officials apparently contacted a Hope coach to apologize on end for the missed call the next day.
2) one of the officials from this game contacted a Hope player to discuss the play, and missed call, further.
So, "clearly" those in the know recognize a foul should have been called.

Hope lost. No one cares. The Rams were still in the Super Bowl after a worse no call. There have been plenty of no calls that hurt Calvin through the years.

[Knight2Day]

For all those unaware,
1) the supervisor of league officials apparently contacted a Hope coach to apologize on end for the missed call the next day.
2) one of the officials from this game contacted a Hope player to discuss the play, and missed call, further.
So, "clearly" those in the know recognize a foul should have been called.

Hope lost. No one cares. The Rams were still in the Super Bowl after a worse no call. There have been plenty of no calls that hurt Calvin through the years.

Also, hope went 0-3 this  year vs Calvin, not like this was a fluke loss.

[maroonandgold]

This year was a truly amazing and great year for the league.  By being competitive up and down the line, it really made it a meaningful league season for all 8 teams.  Although I am a very strong supporter of my team, I think all teams benefit from the kind of experience we had this year in which every team eventually proved to be at least somewhat competitive, and the top 5 were only separated by a shot here and there.  It beats a situation in which 2 teams almost always end up one and two by being just more interesting from game to game.  The result in a win that really means a lot to the winning team and still provides a really hard fought tournament with the end difficult to predict.  Even Adrian, which at one point appeared sure to lose every game, won 3 straight games at the end.

[wiz]

This year was a truly amazing and great year for the league.  By being competitive up and down the line, it really made it a meaningful league season for all 8 teams.  Although I am a very strong supporter of my team, I think all teams benefit from the kind of experience we had this year in which every team eventually proved to be at least somewhat competitive, and the top 5 were only separated by a shot here and there.  It beats a situation in which 2 teams almost always end up one and two by being just more interesting from game to game.  The result in a win that really means a lot to the winning team and still provides a really hard fought tournament with the end difficult to predict.  Even Adrian, which at one point appeared sure to lose every game, won 3 straight games at the end.

Exactly!  And this is why we go back to opening the MIAA up to all league members again.  The goal is to improve from game to game and be prepared to shine at tournament time.  Adrian showed significant improvement in the final weeks and no team wanted to get matched up with the Hornets at the end of the season.