MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[almcguirejr]

Some thoughts on the Hope season thus far:

1. This team is a team I was quite uncertain about coming into the season, but boy I love the way they play.  Intense defense, rebound extremely well, lots of players who can play in or out, superb FT shooting, and an energetic bench (botht he buys coming into the games as well as the involvement from the bench).

2. They are really athletic, and have a number of guys who can be matchup problems.
  - Clayton with speed & quickness - coupled with his 3pt shooting
  - Evan scoring inside and out, 6-4 guard who controls the boards (as one former Hope AA said - "it's like he has spider-man hands")
  - Bikus can post up and hit the 3
  - Those long lanky guys - Halbert and Wiegerink - such big improvements from their FR year
  - The high flying-bring the energy subs - Hedrick/McKenzie/Schoonveld - 6-3 / 6-4 guys who defend really well, rebound and keep lots of balls "alive", can "jump out of the gym" and always seem to energize the entire team

3. They win the fundamentals!  Per game they are +2 Reb (+11 in conf) , 2 less TO, and shooting .824 from the line.  Win those 3 stats every game and you will have a great season.  Intersting to note that in last nights game, Hope had 11 TO and Calvin 9, yet the points off TO was Hope 16, Calvin 7.  Similar situation versus Trine, both teams had 17 TO, yet points off TO was 8 for Trine and 24 for Hope.

Still lots of work to get done and I long way to go, but I doubt many expected this team to be sitting alone in 1st at this point.  I do fear a letdown on Saturday (rivalry hangover and some tired legs after 3 games in the last 5 days - Evan for example averaged 36 min per game in those contests). 

Great work so far, let's keep it going and Let's Go Hope!

I agree with your assessment of Hope. I attended the Olivet, Trine and Calvin games.  I was really impressed with their rebounding in every one of those games. They attack the whole game.  I also think their offense is better without Granger.  The ball moves better. It opens up the lane for Thomas and Dykhouse.  I've been luke warm about Mitchell as a coach,  I give him all the credit for the way Hope is playing right now.

[FyteOnne]

Does that mean Calvin has until February 9th to figure out how to make haggis a concession stand food?

As you can imagine, I think both Van Noord and DeVos are both too big, too new, too shiny, and not purple enough.

[TUAngola]

Trine 60  Kalamazoo 45

Pretty uninspired first half by the Thunder, we were fortunate to not be down big, but hit a few shots at the end of the half to tie it up.  We played better defensively in the second, more like we did in the Albion game.  Offensively, Bryce Williams carried us today.  He's been finding his stroke from 3 in the last few games which we need as our offense just has no attack, it's pass the ball around the perimeter for 25 seconds and then scramble to find a shot.  We had so many unforced turnovers today, it was just careless basketball for most of the game.  Kalamazoo is such a young team, mostly freshmen and sophomores.  They might have something in a year or two if they can stay together.

Trine:  Williams 20, Bowman 15, Cox 10
Kzoo:  Broadsword 11, Horky 10

[wiz]

Watching livestream of Albion at Hope and I see Arnulfo has the whistle today.  He's doing okay but the PA announcer is barely audible when announcing a made shot by an Albion player.  I've never heard anything like it.

[oldknight]

Calvin with a comfortable, albeit somewhat ugly, 81-61 win over Adrian, in a game with a 5:30 start. It's may have happened before, but this is the first time I can remember going to a men's varsity game with a 5:30 start, but Calvin is nothing, if not equitable, when it comes to sharing the traditional 3:00 pm slot with the ladies.

Both teams were miserable with the 3-ball, combining for a 6-37 performance from the arc. After a 12-point run by the visitors to grab a 19-15 lead, Bill Sall called a timeout midway though the opening half. His team responded by dominating the last 10 minutes, grabbing a 36-25 lead heading into the locker room. The Knights then scored the first 6 points of the second frame, and the Bulldogs never really challenged the final 20 minutes of play.

Calvin put 5 players in double figures, but the team's fortunes were truly led and buoyed by two guys off the bench, Sensenig and Bult, who scored 16 and 11, to provide the Knights with a real lift. The winners took the battle of the boards, 55-44, but gave up far too many offensive rebounds (12) to the undersized visitors from Lenawee County.

Future visitors to VNA will heartened to know the PA guy occasionally used both the first and last name of a visiting player, and interspersed that bit of thoughtfulness by -- from time to time -- only using the last name of a Calvin competitor when announcing a score or foul. Sadly, there seemed to be no improvement in the lighting, the mid-court screen remains pedestrian, and there wasn't a condiment in sight. While the water pressure in the bathroom sinks remain distressingly low, I was quite impressed by the intensity and volume of flow in the toilets.

Most importantly, there was no olliebollen, which is just fine with me. I hate oliebollen. Now if we could only get food service to provide fans with a roll of banket and a glass of boerejongens. That would bring them into VNA.

[pointlem]

Both teams were miserable with the 3-ball, combining for a 6-37 performance from the arc.

Perhaps something in the West MI air, Old Knight? Hope today was 5 of 32 on 3-balls (and 1 of 22 from all players not named Jeff Bikus). Hope is an excellent (82%) free throw shooting team this season, and the returning players last year had a much better long-range average.

If Hope could somehow regain their last season's 3-point shooting, and combine that with their defensive and rebounding improvement, they will be a tough match for anyone . . . especially after their missing two starters return. Even so, their effort and spirit is fun to watch.

Eli Schoonveld continues to impress with his defense, rebounding (he could be a high jumper), and ball movement. In 80 minutes of play since joining the team, he is yet to commit a turnover.

Oh, and there was a little draft at DeVos today. But we do love our scoreboard . . . just not the numbers on it at the game's end today.

[sac]

I see the loss still hurts. 

[sac]

Olivet 96 Alma 88  2OT

This was actually pretty close to the kind of score I expected to see, just not in two overtimes.  A game of streaks finally settled into a decent back and forth late in the 2nd half.  I kept expecting Olivet's starting 5 to sort of wake-up and takeover but it just never happened in regulation.   I can't say this was a clean game, lots of silly turnovers, bad fouls and my goodness questionable shot selection.

FT's or rather missed FT's played a key part in this one.  In regulation both teams missed FG's that would have taken the lead in the last minute, Alma ended up the ball and a shot to win but were fouled deep in the lane with :01 left.  Unfortunately Alma's Landon Moore-Pierce missed both FT's which sent the game to overtime. Olivet missed one in the first overtime  with 5 seconds left that gave Alma the chance to tie with a two.   Brandon Whiteside strolled the length of the court nearly untouched and laid one in at the buzzer to force the 2nd overtime.

Olivet sort of dominated the 2nd OT and finished it off with free-throws.

Olivet:   Thigpen 31, Johnson 15, Wiswary 13, Robinette 13
Alma:  Bargresser 21, Rake 17, Moore-Pierce 16, Whiteside 11

 
I had only seen Olivet beforehand and this was a puzzling performance for a team that pushed Platteville to the brink and beat Hanover just less than a month ago.  No energy today for long long stretches.  Alma played fired-up, stayed close the whole way and nearly and probably should have pulled it off.

[sac]

Albion 75  Hope 68  F

Albion was really good tonight and for the entirety of the game I thought they played with confidence and poise.  FT's is often a good sign or test of a teams concentration and engagement.  The Britons who came in just around a pretty good 70% on the year didn't miss one until deep into the 2nd half.

Disappointing the game ground into a foul/FT fest in the 2nd half.  1st half was let them play, 2nd half we had 12 fouls before the 15 minute mark.  blech.

Hope for its part I thought was just a good except for one key area and that was 3-point shooting.  A miserable night for anyone not named Jeff Bikus.  Bikus went 4-10, the rest of the team went 1-22 and   Collectively over the last 23 minutes Hope went 0-19 as a team from three.  At some point we sort of knew their season long struggle from deep would bite them and tonight it did.  Finding 3 more of these to go in is still a bad night overall but a W.

Hope finishes an ultra tough week 2-1 and 3-1 to start conference play against probably 4 of the best 5 teams.  That's pretty good, but a missed opportunity tonight for sure.  I don't see much difference between Hope, Calvin, Trine, Albion.

Hope:  Thomas 23, Bikus 20
Albion:  K. Thomas 22, McAbee 17, C. Garland 15


So Albion has played Calvin, Hope, Trine won 2 of those and were completely run out of the gym in the other.  I've seen all 3 of these and nearly the only difference in lineup was the absence of Ken Thomas for Albion at Trine.  Hope and Calvin had no answer for his deep paint presence.  It will be super interesting to see if Thomas's presence changes at all how that 2nd meeting with Trine in Kresge plays out.

[Dutchfan]

Watching livestream of Albion at Hope and I see Arnulfo has the whistle today.  He's doing okay but the PA announcer is barely audible when announcing a made shot by an Albion player.  I've never heard anything like it.

I was there. He was calling both sides equally. Same volume, tone, inflection. Totally equal and normal.

That being said, it doesn't bother me when a PA announcer is more enthusiastic towards the home team. It's actually expected to some degree. It's when you are completely apathetic to the point of rudeness, instead of calmly business like, towards the away team that I have a problem with it.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Watching livestream of Albion at Hope and I see Arnulfo has the whistle today.  He's doing okay but the PA announcer is barely audible when announcing a made shot by an Albion player.  I've never heard anything like it.

I was there. He was calling both sides equally. Same volume, tone, inflection. Totally equal and normal.

That being said, it doesn't bother me when a PA announcer is more enthusiastic towards the home team. It's actually expected to some degree. It's when you are completely apathetic to the point of rudeness, instead of calmly business like, towards the away team that I have a problem with it.

Dude, let it go

[HOPEful]

That being said, it doesn't bother me when a PA announcer is more enthusiastic towards the home team. It's actually expected to some degree. It's when you are completely apathetic to the point of rudeness, instead of calmly business like, towards the away team that I have a problem with it.

I made it a point to listen to the Hope livestream announcer's calls for Albion last night. I will say the intonation and excitement were very positive when Albion made good plays. It felt much more unbiased as a Hope Livestream than the WGVU announcers.

Sometimes I feel like if a Hope fan critiques an MIAA institution not in Grand Rapids, it's considered and discussed. But when it's a critique of anything Calvin related, it's a rival being petty.

[Dutchfan]

Watching livestream of Albion at Hope and I see Arnulfo has the whistle today.  He's doing okay but the PA announcer is barely audible when announcing a made shot by an Albion player.  I've never heard anything like it.

I was there. He was calling both sides equally. Same volume, tone, inflection. Totally equal and normal.

That being said, it doesn't bother me when a PA announcer is more enthusiastic towards the home team. It's actually expected to some degree. It's when you are completely apathetic to the point of rudeness, instead of calmly business like, towards the away team that I have a problem with it.

Dude, let it go

Am I not allowed to defend my position, "dude"?

[Titan Q]

Hope and Calvin are not doing enough, consistently, to become regionally ranked.  And it's hurting IWU's Results vs Regionally Ranked Opponent situation.

I'll ask both to get it together moving forward.

Thanks.

[HOPEful]

Hope and Calvin are not doing enough, consistently, to become regionally ranked.  And it's hurting IWU's Results vs Regionally Ranked Opponent situation.

I'll ask both to get it together moving forward.

Thanks.

Just win the CCIW and you won't have to worry about what's going on over here in the MIAA