MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[MIdoubleA]

When does the Top 25 get updated? I am looking forward to Calvin's fall and Hope's ascension.

Good question, I'd like to see their updated rankings as well.

[Civic Minded]

I believe the Top 25 gets updated this Tuesday (tomorrow).  Should be interesting...

[SBell]

I'm perfectly aware of Holland's demographics, having grown up there and attended "multicultural" Holland High School.

I never said Hope didn't recruit black players. But digging up junior varsity players is somewhat disengenuous. So my point remains -- the quarter-century white out! I have a nominee for the new Jackie Robinson, J.R. Hood from Muskegon. Recruit him!

[sac]

Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode....."...are we supposed to be talking about this....I really don't think we're supposed to be talking about this"

random thoughts

I'll say we'll learn more about Kzoo IF they meet Aquinas.....Finlandia and Davenport won't tell us anything.

So far the team I'm most interested in is Olivet, looks like maybe just maybe the Comets have bought into the defense wins championships philosophy.

I'd be comfortable with Hope ranked #18, I think that more than generous.  A win over a ranked D3 team, one over a JV team and 2 over "technically ranked" NAIA II teams.  Two more wins this weekend should put Hope firmly on the D3 radar as a top 10 candidate but just hovering outside the elite status.  Meet and beat John Carroll later this month and their a top10 team.............LOTS of dribbling to go before we get there.

CCIW/MIAA challenge should be fun, I expect a full house.  Looking forward to exacting a little revenge for the thumping April's Wheaton put on Hope last year......hehe.  Carthage v Hope looks like the marque game on Saturday.

Calvin.......well we'll find out just how dire things are for Knights.  It would be a great accomplishment to win one I'm afraid.

[sac]

This one flew under the radar a little bit but Albion beat Baldwin-Wallace 75-72 in Pennsylvania yesterday.  Nice neutral court win vs an in-region team.  Looks like the UMD loss was a bit of a fluke.  Brandon Crawford continues to tear it up with two double-doubles this weekend.

BW had two guys combine for 11-14 from trey.....bad memories, bad bad memories.

......happy place, I'm in my happy place.......mmmmm.......mmmmmmm.

[Gregory Sager]

If there's any Calvin or Hope folks in Chicagoland who are considering traveling to Holland on Friday night for the Challenge who might have room in their car, please e-mail me (just click on my name).

[dutchmen96]

Don't get me wrong;  Hope College needs to recruit more minority students and student-athletes.  Hope's leadership, in my opinion, needs to take a long, hard look at the situation.  For the sake of our discussion:   Derrick would have also been a JV player;  a JV player you monikered "Hope's Jackie Robinson".  So if JV Derrick can be Jackie Robinson, why not Omar, Colby, Jarred...that's my point.  Secondly,  you being from Holland and aware of the demographics has nothing to do with the fact that your comment about Latinos was short sighted.

[Picket Fence]

This weekend won't be much of a true test for Calvin if Meckes can't go. Having to start Snoeyink really downgrades the talent in the frontcourt. Is Draayer playing this year? Boy does he miss Hoekstra and Aultman!

Hope is going after anybody they think can make a difference in the basketball program.  This includes black and latin players.  The problem that the Hope staff faces is that the school has a largely white student population. A kid from Muskegon, a largely black student population, may not feel very comfortable at a school like Hope. I can't be sure, but haven't the black students that Calvin has got to play for them been from private schools? It makes a huge difference to an 18 year old struggling for acceptance in a new place.

[kdoggy]

Adrian 93
Andrews 58

Hohum performance from Adrian tonight over a BAD Andrews team.  Buck played all 14 players dressed tonight, and played them quickly.  Adrian jumped out to a 17-5 lead and it looked like blowout city, but #12 from Andrews tossed in 17 first half points and kept is close...something like 42-34 at the break.  Adrian then kept their "Regulars" in and ran Andrews out of the gym.  Looked like Buck was more worried about running the offense then turning this thing into a track meet...which Adrian would have scored 120 points and won by 50.  I applaud Buck for working several new faces into the game early and letting everyone get their feet wet before Siena Heights comes to town next Thursday.  Billy Collins Jr. had 15 tonight in 20 minutes of action, while Mark Bohlen added 15 as well.  No Mike Lewis is uni yet.  Lewis is playing in the Division III Aztec Bowl...top 46 players in Division III...congrats to him, but Buck Riley and the crew look like they could use him.  Don't know if that will happen.

Until the next episode.

[diehardfan]

CCIW/MIAA challenge should be fun, I expect a full house.  Looking forward to exacting a little revenge for the thumping April's Wheaton put on Hope last year......hehe. 

Hehe... Scott... Wheaton belongs to me now? Woo! Does that mean that I get to coach from the sidelines too instead of just from the stands and posting up?   (Wouldn't we all love to be able to do that?)

My profound apologies to my CCIW and MIAA buddies for not being able to make it to the MIAA-CCIW challenge this weekend. With my new home all the way out in Cali, and the new job, it is just not feasible this year. I am still trying to work it out to to take a week off and come to an MIAA conf playoff game this year, however, or maybe a Hope vs Calvin game or something? I'm sorry I couldn't be your ride Greg... it would have been fun to catch up. 

[hope1]

the rankings are out today albion is ranked number  9  while hope is 14  for this week  calvin dropped  out 

[bulldogalum]

Good to see the Bulldogs get a solid win last night.  Hopefully the opportunity to get a lot of players experience at this point in the season will help them down the road against a tough conference schedule.

[hornet fan]

After a coaching stint, I am back to posting.

I agree with the "wait and see" approach on the Hornets.  They do have some talent, but they have to win games against quality opponents to prove they are ready for the MIAA season.  The team has balanced scoring and can get 15 to 20 from about any one of their top 8 guys.  The problem with that is they do not have a "go to" guy when the game gets tight.  I agree with the sentiment that an Aquinas match-up will be a great barometer to Hope and Calvin.  The Hornets could be good, but they have to continue to improve through the non-conference schedule.  Winning the MIAA is probbaly not realistic, but suprising some teams and finishing above .500 is realistic.

In terms of the discussion regarding race, I think that we are letting the basketball teams speak for the diveristy of each college.  In fact, if you look past the basketball teams, you will find that only Olivet has a minority enrollment greater than 10%.  Based on www.edref.com, the following minority enrollments exist - OC 16%, Adrian 8%, K 7%, Hope 5%, Alma 4%, Calvin 4%, and Albion 4%.  The truth is that all of the other schools need to work on their minority recruiting, INCLUDING making their environments more condusive to the minority student.  It is true that Hope rarely has a minority on its roster, though I know that last seaosn they did attempt to recruit some minorities.  The point is that every school needs to work on this if they want to claim that they have a diverse student population.

Enough about that and back to basketball...

[MIdoubleA]

the rankings are out today albion is ranked number  9  while hope is 14  for this week  calvin dropped  out 

I am curious as to why they ranked them this way...

Albion has a loss, Hope does not.

Hope has beaten a ranked team (Elmhurst), Albion has not (Baldwin-Wallace has only "received votes")

I just struggle to understand their logic. Anyone have some insight?

[ScotsFan]

I just struggle to understand their logic. Anyone have some insight?

It might have to do with the fact that Albion was ranked preseason #8, while Hope was receiving votes and were #32 in the preseason poll?  Hope jumped over quite a few teams going from 32nd to 14th...