MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

When I did my seeds I came up with

2's
St. John's
Wheaton
-----
Hope
Calvin/Heidelberg  -- switch whichever way Regional Ranking went
3's

[oldknight]

Its a really good bracket I think.


Calvin is the MIAA's first Pool C that didn't win the league and lose in the tournament, kind of a legit at-large birth.  Also the first one not named Hope.

Calvin had a Pool C in 2006. I think that was their only Pool C in the expanded era. They were regular season champs but Hope won the tournament.

That was one of those we're-sick-of-seeing-you-guys seasons in which there were four iterations of The Rivalry (two in the regular season, another in the MIAA tourney title game, and another in the second round of the D3 tourney).

Followed by 06-07 when we got to meet 5 times!

Yep, the season that your fifth meeting took place on our side of the lake at Aurora's Thornton Gym, which allowed a large delegation of CCIW fans that included posters such as myself, Bob Quillman, Pete McBride, and the late Dave "Wheaton C" Lawrenz, to head over to Aurora and sit in the Thornton stands in a carefully-chosen section wedged between the Hope and Calvin contingents that we dubbed "Switzerland". It was a fun experience that, for a lot of us CCIW types, is still probably the only time we've ever witnessed a live Rivalry game (although it wasn't much of a contest, as Hope won by 16).

I remember sac telling me that day that by that point it felt like a little of the Rivalry juice had gone out of it from the sheer exhaustion of having to play each other for the fifth time in a little over three months.

Five times in three months was ridiculous, but how 'bout four times in two months?!  Hope was the well-deserved MIAA conference champ this season, but I'm guessing both schools would be delighted if they face off again in March. Best wishes to both squads this weekend.

[goodknight]

Many of the early Calvin commits have come from the north woods, but here's one close to home.
Luka Ressler, a hard-nosed 6-2 guard from the enormously talented GR Catholic Central team, is headed to Calvin to play for Bill Sall.
https://twitter.com/thedzonebball/status/1494429256973266948?s=21

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Hope v Wheaton team stats comparison:

Offense	% 2pt	% 3pt	% FT
Hope	50.9	32.4	81.3
Wheaton	54.1	34.3	73.2
------
Defense	% 2pt	% 3pt
Hope	50.3	31.4
Wheaton	49.6	32.5
------
Rebounding	Team	Opp	Margin
Hope	37.5	34	3.5
Wheaton	36	33.9	2.1
------
Scoring	Team	Opp	Margin
Hope	77.5	70.4	7.1
Wheaton	78.2	70.8	7.4
------
3 point shooting	Made/game
Hope	8.3
Wheaton	8.7
------
Ball Control	Stl/game	TO/Game	OppTO/Game
Hope	7.5	12.6	14.1
Wheaton	4.9	10.9	11.4
------
Ball Control	Asst/game	A/TO	Blks/game
Hope	12.1	0.96	3.5
Wheaton	14.2	1.3	3.2
------
	vRRO	In-Div SOS	Massey Predicts
Hope	6-3	0.531	73
Wheaton	5-5	0.548	77

[Flying Dutch Fan]

For the WashU pod looking at records versus other NCAA tournament teams:

Hope 4-2
Wheaton 2-3
Cornell 0-0
WashU 5-3


No matchups between two of these teams in the regular season

Common opponents (NCAA tourney teams):

IWU - Hope 0-1, Wheaton 1-1, WashU 1-0

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Calvin v St Johns team stats comparison:

Offense	% 2pt	% 3pt	% FT
Calvin	54.4	36	69.1
St Johns	57.1	39	72.5
------
Defense	% 2pt	% 3pt
Calvin	48.9	33.9
St Johns	48.1	32.7
------
Rebounding	Team	Opp	Margin
Calvin	36.1	33.5	2.6
St Johns	32.7	28.8	3.9
------
Scoring	Team	Opp	Margin
Calvin	78.9	69.4	9.5
St Johns	73.3	60.6	12.7
------
3 point shooting	Made/game
Calvin	8.2
St Johns	7.8
------
Ball Control	Stl/game	TO/Game	OppTO/Game
Calvin	7.6	11.2	14.2
St Johns	5.9	8.7	10.5
------
Ball Control	Asst/game	A/TO	Blks/game
Calvin	15.8	1.41	4.3
St Johns	13.3	1.53	2.7
------
	vRRO	In-Div SOS	Massey Predicts
Calvin	6-5	0.541	69
St Johns	2-2	0.538	72

[Flying Dutch Fan]

For the UW Plattville pod looking at records versus other NCAA tournament teams:

Calvin 1-6
St Johns 0-2
Marian 0-1
UW Plattville 6-3


No matchups between two of these teams in the regular season

Common opponents (NCAA tourney teams):

Hope - Calvin 0-3, St Johns 0-1, UW Plattville 1-0
UW Lax - Marian 0-1, UW Plattville 3-0
UW Oshkosh - Calvin 0-1, St Johns 0-1, UW Plattville 0-3

[Gregory Sager]

For the WashU pod looking at records versus other NCAA tournament teams:

Hope 4-2
Wheaton 2-3
Cornell 0-0
WashU 5-3


No matchups between two of these teams in the regular season

Common opponents (NCAA tourney teams):

IWU - Hope 0-1, Wheaton 1-1, WashU 1-0

Wheaton swept North Central, 83-79 (@ WC) and 75-71 (@ NCC), while Hope defeated North Central on a neutral floor, 89-84.

Wheaton won at Olivet, 91-82, while Hope swept Olivet, 95-62 (@ HC) and 84-70 (@ OC).

Wheaton defeated Benedictine @ WC, 82-80, and Hope defeated Benedictine, 72-63, at BU ten days later.

Wheaton won at Chicago, 77-67, while Wash U swept the Maroons, 71-46 (@ UC) and 70-59 (@WU).

Wash U beat Millikin, 52-51, in St. Louis, while Wheaton lost at Millikin, 72-51, and beat Millikin in the western suburbs, 88-63.

Hope lost to St. Thomas (TX), 84-61, in the Wash U Fieldhouse, where the next day Wash U dispatched the Celts by a score of 59-51.

The corollary is that Wash U knocked off Hendrix, 80-46, in that selfsame tourney in St. Louis, where the following day Hope edged Hendrix in overtime, 75-71.

Lake Forest lost at home to Wheaton, 95-70, and was swept by Cornell, 73-68 (@ CC) and 78-67 (@ LFC).

So ...

common opponents
Wheaton 5-1, Hope 4-1
Wheaton 3-2, Wash U 4-0
Wash U 2-0, Hope 1-1
Cornell 2-0, Wheaton 1-0
Cornell 0-0, Wash U 0-0
Cornell 0-0, Hope 0-0

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Tomorrow will be the 41st game between Hope and Wheaton.  Digging into the archives, I found some pretty interesting stuff:

- Other than current MIAA foes, only NAIA neighbors Aquinas & Cornerstone and D2 Hillsdale (former MIAA school) have played more games versus Hope.  Wheaton has also played Calvin 62 times (I suspect that makes them Calvin's most common DIII non-MIAA foe as well)
- Hope currently leads the series with a 23-17 record against the Thunder
- The 1st game was in 1958 in the NCAA College Division National Tournament Sweet 16.  That tournament was 32 teams total.  Wheaton won that first meeting 104-93 (played at Aurora East HS).  Pretty big score for a college game with no 3PT.
- The two teams met again in 1959 in the same tournament, with Hope winning 81-76 at Glenbard West HS in the Sweet 16
- The teams met once in the NCAA DIII tournament back in 2008.  Hope won that contest 83-70 @ DeVos to advance to the Final Four where they lost to this weekends hosts WashU 89-74 in the national semis.
- The teams played each other twice in that 07-80 season, with Hope also winning the first game 83-53. 
- From 2004 - 2016, both teams (along with Carthage and Calvin) participated in the annual CCIW/MIAA Challenge (I would love to see that back - and replace the Aquinas/Cornerstone yearly folly).  Hope held a 7-5 advantage over Wheaton in those games
- The last meeting between the two teams was during that final CCIW/MIAA Challenge.  Hope won a barnburner 88-83 in double OT

[devossed]

Not really MIAA-basketball related, but it IS MIAA-related, as well as basketball-related:


https://www.wzzm13.com/article/entertainment/the-role-of-a-lifetime-how-a-muskegon-man-got-the-part-of-playing-magic-johnson-in-an-upcoming-hbo-series/69-7ee22d7e-206d-4b53-963f-732fdc0e233b


https://www.looper.com/782078/quincy-isaiah-gets-his-head-in-the-game-playing-lakers-icon-magic-johnson-in-winning-time-exclusive-interview/


But I thought it is a pretty cool tidbit with this series premiering this weekend. Hopefully this young man has a bright future ahead in the acting game.

Go Hornets!

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton 71
Hope 69

The Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance stormed back from an eight-point deficit late in the game to win it on a pair of Cade Alioth FTs with three seconds left.

Instant classic between two teams that clearly were capable of going fairly deep into the tourney.

[monsoon]

Well bummer. It was a heck of a game with Wheaton, though, even if I wanted a different outcome.

[Gregory Sager]

Calvin couldn't maintain any substantial separation, as St. John's hung close, but the Knights nevertheless managed to make a narrow margin hold up throughout the entire second half, winning a hard-fought and impressive 77-71 win at UW-Platteville.

[MaroonKnighty]

Way to go Calvin, way to show up prepared!

[calvin_grad]

One of the keys to the Knights' victory was committing only 3 turnovers. The other was going 24 of 28 from the free throw line.