MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

Calvin is ranked #17 in D3Hoops' first in-season Top 25 poll, with Hope and Trine also receiving votes.
A promising start for our league.

5/8ths of the league is 7-13 though.


Calvin, Hope, Trine are 16-1

I trust each coach has what they believe to be the best interest of their team in putting together a schedule but I question the difficulty some of the bottom teams in the league seem to take on year-after-year.

December is going to be brutal.

[Greek Tragedy]

Calvin is ranked #17 in D3Hoops' first in-season Top 25 poll, with Hope and Trine also receiving votes.
A promising start for our league.

5/8ths of the league is 7-13 though.


Calvin, Hope, Trine are 16-1

I trust each coach has what they believe to be the best interest of their team in putting together a schedule but I question the difficulty some of the bottom teams in the league seem to take on year-after-year.

Some of the top teams too. Scheduling those weak WIAC teams is going to hurt Calvin and Hope's SOS come tournament time.

[ziggy]

Calvin is ranked #17 in D3Hoops' first in-season Top 25 poll, with Hope and Trine also receiving votes.
A promising start for our league.

5/8ths of the league is 7-13 though.


Calvin, Hope, Trine are 16-1

I trust each coach has what they believe to be the best interest of their team in putting together a schedule but I question the difficulty some of the bottom teams in the league seem to take on year-after-year.

Some of the top teams too. Scheduling those weak WIAC teams is going to hurt Calvin and Hope's SOS come tournament time.

There is a difference between scheduling a good/decent game against a team in a deep conference but not getting as much SOS credit and taking on a heavyweight schedule as a lightweight fighter.

[HOPEful]

Hope lost 65-54 at Hanover last night.

It was a brutal loss. Hope looked absolutely lost on offense without Evan, not to mention, were out rebounded by a much smaller team. Hope's leading scorers were TJ McKenzie and Brady Swinehart, Brady's points coming in large part by shooting 3 for 5 from 3.

They've got 10 days to mull it over before traveling to Platteville.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Last night was a tough game for Hope for sure, couldn't get their shots to fall (39% FG, 26% 3PT, and 29% FT).  At the half I felt like Hope was fortunate only trail by five, 39-34.  Then Hanover went 8-13 from the floor in the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half to build a 57-42 lead. 

That's when Hope went to a full court press and a 2-3 zone for the rest of the game.  Hanover handled the press well, but really struggled with the zone, going 3-17 the last 13 minutes of the game and one of those makes was a deeeep 3 as the shot clock expired.  Seems like the defensive change worked and w2as effective, except Hope only went 6-22 during that stretch, including 6 missed layups.  A few more makes in there for Hope, and things could have gotten interesting.  Just have to hope the team can learn from this and improve. 

[pointlem]

Every season seems to have a game like last night, with a lid on the basket. Not to disrespect Hanover's defense, but the missed layups, free throws and open 3's were uncharacteristic. What surprised me more was all the layups Hanover was getting off Hope's defense, until that zone was implemented.

A shout-out to radio broadcasters Mike Coleman and Casey Rutledge, to whom I listen while watching online (albeit with their telling me what I'm about to see). They are excellent, and how good of them to do an 11-hour round trip for us on a dreary winter night. Much appreciated.

[TUAngola]

Trine with a win over Anderson last night 68-53.  Offensively it was a mixed bag shooting wise.  Anderson played a 2-3 zone the entire game and honestly their defense wasn't that effective, we got about any shot we wanted, but we missed so...many...layups, especially in the second half.  We were decent from behind the arc.  It could have easily been a 25-30 point win with better shooting.  Defensively the first half we gave up a few too many back door layups but credit to Coach Miller and the guys as they made some adjustmenst at halftime as the defense was terrific the second half, holding Anderson to 26% shooting for the half.  Offensive rebounding was also good last night but that can be attributed somewhat to the zone Anderson was playing, it's harder to find a guy to box out than if playing man.

Jackson Jannsen was red hot the 1st half, hit 4 of 5 from 3.  He loves playing against a zone defense.  "E" with another good game down low.  Defensively he did a nice job protecting the rim on dribble drives by the Ravens.  He picked up a couple quick fouls in the first half but managed to stay away from a third foul the rest of the half as Coach Miller decided to keep playing him a few minutes here and there to give the other post players a rest.

Thunder are now off until next Thursday and Saturday when they travel to Wisconsin for a pair of games against the WIAC; Stevens Point on Thursday and La Crosse on Saturday.  This is their first true road games of the season and will be interesting to see if they can stay with either team.  Hoping Ryan Preston will be back, he wasn't on the bench last night so not sure the status of his injury he suffered in the Capital game. 

Trine:  Cox 17, Megnanglo 12, Jannsen 12
Anderson:  Ivanyo 11, Smith 11

[oldknight]

Wheaton gets a late three and pins a loss on Calvin 74-73. Great game to watch except for the putrid officiating. Bitching about officiating is for losers, so call me a loser, but it had all the earmarks of getting jobbed. Overway led Calvin with 22, Egekeze with 21, and Bult 14. Considine and Schiavello led Wheaton, scoring 21 and 14 respectively. If there is any such thing as a good loss, this is it, with Calvin losing on the road to a very good team. But it still stings. 

[wiz]

I think it's time for Luka to be a starter.

[ziggy]

I think it's time for Luka to be a starter.

Luka Ressler turning out to be a hidden gem in a really good recruiting class. Playing on a high school team as stacked as it was kept him from being able to show his full complement of abilities but I have been very impressed with him so far. Always seems calm and under control; you can tell he has big game experience.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

I think it's time for Luka to be a starter.

Luka Ressler turning out to be a hidden gem in a really good recruiting class. Playing on a high school team as stacked as it was kept him from being able to show his full complement of abilities but I have been very impressed with him so far. Always seems calm and under control; you can tell he has big game experience.

I'm thinking the same about Gabe Quillan - granted it is his second year with Hope, but still not sure anyone expected him to be performing at this level.  There is defintely something really good about those high school "role players" who play with D1 commits (I think back to Teddy Ray).  They get exposed to a high level of play and I think it just translates well into the college game. 

[ziggy]

I think it's time for Luka to be a starter.

Luka Ressler turning out to be a hidden gem in a really good recruiting class. Playing on a high school team as stacked as it was kept him from being able to show his full complement of abilities but I have been very impressed with him so far. Always seems calm and under control; you can tell he has big game experience.

I'm thinking the same about Gabe Quillan - granted it is his second year with Hope, but still not sure anyone expected him to be performing at this level.  There is defintely something really good about those high school "role players" who play with D1 commits (I think back to Teddy Ray).  They get exposed to a high level of play and I think it just translates well into the college game.

Yeah, it says something to be the guy chosen/trusted to be on the floor with higher level recruits. Probably means you have the ability to do more than what you're asked to do, but also have the maturity to play the role that is in the best interest of the team overall.

[TUAngola]

Trine goes up to Wisconsin and gains a split this week, losing at UW Stevens Point 49-53 Thursday evening and winning at #3 UW La Crosse 67-64 this afternoon.  Both games went down to the final posession.  Proud of the way the guys played this week, defense was great.  We only had 11 players available for the trip, and just went 3 deep on the bench for each game.  We depend a lot of substitution rotations so give credit to the starters for playing extended minutes.  Today Brent Cox and Connor Jones just had huge games, it's what your expect your seniors to do.  Finals coming up next week and then we host the St. Andrews Products Classic next weekend with games against Mt. St. Joseph and Lawrence.

[KnightSlappy]

Huge win for Trine

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Pretty great results versus the WIAC for the MIAA this season.  All 10 scheduled games are completed, and the MIAA went 7-3!!!  The WIAC is 28-6 against all other non-conference foes

Calvin 3-0
Hope 3-1
Olivet 0-1
Trine 1-1

The 3 losses were all to teams that another MIAA school beat this year.