MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'm pretty sure that Hope-Wheaton was the only in-region game for the MIAA-CCIW challenge.  The other 3 simply 'don't exist' as far as pool C is concerned.

[A truly abominable system, but it's what we've got.]

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Bad weekend for Hope. Really bad weekend for Calvin. I didn't get to listen to the games much but it seems Hope was at least competitive in its losses. What happened to the MIAA?

[northb]

Calvin was very competetive this weekend.  Unfortunately it was only in the second half of each game!

[Pat Coleman]

I saw a junior on OSU-Marion's roster.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Calvin was very competetive this weekend.  Unfortunately it was only in the second half of each game!

I would kindly disagree - Calvin never looked competitive the entire weekend.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

More details on the Lincoln "game" via espn. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2683783

Seems OSU-Marion only had 6 players dressed and is in only the 4th year of its program. Although the Lincoln coach did use all 16 of his players he clearly left his star in so he could hit 21 three-pointers. Moreover, it seems that Lincoln uses the "Grinell style" and from the quotes by the Lincoln coach and his players it seems that they maintained a full court press the entire game and kept shooting quickly despite their insurmountable lead. As much as I am disappointed in this weekend I take solance knowing GVW and KVS would never allow their teams to engage in such a despicable display of classlessness. No doubt Hope and Calvin and the other MIAA programs have beat up on some teams in the past but they always put in the bottom of the bench and stop a press and hold the ball to limit shots. Credit to these programs and coaches. Shame on Lincoln and may they not win again!!!

[Mr. Ypsi]

I saw a junior on OSU-Marion's roster.

There was ONE senior listed, also.  But four of the ten were from the same high school (I would guess that is the local HS).

My guess would be that OSU-M is NOT equivalent to a JUCO (thus no takeaway on the records), but that they would lose to Cal Tech or Daniel Webster by 20!  Shame, shame to Lincoln!

[sac]

Wheaton 73 Hope 70

Such gloom and doom............not so.  This was a very well played D3 basketball game with good defense all game by both sides.  Hope's lead at the half was due to a phenomenal job of keeping Kent Raymond off the scoreboard in the first half.

Jesse Reimink was superb in the first half, I don't know how many points but his 3 or 4 treys would say around 12.  He's becoming a very, very good offensive threat.  Marcus VanderHeide picked up his game in the second and played like Marcus can play.

Wheaton made sure they got Raymond going to start the 2nd and 2 quick treys and a soon to follow 3rd got him going and frankly Wheaton became tough to defend.  The Thunder seemed very patient and willing to make the extra pass against a Hope defense that tends to be a little too agressive and overplay sometimes(not a bad thing).  Wheaton just made the right pass.  I think if Hope's disappointed with anything defensively its how many easy points they gave up.  They made Wiele look like an All-American, good player but not 25 points good.  Johnny Standard and Raymond will hit their 3's, whether defended or not, I thought did a poor job underneath, they got outrebounded badly.

Both teams really  made each work pretty hard for all the points, and if truth be told Wheaton's D was just a little bit better in the critical 5 minutes.

Which gets us back to Hope's #1 problem this weekend..............the last 5 minutes.  You could take my post from Saturday morning and just change the times and numbers around.

At 3:17 of the 2nd half Ryan Klein hit a jumper to put Hope up 67-63, from that point on Hope had 5 more posessions resulting in all 3point attempts when only 1 or 2 were necessary a simple deuce or two would have sufficed.

The two plays of the game.

---With 1 minute left and down 3 Hope chooses to play for a defensive stop instead of fouling (50/50 decision and I liked it in this case).  Hope forces Wheaton into a move with shotclock winding down, Kent Raymond drives the lane and as he's passing the ball to Standard on the low block the ball is knocked out of his hands, off his leg, rolls on the floor to Standard, off his shin, shoots across the lane on the floor to a waiting Wiele who lays it in to put Wheaton up 72-67.  Very fortuitous bounces.

--With 2 seconds left, Hope runs an inbounds to Reimink between the circles quickly to Wolfe on the left wing about 24 ft away who shoots and his 3 rattles out.  That close to OT.

Hope played lots of different combinations, and two guys stood out as improved.  Ryan Klein and Steve Kratz.  Both long armed fellas are tough in the zone defensive sets and Klein seemed to really be looking to shoot.  His 2 jumpers in the final 8 or so minutes were beauties.  It spoke volumns to me that Klein was on the floor at the end of the game.  Still a glaring donut in the middle 4 points and 1 rebound today compare that to Wiele's 25 and 14.....ouch!

In my mind this was not as bad a loss of some of you believe a little better execution at the end of both games and Hope could just as easily be 4-0 and the toast of the tournament.

2-2............I said I'd take it in a hearbeat 2 weeks ago and I'm a lot more optomistic about this team than I was preseason.   

Thumpa, thumpa. 

[sac]

now for the Carnage/Calvin..........oops Carthage/Calvin game.

No way around it, Carthage whipped the Knights in the first half Saturday, even better than Hope did last Saturday, it was impressive.  Calvin fought back a little and played with more intesity and desire in the 2nd but Carthage flat out took the foot off the gas.  They practically went into a stall offense.

Carthage beat the Knights with superior ball movement, some of the best I've ever seen in D3.  They basically play four on the perimeter with Schlemm /Fransiscovich in the middlle.   They'll occasionally drive to the bucket but gladly give up the layup for a 3.  I'd swear they were playing "system" ball on offense.  They had Calvin scrambling to recover defensively all night.

Defensively they had better quickness than the Knights and Schlemm provides excellent backside help.  Three blocked shots into the game and every Knight shot inside after that was cautious and tentative.

Calvin had a couple chances to cut it to 10 and I would have liked to see what would have happened.  I thought Carthage almost stalled themselves into a game, but Brian Schlemm seemed to make every good defensvie and offensive play when they needed it.

I left feeling that Carthage was the best of the 4 teams there, very solid team  I'll be interested in how they do in the CCIW.  Carthage has played 5 games to this point and this was the 4th straight D3 tournament team from a year ago winning 3.  I think that says something about Carthage.

As for Calvin, I really left thinking there's more to the Knights problems than just their defense.  KVS is the man to straighten that out, but right now they would be thoroughly embarassed down in Wooster in 4 weeks.  My early season boasting of the Knights certainly looks foolish, but I really thought they'd be better than right now.  They may still get there but it has to be a disappointing start.

[sac]

Few other ramblings.

-----Carthage's athletic building is very impressive, it would dust anything the MIAA has to offer at the moment, except for Hope's arena and maybe Calvin's gym are better.  The basketball gym is nice, sort of modern architecture looking but could use some sprucing up inside which I think they will do.   They have a huge pool area with, get this, 4 full size basketball courts and an indoor track above the pool. 

----Carthage's campus is right on Lake Michigan.....whats not to like about that.

-----I've only been to the Wisconsin towns of Hurley, Surperior and Kenosha but is there some kind of law that says every other building needs to be a bar.  I swear its true

-----It was in the program that the MIAA/CCIW challenge with these same four teams has been extended another 4 years on the men's side.  Good news, I like that.

-----I've never seen Chicago's skyline at night from the North, very nice, might be the good side............and two thumbs up for express lanes. 8)


-----Right about the time I crossed the border into Michigan I got word that UCLA had beaten USC.  So the idiot honking his horn wildly and flashing his lights was me.  I really am satisfied if Michigan does or doesn't get the nod for Glendale.  But I am SOOOOOOo happy USC got exposed for the fraud they were.  What a media hyped week they had......so so wrong.  FWIW both Michigan and Florida have legitimate claims for #2.......it will be really really close.


and good night

[pointlem]

Thanks, Sac, for your excellent synopses and observations . . . you could be a sports writer!

Although this weekend was a disappointment for both Hope and Calvin fans, it in some ways confirms what I'd presumed---that Hope has terrific perimenter players this year, but is going to be challenged by its lack of size, leaping ability, and scoring in the paint.  When the 3-point shooting is on, as it was Thanksgiving weekend, they'll be hard to beat.  But live by the 3-point sword and die by . . .

Jesse Reimink offers reason for hope, though his points were mostly three-pointers yesterday (that versatility is also part of his strength).  Tyler Wolfe's Friday night conntribution, which included 7 rebounds, also was a bright spot.  Sac's mentioning Carthage's four-guard offense made me wonder if Hope might try that a bit, as they did at the end Friday night with Tyler in the game.  VH's size allows him to go inside and out in such situations.

I still look for better thigs to come from Calvin.  They do have both scoring potential from their guards and defense/rebounding/scorig potential from their inside players.  They're a young and developing team with the raw materials in place, and I can honestly say, even as a Hope fan, that I was rooting for them in both games this weekend . . . but enough of that!

[oldknight]

-----I've only been to the Wisconsin towns of Hurley, Surperior and Kenosha but is there some kind of law that says every other building needs to be a bar.  I swear its true

I think Wisconsin is compensating for certain but unnamed towns on the other side of the lake where every other building is a church.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Thanks, Sac, for your excellent synopses and observations . . . you could be a sports writer!

Although this weekend was a disappointment for both Hope and Calvin fans, it in some ways confirms what I'd presumed---that Hope has terrific perimenter players this year, but is going to be challenged by its lack of size, leaping ability, and scoring in the paint.  When the 3-point shooting is on, as it was Thanksgiving weekend, they'll be hard to beat.  But live by the 3-point sword and die by . . .

Jesse Reimink offers reason for hope, though his points were mostly three-pointers yesterday (that versatility is also part of his strength).  Tyler Wolfe's Friday night conntribution, which included 7 rebounds, also was a bright spot.  Sac's mentioning Carthage's four-guard offense made me wonder if Hope might try that a bit, as they did at the end Friday night with Tyler in the game.  VH's size allows him to go inside and out in such situations.

I still look for better thigs to come from Calvin.  They do have both scoring potential from their guards and defense/rebounding/scorig potential from their inside players.  They're a young and developing team with the raw materials in place, and I can honestly say, even as a Hope fan, that I was rooting for them in both games this weekend . . . but enough of that!

Gee, you thank him for the commentary, then go and insult him!

[devossed]

They're a young and developing team with the raw materials in place...

I think you meant to say the fruit is not ripe just quite yet...

[MIdoubleA]

off-topic, but I'd like to hear your opinions...


Who is going to get the shortest end of the stick tonight at 8pm?

Michigan?
Florida?




Wisconsin?