MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[goodknight]

The Dutchmen are firing on all cylinders.

Final from the DeVos
Hope 94
Albion 58

[ziggy]

The Dutchmen are firing on all cylinders.

Final from the DeVos
Hope 94
Albion 58

That pretty much confirms what we have seen from each team so far this year

[sac]

.  There must be some potent gravitational force that tugs some people toward Holland.

Have you been to DeVos? 

[goodknight]

Buck called this one.
And it hurts.  

Adrian 79
Calvin 75

The Knights made a couple of plucky runs over the final 9 minutes of the game, cutting a 14-point margin to as little as 2 with 15.4 seconds to go, but some inopportune turnovers stymied Calvin's comeback.  The first-half hole the Knights dug was just a little too deep for Calvin to emerge from against a very motivated Bulldog squad, now tied with Hope for first place at 3-0.

It will be a very long drive back from Adrian.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Wow - who would have belived that Hope and Adrian would be tied at 3-0, especially after the Bulldogs poor start this year.  Sounds like Hope is going to have 2 tough games in a row - at Calvin and at Adrian.

[sac]

Hope 94 Albion 58

This was a little too easy for Hope tonight, I was pretty stunned by some things I saw.  Very uncharacteristic of the Albion teams we've come to know.  But to be honest Hope was pretty outstanding themselves.  I'm not sure Hope has shot the 3 ball better than they did tonight. 12-24 but they missed their last 2 or 3 attempts, SEVEN different guys hit 3's for Hope.  They outscored Albion by 27 from deep.

Hope's press gave Albion a lot more trouble than anybody else has had and there were a number of really bad turnovers from the Brits esp. in the first half.  Reimink, Richardson, Van Solkema were outstanding early on and didn't seem to miss to many shots.  Probably the most impressive moment came at 6:35 of the first half, it was Hope 31 Albion 21, 3 minutes later it was 45-23 and really it was game over.  It was 51-29 at the half.

Albion competed hard for 40 minutes but their youth and inability to execute really hurt them tonight. 

Drew Yancy was probably their biggest player early scoring 7 early points, but Hope bottled him up quickly after that,  Sak Silas and Andrew Holmes their two best scorers on the year were held in check with 5 and 7.  Jim Cash had a solid 11 points and was playing harder than anyone else.

For Hope  Reimink 15, Cramer 15,  Van Solkema 14 (4-5 from 3)  These 3 guys combined were 7-11 from 3.

Hope shoots 56% for the game, holding the Brits to 39%

Very nice effort from Hope and big Mo heading over to the Beltline on Saturday.  I think Hope is a much better team overall than the last time they played Calvin.  That may not translate to a bigger win but there's no denying Hope has hit an offensive gear they hadn't shown all year.  They're playing like a team that "found something" and they're running with it.

[hawk'ster]

Adrian 79
Calvin 75

oh my....

[oldknight]

Wow - who would have belived that Hope and Adrian would be tied at 3-0, especially after the Bulldogs poor start this year.  Sounds like Hope is going to have 2 tough games in a row - at Calvin and at Adrian.

Hope has to look at the next two games as a huge opportunity for them. Two wins and Hope has a hammerlock on the conference before the first round is even completed.

[MIdoubleA]

Hope vs. Albion

My thoughts:

*  DVS played tonight like he had something to prove. He played tough D, made big shots, and managed to complain slightly less than Isiah Thomas, who now plays for the Britons. It's the most impressed I've ever been with him.

*  If Woolpert keeps playing with as much intensity as he has been the last couple of games, he's going to keep getting minutes. They are well deserved.

*  Where did Albion go? They dropped off the MIAA planet with the loss of Crawford... did they forget to recruit while he was here?

*  20 assists for the Dutchmen... at times it seemed like they didn't even WANT to shoot, they just kept passing. Half of their turnovers came from passing too much.

*  Ryan Klein doesn't jump for rebounds, and he got 5 of them. I guess that's what a 3947698376ft wingspan will do for you.

Overall I was very impressed with Hope for the entire game. Albion impressed me for the first 5 minutes of the second half when they went man-to-man on D and cut the lead to <20, but as soon as Hope figured it out - game over.

[sac]

Few thoughts


-----I was struck by just how young Albion really is but also how they don't have a lot of size both vertically and horizontally.  They got outmuscled alot tonight.  They need to hit the weightroom.


-----When Jesse Reimink plays like he did in the first half, there are few teams that can beat Hope.  His best effort since Wheaton for me.

-----A little scary to think that guys like Wolfe, Klein, Partridge and Kratz had off nights shooting.

-----A little research earlier says this is Hope's 31st consecutive home win, which I believe is 2nd best in school history.   The record is 37,  Hope has a real shot at breaking that record if they win the MIAA Championship.


----Kudos to Adrian for pulling off the upset,  Calvin will have their backs to the wall Saturday.......as if the 22 point drubbing in November wasn't enough.  Clearly Desmond Young has changed the Bulldogs.

[Harrier]

Few thoughts

----Kudos to Adrian for pulling off the upset,  Calvin will have their backs to the wall Saturday.......as if the 22 point drubbing in November wasn't enough.  Clearly Desmond Young has changed the Bulldogs.

Agreed, Calvin is in big trouble for now.  Seems like there is too many things to sort out by the end of January.  Second game .... I'll pick Calvin.

[diehardfan]

Hey Scott, Carthage lost at home tonight to Elmhurst... want to jump on the Elmhurst bandwagon with me?

[sac]

Hey Scott, Carthage lost at home tonight to Elmhurst... want to jump on the Elmhurst bandwagon with me?

Dang it, just goes to show I don't as much about the CCIW as I'd like to think.

Light blue has never been my color.........makes it easier to rank Elmhurst ahead of Hope though.


You'd have never heard the end of it if I'd spotted the CCIW champ back in early December.  I thought I was all over that one.

[oldknight]

-----I was struck by just how young Albion really is but also how they don't have a lot of size both vertically and horizontally.  They got outmuscled alot tonight.  They need to hit the weightroom.

Now that's very unusual. Normally when you face a Mike Turner squad you expect to have a real battle in the blocks--and his teams typically have an abundance of muscular post players. Apparently not this year and that probably explains something about this year's struggle for the Brits.

[sac]

All the finals tonight.......congrats to Alma.

Adrian 79, Calvin 75
Hope 94, Albion 58
Alma 64, Kalamazoo 56
Tri-State 73, Olivet 68

Standings

1. Adrian 3-0
1. Hope  3-0
3. Calvin 2-1
3. Tri-State 2-1
5. Alma 1-2
5. Olivet 1-2
7. Albion 0-3
7. Kalamazoo 0-3

SATURDAY, JANUARY 13
Hope at Calvin, 2 p.m.
Adrian at Olivet, 3 p.m.
Tri-State at Kalamazoo, 3 p.m.
Alma at Albion, 3 p.m.