MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[hopehoopfan]

Ok--when did the page name change?  Have I been inattentive?

I believe it was yesterday, but I actually prefer to use the acronym as that is how I refer to the conference. I would bet there are many who couldn't have told you what MIAA actually stood for

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Ok--when did the page name change?  Have I been inattentive?

I believe it was yesterday, but I actually prefer to use the acronym as that is how I refer to the conference. I would bet there are many who couldn't have told you what MIAA actually stood for

Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association? 

we need games!

[hope_hoops1]

Sac -- thanks for the trip down memory lane with the Hope-Adrian box score from a few years back.  Probably the best half of the year for the Dutchmen, capped off with a posterizing dunk from "Cramer's a flamer."

That being said, Adrian is and has been more than capable of knocking off Hope or Calvin the last few years, and they've proven to do so.  They are always a scary matchup with one or more players who can dominate games (Young, Schaefer, Novak, Lewis, etc.).  Adrian is an excellent half-court team and Hope's best chances are to speed them up (uncharacteristic turnovers and lack of depth).  We'll cross that bridge when we get there, but I would predict a 3rd place finish for the Bulldogs this year and possibly a tie for 2nd.

Stay warm everyone and safe travels to the games this week.

[northb]

Ok--when did the page name change?  Have I been inattentive?

I believe it was yesterday, but I actually prefer to use the acronym as that is how I refer to the conference. I would bet there are many who couldn't have told you what MIAA actually stood for

Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association? 

we need games!

http://www.miaa.net/

Or we could be a Div II conference

www.themiaa.com

Or from Maryland

www.miaasports.com

or (my favorite) an airport in Manila

http://125.60.203.88/miaa/AIRPORT/index.asp

[gohope]

Team	Relative strength	Expected wins
Hope	15	12.3
Calvin	12.2	11.5
Olivet	6.3	9.5
Trine	4.3	8.8
Adrian	-6.3	4.6
Albion	-9.2	3.5
Kazoo	-9.3	3.5
Alma	-13	2.2

Wednesday's games: top half vs. bottom half. With a 3-point home court advantage,

Hope over Kazoo by 21
Olivet over Albion by 20
Calvin over Adrian by 16
Trine over Alma by 14

While your numbers and research are good, PLEASE throw in some historical data/experience that will show that Hope ALWAYS has a very tough time playing at Kalamazoo. So I laughed (insert some hysterial icon in at this point!!) at your point spread!  Though I would love to see it, I will be amazed!!!

[Flying Dutch Fan]

While Hope has not lost at Kalamazoo since the 95-96 season (a 2 point win for the Hornets), there have been some close games (although not in recent years).  Here are the Hope winning margins for the games played at Kalamazoo since Hope's last loss there:

07-08  16
06-07  22
05-06  28
04-05  14
03-04    6
02-03  11
01-02    7
00-01    9 (ot)
99-00    8
98-99    7 (ot)
97-98  11
96-97    7

All that being true, Hope needs to focus on this game to keep the streak alive.

[HopeConvert]

I'm all for looking past Kalamazoo to the Calvin game! 

[KnightSlappy]

Wednesday's games: top half vs. bottom half. With a 3-point home court advantage,

Hope over Kazoo by 21
Olivet over Albion by 20
Calvin over Adrian by 16
Trine over Alma by 14

While your numbers and research are good, PLEASE throw in some historical data/experience that will show that Hope ALWAYS has a very tough time playing at Kalamazoo. So I laughed (insert some hysterial icon in at this point!!) at your point spread!  Though I would love to see it, I will be amazed!!!

07-08  16
06-07  22
05-06  28

FDF's research seems to show that a 21 point spread may not be that innacurate historically.  Maybe there have been close games in the last ten years but in the last three (where any players still on the teams may have played) Hope seems to have dominated. 

That being said, i'll take all of the underdogs, except Alma, to cover.

[Pat Coleman]

I'm slowly but surely changing all the names of the boards to make them more uniform. Helps in a couple ways, one, it should make it more likely to turn up in search results, and two, when you look at the list of latest posts it's more clear what board a post is on. There's a handful of boards for each conference spanning various sports.

[hoopdreams]

in response to a prior question about a previous comment a made.  I was referring to Adrian not performing as a "top program".  I assumed it was pretty clear that Calvin/Hope has basically dominated the MIAA for several years (I know there have been exceptions), have excelled in the MIAA tourney, and more than represented their conference in the national tournament.

In much more entertaining news, I for one, am so pleased that Scott Jungling has been added to the roster at Hope.  Truthfully I felt he was underappreciated at C-stone and shocked he didn't initially make the team.  Probably a more important question-  Do you think any of the JV players feel "screwed" that a kid that got cut during tryouts, received the nod over players already in the program (JV)?  I find it a bit perplexing.  I'm sure someone else can fill us in on the details of this situation, if it already hasn't been covered. 

Lastly, throwing out my opinion, I found a statement in todays Sentinel a little ironic.  I think that's the term.  Something  to the effect about Peter Bunn not digging the role of bench player at Oakland.  It's this rationale, I believe that will lead to the exodus of 1 or 2 players on the Hope roster at the end of the season who initally were thought to have great careers in Holland. I hope its not the case though.  We shall see

[sac]

07-08  16
06-07  22
05-06  28
04-05  14
03-04    6
02-03  11
01-02    7
00-01    9 (ot)
99-00    8
98-99    7 (ot)
97-98  11
96-97    7

I would bet Hope trailed at some point in nearly all those games too.  One of the earlier games this decade was perhaps the greatest escape by a Hope team I've seen on the road, from down double-digits under 10 to go, to winning, not unlike the Calvin game last winter at Calvin.   http://miaa.org/mbb/stats/0102/0126KZHO.HTM

I think it was the same year that Hope squeeked out the MIAA tournament by trailing Kzoo and Calvin by double-digits at the half as well.

Winning the close one's is how you end up with long winning streaks, its likely how you end them as well.

[northb]

In much more entertaining news, I for one, am so pleased that Scott Jungling has been added to the roster at Hope.  Truthfully I felt he was underappreciated at C-stone and shocked he didn't initially make the team.  Probably a more important question-  Do you think any of the JV players feel "screwed" that a kid that got cut during tryouts, received the nod over players already in the program (JV)?  I find it a bit perplexing.  I'm sure someone else can fill us in on the details of this situation, if it already hasn't been covered. 

Lastly, throwing out my opinion, I found a statement in todays Sentinel a little ironic.  I think that's the term.  Something  to the effect about Peter Bunn not digging the role of bench player at Oakland.  It's this rationale, I believe that will lead to the exodus of 1 or 2 players on the Hope roster at the end of the season who initally were thought to have great careers in Holland. I hope its not the case though.  We shall see

This kind of issue comes up from time to time.  It is similar to the transfer issue.  Although you might expect some of this kind of grumbling, the upshot of the whole thing is that GVW knows what he is doing, and gets the desired results year after year.  I would not sweat it.

[realist]

It would be foolish to think that Adrian is not capable of giving Calvin more than they want to deal with tomorrow.  I asy go back to the game at Adrian in 07 when Adrian wins by 4.  If memory serves correctly Calvin hadn't seen Mr Young before, and he made them pay bigtime.  His ability has not diminished since than.  With some inside bodies to complement Desmond Calvin does not want to fall into an old habit of letting 'Adrian get a lead, and if Calvin gets a lead they had better not let up for even 5 seconds.  Like him or not I have seen Coach Riley on too many ocassions make a game much tougher than it first looked to be by simply taking whatever the other team would give him.  
NB:  Excellent point.  Like it or not GVW has had loads of success recruiting the way he does.  The other side of the coin is a kid who is  BMOC in h.s. is just another fish in the Hope pond.  Perhaps some of these kids that might leave aren't realistic about what their chances of playing really may be.

[sac]

Jungling is the first player I can recall who was cut in the fall and then brought back later in the season.  But really, Hope's roster changes have been pretty extreme this year.  I can't remember ever losing two players to non-injuries, then Carter hurts his knee.  Really Hope has lost 3 that made the varsity squad if we count the infamous Jorin Scott........that makes 4 if Carter is out.   

That all is both unusual and extreme.

I seem to recall Kevin Brintnell and Kyle Plank both being cut and then returning a year later, but that was a long time ago and I may not have that right.

[realist]

Perhaps the reason Mr Jungling is getting a chance now is that when he was cut he didn't throw a hissy fit or pout.  It may be he did the mature thing, kept in shape, and didn't burn any bridges with the coaches.