MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[KnightSlappy]

A couple of things:  Reimink is the best player I've seen in MIAA this year.  MVP hands down. 

I wouldn't quite say hands down.  Mantel could give him run for his money but Jesse is still the favorite.

Any thoughts on Tyler Zoerhof's block of Jesse Reimink's shot during crunch time.  It was a huge swing in momentum, and I couldn't tell how clean it was from my vantage point at the other end of the floor.

I talked to a friend who said they showed it on TV from several angles and he said that it was clean.  Looked clean to me at the time as well.

[Dutch_Man]

Well I suppose I will be the first Hope fan to talk. I think we can all agree that the was a great rivalry game! Both teams were playing hard and both sets of fans were cheering hard! Though I think I found something were we will probably disagree and I will step up and say it!

The boys in stripes seems to be a little off tonight!

First half
Clearly there should have been a flagrant foul when Will Bowser was hammered when taking it to the hoop.

Second half
fouls were waaay lopsided! I mean it seems to be a little strange when your in a close hard fought game that you would have 9+ fouls on hope and only 4 on Calvin!?!?! I may be wrong but that seems to be a little extreme. Maybe its only easy for me to point this out because my team lost by ONE point but I think the amount of fouls clearly made a difference in deciding the winner of the game. For example.... I thought it was pretty clear that Zoerhof put a pretty good body on Reimink on a key breakaway! Oh and the time when David Krombeen went to take a charge but then stepped out of it before the Calvin player got to him and little to no contact was even made but still a foul was called on him. Oh yeah and how could I forget Calvins time out that they called when they reached in and stripped the ball away (foul) then fought for the ball on the ground (jump ball) and then called a time out!!!

It seemed to me that these refs were highly favoring the gold and maroon at key emotional points in the game! I am sorry for this little vent session but I am sure you can all understand that Hope fans, including myself are very frustrated and Calvin fans I am sure you have some frustrations as well except for the fact that you won.

So congrats Calvin on a hard fought victory! I hope we meet again!

[Hopester]

Any thoughts on Tyler Zoerhof's block of Jesse Reimink's shot during crunch time.  It was a huge swing in momentum, and I couldn't tell how clean it was from my vantage point at the other end of the floor.

It was a clear foul... the "refs" were not back in position in time and missed the arm clip and body to body contact. I even was able to see the replay from my seat (as I was sitting fairly close to the announcers table where WGVU  was placed) It was a clear foul, one of many this crew missed tonight... horrible officiating. (sorry I am a bit bitter). It was terrible though!

[sac]

Calvin 63 Hope 62

These kinds of games are always difficult for me to put into the proper context, I mean honestly is there anything I could really type out that would do this series justice this year?

Hope's great start was aided by a Calvin team that was downright awfull at both ends of the floor in the early 5-8 minutes.  No intensity on defense, missed a ton of shots, sloppy turnovers and outhustled on the boards and loose balls.  Even with the big lead, there was impending dread inside me that it simply wasn't enough of good start.

I hesitate to point this out only because of how some people will take it, and I'll preface it by saying I'm a big believer that the more agressive teams usually will get more calls throughout a course of the game.  When I looked back at the scoresheet I wasn't that shocked to see Calvin's better play began with 5 min to go in the first half, which was also the moment the whistles turned in their favor.  The last 25 minutes of the game the fouls were Hope 15 Calvin 4.   Calvin's offense turned the minute they started attacking more.

Calvin's 13-2 run to take a 40-41 game to 53-43 I thought might be a back breaker.  I mentioned to a couple people before the game that I wasn't sure Hope could come back from such a deficit at Calvin.  Yet there we were, 8:20 to go trailing by 10, the crowd going crazy.  Hope made 8 of its next 9 shots, thats just incredible under these circumstances.  They rallied from 10 down to lead 62-58 with 1:04 left.

I guess really it all came down to Hope's final posession, where they needed a basket to lead by 3 and couldn't get much more than a long 3.  Of course if it goes in, everyone's joyous and celebrations abound and Hope grads everywhere name their next child Jesse.  But it didn't happen, Calvin's D toughened at the right moment and they won the game.

We were one held ball away from a different result.  I find this rivalry amazing.

[GoKnights68]

A really excellent debut for Calvin-Hope games in the Van Noord.  

Full tilt effort and great swings of momentum from Hope to Calvin and back to Hope and -- finally -- back to Calvin at the end.  

Although all the tickets were sold, there were some empty seats -- I suspect that the later arrivals were looking at more than a half-mile trek from their car to the arena in a wind-whipped rain and they decided to head home and watch it on TV.

Peter Bunn was tremendous for Hope tonight, but the Dutch struggle to find enough serious scoring options beyond Jesse and Bunn.

The Knights were truly awful for most of the first half, continuing their shooting woes in Van Noord.

But Veldhouse came up big in the second half -- true senior leadership.

It was a pleasure to join oldknight in giving sac his first tour of the Van Noord.  I can report that sac was properly awed, and usually well behaved.

Good show from the students tonight for both schools -- and a nice pregame video piece on the scoreboard entitled, "Tradition Never Graduates," with some highlights from great Calvin teams through the years.

If that was really the case, I hope those people never show up to a Calvin/Hope game again!


But it was usually Calvin/Hope game at Calvin, where just a couple empty seats here and there from no shows.  Happens sometimes on Wednesday night games too.

[GoKnights68]

Any thoughts on Tyler Zoerhof's block of Jesse Reimink's shot during crunch time.  It was a huge swing in momentum, and I couldn't tell how clean it was from my vantage point at the other end of the floor.

A type of block that could be on youtube....

I had a perfect few of it.  Looked like he get all ball.

[ziggy]

My hands are still shaking a bit so this might be difficult to type.

I figured we would be in for an interesting night when I didn't recognize a single guy in a striped shirt.  That being said, I don't think outcome of the game was affected by anyone other than the men in blue and the men in white.  I certainly can't blame the zebras for Calvin being down 14 and I would be surprised to hear an honest Hope fan blame the officials for the 24 point swing that ensued.  Ultimately it was the players that turned this game into another great tale in the rivalry; Hope's comeback to take a 4 point lead, Veldhouse's deep do or die three,  and more last second drama.

Krombeen's a player with a great knack for scoring.  He had a great layup in which he released the ball earlier than you would expect to put it in over two Calvin shot blockers.

Am I correct that Reimink only scored 2 second half points?  I'm starting to think Mantel has a decent chance to take home the MVP award.

I thought the atmosphere inside Van Noord was awesome.  I really enjoy some of the familiar feel of the old fieldhouse with the comfort of a modern facility.  2 great teams, with 2 great fanbases, and 2 great facilities.

[sac]

Lots of thoughts

***  There's nothing I can say in praise or critique of Van Noord that will be taken the right way on this board, so I'll refrain only to say Calvin has a beautifull facility.  If you want details PM me.


***  Its seems like such a cliche..........another Hope/Calvin classic.  Yet can it be cliche if it keeps happening time and time again?

Out of pure curiosity I had to look it up, but since I began paying attention in 1990, there have now been 23 Hope/Calvin games that have been decided by 5 points or less or overtime.  Everyone of them a heartstopper.


***  Speaking of 1990, these two results remind me an awful lot of that season.

Calvin 77 Hope 76
Calivn 81 Hope 78

The first one in Holland Hope's Wade Gugino put one in just after the buzzer that was rightfully waved off.  The second one Todd Hennink hit about a 27 foot shot in front of the Calvin students to win the game.


***  Cal the Knight ---  it took those around me 3 seconds to call him Marvin the Martian.  I'm not really sure thats right, sort of but not quite.  maybe Yosemite Sam as the Black Knight.    Cal almost became legendary by drawing a T, a warning was probably apporpriate, I can only imagine his/her/its status on campus and lore in Hope/Calvin history had Hope won and the difference be a technical on a mascot.


***  I will make one mention of the arena, I had upper level seats behind the Hope students.  Unfortunately the plexiglass between the two levels prevents any noise from that section coming up to those seats.  I couldn't hear anything the Dew Crew had to say all night..........for that matter everything from Calvin was so muffled because my head feels like a balloon.  I like those exchanges and missed them all.    On the plus side this is the first game I've been at Calvin where I didn't have to watch a game with 200 adults screaming for the student to sit down.  That was done well.


***  I think you really had to be at the 3 buzzer non-beaters Hope's played to truely understand how remarkable it was that Hope found themselves in those positions.  This team really has a poise that other Hope teams have not had.   Its a bit frustrating to see no fruit for all the hard work, but I continue to be please and impressed with what I see from Hope.    I can only shrug my shoulders.............3 last second shots go in, Hope's 11-0 in the MIAA and everything's roses and Disneyland.

[GoKnights68]

Regarding ref venting:
To be fair, Hope got away with some fouls a lot in the first half.  Calvin did drive more to the Hope that Hope did (Hope usually had wide open lay-ups), so I am sure that caused the "lopsided" team fouls to be like that a little bit.

[sac]

Great to see Calvin student section finally come out and make some noise.  I do think that an apology is in order though.  Hope fans were classy the whole game, so thanks for coming out and bringing great energy to Van Noord and rooting for your team.  The small group of Calvin students taunting Hope fans after the game was unacceptable.  So on behalf of the 95% of Calvin fans not engaged in that stuff, I apologize for the dumb actions of a few students caught up in the emotion of it all.  That's not us, and you Hope fans did nothing to bring that on.  Sorry. 

That was unfortunate..............its also important to remember they're 18-21 year old kids, and they'll do that stuff.   But at least from me, apology accepted.

.........and I think alot of credit should go to the Dew Crew for not escalating it.

[GoKnights68]

Great to see Calvin student section finally come out and make some noise.  I do think that an apology is in order though.  Hope fans were classy the whole game, so thanks for coming out and bringing great energy to Van Noord and rooting for your team.  The small group of Calvin students taunting Hope fans after the game was unacceptable.  So on behalf of the 95% of Calvin fans not engaged in that stuff, I apologize for the dumb actions of a few students caught up in the emotion of it all.  That's not us, and you Hope fans did nothing to bring that on.  Sorry. 

That was unfortunate..............its also important to remember they're 18-21 year old kids, and they'll do that stuff.   But at least from me, apology accepted.

It was unfortunate, I agree.  But to be fair, I had a good view of a few Hope students doing the same thing to Calvin students after the first Calvin/Hope game at Knollcrest last season. 

[scottiedawg]

I'm not usually one to complain about officiating because, in my experience, the losing team always complains.

It would be easy to look at the 16-9 foul difference and cry "foul."  In my mind the four calls that should have obviously been changed were: the and-one call on Mantel's fast break (Krombeen went for the charge, Mantel avoided him and made the layup, end of story), Veltema's three (Bowser touched hands with him after the ball was away and Veltema hit the deck like a sack of potatoes), Bunn's "body-up" on Veldhouse (Caleb went on to miss both free throws), and Zoeroef's body on Jesse's fast break.  Factor those in and Calvin still has a 13-10 foul advantage, for which full credit should be given to Calvin for being more aggressive.

The arena was full and loud, the game lighting was spectacular, a mere 8 TO's for both teams, big shots from different players all night.  Little more could have been asked for. 

As far as the students, it is a little off-color to charge your own court.  That said, in a big win, mob mentality takes over and I would have a hard time saying Hope students wouldn't have done the same thing.  Although after Hope security blanketed both student sections at the end of the game at Hope, maybe Calvin security should have done the same.

Hats off to Caleb for his three in the last minute.  That thing was cold blooded.

[GoKnights68]

A lot has been said so far about the game, but I'll add a little bit.

The first thing I'll say is I hope that Calvin figures out to stop the backdoor play if they meet Hope in the tourney again.  How many times did we see Reimink get the ball at the free throw line and pass it to Bunn cutting backdoor?  Speaking of Bunn, what a great performance?  His turn-around jumpers were impossible to defend tonight!

Calvin did a pretty nice job at not letting wide open three point attempt tonight (hopefully they read this board and always see me preach about it!).  Although Hope got off a good amount of attempts, a lot of them were more forced than usual for a Hope team.  ....Maybe paying more attention to guarding the threes caused more easy backdoor plays for Hope?

Excellent play by Calvin with a few second left.  I knew Veldhouse was going to drive to the basket and so did Hope fans.  I hope Calvin does that play more in the future, where Calvin tries to spread it out, Caleb drives, and then they have a couple of cutters that go the basket.

[GoKnights68]

I'm not usually one to complain about officiating because, in my experience, the losing team always complains.

It would be easy to look at the 16-9 foul difference and cry "foul."  In my mind the four calls that should have obviously been changed were: the and-one call on Mantel's fast break (Krombeen went for the charge, Mantel avoided him and made the layup, end of story), Veltema's three (Bowser touched hands with him after the ball was away and Veltema hit the deck like a sack of potatoes), Bunn's "body-up" on Veldhouse (Caleb went on to miss both free throws), and Zoeroef's body on Jesse's fast break.  Factor those in and Calvin still has a 13-10 foul advantage, for which full credit should be given to Calvin for being more aggressive.

The arena was full and loud, the game lighting was spectacular, a mere 8 TO's for both teams, big shots from different players all night.  Little more could have been asked for. 

As far as the students, it is a little off-color to charge your own court.  That said, in a big win, mob mentality takes over and I would have a hard time saying Hope students wouldn't have done the same thing.  Although after Hope security blanketed both student sections at the end of the game at Hope, maybe Calvin security should have done the same.

Hats off to Caleb for his three in the last minute.  That thing was cold blooded.

I think with the game at Hope in January, there being a Hope vs Olivet womens game factored into that.  Probably didn't want the floors to get all wet and greasy

[sac]

Updated standings through Sat.  w/remaining sched

Calvin 10-1    (+4)    @olivet, albion, @kzoo
Hope 8-3     (+2)      @alma, adrian, @trine
Albion 8-3    (+2)     @kzoo, @calvin, alma
Olivet 5-6     (0)       calvin, @alma, adrian
Adrian  4-7   (-2)       trine, @hope, @olivet
Kzoo 4-7      (-1)      albion, @trine, calvin
Alma 3-8      (-2)       hope, olivet, @albion
Trine 2-9      (-3)     @adrian, kzoo, hope

Saturday, February 14
Albion at Kalamazoo, 3 p.m.
Calvin at Olivet, 3 p.m.
Trine at Adrian, 3 p.m.
Hope at Alma, 3 p.m.



***Lots of basketball left, but it would probably take 3 losses for Calvin to lose the #1 seed in the MIAA tournament.

***  Things have now become dicey for Olivet, they could slip all the way to #6