MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Hopester]

Alright, I have calmed down a little bit, and I really would like to watch a replay of the game. If WGVU could be so kind and put it up. Great game between these two schools. Came down to the wire, and as it seems always happens, Calvin finds a way to win the close one.

As for the arena, I will put it this way. It was a nice place. It didn't seem to have a basketball atmosphere surrounding it though. It felt wierd. The lighting was sweet though. The mascot was, as I expected, rather lame and almost (and IMO probably should have) cost Calvin 2 points.

HCG: Thanks for the apology, unfortunately for the "Knight Nation" that was not the only unsportsmanlike activity throughout the course of the game, but still I will not lump the entire student section in to the select few. As I know a fair number of students in there and most of them are stand up people. To be honest I don't really have to much of a problem with a few students throwing out a few taunts... They are entitled to, their team won the game.

Chant of the night for the Dew Crew: Veldhouse at the free throw line, chanting "MICH-AEL PHELPS... MICH-AEL PHELPS" 0-4 on those free throw attempts... A huge surprise from a normally solid free throw shooter.

[arena]

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.

Clearly, the refs made the right call.  Zorhoff played the ball, not the man.  Yes there was contacy obut not flagrant at all.  It was a good call.  And honestly, from how much the refs let them play all game, it was a good call.

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!!!

The only one I'll give you is the charging foul that Mantel got against Hope in the second half.  That was questionable, but from my view, the Hope player didn't get position.  Close though.

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!

Hope makes its shots Hope wins.  Hope didn't, and didn't.

[oldknight]

Re: the reffing. I don't think we really need to go there. Believe me, there was more than a little grumbling by Calvin fans when Hope was whistled for their first foul at the 7:55 mark. Read sac on the officiating. His post nails it. I must admit, I almost wish the refs had T'd up Cal the Knight. That would have created instant legendary status for the mascot's first appearance.

I was under the basket when Veltema fouled Bowser on the breakaway and I didn't see it as a flagrant foul at all. Fans have a tendancy to think every foul that causes an opponent to hit the deck is malicious but Veltema was swatting at the ball. Unfortunately, Bowser elevates a lot better than Matt so when the swat came Veltema's hand was only swatting Will's wrist when he was at the peak of his jump. Getting hit when in that position always sends you flying. Other than the slap on the wrist I don't think the two players touched each other at all.

Let me share one story that demonstrates the specialness of The Rivalry. After I left VanNoord last night, I realized I had missed a call from my Chicago area brother-in-law, who like me is a Calvin alum, so I called him back. He had tried to contact me from Faganel Hall where he was watching Wheaton's smackdown of Elmhurst College in a critical CCIW matchup. He observed that game seated next to last year's Hope starter Ryan Klein who was trying to simultaneously get online info (presumably on his Blackberry) about the Calvin/Hope game. My brother-in-law suggested to Ryan that they a get first-hand report from a totally unbiased observer. From what I know of the Witt-Woo rivalry, I can't imagine two alums of those two institutions doing something similar.

[almcguirejr]

Holland Sentinel articles:

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/sports/x1848778050/Calvin-tops-Hope

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/sports/x1450775535/Calvin-center-emulating-Celtics-stars-leadership

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/sports/x1450775525/Bunn-rises-in-time-to-give-Hope-a-chance-to-win

http://blogs.hollandsentinel.com/alan/

[section7]

Thoughts from last night from a TV viewer:

1.  WGVU - thanks for covering the game, but please upgrade the picture, it was really hard to watch.  I tried about 6 different angles from my living room.

2.  IMHO, Hope lost this game in the last 6-8 of the first half.  They played great defense in the first 12-14 minutes, but did not capitalize with a big lead.  Calvin continued to stay close and when it was 4 at half, Hope was in trouble.

3.  I realize that Jesse Reimink will probably win the MIAA MVP and no one can argue he is deserving.  HOWEVER, John Mantel is a man, beast, stud, what ever term you want to use.  Caleb made some incredible plays and shots, but John Mantel is clearly Calvin's MVP and a real close 2nd in the MIAA MVP voting and dare I say maybe a co-MVP with Jesse.

4.  Can we get a 3rd Hope vs. Calvin this year???

[calvin_grad]

I think this may have been discussed before, so I apologize for breaking out the dead horse, but someone with more basketball coaching experience than I have, please explain the reasoning behind not guarding the inbounds pass with 1.3 seconds left.  If I am coaching, Mantel or Katt is guarding the inbounds pass, trying to force the ball into the backcourt.  Maybe that's why I am not coaching.... 

[cmlundy]

WGVU

There were numerous times during last nights game that I had to guess on who was in the game and let a lone who had the ball.  I know that WGVU is trying to do a good thing by broadcasting the games but as mentioned before the picture is not high quality. 

It seemed that the camera crews were not zooming into the action and stayed back.  Really hard to follow.

We don't even need to get into the commentating crew either.  I think I said my piece last time on this but come on, not to beat a dead horse, it seemed that the announcers were more focused on what Calvin had to do to win the game instead of what Hope had to do to win the game. 

I think I will now boycott listening to the TV crew for all future games until there is a new announcer.

[oldknight]

Holland Sentinel articles:



http://blogs.hollandsentinel.com/alan/

From Mr. Babbitt's blog:

Van Noord Arena looked a lot better when the lights were spotlighted on the basketball court only. Then, it looked like the person you took home from the bar, not the one you woke up next to in the morning.

Be careful Alan; for many of us, they're the same person--and the mother of our children.

I think this may have been discussed before, so I apologize for breaking out the dead horse, but someone with more basketball coaching experience than I have, please explain the reasoning behind not guarding the inbounds pass with 1.3 seconds left.  If I am coaching, Mantel or Katt is guarding the inbounds pass, trying to force the ball into the backcourt.  Maybe that's why I am not coaching.... 

There's two thoughts on how to handle this situation. Either harrass the inbounds pass or play 5 defenders against 4 offensive players. KVS always does the latter in these situations. He caught some grief last year from Calvin posters when Albion hit a last second shot in a similar situation (after inbounding with 5 seconds left) but I favor the 5 on 4 approach. It's mostly a matter of personal preference I guess.

 

I think I will now boycott listening to the TV crew for all future games until there is a new announcer.

That puts a smile on Doug Wentworth's face.

[Knightmare]

I've read all game commentary and I don't believe it was expanded on at all, so for those not at the game or able to see WGVU, what exactly happened that "Cal" was almost T'd by the ref.

Would've been interesting to see if Calvin still had a mascot after this game if there had been a tech and Calvin had lost by one, could've been a shortlived mascot.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Some thoughts on last night:

- The Van Noord turned out to be a pretty nice place to watch a game.  Sitting 5 rows up from the aisle, I was concerned about my view being blocked as people walked by, which it was.  Fortunately, during the game there was little to no traffic.  The folding theater seats are comfortable, if a bit wobbly - due to the fact that they fold down.

- One scoreboard comment - nice to see that both teams names are put up in orange  

- I agree completely with OK - the official scorer must have been smoking something - 8 TO for each team?  I'm guessing Calvin had that many in the first 10 minutes alone, and Hope had several stretches of them as well, and the scorer missed a bunch of associated steals as well.  When I get around to watching the game on DVD, I may have to score it myself just to see.

- Officiating - unfortunately (in my opinion) it played a role in deciding the game - but then so did every single miscue, and every missed shot, and ...   that's the nature of a 1 point game.

- Students - for the most part the cheering, chanting, etc was typical Hope/Calvin fodder.  I will admit to being disturbed by a couple of things.  1) the Calvin students stealing and destroying the Team Fouls sign made by the Hope students, and 2) whenever the Dew Crew would chant "Dutchmen, Dutchmen..." the Calvin students chanted back "douchebag...".  Both of these seem a bit over the top, and were not easy for the parents sitting down the row from me to explain to their young children.  

- Kudos to Mantel, Veldhouse, and Smith for stepping up.

- Peter Bunn continues to amaze me - he can start off very slow, miss some shots horribly, get hit with questionable fouls, and you think he's out of it - only to turn it on when it's needed most.  This kid is a scorer, and will no doubt be a force to be reckoned with for several years.

- Jesse Reimink was, well Jesse Reimink.  150% effort, 17 points, 15 boards, hustling all night.  Disappointed as I am in the Hope loss, I couldn't be more proud of a player if he was my own son.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

I've read all game commentary and I don't believe it was expanded on at all, so for those not at the game or able to see WGVU, what exactly happened that "Cal" was almost T'd by the ref.

Would've been interesting to see if Calvin still had a mascot after this game if there had been a tech and Calvin had lost by one, could've been a shortlived mascot.

The mascot was running down the sideline - inbounds, during play.

[KnightSlappy]

I've read all game commentary and I don't believe it was expanded on at all, so for those not at the game or able to see WGVU, what exactly happened that "Cal" was almost T'd by the ref.

Would've been interesting to see if Calvin still had a mascot after this game if there had been a tech and Calvin had lost by one, could've been a shortlived mascot.

I think 'Vinny' (Cal was the old name, this one isn't officially named yet, but I'll call him Vinny) thought must have that there was a timeout called because he/she came running and jumping down the sideline (mostly on the court) in front of the Calvin students after a Calvin basket but the game was still going on.  The ref blew the whistle and had a quick word with Mr Timmer and I think officially 'warned' the Calvin and the mascot.

[Knightmare]

Two other comments.

1.  after seeing the mascot pic on this page, http://www.calvin.edu/news/2008-09/mascot/ I can totaly see the Marvin the Martian comparison that was made.  Cal must be a bit more fiesty though with the near tech (still want a detailed explanation on that).

2.  Just looked at a boxscore and Ty Tanis for Hope played only 2 minutes, my how times have changed.  He seems to have fallen right out of the rotation for Hope.

Well with the Calvin win it looks like they should be hosting and the family and I can make the trek down from Up North to hopefully catch Calvin in the semis and finals of the MIAA tournament at the Noord (and maybe squeeze in a visit with the in-laws ) and maybe even Calvin/Hope III

[sac]

I've read all game commentary and I don't believe it was expanded on at all, so for those not at the game or able to see WGVU, what exactly happened that "Cal" was almost T'd by the ref.

Would've been interesting to see if Calvin still had a mascot after this game if there had been a tech and Calvin had lost by one, could've been a shortlived mascot.

In his/her/its excitement to be supportive, he/she/it ran down the sideline spurring on the Calvin students.............unfortunatley he/she/it was about 3 feet on the court the whole way while a really, really confused David Krombeen and even more confused Wallace Whitfield tried to figure out what the heck a gender neutral mascot was doing on the floor, while the game was going on.

For a minute it looked like it might end up being the best poke away steal from behind ever.

[sac]

What do you mean the technical was on me?