MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

Hope 97
Adrian 79

I really don't know what to say.  Every time I feel like Adrian is finally starting to play great basketball, they get smacked back.  Really don't know what to make of this game.    

It's pretty hard to figure out what happened just looking at the livestats, but there certainly was a lot of offense.  Hope shot something like 64% from the floor for the game, but that number was much closer to 70% while the starters were still playing.  Hope really took its foot off the gas toward the end to keep from scoring 100.

Offensively, it didn't look like Adrian did that poorly.  They shot over 50%, and got what appeared to be good games from Staley and Young.  I'll defer to the Hope contingent on the actual details of the game.

Stat of the Hope game...........23 rebounds apiece.

[CalvinChelseaMom]

I think the Brits have a good chance of knocking off Calvin if they can get a handle on John Mantel and keep him from dominating inside. If they can force Calvin outside, Albion usually does a good job of not allowing too many open jumpers outside, and as has been noted, apparently Calvin struggles shooting at home.

The only guys that have been able to control John have been wearing zebra stripes.  If John picks up early fouls and has to sit, Calvin can have trouble getting things going.  I haven't seen any player or team stop John yet this year.

I wasn't at this game, and worse yet, the broadcast wasn't working (for me at least), so I'd love some insight into the flow of this game. 44 total fouls (I think) and John fouled out. I assume it was a very physical game. Were the refs being picky or making pretty good calls?

[ziggy]

Hope 97
Adrian 79

I really don't know what to say.  Every time I feel like Adrian is finally starting to play great basketball, they get smacked back.  Really don't know what to make of this game.    

It's pretty hard to figure out what happened just looking at the livestats, but there certainly was a lot of offense.  Hope shot something like 64% from the floor for the game, but that number was much closer to 70% while the starters were still playing.  Hope really took its foot off the gas toward the end to keep from scoring 100.

Offensively, it didn't look like Adrian did that poorly.  They shot over 50%, and got what appeared to be good games from Staley and Young.  I'll defer to the Hope contingent on the actual details of the game.

Stat of the Hope game...........23 rebounds apiece.

No rebounds to be had if everything is going in!

Other stat of the night:  If the Yahoo box score is correct, Illinois did not attempt a free throw against Penn State tonight.

[CalvinChelseaMom]

I am so glad Calvin got past Albion. Albion is such a good team. John used to play travel ball with Stasiak and Stasiak always brought such an intensity to the game in high school. It seems Albion teams do the same thing.

[scottiedawg]

Hope played great tonight.  The passing was impeccable.  Bosch and Cox played awesome in a starting role tonight.  Andy Venema made everything he looked at, albeit it from 8 ft and in.  Matt Wayne was helpless versus Venema.  It's always nice to beat Adrian by 22 (it was not that close) when Bunn, Bowser, and Krombeen combine for only 10 points.

Adrian did help out with poor defense.  

The refs blew the whistle with alarming regularity, killing a lot of the flow of the game.  They just didn't want to let the boys play, on either side.  

[bulldogalum]

By the by, looks like Olivet and Alma are in the second overtime.  Great game going on up there.

[Dark Knight]

I thought Calvin had a pretty good chance of losing this game, what with Albion's physical play, Calvin's potential let-down after gaining home-court advantage for the tournament, etc.

Then if you told me the refs would allow very physical play (at least on Albion's part), and that Mantel would foul out with 8 points, I'd think Albion almost surely won. Then too Albion had a 19-2 run, Veldhouse was 0 for the first half of the game, and Albion hit 10 of their first 18 3-point attempts. A blowout?

Somehow, Calvin pulled it out and won 67-62. That 48-32 rebound edge was a big part of it. And Albion plays a very physical game -- constantly pushing, pulling, pressing, hitting -- but they really don't have as much basketball talent, apart from good 3-point shooting.

Rodts and Veltema stepped up today. Rodts probably had the game of his Calvin career -- he played good D, good power forward-type post moves, good 3-points shooting.

Mantel was playing well but picked up several cheap calls.

[KnightSlappy]

Here is all you need to know about the officiating at the Calvin-Albion game:  Todd Geerlings and Kendall Smith.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Final in 2 OT

Olivet 75
Alma 72

[KnightSlappy]

MIAA Trivia:
When was the last time the MIAA #1 Team went 3-0 against the MIAA #2 team (we're only counting conference and conference tournament games).

From what I can tell, the last time this happened was 99-00 when Calvin beat Defiance 3 times.  At the risk of upsetting GS, I guess it is hard to beat a tough team 3 times.

If Calvin is fortunate enough to make it to the MIAA Finals, they will have their hands full with (probably) Albion or Hope.  That Albion team really gets after it on defense.

[Happy Calvin Guy]

A game like tonight's Calvin-Albion game would be a tough one to ref.  A lot of grabbing and hand checking.  I just wish there was a little more consistency.  The players on both sides had no idea what was going to be called a foul and what would be let go. 

Rodts was fantastic in all facets.  As Calvin fans we saw a little glimpse of the next couple years. 

One thing that strikes me is that this Calvin team really seems to enjoy playing together.  The stats may not reflect it but I thought that once again Caleb showed some great senior leadership out there tonight. 

All in all, a great win over a very physical Albion team.  It was a battle out there as evidenced by the blood drawn on both Mantel and Veldhouse.  And nice to see a few more students coming out too.  Congrats to the regular season MIAA champs!

[almcguirejr]

Calvin got good play from Veltema and  Rodts.  I thought Zoerhof and Katt were also good off the bench.  I think Veldhouse, Smith and Salo were a combined 0-12 the first half.   Calvin committed 9 turnovers the first half.  I would love to see a game where Calvin gets everyone rolling at the same time.  Tonight it was Rodts and Veltema.  Other nights its been a couple of other guys.  I don't think they've played a game where you can say Calvin has had everyone clicking and they played a complete 40 minutes. 

Calvin honored Mike Turner before the game.  KVS presented him with a beautiful bronze boat anchor.

[RuleBritannia]

Calvin 67 Albion 62

Looks like a close game in Grand Rapids. I didn't see it, so I'm inferring a little bit from the box score, but here are my thoughts:

First off, hats off to Danny Rodts and Matt Veltema. They stepped up big time for the Knights tonight and knocked down crucial shots to lift Calvin on a night when some of their other stars struggled just a bit.

The difference between this year's Calvin team, and last year's is that this year they've found a way to win the close games, last year these games seemed to go the other way for them.

That being said, Albion can't expect to get a victory when they shoot 30% from the field. In fact, only one Brit, Bill Leising, had a personal shooting percentage over 50%, curiously, all his shots were from "three."

Andrew Holms had 13 points, but was only 4-13 from the field, Dave Elliott was 1-9 (and he usually doesn't shoot anything outside of 6 feet, so that seems like he was struggling mightily). In fact, the team was 19-63 over all, but 10-22 from distance. That to me says that Calvin really locked down on their interior defense. But even then, you have to make layups, and it sounds like Albion missed a good amount.

I still think though that this may end up being a blessing in disguise. I look for Albion to be extremely focused the rest of the season, and an extremely tough team to dislodge in the conference tournament. Especially with Leising seeming breaking out of a season long slump and hitting some outside shots, the team is much much better when he's able to open that up.

Hat's off again to Calvin though for a gutty performance and victory. I hope we meet again  

Rule Britannia!

[goodknight]

Undisputed league champions.  There were more than a few times in December and January when that seemed a far-fetched prospect for this 2008-2009 Calvin team.
The net-cutting ceremony was the first of what one can hope will be many more for the Knights inside the VanNoord Arena in coming years.  
Coach Mike Turner was brought to center court before the opening tip for a brief ceremony in which he was acknowledged for his long and distinguished career leading the Brits.  He received not only a standing ovation from the Calvin crowd, he also was named an honorary "Knight" and was given a commemorative Knighthead by Kevin VandeStreek.  8)
(They're saving the boat anchor for someone else. )

[Gregory Sager]

At the risk of upsetting GS, I guess it is hard to beat a tough team 3 times.

No complaints from me, thanks to that five-letter italicized word you included in that sentence.

(They're saving the boat anchor for someone else. )

Are they going to hand it to him at center court of VanNoord, or are they going to tie it around his legs and toss it with him into Lake Michigan from a rowboat in the middle of the night?