MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[NW Hope Fan]

Great playing by the Knights tonight, they beat the same team 3 times this year.

Yes, that seemed to be the burning question all day.  How difficult is it to beat a team three times in one season?  Well, Calvin made it look easy.  What was so remarkable is that this is the same team that took Hope to the wire on Saturday.

Is there really anyone so buffaloed by that tired cliche' that they think the 0-2 team is favored in the third game?!  If so, I'll pay your way to Vegas, just so I can bet opposite any bet you make!

I believe MK was being smart... 

Ya think?  Pretty fart smeller!

Fart smeller indeed! 

[goodknight]

I'll be 1,200 miles south of VanNoord Arena on Friday and Saturday, happily soaking up a week's worth of Florida warmth and sunshine and relegated to live stats or internet broadcasts of the three games. 
Expect a war in the opener between the Dutchmen and the Brits.  I'm picking Hope, but Albion won't be easy or fun for the Dutch to get past.
If the Knights resemble the same team we saw in the arena tonight, Olivet will be severely punished on Friday night.  The Comets are talented, to be sure, but Calvin will exact revenge. 
The ball movement for Calvin tonight was as good as we've seen this season.  Trine's coach called five time outs in the first half -- two in the first three or four minutes of the game when Calvin just ran the Thunder out of the building.
A Calvin-Hope final.  Anything can happen, but it feels like the Knights might just have the Dutchmen in their thrall this season -- I'm projecting a near double-digit final margin for Calvin as the Knights punch their ticket for the D3 tourney. 
 

[sac]

A small list of Seniors played their final college games tonight

Adrian
Brett Asher, Northville
Desmond Young, Grand Blanc

Alma
Ryan DeHaan, Rockford
Matt Brown, Midland

Kalamazoo
Ben Jerome, Bath
Nate Orozco, Lawton
Henry McCain, Harper Woods

[RuleBritannia]

Albion 87 Adrian 81

Yay, I was able to go to this one  

This was a game of two very different halves. In the first half defense was about as popular Robert Mugabe. Adrian used a devastatingly effective screening pattern to get players, especially Matt Wayne, wide open shots under the basket. Albion looked completely lost on the defensive end. Fortunately for the Brits, timely 3 point shooting by Bill Leising and Andre Bridges kept the game close early. Albion was extremely lucky to be down only 2 (46-44) at the break.

In the second half, teams got much more serious on defense, early on Adrian was defending the paint well, forcing Albion to take outside jumpers, meanwhile Albion figured Adrian out a little better on D.  Both teams continued to make runs and wrestle momentum between each other. In the end, Albion (more specifically Dave Elliott, who had 6 straight points on 3 possessions) was able to gain momentum and take control by getting points in the paint. From there, fairly solid free throw shooting and rebounding secured it.

A few extemporaneous game notes:

* Matt Wayne played very well and really manhandled Albion's defense early. With some key injuries on the front line, and games against players like Jesse Reimink, John Mantel or the McLarry brothers, Albion has to find a way to defend the paint more effectively.

* 1st half Albion shot 13-19 for FG 44.8%, but 7-10 70% on the long ball.

* 2nd half Albion shot 10-21 FG 47.6% but  1-6 16.7% on the long ball.

* Albion was 33-42 shooting FTs, Adrian was 19-23

Game effort by Adrian tonight, it's always sad to see someone's season end. Good Luck to Adrian next year.

Albion is going to need a more consistent effort on both sides of the ball in both halves to advance any farther. Here's to hoping they get it  

Rule Britannia!

[HOF]

Did Coach Buck Riley have all of his son's on the bench tonight?  I just saw some coaches I've never seen, then I went to the website and didn't see any of the son's on the website.  Special occasion?  Retiring?  Was it his son's, maybe not?

Congrats to Desmond Young.  Always liked watching him play and was never flashy, a great combo for a great player and one of the best in the MIAA.  I love that 15 foot jumper, nobody really has an answer for that.

Best of luck to all....I've been reading all year, but have remained out of the loop.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Did Coach Buck Riley have all of his son's on the bench tonight?  I just saw some coaches I've never seen, then I went to the website and didn't see any of the son's on the website.  Special occasion?  Retiring?  Was it his son's, maybe not?

Congrats to Desmond Young.  Always liked watching him play and was never flashy, a great combo for a great player and one of the best in the MIAA.  I love that 15 foot jumper, nobody really has an answer for that.

Best of luck to all....I've been reading all year, but have remained out of the loop.

Agreed about Desmond Young.  The first time I saw him, he had no effect on the game (but I could see the talent).  The second time, he almost single-handedly kept Adrian in the game against Hope.  A VERY talented player.

Since he is from my wife's hometown of Grand Blanc, I'd regale you with stories of her baby-sitting him, except she left town around 15 years before he was born!

[Knight In The Stan]

I'll be 1,200 miles south of VanNoord Arena on Friday and Saturday, happily soaking up a week's worth of Florida warmth and sunshine and relegated to live stats or internet broadcasts of the three games. 
Expect a war in the opener between the Dutchmen and the Brits.  I'm picking Hope, but Albion won't be easy or fun for the Dutch to get past.
If the Knights resemble the same team we saw in the arena tonight, Olivet will be severely punished on Friday night.  The Comets are talented, to be sure, but Calvin will exact revenge. 
The ball movement for Calvin tonight was as good as we've seen this season.  Trine's coach called five time outs in the first half -- two in the first three or four minutes of the game when Calvin just ran the Thunder out of the building.
A Calvin-Hope final.  Anything can happen, but it feels like the Knights might just have the Dutchmen in their thrall this season -- I'm projecting a near double-digit final margin for Calvin as the Knights punch their ticket for the D3 tourney. 
 

I will also be in sunny florida, if saturdays game is another calvin/hope let me know and i will tell you where the bootleg live video performance are aired down there.

[almcguirejr]

Holland Sentinel article on the Hope-Alma game:

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/sports/x844644443/Up-to-speed-Flying-Dutchmen-don-t-slow-down-in-win-over-Alma

Lee Lamberts Blog:

http://blogs.hollandsentinel.com/lee/

[Knightmare]

it would appear from calvin's website that there are both reserved seating and general admission seats available for Friday & Saturday for $7 & $5 respectively. 

http://www.calvin.edu/boxoffice/on_sale.htm

Can anyone confirm or refute this?

Sorry, updated ticket info.  Guess there is no reserved seating, just general admission in lower bowl and general admission in upper bowl.

http://www.calvin.edu/sports/news/comments/miaa-tournament-mens-basketball-ticket-information-feb-27-semifinal-games/

[ziggy]

it would appear from calvin's website that there are both reserved seating and general admission seats available for Friday & Saturday for $7 & $5 respectively. 

http://www.calvin.edu/boxoffice/on_sale.htm

Can anyone confirm or refute this?

Sorry, updated ticket info.  Guess there is no reserved seating, just general admission in lower bowl and general admission in upper bowl.

http://www.calvin.edu/sports/news/comments/miaa-tournament-mens-basketball-ticket-information-feb-27-semifinal-games/

It will all be general admission according to:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/news/comments/miaa-tournament-mens-basketball-ticket-information-feb-27-semifinal-games/

[KnightSlappy]

it would appear from calvin's website that there are both reserved seating and general admission seats available for Friday & Saturday for $7 & $5 respectively. 

http://www.calvin.edu/boxoffice/on_sale.htm

Can anyone confirm or refute this?

Sorry, updated ticket info.  Guess there is no reserved seating, just general admission in lower bowl and general admission in upper bowl.

http://www.calvin.edu/sports/news/comments/miaa-tournament-mens-basketball-ticket-information-feb-27-semifinal-games/

All seats are general admission.  The $7 seats are for upper bowl and the $5 seats are lower bowl.

EDIT: I guess you figured that out before I figured out that you figured it out yourself!

[Flying Dutch Fan]

A few thoughts/observations from the DeVos last night:

- As expected, Alma came out and played their 4 corners offense the first half.  Hope was obviously ready for it.  It looked to me like they played a man-to-man defense until about 15 seconds left in the shot clock, and then dropped back into a zone - just as Alma was finally trying to actually run some offense.  This scheme worked well, and forced some pretty bad shots from the Scots as the shot clock was about to expire.   Combined with Hope's 60% shooting,  the Dutchmen went on a 31-9 over the last 14 minutes of the half, after being tied at 10-10.

- Second half Alma came out and played a "normal" offense, and shot 50% (8-16) from 3 to get back into the game.  After a very sluggish start to the the second half, Hope decided to play again, and finished well.  

- Tanis (5-7 from 3) for 15 points, Cox (6-8 from the floor, 2-3 from 3) for 16 points, and Nelis 8 points and 4 boards were all big parts of this win.  

- Credit to Alma's defense on Reimink in the second half.  Jesse had 11 at the half, and didn't score again until 4 minutes left, but then put up 7 points during a 15-5 run by Hope to end the game.  (Jesse did sit for a while after picking up his 3rd foul).  

- Zach Osburn played another one of those games that could easily go unnoticed, but in my mind he gets the game ball.  8 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists,  and 0 TO in 37 minutes.

[almcguirejr]

it would appear from calvin's website that there are both reserved seating and general admission seats available for Friday & Saturday for $7 & $5 respectively. 

http://www.calvin.edu/boxoffice/on_sale.htm

Can anyone confirm or refute this?

Sorry, updated ticket info.  Guess there is no reserved seating, just general admission in lower bowl and general admission in upper bowl.

http://www.calvin.edu/sports/news/comments/miaa-tournament-mens-basketball-ticket-information-feb-27-semifinal-games/

It will all be general admission according to:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/news/comments/miaa-tournament-mens-basketball-ticket-information-feb-27-semifinal-games/

The tickets are general admission.  They do have section numbers on the tickets of where to sit.

[KnightSlappy]

Calvin has figured out how to shoot at VanNoord.

It does seem that the "away court advantage" or "home court disadvantage" has subsided somewhat for the Knights.  The 41.5% shooting game at Kzoo on Saturday would rank 4th for home games and the 46% game last night vs. Trine would rank 6th for away games.  There is now only an 8.3% difference between home and away shooting (39.4% to 47.8%).  Opponents are still shooting only 36.9% at Van Noord Arena.

[SKOT]

Just in case anyone on here is a as big of a dorkus as I am, here is the athletic financial data that all schools are required to report.  I only bothered to look at Hope's numbers because I'm a former, non-basketball, athlete at institution.  All the fun numbers make my brain happy!

http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/GetOneInstitutionData.aspx

This might have been posted before.  I remember hearing about recruiting costs on here in the not so distant past.  Hope this isn't old news.