MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Knight81]

Concordia (Ann Arbor)has 3 as well.

One can read into this however they want.  This is a qoute from the GR Press- Lakeshore this morning.

"We feel really good about the nucleus we have coming back.  Andy Venema and Chris Nelis could be ones to watch.  David Krombeen and Peter Bunn are really good.  We've got Will Bowser coming back (please don't be insulted will, you're good too).  I think some players have a really nice future for our Hope basketball program".

I know there have been whispers amongst Calvin fans about Tanis being done at Hope.  Did GVW let the cat out of the bag or simply doesn't see him as part of their returning nucleus, or was he misquoted?

SAC, I simply enjoy stirring the drink everyonce in a while.  With tourney action in full swing, and the weather taunting me and my clubs, MIAA recruiting is the WAY low on my list of interests.

Maybe not misquoted as much as typical pre-occupied and not at the forefront of his mind. I know the coaches really liked Tanis' defense during the last 1/2 of the season, and how he regained his shooting aggressiveness toward the final weeks. Almost as if it coincided with finally getting in hoops shape and dropping a few lbs that he had gained in the bulking up from last year.

He's in their plans as far as I know.  And should see significant playing time, especially if Van Dussen spurns the Dutch for a scholarship now that he's a Mr Basketball finalist (much discussion on Steve Bell's website).

What is the latest on VanDussen? He was amazing against Unity last Friday night. Looks like a DI mid-major quality recruit. Unity was up by 17, and VanDussen just took over. 

Also, what is the address for Steve Bell's website?

[Knightmare]

Concordia (Ann Arbor)has 3 as well.

One can read into this however they want.  This is a qoute from the GR Press- Lakeshore this morning.

"We feel really good about the nucleus we have coming back.  Andy Venema and Chris Nelis could be ones to watch.  David Krombeen and Peter Bunn are really good.  We've got Will Bowser coming back (please don't be insulted will, you're good too).  I think some players have a really nice future for our Hope basketball program".

I know there have been whispers amongst Calvin fans about Tanis being done at Hope.  Did GVW let the cat out of the bag or simply doesn't see him as part of their returning nucleus, or was he misquoted?

SAC, I simply enjoy stirring the drink everyonce in a while.  With tourney action in full swing, and the weather taunting me and my clubs, MIAA recruiting is the WAY low on my list of interests.

Maybe not misquoted as much as typical pre-occupied and not at the forefront of his mind. I know the coaches really liked Tanis' defense during the last 1/2 of the season, and how he regained his shooting aggressiveness toward the final weeks. Almost as if it coincided with finally getting in hoops shape and dropping a few lbs that he had gained in the bulking up from last year.

He's in their plans as far as I know.  And should see significant playing time, especially if Van Dussen spurns the Dutch for a scholarship now that he's a Mr Basketball finalist (much discussion on Steve Bell's website).

What is the latest on VanDussen? He was amazing against Unity last Friday night. Looks like a DI mid-major quality recruit. Unity was up by 17, and VanDussen just took over. 

Also, what is the address for Steve Bell's website?

Steve Bell's website,   www.bankhoops.com

[devossed]

http://www.bankhoops.com

also, he does this blog:

http://blog.mlive.com/highschoolbasketball/

[sac]

-------------------------------------

In case your wondering and I know you aren't.   I have the only Regional in Class A or B that has 4 teams ranked by Stephen Bell right down the road from me at Lansing Everett.Class A
#25 Holt v #8 Okemos
#2 Kzoo Central v #11 Ann Arbor Huron

I realize the chances are pretty remote that someone might take what I posted and head over to Lansing to see this regional tonight, but I have to correct the location.  The MHSAA site has this regional being played at Lansing Everett HS, which didn't make sense to me at the time but I failed to really look into it.

The Lansing State Journal says the games are at Lansing Eastern's Don Johnson Fieldhouse.  Plenty of good seats available in that venue.  I think capacity is near 6,000 but don't quote me on that.

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009903150390

This article appeared in the Lansing State Journal a couple weeks ago about Don Johnson Fieldhouse.  Its one of my favorite venue's and for me screams high school basketball  in Lansing as its where my district champions always went to play their regional.  It was always the site of the 'B' Regional involving mid-michigan teams, 2 from Lansing, 2 from the eastside of Grand Rapids......and frequently hosted quarterfinal games.  The MHSAA started moving that Regional around, in recent years its been at Grand Valley, Hamilton.......this year I think its in DeWitt.   Now it hosts the A regional.

Unfortunately my high school teams basketball history is ummmmm........terrible.  But we did win a district  while I was in school, the first  in 45 years at the time.   It seemed like the whole community made the trip to Lansing to watch them play in the Regional where we met and lost to Hastings and the second of three Brown brother's to play for Hastings.  This one ended up at Sienna College in New York, the first Michigan State, the third Hope.

Its been a long, long time since I saw a game there, but I have many memories.  I saw Garde Thompson score 30+ in a regional for East Grand Rapids just before he headed off to Michigan.  East Grand Rapids was a fixture in that Regional for years.  I saw Robert Henderson and a fantastic PG from Flint Central 25 years ago who's name escapes me.

I was to young to see the epic game between Lansing Eastern and Everett that pitted Ervin Johnson before he was "Magic" and Jay Vincent of Eastern.  The article mentions the game............Johnson had 45 points and 23 rebounds. 

[hopefan]

ok SAC - help me out - the Brown that went to Michigan ST... played with Scott Skiles - there was an NCAA game, Skiles had a huge game, but it came down to Brown at the foul line to win or lose, and he missed, I think ending Skiles career - am I right?  can you fill in the details?

[sac]

ok SAC - help me out - the Brown that went to Michigan ST... played with Scott Skiles - there was an NCAA game, Skiles had a huge game, but it came down to Brown at the foul line to win or lose, and he missed, I think ending Skiles career - am I right?  can you fill in the details?

Is that the game with the clock issues at Kemper Arena in Kansas City?  I remember all the whining about the clock (ironic considering some things that have happened between UM/MSU since) and a local radio DJ encouraging listeners to send their broken clocks to Kemper Arena.  I think they were playing Kansas.

Here's an article (amazingly online), I think  the game you were thinking about was the Sweet 16 vs Kansas mentioned.

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1064643/index.htm

I did try to find a Youtube clip, no luck..........but I did stumble on this fantastic video featuring never nervous Pervis Ellison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnNhM178esQ

[almcguirejr]

I saw Robert Henderson and a fantastic PG from Flint Central 25 years ago who's name escapes me.

That point guard was Eric Turner.  I saw him play in the state final that year (1980)
It is still the highest scoring final ever.  They beat a Detroit Public School team 108-90. I believe Marty Embry was the center for Flint Central.  He went on to DePaul.  The other team (Murry-Wright?) featured a guard, William Love, and a center, Willis Carter, who went on to the U-M with Turner.  Mark Harris set a state finals record in that game with 44 points.  That record was later eclipsed by Antoine Joubert, who is now coaching at Oakland Commuinty College.

[sac]

I saw Robert Henderson and a fantastic PG from Flint Central 25 years ago who's name escapes me.

That point guard was Eric Turner.  I saw him play in the state final that year (1980)
It is still the highest scoring final ever.  They beat a Detroit Public School team 108-90. I believe Marty Embry was the center for Flint Central.  He went on to DePaul.  The other team (Murry-Wright?) featured a guard, William Love, and a center, Willis Carter, who went on to the U-M with Turner.  Mark Harris set a state finals record in that game with 44 points.  That record was later eclipsed by Antoine Joubert, who is now coaching at Oakland Commuinty College.

Yes thank you......major embarrasment for forgetting a UM great like Eric Turner.........all I could think was Gary Grant but I knew that wasn't right. 

How can I remember a game when I was 10.........but can't find my damn keys?

[ziggy]

How can I remember a game when I was 10.........but can't find my damn keys?

Its because memories can't grow legs and walk away like keys, wallets, remote controls, and office supplies.

[RFMichigan]

My high school team was scheduled to play in a "tournament" at Don Johnson Fieldhouse at Lansing Eastern where the teams included Lansing Eastern (led my Jay Vincent and another guy named Lloyd who made Michigan State's 1979 team), Lansing Everett (led by You-Know-Who and the Hoffman kid - later made famous by Al Maguire and his shoes that wouldn't go back on his feet.), Saginaw High (coached by Charlie Coles - who was just plain entertaining during the entire weekend), and our team.

It was predetermined that we'd play Everet the first game and Eastern the second game. Well, low and behold, I broke my ankle in football and missed the entire basketball season. Needless to say, I was (and am) disappointed by the fact that I missed out on playing against one of the greatest basketball players of all time.  However my friends and I went down to Lansing anyway, stayed overnight, saw all the games, and had a blast. What a memory.

That fieldhouse was PACKED from what I remember. Impressive site for high school basketball.

And where are those blasted car keys, anyway?

[arena]

How can I remember a game when I was 10.........but can't find my damn keys?

Its because memories can't grow legs and walk away like keys, wallets, remote controls, and office supplies.
[/quote
Since no one has made a comment about your excellent post, I will.  Great post.  Great laughs.  Keep em coming.

[hope1]

it is pretty  nice for jesse and  young to make the 1st team all great lakes region team and jesse is the player of the year to  thats really good

[sac]

I talked with someone last night who thought capacity at Don Johnson was 4500, which looked about right to me.  If you've ever been to Wittenberg its the same setup only with about 20 more rows of seats and you could park a blimp in there.  I had forgotten how the noise cascades around that place.   Steel girders and wood plank roofs will do that. Very cool to be in there again.

Near the end of the first game, I would guess there were around 3000 to 3500 in there, most of the Holt and Okemos fans left after the first game but the AAH, KCC game still had a large vocal crowd.  Unfortunately I did overhear several fans say they had gone to Everett High first, so booo to the MHSAA for that gaffe.

.....and I was treated to 4 really well coached teams with super talent.  I saw many kids who will playing at the next level somewhere in the next 2 or 3 years.  Maybe only one or two in the MIAA though.

 The two games were exact opposites of each other.  Holt led Okemos by double digits throughout with superior half court defense.  For 3 Q's Okemos couldn't buy a basket but made two steals and layups to help cut an 18 pt lead to 12 in about 1 min at the end of the 3rd and got it down to 3 with a chance to tie and the ball in the players hands they wanted in the closing seconds, the shot just didn't go in.

The second game was spectacular athleticism on display.  In warmups I didn't think AA Huron could keep up with Kzoo Central but for 3 Q's they were right with them and led for a portion of the game.   Huron started 4 Sophomores, its unbelieveable they got this far but they can play.   In the end KCC's athletic ability was just too much and they ran away when Huron had to start taking more gambles on both ends of the floor.  Very entertaining as both teams tried to press each other full court which led to many fast break points and in KCC's case many, many spectacular dunks.  KC's Doug Anderson can simply fly, I lost track of his dunks at 7.....for awhile I thought I was at an AndOne exhibition.

"(Anderson) really gets us going and gives us emotion," said 24-year-old Central coach Michael Thomas. "He's a freak. There's only a few in America jumping like that, so I'm glad he's on my team."

Anderson had one sequence that had me thinking Chris Weber when he came out of nowhere to block a fast break layup, then ran the court full speed to get the alley oop fast break dunk on the other end, it was big time stuff.  Unfortunately dunking and blocking shots was all he displayed last night, I'm sure he has other parts of his game but he didn't show them.  He punctuated the win with a breakaway double pump reverse dunk in the closing minutes.


So on Wednesday two Albion grads (Matt Essel, Holt....Michael Thomas, KC) will coach their teams against each other for the right to play in the Quarterfinals on the same court next week against the Rockford/Grand Haven winner.  

I know a couple on here have seen Saginaw play in the past, Michael Thomas is a Saginaw grad and his KCC team plays a very similar style.  They certainly looked worthy of their #2 ranking.

[sac]

it is pretty  nice for jesse and  young to make the 1st team all great lakes region team and jesse is the player of the year to  thats really good

Congrats to both
http://d3hoops.com/all-region/09/glakemen.htm

No McClary?

[ziggy]

it is pretty  nice for jesse and  young to make the 1st team all great lakes region team and jesse is the player of the year to  thats really good

Congrats to both
http://d3hoops.com/all-region/09/glakemen.htm

No McClary?

I haven't seen any of those centers play.  Can anyone tell me how they compare to John Mantel?  I could look up the stat lines, but those don't always tell the whole story; the reason I had DY on my MIAA second team.