MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[AlwaysHope]

Wheaton is 3-0 on the season, while Carthage is 4-1.  The two MIAA teams could have their hands full this coming weekend in Holland.

But before those games Hope is playing Trinity Christian (2-2).  Calvin has the week off.

[calvin66]

Thoughts on Hope-Calvin I.  Bunn, Bowser, and Krombeen showed poise and experience.  Where did Nelis come from?  He outplayed Mantel.  Generally, Mantel was disappointing, he's 6'9" and was only a factor the last 10 minutes.  Rodts was outstanding, and Veltema can get hot.  Calvin needs Powell and Snikkers to develop quickly.  Sorry, Salo is too small and Schnyders too young.  The Hope guards just played over Salo.  Good game.By the way what is GVW vs. KVS record?  I suspect Van Wieren is ahead.

[thealmascots]

KVS has a record 15 - 23 against Hope since arriving at Calvin.  GVW is 44 - 40 overall against Calvin.

Thoughts on Hope-Calvin I.  Bunn, Bowser, and Krombeen showed poise and experience.  Where did Nelis come from?  He outplayed Mantel.  Generally, Mantel was disappointing, he's 6'9" and was only a factor the last 10 minutes.  Rodts was outstanding, and Veltema can get hot.  Calvin needs Powell and Snikkers to develop quickly.  Sorry, Salo is too small and Schnyders too young.  The Hope guards just played over Salo.  Good game.By the way what is GVW vs. KVS record?  I suspect Van Wieren is ahead.

[wiz]

Thoughts on Hope-Calvin I.  Bunn, Bowser, and Krombeen showed poise and experience.  Where did Nelis come from?  He outplayed Mantel.  Generally, Mantel was disappointing, he's 6'9" and was only a factor the last 10 minutes.  Rodts was outstanding, and Veltema can get hot.  Calvin needs Powell and Snikkers to develop quickly.  Sorry, Salo is too small and Schnyders too young.  The Hope guards just played over Salo.  Good game.By the way what is GVW vs. KVS record?  I suspect Van Wieren is ahead.

I was at the game and understand your thoughts.  Mantel just doesn't have the inner fortitude that great centers of the past have had.  It's time to start working on others in this position.  Powell and Snikkers already are developing quickly and I am sure they will both see plenty of playing time this year and maybe even become starters real soon.  Campbell also put together some good minutes over the weekend.  Would like to see more playing time for Capel.  He's got grit and that is just what the Knights need rihgt now.

I really wasn't very impressed by either Calvin or Hope.  Calvin allowed themselves to lapse into apathy again and fall behind by double digits.  And during the last 5 - 10 minutes Hope followed suit.  Calvin had way too many turnovers in the first half and Hope took advantage.  Calvin also allowed many open looks for the 3 pointer but, surprisingly, many times Hope passed up the opportunities.  Neither of these two schools had many games under their belts as compared to Aquinas and Cornerstone.  But, this happens every year, so they need to find a way around it.  I was surprised by Calvin's comeback and pleased with the level of intensity that was lacking in previous games.

Will be a tough weekend for both schools when Wheaton and Carthage come to the DeVos.

[GoKnights68]

Thoughts on Hope-Calvin I.  Bunn, Bowser, and Krombeen showed poise and experience.  Where did Nelis come from?  He outplayed Mantel.  Generally, Mantel was disappointing, he's 6'9" and was only a factor the last 10 minutes.  Rodts was outstanding, and Veltema can get hot.  Calvin needs Powell and Snikkers to develop quickly.  Sorry, Salo is too small and Schnyders too young.  The Hope guards just played over Salo.  Good game.By the way what is GVW vs. KVS record?  I suspect Van Wieren is ahead.

Schynders needs to have more control over trying to protect the ball, although I do love his determination driving to the hoop, which I believe is something Calvin has lacked quite a bit the last few seasons besides Veldhouse.

Everyone has critiqued Calvin really well, but I'll add that Calvin must not continue to have first half's like they have been having so far this season if they want any shot at defending the regular season league title.  They must play with intensity the whole game.

[realist]

Wiz:  I am not sure Mantel deserves all the credit for his performance.  He is a good kid, and does what he is told.   Calvin's offsensive scheme seldom seems to have him as the # 1 option.  KVS played guard, and imo he coaches from that perspective.  This has made Calvin very predictable for opposing teams.  Both CU, and GVW knew what to expect. 

[almcguirejr]

Wiz:  I am not sure Mantel deserves all the credit for his performance.  He is a good kid, and does what he is told.   Calvin's offsensive scheme seldom seems to have him as the # 1 option.  KVS played guard, and imo he coaches from that perspective.  This has made Calvin very predictable for opposing teams.  Both CU, and GVW knew what to expect. 

Mantel has 15 turnovers in 4 games.  Salo, the point guard, has 4 turnovers. Mantel has played 105 minutes and Salo 103. 

[hoopdreams]

the MIAA is a guards league because the of the general lack of a dominating or sometimes decent post player.  Most 6'6" kids or taller, with a skill set in the post, play at a "higher" level.  I do believe that Mantel is truly underused but it's hard to argue that because he continually allows smaller players to force him off the blocks, or simply settles on making the catch 8-15 ft away THEN fades away on nearly every shot attempt.  Even on his dropsteps towards the baseline he fades to the point of shooting almost behind the glass.  That doesn't do much for the shooting %, and officials will never bail out someone who fades from contact, whether it's from 2 feet of 20 feet.

[Happy Calvin Guy]

Mantel has 15 turnovers in 4 games.  Salo, the point guard, has 4 turnovers. Mantel has played 105 minutes and Salo 103. 

Not sure turnovers is always a good measure.  Salo has played it generally safe thus far, not pressing too much to create shots for himself or others.  Put it this way, Krombeen had 6 turnovers on Saturday to 1 for Salo.  Who had a more effective game?  I like Trent Salo a lot, but I think we need our point guard to create more opportunities, not just bring the ball up and then pass it to a teammate 28 feet from the hoop. 

[CalKnight60]

Wiz:  I am not sure Mantel deserves all the credit for his performance.  He is a good kid, and does what he is told.   Calvin's offsensive scheme seldom seems to have him as the # 1 option.  KVS played guard, and imo he coaches from that perspective.  This has made Calvin very predictable for opposing teams.  Both CU, and GVW knew what to expect. 

I agree Wiz.  There were numerous time when Mantel had his man sealed in the post and he was not given the ball.  In the Hope game, he shot 50% and made all of his free throws, along with a couple blocks and steals; placing blame on him doesn't really make sense. His teamates nee to get him the ball when he is in position bcause one on one no one can stop him and when other teams double he does a nice job of kicking the ball out. 
Also, congrats to Danny on a great game he really played well, however Calvin needs him to be more consistent. In his first game he had 0 points and in the third he had 2.  That can't continue if Calvin is to have the kind of season they want to have.

[CalKnight60]

Check that, I meant I agree Realist...I'm still new to this whole thing 

[wiz]

Also, congrats to Danny on a great game he really played well, however Calvin needs him to be more consistent. In his first game he had 0 points and in the third he had 2.  That can't continue if Calvin is to have the kind of season they want to have.

I am not concerned about Rodts.  On and off scoring is often due to matchups.  Danny may score a bunch one night and Matt the next.  I'm more concerned with intensity and grit.  Rodts has both.

Mantel has 15 turnovers?  I think I saw all of them in the Cornerstone game.  He puts the ball on the floor and gets it stolen, lets it slip out of his hand at least 2 times if not 3 when trying to drive to the basket, lost it a couple of times on weak passes when inbounding during the press, and made a horrible choice when inbounding to Salo who was double teamed in the middle of the court.  Obviously, the defenders were taller than Salo and he had no chance.  I agree with a previous post that John is a nice guy.

The Knights have established a trend of not being able to play with intensity for more than about 6 or 7 minutes.  That needs to change real soon and they cant' enter league play like that.  With that said, however, I still think Calvin will have what it takes to win the MIAA but am not inclined to put money on it.  And, like sac, we need to start paying a lot more attention to Albion on this board.

Carthage and Wheaton this weekend.  Oh, oh!

Lady Knights tonight on video feed.

[realist]

No problem CK60. 
Wiz.  We agree on Rodts, however, the problem for Calvin is when the "shooters" all seem to go cold at the same time.
When comparing the stats on Mantel and Salo one should go further to include Mantel has 28 rebounds to Salo's 8, and Mantel has 52 points to Salo's 16.  Granted Mantel has 15 turnovers, and some of those are really the responsibility of the passer making an ill advised decision to feed him the ball when he wasn't clear or not in a good position.  The bigger concern to me is when you have a big guy wide open, in a good position, and the ball handlers act like he isn't on their team.    

[sac]

I'll confess I didn't expect much from the Britons this year, I figured graduating 7 Seniors would take its toll.........I expected them to fill out a decent starting 5 but after that I didn't see much depth.

Three of Albion's four Freshmen on the varsity have helped them and are giving them big minutes per game.  Kazan and Robison have stepped into the starting lineup (pretty significant in my opinion) with Harville  providing solid minutes off the bench.   Adam Hiday has moved up from JV nicely( I think he was on JV), and Soph sharpshooter Chris Hutton has gone from limited minutes last season to starting.

Albion's a better team than I was expecting, their loss to Heidelberg is confusing as not much is expected of 'the berg' this year but overall a 3-2 start with Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan as W's has to be considered an eye opener.

At the very least Albion is showing that the annual trip to Kresge will be difficult for anyone to get that crucial road win.


That first night of MIAA on January 6 is going to be interesting

Hope @ Calvin
Albion @ Olivet.

[sac]

Three MIAA games on the slate tonight

Alma visits Concordia.......just this weekend Concordia beat Alma by 3 on a neutral court by scoring the games final 15 points.  The Scots can win this game and then play 5 in a row they can also win after tonight.


Adrian hosts Sienna Heights in the annual battle for the Milk Jug (or something like that), Sienna is 6-1 and looks to be their usual good selves.  A win here for the Bulldogs might be considered impressive, so far Adrian two wins have come vs teams a combined 1-12 on the year.  Adrian can win its next 3 after this one.


Hope travels to Trinity Christian.......last year the Trolls gave Hope a tough game in Holland with the Dutchmen pulling it out by 5.  TC had 4 significant Seniors graduate so this doesn't appear to be as strong a squad as last year.  Trinity comes in 3-4, but 3 of those losses have come vs teams a division or two above them.  This is Hope's first trip to Trinity since 2006, the Trolls usualy go all-out vs their two cousins from  West Michigan.