MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[goodknight]

Enough about basketball, Mr. Sager.  The Knights are playing for another banner on the soccer  pitch tomorrow night.  Go Calvin!

[oldknight]

I didn't see the game so I can't comment on this definitively, but it appears that Calvin did an outstanding job of guarding Steve Djurickovic. He was held to two assists tonight, and the last time that he dished out so few dimes was December 30 of last year. He came into tonight's contest averaging 8 apg after six games. The number of games in which he's had a negative a:to ratio (he turned over the ball four times tonight) in his Carthage career can be counted on one hand.

The Knights also kept him from getting to the free throw line, which is his specialty. According to the box score, he went 2-2 from the line tonight. The only other time in his career in which he had only shot two free throws over the course of a game came in a contest against Illinois Tech in the middle of his freshman season. Last year he went 14-14 from the stripe against Calvin; the year before he went 8-8 from the line against the Knights.

That's a pretty good summary from someone not at the game. Even though Djurickovic scored 21 in the second half, Calvin did about as good of a defensive job as can be expected. Much of that can be credited to Rodts who was the primary defender and who almost always takes the toughest matchup.

[KnightSlappy]

I finally got a look at the Calvin box score: Calvin was +9 on rebounds, 16-17 from the stripe, and put up a 1.7 A/TO ratio (to Carthage's 0.78 ratio). These types of stats will win you most games, it seems.

[AlwaysHope]

In Hope's rout of # 6 Wheaton they outshot the Illinois team 55% to 35%, including a blistering 69% beyond the arc.  And Hope held a 45 - 27 advantage in rebounds, often denying the Thunder a second opportunity following a missed shot.

Van Wieren gave his entire young team some valuable minutes.  All 13 players on the active roster scored except one. 

With the win the Flying Dutchmen extend their four year record at the De Vos to 64-4.

Does anyone know when to expect Venema back?  We could use his 6'8" frame taking some of the minutes now used by the young freshman Nate Snuggerud, who is now starting and who does have a bright future at Hope.  But I would like to see more bulk and height in the middle, especially when facing a player like Mantel.

[Dark Knight]

it appears that Calvin did an outstanding job of guarding Steve Djurickovic [...] The number of games in which he's had a negative a:to ratio (he turned over the ball four times tonight) in his Carthage career can be counted on one hand.

Wow, that must have been quite something and  I'm sorry I missesd it. Did he have a negative number of turnovers or of assists?

[AlwaysHope]

Could it be four in a row in Holland for the MIAA tomorrow?

[HopeConvert]

I, for one, will be happy to reprimand you for mentioning soccer on this board. I mean really. I can see mentioning football or golf or even baseball. But soccer?!? Ugh. There's another board available for those few, those unhappy few, who actually want to discuss that "sport."

As regards a game that matters, the MIAA had a great night tonight. I am looking forward to tomorrow's games, to gauge exactly what to make of Hope's beatdown of the 6th ranked team, and whether a "light has gone on" for Calvin. Things are looking up.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Gotta love the MIAA attention on the front page of d3hoops.  Things are looking up

[Mr. Ypsi]

I, for one, will be happy to reprimand you for mentioning soccer on this board. I mean really. I can see mentioning football or golf or even baseball. But soccer?!? Ugh. There's another board available for those few, those unhappy few, who actually want to discuss that "sport."

As regards a game that matters, the MIAA had a great night tonight. I am looking forward to tomorrow's games, to gauge exactly what to make of Hope's beatdown of the 6th ranked team, and whether a "light has gone on" for Calvin. Things are looking up.

Careful, now.  I coached soccer (and played it 'til I was 51 and they broke my big toe - which I played thru 'til they shattered my glasses, too! )  Congratulations to the Calvin 'football' team (hey, it's the only one they've got! )

Very uncharacteristically for the pre-season 1st team AA (and probably front-runner for national POY) Steve Djurickovic, he had 3 of his 4 turnovers in 'crunch-time'.  Mantel was a monster, and totally neutralized Steve D's contributions.

CCIW posters have unanimously agreed that Wheaton was over-ranked at #6.  They have NO bench.  I was surprised by the margin of Hope's beat-down, but only mildly surprised that they won.

While I have been a Michigander for close to 40 years, I'm still first a CCIW guy.  Congratulations to the MIAA on a great night!  On both the CCIW and national pickems boards I picked the CCIW for all 4 games.  I didn't believe they would win all 4 (the away conference never does!), but had no clue which game the MIAA would win.  Now I have to just root for the CCIW to go .500!

[sac]

Hope 77 Wheaton 52

I think these teams lay somewhere in the middle of this margin, Wheaton isn't as bad as they were tonight, and maybe Hope's not as good as they were tonight.

Wheaton put up one of the tamest efforts on the boards from any team I can remember, they were a non-factor on the glass in the first half.  I would say nearly all of Hope's defensive rebounds were two white shirts fighting for the ball with no Wheaton player near it.  45-27 is pure domination, and I would guess Hope won't rebound anyone that badly the rest of the year.   Wheaton did start a 3 guard lineup which allowed Hope to have a size advantage at 3 of 4 positions........but it shouldn't have been that bad.

Defensively I really didn't think Wheaton was that bad, Hope just broke them down with better ball movement and taking some very choice shots.   This is two games in a row Hope's burned the nets from 3 at around 70%........thats just outstanding, and none of them were bad shots.

Wheaton's foul advantage comes from their aggressive play on the baseline, they really attacked the post.  Evidenced by the  foul totals from Hope's primary frontline defenders Nelis, Snuggerud and Dickerson at 14 between them.   Carwell is a much more active player than I remember, and Hope sent him to the line 8 times, unfortunately he only connected on 2 attempts.  As a team, Wheaton shot nearly twice as many FT's but only netted half of them, another reason for the wider than likely margin.

Hope should be pleased with their overall effort, it looked like Hope came prepared to win an important game toinght.  This is an in-region win, that might be big down the road if comes to that.  I imagine the coaches challenged them tonight and the team responded, they have to be pleased with that.

They should also be pleased with the balanced scoring, 41 from the starters, 36 off the bench.  Certainly the margin and playing time had something to do with that, but a year ago at this time, it was everyone standing around waiting for Jesse Reimink to do something.  This team has better overall confindence in their offensive abilities.......their best player Peter Bunn had a bit of an off night, just 3-8 and didn't even attempt a 3.  Yet Hope's offense felt dynamic, confindent and energetic all night.  There was no wondering  who would make the next play.......they just went out and did it.

http://miaa.org/mbb/stats/0910/1204howh.htm

Overall a very nice night for the Orange and Blue from Holland.

[sac]

-------The weirdness of this series and the dominance by the host conference continues........another weirdness is Hope's ability to dismantle Wheaton on this side of the Lake.

2006  93-67
2008  83-53
2009  77-52

Thats an average margin of 27...thats kind of crazy.    The margins are 19, 3 and 12 in Wheaton's favor on the left side of the Lake....much more reasonable I think


-----We'll see what Saturday (today, ugh) brings, but Wheaton has been in this position before and comeback strong the next day vs Calvin, or at least that happened in 2008.  After Hope thrashed them on Friday by 30, a banged up Wheaton came back the next night to defeat Calvin by 1.

I suspect the Wheaton coaches were none to happy with the performance tonight.  Will be interesting to see how they respond.  Unfortunately, Wheaton's biggest issue all year will probably be their depth or lack of.  After Spencer Shultze, no one stood out.  I would think in the CCIW that spells doom for them at some point.   Hope primarily went with 8 when it mattered, Calvin went 9 deep vs Carthage.  Calvin might be a marginal favorite, but they could blow them out as well.


-----I missed most of the first half of the Carthage/Calvin game so probably don't have as good a handle on the Red Men as I'd like.   In the 2nd half they mostly ran Stevie D off the high screen and let him penetrate to either take the shot or dish to the corners.  I'd expect a full dose of that for sure.   Its almost the same way Wheaton played with Raymond..........side not, Stevie doesn't get the falldown calls like Kent did.

I wouldn't expect Hope to runaway from Carthage like they did Wheaton.  I think Carthage plays a much more controlled halfcourt game and that will keep the pace down.  Hope prefers to push it a little and the challenge for both teams will be to try and impose their will on the other.


-----Lord knows I'm not an expert on top 25 teams, but after watching this level for so long, I think I have a decent eye for these things.

Wheaton was severely overrated at #6, I think even the Wheaton folks knew this.  I'd call them a marginal Top 25 team, and only because I think their depth is a big problem.  The starting 5 is solid, but again its a 3 guard set, not optimal for CCIW play I would think.  A win over Calvin might change my opinion but I really don't see how they could be the favorite to win that rugged conference.  Tomorrow's a new day though.

Carthage, also overrated at #17, they're pretty young and will grow as the season goes on.  Maybe by the end of the year after collecting some big league wins they could be top 25.  But right now I didn't see it.  Stevie D is an excellent player but they'll need a couple more to step up to be a serious tournament threat.  I think I've seen better Carthage teams, and they weren't top 25 quality then either.


Calvin was better than I thought, which actually makes me feel better about last Saturday's Hope victory.  Like Hope they seem pretty versatile offensively.  Though I think they could use another 3 point sharp shooter.   They have the depth to wear on people.  Talent wise, I think they're in the bottom end the Top 25 ballpark, record wise.....no, not yet.  I'm more optimistic about their rest of December than I was last weekend.

Hope is probably alot like Calvin in that talent wise right on the bottom end of the top 25.   Tonight they put it together like a top 15 team, should they be there?  Probably not.  Interior depth and size is still a problem, despite tonights success.  Having Andy Venema out there could really change the dynamics, and my thinking.  The important thing seems to be there is room to grow, and in the two most important games to date (Calvin and Wheaton) Hope answered the bell on both ends of the floor.

[pointlem]

OldKnight, Sac, and many others . . . thanks much for the pleasure of reading your perceptive reflections on games.  This board is great this year.

Yes, Hope was on fire and Wheaton had the lid on last night, so the 25 point difference isn't a measure of the gap between them (though I do think that, minus Raymond and Wiele, Wheaton is not what they were last year). 

Small note:  Wheaton seemed to miss an extraordinary number of shots that barely rimmed out.  And that resulting high number of missed shots with short rebounds helped, along with aggressive effort, create the enormous rebounding disparity.  Hope, on the other hand, was making its shots, which was leaving fewer defensive rebounds for Wheaton to grab.  Shooting and rebounding are interrelated.

[oldknight]

Does anyone know when to expect Venema back?  We could use his 6'8" frame taking some of the minutes now used by the young freshman Nate Snuggerud, who is now starting and who does have a bright future at Hope.  But I would like to see more bulk and height in the middle, especially when facing a player like Mantel.

I asked Andy's grandfather this question Sunday. He told me he does not expect Andy to play before the conference season begins in January. As you know, Hope begins conference play at Calvin.

it appears that Calvin did an outstanding job of guarding Steve Djurickovic [...] The number of games in which he's had a negative a:to ratio (he turned over the ball four times tonight) in his Carthage career can be counted on one hand.

Wow, that must have been quite something and  I'm sorry I missesd it. Did he have a negative number of turnovers or of assists?

Djurickovic had 4 turnovers and was limited to  2 assists. KVS has to be very happy about those numbers. I know I am.


BTW:  John Mantel was quoted thusly in this morning's Holland Sentinel:

"Nothing against Carthage, but their frontcourt players are all freshmen," Mantel said. "I think the experience was to our advantage."

John' recognition that he was the best inside player in the contest was critical to Calvin's success. When he plays with that mindset, he makes the Knights a much better team.

[hope1]

i heard  last night that andy might be back in   feb

[Dark Knight]

it appears that Calvin did an outstanding job of guarding Steve Djurickovic [...] The number of games in which he's had a negative a:to ratio (he turned over the ball four times tonight) in his Carthage career can be counted on one hand.

Wow, that must have been quite something and  I'm sorry I missesd it. Did he have a negative number of turnovers or of assists?

Djurickovic had 4 turnovers and was limited to  2 assists. KVS has to be very happy about those numbers. I know I am.

I guess I'm too dry for my own good...