MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Flying Dutch Fan]

OK, fine. At the risk of having my original statement -- which was meant as a compliment -- die the death of a thousand qualifications, I hereby amend it to read:

For a city of less than 200,000 people, Grand Rapids has a pretty impressive resume for small-college men's basketball with regard to schools that use the city as their mailing address.

Everybody happy now?

(And, before anyone else points it out ... yes, I'm aware that my being nitpicked to death is a textbook case drawn straight from the files of the Department of Getting A Taste Of My Own Medicine. )

At least those Grand Rapids teams are impressive in the.....   PRESEASON   

[sac]

Aquinas 70 Calvin 67

Mantel 19, Snikkers 11.

Lierman 24, Shockey 18, White 13

Calvin put up a dozen 3 point shots in the final 10 minutes.  Not totally unexpected results tonight.


Aquinas has now taken 4 in a row vs Calvin.....and 8 of the last 9 against Hope/Calvin.

[GoKnights68]

Calvin was pretty lucky for it to be that close tonight, as Aquinas missed a lot of easy shots.  Some improvements were shown on offense, though.  I really hope Powell becomes more part of the offense as the season goes on.

[Erm Schmigget]

The Bible Tigers of Grace (student enrollment, 190) dismantled Cornerstone last night 82-68 at Mol Arena. Calvin's opening game loss--by almost the identical score--is looking less and less disappointing.

http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2009/12/grace_bible_shows_it_belongs_v.html

For a city of less than 200,000 people, Grand Rapids has a pretty impressive resume for small-college men's basketball.

I think you aren't using the proper census data. The MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) for Grand Rapids, according to 2008 census estimates, is 778,833. The CSA (Combined Statistical Area - which would include Holland up to Muskegon) is 1,324,513, making it the 32nd largest in the US, right behind Louisville but ahead of cities such as Buffalo, Oklahoma City, and New Orleans.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/metroareas/metrodef.html

(FWIW: census.gov is one of my favorite websites.)

Hope---

You quite likely were a math major, and now employed as a statistician. As my wife, the college math teacher says, only a statistician OR someone with a totally illogical mind for math, could make < 200,000 come out to be 1,324,513!     

Even if you include the entire Kent County population, you're still only at approximately 604,000. From how far away are people over there coming to see D3 basketball games?

I chose the statistician description for you least anyone think of you as illogical in any way.   

I've been considering changing my signature below, but in light of recent banter, I think I'll let it ride a while longer.   

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Aquinas 70 Calvin 67

Mantel 19, Snikkers 11.

Lierman 24, Shockey 18, White 13

Calvin put up a dozen 3 point shots in the final 10 minutes.  Not totally unexpected results tonight.


Aquinas has now taken 4 in a row vs Calvin.....and 8 of the last 9 against Hope/Calvin.

So is Lierman like a 7th year senior by now - seems he's been a serious thorn in the side of MIAA teams for that long at least

[wiz]

Calvin/Aquinas score came as no surprise.  A good sign for Calvin is that Mantel has significantly stepped up his intensity.  He worked hard to get to the bucket and drew many fouls.  Unfortunately, when he got to the line, he only went 8-14.  When you work that hard to draw the foul, it is essential that you make it count.

Calvin got outrebounded, but that will happen when you are shooting at a 38% clip compared to 54% for your opponent.

Most positive part of the evening, the refs actually did a great job.  Crew was Joppie, Rothenthaler, and Frazier.  Good combination and feel fortunate if you see them in your gym.

[KnightSlappy]

Most positive part of the evening, the refs actually did a great job.  Crew was Joppie, Rothenthaler, and Frazier.  Good combination and feel fortunate if you see them in your gym.

Mr. Dave Joppie is easily the best MIAA ref, in my opinion.

[KnightSlappy]

You are all getting dangerously close to measuring player efficiency.

Top 10 Player Efficiency Ratings thru last night's games. To qualify, players must average 5.0 minutes per team game played.

PER is defined and adjusted so that a rating of 15.0 is league average.

	Player	Team	PER
1	Wesley Reed	ADR	51.13
2	Jared Mysliwiec	HOP	50.85
3	Ryan Clark	KAL	45.24
4	Brian O'Connor	ADR	41.70
5	Chris Hutton	ALB	40.36
6	Jay Snyder	TRI	36.87
7	Scott Jungling	HOP	34.13
8	Jordan Reddit	ALM	32.87
9	Will Bowser	HOP	32.29
10	Scott Rogers	TRI	31.47

[oldknight]

I enjoyed (even participated in) the lighthearted banter over west Michigan census figures. Now I'm ready to go back to hoops.

Given how many uncontested backdoor layups Calvin gave up to Aquinas last night, it's amazing the Knights were in position to win at the end. I just can't get over the quality of shots Calvin's defense consistently gives opponents this year. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I believe shooting percentage is the most important statistic in basketball because it's largely a function of the quality of shots being taken. If Calvin could have executed their offense just a bit better in the last three minutes, or made a couple extra late free throws, they would have defeated a pretty good Saints team despite repeated defensive breakdowns. In one sense, that offers encouragement to Knight fans because it won't take much improvement for Calvin to start winning games against good teams.

A quick look at Calvin's season box score quickly identifies why they are 2-5 right now. As a team Calvin is hitting 43.7% from the floor but giving up 49.1% to opponents. Only one Calvin opponent (Cornerstone) has shot less than 46% from the floor and the Golden Eagles hit 45.5%, still better than Calvin's season average. It's tough to win games when your opponents shoot 50% so that's a stat line that needs to improve as the year proceeds. On the plus side, Calvin is defending free throws well, limiting the opposition to 63.2% from the charity stripe.

[realist]

Quoting OK: "I just can't get over the quality of shots Calvin's defense consistently gives opponents this year."
Really   It's not only the quality, but the quantity that should concern you.  FWIW This situation is not new to this year!
IMHO this occurs with regularity because opposing coaches know exactly what defense Calvin is going to play, and it doesn't take much time to figure out how to use that to your advantage.  Expecting Calvin's results to change without a change in Calvin's basic defense is idle daydreaming.
Concentrating on perfecting a defensive scheme everyone knows has produced a 2-5 record. 

[KnightSlappy]

Quoting OK: "I just can't get over the quality of shots Calvin's defense consistently gives opponents this year."
Really   It's not only the quality, but the quantity that should concern you.  FWIW This situation is not new to this year!
IMHO this occurs with regularity because opposing coaches know exactly what defense Calvin is going to play, and it doesn't take much time to figure out how to use that to your advantage.  Expecting Calvin's results to change without a change in Calvin's basic defense is idle daydreaming.
Concentrating on perfecting a defensive scheme everyone knows has produced a 2-5 record. 

I don't think the scheme is to blame, I think poor execution is to blame.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

On the plus side, Calvin is defending free throws well, limiting the opposition to 63.2% from the charity stripe.

One of the most under appreciated stats - FT defense

[oldknight]

Quoting OK: "I just can't get over the quality of shots Calvin's defense consistently gives opponents this year."
Really  It's not only the quality, but the quantity that should concern you.  

For me, it's only the quality. You can get every season's box on Calvin's website back to 2001-02. In the prior 8 seasons, Calvin's defense has allowed opponents to shoot better than 41.9% from the floor only once (the 2002-03 season when the Knights allowed 44.3% and finished 16-11). The best performance was 2004-05 when Calvin outshot opponents 47.5% to 39.3%. It was no coincidence that this performance occurred the same year Calvin traveled to Salem.

[ziggy]

Kalamazoo Central, led by former Albion guard Mike Thomas, gets some love in today's Detroit Free Press from Mick McCabe:
http://freep.com/article/20091211/HSS/912110366/Mick-McCabes-top-25-boys-basketball-teams

[sac]

The Purdue-North Central Panthers come calling tonight at DeVos Fieldhouse

http://www.pnc.edu/athletics/basketball/index.html

Holland Sentinel Tournament History

http://www.hope.edu/pr/athletics/mbb/mbbsentinel.html