MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[scottiedawg]

Miscellaneous Thoughts:
Hope has been a weird team this year. 
They have the best scoring/defense margin in the MIAA. (+5)
They rebound fairly well.  (+19, +18, +10, +6, +4, -2, -2, -3, -5, -10)  +3.5 AVG
They don't turn the ball over much. (11.7 AVG)
They shoot poorly. (43.8%)
Not a whole lot of correlations.  They've won twice when outrebounded; three times when turning the ball over more than their season average; and twice when shooting worse than 45%. 

Bower and Bunn have stagnated, and Krombeen has regressed.  The numbers don't really back up those statements, but I feel like those who've seen them play this year would agree.  All three have improved in the key averages (Pts, Reb, Ast, Stl, Blk), except Krombeen is averaging 1.0 fewer points, Bowser is averaging 0.9 fewer assists, and Krombeen is averaging 0.5 fewer steals. However, all three are averaging more turnovers: +1.1 for Bowser, +0.4 for Bunn, +1.2 for Krombeen. 

I don't have a lot else to say having only seen them play once this year, compared to attending all but about 10 home games in the past four years (and all but one tournament game). 

Anything else to add that may not be in the numbers?

[pointlem]

HoopDreams, I've observed GVW for lots of years and haven't noticed him yanking a player for a missed shot.  To the contrary, Tuesday night he was letting players play their normal rotations despite cold shooting (though when the team shooting is off it will more often be the case that players rotate out after missing).  And Wednesday night he pulled Jared M. out after a normal-length time on the floor despite his having made 10 points in five first-half minutes.  I'd say he makes a plan and goes with it.  (What I do notice is players, after missing a shot, not having the confidence to shoot again a minute later when the game gives them the same opportunity.  One commendable exception is Jared, btw, who seems to play with confidence and shoot when the game gives him a good opportunity, regardless of whether he's recently made or missed.)

ScottieDawg, you think Bunn, Bowser, and Krombeen are having down years . . . despite 'the numbers not backing this up' and despite having only seen one game?  David has passed up a few too many shots in the lane by overpassing, perhaps, but his control and distribution of the ball still seems excellent, and Bunn and Bowser seem to have, if anything, stepped their game up.

I'm also encouraged that even on cold shooting nights, the defensive effort and results have been there.

[GoKnights68]

Congrats, Hope.  I know Hope has potential to be a good team, but I just thought Davenport was going to be too much tonight for you guys and I was way wrong.

[sac]

A notable individual performance today vs Albion, Finlandia's Tyler Gordon racked up 47 points on 17-20 shooting, 6-7 from trey and 7-10 from the stripe.


I don't know where that fits in the all-time opponent scoring vs the Britons but that has to up there.


Albion also played without 6-7 Fr. Jake Robison

[Erm Schmigget]

Well...  This was the kind of game that you hope comes along when it's needed.  One could debate whether a non-DIII (no help in regional rankings) game is when it's needed, but heading into MIAA play, it's nice to have one last good win under your belt.  Tonight was a good win.

I ragged on Hope throughout the game last night, and a little here.  But I rather enjoyed watching tonight's game.  Sure, there were a few things that gave me a little   and   , but mostly I liked what I saw.  Like Andy Venema playing 21 minutes, which is 6 more than his total for the season before tonight.  He ended up with only 6 pts, but he backed it up with 2 steals and 4 assists...a couple real beauties.  Coach Davelaar mentioned in the postgame interview, that Andy's height helps him see over players to find the open man.  Hey, whatever it takes to put points on the board.

One thing I think they could work on is finishing their shots around the hoop.  Too many missed puppies; too many failed attempts to convert the old-fashioned 3-pt play.  If you're going to go to the rim in traffic, go strong and get the 2.  Worry about the free throws later.  And if the lane closes, there's probably an open man nearby.  Hoopdreams said something about Will's lack of pull-up jumpers.  How about a pull-up assist?  Last year he had 1 assist per game...this year 1.5, in 5 more minutes per game.

At this point in the season, their overall stats look pretty similar to what they did for the season in 08-09.  Even their pre-conference record is the same: 7-4.  I think we'd all agree that the biggest difference with this year's team is the lack of a go-to guy like Reimink.  That makes it so much more important for them to gel as a team, and tonight's performance was a big step in the right direction.  Let's Hope they keep moving in that direction.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Couple comments on tonight's (technically last night's) game with Davenport. Davenport is a really good team, and this was a really good, full team effort to win.  Multiple combinations of players worked well together, and a number of players (Dickerson, Neil, Jungling) had contributions that don't necessarily show on the stat sheet.  As Erm mentioned, 21 minutes from Venema, including 4 assists was awesome.  Definitely momentum for the Dutchmen going into the MIAA season.

Not sure what section7 and hoopdreams have been watching for "all those years", but in my estimation you are both more than qualified to officiate college basketball.        If you are both looking for an honest conversation about the Hope team, making up crap to post (like the intramural comment) are not the way to do it.

[ziggy]

Calvin isn't going to get it done.  Oh well, 2 out of 3 is better than I feared it might be.
Loras     78        Calvin  61

I can't imagine many Calvin fans being disappointed with 2 out of 3. The win over Ohio Northern is all they really needed to accomplish W-L wise on this trip.

[calvinite]

This just from Calvin (although rumors of this news were reported here on these boards over a year ago):

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR DEC. 31, 2009

Calvin Reaches Partnernship With Stretch Internet To Stream Video of Calvin Athletic Contest at Van Noord Arena;
Veltema and Mantel Named to All-Tournament Team at Grand Canyon Classic

STRETCH INTERNET ANNOUNCEMENT

Calvin is partnering with Stretch Internet and will be streaming live video directly to its Web site from the Van Noord Arena in 2010.

The first video stream to be sent to the Calvin Web site will be the January 6, 2010, Calvin-Hope men's basketball varsity game. Calvin will stream the video and audio feed of the WGVU television broadcast for that game. Future home games in both men's and women's basketball as well as women's volleyball will be a single-camera shot with house audio accompanying the video feed.

Calvin currently partners with Stretch Internet to provide audio broadcasts of Calvin sporting events. Making the move to provide both audio and video streaming with Stretch Internet is a positive move according to Calvin director of marketing and communications Phil de Haan.

"We are very pleased to partner with Stretch Internet for video streaming of our men's and women's athletic contests inside Van Noord Arena," said de Haan. "We recently were able to complete the necessary technical infrastructure requirements for streaming video from Van Noord Arena and Stretch Internet was a logical partner for us once we reached that point. We are excited to give fans, parents and alumni a chance to view Calvin sporting events through the internet. "

Making the first-ever video stream a Calvin-Hope basketball game is also exciting said de Haan. "We know there is significant interest in the Calvin-Hope basketball games for both our men's and women's teams. We are not only excited to stream our men's game with Hope on January 6, but also our home women's game against Hope on February 3."

[oldknight]

Calvin isn't going to get it done.  Oh well, 2 out of 3 is better than I feared it might be.
Loras     78        Calvin  61

I can't imagine many Calvin fans being disappointed with 2 out of 3. The win over Ohio Northern is all they really needed to accomplish W-L wise on this trip.

After winning two intense, competitive games against quality opponents (one in OT), the Knights laid a bit of an egg the first 20 minutes of yesterday's contest with Loras. In retrospect, I can't say I'm entirely surprised. Playing three games in three days in a foreign environment proved to be more challenging than I anticipated--and not just physically. Quite frankly, I was tired watching that third game. Calvin's players seemed to have mentally checked out of the first half of play, and with open looks not dropping, they couldn't halt the slide. I was pleased to see that the Knights competed hard the second half and clearly had Loras on its heals for much of the final frame. Overall, it  was a good week for Calvin hoops.

[realist]

Frankly I am very encouraged with Calvin's performance this week.  They faced an interesting combination of teams.  Lewis and Clark with only 5 games played, and player suspensions etc. was really a crap shoot.  They had several guards that had good averages, and Calvin did what they had to do in shutting them down.  Calvin used it's strenghts to advantage.  The ONU game was the real test, and I agree of the 3 games was the most important one for Calvin to win.  Even with the All American Meyer getting 31 points Calvin managed to stay in the game and everyone stepped up when it was needed.   Against Loras the guys were just spent physically and perhaps mentally.
Darn, Darn, Darn,  Just when I was ready to start believing all the "doomsayers" about this years Hope team they go and revert to the quality program and players they are.

[calalum]

Happy New Year to all and now let the real season begin.

[section7]

FDF - I have reached an all-time low of respect for you.  Not sure what "crap" I posted in my earlier post.  I posted no such things, just observations, most, if not all have been pretty accurate so far this year.

Anyways, away with FDF, I was at the game against Davenport and so glad I was.  The play of all who played was, at a level, performance-wise and intensity-wise, what should come from a Hope College basketball player.

If Hope plays like that for 40 minutes through the MIAA season, things will be much better.  Unfortunately, wasn't aware Davenport was without their best player.  Did he play in the 1st game against Grace?

One more thing, Will did not fall back once from the FT line, and......went 4 for 4.

Not sure what section7 and hoopdreams have been watching for "all those years", but in my estimation you are both more than qualified to officiate college basketball.        If you are both looking for an honest conversation about the Hope team, making up crap to post (like the intramural comment) are not the way to do it.

[ziggy]

This just from Calvin (although rumors of this news were reported here on these boards over a year ago):

STRETCH INTERNET ANNOUNCEMENT

Calvin is partnering with Stretch Internet and will be streaming live video directly to its Web site from the Van Noord Arena in 2010.

Not surprising. From what I have been told, the equipment was not in place at the time Van Noord Arena opened but I figured this kind of announcement was coming soon as video feed was in place for the tv's in the concession area for the game against Trinity.

[sac]

Some Saturday MIAA action

Bluffton at Kalamazoo 3pm
Adrian at North Central 7:30pm

The Adrian game isn't listed on the MIAA site but its appears on both the Adrian and NCC websites....also D3hoops.com.

[GoKnights68]

4 more days!