MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Erm Schmigget]

So the students aren't fans? 

You're suggesting all fans are students?  Maybe I should have said "other fans" so you could understand.  I don't usually talk down to my audience, but I guess I could begin so you could understand.   

Once again, someone needs to go and prove the statement below.

[GoKnights68]

The numerous offensive rebounds that Calvin allowed Hope to have was a huge factor in the game.

Hope made their clutch shots at the end of the game, and Calvin did not.

Key moment of the game was when Calvin was up by 3 with a couple minutes left and Snikkers was at the line shooting a 1 and 1.  Snikkers missed his FT, Hope got the rebound, and Bunn immediately hit a 3.  That was a possible 5 point swing right there.

Also Veltema had a chance to make it a 6 point game with a few minutes left but missed a wide-open 3.  Veltema was pretty non-existent all game.

Just a frustrating game to watch if you were a Knights fan, today.   Calvin's strategy all game seemed to be drive to the hoop and something good will happen.  Calvin missed a lot of those shots down low, but give Hope credit for playing good defense.

[Hopester]

Three keys to the game!

1.) FT shooting, while the fouls were grotesquely lopsided in Calvin's favor, (Mantel should have definitely fouled out of this game!) Hope managed to convert all of their free throws especially down the stretch.

2.) Will Bowser and Tom Snikkers both played outstanding games. Bowser had a double-double 20 points and 10 rebounds. 8 of those boards were on the offensive end.

3.) The home crowd. It was loud, and the Calvin students really didn't show up (I know it was break or something). Everyone was into it and the Hope players really fueled of the energy the crowd pumped into the Devos. After Rodts missed his three and Mantel fouled Krombeen, it was louder than just about any other moment I can remember at Devos!

Great game, great energy, this one definitely lived up to the hype.

[GoKnights68]

2.) Will Bowser and Tom Snikkers both played outstanding games. Bowser had a double-double 20 points and 10 rebounds. 8 of those boards were on the offensive end.

Key stat of the game right there, imo.

[Erm Schmigget]

Hopester:  agree on all 3 counts.  I also agree with almcguirejr's comment re: Snuggerud.  Although he didn't score a point, his 4 defensive rebounds and 6 blocks were a nice boost to the team effort today.  Will's double-double stands out in the stats, but there were alot of other very important, if not well-documented, contributions from the rest of the team.  Certain of Hope's subs may not have posted much for stats, but without the intangibles from them, Hope would not have won.

I will also say that Calvin played a very solid game today.  Aside from poor freethrow shooting, their effort was every bit as good as one would expect.  Only 8 turnovers is really taking care of the ball!  Credit Hope's defense for messing up Calvin's shots on many occasions...thus the sub-40 %age.  They weren't missing many open shots; they just didn't get many wide-open chances.

Great game again.  This time Hope got to taste victory.  GO HOPE!!

[Hopester]

Hopester:  agree on all 3 counts.  I also agree with almcguirejr's comment re: Snuggerud.  Although he didn't score a point, his 4 defensive rebounds and 6 blocks were a nice boost to the team effort today. 

Guess we now know who the best shotblocker in the MIAA is!

[Erm Schmigget]

too bad it took the refs 3 tries to get a charge call right

I really find it hard to believe Calvin fans think the refs should have called any more fouls on Hope than they did.  Charge or otherwise.  Venema's first half fouls were just plain ridiculous calls.  How firmly does a guy need to be planted, for how long before a potential league-mvp bowls into him, anyway?  You want to talk about getting charge calls right, let's examine the phantom block calls.  Sheesh!!!!

For the record, Hope finished with 20 fouls--Calvin with 15, 2 coming in the last couple minutes when they were fouling on purpose.

[AndersDY]

I heard Dav on the radio after the game and he was having a hard time being diplomatic about the officiating and the free-throw differential. Questionable as always. My eyes saw most of the ones that seemed to go incorrectly against Hope, but I did think we caught a huge break late in the first half. We had 2 point guards each with 2 fouls and Krombeen was back on the floor when, with 1:30 to 2:00 left, he wrestled a rebound away from Mantel which bounced to Nelis for a put-back. It turned out as a good hustle play, but it did appear he had some of Mantel's hand along with the ball at least for a moment; it would not have been the day's most questionable call if a foul had been whistled. That would have been huge for Krombeen to get his 3rd before the break. I would also like to see the second Jungling foul again as it appeared to be that he got his whole body tossed aside and then was the one called for a foul because he happened to reach out and get a bit of jersey.

Whereas Hope has had some teams in the past where they go 10 deep and the second line can be almost as dangerous as the starters, this team is certainly not made to spread the playing time. If the scoreboard and my calculations were correct, Hope had all their scoring done by only 3 players until Nelis got his first bucket with 4:00 to go in the first half. At the end of the game, the starters totalled 20,14,14,10,6 meaning the 3 made by Jungling represented our only bench points. Snuggerud certainly did some work, but there is not much scoring coming off our bench.

I was certainly as hyped for the game as always, but the unfortunate part of today is that the odds are still quite good that our season boils down to having to beat Calvin one more time on their floor. Losing today would have nearly guaranteed that, but a lot more would have to go Hope's way to not have that be the path to extending the season.

[Knightmare]

I have no problem with how the refs called the game, my problem was having to listen to how the WGVU announcers interpreted those calls and non-calls.  Those that watched the TV/internet broadcast know what I'm talking about.  The game/teams/refs were all pretty even and okay but the announcers and in particular the color commentator (play-by-play man wasn't as bad) was obnoxiously pro-hope to the point that I almost couldn't listen.  I wasn't looking for a pro-calvin broadcast either, but just a good impartial interpretation of the game.  Oh well, better than not being able to watch the game at all.  Really love that it is broadcast on the Harvest Network and I could watch it in Northern MI. in the comfort of my own home on my Directv.  Now we just need to work on a broadcast in HI-DEF  .  All in all a tightly contested good game to watch, even though Calvin came out on the short end of the stick.

[AndersDY]

Oh, speaking of the television coverage, how did Glenn look in his interview at halftime? I forget what call had been made just before half, but he was in full fury at the end of the half and had to be reminded to go get interviewed before heading to the locker room. I couldn't tell how well he calmed himself to be able to comment on camera.

[realist]

Great game for Hope.   They did everything they needed to do to win this game.  The game I saw had bad calls going both ways.   Calvin shoots f.t.'s at their conference average before this game, and things might be different.
Early this week I pointed out Calvin's advantage in going to the line so them getting more calls than Hope shouldn't surprise anyone.  Calvin has nothing to be ashamed about.  They came and played as hard as they could, and never quit.  
None of us thought that Calvin or anyone else would go 14-0.  I don't like the fact Calvin lost a game they could have won(especially to Hope), but give Hope kudo's for that.  That darn De Vos is just a tough, tough, fun place to play and watch a game between two quality programs.  

[NW Hope Fan]

I have no problem with how the refs called the game, my problem was having to listen to how the WGVU announcers interpreted those calls and non-calls.  Those that watched the TV/internet broadcast know what I'm talking about.  The game/teams/refs were all pretty even and okay but the announcers and in particular the color commentator (play-by-play man wasn't as bad) was obnoxiously pro-hope to the point that I almost couldn't listen.  I wasn't looking for a pro-calvin broadcast either, but just a good impartial interpretation of the game.  Oh well, better than not being able to watch the game at all.  Really love that it is broadcast on the Harvest Network and I could watch it in Northern MI. in the comfort of my own home on my Directv.  Now we just need to work on a broadcast in HI-DEF  .  All in all a tightly contested good game to watch, even though Calvin came out on the short end of the stick.

Funny thing, is I felt the opposite way for the first (second) game. I thought the announcers were very "pro-Calvin". I guess it may have to do with the home crowd, etc... and what our ears are hearing and not hearing. As a matter of fact, I've generally found the GR announcers for the sattelite games over the years leaning a bit toward Calvin.

But if that, for those of us who live far enough away to not have the chance to go to the games, is the greatest of our concerns... I think we're doing okay. It sure would be nice to catch any/all MIAA action with multiple camera video and homer/or not commentators... HI-DEF would be super sweet!

[Knightmare]

Oh, speaking of the television coverage, how did Glenn look in his interview at halftime? I forget what call had been made just before half, but he was in full fury at the end of the half and had to be reminded to go get interviewed before heading to the locker room. I couldn't tell how well he calmed himself to be able to comment on camera.

I don't think it was a call that was made but the three that Calvin (Rodts I think?) hit with mere seconds left in the half.  If I recall correctly there was a defensive breakdown by Hope that gave Calvin an excellent look at the basket.

The difference in free throws can be attributed to Calvin's aggressiveness in taking the ball to the basket, in particular Mantel did this in the 1st half and Snikkers was very aggressive in the 2nd half.  When playing that style there are going to be more situations than normal were the ref will be forced to blow the whistle and make some type of call and often it will favor the aggressive offensive player.

[realist]

I have no problem with how the refs called the game, my problem was having to listen to how the WGVU announcers interpreted those calls and non-calls.  Those that watched the TV/internet broadcast know what I'm talking about.  The game/teams/refs were all pretty even and okay but the announcers and in particular the color commentator (play-by-play man wasn't as bad) was obnoxiously pro-hope to the point that I almost couldn't listen.  I wasn't looking for a pro-calvin broadcast either, but just a good impartial interpretation of the game.  Oh well, better than not being able to watch the game at all.  Really love that it is broadcast on the Harvest Network and I could watch it in Northern MI. in the comfort of my own home on my Directv.  Now we just need to work on a broadcast in HI-DEF  .  All in all a tightly contested good game to watch, even though Calvin came out on the short end of the stick.

Funny thing, is I felt the opposite way for the first (second) game. I thought the announcers were very "pro-Calvin". I guess it may have to do with the home crowd, etc... and what our ears are hearing and not hearing. As a matter of fact, I've generally found the GR announcers for the sattelite games over the years leaning a bit toward Calvin.

But if that, for those of us who live far enough away to not have the chance to go to the games, is the greatest of our concerns... I think we're doing okay. It sure would be nice to catch any/all MIAA action with multiple camera video and homer/or not commentators... HI-DEF would be super sweet!

NWH:  Not sure if this is all that relevant since Hope doesn't web cast games normally, but you can dial down the volume on the webcast, and play the Calvin announcer if you want to hear an "unbiased" account of the game.     My advice is have a glass of wine handy as the delay between the video, and the radio broadcast is going to make you drink.  For even more fun, shrink the video screen, and try to follow the live stats, and listen to the audio feed all at the same time.  For additional fun, and to raise your PER  (poster effeciency rating) use several computers, and follow several games. 

[oldknight]

In honor of KII's service to our country and the Calvin JV's comfortable victory over Hope's previously undefeated frosh squad, I quaffed a 16oz. Sundog at New Holland Brewing Company this afternoon. Other than that, all quiet on the western front.