MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Gregory Sager]

Who is this Brink kid?  What class was is hs team? Who did his team play?  Any success in the state tourney?

Brink's alma mater, Illiana Christian, plays at the 3A level in Illinois' four-class system, in which 4A consists of the biggest schools and 1A consists of the smallest. This past March Illiana Christian made it to the regional semifinals (statewide round of 128), in which it was decisively defeated by a much bigger and more athletic Crete-Monee team, 75-45. Brink, who was more or less a one-man team for Illiana Christian at the offensive end last season, was double- and triple-teamed everywhere he went on the floor that night, but still managed to score 21 points. Crete-Monee made it through one more round before bowing out by ten to eventual 3A state champion Hillcrest.

A newspaper article linked in this room a couple of months ago indicated that Brink had a couple of Michigan D2 schools pursuing him. I'm not going to go back and try to look up which ones they were, but I think it was Grand Valley State and Saginaw State. North Park also put a lot of effort into pursuing Brink (NPU's Nick Hoekstra, who started two-thirds of the Park's contests last season, is also an Illiana Christian grad), but I think that in the end the fact that Brink is a Christian Reformed kid from a Christian Reformed high school and whose parents are Calvin alumni trumped everything.

Have we seen him play against college kids beyond pickup ball?- offensive sets, defensive rotations, etc...  Ryan Ross come to mind?  30+ points per game in high school?  I associate with some AQ alum, and they were SO HIGH on Pete VanOosten a couple years back.  20+ points per game, super athletic, coaches kid, etc.... what happens? comes to school, redshirts a year than disappears.  Let's see someone make the varsity team first, get used to the huge changes between hs ball and college, learn the philosophies on both sides of the ball, before we start comparing.  Right now it's comparing apples and oranges.

I absolutely agree. High school statistics and awards are of very limited usefulness in determining who will succeed and who won't in college basketball, and anything substantive that can be said on behalf of a recruit at this point arises from nothing more than raw potential.

[knightrider123]

If I may ask a question changing the subject a bit. How will Calvin do in the MIAA this season? Olivet, a strong returning squad, and Hope as always will be tough. What will be the keys to calvin's success? Will they run and gun? Or will it be like the past and slow things down?

[sac]

I think we recently crossed the under 100 days to first practice line.

[Happy Calvin Guy]

This Sunday will be the rare day when I will say "Go Dutch!" (even orange and blue jerseys--yikes)

[KnightSlappy]

I think that in the end the fact that Brink is a Christian Reformed kid from a Christian Reformed high school and whose parents are Calvin alumni trumped everything.

That almost never happens. 

[realist]

kr123:  If you look at the poll at the top of the page it gives you some idea how many posters think the season will shake out.  Calvin trailed Hope in this poll for quite a long while, and than surged into the lead only after Hope announced Neil as coach.  The safe money every year is to figure Hope and Calvin are 1/2, and sometimes Albion will shake things up.  You mention Olivet, and yes they will field a very competitve team, but historically they lack consistancy for an entire season.  To win the MIAA you need a team, not just one or two gifted players.  
IMHO Hope seems to have the inside track in that they have a good core of  returning players.  The players seem to be organized, focused, and have a stated goal.  Add in a "new" coach and yes, we should expect them to make some noise.   If they experience some early season sucess (like beating CU or Wheaton/Carthage) they could just get on a roll and be very hard to beat.  
Likewise Calvin has a good core of returning players, and considering last years fr. class, and this years incoming class has the potential to be very good.   KVS really has his work cut out in replacing the guys lost from last years team.   Others might differ, but I really don't expect to see much change in Calvin's playing style.  Will it be a bit more up tempo, perhaps, but don't expect we will see a typical run and gun offensive scheme.  Keys for Calvin are how fast the rebounding, rebounds, and how quickly new players learn their expected roles.
Trine, and several other teams have some very talented players so we can probably anticipate a number of "upsets", but again I just don't see were any of them have enough depth to seriously challenge to lead the MIAA.  

[KnightSlappy]

I have to disagree on the Size of Brink. 6'1 maybe 6'2? I'd put him at 6'3 with room to reach 6'4 and if Powell is 180 then Brink is 210.

Scout.com has Jordan Brink listed at 6-2, 170.

[hoopdreams]

Lord help us all, at least those of us in the MIAA, if Brink comes in and shoots like the YouTube video I just watched.  Didn't look that quick but with  a jumper like that, who cares.  Still doesn't translate to college ball but having him and powell on the wings....wow.  Getting Snikkers to drive (he can take anyone to the hole) and kick out will be the key.

Getting 2 shooting guards on the floor seemingly can be an issue at times in the MIAA. Maybe the passing of the generic 1, 2, 3 ,4 , 5 system???

[Gregory Sager]

I think that in the end the fact that Brink is a Christian Reformed kid from a Christian Reformed high school and whose parents are Calvin alumni trumped everything.

That almost never happens. 

I think that the idea of pursuing Brink was legitimate from NPU's point of view, in that he's not a western Michigan product but rather a suburban Chicagolander.

[KnightSlappy]

I think that in the end the fact that Brink is a Christian Reformed kid from a Christian Reformed high school and whose parents are Calvin alumni trumped everything.

That almost never happens. 

I think that the idea of pursuing Brink was legitimate from NPU's point of view, in that he's not a western Michigan product but rather a suburban Chicagolander.

I definitely agree. I just thought it was funny because the percentage of Calvin students who would respond to the question "why did you choose Calvin?" with "because I'm CRC and my parents went here" almost seems to be 99.9%.  (I was in the .1%)

[ziggy]

I definitely agree. I just thought it was funny because the percentage of Calvin students who would respond to the question "why did you choose Calvin?" with "because I'm CRC and my parents went here" almost seems to be 99.9%.  (I was in the .1%)

HAIL DIVERSITY!

[Happy Calvin Guy]

Lord help us all, at least those of us in the MIAA, if Brink comes in and shoots like the YouTube video I just watched. 

I would guess that any of us could shoot like Jimmy Chitwood on an edited Youtube compilation video.....my fearless prediction is that, unlike the video, Jordan Brink will shoot less than 100% from the floor this year (regardless of how much he actually weighs)

[Happy Calvin Guy]

I definitely agree. I just thought it was funny because the percentage of Calvin students who would respond to the question "why did you choose Calvin?" with "because I'm CRC and my parents went here" almost seems to be 99.9%.  (I was in the .1%)

Or maybe you were part of the majority...
http://www.calvin.edu/admin/enrollment/day10/religion.pdf

[hoopdreams]

I may be old fashioned because I'm not a big fan of the youtube "look at me mentality".  Odds are that either he, or a family member put it together, which is a little much (and could be a potential warning sign, just speculating) but it is the world we now exist in.  What i took from the video was that it was highlights of only a couple games, not 20.  Most importantly, his jumper looked exactly the same, regardless of where he was on the floor, uncontested or not, mid range or deep.  That reeks of reps in the gym, not a lucky day.  Didn't care much for the rockette like kick in the lane off of dribble penetration but maybe he realizes that extending the leg may keep defenders a bay a bit.  If that's the case, then he's "middle-aged crafty" too!   

For someone that was a one man show (earlier post), there wasn't much defense played on him, in either the hs games or AAU.

Looks like he is built like the Rodgers kid from Trine.

[hoopdreams]

My biggest fear is that Calvin picks up a couple D1 transfers this summer and really throws a wrench into the playing times of current players on the roster and the incoming players who commited to a school, regardless of how much they weigh or scored in hs